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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/6661.txt b/6661.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c64aed2 --- /dev/null +++ b/6661.txt @@ -0,0 +1,28142 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Waverley Volume XII, by Sir Walter Scott + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + +Title: Waverley Volume XII + +Author: Sir Walter Scott + +Posting Date: October 27, 2014 [EBook #6661] +Release Date: October, 2004 +First Posted: January 10, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WAVERLEY VOLUME XII *** + + + + +Produced by Karl Hagen, Dan Moynihan, Charles Franks, and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: HEREWARD RESISTING THE GREEK ASSASSIN.] + +WAVERLY NOVELS ABBOTSFORD EDITION + +THE WAVERLY NOVELS, + +BY SIR WALTER SCOTT. + +COMPLETE IN TWELVE VOLUMES. + +EMBRACING THE AUTHOR'S LAST CORRECTIONS, PREFACES, AND NOTES. + +VOL. XII. + +COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS--CASTLE DANGEROUS--MY AUNT MARGARET'S MIRROR, &c. +&c. + + + + +Tales of my Landlord. + +COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. + + The European with the Asian shore-- + Sophia's cupola with golden gleam + The cypress groves--Olympus high and hoar-- + The twelve isles, and the more than I could dream, + Far less describe, present the very view + That charm'd the charming Mary Montagu. + DON JUAN. + +ADVERTISEMENT.--(1833.) + +Sir Walter Scott transmitted from Naples, in February, 1832, an +Introduction for CASTLE DANGEROUS; but if he ever wrote one for a +second Edition of ROBERT OF PARIS, it has not been discovered among his +papers. Some notes, chiefly extracts from the books which he had been +observed to consult while _dictating_ this novel, are now appended to +its pages; and in addition to what the author had given in the shape of +historical information respecting the principal real persons +introduced, the reader is here presented with what may probably amuse +him, the passage of the Alexiad, in which Anna Comnena describes the +incident which originally, no doubt, determined Sir Walter's choice of +a hero. + +May, A.D. 1097.--"As for the multitude of those who advanced towards +THE GREAT CITY, let it be enough to say that they were as the stars in +the heaven, or as the sand upon the sea-shore. They were, in the words +of Homer, _as many as the leaves and flowers of spring_. But for the +names of the leaders, though they are present in my memory, I will not +relate them. The numbers of these would alone deter me, even if my +language furnished the means of expressing their barbarous sounds; and +for what purpose should I afflict my readers with a long enumeration of +the names of those, whose visible presence gave so much horror to all +that beheld them? + +"As soon, therefore, as they approached the Great City, they occupied +the station appointed for them by the Emperor, near to the monastery of +Cosmidius. But this multitude were not, like the Hellenic one of old, +to be restrained and governed by the loud voices of nine heralds; they +required the constant superintendence of chosen and valiant soldiers, +to keep them from violating the commands of the Emperor. + +"He, meantime, laboured to obtain from the other leaders that +acknowledgment of his supreme authority, which had already been drawn +from Godfrey [Greek: Gontophre] himself. But, notwithstanding the +willingness of some to accede to this proposal, and their assistance in +working on the minds of their associates, the Emperor's endeavours had +little success, as the majority were looking for the arrival of +Bohemund [Greek: Baimontos], in whom they placed their chief +confidence, and resorted to every art with the view of gaining time. +The Emperor, whom it was not easy to deceive, penetrated their motives; +and by granting to one powerful person demands which had been supposed +out of all bounds of expectation, and by resorting to a variety of +other devices, he at length prevailed, and won general assent to the +following of the example of Godfrey, who also was sent for in person to +assist in this business. + +"All, therefore, being assembled, and Godfrey among them, the oath was +taken; but when all was finished, a certain Noble among these Counts +had the audacity to seat himself on the throne of the Emperor. [Greek: +Tolmaesas tis apo panton ton komaeton eugenaes eis ton skimpoda ton +Basileos ekathisen.] The Emperor restrained himself and said nothing, +for he was well acquainted of old with the nature of the Latins. + +"But the Count Baldwin [Greek: Baldoninos] stepping forth, and seizing +him by the hand, dragged him thence, and with many reproaches said, 'It +becomes thee not to do such things here, especially after having taken +the oath of fealty. [Greek: douleian haeposchomeno]. It is not the +custom of the Roman Emperors to permit any of their inferiors to sit +beside them, not even of such as are born subjects of their empire; and +it is necessary to respect the customs of the country.' But he, +answering nothing to Baldwin, stared yet more fixedly upon the Emperor, +and muttered to himself something in his own dialect, which, being +interpreted, was to this effect--'Behold, what rustic fellow [Greek: +choritaes] is this, to be seated alone while such leaders stand around +him!' The movement of his lips did not escape the Emperor, who called +to him one that understood the Latin dialect, and enquired what words +the man had spoken. When he heard them, the Emperor said nothing to the +other Latins, but kept the thing to himself. When, however, the +business was all over, he called near to him by himself that swelling +and shameless Latin [Greek: hypsaelophrona ekeinon kai anaidae], and +asked of him, who he was, of what lineage, and from what region he had +come. 'I am a Frank,' said he, 'of pure blood, of the Nobles. One thing +I know, that where three roads meet in the place from which I came, +there is an ancient church, in which whosoever has the desire to +measure himself against another in single combat, prays God to help him +therein, and afterwards abides the coming of one willing to encounter +him. At that spot long time did I remain, but the man bold enough to +stand against me I found not.' Hearing these words the Emperor said, +'If hitherto thou hast sought battles in vain, the time is at hand +which will furnish thee with abundance of them. And I advise thee to +place thyself neither before the phalanx, nor in its rear, but to stand +fast in the midst of thy fellow-soldiers; for of old time I am well +acquainted with the warfare of the Turks.' With such advice he +dismissed not only this man, but the rest of those who were about to +depart on that expedition."--_Alexiad_, Book x. pp. 237, 238. + +Ducange, as is mentioned in the novel, identifies the church, thus +described by the crusader, with that of _Our Lady of Soissons_, of +which a French poet of the days of Louis VII. says-- + + Veiller y vont encore li Pelerin + Cil qui bataille veulent fere et fournir. + DUCANGE _in Alexiad_, p. 86. + +The Princess Anna Comnena, it may be proper to observe, was born on the +first of December, A.D. 1083, and was consequently in her fifteenth +year when the chiefs of the first crusade made their appearance in her +father's court. Even then, however, it is not improbable that she might +have been the wife of Nicephorus Bryennius, whom, many years after his +death, she speaks of in her history as [Greek: ton emon Kaisara], and +in other terms equally affectionate. The bitterness with which she +uniformly mentions Bohemund, Count of Tarentum, afterwards Prince of +Antioch, has, however, been ascribed to a disappointment in love; and +on one remarkable occasion, the Princess certainly expressed great +contempt of her husband. I am aware of no other authorities for the +liberties taken with this lady's conjugal character in the novel. + +Her husband, Nicephorus Bryennius, was the grandson of the person of +that name, who figures in history as the rival, in a contest for the +imperial throne, of Nicephorus Botoniates. He was, on his marriage with +Anna Comnena, invested with the rank of _Panhypersebastos_, or _Omnium +Augustissimus_; but Alexius deeply offended him, by afterwards +recognising the superior and simpler dignity of a _Sebastos_. His +eminent qualities, both in peace and war, are acknowledged by Gibbon: +and he has left us four books of Memoirs, detailing the early part of +his father-in-law's history, and valuable as being the work of an +eye-witness of the most important events which he describes. Anna +Comnena appears to have considered it her duty to take up the task +which her husband had not lived to complete; and hence the +Alexiad--certainly, with all its defects, the first historical work +that has as yet proceeded from a female pen. + +"The life of the Emperor Alexius," (says Gibbon,) "has been delineated +by the pen of a favourite daughter, who was inspired by tender regard +for his person, and a laudable zeal to perpetuate his virtues. +Conscious of the just suspicion of her readers, the Princess repeatedly +protests, that, besides her personal knowledge, she had searched the +discourses and writings of the most respectable veterans; and that +after an interval of thirty years, forgotten by, and forgetful of the +world, her mournful solitude was inaccessible to hope and fear: that +truth, the naked perfect truth, was more dear than the memory of her +parent. Yet instead of the simplicity of style and narrative which wins +our belief, an elaborate affectation of rhetoric and science betrays in +every page the vanity of a female author. The genuine character of +Alexius is lost in a vague constellation of virtues; and the perpetual +strain of panegyric and apology awakens our jealousy, to question the +veracity of the historian, and the merit of her hero. We cannot, +however, refuse her judicious and important remark, that the disorders +of the times were the misfortune and the glory of Alexius; and that +every calamity which can afflict a declining empire was accumulated on +his reign by the justice of Heaven and the vices of his predecessors. +In the east, the victorious Turks had spread, from Persia to the +Hellespont, the reign of the Koran and the Crescent; the west was +invaded by the adventurous valour of the Normans; and, in the moments +of peace, the Danube poured forth new swarms, who had gained in the +science of war what they had lost in the ferociousness of their +manners. The sea was not less hostile than the land; and, while the +frontiers were assaulted by an open enemy, the palace was distracted +with secret conspiracy and treason. + +"On a sudden, the banner of the Cross was displayed by the Latins; +Europe was precipitated on Asia; and Constantinople had almost been +swept away by this impetuous deluge. In the tempest Alexius steered the +Imperial vessel with dexterity and courage. At the head of his armies, +he was bold in action, skilful in stratagem, patient of fatigue, ready +to improve his advantages, and rising from his defeats with +inexhaustible vigour. The discipline of the camp was reversed, and a +new generation of men and soldiers was created by the precepts and +example of their leader. In his intercourse with the Latins, Alexius +was patient and artful; his discerning eye pervaded the new system of +an unknown world. + +"The increase of the male and female branches of his family adorned the +throne, and secured the succession; but their princely luxury and pride +offended the patricians, exhausted the revenue, and insulted the misery +of the people. Anna is a faithful witness that his happiness was +destroyed and his health broken by the cares of a public life; the +patience of Constantinople was fatigued by the length and severity of +his reign; and before Alexius expired, he had lost the love and +reverence of his subjects. The clergy could not forgive his application +of the sacred riches to the defence of the state; but they applauded +his theological learning, and ardent zeal for the orthodox faith, which +he defended with his tongue, his pen, and his sword. Even the sincerity +of his moral and religious virtues was suspected by the persons who had +passed their lives in his confidence. In his last hours, when he was +pressed by his wife Irene to alter the succession, he raised his head, +and breathed a pious ejaculation on the vanity of the world. The +indignant reply of the Empress may be inscribed as an epitaph on his +tomb,--'You die, as you have lived--a hypocrite.' + +"It was the wish of Irene to supplant the eldest of her sons in favour +of her daughter, the Princess Anna, whose philosophy would not have +refused the weight of a diadem. But the order of male succession was +asserted by the friends of their country; the lawful heir drew the +royal signet from the finger of his insensible or conscious father, and +the empire obeyed the master of the palace. Anna Comnena was stimulated +by ambition and revenge to conspire against the life of her brother; +and when the design was prevented by the fears or scruples of her +husband, she passionately exclaimed that nature had mistaken the two +sexes, and had endowed Bryennius with the soul of a woman. After the +discovery of her treason, the life and fortune of Anna were justly +forfeited to the laws. Her life was spared by the clemency of the +Emperor, but he visited the pomp and treasures of her palace, and +bestowed the rich confiscation on the most deserving of his +friends."--_History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_, chap. +xlviii. + +The year of Anna's death is nowhere recorded. She appears to have +written the _Alexiad_ in a convent; and to have spent nearly thirty +years in this retirement, before her book was published. + +For accurate particulars of the public events touched on in _Robert of +Paris,_ the reader is referred to the above quoted author, chapters +xlviii. xlix. and l.; and to the first volume of Mills' History of the +Crusades. + +J. G. L. London, _1st March_, 1833. + + + + +INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. + +JEDEDIAH CLEISHBOTHAM, A.M. + +TO THE LOVING READER WISHETH HEALTH AND PROSPERITY. + +It would ill become me, whose name has been spread abroad by those +former collections bearing this title of "Tales of my Landlord," and +who have, by the candid voice of a numerous crowd of readers, been +taught to think that I merit not the empty fame alone, but also the +more substantial rewards, of successful pencraft--it would, I say, ill +become me to suffer this my youngest literary babe, and, probably at +the same time, the last child of mine old age, to pass into the world +without some such modest apology for its defects, as it has been my +custom to put forth on preceding occasions of the like nature. The +world has been sufficiently instructed, of a truth, that I am not +individually the person to whom is to be ascribed the actual inventing +or designing of the scheme upon which these Tales, which men have found +so pleasing, were originally constructed, as also that neither am I the +actual workman, who, furnished by a skilful architect with an accurate +plan, including elevations and directions both general and particular, +has from thence toiled to bring forth and complete the intended shape +and proportion of each division of the edifice. Nevertheless, I have +been indisputably the man, who, in placing my name at the head of the +undertaking, have rendered myself mainly and principally responsible +for its general success. When a ship of war goeth forth to battle with +her crew, consisting of sundry foremast-men and various officers, such +subordinate persons are not said to gain or lose the vessel which they +have manned or attacked, (although each was natheless sufficiently +active in his own department;) but it is forthwith bruited and noised +abroad, without further phrase, that Captain Jedediah Cleishbotham hath +lost such a seventy-four, or won that which, by the united exertions of +all thereto pertaining, is taken from the enemy. In the same manner, +shame and sorrow it were, if I, the voluntary Captain and founder of +these adventures, after having upon three divers occasions assumed to +myself the emolument and reputation thereof, should now withdraw myself +from the risks of failure proper to this fourth and last out-going. No! +I will rather address my associates in this bottom with the constant +spirit of Matthew Prior's heroine: + + "Did I but purpose to embark with thee + On the smooth surface of some summer sea, + But would forsake the waves, and make the shore, + When the winds whistle, and the billows roar!" + +As little, nevertheless, would it become my years and station not to +admit without cavil certain errors which may justly be pointed out in +these concluding "Tales of my Landlord,"--the last, and, it is +manifest, never carefully revised or corrected handiwork, of Mr. Peter +Pattison, now no more; the same worthy young man so repeatedly +mentioned in these Introductory Essays, and never without that tribute +to his good sense and talents, nay, even genius, which his +contributions to this my undertaking fairly entitled him to claim at +the hands of his surviving friend and patron. These pages, I have said, +were the _ultimus labor_ of mine ingenious assistant; but I say not, as +the great Dr. Pitcairn of his hero--_ultimus atque optitmis_. Alas! +even the giddiness attendant on a journey on this Manchester rail-road +is not so perilous to the nerves, as that too frequent exercise in the +merry-go-round of the ideal world, whereof the tendency to render the +fancy confused, and the judgment inert, hath in all ages been noted, +not only by the erudite of the earth, but even by many of the +thick-witted Ofelli themselves; whether the rapid pace at which the +fancy moveth in such exercitations, where the wish of the penman is to +him like Prince Houssain's tapestry, in the Eastern fable, be the chief +source of peril--or whether, without reference to this wearing speed of +movement, and dwelling habitually in those realms of imagination, be as +little suited for a man's intellect, as to breathe for any considerable +space "the difficult air of the mountain top" is to the physical +structure of his outward frame--this question belongeth not to me; but +certain it is, that we often discover in the works of the foremost of +this order of men, marks of bewilderment and confusion, such as do not +so frequently occur in those of persons to whom nature hath conceded +fancy weaker of wing, or less ambitious in flight. + +It is affecting to see the great Miguel Cervantes himself, even like +the sons of meaner men, defending himself against the critics of the +day, who assailed him upon such little discrepancies and inaccuracies +as are apt to cloud the progress even of a mind like his, when the +evening is closing around it. "It is quite a common thing," says Don +Quixote, "for men who have gained a very great reputation by their +writings before they were printed, quite to lose it afterwards, or, at +least, the greater part."--"The reason is plain," answers the Bachelor +Carrasco; "their faults are more easily discovered after the books are +printed, as being then more read, and more narrowly examined, +especially if the author has been much cried up before, for then the +severity of the scrutiny is sure to be the greater. Those who have +raised themselves a name by their own ingenuity, great poets and +celebrated historians, are commonly, if not always, envied by a set of +men who delight in censuring the writings of others, though they could +never produce any of their own."--"That is no wonder," quoth Don +Quixote; "there are many divines that would make but very dull +preachers, and yet are quick enough at finding faults and superfluities +in other men's sermons."--"All this is true," says Carrasco, "and +therefore I could wish such censurers would be more merciful and less +scrupulous, and not dwell ungenerously upon small spots that are in a +manner but so many atoms on the face of the clear sun they murmur at. +If _aliquando dormitat Homerus_, let them consider how many nights he +kept himself awake to bring his noble works to light as little darkened +with defects as might be. But, indeed, it may many times happen, that +what is censured for a fault, is rather an ornament, as moles often add +to the beauty of a face. When all is said, he that publishes a book, +runs a great risk, since nothing can be so unlikely as that he should +have composed one capable of securing the approbation of every +reader."--"Sure," says Don Quixote, "that which treats of me can have +pleased but few?"--"Quite the contrary," says Carrasco; "for as +_infinitus est numerus stultorum_, so an infinite number have admired +your history. Only some there are who have taxed the author with want +of memory or sincerity, because he forgot to give an account who it was +that stole Sancho's Dapple, for that particular is not mentioned there, +only we find, by the story, that it was stolen; and yet, by and by, we +find him riding the same ass again, without any previous light given us +into the matter. Then they say that the author forgot to tell the +reader what Sancho did with the hundred pieces of gold he found in the +portmanteau in the Sierra Morena, for there is not a word said of them +more; and many people have a great mind to know what he did with them, +and how he spent them; which is one of the most material points in +which the work is defective." + +How amusingly Sancho is made to clear up the obscurities thus alluded +to by the Bachelor Carrasco--no reader can have forgotten; but there +remained enough of similar _lacunas_, inadvertencies, and mistakes, to +exercise the ingenuity of those Spanish critics, who were too wise in +their own conceit to profit by the good-natured and modest apology of +this immortal author. + +There can be no doubt, that if Cervantes had deigned to use it, he +might have pleaded also the apology of indifferent health, under which +he certainly laboured while finishing the second part of "Don Quixote." +It must be too obvious that the intervals of such a malady as then +affected Cervantes, could not be the most favourable in the world for +revising lighter compositions, and correcting, at least, those grosser +errors and imperfections which each author should, if it were but for +shame's sake, remove from his work, before bringing it forth into the +broad light of day, where they will never fail to be distinctly seen, +nor lack ingenious persons, who will be too happy in discharging the +office of pointing them out. + +It is more than time to explain with what purpose we have called thus +fully to memory the many venial errors of the inimitable Cervantes, and +those passages in which he has rather defied his adversaries than +pleaded his own justification; for I suppose it will be readily +granted, that the difference is too wide betwixt that great wit of +Spain and ourselves, to permit us to use a buckler which was rendered +sufficiently formidable only by the strenuous hand in which it was +placed. + +The history of my first publications is sufficiently well known. Nor +did I relinquish the purpose of concluding these "Tales of my +Landlord," which had been so remarkably fortunate; but Death, which +steals upon us all with an inaudible foot, cut short the ingenious +young man to whose memory I composed that inscription, and erected, at +my own charge, that monument which protects his remains, by the side of +the river Gander, which he has contributed so much to render immortal, +and in a place of his own selection, not very distant from the school +under my care. [Footnote: See Vol. II. of the present Edition, for some +circumstances attending this erection.] In a word, the ingenious Mr. +Pattison was removed from his place. + +Nor did I confine my care to his posthumous fame alone, but carefully +inventoried and preserved the effects which he left behind him, namely, +the contents of his small wardrobe, and a number of printed books of +somewhat more consequence, together with certain, wofully blurred +manuscripts, discovered in his repository. On looking these over, I +found them to contain two Tales called "Count Robert of Paris," and +"Castle Dangerous;" but was seriously disappointed to perceive that +they were by no means in that state of correctness, which would induce +an experienced person to pronounce any writing, in the technical +language of bookcraft, "prepared for press." There were not only +_hiatus valde deflendi_, but even grievous inconsistencies, and other +mistakes, which the penman's leisurely revision, had he been spared to +bestow it, would doubtless have cleared away. After a considerate +perusal, I no question flattered myself that these manuscripts, with +all their faults, contained here and there passages, which seemed +plainly to intimate that severe indisposition had been unable to +extinguish altogether the brilliancy of that fancy which the world had +been pleased to acknowledge in the creations of Old Mortality, the +Bride of Lammermoor, and others of these narratives. But I, +nevertheless, threw the manuscripts into my drawer, resolving not to +think of committing them to the Ballantynian ordeal, until I could +either obtain the assistance of some capable person to supply +deficiencies, and correct errors, so as they might face the public with +credit, or perhaps numerous and more serious avocations might permit me +to dedicate my own time and labour to that task. + +While I was in this uncertainty, I had a visit from a stranger, who was +announced as a young gentleman desirous of speaking with me on +particular business. I immediately augured the accession of a new +boarder, but was at once checked by observing that the outward man of +the stranger was, in a most remarkable degree, what mine host of the +Sir William Wallace, in his phraseology, calls _seedy_. His black cloak +had seen service; the waistcoat of grey plaid bore yet stronger marks +of having encountered more than one campaign; his third piece of dress +was an absolute veteran compared to the others; his shoes were so +loaded with mud as showed his journey must have been pedestrian; and a +grey _maud_, which fluttered around his wasted limbs, completed such an +equipment as, since Juvenal's days, has been the livery of the poor +scholar. I therefore concluded that I beheld a candidate for the vacant +office of usher, and prepared to listen to his proposals with the +dignity becoming my station; but what was my surprise when I found I +had before me, in this rusty student, no less a man than Paul, the +brother of Peter Pattison, come to gather in his brother's succession, +and possessed, it seemed, with no small idea of the value of that part +of it which consisted in the productions of his pen! + +By the rapid study I made of him, this Paul was a sharp lad, imbued +with some tincture of letters, like his regretted brother, but totally +destitute of those amiable qualities which had often induced me to say +within myself, that Peter was, like the famous John Gay,-- + + "In wit a man, simplicity a child." + +He set little by the legacy of my deceased assistant's wardrobe, nor +did the books hold much greater value in his eyes: but he peremptorily +demanded to be put in possession of the manuscripts, alleging, with +obstinacy, that no definite bargain had been completed between his late +brother and me, and at length produced the opinion to that effect of a +writer, or man of business,--a class of persons with whom I have always +chosen to have as little concern as possible. + +But I had one defence left, which came to my aid, _tanquam deus ex +machina_. This rapacious Paul Pattison could not pretend to wrest the +disputed manuscripts out of my possession, unless upon repayment of a +considerable sum of money, which I had advanced from time to time to +the deceased Peter, and particularly to purchase a small annuity for +his aged mother. These advances, with the charges of the funeral and +other expenses, amounted to a considerable sum, which the +poverty-struck student and his acute legal adviser equally foresaw +great difficulty in liquidating. The said Mr. Paul Pattison, therefore, +listened to a suggestion, which I dropped as if by accident, that if he +thought himself capable of filling his brother's place of carrying the +work through the press, I would make him welcome to bed and board +within my mansion while he was thus engaged, only requiring his +occasional assistance at hearing the more advanced scholars. This +seemed to promise a close of our dispute, alike satisfactory to all +parties, and the first act of Paul was to draw on me for a round sum, +under pretence that his wardrobe must be wholly refitted. To this I +made no objection, though it certainly showed like vanity to purchase +garments in the extremity of the mode, when not only great part of the +defunct's habiliments were very fit for a twelvemonth's use, but as I +myself had been, but yesterday as it were, equipped in a becoming new +stand of black clothes, Mr. Pattison would have been welcome to the use +of such of my quondam raiment as he thought suitable, as indeed had +always been the case with his deceased brother. + +The school, I must needs say, came tolerably on. My youngster was very +smart, and seemed to be so active in his duty of usher, if I may so +speak, that he even overdid his part therein, and I began to feel +myself a cipher in my own school. + +I comforted myself with the belief that the publication was advancing +as fast as I could desire. On this subject, Paul Pattison, like ancient +Pistol, "talked bold words at the bridge," and that not only at our +house, but in the society of our neighbours, amongst whom, instead of +imitating the retired and monastic manner of his brother deceased, he +became a gay visitor, and such a reveller, that in process of time he +was observed to vilipend the modest fare which had at first been +esteemed a banquet by his hungry appetite, and thereby highly +displeased my wife, who, with justice, applauds herself for the +plentiful, cleanly, and healthy victuals, wherewith she maintains her +ushers and boarders. + +Upon the whole, I rather hoped than entertained a sincere confidence +that all was going on well, and was in that unpleasant state of mind +which precedes the open breach between two associates who have been +long jealous of each other, but are as yet deterred by a sense of +mutual interest from coming to an open rupture. + +The first thing which alarmed me was a rumour in the village, that Paul +Pattison intended, in some little space, to undertake a voyage to the +Continent--on account of his health, as was pretended, but, as the same +report averred, much more with the view of gratifying the curiosity +which his perusal of the classics had impressed upon him, than for any +other purpose. I was, I say, rather alarmed at this _susurrus_, and +began to reflect that the retirement of Mr. Pattison, unless his loss +could be supplied in good time, was like to be a blow to the +establishment; for, in truth, this Paul had a winning way with the +boys, especially those who were gentle-tempered; so that I must confess +my doubts whether, in certain respects, I myself could have fully +supplied his place in the school, with all my authority and experience. +My wife, jealous as became her station, of Mr. Pattison's intentions, +advised me to take the matter up immediately, and go to the bottom at +once; and, indeed, I had always found that way answered best with my +boys. + +Mrs. Cleishbotham was not long before renewing the subject; for, like +most of the race of Xantippe, (though my help-mate is a well-spoken +woman,) she loves to thrust in her oar where she is not able to pull it +to purpose. "You are a sharp-witted man, Mr. Cleishbotham," would she +observe, "and a learned man, Mr. Cleishbotham--and the schoolmaster of +Gandercleuch, Mr. Cleishbotham, which is saying all in one word; but +many a man almost as great as yourself has lost the saddle by suffering +an inferior to get up behind him' and though, with the world, Mr. +Cleishbotham, you have the name of doing every thing, both in directing +the school and in this new profitable book line which you have taken +up, yet it begins to be the common talk of Gandercleuch, both up the +water and down the water, that the usher both writes the dominie's +books and teaches the dominie's school. Ay, ay, ask maid, wife, or +widow, and she'll tell ye, the least gaitling among them all comes to +Paul Pattison with his lesson as naturally as they come to me for their +four-hours, puir things; and never ane things of applying to you aboot +a kittle turn or a crabbed word, or about ony thing else, unless it +were for _licet exire_, or the mending of an auld pen." + +Now this address assailed me on a summer evening, when I was whiling +away my leisure hours with the end of a cutty pipe and indulging in +such bland imaginations as the Nicotian weed is wont to produce, more +especially in the case of the studious persons, devoted _musis +severioribus_. I was naturally loth to leave my misty sanctuary; and +endeavoured to silence the clamour of Mrs. Cleishbotham's tongue, which +has something in it peculiarly shrill and penetrating. "Woman," said I +with a tone of domestic authority befitting the occasion, "_res tuas +agas_;--mind your washings and your wringings, your stuffings and your +physicking, or whatever concerns the outward persons of the pupils, and +leave the progress of their education to my usher, Paul Pattison, and +myself." + +"I am glad to see," added the accursed woman, (that I should say so!) +"that ye have the grace to name him foremost, for there is little +doubt, that he ranks first of the troop, if ye wad but hear what the +neighbours speak--or whisper." + +"What do they whisper, thou sworn sister of the Eumenides?" cried +I,--the irritating _aestrum_ of the woman's objurgation totally +counterbalancing the sedative effects both of pipe and pot. + +"Whisper?" resumed she in her shrillest note--"why, they whisper loud +enough for me at least to hear them, that the schoolmaster of +Gandercleuch is turned a doited auld woman, and spends all his time in +tippling strong drink with the keeper of the public-house, and leaves +school and book-making, and a' the rost o't, to the care of his usher; +and, also, the wives in Gandercleuch say, that you have engaged Paul +Pattison to write a new book, which is to beat a' the lave that gaed +afore it; and to show what a sair lift you have o' the job, you didna +sae muckle as ken the name o't--no nor whether it was to be about some +Heathen Greek, or the Black Douglas." + +This was said with such bitterness that it penetrated to the very +quick, and I hurled the poor old pipe, like one of Homer's spears, not +in the face of my provoking helpmate, though the temptation was strong, +but into the river Gander, which as is now well known to tourists from +the uttermost parts of the earth, pursues its quiet meanders beneath +the bank on which the school-house is pleasantly situated; and, +starting up, fixed on my head the cocked hat, (the pride of Messrs. +Grieve and Scott's repository,) and plunging into the valley of the +brook, pursued my way upwards, the voice of Mrs. Cleishbotham +accompanying me in my retreat with something like the angry scream of +triumph with which the brood-goose pursues the flight of some +unmannerly cur or idle boy who has intruded upon her premises, and fled +before her. Indeed, so great was the influence of this clamour of scorn +and wrath which hung upon my rear, that while it rung in my ears I was +so moved that I instinctively tucked the skirts of my black coat under +my arm, as if I had been in actual danger of being seized on by the +grasp of the pursuing enemy. Nor was it till I had almost reached the +well-known burial-place, in which it was Peter Pattison's hap to meet +the far-famed personage called Old Mortality, that I made a halt for +the purpose of composing my perturbed spirits, and considering what was +to be done; for as yet my mind was agitated by a chaos of passions, of +which anger was predominant; and for what reason, or against whom, I +entertained such tumultuous displeasure, it was not easy for me to +determine. + +Nevertheless, having settled my cocked hat with becoming accuracy on my +well-powdered wig, and suffered it to remain uplifted for a moment to +cool my flushed brow--having, moreover, re-adjusted and shaken to +rights the skirts of my black coat, I came into case to answer to my +own questions, which, till these manoeuvres had been sedately +accomplished, I might have asked myself in vain. + +In the first place, therefore, to use the phrase of Mr. Docket, the +writer (that is, the attorney) of our village of Gandercleuch, I became +satisfied that my anger was directed against all and sundry, or, in law +Latin, _contre omnes mortales_, and more particularly against the +neighbourhood of Gandercleuch, for circulating reports to the prejudice +of my literary talents, as well as my accomplishments as a pedagogue, +and transferring the fame thereof to mine own usher. Secondly, against +my spouse, Dorothea Cleishbotham, for transferring the sad calumnious +reports to my ears in a prerupt and unseemly manner, and without due +respect either to the language which she made use of, or the person to +whom she spoke,--treating affairs in which I was so intimately +concerned as if they were proper subjects for jest among gossips at a +christening, where the womankind claim the privilege of worshipping the +_Bona Dea_ according to their secret female rites. + +Thirdly, I became clear that I was entitled to respond to any whom it +concerned to enquire, that my wrath was kindled against Paul Pattison, +my usher, for giving occasion both for the neighbours of Gandercleuch +entertaining such opinions, and for Mrs. Cleishbotham disrespectfully +urging them to my face, since neither circumstance could have existed, +without he had put forth sinful misrepresentations of transactions, +private and confidential, and of which I had myself entirely refrained +from dropping any the least hint to any third person. + +This arrangement of my ideas having contributed to soothe the stormy +atmosphere of which they had been the offspring, gave reason a time to +predominate, and to ask me, with her calm but clear voice, whether, +under all the circumstances, I did well to nourish so indiscriminate an +indignation? In fine, on closer examination, the various splenetic +thoughts I had been indulging against other parties, began to be merged +in that resentment against my perfidious usher, which, like the serpent +of Moses, swallowed up all subordinate objects of displeasure. To put +myself at open feud with the whole of my neighbours, unless I had been +certain of some effectual mode of avenging myself upon them, would have +been an undertaking too weighty for my means, and not unlikely, if +rashly grappled withal, to end in my ruin. To make a public quarrel +with my wife, on such an account as her opinion of my literary +accomplishments, would sound ridiculous: and, besides, Mrs. C. was sure +to have all the women on her side, who would represent her as a wife +persecuted by her husband for offering him good advice, and urging it +upon him with only too enthusiastic sincerity. + +There remained Paul Pattison, undoubtedly, the most natural and proper +object of my indignation, since I might be said to have him in my own +power, and might punish him by dismissal, at my pleasure. Yet even +vindictive proceedings against the said Paul, however easy to be +enforced, might be productive of serious consequences to my own purse; +and I began to reflect, with anxiety, that in this world it is not +often that the gratification of our angry passions lies in the same +road with the advancement of our interest, and that the wise man, the +_vere sapiens_, seldom hesitates which of these two he ought to prefer. + +I recollected also that I was quite uncertain how far the present usher +had really been guilty of the foul acts of assumption charged against +him. + +In a word, I began to perceive that it would be no light matter, at +once, and without maturer perpending of sundry collateral +_punctiuncula_, to break up a joint-stock adventure, or society, as +civilians term it, which, if profitable to him, had at least promised +to be no less so to me, established in years and learning and +reputation so much his superior. Moved by which, and other the like +considerations, I resolved to proceed with becoming caution on the +occasion, and not, by stating my causes of complaint too hastily in the +outset, exasperate into a positive breach what might only prove some +small misunderstanding, easily explained or apologized for, and which, +like a leak in a new vessel, being once discovered and carefully +stopped, renders the vessel but more sea-worthy than it was before. + +About the time that I had adopted this healing resolution, I reached +the spot where the almost perpendicular face of a steep hill seems to +terminate the valley, or at least divides it into two dells, each +serving as a cradle to its own mountain-stream, the Gruff-quack, +namely, and the shallower, but more noisy, Gusedub, on the left hand, +which, at their union, form the Gander, properly so called. Each of +these little valleys has a walk winding up to its recesses, rendered +more easy by the labours of the poor during the late hard season, and +one of which bears the name of Pattison's path, while the other had +been kindly consecrated to my own memory, by the title of the Dominie's +Daidling-bit. Here I made certain to meet my associate, Paul Pattison, +for by one or other of these roads he was wont to return to my house of +an evening, after his lengthened rambles. + +Nor was it long before I espied him descending the Gusedub by that +tortuous path, marking so strongly the character of a Scottish glen. He +was easily distinguished, indeed, at some distance, by his jaunty +swagger, in which he presented to you the flat of his leg, like the +manly knave of clubs, apparently with the most perfect contentment, not +only with his leg and boot, but with every part of his outward man, and +the whole fashion of his garments, and, one would almost have thought, +the contents of his pockets. + +In this, his wonted guise, he approached me, where I was seated near +the meeting of the waters, and I could not but discern, that his first +impulse was to pass me without any prolonged or formal greeting. But as +that would not have been decent, considering the terms on which we +stood, he seemed to adopt, on reflection, a course directly opposite; +bustled up to me with an air of alacrity, and, I may add, impudence; +and hastened at once into the middle of the important affairs which it +had been my purpose to bring under discussion in a manner more becoming +their gravity. "I am glad to see you, Mr. Cleishbotham," said he, with +an inimitable mixture of confusion and effrontery; "the most wonderful +news which has been heard in the literary world in my time--all +Gandercleuch rings with it--they positively speak of nothing else, from +Miss Buskbody's youngest apprentice to the minister himself, and ask +each other in amazement, whether the tidings are true or false--to be +sure they are of an astounding complexion, especially to you and me." + +"Mr. Pattison," said I, "I am quite at a loss to guess at your meaning. +_Davus sum, non Oedipus_--I am Jedediah Cleishbotham, Schoolmaster of +the parish of Gandercleuch; no conjuror, and neither reader of riddles, +nor expounder of enigmata." + +"Well," replied Paul Pattison, "Mr. Jedediah Cleishbotham, Schoolmaster +of the parish of Gandercleuch, and so forth, all I have to inform you +is, that our hopeful scheme is entirely blown up. The tales, on +publishing which we reckoned with so much confidence, have already been +printed; they are abroad, over all America, and the British papers are +clamorous." + +I received this news with the same equanimity with which I should have +accepted a blow addressed to my stomach by a modern gladiator, with the +full energy of his fist. "If this be correct information, Mr. +Pattison," said I, "I must of necessity suspect you to be the person +who have supplied the foreign press with the copy which the printers +have thus made an unscrupulous use of, without respect to the rights of +the undeniable proprietors of the manuscripts; and I request to know +whether this American production embraces the alterations which you as +well as I judged necessary, before the work could be fitted to meet the +public eye?" To this my gentleman saw it necessary to make a direct +answer, for my manner was impressive, and my tone decisive. His native +audacity enabled him, however, to keep his ground, and he answered with +firmness-- + +"Mr. Cleishbotham, in the first place, these manuscripts, over which +you claim a very doubtful right, were never given to any one by me, and +must have been sent to America either by yourself, or by some one of +the various gentlemen to whom, I am well aware, you have afforded +opportunities of perusing my brother's MS. remains." + +"Mr. Pattison," I replied, "I beg to remind you that it never could be +my intention, either by my own hands, or through those of another, to +remit these manuscripts to the press, until, by the alterations which I +meditated, and which you yourself engaged to make, they were rendered +fit for public perusal." + +Mr. Pattison answered me with much heat:--"Sir, I would have you to +know, that if I accepted your paltry offer, it was with less regard to +its amount, than to the honour and literary fame of my late brother. I +foresaw that if I declined it, you would not hesitate to throw the task +into incapable hands, or, perhaps, have taken it upon yourself, the +most unfit of all men to tamper with the works of departed genius, and +that, God willing, I was determined to prevent--but the justice of +Heaven has taken the matter into its own hands. Peter Pattison's last +labours shall now go down to posterity unscathed by the scalping-knife +of alteration, in the hands of a false friend--shame on the thought +that the unnatural weapon could ever be wielded by the hand of a +brother!" + +I heard this speech not without a species of vertigo or dizziness in my +head, which would probably have struck me lifeless at his feet, had not +a thought like that of the old ballad-- + + "Earl Percy sees my fall," + +called to my recollection, that I should only afford an additional +triumph by giving way to my feelings in the presence of Mr. Paul +Pattison, who, I could not doubt, must be more or less directly at the +bottom of the Transatlantic publication, and had in one way or another +found his own interest in that nefarious transaction. + +To get quit of his odious presence I bid him an unceremonious +good-night, and marched down the glen with the air not of one who has +parted with a friend, but who rather has shaken off an intrusive +companion. On the road I pondered the whole matter over with an anxiety +which did not in the smallest degree tend to relieve me. Had I felt +adequate to the exertion, I might, of course, have supplanted this +spurious edition (of which the literary gazettes are already doling out +copious specimens) by introducing into a copy, to be instantly +published at Edinburgh, adequate correction of the various +inconsistencies and imperfections which have already been alluded to. I +remember the easy victory of the real second part of these "Tales of my +Landlord" over the performance sent forth by an interloper under the +same title; and why should not the same triumph be repeated now? There +would, in short, have been a pride of talent in this manner of avenging +myself, which would have been justifiable in the case of an injured +man; but the state of my health has for some time been such as to +render any attempt of this nature in every way imprudent. + +Under such circumstances, the last "Remains" of Peter Pattison must +even be accepted, as they were left in his desk; and I humbly retire in +the hope that, such as they are, they may receive the indulgence of +those who have ever been but too merciful to the productions of his +pen, and in all respects to the courteous reader's obliged servant, J. +C. + +GANDERCLEUCH, _15th Oct._ 1831. + + + + +COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. + +CHAPTER THE FIRST. + + _Leontius_.-------- That power that kindly spreads + The clouds, a signal of impending showers, + To warn the wandering linnet to the shade, + Beheld without concern expiring Greece, + And not one prodigy foretold our fate. + + _Demetrius_. A thousand horrid prodigies foretold it: + A feeble government, eluded laws, + A factious populace, luxurious nobles, + And all the maladies of sinking states. + When public villany, too strong for justice, + Shows his bold front, the harbinger of ruin, + Can brave Leontius call for airy wonders, + Which cheats interpret, and which fools regard? + IRENE, _Act I_. + + +The close observers of vegetable nature have remarked, that when a new +graft is taken from an aged tree, it possesses indeed in exterior form +the appearance of a youthful shoot, but has in fact attained to the +same state of maturity, or even decay, which has been reached by the +parent stem. Hence, it is said, arises the general decline and death +that about the same season is often observed to spread itself through +individual trees of some particular species, all of which, deriving +their vital powers from the parent stock, are therefore incapable of +protracting their existence longer than it does. + +In the same manner, efforts have been made by the mighty of the earth +to transplant large cities, states, and communities, by one great and +sudden exertion, expecting to secure to the new capital the wealth, the +dignity, the magnificent decorations and unlimited extent of the +ancient city, which they desire to renovate; while, at the same time, +they hope to begin a new succession of ages from the date of the new +structure, to last, they imagine, as long, and with as much fame, as +its predecessor, which the founder hopes his new metropolis may replace +in all its youthful glories. But nature has her laws, which seem to +apply to the social, as well as the vegetable system. It appears to be +a general rule, that what is to last long should be slowly matured and +gradually improved, while every sudden effort, however gigantic, to +bring about the speedy execution of a plan calculated to endure for +ages, is doomed to exhibit symptoms of premature decay from its very +commencement. Thus, in a beautiful Oriental tale, a dervise explains to +the sultan how he had reared the magnificent trees among which they +walked, by nursing their shoots from the seed; and the prince's pride +is damped when he reflects, that those plantations, so simply raised, +were gathering new vigour from each returning sun, while his own +exhausted cedars, which had been transplanted by one violent effort, +were drooping their majestic heads in the Valley of Orez. [Footnote: +Tale of Mirglip the Persian, in the Tales of the Genii.] + +It has been allowed, I believe, by all men of taste, many of whom have +been late visitants of Constantinople, that if it were possible to +survey the whole globe with a view to fixing a seat of universal +empire, all who are capable of making such a choice, would give their +preference to the city of Constantine, as including the great +recommendations of beauty, wealth, security, and eminence. Yet with all +these advantages of situation and climate, and with all the +architectural splendour of its churches and halls, its quarries of +marble, and its treasure-houses of gold, the imperial founder must +himself have learned, that although he could employ all these rich +materials in obedience to his own wish, it was the mind of man itself, +those intellectual faculties refined by the ancients to the highest +degree, which had produced the specimens of talent at which men paused +and wondered, whether as subjects of art or of moral labour. The power +of the Emperor might indeed strip other cities of their statues and +their shrines, in order to decorate that which he had fixed upon as his +new capital; but the men who had performed great actions, and those, +almost equally esteemed, by whom such deeds were celebrated, in poetry, +in painting, and in music, had ceased to exist. The nation, though +still the most civilised in the world, had passed beyond that period of +society, when the desire of fair fame is of itself the sole or chief +motive for the labour of the historian or the poet, the painter or the +statuary. The slavish and despotic constitution introduced into the +empire, had long since entirely destroyed that public spirit which +animated the free history of Rome, leaving nothing but feeble +recollections, which produced no emulation. + +To speak as of an animated substance, if Constantine could have +regenerated his new metropolis, by transfusing into it the vital and +vivifying principles of old Rome,--that brilliant spark no longer +remained for Constantinople to borrow, or for Rome to lend. + +In one most important circumstance, the state of the capital of +Constantine had been totally changed, and unspeakably to its advantage. +The world was now Christian, and, with the Pagan code, had got rid of +its load of disgraceful superstition. Nor is there the least doubt, +that the better faith produced its natural and desirable fruits in +society, in gradually ameliorating the hearts, and taming the passions, +of the people. But while many of the converts were turning meekly +towards their new creed, some, in the arrogance of their understanding, +were limiting the Scriptures by their own devices, and others failed +not to make religious character or spiritual rank the means of rising +to temporal power. Thus it happened at this critical period, that the +effects of this great change in the religion of the country, although +producing an immediate harvest, as well as sowing much good seed which +was to grow hereafter, did not, in the fourth century, flourish so as +to shed at once that predominating influence which its principles might +have taught men to expect. + +Even the borrowed splendour, in which Constantine decked his city, bore +in it something which seemed to mark premature decay. The imperial +founder, in seizing upon the ancient statues, pictures, obelisks, and +works of art, acknowledged his own incapacity to supply their place +with the productions of later genius; and when the world, and +particularly Rome, was plundered to adorn Constantinople, the Emperor, +under whom the work was carried on, might be compared to a prodigal +youth, who strips an aged parent of her youthful ornaments, in order to +decorate a flaunting paramour, on whose brow all must consider them as +misplaced. + +Constantinople, therefore, when in 324 it first arose in imperial +majesty out of the humble Byzantium, showed, even in its birth, and +amid its adventitious splendour, as we have already said, some +intimations of that speedy decay to which the whole civilised world, +then limited within the Roman empire, was internally and imperceptibly +tending. Nor was it many ages ere these prognostications of declension +were fully verified. + +In the year 1080, Alexius Comnenus [Footnote: See Gibbon, Chap. xlviii, +for the origin and early history of the house of the Comneni.] ascended +the throne of the Empire; that is, he was declared sovereign of +Constantinople, its precincts and dependencies; nor, if he was disposed +to lead a life of relaxation, would the savage incursions of the +Scythians or the Hungarians frequently disturb the imperial slumbers, +if limited to his own capital. It may be supposed that this safety did +not extend much farther; for it is said that the Empress Pulcheria had +built a church to the Virgin Mary, as remote as possible from the gate +of the city, to save her devotions from the risk of being interrupted +by the hostile yell of the barbarians, and the reigning Emperor had +constructed a palace near the same spot, and for the same reason. + +Alexius Comnenus was in the condition of a monarch who rather derives +consequence from the wealth and importance of his predecessors, and the +great extent of their original dominions, than from what remnants of +fortune had descended to the present generation. This Emperor, except +nominally, no more ruled over his dismembered provinces, than a +half-dead horse can exercise power over those limbs, on which the +hooded crow and the vulture have already begun to settle and select +their prey. + +In different parts of his territory, different enemies arose, who waged +successful or dubious war against the Emperor; and, of the numerous +nations with whom he was engaged in hostilities, whether the Franks +from the west, the Turks advancing from the east, the Cumans and +Scythians pouring their barbarous numbers and unceasing storm of arrows +from the north, and the Saracens, or the tribes into which they were +divided, pressing from the south, there was not one for whom the +Grecian empire did not spread a tempting repast. Each of these various +enemies had their own particular habits of war, and a way of +manoeuvring in battle peculiar to themselves. But the Roman, as the +unfortunate subject of the Greek empire was still called, was by far +the weakest, the most ignorant, and most timid, who could be dragged +into the field; and the Emperor was happy in his own good luck, when he +found it possible to conduct a defensive war on a counterbalancing +principle, making use of the Scythian to repel the Turk, or of both +these savage people to drive back the fiery-footed Frank, whom Peter +the Hermit had, in the time of Alexius, waked to double fury, by the +powerful influence of the crusades. + +If, therefore, Alexius Comnenus was, during his anxious seat upon the +throne of the East, reduced to use a base and truckling course of +policy--if he was sometimes reluctant to fight when he had a conscious +doubt of the valour of his troops--if he commonly employed cunning and +dissimulation instead of wisdom, and perfidy instead of courage--his +expedients were the disgrace of the age, rather than his own. + +Again, the Emperor Alexius may be blamed for affecting a degree of +state which was closely allied to imbecility. He was proud of assuming +in his own person, and of bestowing upon others, the painted show of +various orders of nobility, even now, when the rank within the prince's +gift was become an additional reason for the free barbarian despising +the imperial noble. That the Greek court was encumbered with unmeaning +ceremonies, in order to make amends for the want of that veneration +which ought to have been called forth by real worth, and the presence +of actual power, was not the particular fault of that prince, but +belonged to the system of the government of Constantinople for ages. +Indeed, in its trumpery etiquette, which provided rules for the most +trivial points of a man's behaviour during the day, the Greek empire +resembled no existing power in its minute follies, except that of +Pekin; both, doubtless, being influenced by the same vain wish, to add +seriousness and an appearance of importance to objects, which, from +their trivial nature, could admit no such distinction. + +Yet thus far we must justify Alexius, that humble as were the +expedients he had recourse to, they were more useful to his empire than +the measures of a more proud and high-spirited prince might have proved +in the same circumstances. He was no champion to break a lance against +the breast-plate of his Frankish rival, the famous Bohemond of +Antioch,[Footnote: Bohemond, son of Robert Guiscard, the Norman +conqueror of Apulia, Calabria, and Sicily, was, at the time when the +first crusade began, Count of Tarentum. Though far advanced in life, he +eagerly joined the expedition of the Latins, and became Prince of +Antioch. For details of his adventures, death, and extraordinary +character, see Gibbon, chap. lix, and Mills' History of the Crusades, +vol. i.] but there were many occasions on which he hazarded his life +freely; and, so far as we can see, from a minute perusal of his +achievements, the Emperor of Greece was never so dangerous "under +shield," as when any foeman desired to stop him while retreating from a +conflict in which he had been worsted. + +But, besides that he did not hesitate, according to the custom of the +time, at least occasionally, to commit his person to the perils of +close combat, Alexius also possessed such knowledge of a general's +profession, as is required in our modern days. He knew how to occupy +military positions to the best advantage, and often covered defeats, or +improved dubious conflicts, in a manner highly to the disappointment of +those who deemed that the work of war was done only on the field of +battle. + +If Alexius Comnenus thus understood the evolutions of war, he was still +better skilled in those of politics, where, soaring far above the +express purpose of his immediate negotiation, the Emperor was sure to +gain some important and permanent advantage; though very often he was +ultimately defeated by the unblushing fickleness, or avowed treachery +of the barbarians, as the Greeks generally termed all other nations, +and particularly those tribes, (they can hardly be termed states,) by +which their own empire was surrounded. + +We may conclude our brief character of Comnenus, by saying, that, had +he not been called on to fill the station of a monarch who was under +the necessity of making himself dreaded, as one who was exposed to all +manner of conspiracies, both in and out of his own family, he might, in +all probability, have been regarded as an honest and humane prince. +Certainly he showed himself a good-natured man, and dealt less in +cutting off heads and extinguishing eyes, than had been the practice of +his predecessors, who generally took this method of shortening the +ambitious views of competitors. + +It remains to be mentioned, that Alexius had his full share of the +superstition of the age, which he covered with a species of hypocrisy. +It is even said, that his wife, Irene, who of course was best +acquainted with the real character of the Emperor, taxed her dying +husband with practising, in his last moments, the dissimulation which +had been his companion during life. [Footnote: See Gibbon, chap. lvi.] +He took also a deep interest in all matters respecting the Church, +where heresy, which the Emperor held, or affected to hold, in great +horror, appeared to him to lurk. Nor do we discover in his treatment of +the Manichaeans, or Paulicians, that pity for their speculative errors, +which modern times might think had been well purchased by the extent of +the temporal services of these unfortunate sectaries. Alexius knew no +indulgence for those who misinterpreted the mysteries of the Church, or +of its doctrines; and the duty of defending religion against +schismatics was, in his opinion, as peremptorily demanded from him, as +that of protecting the empire against the numberless tribes of +barbarians who were encroaching on its boundaries on every side. + +Such a mixture of sense and weakness, of meanness and dignity, of +prudent discretion and poverty of spirit, which last, in the European +mode of viewing things, approached to cowardice, formed the leading +traits of the character of Alexius Comnenus, at a period when the fate +of Greece, and all that was left in that country of art and +civilization, was trembling in the balance, and likely to be saved or +lost, according to the abilities of the Emperor for playing the very +difficult game which was put into his hands. + +These few leading circumstances will recall, to any one who is +tolerably well read in history, the peculiarities of the period at +which we have found a resting-place for the foundation of our story. + + + + +CHAPTER THE SECOND. + + _Othus_. ------------- This superb successor + Of the earth's mistress, as thou vainly speakest, + Stands midst these ages as, on the wide ocean, + The last spared fragment, of a spacious land, + That in some grand and awful ministration + Of mighty nature has engulfed been, + Doth lift aloft its dark and rocky cliffs + O'er the wild waste around, and sadly frowns + In lonely majesty. + CONSTANTINE PALEOLOGUS, _Scene I_. + + +Our scene in the capital of the Eastern Empire opens at what is termed +the Golden Gate of Constantinople; and it may be said in passing, that +this splendid epithet is not so lightly bestowed as may be expected +from the inflated language of the Greeks, which throws such an +appearance of exaggeration about them, their buildings, and monuments. + +The massive, and seemingly impregnable walls with which Constantine +surrounded the city, were greatly improved and added to by Theodosius, +called the Great. A triumphal arch, decorated with the architecture of +a better, though already a degenerate age, and serving, at the same +time, as a useful entrance, introduced the stranger into the city. On +the top, a statue of bronze represented Victory, the goddess who had +inclined the scales of battle in favour of Theodosius; and, as the +artist determined to be wealthy if he could not be tasteful, the gilded +ornaments with which the inscriptions were set off, readily led to the +popular name of the gate. Figures carved in a distant and happier +period of the art, glanced from the walls, without assorting happily +with the taste in which these were built. The more modern ornaments of +the Golden Gate bore, at the period of our story, an aspect very +different from those indicating the "conquest brought back to the +city," and the "eternal peace" which the flattering inscriptions +recorded as having been extorted by the sword of Theodosius. Four or +five military engines, for throwing darts of the largest size, were +placed upon the summit of the arch; and what had been originally +designed as a specimen of architectural embellishment, was now applied +to the purposes of defence. + +It was the hour of evening, and the cool and refreshing breeze from the +sea inclined each passenger, whose business was not of a very urgent +description, to loiter on his way, and cast a glance at the romantic +gateway, and the various interesting objects of nature and art, which +the city of Constantinople presented, as well to the inhabitants as to +strangers. [Footnote: The impression which the imperial city was +calculated to make on such visitors as the Crusaders of the West, is +given by the ancient French chronicler Villehardouin, who was present +at the capture of A. D. 1203. "When we had come," he says, "within +three leagues, to a certain Abbey, then we could plainly survey +Constantinople. There the ships and the galleys came to anchor; and +much did they who had never been in that quarter before, gaze upon the +city. That such a city could be in the world they had never conceived, +and they were never weary of staring at the high walls and towers with +which it was entirely encompassed, the rich palaces and lofty churches, +of which there were so many that no one could have believed it, if he +had not seen with his own eyes that city, the Queen of all cities. And +know that there was not so bold a heart there, that it did not feel +some terror at the strength of Constantinople."--Chap. 66. + +Again,--"And now many of those of the host went to see Constantinople +within, and the rich palaces and stately churches, of which it +possesses so many, and the riches of the place, which are such as no +other city ever equalled. I need not speak of the sanctuaries, which +are as many as are in all the world beside."--Chap. 100.] + +One individual, however, seemed to indulge more wonder and curiosity +than could have been expected from a native of the city, and looked +upon the rarities around with a quick and startled eye, that marked an +imagination awakened by sights that were new and strange. The +appearance of this person bespoke a foreigner of military habits, who +seemed, from his complexion, to have his birthplace far from the +Grecian metropolis, whatever chance had at present brought him to the +Golden Gate, or whatever place he filled in the Emperor's service. + +This young man was about two-and-twenty years old, remarkably +finely-formed and athletic--qualities well understood by the citizens +of Constantinople, whose habits of frequenting the public games had +taught them at least an acquaintance with the human person, and where, +in the select of their own countrymen, they saw the handsomest +specimens of the human race. + +These were, however, not generally so tall as the stranger at the +Golden Gate, while his piercing blue eyes, and the fair hair which +descended from under a light helmet gaily ornamented with silver, +bearing on its summit a crest resembling a dragon in the act of +expanding his terrible jaws, intimated a northern descent, to which the +extreme purity of his complexion also bore witness. His beauty, +however, though he was eminently distinguished both in features and in +person, was not liable to the charge of effeminacy. From this it was +rescued, both by his strength, and by the air of confidence and +self-possession with which the youth seemed to regard the wonders +around him, not indicating the stupid and helpless gaze of a mind +equally inexperienced, and incapable of receiving instruction, but +expressing the bold intellect which at once understands the greater +part of the information which it receives, and commands the spirit to +toil in search of the meaning of that which it has not comprehended, or +may fear it has misinterpreted. This look of awakened attention and +intelligence gave interest to the young barbarian; and while the +bystanders were amazed that a savage from some unknown or remote corner +of the universe should possess a noble countenance bespeaking a mind so +elevated, they respected him for the composure with which he witnessed +so many things, the fashion, the splendour, nay, the very use of which, +must have been recently new to him. + +The young man's personal equipments exhibited a singular mixture of +splendour and effeminacy, and enabled the experienced spectators to +ascertain his nation, and the capacity in which he served. We have +already mentioned the fanciful and crested helmet, which was a +distinction of the foreigner, to which the reader must add in his +imagination a small cuirass, or breastplate of silver, so sparingly +fashioned as obviously to afford little security to the broad chest, on +which it rather hung like an ornament than covered as a buckler; nor, +if a well-thrown dart, or strongly-shod arrow, should alight full on +this rich piece of armour, was there much hope that it could protect +the bosom which it partially shielded. + +From betwixt the shoulders hung down over the back what had the +appearance of a bearskin; but, when more closely examined, it was only +a very skilful imitation, of the spoils of the chase, being in reality +a surcoat composed of strong shaggy silk, so woven as to exhibit, at a +little distance, no inaccurate representation of a bear's hide. A light +crooked sword, or scimitar, sheathed in a scabbard of gold and ivory, +hung by the left side of the stranger, the ornamented hilt of which +appeared much too small for the large-jointed hand of the young +Hercules who was thus gaily attired. A dress, purple in colour, and +setting close to the limbs, covered the body of the soldier to a little +above the knee; from thence the knees and legs were bare to the calf, +to which the reticulated strings of the sandals rose from the instep, +the ligatures being there fixed by a golden coin of the reigning +Emperor, converted into a species of clasp for the purpose. + +But a weapon which seemed more particularly adapted to the young +barbarian's size, and incapable of being used by a man of less +formidable limbs and sinews, was a battle-axe, the firm iron-guarded +staff of which was formed of tough elm, strongly inlaid and defended +with brass, while many a plate and ring were indented in the handle, to +hold the wood and the steel parts together. The axe itself was composed +of two blades, turning different ways, with a sharp steel spike +projecting from between them. The steel part, both spike and blade, was +burnished as bright as a mirror; and though its ponderous size must +have been burdensome to one weaker than himself, yet the young soldier +carried it as carelessly along, as if it were but a feather's weight. +It was, indeed, a skilfully constructed weapon, so well balanced, that +it was much lighter in striking and in recovery, than he who saw it in +the hands of another could easily have believed. + +The carrying arms of itself showed that the military man was a +stranger. The native Greeks had that mark of a civilized people, that +they never bore weapons during the time of peace, unless the wearer +chanced to be numbered among those whose military profession and +employment required them to be always in arms. Such soldiers by +profession were easily distinguished from the peaceful citizens; and it +was with some evident show of fear as well as dislike, that the +passengers observed to each other, that the stranger was a Varangian, +an expression which intimated a barbarian of the imperial body-guard. + +To supply the deficiency of valour among his own subjects, and to +procure soldiers who should be personally dependent on the Emperor, the +Greek sovereigns had been, for a great many years, in the custom of +maintaining in their pay, as near their person as they could, the +steady services of a select number of mercenaries in the capacity of +body-guards, which were numerous enough, when their steady discipline +and inflexible loyalty were taken in conjunction with their personal +strength and indomitable courage, to defeat, not only any traitorous +attempt on the imperial person, but to quell open rebellions, unless +such were supported by a great proportion of the military force. Their +pay was therefore liberal; their rank and established character for +prowess gave them a degree of consideration among the people, whose +reputation for valour had not for some ages stood high; and if, as +foreigners, and the members of a privileged body, the Varangians were +sometimes employed in arbitrary and unpopular services, the natives +were so apt to fear, while they disliked them, that the hardy strangers +disturbed themselves but little about the light in which they were +regarded by the inhabitants of Constantinople. Their dress and +accoutrements, while within the city, partook of the rich, or rather +gaudy costume, which we have described, bearing only a sort of affected +resemblance to that which the Varangians wore in their native forests. +But the individuals of this select corps were, when their services were +required beyond the city, furnished with armour and weapons more +resembling those which they were accustomed to wield in their own +country, possessing much less of the splendour of war, and a far +greater portion of its effective terrors; and thus they were summoned +to take the field. + +This body of Varangians (which term is, according to one interpretation +merely a general expression for barbarians) was, in an early age of the +empire, formed of the roving and piratical inhabitants of the north, +whom a love of adventure, the greatest perhaps that ever was indulged, +and a contempt of danger, which never had a parallel in the history of +human nature, drove forth upon the pathless ocean. "Piracy," says +Gibbon, with his usual spirit, "was the exercise, the trade, the glory, +and the virtue of the Scandinavian youth. Impatient of a bleak climate +and narrow limits, they started from the banquet, grasped their arms, +sounded their horn, ascended their ships, and explored every coast that +promised either spoil or settlement." [Footnote: Decline and Fall of +the Roman Empire. Chap. lv. vol. x. p. 221, 8vo edition.] + +The conquests made in France and Britain by these wild sea-kings, as +they were called, have obscured the remembrance of other northern +champions, who, long before the time of Comnenus, made excursions as +far as Constantinople, and witnessed with their own eyes the wealth and +the weakness of the Grecian empire itself. Numbers found their way +thither through the pathless wastes of Russia; others navigated the +Mediterranean in their sea-serpents, as they termed their piratical +vessels. The Emperors, terrified at the appearance of these daring +inhabitants of the frozen zone, had recourse to the usual policy of a +rich and unwarlike people, bought with gold the service of their +swords, and thus formed a corps of satellites more distinguished for +valour than the famed Praetorian Bands of Rome, and, perhaps because +fewer in number, unalterably loyal to their new princes. + +But, at a later period of the empire, it began to be more difficult for +the Emperors to obtain recruits for their favourite and selected corps, +the northern nations having now in a great measure laid aside the +piratical and roving habits, which had driven their ancestors from the +straits of Elsinore to those of Sestos and Abydos. The corps of the +Varangians must therefore have died out, or have been filled up with +less worthy materials, had not the conquests made by the Normans in the +far distant west, sent to the aid of Comnenus a large body of the +dispossessed inhabitants of the islands of Britain, and particularly of +England, who furnished recruits to his chosen body-guard. These were, +in fact, Anglo-Saxons; but, in the confused idea of geography received +at the court of Constantinople, they were naturally enough called +Anglo-Danes, as their native country was confounded with the Thule of +the ancients, by which expression the archipelago of Zetland and Orkney +is properly to be understood, though, according to the notions of the +Greeks, it comprised either Denmark or Britain. The emigrants, however, +spoke a language not very dissimilar to the original Varangians, and +adopted the name more readily, that it seemed to remind them of their +unhappy fate, the appellation being in one sense capable of being +interpreted as exiles. Excepting one or two chief commanders, whom the +Emperor judged worthy of such high trust, the Varangians were officered +by men of their own nation; and with so many privileges, being joined +by many of their countrymen from time to time, as the crusades, +pilgrimages, or discontent at home, drove fresh supplies of the +Anglo-Saxons, or Anglo-Danes, to the east, the Varangians subsisted in +strength to the last days of the Greek empire, retaining their native +language, along with the unblemished loyalty, and unabated martial +spirit, which characterised their fathers. + +This account of the Varangian Guard is strictly historical, and might +be proved by reference to the Byzantine historians; most of whom, and +also Villehardouin's account of the taking of the city of +Constantinople by the Franks and Venetians, make repeated mention of +this celebrated and singular body of Englishmen, forming a mercenary +guard attendant on the person of the Greek Emperors. [Footnote: Ducange +has poured forth a tide of learning on this curious subject, which will +be found in his Notes on Villehardouin's Constantinople under the +French Emperors.--Paris, 1637, folio, p. 196. Gibbon's History may also +be consulted, vol. x. p. 231. + +Villehardouin, in describing the siege of Constantinople, A. D. 1203, +says, "'Li murs fu mult garnis d'Anglois et de Danois,"--hence the +dissertation of Ducange here quoted, and several articles besides in +his Glossarium, as _Varangi_, Warengangi, &c. The etymology of the name +is left uncertain, though the German _fort-ganger_, _i. e._ forth-goer, +wanderer, _exile_, seems the most probable. The term occurs in various +Italian and Sicilian documents, anterior to the establishment of the +Varangian Guards at Constantinople, and collected by Muratori: as, for +instance, in an edict of one of the Lombard kings, "Omnes Warengrangi, +qui de extens finibus in regni nostri finibus advenerint seque sub +scuto potestatis nostrae subdiderint, legibus nostris Longobardorum +vivere debeant,"--and in another, "De Warengangis, nobilibus, +mediocribus, et rusticis hominibus, qui usque nune in terra vestra +fugiti sunt, habeatis eos."--_Muratori_, vol. ii. p. 261. + +With regard to the origin of the Varangian Guard, the most distinct +testimony is that of Ordericus Vittalis, who says, "When therefore the +English had lost their liberty, they turned themselves with zeal to +discover the means of throwing off the unaccustomed yoke. Some fled to +Sueno, King of the Danes, to excite him to the recovery of the +inheritance of his grandfather, Canute. Not a few fled into exile in +other regions, either from the mere desire of escaping from under the +Norman rule, or in the hope of acquiring wealth, and so being one day +in a condition to renew the struggle at home. Some of these, in the +bloom of youth, penetrated into a far distant land, and offered +themselves to the military service of the Constantinopolitan +Emperor--that wise prince, against whom Robert Guiscard, Duke of +Apulia, had then raised all his forces. The English exiles were +favourably received, and opposed in battle to the Normans, for whose +encounter the Greeks themselves were too weak. Alexius began to build a +town for the English, a little above Constantinople, at a place called +_Chevelot_, but the trouble of the Normans from Sicily still +increasing, he soon recalled them to the capital, and intrusted the +princial palace with all its treasures to their keeping. This was the +method in which the Saxon English found their way to Ionia, where they +still remain, highly valued by the Emperor and the people."--Book iv. +p. 508.] + +Having said enough to explain why an individual Varangian should be +strolling about the Golden Gate, we may proceed in the story which we +have commenced. + +Let it not be thought extraordinary, that this soldier of the +life-guard should be looked upon with some degree of curiosity by the +passing citizens. It must be supposed, that, from their peculiar +duties, they were not encouraged to hold frequent intercourse or +communication with the inhabitants; and, besides that they had duties +of police occasionally to exercise amongst them, which made them +generally more dreaded than beloved, they were at the same time +conscious, that their high pay, splendid appointments, and immediate +dependence on the Emperor, were subjects of envy to the other forces. +They, therefore, kept much in the neighbourhood of their own barracks, +and were seldom seen straggling remote from them, unless they had a +commission of government intrusted to their charge. + +This being the case, it was natural that a people so curious as the +Greeks should busy themselves in eyeing the stranger as he loitered in +one spot, or wandered to and fro, like a man who either could not find +some place which he was seeking, or had failed to meet some person with +whom he had an appointment, for which the ingenuity of the passengers +found a thousand different and inconsistent reasons. "A Varangian," +said one citizen to another, "and upon duty--ahem! Then I presume to +say in your ear"---- + +"What do you imagine is his object?" enquired the party to whom this +information was addressed. + +"Gods and goddesses! do you think I can tell you? but suppose that he +is lurking here to hear what folk say of the Emperor," answered the +_quid-nunc_ of Constantinople. + +"That is not likely,"' said the querist; "these Varangians do not speak +our language, and are not extremely well fitted for spies, since few of +them pretend to any intelligible notion of the Grecian tongue. It is +not likely, I think, that the Emperor would employ as a spy a man who +did not understand the language of the country." + +"But if there are, as all men fancy," answered the politician, "persons +among these barbarian soldiers who can speak almost all languages, you +will admit that such are excellently qualified for seeing clearly +around them, since they possess the talent of beholding and reporting, +while no one has the slightest idea of suspecting them." + +"It may well be," replied his companion; "but since we see so clearly +the fox's foot and paws protruding from beneath the seeming sheep's +fleece, or rather, by your leave, the _bear's_ hide yonder, had we not +better be jogging homeward, ere it be pretended we have insulted a +Varangian Guard?" + +This surmise of danger insinuated by the last speaker, who was a much +older and more experienced politician than his friend, determined both +on a hasty retreat. They adjusted their cloaks, caught hold of each +other's arm, and, speaking fast and thick as they started new subjects +of suspicion, they sped, close coupled together, towards their +habitations, in a different and distant quarter of the town. + +In the meantime, the sunset was nigh over; and the long shadows of the +walls, bulwarks, and arches, were projecting from the westward in +deeper and blacker shade. The Varangian seemed tired of the short and +lingering circle in which he had now trodden for more than an hour, and +in which he still loitered like an unliberated spirit, which cannot +leave the haunted spot till licensed by the spell which has brought it +hither. Even so the barbarian, casting an impatient glance to the sun, +which was setting in a blaze of light behind a rich grove of +cypress-trees, looked for some accommodation on the benches of stone +which were placed under shadow of the triumphal arch of Theodosius, +drew the axe, which was his principal weapon, close to his side, +wrapped his cloak about him, and, though his dress was not in other +respects a fit attire for slumber, any more than the place well +selected for repose, yet in less than three minutes he was fast asleep. +The irresistible impulse which induced him to seek for repose in a +place very indifferently fitted for the purpose, might be weariness +consequent upon the military vigils, which had proved a part of his +duty on the preceding evening. At the same time, his spirit was so +alive within him, even while he gave way to this transient fit of +oblivion, that he remained almost awake even with shut eyes, and no +hound ever seemed to sleep more lightly than our Anglo-Saxon at the +Golden Gate of Constantinople. + +And now the slumberer, as the loiterer had been before, was the subject +of observation to the accidental passengers. Two men entered the porch +in company. One was a somewhat slight made, but alert-looking man, by +name Lysimachus, and by profession a designer. A roll of paper in his +hand, with a little satchel containing a few chalks, or pencils, +completed his stock in trade; and his acquaintance with the remains of +ancient art gave him a power of talking on the subject, which +unfortunately bore more than due proportion to his talents of +execution. His companion, a magnificent-looking man in form, and so far +resembling the young barbarian, but more clownish and peasant-like in +the expression of his features, was Stephanos the wrestler, well known +in the Palestra. + +"Stop here, my friend," said the artist, producing his pencils, "till I +make a sketch for my youthful Hercules." + +"I thought Hercules had been a Greek," said the wrestler. "This +sleeping animal is a barbarian." + +The tone intimated some offence, and the designer hastened to soothe +the displeasure which he had thoughtlessly excited. Stephanos, known by +the surname of Castor, who was highly distinguished for gymnastic +exercises, was a sort of patron to the little artist, and not unlikely +by his own reputation to bring the talents of his friend into notice. + +"Beauty and strength," said the adroit artist, "are of no particular +nation; and may our Muse never deign me her prize, but it is my +greatest pleasure to compare them, as existing in the uncultivated +savage of the north, and when they are found in the darling of an +enlightened people, who has added the height of gymnastic skill to the +most distinguished natural qualities, such as we can now only see in +the works of Phidias and Praxiteles--or in our living model of the +gymnastic champions of antiquity." + +"Nay, I acknowledge that the Varangian is a proper man," said the +athletic hero, softening his tone; "but the poor savage hath not, +perhaps, in his lifetime, had a single drop of oil on his bosom! +Hercules instituted the Isthmian Games"--- + +"But hold! what sleeps he with, wrapt so close in his bear-skin?" said +the artist. "Is it a club?" + +"Away, away, my friend!" cried Stephanos, as they looked closer on the +sleeper. "Do you not know that is the instrument of their barbarous +office? They do not war with swords or lances, as if destined to attack +men of flesh and blood; but with maces and axes, as if they were to +hack limbs formed of stone, and sinews of oak. I will wager my crown +[of withered parsley] that he lies here to arrest some distinguished +commander who has offended the government! He would not have been thus +formidably armed otherwise--Away, away, good Lysimachus; let us respect +the slumbers of the bear." + +So saying, the champion of the Palestra made off with less apparent +confidence than his size and strength might have inspired. + +Others, now thinly straggling, passed onward as the evening closed, and +the shadows of the cypress-trees fell darker around. Two females of the +lower rank cast their eyes on the sleeper. "Holy Maria!" said one, "if +he does not put me in mind of the Eastern tale, how the Genie brought a +gallant young prince from his nuptial chamber in Egypt, and left him +sleeping at the gate of Damascus. I will awake the poor lamb, lest he +catch harm from the night dew." + +"Harm?" answered the older and crosser looking woman. "Ay, such harm as +the cold water of the Cydnus does to the wild-swan. A lamb?--ay, +forsooth! Why he's a wolf or a bear, at least a Varangian, and no +modest matron would exchange a word with such an unmannered barbarian. +I'll tell you what one of, these English Danes did to me"---- + +So saying, she drew on her companion, who followed with some +reluctance, seeming to listen to her gabble, while she looked back upon +the sleeper. + +The total disappearance of the sun, and nearly at the same time the +departure of the twilight, which lasts so short time in that tropical +region--one of the few advantages which a more temperate climate +possesses over it, being the longer continuance of that sweet and +placid light--gave signal to the warders of the city to shut the +folding leaves of the Golden Gate, leaving a wicket lightly bolted for +the passage of those whom business might have detained too late without +the walls, and indeed for all who chose to pay a small coin. The +position and apparent insensibility of the Varangian did not escape +those who had charge of the gate, of whom there was a strong guard, +which belonged to the ordinary Greek forces. + +"By Castor and by Pollux," said the centurion--for the Greeks swore by +the ancient deities, although they no longer worshipped them, and +preserved those military distinctions with which "the steady Romans +shook the world," although they were altogether degenerated from their +original manners--"By Castor and Pollux, comrades, we cannot gather +gold in this gate, according as its legend tells us: yet it will be our +fault if we cannot glean a goodly crop of silver; and though the golden +age be the most ancient and honourable, yet in this degenerate time it +is much if we see a glimpse of the inferior metal." + +"Unworthy are we to follow the noble centurion Harpax," answered one of +the soldiers of the watch, who showed the shaven head and the single +tuft [Footnote: One tuft is left on the shaven head of the Moslem, for +the angel to grasp by when conveying him to Paradise.] of a Mussulman, +"if we do not hold silver a sufficient cause to bestir ourselves, when +there has been no gold to be had--as, by the faith of an honest man, I +think we can hardly tell its colour--whether out of the imperial +treasury, or obtained at the expense of individuals, for many long +moons !" + +"But this silver," said the centurion, "thou shalt see with thine own +eye, and hear it ring a knell in the purse which holds our common +stock." "Which _did_ hold it, as thou wouldst say, most valiant +commander," replied the inferior warder; "but what that purse holds +now, save a few miserable oboli for purchasing certain pickled potherbs +and salt fish, to relish our allowance of stummed wine, I cannot tell, +but willingly give my share of the contents to the devil, if either +purse or platter exhibits symptom of any age richer than the age of +copper." + +"I will replenish our treasury," said the centurion, "were our stock +yet lower than it is. Stand up close by the wicket, my masters. Bethink +you we are the Imperial Guards, or the guards of the Imperial City, it +is all one, and let us have no man rush past us on a sudden;--and now +that we are on our guard, I will unfold to you--But stop," said the +valiant centurion, "are we all here true brothers? Do all well +understand the ancient and laudable customs of our watch--keeping all +things secret which concern the profit and advantage of this our vigil, +and aiding and abetting the common cause, without information or +treachery?" + +"You are strangely suspicious to-night," answered the sentinel. +"Methinks we have stood by you without tale-telling in matters which +were more weighty. Have you forgot the passage of the jeweller--which +was neither the gold nor silver age; but if there were a diamond one"-- + +"Peace, good Ismail the Infidel," said the centurion,--"for, I thank +Heaven, we are of all religions, so it is to be hoped we must have the +true one amongst us,--Peace, I say; it is unnecessary to prove thou +canst keep new secrets, by ripping up old ones. Come hither--look +through the wicket to the stone bench, on the shady side of the grand +porch--tell me, old lad, what dost thou see there?" + +"A man asleep," said Ismail. "By Heaven, I think from what I can see by +the moonlight, that it is one of those barbarians, one of those island +dogs, whom the Emperor sets such store by!" + +"And can thy fertile brain," said the centurion, "spin nothing out of +his present situation, tending towards our advantage?" + +"Why, ay," said Ismail; "they have large pay, though they are not only +barbarians, but pagan dogs, in comparison with us Moslems and +Nazarenes. That fellow hath besotted himself with liquor, and hath not +found his way home to his barracks in good time. He will be severely +punished, unless we consent to admit him; and to prevail on us to do +so, he must empty the contents of his girdle." + +"That, at least--that, at least," answered the soldiers of the city +watch, but carefully suppressing their voices, though they spoke in an +eager tone. "And is that all that you would make of such an +opportunity?" said Harpax, scornfully. "No, no, comrades. If this +outlandish animal indeed escape us, he must at least leave his fleece +behind. See you not the gleams from his headpiece and his cuirass? I +presume these betoken substantial silver, though it may be of the +thinnest. There lies the silver mine I spoke of, ready to enrich the +dexterous hands who shall labour it." + +"But," said timidly a young Greek, a companion of their watch lately +enlisted in the corps, and unacquainted with their habits, "still this +barbarian, as you call him, is a soldier of the Emperor; and if we are +convicted of depriving him of his arms, we shall be justly punished for +a military crime." + +"Hear to a new Lycurgus come to teach us our duty!" said the centurion. +"Learn first, young man, that the metropolitan cohort never can commit +a crime; and next, of course, that they can never be convicted of one. +Suppose we found a straggling barbarian, a Varangian, like this +slumberer, perhaps a Frank, or some other of these foreigners bearing +unpronounceable names, while they dishonour us by putting on the arms +and apparel of the real Roman soldier, are we, placed to defend an +important post, to admit a man so suspicious within our postern, when +the event may probably be to betray both the Golden Gate and the hearts +of gold who guard it,--to have the one seized, and the throats of the +others handsomely cut?" + +"Keep him without side of the gate, then," replied the novice, "if you +think him so dangerous. For my part, I should not fear him, were he +deprived of that huge double-edged axe, which gleams from under his +cloak, having a more deadly glare than the comet which astrologers +prophesy such strange things of." + +"Nay, then, we agree together," answered Harpax, "and you speak like a +youth of modesty and sense; and I promise you the state will lose +nothing in the despoiling of this same barbarian. Each of these savages +hath a double set of accoutrements, the one wrought with gold, silver, +inlaid work, and ivory, as becomes their duties in the prince's +household; the other fashioned of triple steel, strong, weighty, and +irresistible. Now, in taking from this suspicious character his silver +helmet and cuirass, you reduce him to his proper weapons, and you will +see him start up in arms fit for duty." + +"Yes," said the novice; "but I do not see that this reasoning will do +more than warrant our stripping the Varangian of his armour, to be +afterwards heedfully returned to him on the morrow, if he prove a true +man. How, I know not, but I had adopted some idea that it was to be +confiscated for our joint behoof." + +"Unquestionably," said Harpax; "for such has been the rule of our watch +ever since the days of the excellent centurion Sisyphus, in whose time +it first was determined, that all contraband commodities or suspicious +weapons, or the like, which were brought into the city during the +nightwatch, should be uniformly forfeited to the use of the soldiery of +the guard; and where the Emperor finds the goods or arms unjustly +seized, I hope he is rich enough to make it up to the sufferer." + +"But still--but still," said Sebastes of Mitylene, the young Greek +aforesaid, "were the Emperor to discover"-- + +"Ass!" replied Harpax, "he cannot discover, if he had all the eyes of +Argus's tail.--Here are twelve of us sworn according to the rules of +the watch, to abide in the same story. Here is a barbarian, who, if he +remembers any thing of the matter--which I greatly doubt--his choice of +a lodging arguing his familiarity with the wine-pot--tells but a wild +tale of losing his armour, which we, my masters," (looking round to his +companions,) "deny stoutly--I hope we have courage enough for that--and +which party will be believed? The companions of the watch, surely!" + +"Quite the contrary," said Sebastes. "I was born at a distance from +hence; yet even in the island of Mitylene, the rumour had reached me +that the cavaliers of the city-guard of Constantinople were so +accomplished in falsehood, that the oath of a single barbarian would +outweigh the Christian oath of the whole body, if Christians some of +them are--for example, this dark man with a single tuft on his head." + +"And if it were even so," said the centurion, with a gloomy and +sinister look, "there is another way of making the transaction a safe +one." + +Sebastes, fixing his eye on his commander, moved his hand to the hilt +of an Eastern poniard which he wore, as if to penetrate his exact +meaning. The centurion nodded in acquiescence. + +"Young as I am," said Sebastes, "I have been already a pirate five +years at sea, and a robber three years now in the hills, and it is the +first time I have seen or heard a man hesitate, in such a case, to take +the only part which is worth a brave man's while to resort to in a +pressing affair." + +Harpax struck his hand into that of the soldier, as sharing his +uncompromising sentiments; but when he spoke, it was in a tremulous +voice. + +"How shall we deal with him?" said he to Sebastes, who, from the most +raw recruit in the corps, had now risen to the highest place in his +estimation. + +"Any how," returned the islander; "I see bows here and shafts, and if +no other person can use them"-- + +"They are not," said the centurion, "the regular arms of our corps." + +"The fitter you to guard the gates of a city," said the young soldier, +with a horse-laugh, which had something insulting in it. "Well--be it +so. I can shoot like a Scythian," he proceeded; "nod but with your +head, one shaft shall crash among the splinters of his skull and his +brains; the second shall quiver in his heart." + +"Bravo, my noble comrade!" said Harpax, in a tone of affected rapture, +always lowering his voice, however, as respecting the slumbers of the +Varangian. "Such were the robbers of ancient days, the Diomedes, +Corvnetes, Synnes, Scyrons, Procrustes, whom it required demigods to +bring to what was miscalled justice, and whose compeers and fellows +will remain masters of the continent and isles of Greece, until +Hercules and Theseus shall again appear upon earth. Nevertheless, shoot +not, my valiant Sebastes--draw not the bow, my invaluable Mitylenian; +you may wound and not kill." "I am little wont to do so," said +Sebastes, again repeating the hoarse, chuckling, discordant laugh, +which grated upon the ears of the centurion, though he could hardly +tell the reason why it was so uncommonly unpleasant. "If I look not +about me," was his internal reflection, "we shall have two centurions +of the watch, instead of one. This Mitylenian, or be he who the devil +will, is a bow's length beyond me. I must keep my eye on him." He then +spoke aloud, in a tone of authority. "But, come, young man, it is hard +to discourage a young beginner. If you have been such a rover of wood +and river as you tell us of, you know how to play the Sicarius: there +lies your object, drunk or asleep, we know not which;--you will deal +with him in either case." + +"Will you give me no odds to stab a stupefied or drunken man, most +noble centurion?" answered the Greek. "You would perhaps love the +commission yourself?" he continued, somewhat ironically. + +"Do as you are directed, friend," said Harpax, pointing to the turret +staircase which led down from the battlement to the arched entrance +underneath the porch. + +"He has the true cat-like stealthy pace," half muttered the centurion, +as his sentinel descended to do such a crime as he was posted there to +prevent. "This cockerel's comb must be cut, or he will become king of +the roost. But let us see if his hand be as resolute as his tongue; +then we will consider what turn to give to the conclusion." + +As Harpax spoke between his teeth, and rather to himself than any of +his companions, the Mitylenian emerged from under the archway, treading +on tiptoe, yet swiftly, with an admirable mixture of silence and +celerity. His poniard, drawn as he descended, gleamed in his hand, +which was held a little behind the rest of his person, so as to conceal +it. The assassin hovered less than an instant over the sleeper, as if +to mark the interval between the ill-fated silver corslet, and the body +which it was designed to protect, when, at the instant the blow was +rushing to its descent, the Varangian started up at once, arrested the +armed hand of the assassin, by striking it upwards with the head of his +battle-axe; and while he thus parried the intended stab, struck the +Greek a blow heavier than Sebastes had ever learned at the Pancration, +which left him scarce the power to cry help to his comrades on the +battlements. They saw what had happened, however, and beheld the +barbarian set his foot on their companion, and brandish high his +formidable weapon, the whistling sound of which made the old arch ring +ominously, while he paused an instant, with his weapon upheaved, ere he +gave the finishing blow to his enemy. The warders made a bustle, as if +some of them would descend to the assistance of Sebastes, without, +however, appearing very eager to do so, when Harpax, in a rapid +whisper, commanded them to stand fast. + +"Each man to his place," he said, "happen what may. Yonder comes a +captain of the guard--the secret is our own, if the savage has killed +the Mitylenian, as I well trust, for he stirs neither hand nor foot. +But if he lives, my comrades, make hard your faces as flints--he is but +one man, we are twelve. We know nothing of his purpose, save that he +went to see wherefore the barbarian slept so near the post." + +While the centurion thus bruited his purpose in busy insinuation to the +companions of his watch, the stately figure of a tall soldier, richly +armed, and presenting a lofty crest, which glistened as he stept from +the open moonlight into the shade of the vault, became visible beneath. +A whisper passed among the warders on the top of the gate. + +"Draw bolt, shut gate, come of the Mitylenian what will," said the +centurion; "we are lost men if we own him.--Here comes the chief of the +Varangian axes, the Follower himself." + +"Well, Hereward," said the officer who came last upon the scene, in a +sort of _lingua Franca_, generally used by the barbarians of the guard, +"hast thou caught a night-hawk?" + +"Ay, by Saint George!" answered the soldier; "and yet, in my country, +we would call him but a kite." + +"What is he?" said the leader. + +"He will tell you that himself," replied the Varangian, "when I take my +grasp from his windpipe." + +"Let him go, then," said the officer. + +The Englishman did as he was commanded; but, escaping as soon as he +felt himself at liberty, with an alertness which could scarce have been +anticipated, the Mitylenian rushed out at the arch, and, availing +himself of the complicated ornaments which had originally graced the +exterior of the gateway, he fled around buttress and projection, +closely pursued by the Varangian, who, encumbered with his armour, was +hardly a match in the course for the light-footed Grecian, as he dodged +his pursuer from one skulking place to another. The officer laughed +heartily, as the two figures, like shadows appearing and disappearing +as suddenly, held rapid flight and chase around the arch of Theodosius. + +"By Hercules! it is Hector pursued round the walls of Ilion by +Achilles," said the officer; "but my Pelides will scarce overtake the +son of Priam. What, ho! goddess-born--son of the white-footed +Thetis!--But the allusion is lost on the poor savage--Hollo, Hereward! +I say, stop--know thine own most barbarous name." These last words were +muttered; then raising his voice, "Do not out-run thy wind, good +Hereward. Thou mayst have more occasion for breath to-night." + +"If it had been my leader's will," answered the Varangian, coming back +in sulky mood, and breathing like one who had been at the top of his +speed, "I would have had him as fast as ever grey-hound held hare, ere +I left off the chase. Were it not for this foolish armour, which +encumbers without defending one, I would not have made two bounds +without taking him by the throat." + +"As well as it is," said the officer, who was, in fact, the +Acoulonthos, or _Follower_, so called because it was the duty of this +highly-trusted officer of the Varangian Guards constantly to attend on +the person of the Emperor. "But let us now see by what means we are to +regain our entrance through the gate; for if, as I suspect, it was one +of those warders who was willing to have played thee a trick, his +companions may not let us enter willingly." "And is it not," said the +Varangian, "your Valour's duty to probe this want of discipline to the +bottom?" + +"Hush thee here, my simple-minded savage! I have often told you, most +ignorant Hereward, that the skulls of those who come from your cold and +muddy Boentia of the North, are fitter to bear out twenty blows with a +sledge-hammer, than turn off one witty or ingenious idea. But follow +me, Hereward, and although I am aware that showing the fine meshes of +Grecian policy to the coarse eye of an unpractised barbarian like thee, +is much like casting pearls before swine, a thing forbidden in the +Blessed Gospel, yet, as thou hast so good a heart, and so trusty, as is +scarce to be met with among my Varangians themselves, I care not if, +while thou art in attendance on my person, I endeavour to indoctrinate +thee in some of that policy by which I myself--the Follower--the chief +of the Varangians, and therefore erected by their axes into the most +valiant of the valiant, am content to guide myself, although every way +qualified to bear me through the cross currents of the court by main +pull of oar and press of sail--a condescension in me, to do that by +policy, which no man in this imperial court, the chosen sphere of +superior wits, could so well accomplish by open force as myself. What +think'st thou, good savage?" + +"I know," answered the Varangian, who walked about a step and a half +behind his leader, like an orderly of the present day behind his +officer's shoulder, "I should be sorry to trouble my head with what I +could do by my hands at once." + +"Did I not say so?" replied the Follower, who had now for some minutes +led the way from the Golden Gate, and was seen gliding along the +outside of the moonlight walls, as if seeking an entrance elsewhere. +"Lo, such is the stuff of what you call your head is made! Your hands +and arms are perfect Ahitophels, compared to it. Hearken to me, thou +most ignorant of all animals,--but, for that very reason, thou stoutest +of confidants, and bravest of soldiers,--I will tell thee the very +riddle of this night-work, and yet, even then I doubt if thou canst +understand me." + +"It is my present duty to try to comprehend your Valour," said the +Varangian--"I would say your policy, since you condescend to expound it +to me. As for your valour," he added, "I should be unlucky if I did not +think I understand its length and breadth already." + +The Greek General coloured a little, but replied, with unaltered voice, +"True, good Hereward. We have seen each other in battle." + +Hereward here could not suppress a short cough, which to those +grammarians of the day who were skilful in applying the use of accents, +would have implied no peculiar eulogium on his officer's military +bravery. Indeed, during their whole intercourse, the conversation of +the General, in spite of his tone of affected importance and +superiority, displayed an obvious respect for his companion, as one +who, in many points of action, might, if brought to the test, prove a +more effective soldier than himself. On the other hand, when the +powerful Northern warrior replied, although it was with all observance +of discipline and duty, yet the discussion might sometimes resemble +that between an ignorant macaroni officer, before the Duke of York's +reformation of the British army, and a steady sergeant of the regiment +in which they both served. There was a consciousness of superiority, +disguised by external respect, and half admitted by the leader. + +"You will grant me, my simple friend," continued the chief, in the same +tone as before, "in order to lead thee by a short passage into the +deepest principle of policy which pervades this same court of +Constantinople, that the favour of the Emperor"--(here the officer +raised his casque, and the soldier made a semblance of doing so +also)--"who (be the place where he puts his foot sacred!) is the +vivifying principle of the sphere in which we live, as the sun itself +is that of humanity"---- + +"I have heard something like this said by our tribunes," said the +Varangian. + +"It is their duty so to instruct you," answered the leader; "and I +trust that the priests also, in their sphere, forget not to teach my +Varangians their constant service to their Emperor." + +"They do not omit it," replied the soldier, "though we of the exiles +know our duty." + +"God forbid I should doubt it," said the commander of the battle-axes. +"All I mean is to make thee understand, my dear Hereward, that as there +are, though perhaps such do not exist in thy dark and gloomy climate, a +race of insects which are born in the first rays of the morning, and +expire with those of sunset, (thence called by us ephemeras, as +enduring one day only,) such is the case of a favourite at court, while +enjoying the smiles of the most sacred Emperor. And happy is he whose +favour, rising as the person of the sovereign emerges from the level +space which extends around the throne, displays itself in the first +imperial blaze of glory, and who, keeping his post during the meridian +splendour of the crown, has only the fate to disappear and die with the +last beam of imperial brightness." + +"Your Valour," said the islander, "speaks higher language than my +Northern wits are able to comprehend. Only, methinks, rather than part +with life at the sunset, I would, since insect I must needs be, become +a moth for two or three dark hours." + +"Such is the sordid desire of the vulgar, Hereward," answered the +Follower, with assumed superiority, "who are contented to enjoy life, +lacking distinction; whereas we, on the other hand, we of choicer +quality, who form the nearest and innermost circle around the Imperial +Alexius, in which he himself forms the central point, are watchful, to +woman's jealousy, of the distribution of his favours, and omit no +opportunity, whether by leaguing with or against each other, to +recommend ourselves individually to the peliar light of his +countenance." + +"I think I comprehend what you mean," said the guardsman; "although as +for living such a life of intrigue--but that matters not." + +"It does indeed matter not, my good Hereward," said his officer, "and +thou art lucky in having no appetite for the life I have described. Yet +have I seen barbarians rise high in the empire, and if they have not +altogether the flexibility, the malleability, as it is called--that +happy ductility which can give way to circumstances, I have yet known +those of barbaric tribes, especially if bred up at court from their +youth, who joined to a limited portion of this flexile quality enough +of a certain tough durability of temper, which, if it does not excel in +availing itself of opportunity, has no contemptible talent at creating +it. But letting comparisons pass, it follows, from this emulation of +glory, that is, of royal favour, amongst the servants of the imperial +and most sacred court, that each is desirous of distinguishing himself +by showing to the Emperor, not only that he fully understands the +duties of his own employments, but that he is capable, in case of +necessity, of discharging those of others." + +"I understand," said the Saxon; "and thence it happens that the under +ministers, soldiers, and assistants of the great crown-officers, are +perpetually engaged, not in aiding each other, but in acting as spies +on their neighbours' actions?" + +"Even so," answered the commander; "it is but few days since I had a +disagreeable instance of it. Every one, however dull in the intellect, +hath understood thus much, that the great Protospathaire, [Footnote: +Literally, the First Swordsman.] which title thou knowest signifies the +General-in-chief of the forces of the empire, hath me at hatred, +because I am the leader of those redoubtable Varangians, who enjoy and +well deserve, privileges exempting them from the absolute command which +he possesses over all other corps of the army--an authority which +becomes Nicanor, notwithstanding the victorious sound of his name, +nearly as well as a war-saddle would become a bullock." + +"How!" said the Varangian, "does the Protospathaire pretend to any +authority over the noble exiles?--By the red dragon, under which we +will live and die, we will obey no man alive but Alexius Comnenus +himself, and our own officers!" + +"Rightly and bravely resolved," said the leader; "but, my good +Hereward, let not your just indignation hurry you so far as to name the +most sacred Emperor, without raising your hand to your casque, and +adding the epithets of his lofty rank." + +"I will raise my hand often enough and high enough," said the Norseman, +"when the Emperor's service requires it." + +"I dare be sworn thou wilt," said Achilles Tatius, the commander of the +Varangian Imperial Body Guard, who thought the time was unfavourable +for distinguishing himself by insisting on that exact observance of +etiquette, which was one of his great pretensions to the name of a +soldier. "Yet were it not for the constant vigilance of your leader, my +child, the noble Varangians would be trode down, in the common mass of +the army, with the heathen cohorts of Huns, Scythians, or those +turban'd infidels the renegade Turks; and even for this is your +commander here in peril, because he vindicates his axe-men as worthy of +being prized above the paltry shafts of the Eastern tribes and the +javelins of the Moors, which are only fit to be playthings for +children." + +"You are exposed to no danger," said the soldier, closing up to +Achilles in a confidential manner, "from which these axes can protect +you." + +"Do I not know it?" said Achilles. "But it is to your arms alone that +the Follower of his most sacred Majesty now intrusts his safety." + +"In aught that a soldier may do," answered Hereward; "make your own +computation, and then reckon this single arm worth two against any man +the Emperor has, not being of our own corps." + +"Listen, my brave friend," continued Achilles. "This Nicanor was daring +enough to throw a reproach on our noble corps, accusing them--gods and +goddesses!--of plundering in the field, and, yet more sacrilegious, of +drinking the precious wine which was prepared for his most sacred +Majesty's own blessed consumption. I, the sacred person of the Emperor +being present, proceeded, as thou may'st well believe"-- + +"To give him the lie in his audacious throat!" burst in the +Varangian--"named a place of meeting somewhere in the vicinity, and +called the attendance of your poor follower, Hereward of Hampton, who +is your bond-slave for life long, for such an honour! I wish only you +had told me to get my work-day arms; but, however, I have my +battle-axe, and"--Here his companion seized a moment to break in, for +he was somewhat abashed at the lively tone of the young soldier. + +"Hush thee, my son," said Achilles Tatius; "speak low, my excellent +Hereward. Thou mistakest this thing. With thee by my side, I would not, +indeed, hesitate to meet five such as Nicanor; but such is not the law +of this most hallowed empire, nor the sentiments of the three times +illustrious Prince who now rules it. Thou art debauched, my soldier, +with the swaggering stories of the Franks, of whom we hear more and +more every day." + +"I would not willingly borrow any thing from those whom you call +Franks, and we Normans," answered the Varangian, in a disappointed, +dogged tone. + +"Why, listen, then," said the officer as they proceeded on their walk, +"listen to the reason of the thing, and consider whether such a custom +can obtain, as that which they term the duello, in any country of +civilization and common sense, to say nothing of one which is blessed +with the domination of the most rare Alexius Comnenus. Two great lords, +or high officers, quarrel in the court, and before the reverend person +of the Emperor. They dispute about a point of fact. Now, instead of +each maintaining his own opinion by argument or evidence, suppose they +had adopted the custom of these barbarous Franks,--'Why, thou liest in +thy throat,' says the one; 'and thou liest in thy very lungs,' says +another; and they measure forth the lists of battle in the next meadow. +Each swears to the truth of his quarrel, though probably neither well +knows precisely how the fact stands. One, perhaps the hardier, truer, +and better man of the two, the Follower of the Emperor, and father of +the Varangians, (for death, my faithful follower, spares no man,) lies +dead on the ground, and the other comes back to predominate in the +court, where, had the matter been enquired into by the rules of common +sense and reason, the victor, as he is termed, would have been sent to +the gallows. And yet this is the law of arms, as your fancy pleases to +call it, friend Hereward!" + +"May it please your Valour," answered the barbarian, "there is a show +of sense in what you say; but you will sooner convince me that this +blessed moonlight is the blackness of a wolf's mouth, than that I ought +to hear myself called liar, without cramming the epithet down the +speaker's throat with the spike of my battle-axe. The lie is to a man +the same as a blow, and a blow degrades him into a slave and a beast of +burden, if endured without retaliation." + +"Ay, there it is!" said Achilles; "could I but get you to lay aside +that inborn barbarism, which leads you, otherwise the most disciplined +soldiers who serve the sacred Emperor, into such deadly quarrels and +feuds"-- + +"Sir Captain," said the Varangian, in a sullen tone, "take my advice, +and take the Varangians as you have them; for, believe my word, that if +you could teach them to endure reproaches, bear the lie, or tolerate +stripes, you would hardly find them, when their discipline is +completed, worth the single day's salt which they cost to his holiness, +if that be his title. I must tell you, moreover, valorous sir, that the +Varangians will little thank their leader, who heard them called +marauders, drunkards, and what not, and repelled not the charge on the +spot." + +"Now, if I knew not the humours of my barbarians," thought Tatius, in +his own mind, "I should bring on myself a quarrel with these untamed +islanders, who the Emperor thinks can be so easily kept in discipline. +But I will settle this sport presently." Accordingly, he addressed the +Saxon in a soothing tone. + +"My faithful soldier," he proceeded aloud, "we Romans, according to the +custom of our ancestors, set as much glory on actually telling the +truth, as you do in resenting the imputation of falsehood; and I could +not with honour return a charge of falsehood upon Nicanor, since what +he said was substantially true." + +"What! that we Varangians were plunderers, drunkards, and the like?" +said Hereward, more impatient than before. + +"No, surely, not in that broad sense," said Achilles; "but there was +too much foundation for the legend." + +"When and where?" asked the Anglo-Saxon. + +"You remember," replied his leader, "the long march near Laodicea, +where the Varangians beat off a cloud of Turks, and retook a train of +the imperial baggage? You know what was done that day--how you quenched +your thirst, I mean?" + +"I have some reason to remember it," said Hereward of Hampton; "for we +were half choked with dust, fatigue, and, which was worst of all, +constantly fighting with our faces to the rear, when we found some +firkins of wine in certain carriages which were broken down--down our +throats it went, as if it had been the best ale in Southampton." + +"Ah, unhappy!" said the Follower; "saw you not that the firkins were +stamped with the thrice excellent Grand Butler's own inviolable seal, +and set apart for the private use of his Imperial Majesty's most sacred +lips?" + +"By good Saint George of merry England, worth a dozen of your Saint +George of Cappadocia, I neither thought nor cared about the matter," +answered Hereward. "And I know your Valour drank a mighty draught +yourself out of my head-piece; not this silver bauble, but my +steel-cap, which is twice as ample. By the same token, that whereas +before you were giving orders to fall back, you were a changed man when +you had cleared your throat of the dust, and cried, 'Bide the other +brunt, my brave and stout boys of Britain!'" + +"Ay," said Achilles, "I know I am but too apt to be venturous in +action. But you mistake, good Hereward; the wine I tasted in the +extremity of martial fatigue, was not that set apart for his sacred +Majesty's own peculiar mouth, but a secondary sort, preserved for the +Grand Butler himself, of which, as one of the great officers of the +household, I might right lawfully partake--the chance was nevertheless +sinfully unhappy." + +"On my life," replied Hereward, "I cannot see the infelicity of +drinking when we are dying of thirst." + +"But cheer up, my noble comrade," said Achilles, after he had hurried +over his own exculpation, and without noticing the Varangian's light +estimation of the crime, "his Imperial Majesty, in his ineffable +graciousness, imputes these ill-advised draughts as a crime to no one +who partook of them. He rebuked the Protospathaire for fishing up this +accusation, and said, when he had recalled the bustle and confusion of +that toilsome day, 'I thought myself well off amid that seven times +heated furnace, when we obtained a draught of the barley-wine drank by +my poor Varangians; and I drank their health, as well I might, since, +had it not been for their services, I had drunk my last; and well fare +their hearts, though they quaffed my wine in return!' And with that he +turned off, as one who said, 'I have too much of this, being a finding +of matter and ripping up of stories against Achilles Tatius and his +gallant Varangians.'" + +"Now, may God bless his honest heart for it!" said Hereward, with more +downright heartiness than formal respect. "I'll drink to his health in +what I put next to my lips that quenches thirst, whether it may be ale, +wine, or ditch-water." + +"Why, well said, but speak not above thy breath! and remember to put +thy hand to thy forehead, when naming, or even thinking of the +Emperor!--Well, thou knowest, Hereward, that having thus obtained the +advantage, I knew that the moment of a repulsed attack is always that +of a successful charge; and so I brought against the Protospathaire, +Nicanor, the robberies which have been committed at the Golden Gate, +and other entrances of the city, where a merchant was but of late +kidnapped and murdered, having on him certain jewels, the property of +the Patriarch." + +"Ay! indeed?" said the Varangian; "and what said Alex--I mean the most +sacred Emperor, when he heard such things said of the city +warders?--though he had himself given, as we say in our land, the fox +the geese to keep." + +"It may be he did," replied Achilles; "but he is a sovereign of deep +policy, and was resolved not to proceed against these treacherous +warders, or their general, the Protospathaire, without decisive proof. +His Sacred Majesty, therefore, charged me to obtain specific +circumstantial proof by thy means." + +"And that I would have managed in two minutes, had you not called me +off the chase of yon cut-throat vagabond. But his grace knows the word +of a Varangian, and I can assure him that either lucre of my silver +gaberdine, which they nickname a cuirass, or the hatred of my corps, +would be sufficient to incite any of these knaves to cut the throat of +a Varangian, who appeared to be asleep.--So we go, I suppose, captain, +to bear evidence before the Emperor to this night's work?" + +"No, my active soldier, hadst thou taken the runaway villain, my first +act must have been to set him free again; and my present charge to you +is, to forget that such an adventure has ever taken place." + +"Ha!" said the Varangian; "this is a change of policy indeed!" + +"Why, yes, brave Hereward; ere I left the palace this night, the +Patriarch made overtures of reconciliation betwixt me and the +Protospathaire, which, as our agreement is of much consequence to the +state, I could not very well reject, either as a good soldier or a good +Christian. All offences to my honour are to be in the fullest degree +repaid, for which the Patriarch interposes his warrant. The Emperor, +who will rather wink hard than see disagreements, loves better the +matter should be slurred over thus." + +"And the reproaches upon the Varangians." said Hereward---- + +"Shall be fully retracted and atoned for," answered Achilles; "and a +weighty donative in gold dealt among the corps of the Anglo-Danish +axemen. Thou, my Hereward, mayst be distributor; and thus, if +well-managed, mayst plate thy battle-axe with gold." + +"I love my axe better as it is," said the Varangian. "My father bore it +against the robber Normans at Hastings. Steel instead of gold for my +money." + +"Thou mayst make thy choice, Hereward," answered his officer; "only, if +thou art poor, say the fault was thine own." + +But here, in the course of their circuit round Constantinople, the +officer and his soldier came to a very small wicket or sallyport, +opening on the interior of a large and massive advanced work, which +terminated an entrance to the city itself. Here the officer halted, and +made his obedience, as a devotee who is about to enter a chapel of +peculiar sanctity. + + + + +CHAPTER THE THIRD. + + Here, youth, thy foot unbrace, + Here, youth, thy brow unbraid; + Each tribute that may grace + The threshold here be paid. + Walk with the stealthy pace + Which Nature teaches deer, + When, echoing in the chase, + The hunter's horn they hear. + THE COURT. + + +Before entering, Achilles Tatius made various gesticulations, which +were imitated roughly and awkwardly by the unpractised Varangian, whose +service with his corps had been almost entirely in the field, his +routine of duty not having, till very lately, called him to serve as +one of the garrison of Constantinople. He was not, therefore, +acquainted with the minute observances which the Greeks, who were the +most formal and ceremonious soldiers and courtiers in the world, +rendered not merely to the Greek Emperor in person, but throughout the +sphere which peculiarly partook of his influence. + +Achilles, having gesticulated after his own fashion, at length touched +the door with a rap, distinct at once and modest. This was thrice +repeated, when the captain whispered to his attendant, "The +interior!--for thy life, do as thou seest me do." At the same moment he +started back, and, stooping his head on his breast, with his hands over +his eyes, as if to save them from being dazzled by an expected burst of +light, awaited the answer to his summons. The Anglo-Dane, desirous to +obey his leader, imitating him as near as he could, stood side by side +in the posture of Oriental humiliation. The little portal opened +inwards, when no burst of light was seen, but four of the Varangians +were made visible in the entrance, holding each his battle-axe, as if +about to strike down the intruders who had disturbed the silence of +their watch. + +"Acoulouthos," said the leader, by way of password. + +"Tatius and Acoulouthos," murmured the warders, as a countersign. + +Each sentinel sunk his weapon. + +Achilles then reared his stately crest, with a conscious dignity at +making this display of court influence in the eyes of his soldiers. +Hereward observed an undisturbed gravity, to the surprise of his +officer, who marvelled in his own mind how he could be such a barbarian +as to regard with apathy a scene, which had in his eyes the most +impressive and peculiar awe. This indifference he imputed to the stupid +insensibility of his companion. + +They passed on between the sentinels, who wheeled backward in file, on +each side of the portal, and gave the strangers entrance to a long +narrow plank, stretched across the city-moat, which was here drawn +within the enclosure of an external rampart, projecting beyond the +principal wall of the city. + +"This," he whispered to Hereward, "is called the Bridge of Peril, and +it is said that it has been occasionally smeared with oil, or strewed +with dried peas, and that the bodies of men, known to have been in +company with the Emperor's most sacred person, have been taken out of +the Golden Horn, [Footnote: The harbour of Constantinople.] into which +the moat empties itself." + +"I would not have thought," said the islander, raising his voice to its +usual rough tone, "that Alexius Comnenus"-- + +"Hush, rash and regardless of your life!" said Achilles Tatius; "to +awaken the daughter of the imperial arch, [Footnote: The daughter of +the arch was a courtly expression for the echo, as we find explained by +the courtly commander himself.] is to incur deep penalty at all times; +but when a rash delinquent has disturbed her with reflections on his +most sacred Highness the Emperor, death is a punishment far too light +for the effrontery which has interrupted her blessed slumber!--Ill hath +been my fate, to have positive commands laid on me, enjoining me to +bring into the sacred precincts a creature who hath no more of the salt +of civilization in him than to keep his mortal frame from corruption, +since of all mental culture he is totally incapable. Consider thyself, +Hereward, and bethink thee what thou art. By nature a poor +barbarian--thy best boast that thou hast slain certain Mussulmans in +thy sacred master's quarrel; and here art thou admitted into the +inviolable enclosure of the Blaquernal, and in the hearing not only of +the royal daughter of the imperial arch, which means," said the +eloquent leader, "the echo of the sublime vaults; but--Heaven be our +guide,--for what I know, within the natural hearing of the Sacred Ear +itself!" + +"Well, my captain," replied the Varangian, "I cannot presume to speak +my mind after the fashion of this place; but I can easily suppose I am +but ill qualified to converse in the presence of the court, nor do I +mean therefore to say a word till I am spoken to, unless when I shall +see no better company than ourselves. To be plain, I find difficulty in +modelling my voice to a smoother tone than nature has given it. So, +henceforth, my brave captain, I will be mute, unless when you give me a +sign to speak." + +"You will act wisely," said the captain. "Here be certain persons of +high rank, nay, some that have been born in the purple itself, that +will, Hereward, (alas, for thee!) prepare to sound with the line of +their courtly understanding the depths of thy barbarous and shallow +conceit. Do not, therefore, then, join their graceful smiles with thy +inhuman bursts of cachinnation, with which thou art wont to thunder +forth when opening in chorus with thy messmates." + +"I tell thee I will be silent," said the Varangian, moved somewhat +beyond his mood. "If you trust my word, so; if you think I am a jackdaw +that must be speaking, whether in or out of place and purpose, I am +contented to go back again, and therein we can end the matter." + +Achilles, conscious perhaps that it was his best policy not to drive +his subaltern to extremity, lowered his tone somewhat in reply to the +uncourtly note of the soldier, as if allowing something for the rude +manners of one whom he considered as not easily matched among the +Varangians themselves, for strength and valour; qualities which, in +despite of Hereward's discourtesy, Achilles suspected in his heart were +fully more valuable than all those nameless graces which a more courtly +and accomplished soldier might possess. + +The expert navigator of the intricacies of the imperial residence, +carried the Varangian through two or three small complicated courts, +forming a part of the extensive Palace of the Blaquernal, [Footnote: +This palace derived its name from the neighbouring Blachernian Gate and +Bridge.] and entered the building itself by a side door--watched in +like manner by a sentinel of the Varangian Guard, whom they passed on +being recognized. In the next apartment was stationed the Court of +Guard, where were certain soldiers of the same corps amusing themselves +at games somewhat resembling the modern draughts and dice, while they +seasoned their pastime with frequent applications to deep flagons of +ale, which were furnished to them while passing away their hours of +duty. Some glances passed between Hereward and his comrades, and he +would have joined them, or at least spoke to them; for, since the +adventure of the Mitylenian, Hereward had rather thought himself +annoyed than distinguished by his moonlight ramble in the company of +his commander, excepting always the short and interesting period during +which he conceived they were on the way to fight a duel. Still, however +negligent in the strict observance of the ceremonies of the sacred +palace, the Varangians had, in their own way, rigid notions of +calculating their military duty; in consequence of which Hereward, +without speaking to his companions, followed his leader through the +guard-room, and one or two antechambers adjacent, the splendid and +luxurious furniture of which convinced him that he could be nowhere +else save in the sacred residence of his master the Emperor. + +At length, having traversed passages and apartments with which the +captain seemed familiar, and which he threaded with a stealthy, silent, +and apparently reverential pace, as if, in his own inflated phrase, +afraid to awaken the sounding echoes of those lofty and monumental +halls, another species of inhabitants began to be visible. In different +entrances, and in different apartments, the northern soldier beheld +those unfortunate slaves, chiefly of African descent, raised +occasionally under the Emperors of Greece to great power and honours, +who, in that respect, imitated one of the most barbarous points of +Oriental despotism. These slaves were differently occupied; some +standing, as if on guard, at gates or in passages, with their drawn +sabres in their hands; some were sitting in the Oriental fashion, on +carpets, reposing themselves, or playing at various games, all of a +character profoundly silent. Not a word passed between the guide of +Hereward, and the withered and deformed beings whom they thus +encountered. The exchange of a glance with the principal soldier seemed +all that was necessary to ensure both an uninterrupted passage. + +After making their way through several apartments, empty or thus +occupied, they, at length entered one of black marble, or some other +dark-coloured stone, much loftier and longer than the rest. Side +passages opened into it, so far as the islander could discern, +descending from several portals in the wall; but as the oils and gums +with which the lamps in these passages were fed diffused a dim vapour +around, it was difficult to ascertain, from the imperfect light, either +the shape of the hall, or the style of its architecture. At the upper +and lower ends of the chamber, there was a stronger and clearer light. +It was when they were in the middle of this huge and long apartment, +that Achilles said to the soldier, in the sort of cautionary whisper +which he appeared to have substituted in place of his natural voice +since he had crossed the Bridge of Peril-- + +"Remain here till I return, and stir from this hall on no account." + +"To hear is to obey," answered the Varangian, an expression of +obedience, which, like many other phrases and fashions, the empire, +which still affected the name of Roman, had borrowed from the +barbarians of the East. Achilles Tatius then hastened up the steps +which led to one of the side-doors of the hall, which being slightly +pressed, its noiseless hinge gave way and admitted him. + +Left alone to amuse himself as he best could, within the limits +permitted to him, the Varangian visited in succession both ends of the +hall, where the objects were more visible than elsewhere. The lower end +had in its centre a small low-browed door of iron. Over it was +displayed the Greek crucifix in bronze, and around and on every side, +the representation of shackles, fetter bolts, and the like, were also +executed in bronze, and disposed as appropriate ornaments over the +entrance. The door of the dark archway was half open, and Hereward +naturally looked in, the orders of his chief not prohibiting his +satisfying his curiosity thus far. A dense red light, more like a +distant spark than a lamp, affixed to the wall of what seemed a very +narrow and winding stair, resembling in shape and size a draw-well, the +verge of which opened on the threshold of the iron door, showed a +descent which seemed to conduct to the infernal regions. The Varangian, +however obtuse he might be considered by the quick-witted Greeks, had +no difficulty in comprehending that a staircase having such a gloomy +appearance, and the access to which was by a portal decorated in such a +melancholy style of architecture, could only lead to the dungeons of +the imperial palace, the size and complicated number of which were +neither the least remarkable, nor the least awe-imposing portion of the +sacred edifice. Listening profoundly, he even thought he caught such +accents as befit those graves of living men, the faint echoing of +groans and sighs, sounding as it were from the deep abyss beneath. But +in this respect his fancy probably filled up the sketch which his +conjectures bodied out. + +"I have done nothing," he thought, "to merit being immured in one of +these subterranean dens. Surely though my captain, Achilles Tatius, is, +under favour, little better than an ass, he cannot be so false of word +as to train me to prison under false pretexts? I trow he shall first +see for the last time how the English axe plays, if such is to be the +sport of the evening. But let us see the upper end of this enormous +vault; it may bear a better omen." + +Thus thinking, and not quite ruling the tramp of his armed footstep +according to the ceremonies of the place, the large-limbed Saxon strode +to the upper end of the black marble hall. The ornament of the portal +here was a small altar, like those in the temples of the heathen +deities, which projected above the centre of the arch. On this altar +smoked incense of some sort, the fumes of which rose curling in a thin +cloud to the roof, and thence extending through the hall, enveloped in +its column of smoke a singular emblem, of which the Varangian could +make nothing. It was the representation of two human arms and hands, +seeming to issue from the wall, having the palms extended and open, as +about to confer some boon on those who approached the altar. These arms +were formed of bronze, and being placed farther back than the altar +with its incense, were seen through the curling smoke by lamps so +disposed as to illuminate the whole archway. "The meaning of this," +thought the simple barbarian, "I should well know how to explain, were +these fists clenched, and were the hall dedicated to the _pancration_, +which we call boxing; but as even these helpless Greeks use not their +hands without their fingers being closed, by St. George I can make out +nothing of their meaning." + +At this instant Achilles entered the black marble hall at the same door +by which he had left it, and came up to his neophyte, as the Varangian +might be termed. + +"Come with me now, Hereward, for here approaches the thick of the +onset. Now, display the utmost courage that thou canst summon up, for +believe me thy credit and name also depend on it." + +"Fear nothing for either," said Hereward, "if the heart or hand of one +man can bear him through the adventure by the help of a toy like this." + +"Keep thy voice low and submissive, I have told thee a score of times," +said the leader, "and lower thine axe, which, as I bethink me, thou +hadst better leave in the outer apartment." + +"With your leave, noble captain," replied Hereward, "I am unwilling to +lay aside my bread-winner. I am one of those awkward clowns who cannot +behave seemly unless I have something to occupy my hands, and my +faithful battle-axe comes most natural to me." + +"Keep it then; but remember thou dash it not about according to thy +custom, nor bellow, nor shout, nor cry as in a battle-field; think of +the sacred character of the place, which exaggerates riot into +blasphemy, and remember the persons whom thou mayst chance to see, an +offence to some of whom, it may be, ranks in the same sense with +blasphemy against Heaven itself." + +This lecture carried the tutor and the pupil so far as to the +side-door, and thence inducted them into a species of anteroom, from +which Achilles led his Varangian forward, until a pair of +folding-doors, opening into what proved to be a principal apartment of +the palace, exhibited to the rough-hewn native of the north a sight +equally new and surprising. + +It was an apartment of the palace of the Blaquernal, dedicated to the +special service of the beloved daughter of the Emperor Alexius, the +Princess Anna Comnena, known to our times by her literary talents, +which record the history of her father's reign. She was seated, the +queen and sovereign of a literary circle, such as an imperial Princess, +porphyrogenita, or born in the sacred purple chamber itself, could +assemble in those days, and a glance around will enable us to form an +idea of her guests or companions. + +The literary Princess herself had the bright eyes, straight features, +and comely and pleasing manners, which all would have allowed to the +Emperor's daughter, even if she could not have been, with severe truth, +said to have possessed them. She was placed upon a small bench, or +sofa, the fair sex here not being permitted to recline, as was the +fashion of the Roman ladies. A table before her was loaded with books, +plants, herbs, and drawings. She sat on a slight elevation, and those +who enjoyed the intimacy of the Princess, or to whom she wished to +speak in particular, were allowed, during such sublime colloquy, to +rest their knees on the little dais, or elevated place where her chair +found its station, in a posture half standing, half kneeling. Three +other seats, of different heights, were placed on the dais, and under +the same canopy of state which overshadowed that of the Princess Anna. + +The first, which strictly resembled her own chair in size and +convenience, was one designed for her husband, Nicephorus Briennius. He +was said to entertain or affect the greatest respect for his wife's +erudition, though the courtiers were of opinion he would have liked to +absent himself from her evening parties more frequently than was +particularly agreeable to the Princess Anna and her imperial parents. +This was partly explained by the private tattle of the court, which +averred, that the Princess Anna Comnena had been more beautiful when +she was less learned; and that, though still a fine woman, she had +somewhat lost the charms of her person as she became enriched in her +mind. + +To atone for the lowly fashion of the seat of Nicephorus Briennius, it +was placed as near to his princess as it could possibly be edged by the +ushers, so that she might not lose one look of her handsome spouse, nor +he the least particle of wisdom which might drop from the lips of his +erudite consort. + +Two other seats of honour, or rather thrones,--for they had footstools +placed for the support of the feet, rests for the arms, and embroidered +pillows for the comfort of the back, not to mention the glories of the +outspreading canopy, were destined for the imperial couple, who +frequently attended their daughter's studies, which she prosecuted in +public in the way we have intimated. On such occasions, the Empress +Irene enjoyed the triumph peculiar to the mother of an accomplished +daughter, while Alexius, as it might happen, sometimes listened with +complacence to the rehearsal of his own exploits in the inflated +language of the Princess, and sometimes mildly nodded over her +dialogues upon the mysteries of philosophy, with the Patriarch Zosimus, +and other sages. + +All these four distinguished seats for the persons of the Imperial +family, were occupied at the moment which we have described, excepting +that which ought to have been filled by Nicephorus Briennius, the +husband of the fair Anna Comnena. To his negligence and absence was +perhaps owing the angry spot on the brow of his fair bride. Beside her +on the platform were two white-robed nymphs of her household; female +slaves, in a word, who reposed themselves on their knees on cushions, +when their assistance was not wanted as a species of living book-desks, +to support and extend the parchment rolls, in which the Princess +recorded her own wisdom, or from which she quoted that of others. One +of these young maidens, called Astarte, was so distinguished as a +calligrapher, or beautiful writer of various alphabets and languages, +that she narrowly escaped being sent as a present to the Caliph, (who +could neither read nor write,) at a time when it was necessary to bribe +him into peace. Violante, usually called the Muse, the other attendant +of the Princess, a mistress of the vocal and instrumental art of music, +was actually sent in a compliment to soothe the temper of Robert +Guiscard, the Archduke of Apulia, who being aged and stone-deaf, and +the girl under ten years old at the time, returned the valued present +to the imperial donor, and, with the selfishness which was one of that +wily Norman's characteristics, desired to have some one sent him who +could contribute to his pleasure, instead of a twangling squalling +infant. + +Beneath these elevated seats there sat, or reposed on the floor of the +hall, such favourites as were admitted. The Patriarch Zosimus, and one +or two old men, were permitted the use of certain lowly stools, which +were the only seats prepared for the learned members of the Princess's +evening parties, as they would have been called in our days. As for the +younger magnates, the honour of being permitted to join the imperial +conversation was expected to render them far superior to the paltry +accommodation of a joint-stool. Five or six courtiers, of different +dress and ages, might compose the party, who either stood, or relieved +their posture by kneeling, along the verge of an adorned fountain, +which shed a mist of such very small rain as to dispel almost +insensibly, cooling the fragrant breeze which breathed from the flowers +and shrubs, that were so disposed as to send a waste of sweets around. +One goodly old man, named Michael Agelastes, big, burly, and dressed +like an ancient Cynic philosopher, was distinguished by assuming, in a +great measure, the ragged garb and mad bearing of that sect, and by his +inflexible practice of the strictest ceremonies exigible by the +Imperial family. He was known by an affectation of cynical principle +and language, and of republican philosophy, strangely contradicted by +his practical deference to the great. It was wonderful how long this +man, now sixty years old and upwards, disdained to avail himself of the +accustomed privilege of leaning, or supporting his limbs, and with what +regularity he maintained either the standing posture or that of +absolute kneeling; but the first was so much his usual attitude, that +he acquired among his court friends the name of Elephas, or the +Elephant, because the ancients had an idea that the half-reasoning +animal, as it is called, has joints incapable of kneeling down. + +"Yet I have seen them kneel when I was in the country of the +Gymnosophists," said a person present on the evening of Hereward's +introduction. + +"To take up their master on their shoulders? so will ours," said the +Patriarch Zosimus, with the slight sneer which was the nearest advance +to a sarcasm that the etiquette of the Greek court permitted; for on +all ordinary occasions, it would not have offended the Presence more +surely, literally, to have drawn a poniard, than to exchange a repartee +in the imperial circle. Even the sarcasm, such as it was, would have +been thought censurable by that ceremonious court in any but the +Patriarch, to whose high rank some license was allowed. + +Just as he had thus far offended decorum, Achilles Tatius, and his +soldier Hereward, entered the apartment. The former bore him with even +more than his usual degree of courtliness, as if to set his own +good-breeding off by a comparison with the inexpert bearing of his +follower; while, nevertheless, he had a secret pride in exhibiting, as +one under his own immediate and distinct command, a man whom he was +accustomed to consider as one of the finest soldiers of the army of +Alexius, whether appearance or reality were to be considered. + +Some astonishment followed the abrupt entrance of the new comers. +Achilles indeed glided into the presence with the easy and quiet +extremity of respect which intimated his habitude in these regions. But +Hereward started on his entrance, and perceiving himself in company of +the court, hastily strove to remedy his disorder. His commander, +throwing round a scarce visible shrug of apology, made then a +confidential and monitory sign to Hereward to mind his conduct. What he +meant was, that he should doff his helmet and fall prostrate on the +ground. But the Anglo-Saxon, unaccustomed to interpret obscure +inferences, naturally thought of his military duties, and advanced in +front of the Emperor, as when he rendered his military homage. He made +reverence with his knee, half touched his cap, and then recovering and +shouldering his axe, stood in advance of the imperial chair, as if on +duty as a sentinel. + +A gentle smile of surprise went round the circle as they gazed on the +manly appearance, and somewhat unceremonious but martial deportment of +the northern soldier. The various spectators around consulted the +Emperor's face, not knowing whether they were to take the intrusive +manner of the Varangian's entrance as matter of ill-breeding, and +manifest their horror, or whether they ought rather to consider the +bearing of the life-guardsman as indicating blunt and manly zeal, and +therefore to be received with applause. + +It was some little time ere the Emperor recovered himself sufficiently +to strike a key-note, as was usual upon such occasions. Alexius +Comnenus had been wrapt for a moment into some species of slumber, or +at least absence of mind. Out of this he had been startled by the +sudden appearance of the Varangian; for though he was accustomed to +commit the outer guards of the palace to this trusty corps, yet the +deformed blacks whom we have mentioned, and who sometimes rose to be +ministers of state and commanders of armies, were, on all ordinary +occasions, intrusted with the guard of the interior of the palace. +Alexius, therefore, awakened from his slumber, and the military phrase +of his daughter still ringing in his ears as she was reading a +description of the great historical work, in which she had detailed the +conflicts of his reign, felt somewhat unprepared for the entrance and +military deportment of one of the Saxon guard, with whom he was +accustomed to associate, in general, scenes of blows, danger, and death. + +After a troubled glance around, his look rested on Achilles Tatius. +"Why here," he said, "trusty Follower? why this soldier here at this +time of night?" Here, of course, was the moment for modelling the +visages _regis ad exemplum;_ but, ere the Patriarch could frame his +countenance into devout apprehension of danger, Achilles Tatius had +spoken a word or two, which reminded Alexius' memory that the soldier +had been brought there by his own special orders. "Oh, ay! true, good +fellow," said he, smoothing his troubled brow; "we had forgot that +passage among the cares of state." He then spoke to the Varangian with +a countenance more frank, and a heartier accent than he used to his +courtiers; for, to a despotic monarch, a faithful life-guardsman is a +person of confidence, while an officer of high rank is always in some +degree a subject of distrust. "Ha!" said he, "our worthy Anglo-Dane, +how fares he?"--This unceremonious salutation surprised all but him to +whom it was addressed. Hereward answered, accompanying his words with a +military obeisance which partook of heartiness rather than reverence, +with a loud unsubdued voice, which startled the presence still more +that the language was Saxon, which these foreigners occasionally used, +"_Waes hael Kaisar mirrig und machtigh!_"--that is, Be of good health, +stout and mighty Emperor. The Emperor, with a smile of intelligence, to +show he could speak to his guards in their own foreign language, +replied, by the well-known counter-signal--"_Drink hael!_'" + +Immediately a page brought a silver goblet of wine. The Emperor put his +lips to it, though he scarce tasted the liquor, then commanded it to be +handed to Hereward, and bade the soldier drink. The Saxon did not wait +till he was desired a second time, but took off the contents without +hesitation. A gentle smile, decorous as the presence required, passed +over the assembly, at a feat which, though by no means wonderful in a +hyperborean, seemed prodigious in the estimation of the moderate +Greeks. Alexius himself laughed more loudly than his courtiers thought +might be becoming on their part, and mustering what few words of +Varangian he possessed, which he eked out with Greek, demanded of his +life-guardsman--"Well, my bold Briton, or Edward, as men call thee, +dost thou know the flavour of that wine?" + +"Yes," answered the Varangian, without change of countenance, "I tasted +it once before at Laodicea"-- + +Here his officer, Achilles Tatius, became sensible that his soldier +approached delicate ground, and in vain endeavoured to gain his +attention, in order that he might furtively convey to him a hint to be +silent, or at least take heed what he said in such a presence. But the +soldier, who, with proper military observance, continued to have his +eye and attention fixed on the Emperor, as the prince whom he was bound +to answer or to serve, saw none of the hints, which Achilles at length +suffered to become so broad, that Zosimus and the Protospathaire +exchanged expressive glances, as calling on each other to notice the +by-play of the leader of the Varangians. In the meanwhile, the dialogue +between the Emperor and his soldier continued:--"How," said Alexius, +"did this draught relish compared with the former?" + +"There is fairer company here, my liege, than that of the Arabian +archers," answered Hereward, with a look and bow of instinctive +good-breeding; "Nevertheless, there lacks the flavour which the heat of +the sun, the dust of the combat, with the fatigue of wielding such a +weapon as this" (advancing his axe) "for eight hours together, give to +a cup of rare wine." + +"Another deficiency there might be," said Agelastes the Elephant, +"provided I am pardoned hinting at it," he added, with a look to the +throne,--"it might be the smaller size of the cup compared with that at +Laodicea." "By Taranis, you say true," answered the life-guardsman; "at +Laodicea I used my helmet." + +"Let us see the cups compared together, good friend," said Agelastes, +continuing his raillery, "that we may be sure thou hast not swallowed +the present goblet; for I thought, from the manner of the draught, +there was a chance of its going down with its contents." + +"There are some things which I do not easily swallow," answered the +Varangian, in a calm and indifferent tone; "but they must come from a +younger and more active man than you." + +The company again smiled to each other, as if to hint that the +philosopher, though also parcel wit by profession, had the worst of the +encounter. The Emperor at the same time interfered--"Nor did I send for +thee hither, good fellow, to be baited by idle taunts." + +Here Agelastes shrunk back in the circle, as a hound that has been +rebuked by the huntsman for babbling--and the Princess Anna Comnena, +who had indicated by her fair features a certain degree of impatience, +at length spoke--"Will it then please you, my imperial and much-beloved +father, to inform those blessed with admission to the Muses' temple, +for what it is that you have ordered this soldier to be this night +admitted to a place so far above his rank in life? Permit me to say, we +ought not to waste, in frivolous and silly jests, the time which is +sacred to the welfare of the empire, as every moment of your leisure +must be." + +"Our daughter speaks wisely," said the Empress Irene, who, like most +mothers who do not possess much talent themselves, and are not very +capable of estimating it in others, was, nevertheless, a great admirer +of her favourite daughter's accomplishments, and ready to draw them out +on all occasions. "Permit me to remark, that in this divine and +selected palace of the Muses, dedicated to the studies of our +well-beloved and highly-gifted daughter, whose pen will preserve your +reputation, our most imperial husband, till the desolation of the +universe, and which enlivens and delights this society, the very flower +of the wits of our sublime court;--permit me to say, that we have, +merely by admitting a single life-guardsman, given our conversation the +character of that which distinguishes a barrack." + +Now the Emperor Alexius Comnenus had the same feeling with many an +honest man in ordinary life when his wife begins a long oration, +especially as the Empress Irene did not always retain the observance +consistent with his awful rule and right supremacy, although especially +severe in exacting it from all others, in reference to her lord. +Therefore, though, he had felt some pleasure in gaining a short release +from the monotonous recitation of the Princess's history, he now saw +the necessity of resuming it, or of listening to the matrimonial +eloquence of the Empress. He sighed, therefore, as he said, "I crave +your pardon, good our imperial spouse, and our daughter born in the +purple chamber. I remember me, our most amiable and accomplished +daughter, that last night you wished to know the particulars of the +battle of Laodicea, with the heathenish Arabs, whom Heaven confound. +And for certain considerations which moved ourselves to add other +enquiries to our own recollection, Achilles Tatius, our most trusty +Follower, was commissioned to introduce into this place one of those +soldiers under his command, being such a one whose courage and presence +of mind could best enable him to remark what passed around him on that +remarkable and bloody day. And this I suppose to be the man brought to +us for that purpose." + +"If I am permitted to speak, and live," answered the Follower, "your +Imperial Highness, with those divine Princesses, whose name is to us as +those of blessed saints, have in your presence the flower of my +Anglo-Danes, or whatsoever unbaptized name is given to my soldiers. He +is, as I may say, a barbarian of barbarians; for, although in birth and +breeding unfit to soil with his feet the carpet of this precinct of +accomplishment and eloquence, he is so brave--so trusty--so devotedly +attached--and so unhesitatingly zealous, that"-- + +"Enough, good Follower," said the Emperor; "let us only know that he is +cool and observant, not confused and fluttered during close battle, as +we have sometimes observed in you and other great commanders--and, to +speak truth, have even felt in our imperial self on extraordinary +occasions. Which difference in man's constitution is not owing to any +inferiority of courage, but, in us, to a certain consciousness of the +importance of our own safety to the welfare of the whole, and to a +feeling of the number of duties which at once devolve on us. Speak +then, and speak quickly, Tatius; for I discern that our dearest +consort, and our thrice fortunate daughter born in the imperial chamber +of purple, seem to wax somewhat impatient." + +"Hereward," answered Tatius, "is as composed and observant in battle, +as another in a festive dance. The dust of war is the breath of his +nostrils; and he will prove his worth in combat against any four +others, (Varangians excepted,) who shall term themselves your Imperial +Highness's bravest servants." + +"Follower," said the Emperor, with a displeased look and tone, "instead +of instructing these poor, ignorant barbarians in the rules and +civilization of our enlightened empire, you foster, by such boastful +words, the idle pride and fury of their temper, which hurries them into +brawls with the legions of other foreign countries, and even breeds +quarrels among themselves." + +"If my mouth may be opened in the way of most humble excuse," said the +Follower, "I would presume to reply, that I but an hour hence talked +with this poor ignorant Anglo-Dane, on the paternal care with which the +Imperial Majesty of Greece regards the preservation of that concord +which unites the followers of his standard, and how desirous he is to +promote that harmony, more especially amongst the various nations who +have the happiness to serve you, in spite of the bloodthirsty quarrels +of the Franks, and other northern men, who are never free from civil +broil. I think the poor youth's understanding can bear witness to this +much in my behalf." He then looked towards Hereward, who gravely +inclined his head in token of assent to what his captain said. His +excuse thus ratified, Achilles proceeded in his apology more firmly. +"What I have said even now was spoken without consideration; for, +instead of pretending that this Hereward would face four of your +Imperial Highness's servants, I ought to have said, that he was willing +to defy six of your Imperial Majesty's most deadly _enemies_, and +permit them to choose every circumstance of time, arms, and place of +combat." + +"That hath a better sound," said the Emperor; "and in truth, for the +information of my dearest daughter, who piously has undertaken to +record the things which I have been the blessed means of doing for the +Empire, I earnestly wish that she should remember, that though the +sword of Alexius hath not slept in its sheath, yet he hath never sought +his own aggrandizement of fame at the price of bloodshed among his +subjects." + +"I trust," said Anna Comnena, "that in my humble sketch of the life of +the princely sire from whom I derive my existence, I have not forgot to +notice his love of peace, and care for the lives of his soldiery, and +abhorrence of the bloody manners of the heretic Franks, as one of his +most distinguishing characteristics." + +Assuming then an attitude more commanding, as one who was about to +claim the attention of the company, the Princess inclined her head +gently around to the audience, and taking a roll of parchment from the +fair amanuensis, which she had, in a most beautiful handwriting, +engrossed to her mistress's dictation, Anna Comnena prepared to read +its contents. + +At this moment, the eyes of the Princess rested for an instant on the +barbarian Hereward, to whom she deigned this greeting--"Valiant +barbarian, of whom my fancy recalls some memory, as if in a dream, thou +art now to hear a work, which, if the author be put into comparison +with the subject, might be likened to a portrait of Alexander, in +executing which, some inferior dauber has usurped the pencil of +Apelles; but which essay, however it may appear unworthy of the subject +in the eyes of many, must yet command some envy in those who candidly +consider its contents, and the difficulty of portraying the great +personage concerning whom it is written. Still, I pray thee, give thine +attention to what I have now to read, since this account of the battle +of Laodicea, the details thereof being principally derived from his +Imperial Highness, my excellent father, from the altogether valiant +Protospathaire, his invincible general, together with Achilles Tatius, +the faithful Follower of our victorious Emperor, may nevertheless be in +some circumstances inaccurate. For it is to be thought, that the high +offices of those great commanders retained them at a distance from some +particularly active parts of the fray, in order that they might have +more cool and accurate opportunity to form a judgment upon the whole, +and transmit their orders, without being disturbed by any thoughts of +personal safety. Even so, brave barbarian, in the art of embroidery, +(marvel not that we are a proficient in that mechanical process, since +it is patronized by Minerva, whose studies we affect to follow,) we +reserve to ourselves the superintendence of the entire web, and commit +to our maidens and others the execution of particular parts. Thus, in +the same manner, thou, valiant Varangian, being engaged in the very +thickest of the affray before Laodicea, mayst point out to us, the +unworthy historian of so renowned a war, those chances which befell +where men fought hand to hand, and where the fate of war was decided by +the edge of the sword. Therefore, dread not, thou bravest of the +axe-men to whom we owe that victory, and so many others, to correct any +mistake or misapprehension which we may have been led into concerning +the details of that glorious event." + +"Madam," said the Varangian, "I shall attend with diligence to what +your Highness may be pleased to read to me; although, as to presuming +to blame the history of a Princess born in the purple, far be such a +presumption from me; still less would it become a barbaric Varangian to +pass a judgment on the military conduct of the Emperor, by whom he is +liberally paid, or of the commander, by whom he is well treated. Before +an action, if our advice is required, it is ever faithfully tendered; +but according to my rough wit, our censure after the field is fought +would be more invidious than useful. Touching the Protospathaire, if it +be the duty of a general to absent himself from close action, I can +safely say, or swear, were it necessary, that the invincible commander +was never seen by me within a javelin's cast of aught that looked like +danger." + +This speech, boldly and bluntly delivered, had a general effect on the +company present. The Emperor himself, and Achilles Tatius, looked like +men who had got off from a danger better than they expected. The +Protospathaire laboured to conceal a movement of resentment. Agelastes +whispered to the Patriarch, near whom he was placed, "The northern +battle-axe lacks neither point nor edge." + +"Hush!" said Zosimus, "let us hear how this is to end; the Princess is +about to speak." + + + + +CHAPTER THE FOURTH. + + We heard the Tecbir, so these Arabs call + Their shout of onset, when with loud acclaim + They challenged Heaven, as if demanding conquest. + The battle join'd, and through the barb'rous herd, + Fight, fight! and Paradise was all their cry. + THE SIEGE OF DAMASCUS. + + +The voice of the northern soldier, although modified by feelings of +respect to the Emperor, and even attachment to his captain, had more of +a tone of blunt sincerity, nevertheless, than was usually heard by the +sacred echoes of the imperial palace; and though the Princess Anna +Comnena began to think that she had invoked the opinion of a severe +judge, she was sensible, at the same time, by the deference of his +manner, that his respect was of a character more real, and his +applause, should she gain it, would prove more truly flattering, than +the gilded assent of the whole court of her father. She gazed with some +surprise and attention on Hereward, already described as a very +handsome young man, and felt the natural desire to please, which is +easily created in the mind towards a fine person of the other sex. His +attitude was easy and bold, but neither clownish nor uncourtly. His +title of a barbarian, placed him at once free from the forms of +civilized life, and the rules of artificial politeness. But his +character for valour, and the noble self-confidence of his bearing, +gave him a deeper interest than would have been acquired by a more +studied and anxious address, or an excess of reverential awe. + +In short, the Princess Anna Comnena, high in rank as she was, and born +in the imperial purple, which she herself deemed the first of all +attributes, felt herself, nevertheless, in preparing to resume the +recitation of her history, more anxious to obtain the approbation of +this rude soldier, than that of all the rest of the courteous audience. +She knew them well, it is true, and felt nowise solicitous about the +applause which the daughter of the Emperor was sure to receive with +full hands from those of the Grecian court to whom she might choose to +communicate the productions of her father's daughter. But she had now a +judge of a new character, whose applause, if bestowed, must have +something in it intrinsically real, since it could only be obtained by +affecting his head or his heart. + +It was perhaps under the influence of these feelings, that the Princess +was somewhat longer than usual in finding out the passage in the roll +of history at which she purposed to commence. It was also noticed, that +she began her recitation with a diffidence and embarrassment surprising +to the noble hearers, who had often seen her in full possession of her +presence of mind before what they conceived a more distinguished, and +even more critical audience. + +Neither were the circumstances of the Varangian such as rendered the +scene indifferent to him. Anna Comnena had indeed attained her fifth +lustre, and that is a period after which Grecian beauty is understood +to commence its decline. How long she had passed that critical period, +was a secret to all but the trusted ward-women of the purple chamber. +Enough, that it was affirmed by the popular tongue, and seemed to be +attested by that bent towards philosophy and literature, which is not +supposed to be congenial to beauty in its earlier buds, to amount to +one or two years more. She might be seven-and-twenty. + +Still Anna Comnena was, or had very lately been, a beauty of the very +first rank, and must be supposed to have still retained charms to +captivate a barbarian of the north; if, indeed, he himself was not +careful to maintain an heedful recollection of the immeasurable +distance between them. Indeed, even this recollection might hardly have +saved Hereward from the charms of this enchantress, bold, free-born, +and fearless as he was; for, during that time of strange revolutions, +there were many instances of successful generals sharing the couch of +imperial princesses, whom perhaps they had themselves rendered widows, +in order to make way for their own pretensions. But, besides the +influence of other recollections, which the reader may learn hereafter, +Hereward, though flattered by the unusual degree of attention which the +Princess bestowed upon him, saw in her only the daughter of his Emperor +and adopted liege lord, and the wife of a noble prince, whom reason and +duty alike forbade him to think of in any other light. + +It was after one or two preliminary efforts that the Princess Anna +began her reading, with an uncertain voice, which gained strength and +fortitude as she proceeded with the following passage from a well-known +part of her history of Alexius Comnenus, but which unfortunately has +not been republished in the Byzantine historians. The narrative cannot, +therefore, be otherwise than acceptable to the antiquarian reader; and +the author hopes to receive the thanks of the learned world for the +recovery of a curious fragment, which, without his exertions, must +probably have passed to the gulf of total oblivion. + + + + +THE RETREAT OF LAODICEA. + +NOW FIRST PUBLISHED FROM THE GREEK OF THE PRINCESS COMNENA'S HISTORY OF +HER FATHER. + +"The sun had betaken himself to his bed in the ocean, ashamed, it would +seem, to see the immortal army of our most sacred Emperor Alexius +surrounded by those barbarous hordes of unbelieving barbarians, who, as +described in our last chapter, had occupied the various passes both in +front and rear of the Romans, [Footnote: More properly termed the +Greeks; but we follow the phraseology of the fair authoress.] secured +during the preceding night by the wily barbarians. Although, therefore, +a triumphant course of advance had brought us to this point, it now +became a serious and doubtful question whether our victorious eagles +might be able to penetrate any farther into the country of the enemy, +or even to retreat with safety into their own. + +"The extensive acquaintance of the Emperor with military affairs, in +which he exceeds most living princes, had induced him, on the preceding +evening, to ascertain, with marvellous exactitude and foresight, the +precise position of the enemy. In this most necessary service he +employed certain light-armed barbarians, whose habits and discipline +had been originally derived from the wilds of Syria; and, if I am +required to speak according to the dictation of Truth, seeing she ought +always to sit upon the pen of a historian, I must needs say they were +infidels like their enemies; faithfully attached, however, to the Roman +service, and, as I believe, true slaves of the Emperor, to whom they +communicated the information required by him respecting the position of +his dreaded opponent Jezdegerd. These men did not bring in their +information till long after the hour when the Emperor usually betook +himself to rest. + +"Notwithstanding this derangement of his most sacred time, our imperial +father, who had postponed the ceremony of disrobing, so important were +the necessities of the moment, continued, until deep in the night, to +hold a council of his wisest chiefs, men whose depth of judgment might +have saved a sinking world, and who now consulted what was to be done +under the pressure of the circumstances in which they were now placed. +And so great was the urgency, that all ordinary observances of the +household were set aside, since I have heard from those who witnessed +the fact, that the royal bed was displayed in the very room where the +council assembled, and that the sacred lamp, called the Light of the +Council, and which always burns when the Emperor presides in person +over the deliberations of his servants, was for that night--a thing +unknown in our annals--fed with unperfumed oil!!" + +The fair speaker here threw her fine form into an attitude which +expressed holy horror, and the hearers intimated their sympathy in the +exciting cause by corresponding signs of interest; as to which we need +only say, that the sigh of Achilles Tatius was the most pathetic; while +the groan of Agelastes the Elephant was deepest and most tremendously +bestial in its sound. Hereward seemed little moved, except by a slight +motion of surprise at the wonder expressed by the others. The Princess, +having allowed due time for the sympathy of her hearers to exhibit +itself, proceeded as follows:-- + +"In this melancholy situation, when even the best-established and most +sacred rites of the imperial household gave way to the necessity of a +hasty provision for the morrow, the opinions of the counsellors were +different, according to their tempers and habits; a thing, by the way, +which may be remarked as likely to happen among the best and wisest on +such occasions of doubt and danger. + +"I do not in this place put down the names and opinions of those whose +counsels were proposed and rejected, herein paying respect to the +secrecy and freedom of debate justly attached to the imperial cabinet. +Enough it is to say, that some there were who advised a speedy attack +upon the enemy, in the direction of our original advance. Others +thought it was safer, and might be easier, to force our way to the +rear, and retreat by the same course which had brought us hither; nor +must it be concealed, that there were persons of unsuspected fidelity, +who proposed a third course, safer indeed than the others, but totally +alien to the mind of our most magnanimous father. They recommended that +a confidential slave, in company with a minister of the interior of our +imperial palace, should be sent to the tent of Jezdegerd, in order to +ascertain upon what terms the barbarian would permit our triumphant +father to retreat in safety at the head of his victorious army. On +learning such opinion, our imperial father was heard to exclaim, +'Sancta Sophia!' being the nearest approach to an adjuration which he +has been known to permit himself, and was apparently about to say +something violent both concerning the dishonour of the advice, and the +cowardice of those by whom, it was preferred, when, recollecting the +mutability of human things, and the misfortune of several of his +Majesty's gracious predecessors, some of whom had been compelled to +surrender their sacred persons to the infidels in the same region, his +Imperial Majesty repressed his generous feelings, and only suffered his +army counsellors to understand his sentiments by a speech, in which he +declared so desperate and so dishonourable a course would be the last +which he would adopt, even in the last extremity of danger. Thus did +the judgment of this mighty Prince at once reject counsel that seemed +shameful to his arms, and thereby encourage the zeal of his troops, +while privately he kept this postern in reserve, which in utmost need +might serve for a safe, though not altogether, in less urgent +circumstances, an honourable retreat. + +"When the discussion had reached this melancholy crisis, the renowned +Achilles Tatius arrived with the hopeful intelligence, that he himself +and some soldiers of his corps had discovered an opening on the left +flank of our present encampment, by which, making indeed a considerable +circuit, but reaching, if we marched with vigour, the town of Laodicea, +we might, by falling back on our resources, be in some measure in +surety from the enemy. + +"So soon as this ray of hope darted on the troubled mind of our +gracious father, he proceeded to make such arrangements as might secure +the full benefit of the advantage. His Imperial Highness would not +permit the brave Varangians, whose battle-axes he accounted the flower +of his imperial army, to take the advanced posts of assailants on the +present occasion. He repressed the love of battle by which these +generous foreigners have been at all times distinguished, and directed +that the Syrian forces in the army, who have been before mentioned, +should be assembled with as little noise as possible in the vicinity of +the deserted pass, with instructions to occupy it. The good genius of +the empire suggested that, as their speech, arms, and appearance, +resembled those of the enemy, they might be permitted unopposed to take +post in the defile with their light-armed forces, and thus secure it +for the passage of the rest of the army, of which he proposed that the +Varangians, as immediately attached to his own sacred person, should +form the vanguard. The well-known battalions, termed the Immortals, +came next, comprising the gross of the army, and forming the centre and +rear. Achilles Tatius, the faithful Follower of his Royal Master, +although mortified that he was not permitted to assume the charge of +the rear, which he had proposed for himself and his valiant troops, as +the post of danger at the time, cheerfully acquiesced, nevertheless, in +the arrangement proposed by the Emperor, as most fit to effect the +imperial safety, and that of the army. + +"The imperial orders, as they were sent instantly abroad, were in like +manner executed with the readiest punctuality, the rather that they +indicated a course of safety which had been almost despaired of even by +the oldest soldiers. During the dead period of time, when, as the +divine Homer tells us, gods and men are alike asleep, it was found that +the vigilance and prudence of a single individual had provided safety +for the whole Roman army. The pinnacles of the mountain passes were +scarcely touched by the earliest beams of the dawn, when these beams +were also reflected from the steel caps and spears of the Syrians, +under the command of a captain named Monastras, who, with his tribe, +had attached himself to the empire. The Emperor, at the head of his +faithful Varangians, defiled through the passes in order to gain that +degree of advance on the road to the city of Laodicea which was +desired, so as to avoid coming into collision with the barbarians. + +"It was a goodly sight to see the dark mass of northern warriors, who +now led the van of the army, moving slowly and steadily through the +defiles of the mountains, around the insulated rocks and precipices, +and surmounting the gentler acclivities, like the course of a strong +and mighty river; while the loose bands of archers and javelin-men, +armed after the Eastern manner, were dispersed on the steep sides of +the defiles, and might be compared to light foam upon the edge of the +torrent. In the midst of the squadrons of the life-guard might be seen +the proud war-horse of his Imperial Majesty, which pawed the earth +indignantly, as if impatient at the delay which separated, him from his +august burden. The Emperor Alexius himself travelled in a litter, borne +by eight strong African slaves, that he might rise perfectly refreshed +if the army should be overtaken by the enemy. The valiant Achilles +Tatius rode near the couch of his master, that none of those luminous +ideas, by which our august sire so often decided the fate of battle, +might be lost for want of instant communication to those whose duty it +was to execute them. I may also say, that there were close to the +litter of the Emperor, three or four carriages of the same kind; one +prepared for the Moon, as she may be termed, of the universe, the +gracious Empress Irene. Among the others which might be mentioned, was +that which contained the authoress of this history, unworthy as she may +be of distinction, save as the daughter of the eminent and sacred +persons whom the narration chiefly concerns. In this manner the +imperial army pressed on through the dangerous defiles, where their +march was exposed to insults from the barbarians. They were happily +cleared without any opposition. When we came to the descent of the pass +which looks down on the city of Laodicea, the sagacity of the Emperor +commanded the van--which, though the soldiers composing the same were +heavily armed, had hitherto marched extremely fast--to halt, as well +that they themselves might take some repose and refreshment, as to give +the rearward forces time to come up, and close various gaps which the +rapid movement of those in front had occasioned in, the line of march. + +"The place chosen for this purpose was eminently beautiful, from the +small and comparatively insignificant ridge of hills which melt +irregularly down into the plains stretching between the pass which we +occupied and Laodicea. The town was about one hundred stadia distant, +and some of our more sanguine warriors pretended that they could +already discern its towers and pinnacles, glittering in the early beams +of the sun, which had not as yet risen high into the horizon. A +mountain torrent, which found its source at the foot of a huge rock, +that yawned to give it birth, as if struck by the rod of the prophet +Moses, poured its liquid treasure down to the more level country, +nourishing herbage and even large trees, in its descent, until, at the +distance of some four or five miles, the stream, at least in dry +seasons, was lost amid heaps of sand and stones, which in the rainy +season marked the strength and fury of its current. + +"It was pleasant to see the attention of the Emperor to the comforts of +the companions and guardians of his march. The trumpets from time to +time gave license to various parties of the Varangians to lay down +their arms, to eat the food which was distributed to them, and quench +their thirst at the pure stream, which poured its bounties down the +hill, or they might be seen to extend their bulky forms upon the turf +around them. The Emperor, his most serene spouse, arid the princesses +and ladies, were also served with breakfast, at the fountain formed by +the small brook in its very birth, and which the reverent feelings of +the soldiers had left unpolluted by vulgar touch, for the use of that +family, emphatically said to be born in the purple. Our beloved husband +was also present on this occasion, and was among the first to detect +one of the disasters of the day. For, although all the rest of the +repast had been, by the dexterity of the officers of the imperial +mouth, so arranged, even on so awful an occasion, as to exhibit little +difference from the ordinary provisions of the household, yet, when his +Imperial Highness called for wine, behold, not only was the sacred +liquor, dedicated to his own peculiar imperial use, wholly exhausted or +left behind, but, to use the language of Horace, not the vilest Sabine +vintage could be procured; so that his Imperial Highness was glad to +accept the offer of a rude Varangian, who proffered his modicum of +decocted barley, which these barbarians prefer to the juice of the +grape. The Emperor, nevertheless, accepted of this coarse tribute." + +"Insert," said the Emperor, who had been hitherto either plunged in +deep contemplation or in an incipient slumber, "insert, I say, these +very words: 'And with the heat of the morning, and anxiety of so rapid +a march, with a numerous enemy in his rear, the Emperor was so thirsty, +as never in his life to think beverage more delicious.'" + +In obedience to her imperial father's orders, the Princess resigned the +manuscript to the beautiful slave by whom it was written, repeating to +the fair scribe the commanded addition, requiring her to note it, as +made by the express sacred command of the Emperor, and then proceeded +thus:--"More had I said here respecting the favourite liquor of your +Imperial Highnesses faithful Varangians; but your Highness having once +graced it with a word of commendation, this _ail_, as they call it, +doubtless because removing all disorders, which they term 'ailments,' +becomes a theme too lofty for the discussion of any inferior person. +Suffice it to say, that thus were we all pleasantly engaged, the ladies +and slaves trying to find some amusement for the imperial ears; the +soldiers, in a long line down the ravine, seen in different postures, +some straggling to the watercourse, some keeping guard over the arms of +their comrades, in which duty they relieved each other, while body +after body of the remaining troops, under command of the +Protospathaire, and particularly those called Immortals, [Footnote: The +[Greek: Athanatoi], or Immortals, of the army of Constantinople, were a +select body, so named, in imitation of the ancient Persians. They were +first embodied, according to Ducange, by Michael Ducas] joined the main +army as they came up. Those soldiers who were already exhausted, were +allowed to take a short repose, after which they were sent forward, +with directions to advance steadily on the road to Laodicea; while +their leader was instructed, so soon as he should open a free +communication with that city, to send thither a command for +reinforcements and refreshments, not forgetting fitting provision of +the sacred wine for the imperial mouth. Accordingly, the Roman bands of +Immortals and others had resumed their march, and held some way on +their journey, it being the imperial pleasure that the Varangians, +lately the vanguard, should now form the rear of the whole army, so as +to bring off in safety the Syrian light troops, by whom the hilly pass +was still occupied, when we heard upon the other side of this defile, +which he had traversed with so much safety, the awful sound of the +_Lelies_, as the Arabs name their shout of onset, though in what +language it is expressed, it would be hard to say. Perchance some in +this audience may enlighten my ignorance." + +"May I speak and live," said the Acoulouthos Achilles, proud of his +literary knowledge, "the words are, _Alla illa alla, Mohamed resoul +alla_.[Footnote: i. e. "God is god--Mahomet is the prophet of God."] +These, or something like them, contain the Arabs' profession of faith, +which they always call out when they join battle; I have heard them +many times." + +"And so have I," said the Emperor; "and as thou didst, I warrant me, I +have sometimes wished myself anywhere else than within hearing." + +All the circle were alive to hear the answer of Achilles Tatius. He was +too good a courtier, however, to make any imprudent reply. "It was my +duty," he replied, "to desire to be as near your Imperial Highness as +your faithful Follower ought, wherever you might wish yourself for the +time." + +Agelastes and Zosimus exchanged looks, and the Princess Anna Comnena +proceeded in her recitation. + +"The cause of these ominous sounds, which came in wild confusion up the +rocky pass, was soon explained to us by a dozen cavaliers, to whom the +task of bringing intelligence had been assigned. + +"These informed us, that the barbarians, whose host had been dispersed +around the position in which they had encamped the preceding day, had +not been enabled to get their forces together until our light troops +were evacuating the post they had occupied for securing the retreat of +our army. They were then drawing off from the tops of the hills into +the pass itself, when, in despite of the rocky ground, they were +charged furiously by Jezdegerd, at the head of a large body of his +followers, which, after repeated exertions, he had at length brought to +operate on the rear of the Syrians. Notwithstanding that the pass was +unfavourable for cavalry, the personal exertions of the infidel chief +made his followers advance with a degree of resolution unknown to the +Syrians of the Roman army, who, finding themselves at a distance from +their companions, formed the injurious idea that they were left thereto +be sacrificed, and thought of flight in various directions, rather than +of a combined and resolute resistance. The state of affairs, therefore, +at the further end of the pass, was less favourable than we could wish, +and those whose curiosity desired to see something which might be +termed the rout of the rear of an army, beheld the Syrians pursued from +the hill tops, overwhelmed, and individually cut down and made +prisoners by the bands of caitiff Mussulmans. + +"His Imperial Highness looked upon the scene of battle for a few +minutes, and, much commoved at what he saw, was somewhat hasty in his +directions to the Varangians to resume their arms, and precipitate +their march towards Laodicea; whereupon one of those northern soldiers +said boldly, though in opposition to the imperial command, 'If we +attempt to go hastily down this hill, our rear-guard will be confused, +not only by our own hurry, but by these runaway scoundrels of Syrians, +who in their headlong flight will not fail to mix themselves among our +ranks. Let two hundred Varangians, who will live and die for the honour +of England, abide in the very throat of this pass with me, while the +rest escort the Emperor to this Laodicea, or whatever it is called. We +may perish in our defence, but we shall die in our duty; and I have +little doubt but we shall furnish such a meal as will stay the stomach +of these yelping hounds from seeking any farther banquet this day.' + +"My imperial father at once discovered the importance of this advice, +though it made him wellnigh weep to see with what unshrinking fidelity +these poor barbarians pressed to fill up the number of those who were +to undertake this desperate duty--with what kindness they took leave of +their comrades, and with what jovial shouts they followed their +sovereign with their eyes as he proceeded on his march down the hill, +leaving them behind to resist and perish. The Imperial eyes were filled +with tears; and I am not ashamed to confess, that amid the terror of +the moment, the Empress, and I myself, forgot our rank in paying a +similar tribute to these bold and self-devoted men. + +"We left their leader carefully arraying his handful of comrades in +defence of the pass, where the middle path was occupied by their +centre, while their wings on either side were so disposed as to act +upon the flanks of the enemy, should he rashly press upon such as +appeared opposed to him in the road. We had not proceeded half way +towards the plain, when a dreadful shout arose, in which the yells of +the Arabs were mingled with the deep and more regular shouts which +these strangers usually repeat thrice, as well when bidding hail to +their commanders and princes, as when in the act of engaging in battle. +Many a look was turned back by their comrades, and many a form was seen +in the ranks which might have claimed the chisel of a sculptor, while +the soldier hesitated whether to follow the line of his duty, which +called him to march forward with his Emperor, or the impulse of +courage, which prompted him to rush back to join his companions. +Discipline, however, prevailed, and the main body marched on. + +"An hour had elapsed, during which we heard, from time to time, the +noise of battle, when a mounted Varangian presented himself at the side +of the Emperor's litter. The horse was covered with foam, and had +obviously, from his trappings, the fineness of his limbs, and the +smallness of his joints, been the charger of some chief of the desert, +which had fallen by the chance of battle into the possession of the +northern warrior. The broad axe which the Varangian bore was also +stained with blood, and the paleness of death itself was upon his +countenance. These marks of recent battle were held sufficient to +excuse the irregularity of his salutation, while he exclaimed,--'Noble +Prince, the Arabs are defeated, and you may pursue your march at more +leisure.' + +"'Where is Jezdegerd?' said the Emperor, who had many reasons for +dreading this celebrated chief. + +"'Jezdegerd,' continued the Varangian, 'is where brave men are who fall +in their duty.' + +"'And that is'--said the Emperor, impatient to know distinctly the fate +of so formidable an adversary-- + +"'Where I am now going,' answered the faithful soldier, who dropped +from his horse as he spoke, and expired at the feet of the +litter-bearers. The Emperor called to his attendants to see that the +body of this faithful retainer, to whom he destined an honourable +sepulchre, was not left to the jackal or vulture; and some of his +brethren, the Anglo-Saxons, among whom he was a man of no mean repute, +raised the body on their shoulders, and resumed their march with this +additional encumbrance, prepared to fight for their precious burden, +like the valiant Menelaus for the body of Patroclus." + +The Princess Anna Comnena here naturally paused; for, having attained +what she probably considered as the rounding of a period, she was +willing to gather an idea of the feelings of her audience. Indeed, but +that she had been intent upon her own manuscript, the emotions of the +foreign soldier must have more early attracted her attention. In the +beginning of her recitation, he had retained the same attitude which he +had at first assumed, stiff and rigid as a sentinel upon duty, and +apparently remembering nothing save that he was performing that duty in +presence of the imperial court. As the narrative advanced, however, he +appeared to take more interest in what was read. The anxious fears +expressed by the various leaders in the midnight council, he listened +to with a smile of suppressed contempt, and he almost laughed at the +praises bestowed upon the leader of his own corps, Achilles Tatius. Nor +did, even the name of the Emperor, though listened to respectfully, +gain that applause for which his daughter fought so hard, and used so +much exaggeration. + +Hitherto the Varangian's countenance indicated very slightly any +internal emotions; but they appeared to take a deeper hold on his mind +as she came to the description of the halt after the main army had +cleared the pass; the unexpected advance of the Arabs; the retreat of +the column which escorted the Emperor; and the account of the distant +engagement. He lost, on hearing the narration of these events, the +rigid and constrained look of a soldier, who listened to the history of +his Emperor with the same feelings with which he would have mounted +guard at his palace. His colour began to come and go; his eyes to fill +and to sparkle; his limbs to become more agitated than their owner +seemed to assent to; and his whole appearance was changed into that of +a listener, highly interested by the recitation which he hears, and +insensible, or forgetful, of whatever else is passing before him, as +well as of the quality of those who are present. + +As the historian proceeded, Hereward became less able to conceal his +agitation; and at the moment the Princess looked round, his feelings +became so acute, that, forgetting where he was, he dropped his +ponderous axe upon the floor, and, clasping his hands together, +exclaimed,--"My unfortunate brother!" + +All were startled by the clang of the falling weapon, and several +persons at once attempted to interfere, as called upon to explain a +circumstance so unusual. Achilles Tatius made some small progress in a +speech designed to apologize for the rough mode of venting his sorrows +to which Hereward had given way, by assuring the eminent persons +present, that the poor uncultivated barbarian was actually younger +brother to him who had commanded and fallen at the memorable defile. +The Princess said nothing, but was evidently struck, and affected, and +not ill-pleased, perhaps, at having given rise to feelings of interest +so flattering to her as an authoress. The others, each in their +character, uttered incoherent words of what was meant to be +consolation; for distress which flows from a natural cause, generally +attracts sympathy even from the most artificial characters. The voice +of Alexius silenced all these imperfect speakers: "Hah, my brave +soldier, Edward!" said the Emperor, "I must have been blind that I did +not sooner recognise thee, as I think there is a memorandum entered, +respecting five hundred pieces of gold due from us to Edward the +Varangian; we have it in our secret scroll of such liberalities for +which we stand indebted to our servitors, nor shall the payment be +longer deferred." "Not to me, if it may please you, my liege," said the +Anglo-Dane, hastily composing his countenance into its rough gravity of +lineament, "lest it should be to one who can claim no interest in your +imperial munificence. My name is Hereward; that of Edward is borne by +three of my companions, all of them as likely as I to have deserved +your Highness's reward for the faithful performance of their duty." + +Many a sign was made by Tatius in order to guard his soldier against +the folly of declining the liberality of the Emperor. Agelastes spoke +more plainly: "Young man," he said, "rejoice in an honour so +unexpected, and answer henceforth to no other name save that of Edward, +by which it hath pleased the light of the world, as it poured a ray +upon thee, to distinguish thee from other barbarians. What is to thee +the font-stone, or the priest officiating thereat, shouldst thou have +derived from either any epithet different from that by which it hath +now pleased the Emperor to distinguish thee from the common mass of +humanity, and by which proud distinction thou hast now a right to be +known ever afterwards?" + +"Hereward was the name of my father," said the soldier, who had now +altogether recovered his composure. "I cannot abandon it while I honour +his memory in death. Edward is the title of my comrade--I must not run +the risk of usurping his interest." + +"Peace all!" interrupted the Emperor. "If we have made a mistake, we +are rich enough to right it; nor shall Hereward be the poorer, if an +Edward shall be found to merit this gratuity." + +"Your Highness may trust that to your affectionate consort," answered +the Empress Irene. + +"His most sacred Highness," said the Princess Anna Comnena, "is so +avariciously desirous to do whatever is good and gracious, that he +leaves no room even for his nearest connexions to display generosity or +munificence. Nevertheless, I, in my degree, will testify my gratitude +to this brave man; for where his exploits are mentioned in this +history, I will cause to be recorded,--'This feat was done by Hereward +the Anglo-Dane, whom it hath pleased his Imperial Majesty to call +Edward.' Keep this, good youth," she continued, bestowing at the same +time a ring of price, "in token that we will not forget our engagement." + +Hereward accepted the token with a profound obeisance, and a +discomposure which his station rendered not unbecoming. It was obvious +to most persons present, that the gratitude of the beautiful Princess +was expressed in a manner more acceptable to the youthful +life-guardsman, than that of Alexius Comnenus. He took the ring with +great demonstration of thankfulness:--"Precious relic!" he said, as he +saluted this pledge of esteem by pressing it to his lips; "we may not +remain long together, but be assured," bending reverently to the +Princess, "that death alone shall part us." + +"Proceed, our princely daughter," said the Empress Irene; "you have +done enough to show that valour is precious to her who can confer fame, +whether it be found in a Roman or a barbarian." + +The Princess resumed her narrative with some slight appearance of +embarrassment. + +"Our movement upon Laodicea was now resumed, and continued with good +hopes on the part of those engaged in the march. Yet instinctively we +could not help casting our eyes to the rear, which had been so long the +direction in which we feared attack. At length, to our surprise, a +thick cloud of dust was visible on the descent of the hill, half way +betwixt us and the place at which we had halted. Some of the troops who +composed our retreating body, particularly those in the rear, began to +exclaim 'The Arabs! the Arabs!' and their march assumed a more +precipitate character when they believed themselves pursed by the +enemy. But the Varangian guards affirmed with one voice, that the dust +was raised by the remains of their own comrades, who, left in the +defence of the pass, had marched off after having so valiantly +maintained the station intrusted to them. They fortified their opinion +by professional remarks that the cloud of dust was more concentrated +than if raised by the Arab horse, and they even pretended to assert, +from their knowledge of such cases, that the number of their comrades +had been much diminished in the action. Some Syrian horsemen, +despatched to reconnoitre the approaching body, brought intelligence +corresponding with the opinion of the Varangians in every particular. +The portion of the body-guard had beaten back the Arabs, and their +gallant leader had slain their chief Jezdegerd, in which service he was +mortally wounded, as this history hath already mentioned. The survivors +of the detachment, diminished by one half, were now on their march to +join the Emperor, as fast as the encumbrance of bearing their wounded +to a place of safety would permit. + +"The Emperor Alexius, with one of those brilliant and benevolent ideas +which mark his paternal character towards his soldiers, ordered all the +litters, even that for his own most sacred use, to be instantly sent +back to relieve the bold Varangians of the task of bearing the wounded. +The shouts of the Varangians' gratitude may be more easily conceived +than described, when they beheld the Emperor himself descend from his +litter, like an ordinary cavalier, and assume his war-horse, at the +same time that the most sacred Empress, as well as the authoress of +this history, with other princesses born in the purple, mounted upon +mules in order to proceed upon the march, while their litters were +unhesitatingly assigned for the accommodation of the wounded men. This +was indeed a mark, as well of military sagacity as of humanity; for the +relief afforded to the bearers of the wounded, enabled the survivors of +those who had defended the defile at the fountain, to join us sooner +than would otherwise have been possible. + +"It was an awful thing to see those men who had left us in the full +splendour which military equipment gives to youth and strength, again +appearing in diminished numbers--their armour shattered--their shields +full of arrows--their offensive weapons marked with blood, and they +themselves exhibiting all the signs of desperate and recent battle. Nor +was it less interesting to remark the meeting of the soldiers who had +been engaged, with the comrades whom they had rejoined. The Emperor, at +the suggestion of the trusty Acoulouthos, permitted them a few moments +to leave their ranks, and learn from each other the fate of the battle. + +"As the two bands mingled, it seemed a meeting where grief and joy had +a contest together. The most rugged of these barbarians,--and I who saw +it can bear witness to the fact,--as he welcomed with a grasp of his +strong hand some comrade whom he had given up for lost, had his large +blue eyes filled with tears at hearing of the loss of some one whom he +had hoped might have survived. Other veterans reviewed the standards +which had been in the conflict, satisfied themselves that they had all +been brought back in honour and safety, and counted the fresh +arrow-shots with which they had been pierced, in addition to similar +marks of former battles. All were loud in the praises of the brave +young leader they had lost, nor were the acclamations less general in +laud of him who had succeeded to the command, who brought up the party +of his deceased brother--and whom," said the Princess, in a few words +which seemed apparently interpolated for the occasion, "I now assure of +the high honour and estimation in which he is held by the author of +this history--that is, I would say, by every member of the imperial +family--for his gallant services in such an important crisis." + +Having hurried over her tribute to her friend the Varangian, in which +emotions mingled that are not willingly expressed before so many +hearers, Anna Comnena proceeded with composure in the part of her +history which was less personal. + +"We had not much time to make more observations on what passed among +those brave soldiers; for a few minutes having been allowed to their +feelings, the trumpet sounded the advance towards Laodicea, and we soon +beheld the town, now about four miles from us, in fields which were +chiefly covered with trees. Apparently the garrison had already some +notice of our approach, for carts and wains were seen advancing from +the gates with refreshments, which the heat of the day, the length of +the march, and columns of dust, as well as the want of water, had +rendered of the last necessity to us. The soldiers joyfully mended +their pace in order to meet the sooner with the supplies of which they +stood so much in need. But as the cup doth not carry in all cases the +liquid treasure to the lips for which it was intended, however much it +may be longed for, what was our mortification to behold a cloud of +Arabs issue at full gallop from the wooded plain betwixt the Roman army +and the city, and throw themselves upon the waggons, slaying the +drivers, and making havoc and spoil of the contents! This, we +afterwards learned, was a body of the enemy, headed by Varanes, equal +in military fame, among those infidels, to Jezdegerd, his slain +brother. When this chieftain saw that it was probable that the +Varangians would succeed in their desperate defence of the pass, he put +himself at the head of a large body of the cavalry; and as these +infidels are mounted on horses unmatched either in speed or wind, +performed a long circuit, traversed the stony ridge of hills at a more +northerly defile, and placed himself in ambuscade in the wooded plain I +have mentioned, with the hope of making an unexpected assault upon the +Emperor and his army, at the very time when they might be supposed to +reckon upon an undisputed retreat. This surprise would certainly have +taken place, and it is not easy to say what might have been the +consequence, had not the unexpected appearance of the train of waggons +awakened the unbridled rapacity of the Arabs, in spite of their +commander's prudence, and attempts to restrain them. In this manner the +proposed ambuscade was discovered. + +"But Varanes, willing still to gain some advantage from the rapidity of +his movements, assembled as many of his horsemen as could be collected +from the spoil, and pushed forward towards the Romans, who had stopped +short on their march at so unlooked for an apparition. There was an +uncertainty and wavering in our first ranks which made their hesitation +known even to so poor a judge of military demeanour as myself. On the +contrary, the Varangians joined in a unanimous cry of 'Bills' +[Footnote: Villehardouin says, "Les Anglois et Danois mult bien +rombattoint avec leurs _haches_."] (that is, in their language, +battle-axes,) 'to the front!' and the Emperor's most gracious will +acceding to their valorous desire, they pressed forward from the rear +to the head of the column. I can hardly say how this manoeuvre was +executed, but it was doubtless by the wise directions of my most serene +father, distinguished for his presence of mind upon such difficult +occasions. It was, no doubt, much facilitated by the good will of the +troops themselves; the Roman bands, called the Immortals, showing, as +it seemed to me, no less desire to fall into the rear, than did the +Varangians to occupy the places which the Immortals left vacant in +front. The manoeuvre was so happily executed, that before Varanes and +his Arabs had arrived at the van of our troops, they found it occupied +by the inflexible guard of northern soldiers. I might have seen with my +own eyes, and called upon them as sure evidences of that which chanced +upon the occasion. But, to confess the truth, my eyes were little used +to look upon such sights; for of Varanes's charge I only beheld, as it +were, a thick cloud of dust rapidly driven forward, through which were +seen the glittering points of lances, and the waving plumes of turban'd +cavaliers imperfectly visible. The tecbir was so loudly uttered, that I +was scarcely aware that kettle-drums and brazen cymbals were sounding +in concert with it. But this wild and outrageous storm was met as +effectually as if encountered by a rock. + +"The Varangians, unshaken by the furious charge of the Arabs, received +horse and rider with a shower of blows from their massive battle-axes, +which the bravest of the enemy could not face, nor the strongest +endure. The guards strengthened their ranks also, by the hindmost +pressing so close upon those that went before, after the manner of the +ancient Macedonians, that the fine-limbed, though slight steeds of +those Idumeans could not make the least inroad upon the northern +phalanx. The bravest men, the most gallant horses, fell in the first +rank. The weighty, though short, horse javelins, flung from the rear +ranks of the brave Varangians, with good aim and sturdy arm, completed +the confusion of the assailants, who turned their back in affright, and +fled from the field in total confusion. + +"The enemy thus repulsed, we proceeded on our march, and only halted +when we recovered our half-plundered waggons. Here, also, some +invidious remarks were made by certain officers of the interior of the +household, who had been on duty over the stores, and having fled from +their posts on the assault of the infidels, had only returned upon +their being repulsed. These men, quick in malice, though slow in +perilous service, reported that, on this occasion, the Varangians so +far forgot their duty as to consume a part of the sacred wine reserved +for the imperial lips alone. It would be criminal to deny that this was +a great and culpable oversight; nevertheless, our imperial hero passed +it over as a pardonable offence; remarking, in a jesting manner, that +since he had drunk the _ail_, as they termed it, of his trusty guard, +the Varangians had acquired a right to quench the thirst, and to +relieve the fatigue, which they had undergone that day in his defence, +though they used for these purposes the sacred contents of the imperial +cellar. + +"In the meantime, the cavalry of the army were despatched in pursuit of +the fugitive Arabs; and having succeeded in driving them behind the +chain of hills which had so recently divided them from the Romans, the +imperial arms might justly be considered as having obtained a complete +and glorious victory. + +"We are now to mention the rejoicings of the citizens of Laodicea, who, +having witnessed from their ramparts, with alternate fear and hope, the +fluctuations of the battle, now descended to congratulate the imperial +conqueror." + +Here the fair narrator was interrupted. The principal entrance of the +apartment flew open, noiselessly indeed, but with both folding leaves +at once, not as if to accommodate the entrance of an ordinary courtier, +studying to create as little disturbance as possible, but as if there +was entering a person, who ranked so high as to make it indifferent how +much attention was drawn to his motions. It could only be one born in +the purple, or nearly allied to it, to whom such freedom was lawful; +and most of the guests, knowing who were likely to appear in that +Temple of the Muses, anticipated, from the degree of bustle, the +arrival of Nicephorus Briennius, the son-in-law of Alexius Comnenus, +the husband to the fair historian, and in the rank of Caesar, which, +however, did not at that period imply, as in early ages, the dignity of +second person in the empire. The policy of Alexius had interposed more +than one person of condition between the Caesar and his original rights +and rank, which had once been second to those only of the Emperor +himself. + + + + +CHAPTER THE FIFTH. + + The storm increases--'tis no sunny shower, + Foster'd in the moist breast of March or April, + Or such as parched Summer cools his lip with: + Heaven's windows are flung wide; the inmost deeps + Call in hoarse greeting one upon another; + On comes the flood in all its foaming horrors, + And where's the dike shall stop it! + THE DELUGE, _a Poem_. + + +The distinguished individual who entered was a noble Grecian, of +stately presence, whose habit was adorned with every mark of dignity, +saving those which Alexius had declared sacred to the Emperor's own +person and that of the Sebastocrator, whom he had established as next +in rank to the head of the empire. Nicephorus Briennius, who was in the +bloom of youth, retained all the marks of that manly beauty which had +made the match acceptable to Anna Comnena; while political +considerations, and the desire of attaching a powerful house as +friendly adherents of the throne, recommended the union to the Emperor. + +We have already hinted that the royal bride had, though in no great +degree, the very doubtful advantage of years. Of her literary talents +we have seen tokens. Yet it was not believed by those who best knew, +that, with the aid of those claims to respect, Anna Comnena was +successful in possessing the unlimited attachment of her handsome +husband. To treat her with apparent neglect, her connexion with the +crown rendered impossible; while, on the other hand, the power of +Nicephorus's family was too great to permit his being dictated to even +by the Emperor himself. He was possessed of talents, as it was +believed, calculated both for war and peace. His advice was, therefore, +listened to, and his assistance required, so that he claimed complete +liberty with respect to his own time, which he sometimes used with less +regular attendance upon the Temple of the Muses, than the goddess of +the place thought herself entitled to, or than the Empress Irene was +disposed to exact on the part of her daughter. The good-humoured +Alexius observed a sort of neutrality in this matter, and kept it as +much as possible from becoming visible to the public, conscious that it +required the whole united strength of his family to maintain his place +in so agitated an empire. + +He pressed his son-in-law's hand, as Nicephorus, passing his +father-in-law's seat, bent his knee in token of homage. The constrained +manner of the Empress indicated a more cold reception of her +son-in-law, while the fair muse herself scarcely deigned to signify her +attention to his arrival, when her handsome mate assumed the vacant +seat by her side, which we have already made mention of. + +There was an awkward pause, during which the imperial son-in-law, +coldly received when he expected to be welcomed, attempted to enter +into some light conversation with the fair slave Astarte, who knelt +behind her mistress. This was interrupted by the Princess commanding +her attendant to enclose the manuscript within its appropriate casket, +and convey it with her own hands to the cabinet of Apollo, the usual +scene of the Princess's studies, as the Temple of the Muses was that +commonly dedicated to her recitations. + +The Emperor himself was the first to break an unpleasant silence. "Fair +son-in-law," he said, "though it now wears something late in the night, +you will do yourself wrong if you permit our Anna to send away that +volume, with which this company have been so delectably entertained +that they may well say, that the desert hath produced roses, and the +barren rocks have poured forth milk and honey, so agreeable is the +narrative of a toilsome and dangerous campaign, in the language of our +daughter." + +"The Caesar," said the Empress, "seems to have little taste for such +dainties as this family can produce. He hath of late repeatedly +absented himself from this Temple of the Muses, and found doubtless +more agreeable conversation and amusement elsewhere." + +"I trust, madam," said Nicephorus, "that my taste may vindicate me from +the charge implied. But it is natural that our sacred father should be +most delighted with the milk and honey which is produced for his own +special use." + +The Princess spoke in the tone of a handsome woman offended by her +lover, and feeling the offence, yet not indisposed to a reconciliation. + +"If," she said, "the deeds of Nicephorus Briennius are less frequently +celebrated in that poor roll of parchment than those of my illustrious +father, he must do me the justice to remember that such was his own +special request; either proceeding from that modesty which is justly +ascribed to him as serving to soften and adorn his other attributes, or +because he with justice distrusts his wife's power to compose their +eulogium." + +"We will then summon back Astarte," said the Empress, "who cannot yet +have carried her offering to the cabinet of Apollo." + +"With your imperial pleasure," said Nicephorus, "it might incense the +Pythian god were a deposit to be recalled of which he alone can fitly +estimate the value. I came hither to speak with the Emperor upon +pressing affairs of state, and not to hold a literary conversation with +a company which I must needs say is something of a miscellaneous +description, since I behold an ordinary life-guardsman in the imperial +circle." + +"By the rood, son-in-law," said Alexius, "you do this gallant man +wrong. He is the brother of that brave Anglo-Dane who secured the +victory at Laodicea by his valiant conduct and death; he himself is +that Edmund--or Edward---or Hereward---to whom we are ever bound for +securing the success of that victorious day. He was called into our +presence, son-in-law, since it imports that you should know so much, to +refresh the memory of any Follower, Achilles Tatius, as well as mine +own, concerning some transactions of the day of which we had become in +some degree oblivious." + +"Truly, imperial sir," answered Briennius, "I grieve that, by having +intruded on some such important researches, I may have, in some degree, +intercepted a portion of that light which is to illuminate future ages. +Methinks that in a battle-field, fought under your imperial guidance, +and that of your great captains, your evidence might well supersede the +testimony of such a man as this.--Let me know," he added, turning +haughtily to the Varangian, "what particular thou canst add, that is +unnoticed in the Princess's narrative?" + +The Varangian replied instantly, "Only that when we made a halt at the +fountain, the music that was there made by the ladies of the Emperor's +household, and particularly by those two whom I now behold, was the +most exquisite that ever reached my ears." + +"Hah! darest thou to speak so audacious an opinion?" exclaimed +Nicephorus; "is it for such as thou to suppose for a moment that the +music which the wife and daughter of the Emperor might condescend to +make, was intended to afford either matter of pleasure or of criticism +to every plebeian barbarian who might hear them? Begone from this +place! nor dare, on any pretext, again to appear before mine +eyes--under allowance always of our imperial father's pleasure." + +The Varangian bent his looks upon Achilles Tatius, as the person from +whom he was to take his orders to stay or withdraw. But the Emperor +himself took up the subject with considerable dignity. + +"Son," he said, "we cannot permit this. On account of some love +quarrel, as it would seem, betwixt you and our daughter, you allow +yourself strangely to forget our imperial rank, and to order from our +presence those whom we have pleased to call to attend us. This is +neither right nor seemly, nor is it our pleasure that this same +Hereward--or Edward--or whatever be his name--either leave us at this +present moment, or do at any time hereafter regulate himself by any +commands save our own, or those of our Follower, Achilles Tatius. And +now, allowing this foolish affair, which I think was blown among us by +the wind, to pass as it came, without farther notice, we crave to know +the grave matters of state which brought you to our presence at so late +an hour.--You look again at this Varangian.--Withhold not your words, I +pray you, on account of his presence; for he stands as high in our +trust, and we are convinced with as good reason, as any counsellor who +has been sworn our domestic servant." + +"To hear is to obey," returned the Emperor's son-in-law, who saw that +Alexius was somewhat moved, and knew that in such cases it was neither +safe nor expedient to drive him to extremity. "What I have to say," +continued he, "must so soon be public news, that it little matters who +hears it; and yet the West, so full of strange changes, never sent to +the Eastern half of the globe tidings so alarming as those I now come +to tell your Imperial Highness. Europe, to borrow an expression from +this lady, who honours me by calling me husband, seems loosened from +its foundations and about to precipitate itself upon Asia"---- + +"So I did express myself," said the Princess Anna Comnena, "and, as I +trust, not altogether unforcibly, when we first heard that the wild +impulse of those restless barbarians of Europe had driven a tempest as +of a thousand nations upon our western frontier, with the extravagant +purpose, as they pretended, of possessing themselves of Syria, and the +holy places there marked as the sepulchres of prophets, the martyrdom +of saints, and the great events detailed in the blessed gospel. But +that storm, by all accounts, hath burst and passed away, and we well +hoped that the danger had gone with it. Devoutly shall we sorrow to +find it otherwise." + +"And otherwise we must expect to find it," said her husband. "It is +very true, as reported to us, that a huge body of men, of low rank and +little understanding, assumed arms at the instigation of a mad hermit, +and took the road from Germany to Hungary, expecting miracles to be +wrought in their favour, as when Israel was guided through the +wilderness by a pillar of flame and a cloud. But no showers of manna or +of quails relieved their necessities, or proclaimed them the chosen +people of God. No waters gushed from the rock for their refreshment. +They were enraged at their sufferings, and endeavoured to obtain +supplies by pillaging the country. The Hungarians, and other nations on +our western frontiers, Christians, like themselves, did not hesitate to +fall upon this disorderly rabble; and immense piles of bones, in wild +passes and unfrequented deserts, attest the calamitous defeats which +extirpated these unholy pilgrims." + +"All this," said the Emperor, "we knew before;--but what new evil now +threatens, since we have already escaped so important a one?" + +"Knew before?" said the Prince Nicephorus. "We knew nothing of our real +danger before, save that a wild herd of animals, as brutal and as +furious as wild bulls, threatened to bend their way to a pasture for +which they had formed a fancy, and deluged the Grecian empire, and its +vicinity, in their passage, expecting that Palestine, with its streams +of milk and honey, once more awaited them, as God's predestined people. +But so wild and disorderly an invasion had no terrors for a civilized +nation like the Romans. The brute herd was terrified by our Greek fire; +it was snared and shot down by the wild nations who, while they pretend +to independence, cover our frontier as with a protecting fortification. +The vile multitude has been consumed even by the very quality of the +provisions thrown in their way,--those wise means of resistance which +were at once suggested by the paternal care of the Emperor, and by his +unfailing policy. Thus wisdom has played its part, and the bark over +which the tempest had poured its thunder, has escaped, notwithstanding +all its violence. But the second storm, by which the former is so +closely followed, is of a new descent of these Western nations, more +formidable than any which we or our fathers have yet seen. This +consists not of the ignorant or of the fanatical--not of the base, the +needy, and the improvident. Now,--all that wide Europe possesses of +what is wise and worthy, brave and noble, are united by the most +religious vows, in the same purpose." + +"And what is that purpose? Speak plainly," said Alexius. "The +destruction of our whole Roman empire, and the blotting out the very +name of its chief from among the princes of the earth, among which it +has long been predominant, can alone be an adequate motive for a +confederacy such as thy speech infers." + +"No such design is avowed," said Nicephorus; "and so many princes, wise +men, and statesmen of eminence, aim, it is pretended, at nothing else +than the same extravagant purpose announced by the brute multitude who +first appeared in these regions. Here, most gracious Emperor, is a +scroll, in which you will find marked down a list of the various armies +which, by different routes, are approaching the vicinity of the empire. +Behold, Hugh of Vermandois, called from his dignity Hugh the Great, has +set sail from the shores of Italy. Twenty knights have already +announced their coming, sheathed in armour of steel, inlaid with gold, +bearing this proud greeting:--'Let the Emperor of Greece, and his +lieutenants, understand that Hugo, Earl of Vermandois, is approaching +his territories. He is brother to the king of kings--The King of +France,[Footnote: Ducange pours out a whole ocean of authorities to +show that the King of France was in those days styled _Rex_, by way of +eminence. See his notes on the Alexiad. Anna Comnena in her history +makes Hugh, of Vermandois assume to himself the titles which could +only, in the most enthusiastic Frenchman's opinion, have been claimed +by his older brother, the reigning monarch.] namely--and is attended by +the flower of the French nobility. He bears the blessed banner of St. +Peter, intrusted to his victorious care by the holy successor of the +apostle, and warns thee of all this, that thou mayst provide a +reception suitable to his rank.'" + +"Here are sounding words," said the Emperor; "but the wind which +whistles loudest is not always most dangerous to the vessel. We know +something of this nation of France, and have heard more. They are as +petulant at least as they are valiant; we will flatter their vanity +till we get time and opportunity for more effectual defence. Tush! if +words can pay debt, there is no fear of our exchequer becoming +insolvent.--What follows here, Nicephorus? A list, I suppose, of the +followers of this great count?" + +"My liege, no!" answered Nicephorus Briennius; "so many independent +chiefs, as your Imperial Highness sees in that memorial, so many +independent European armies are advancing by different routes towards +the East, and announce the conquest of Palestine from the infidels as +their common object." + +"A dreadful enumeration," said the Emperor, as he perused the list; +"yet so far happy, that its very length assures us of the impossibility +that so many princes can be seriously and consistently united in so +wild a project. Thus already my eyes catch the well-known name of an +old friend, our enemy--for such are the alternate chances of peace and +war--Bohemond of Antioch. Is not he the son of the celebrated Robert of +Apulia, so renowned among his countrymen, who raised himself to the +rank of grand duke from a simple cavalier, and became sovereign of +those of his warlike nation, both in Sicily and Italy? Did not the +standards of the German Emperor, of the Roman Pontiff, nay, our own +imperial banners, give way before him; until, equally a wily statesman +and a brave warrior, he became the terror of Europe, from being a +knight whose Norman castle would have been easily garrisoned by six +cross-bows, and as many lances? It is a dreadful family, a race of +craft as well as power. But Bohemond, the son of old Robert, will +follow his father's politics. He may talk of Palestine and of the +interests of Christendom, but if I can make his interests the same with +mine, he is not likely to be guided by any other object. So then, with +the knowledge I already possess of his wishes and projects, it may +chance that Heaven sends us an ally in the guise of an enemy.--Whom +have we next? Godfrey [Footnote: Godfrey of Bouillon, Duke of Lower +Lorraine--the great Captain of the first Crusade, afterwards King of +Jerusalem. See Gibbon,--or Mills, _passim_.] Duke of Bouillon--leading, +I see, a most formidable band from the banks of a huge river called the +Rhine. What is this person's character?" + +"As we hear," replied Nicephorus, "this Godfrey is one of the wisest, +noblest, and bravest of the leaders who have thus strangely put +themselves in motion; and among a list of independent princes, as many +in number as those who assembled for the siege of Troy, and followed, +most of them, by subjects ten times more numerous, this Godfrey may be +regarded as the Agamemnon. The princes and counts esteem him, because +he is the foremost in the ranks of those whom they fantastically call +Knights, and also on account of the good faith and generosity which he +practises in all his transactions. The clergy give him credit for the +highest zeal for the doctrines of religion, and a corresponding respect +for the Church and its dignitaries. Justice, liberality, and frankness, +have equally attached to this Godfrey the lower class of the people. +His general attention to moral obligations is a pledge to them that his +religion is real; and, gifted with so much that is excellent, he is +already, although inferior in rank, birth, and power to many chiefs of +the crusade, justly regarded as one of its principal leaders." + +"Pity," said the Emperor, "that a character such as you describe this +Prince to be, should be under the dominion of a fanaticism scarce +worthy of Peter the Hermit, or the clownish multitude which he led, or +of the very ass which he rode upon! which I am apt to think the wisest +of the first multitude whom we beheld, seeing that it ran away towards +Europe as soon as water and barley became scarce." + +"Might I be permitted here to speak, and yet live," said Agelastes, "I +would remark that the Patriarch himself made a similar retreat so soon +as blows became plenty and food scarce." + +"Thou hast hit it, Agelastes," said the Emperor; "but the question now +is, whether an honorable and important principality could not be formed +out of part of the provinces of the Lesser Asia, now laid waste by the +Turks. Such a principality, methinks, with its various advantages of +soil, climate, industrious inhabitants, and a healthy atmosphere, were +well worth the morasses of Bouillon. It might be held as a dependence +upon the sacred Roman empire, and garrisoned, as it were, by Godfrey +and his victorious Franks, would be a bulwark on that point to our just +and sacred person. Ha! most holy patriarch, would not such a prospect +shake the most devout Crusader's attachment to the burning sands of +Palestine?" + +"Especially," answered the Patriarch, "if the prince for whom such a +rich _theme_ [Footnote: These provinces were called _Themes_.] was +changed into a feudal appanage, should be previously converted to the +only true faith, as your Imperial Highness undoubtedly means." + +"Certainly--most unquestionably," answered the Emperor, with a due +affectation of gravity, notwithstanding he was internally conscious how +often he had been compelled, by state necessities, to admit, not only +Latin Christians, but Manicheans, and other heretics, nay, Mahomedan +barbarians, into the number of his subjects, and that without +experiencing opposition from the scruples of the Patriarch. "Here I +find," continued the Emperor, "such a numerous list of princes and +principalities in the act of approaching our boundaries, as might well +rival the armies of old, who were said to have drunk up rivers, +exhausted realms, and trode down forests, in their wasteful advance." +As he pronounced these words, a shade of paleness came over the +Imperial brow, similar to that which had already clothed in sadness +most of his counsellors. + +"This war of nations," said Nicephorus, "has also circumstances +distinguishing it from every other, save that which his Imperial +Highness hath waged in former times against those whom we are +accustomed to call Franks. We must go forth against a people to whom +the strife of combat is as the breath of their nostrils; who, rather +than not be engaged in war, will do battle with their nearest +neighbours, and challenge each other to mortal fight, as much in sport +as we would defy a comrade to a chariot-race. They are covered with an +impenetrable armour of steel, defending them from blows of the lance +and sword, and which the uncommon strength of their horses renders them +able to support, though one of ours could as well bear Mount Olympus +upon his loins. Their foot-ranks carry a missile weapon unknown to us, +termed an arblast, or cross-bow. It is not drawn with the right hand, +like the bow of other nations, but by placing the feet upon the weapon +itself, and pulling with the whole force of the body; and it despatches +arrows called bolts, of hard wood pointed with iron, which the strength +of the bow can send through the strongest breastplates, and even +through stone walls, where not of uncommon thickness." + +"Enough," said the Emperor; "we have seen with our own eyes the lances +of Frankish knights, and the cross-bows of their infantry. If Heaven +has allotted them a degree of bravery, which to other nations seems +wellnigh preternatural, the Divine will has given to the Greek councils +that wisdom which it hath refused to barbarians; the art of achieving +conquest by wisdom rather than brute force--obtaining by our skill in +treaty advantages which victory itself could not have procured. If we +have not the use of that dreadful weapon, which our son-in-law terms +the cross-bow, Heaven, in its favour, has concealed from these western +barbarians the composition and use of the Greek fire--well so called, +since by Grecian hands alone it is prepared, and by such only can its +lightnings be darted upon the astonished foe." The Emperor paused, and +looked around him; and although the faces of his counsellors still +looked blank, he boldly proceeded:--"But to return yet again to this +black scroll, containing the names of those nations who approach our +frontier, here occur more than one with which, methinks, old memory +should make us familiar, though our recollections are distant and +confused. It becomes us to know who these men are, that we may avail +ourselves of those feuds and quarrels among them, which, being blown +into life, may happily divert them from the prosecution of this +extraordinary attempt in which they are now united. Here is, for +example, one Robert, styled Duke of Normandy, who commands a goodly +band of counts, with which title we are but too well acquainted; of +_earls_, a word totally strange to us, but apparently some barbaric +title of honour; and of knights whose names are compounded, as we +think, chiefly of the French language, but also of another jargon, +which we are not ourselves competent to understand. To you, most +reverend and most learned Patriarch, we may fittest apply for +information on this subject." + +"The duties of my station," replied the patriarch Zosimus, "have +withheld my riper years from studying the history of distant realms; +but the wise Agelastes, who hath read as many volumes as would fill the +shelves of the famous Alexandrian library, can no doubt satisfy your +Imperial Majesty's enquiries." + +Agelastes erected himself on those enduring legs which had procured him +the surname of Elephant, and began a reply to the enquiries of the +Emperor, rather remarkable for readiness than accuracy. "I have read," +said he, "in that brilliant mirror which reflects the time of our +fathers, the volumes of the learned Procopius, that the people +separately called Normans and Angles are in truth the same race, and +that Normandy, sometimes so called, is in fact a part of a district of +Gaul. Beyond, and nearly opposite to it, but separated by an arm of the +sea, lies a ghastly region, on which clouds and tempests for ever rest, +and which is well known to its continental neighbours as the abode to +which departed spirits are sent after this life. On one side of the +strait dwell a few fishermen, men possessed of a strange charter, and +enjoying singular privileges, in consideration of their being the +living ferrymen who, performing the office of the heathen Charon, carry +the spirits of the departed to the island which is their residence +after death. At the dead of night, these fishermen are, in rotation, +summoned to perform the duty by which they seem to hold the permission +to reside on this strange coast. A knock is heard at the door of his +cottage who holds the turn of this singular service, sounded by no +mortal hand. A whispering, as of a decaying breeze, summons the +ferryman to his duty. He hastens to his bark on the sea-shore, and has +no sooner launched it than he perceives its hull sink sensibly in the +water, so as to express the weight of the dead with whom it is filled. +No form is seen, and though voices are heard, yet the accents are +undistinguishable, as of one who speaks in his sleep. Thus he traverses +the strait between the continent and the island, impressed with the +mysterious awe which affects the living when they are conscious of the +presence of the dead. They arrive upon the opposite coast, where the +cliffs of white chalk form a strange contrast with the eternal darkness +of the atmosphere. They stop at a landing-place appointed, but +disembark not, for the land is never trodden by earthly feet. Here the +passage-boat is gradually lightened of its unearthly inmates, who +wander forth in the way appointed to them, while the mariners slowly +return to their own side of the strait, having performed for the time +this singular service, by which they hold their fishing-huts and their +possessions on that strange coast." Here he ceased, and the Emperor +replied,-- + +"If this legend be actually told us by Procopius, most learned +Agelastes, it shows that that celebrated historian came more near the +heathen than the Christian belief respecting the future state. In +truth, this is little more than the old fable of the infernal Styx. +Procopius, we believe, lived before the decay of heathenism, and, as we +would gladly disbelieve much which he hath told us respecting our +ancestor and predecessor Justinian, so we will not pay him much credit +in future in point of geographical knowledge.--Meanwhile, what ails +thee, Achilles Tatius, and why dost thou whisper with that soldier?" + +"My head," answered Achilles Tatius, "is at your imperial command, +prompt to pay for the unbecoming trespass of my tongue. I did but ask +of this Hereward here what he knew of this matter; for I have heard my +Varangians repeatedly call themselves Anglo-Danes, Normans, Britons, or +some other barbaric epithet, and I am sure that one or other, or it may +be all, of these barbarous sounds, at different times serve to +designate the birth-place of these exiles, too happy in being banished +from the darkness of barbarism, to the luminous vicinity of your +imperial presence." + +"Speak, then, Varangian, in the name of Heaven," said the Emperor, "and +let us know whether we are to look for friends or enemies in those men +of Normandy who are now approaching our frontier. Speak with courage, +man; and if thou apprehendest danger, remember thou servest a prince +well qualified to protect thee." + +"Since I am at liberty to speak," answered the life-guardian, "although +my knowledge of the Greek language, which you term the Roman, is but +slight, I trust it is enough to demand of his Imperial Highness, in +place of all pay, donative, or gift whatsoever, since he has been +pleased to talk of designing such for me, that he would place me in the +first line of battle which shall be formed against these same Normans, +and their Duke Robert; and if he pleases to allow me the aid of such +Varangians as, for love of me, or hatred of their ancient tyrants, may +be disposed to join their arms to mine, I have little doubt so to +settle our long accounts with these men, that the Grecian eagles and +wolves shall do them the last office, by tearing the flesh from their +bones." + +"What dreadful feud is this, my soldier," said the Emperor, "that after +so many years still drives thee to such extremities when the very name +of Normandy is mentioned?" + +"Your Imperial Highness shall be judge!" said the Varangian. "My +fathers, and those of most, though not all of the corps to whom I +belong, are descended from a valiant race who dwelt in the North of +Germany, called Anglo-Saxons. Nobody, save a priest possessed of the +art of consulting ancient chronicles, can even guess how long it is +since they came to the island of Britain, then distracted with civil +war. They came, however, on the petition of the natives of the island, +for the aid of the Angles was requested by the southern inhabitants. +Provinces were granted in recompense of the aid thus liberally +afforded, and the greater proportion of the island became, by degrees, +the property of the Anglo-Saxons, who occupied it at first as several +principalities, and latterly as one kingdom, speaking the language, and +observing the laws, of most of those who now form your imperial +body-guard of Varangians, or exiles. In process of time, the Northmen +became known to the people of the more southern climates. They were so +called from their coming from the distant regions of the Baltic Sea--an +immense ocean, sometimes frozen with ice as hard as the cliffs of Mount +Caucasus. They came seeking milder regions than nature had assigned +them at home; and the climate of France being delightful, and its +people slow in battle, they extorted from them the grant of a large +province which was, from the name of the new settlers, called Normandy, +though I have heard my father say that was not its proper appellation. +They settled there under a Duke, who acknowledged the superior +authority of the King of France, that is to say, obeying him when it +suited his convenience so to do. + +"Now, it chanced many years since, while these two nations of Normans +and Anglo-Saxons were quietly residing upon different sides of the +salt-water channel which divides France from England, that William, +Duke of Normandy, suddenly levied a large army, came over to Kent, +which is on the opposite side of the channel, and there defeated in a +great battle, Harold, who was at that time King of the Anglo-Saxons. It +is but grief to tell what followed. Battles have been fought in old +time, that have had dreadful results, which years, nevertheless, could +wash away; but at Hastings--O woe's me!--the banner of my country fell, +never again to be raised up. Oppression has driven her wheel over us. +All that was valiant amongst us have left the land; and of +Englishmen--for such is our proper designation--no one remains in +England save as the thrall of the invaders. Many men of Danish descent, +who had found their way on different occasions to England, were blended +in the common calamity. All was laid desolate by the command of the +victors. My father's home lies now an undistinguished ruin, amid an +extensive forest, composed out of what were formerly fair fields and +domestic pastures, where a manly race derived nourishment by +cultivating a friendly soil. The fire has destroyed the church where +sleep the fathers of my race; and I, the last of their line, am a +wanderer in other climates--a fighter of the battles of others--the +servant of a foreign, though a kind master; in a word, one of the +banished--a Varangian." + +"Happier in that station" said Achilles Tatius, "than in all the +barbaric simplicity which your forefathers prized so highly, since you +are now under the cheering influence of that smile which is the life of +the world." + +"It avails not talking of this," said the Varangian, with a cold +gesture. + +"These Normans" said the Emperor, "are then the people by whom the +celebrated island of Britain is now conquered and governed?" + +"It is but too true" answered the Varangian. + +"They are, then, a brave and warlike people?"--said Alexius. + +"It would be base and false to say otherwise of an enemy" said +Hereward. "Wrong have they done me, and a wrong never to be atoned; but +to speak falsehood of them were but a woman's vengeance. Mortal enemies +as they are to me, and mingling with all my recollections as that which +is hateful and odious, yet were the troops of Europe mustered, as it +seems they are likely to be, no nation or tribe dared in gallantry +claim the advance of the haughty Norman." + +"And this Duke Robert, who is he?" + +"That," answered the Varangian, "I cannot so well explain. He is the +son--the eldest son, as men say, of the tyrant William, who subdued +England when I hardly existed, or was a child in the cradle. That +William, the victor of Hastings, is now dead, we are assured by +concurring testimony; but while it seems his eldest son Duke Robert has +become his heir to the Duchy of Normandy, some other of his children +have been so fortunate as to acquire the throne of England,--unless, +indeed, like the petty farm of some obscure yeoman, the fair kingdom +has been divided among the tyrant's issue." + +"Concerning this," said the Emperor, "we have heard something, which we +shall try to reconcile with the soldier's narrative at leisure, holding +the words of this honest Varangian as positive proof, in whatsoever he +avers from his own knowledge.--And now, my grave and worthy +counsellors, we must close this evening's service in the Temple of the +Muses, this distressing news, brought us by our dearest son-in-law the +Caesar, having induced us to prolong our worship of these learned +goddesses, deeper into the night than is consistent with the health of +our beloved wife and daughter; while to ourselves, this intelligence +brings subject for grave deliberation." + +The courtiers exhausted their ingenuity in forming the most ingenious +prayers, that all evil consequences should be averted which could +attend this excessive vigilance. + +Nicephorus and his fair bride spoke together as a pair equally desirous +to close an accidental breach between them. "Some things thou hast +said, my Caesar," observed the lady, "in detailing this dreadful +intelligence, as elegantly turned as if the nine goddesses, to whom +this temple is dedicated, had lent each her aid to the sense and +expression." + +"I need none of their assistance," answered Nicephorus, "since I +possess a muse of my own, in whose genius are included all those +attributes which the heathens vainly ascribed to the nine deities of +Parnassus!" + +"It is well," said the fair historian, retiring by the assistance of +her husband's arm; "but if you will load your wife with praises far +beyond her merits, you must lend her your arm to support her under the +weighty burden you have been pleased to impose." The council parted +when the imperial persons had retired, and most of them sought to +indemnify themselves in more free though less dignified circles, for +the constraint which they had practised in the Temple of the Muses. + + + + +CHAPTER THE SIXTH. + + Vain man! thou mayst, esteem thy love as fair + As fond hyperboles suffice to raise. + She may be all that's matchless in her person, + And all-divine in soul to match her body; + But take this from me--thou shalt never call her + Superior to her sex, while _one_ survives, + And I am her true votary. + OLD PLAY. + + +Achilles Tatius, with his faithful Varangian close by his shoulder, +melted from the dispersing assembly silently and almost invisibly, as +snow is dissolved from its Alpine abodes as the days become more +genial. No lordly step, nor clash of armour, betokened the retreat of +the military persons. The very idea of the necessity of guards was not +ostentatiously brought forward, because, so near the presence of the +Emperor, the emanation supposed to flit around that divinity of earthly +sovereigns, had credit for rendering it impassive and unassailable. +Thus the oldest and most skilful courtiers, among whom our friend +Agelastes was not to be forgotten, were of opinion, that, although the +Emperor employed the ministry of the Varangians and other guards, it +was rather for form's sake, than from any danger of the commission of a +crime of a kind so heinous, that it was the fashion to account it +almost impossible. And this doctrine, of the rare occurrence of such a +crime, was repeated from month to month in those very chambers, where +it had oftener than once been perpetrated, and sometimes by the very +persons who monthly laid schemes for carrying some dark conspiracy +against the reigning Emperor into positive execution. + +At length the captain of the life-guardsmen, and his faithful +attendant, found themselves on the outside of the Blacquernal Palace. +The passage which Achilles found for their exit, was closed by a +postern which a single Varangian shut behind, them, drawing, at the +same time, bolt and bar with an ill-omened and jarring sound. Looking +back at the mass of turrets, battlements, and spires, out of which they +had at length emerged, Hereward could not but feel his heart lighten to +find "himself once more under the deep blue of a Grecian heaven, where +the planets were burning with unusual lustre. He sighed and rubbed his +hands with pleasure, like a man newly restored to liberty. He even +spoke to his leader, contrary to his custom unless +addressed:--"Methinks the air of yonder halls, valorous Captain, +carries with it a perfume, which, though it may be well termed sweet, +is so suffocating, as to be more suitable to sepulchrous chambers, than +to the dwellings of men. Happy I am that I am free, as I trust, from +its influences." + +"Be happy, then," said Achilles Tatius, "since thy vile, cloddish +spirit feels suffocation rather than refreshment in gales, which, +instead of causing death, might recall the dead themselves to life. Yet +this I will say for thee, Hereward, that, born a barbarian, within the +narrow circle of a savage's desires and pleasures, and having no idea +of life, save what thou derivest from such vile and base connexions, +thou art, nevertheless, designed by nature for better things, and hast +this day sustained a trial, in which, I fear me, not even one of mine +own noble corps, frozen as they are into lumps of unfashioned +barbarity, could have equalled thy bearing. And speak now in true +faith, hast not thou been rewarded?" + +"That will I never deny," said the Varangian. "The pleasure of knowing, +twenty-four hours perhaps before my comrades, that the Normans are +coming hither to afford us a full revenge of the bloody day of +Hastings, is a lordly recompense, for the task of spending some hours +in hearing the lengthened chat of a lady, who has written about she +knows not what, and the flattering commentaries of the bystanders, who +pretended to give her an account of what they did not themselves stop +to witness." + +"Hereward, my good youth," said Achilles Tatius, "thou ravest, and I +think I should do well to place thee under the custody of some person +of skill. Too much hardihood, my valiant soldier, is in soberness +allied to over-daring. It was only natural that thou shouldst feel a +becoming pride in thy late position; yet, let it but taint thee with +vanity, and the effect will be little short of madness. Why, thou hast +looked boldly in the face of a Princess born in the purple, before whom +my own eyes, though well used to such spectacles, are never raised +beyond the foldings of her veil." + +"So be it in the name of Heaven!" replied Hereward. "Nevertheless, +handsome faces were made to look upon, and the eyes of young men to see +withal." + +"If such be their final end," said Achilles, "never did thine, I will +freely suppose, find a richer apology for the somewhat overbold license +which thou tookest in thy gaze upon the Princess this evening." + +"Good leader, or Follower, whichever is your favourite title," said the +Anglo-Briton, "drive not to extremity a plain man, who desires to hold +his duty in all honour to the imperial family. The Princess, wife of +the Caesar, and born, you tell me, of a purple colour, has now +inherited, notwithstanding, the features of a most lovely woman. She +hath composed a history, of which I presume not to form a judgment, +since I cannot understand it; she sings like an angel; and to conclude, +after the fashion of the knights of this day--though I deal not +ordinarily with their language--I would say cheerfully, that I am ready +to place myself in lists against any one whomsoever, who dares detract +from the beauty of the imperial Anna Comnena's person, or from the +virtues of her mind. Having said this, my noble captain, we have said +all that it is competent for you to inquire into, or for me to answer. +That there are hansomer women than the Princess, is unquestionable; and +I question it the less, that I have myself seen a person whom I think +far her superior; and with that let us close the dialogue." + +"Thy beauty, thou unparalleled fool," said Achilles, "must, I ween, be +the daughter of the large-bodied northern boor, living next door to him +upon whose farm was brought up the person of an ass, curst with such +intolerable want of judgment." + +"You may say your pleasure, captain," replied Hereward: "because it is +the safer for us both that thou canst not on such a topic either offend +me, who hold thy judgment as light as thou canst esteem mine, or speak +any derogation of a person whom you never saw, but whom, if you had +seen, perchance I might not so patiently have brooked any reflections +upon, even at the hands of a military superior." + +Achilles Tatius had a good deal of the penetration necessary for one in +his situation. He never provoked to extremity the daring spirits whom +he commanded, and never used any freedom with them beyond the extent +that he knew their patience could bear. Hereward was a favourite +soldier, and had, in that respect at least, a sincere liking and regard +for his commander: when, therefore, the Follower, instead of resenting +his petulance, good-humouredly apologized for having hurt his feelings, +the momentary displeasure between them was at an end; the officer at +once reassumed his superiority, and the soldier sunk back with a deep +sigh, given to some period which was long past, into his wonted silence +and reserve. Indeed the Follower had another and further design upon +Hereward, of which he was as yet unwilling to do more than give a +distant hint. + +After a long pause, during which they approached the barracks, a gloomy +fortified building constructed for the residence of their corps, the +captain motioned his soldier to draw close up to his side, and +proceeded to ask him, in a confidential tone--"Hereward, my friend, +although it is scarce to be supposed that in the presence of the +imperial family thou shouldst mark any one who did not partake of their +blood, or rather, as Homer has it, who did not participate of the +divine _ichor_, which, in their sacred persons, supplies the place of +that vulgar fluid; yet, during so long an audience, thou mightst +possibly, from his uncourtly person and attire, have distinguished +Agelastes, whom we courtiers call the Elephant, from his strict +observation of the rule which forbids any one to sit down or rest in +the Imperial presence?" + +"I think," replied the soldier, "I marked the man you mean; his age was +some seventy and upwards,--a big burly person;--and the baldness which +reached to the top of his head was well atoned for by a white beard of +prodigious size, which descended in waving curls over his breast, and +reached to the towel with which his loins were girded, instead of the +silken sash used by other persons of rank." + +"Most accurately marked, my Varangian," said the officer. "What else +didst thou note about this person?" + +"His cloak was in its texture as coarse as that of the meanest of the +people, but it was strictly clean, as if it had been the intention of +the wearer to exhibit poverty, or carelessness and contempt of dress, +avoiding, at the same time, every particular which implied anything +negligent, sordid, or disgusting." + +"By St. Sophia!" said the officer, "thou astonishest me! The Prophet +Baalam was not more surprised when his ass turned round her head and +spoke to him!--And what else didst thou note concerning this man? I see +those who meet thee must beware of thy observation, as well as of thy +battle-axe." + +"If it please your Valour" answered the soldier, "we English have eyes +as well as hands; but it is only when discharging our duty that we +permit our tongues to dwell on what we have observed. I noted but +little of this man's conversation, but from what I heard, it seemed he +was not unwilling to play what we call the jester, or jack-pudding, in +the conversation, a character which, considering the man's age and +physiognomy, is not, I should be tempted to say, natural, but assumed +for some purpose of deeper import." + +"Hereward," answered his officer, "thou hast spoken like an angel sent +down to examine men's bosoms: that man, Agelastes, is a contradiction, +such as earth has seldom witnessed. Possessing all that wisdom which in +former times united the sages of this nation with the gods themselves, +Agelastes has the same cunning as the elder Brutus, who disguised his +talents under the semblance of an idle jester. He appears to seek no +office--he desires no consideration--he pays suit at court only when +positively required to do so; yet what shall I say, my soldier, +concerning the cause of an influence gained without apparent effort, +and extending almost into the very thoughts of men, who appear to act +as he would desire, without his soliciting them to that purpose? Men +say strange things concerning the extent of his communications with +other beings, whom our fathers worshipped with prayer and sacrifice. I +am determined, however, to know the road by which he climbs so high and +so easily towards the point to which all men aspire at court, and it +will go hard but he shall either share his ladder with me, or I will +strike its support from under him. Thee, Hereward, I have chosen to +assist me in this matter, as the knights among these Frankish infidels +select, when going upon an adventure, a sturdy squire, or inferior +attendant, to share the dangers and the recompense; and this I am moved +to, as much by the shrewdness thou hast this night manifested, as by +the courage which thou mayst boast, in common with, or rather beyond, +thy companions." + +"I am obliged, and I thank your Valour," replied the Varangian, more +coldly perhaps than his officer expected; "I am ready, as is my duty, +to serve you in anything consistent with God and the Emperor's claims +upon my service. I would only say, that, as a sworn inferior soldier, I +will do nothing contrary to the laws of the empire, and, as a sincere +though ignorant Christian, I will have nothing to do with the gods of +the heathens, save to defy them in the name and strength of the holy +saints." + +"Idiot!" said Achilles Tatius, "dost thou think that I, already +possessed of one of the first dignities of the empire, could meditate +anything contrary to the interests of Alexius Comnenus? or, what would +be scarce more atrocious, that I, the chosen friend and ally of the +reverend Patriarch Zosimus, should meddle with anything bearing a +relation, however remote, to heresy or idolatry?" + +"Truly," answered the Varangian, "no one would be more surprised or +grieved than I should; but when we walk in a labyrinth, we must assume +and announce that we have a steady and forward purpose, which is one +mode at least of keeping a straight path. The people of this country +have so many ways of saying the same thing, that one can hardly know at +last what is their real meaning. We English, on the other hand, can +only express ourselves in one set of words, but it is one out of which +all the ingenuity of the world could not extract a double meaning." + +"'Tis well," said his officer, "to-morrow we will talk more of this, +for which purpose thou wilt come to my quarters a little after sunset. +And, hark thee, to-morrow, while the sun is in heaven, shall be thine +own, either to sport thyself or to repose. Employ thy time in the +latter, by my advice, since to-morrow night, like the present, may find +us both watchers." + +So saying, they entered the barracks, where they parted company--the +commander of the life-guards taking his way to a splendid set of +apartments which belonged to him in that capacity, and the Anglo-Saxon +seeking his humble accommodations as a subaltern officer of the same +corps. + + + + +CHAPTER THE SEVENTH. + + Such forces met not, nor so vast a camp, + When Agrican, with all his northern powers, + Besieged Albraeca, as romances tell. + The city of Gallaphron, from thence to win + The fairest of her sex, Angelica, + His daughter, sought by many prowess'd knights, + Both Paynim, and the Peers of Charlemagne. + PARADISE REGAINED. + + +Early on the morning of the day following that which we have +commemorated, the Imperial Council was assembled, where the number of +general officers with sounding titles, disguised under a thin veil the +real weakness of the Grecian empire. The commanders were numerous and +the distinctions of their rank minute, but the soldiers were very few +in comparison. The offices formerly filled by prefects, praetors, and +questors, were now held by persons who had gradually risen into the +authority of those officers, and who, though designated from their +domestic duties about the Emperor, yet, from that very circumstance, +possessed what, in that despotic court, was the most effectual source +of power. A long train of officers entered the great hall of the Castle +of Blacquernal, and proceeded so far together as their different grades +admitted, while in each chamber through which they passed in +succession, a certain number of the train whose rank permitted them to +advance no farther, remained behind the others. Thus, when the interior +cabinet of audience was gained, which was not until their passage +through ten anterooms, five persons only found themselves in the +presence of the Emperor in this innermost and most sacred recess of +royalty, decorated by all the splendour of the period. + +The Emperor Alexius sat upon a stately throne, rich with barbaric gems +and gold, and flanked on either hand, in imitation probably of +Solomon's magnificence, with the form of a couchant lion in the same +precious metal. Not to dwell upon other marks of splendour, a tree +whose trunk seemed also of gold, shot up behind the throne, which it +over-canopied with its branches. Amid the boughs were birds of various +kinds curiously wrought and enamelled, and fruit composed of precious +stones seemed to glisten among the leaves. Five officers alone, the +highest in the state, had the privilege of entering this sacred recess +when the Emperor held council. These were--the Grand Domestic, who +might be termed of rank with a modern prime minister--the Logothete, or +chancellor--the Protospathaire, or commander of the guards, already +mentioned--the Acolyte, or Follower, and leader of the Varangians--and +the Patriarch. + +The doors of this secret apartment, and the adjacent antechamber, were +guarded by six deformed Nubian slaves, whose writhen and withered +countenances formed a hideous contrast with their snow-white dresses +and splendid equipment. They were mutes, a species of wretches borrowed +from the despotism of the East, that they might be unable to proclaim +the deeds of tyranny of which they were the unscrupulous agents. They +were generally held in a kind of horror, rather than compassion, for +men considered that slaves of this sort had a malignant pleasure in +avenging upon others the irreparable wrongs which had severed +themselves from humanity. It was a general custom, though, like many +other usages of the Greeks, it would be held childish in modern times, +that by means of machinery easily conceived, the lions, at the entrance +of a stranger, were made, as it were, to rouse themselves and roar, +after which a wind seemed to rustle the foliage of the tree, the birds +hopped from branch to branch, pecked the fruit, and appeared to fill +the chamber with their carolling. This display had alarmed many an +ignorant foreign ambassador, and even the Grecian counsellors +themselves were expected to display the same sensations of fear, +succeeded by surprise, when they heard the roar of the lions, followed +by the concert of the birds, although perhaps it was for the fiftieth +time. On this occasion, as a proof of the urgency of the present +meeting of the council, these ceremonies were entirely omitted. + +The speech of the Emperor himself seemed to supply by its commencement +the bellowing of the lions, while it ended in a strain more resembling +the warbling of the birds. + +In his first sentences, he treated of the audacity and unheard-of +boldness of the millions of Franks, who, under the pretence of wresting +Palestine from the infidels, had ventured to invade the sacred +territories of the empire. He threatened them with such chastisement as +his innumerable forces and officers would, he affirmed, find it easy to +inflict. To all this the audience, and especially the military +officers, gave symptoms of ready assent. Alexius, however, did not long +persist in the warlike intentions which he at first avowed. The Franks, +he at length seemed to reflect, were, in profession, Christians. They +might possibly be serious in their pretext of the crusade, in which +case their motives claimed a degree of indulgence, and, although +erring, a certain portion of respect. Their numbers also were great, +and their valour could not be despised by those who had seen them fight +at Durazzo, [Footnote: For the battle of Durazzo, Oct. 1081, in which +Alexius was defeated with great slaughter by Robert Guiscard, and +escaped only by the swiftness of his horse, see Gibbon, ch. 56.] and +elsewhere. They might also, by the permission of Supreme Providence, +be, in the long run, the instruments of advantage to the most sacred +empire, though they approached it with so little ceremony. He had, +therefore, mingling the virtues of prudence, humanity, and generosity, +with that valour which must always burn in the heart of an Emperor, +formed a plan, which he was about to submit to their consideration, for +present execution; and, in the first place, he requested of the Grand +Domestic, to let him know what forces he might count upon on the +western side of the Bosphorus. + +"Innumerable are the forces of the empire as the stars in heaven, or +the sand on the sea-shore," answered the Grand Domestic. + +"That is a goodly answer," said the Emperor, "provided there were +strangers present at this conference; but since we hold consultation in +private, it is necessary that I know precisely to what number that army +amounts which I have to rely upon. Reserve your eloquence till some +fitter time, and let me know what you, at this present moment, mean by +the word _innumerable?_" + +The Grand Domestic paused, and hesitated for a short space; but as he +became aware that the moment was one in which the Emperor could not be +trifled with, (for Alexius Comnenus was at times dangerous,) he +answered thus, but not without hesitation. "Imperial master and lord, +none better knows that such an answer cannot be hastily made, if it is +at the same time to be correct in its results. The number of the +imperial host betwixt this city and the western frontier of the empire, +deducting those absent on furlough, cannot be counted upon as amounting +to more than twenty-five thousand men, or thirty thousand at most." + +Alexius struck his forehead with his hand; and the counsellors, seeing +him give way to such violent expressions of grief and surprise, began +to enter into discussions, which they would otherwise have reserved for +a fitter place and time. + +"By the trust your Highness reposes in me," said the Logothete, "there +has been drawn from your Highness's coffers during the last year, gold +enough to pay double the number of the armed warriors whom the Grand +Domestic now mentions." + +"Your Imperial Highness," retorted the impeached minister, with no +small animation, "will at once remember the stationary garrisons, in +addition to the movable troops, for which this figure-caster makes no +allowance." + +"Peace, both of you!" said Alexius, composing himself hastily; "our +actual numbers are in truth less than we counted on, but let us not by +wrangling augment the difficulties of the time. Let those troops be +dispersed in valleys, in passes, behind ridges of hills, and in +difficult ground, where a little art being used in the position, can +make few men supply the appearance of numbers, between this city and +the western frontier of the empire. While this disposal is made, we +will continue to adjust with these crusaders, as they call themselves, +the terms on which we will consent to let them pass through our +dominions; nor are we without hope of negotiating with them, so as to +gain great advantage to our kingdom. We will insist that they pass +through our country only by armies of perhaps fifty thousand at once, +whom we will successively transport into Asia, so that no greater +number shall, by assembling beneath our walls, ever endanger the safety +of the metropolis of the world. + +"On their way towards the banks of the Bosphorus, we will supply them +with provisions, if they march peaceably, and in order; and if any +straggle from their standards, or insult the country by marauding, we +suppose our valiant peasants will not hesitate to repress their +excesses, and that without our giving positive orders, since we would +not willingly be charged with any thing like a breach of engagement. We +suppose, also, that the Scythians, Arabs, Syrians, and other +mercenaries in our service, will not suffer our subjects to be +overpowered in their own just defence; as, besides that there is no +justice in stripping our own country of provisions, in order to feed +strangers, we will not be surprised nor unpardonably displeased to +learn, that of the ostensible quantity of flour, some sacks should be +found filled with chalk, or lime, or some such substance. It is, +indeed, truly wonderful, what the stomach of a Frank will digest +comfortably. Their guides, also, whom you shall choose with reference +to such duty, will take care to conduct the crusaders by difficult and +circuitous routes; which will be doing them a real service, by inuring +them to the hardships of the country and climate, which they would +otherwise have to face without seasoning. + +"In the meantime, in your intercourse with their chiefs, whom they call +counts, each of whom thinks himself as great as an Emperor, you will +take care to give no offence to their natural presumption, and omit no +opportunity of informing them of the wealth and bounty of our +government. Sums of money may be even given to persons of note, and +largesses of less avail to those under them. You, our Logothete, will +take good order for this, and you, our Grand Domestic, will take care +that such soldiers as may cut off detached parties of the Franks shall +be presented, if possible, in savage dress, and under the show of +infidels. In commending these injunctions to your care, I purpose that, +the crusaders having found the value of our friendship, and also in +some sort the danger of our enmity, those whom we shall safely +transport to Asia, shall be, however unwieldy, still a smaller and more +compact body, whom we may deal with in all Christian prudence. Thus, by +using fair words to one, threats to another, gold to the avaricious, +power to the ambitious, and reasons to those that are capable of +listening to them, we doubt not but to prevail upon those Franks, met +as they are from a thousand points, and enemies of each other, to +acknowledge us as their common superior, rather than choose a leader +among themselves, when they are made aware of the great fact, that +every village in Palestine, from Dan to Beersheba, is the original +property of the sacred Roman empire, and that whatever Christian goes +to war for their recovery, must go as our subject, and hold any +conquest which he may make, as our vassal. Vice and virtue, sense and +folly, ambition and disinterested devotion, will alike recommend to the +survivors of these singular-minded men, to become the feudatories of +the empire, not its foe, and the shield, not the enemy, of your +paternal Emperor." + +There was a general inclination of the head among the courtiers, with +the Eastern acclamation of,--"Long live the Emperor!" + +When the murmur of this applausive exclamation had subsided, Alexius +proceeded:--"Once more, I say, that my faithful Grand Domestic, and +those who act under him, will take care to commit the execution of such +part of these orders as may seem aggressive, to troops of foreign +appearance and language, which, I grieve to say, are more numerous in +our imperial army than our natural-born and orthodox subjects." + +The Patriarch here interposed his opinion.--"There is a consolation," +he said,"in the thought, that the genuine Romans in the imperial army +are but few, since a trade so bloody as war, is most fitly prosecuted +by those whose doctrines, as well as their doings, on earth, merit +eternal condemnation in the next world." + +"Reverend Patriarch," said the Emperor, "we would not willingly hold +with the wild infidels, that Paradise is to be gained by the sabre; +nevertheless, we would hope that a Roman dying in battle for his +religion and his Emperor, may find as good hope of acceptation, after +the mortal pang is over, as a man who dies in peace, and with unblooded +hand." + +"It is enough for me to say," resumed the Patriarch, "that the Church's +doctrine is not so indulgent: she is herself peaceful, and her promises +of favour are for those who have been men of peace. Yet think not I bar +the gates of Heaven against a soldier, as such, if believing all the +doctrines of our Church, and complying with all our observances; far +less would I condemn your Imperial Majesty's wise precautions, both for +diminishing the power and thinning the ranks of those Latin heretics, +who come hither to despoil us, and plunder perhaps both church and +temple, under the vain pretext that Heaven would permit them, stained +with so many heresies, to reconquer that Holy Land, which true orthodox +Christians, your Majesty's sacred predecessors, have not been enabled +to retain from the infidel. And well I trust that no settlement made +under the Latins will be permitted by your Majesty to establish itself, +in which the Cross shall not be elevated with limbs of the same length, +instead of that irregular and most damnable error which prolongs, in +western churches, the nether limb of that most holy emblem." + +"Reverend Patriarch," answered the Emperor, "do not deem that we think +lightly of your weighty scruples; but the question is now, not in what +manner we may convert these Latin heretics to the true faith, but how +we may avoid being overrun by their myriads, which resemble those of +the locusts by which their approach was preceded and intimated." + +"Your Majesty," said the Patriarch, "will act with your usual wisdom; +for my part, I have only stated my doubts, that I may save my own soul +alive." + +"Our construction," said the Emperor, "does your sentiments no wrong, +most reverend Patriarch; and you," addressing himself to the other +counsellors, "will attend to these separate charges given out for +directing the execution of the commands which have been generally +intimated to you. They are written out in the sacred ink, and our +sacred subscription is duly marked with the fitting tinge of green and +purple. Let them, therefore, be strictly obeyed. Ourselves will assume +the command of such of the Immortal Bands as remain in the city, and +join to them the cohorts of our faithful Varangians. At the head of +these troops, we will await the arrival of these strangers under the +walls of the city, and, avoiding combat while our policy can postpone +it, we will be ready, in case of the worst, to take whatsoever chance +it shall please the Almighty to send us." + +Here the council broke up, and the different chiefs began to exert +themselves in the execution of their various instructions, civil and +military, secret or public, favourable or hostile to the crusaders. The +peculiar genius of the Grecian people was seen upon this occasion. +Their loud and boastful talking corresponded with the ideas which the +Emperor wished to enforce upon the crusaders concerning the extent of +his power and resources. Nor is it to be disguised, that the wily +selfishness of most of those in the service of Alexius, endeavoured to +find some indirect way of applying the imperial instruction, so as +might best suit their own private ends. + +Meantime, the news had gone abroad in Constantinople of the arrival of +the huge miscellaneous army of the west upon the limits of the Grecian +empire, arid of their purpose to pass to Palestine. A thousand reports +magnified, if that was possible, an event so wonderful. Some said, that +their ultimate view was the conquest of Arabia, the destruction of the +Prophet's tomb, and the conversion of his green banner into a +horse-cloth for the King of France's brother. Others supposed that the +ruin and sack of Constantinople was the real object of the war. A third +class thought it was in order to compel the Patriarch to submit himself +to the Pope, adopt the Latin form of the cross, and put an end to the +schism. + +The Varangians enjoyed an addition to this wonderful news, seasoned as +it everywhere was with something peculiarly suited to the prejudices of +the hearers. It was gathered originally from what our friend Hereward, +who was one of their inferior officers, called sergeants or constables, +had suffered to transpire of what he had heard the preceding evening. +Considering that the fact must be soon matter of notoriety, he had no +hesitation to give his comrades to understand that a Norman army was +coming hither under Duke Robert, the son of the far-famed William the +Conqueror, and with hostile intentions, he concluded, against them in +particular. Like all other men in peculiar circumstances, the +Varangians adopted an explanation applicable to their own condition. +These Normans, who hated the Saxon nation, and had done so much to +dishonour and oppress them, were now following them, they supposed, to +the foreign capital where they had found refuge, with the purpose of +making war on the bountiful prince who protected their sad remnant. +Under this belief, many a deep oath was sworn in Norse and Anglo-Saxon, +that their keen battle-axes should avenge the slaughter of Hastings, +and many a pledge, both in wine and ale, was quaffed who should most +deeply resent, and most effectually revenge, the wrongs which the +Anglo-Saxons of England had received at the hand of their oppressors. + +Hereward, the author of this intelligence, began soon to be sorry that +he had ever suffered it to escape him, so closely was he cross-examined +concerning its precise import, by the enquiries of his comrades, from +whom he thought himself obliged to keep concealed the adventures of the +preceding evening, and the place in which he had gained his information. + +About noon, when he was effectually tired with returning the same +answer to the same questions, and evading similar others which were +repeatedly put to him, the sound of trumpets announced the presence of +the Acolyte, Achilles Tatius, who came immediately, it was +industriously whispered, from the sacred Interior, with news of the +immediate approach of war. + +The Varangians, and the Roman bands called Immortal, it was said, were +to form a camp under the city, in order to be prompt to defend it at +the shortest notice. This put the whole barracks into commotion, each +man making the necessary provision for the approaching campaign. The +noise was chiefly that of joyful bustle and acclamation; and it was so +general, that Hereward, whose rank permitted him to commit to a page or +esquire the task of preparing his equipments, took the opportunity to +leave the barracks, in order to seek some distant place apart from his +comrades, and enjoy his solitary reflections upon the singular +connexion into which he had been drawn, and his direct communication +with the Imperial family. + +Passing through the narrow streets, then deserted, on account of the +heat of the sun, he reached at length one of those broad terraces, +which, descending as it were by steps, upon the margin of the +Bosphorus, formed one of the most splendid walks in the universe, and +still, it is believed, preserved as a public promenade for the pleasure +of the Turks, as formerly for that of the Christians. These graduated +terraces were planted with many trees, among which the cypress, as +usual, was most generally cultivated. Here bands of the inhabitants +were to be seen: some passing to and fro, with business and anxiety in +their faces; some standing still in groups, as if discussing the +strange and weighty tidings of the day, and some, with the indolent +carelessness of an eastern climate, eating their noontide refreshment +in the shade, and spending their time as if their sole object was to +make much of the day as it passed, and let the cares of to-morrow +answer for themselves. + +While the Varangian, afraid of meeting some acquaintance in this +concourse, which would have been inconsistent with the desire of +seclusion which had brought him thither, descended or passed from one +terrace to another, all marked him with looks of curiosity and enquiry, +considering him to be one, who, from his arms and connexion with the +court, must necessarily know more than others concerning the singular +invasion by numerous enemies, and from various quarters, which was the +news of the day. + +None, however, had the hardihood to address the soldier of the guard, +though all looked at him with uncommon interest. He walked from the +lighter to the darker alleys, from the more closed to the more open +terraces, without interruption from any one, yet not without a feeling +that he must not consider himself as alone. + +The desire that he felt to be solitary rendered him at last somewhat +watchful, so that he became sensible that he was dogged by a black +slave, a personage not so unfrequent in the streets of Constantinople +as to excite any particular notice. His attention, however, being at +length fixed on this individual, he began to be desirous to escape his +observation; and the change of place which he had at first adopted to +avoid society in general, he had now recourse to, in order to rid +himself of this distant, though apparently watchful attendant. Still, +however, though he by change of place had lost sight of the negro for a +few minutes, it was not long ere he again discovered him at a distance +too far for a companion, but near enough to serve all the purposes of a +spy. Displeased at this, the Varangian turned short in his walk, and +choosing a spot where none was in sight but the object of his +resentment, walked suddenly up to him, and demanded wherefore, and by +whose orders, he presumed to dog his footsteps. The negro answered in a +jargon as bad as that in which he was addressed though of a different +kind, "that he had orders to remark whither he went." + +"Orders from whom?" said the Varangian. + +"From my master and yours," answered the negro, boldly. + +"Thou infidel villain!" exclaimed the angry soldier, "when was it that +we became fellow-servants, and who is it that thou darest to call my +master?" + +"One who is master of the world," said the slave, "since he commands +his own passions." + +"I shall scarce command mine," said the Varangian, "if thou repliest to +my earnest questions with thine affected quirks of philosophy. Once +more, what dost thou want with me? and why hast thou the boldness to +watch me?" + +"I have told thee already," said the slave, "that I do my master's +commands." + +"But I must know who thy master is," said Hereward. + +"He must tell thee that himself," replied the negro; "he trusts not a +poor slave like me with the purpose of the errands on which he sends +me." + +"He has left thee a tongue, however," said the Varangian, "which some +of thy countrymen would. I think, be glad to possess. Do not provoke me +to abridge it by refusing me the information which I have a right to +demand." + +The black meditated, as it seemed from the grin on his face, further +evasions, when Hereward cut them short by raising the staff of his +battle-axe. "Put me not" he said, "to dishonour myself by striking thee +with this weapon, calculated for a use so much more noble." + +"I may not do so, valiant sir," said the negro, laying aside an +impudent, half-gibing tone which he had hitherto made use of, and +betraying personal fear in his manner. "If you beat the poor slave to +death, you cannot learn what his master hath forbid him to tell. A +short walk will save your honour the stain, and yourself the trouble, +of beating what cannot resist, and me the pain of enduring what I can +neither retaliate nor avoid." + +"Lead on then," said the Varangian. "Be assured thou shalt not fool me +by thy fair words, and I will know the person who is impudent enough to +assume the right of watching my motions." + +The black walked on with a species of leer peculiar to his physiognomy, +which might be construed as expressive either of malice or of mere +humour. The Varangian followed him with some suspicion, for it happened +that he had had little intercourse with the unhappy race of Africa, and +had not totally overcome the feeling of surprise with which he had at +first regarded them, when he arrived a stranger from the north. So +often did this man look back upon him during their walk, and with so +penetrating and observing a cast of countenance, that Hereward felt +irresistibly renewed in his mind the English prejudices, which assigned +to the demons the sable colour and distorted cast of visage of his +conductor. The scene into which he was guided, strengthened an +association which was not of itself unlikely to occur to the ignorant +and martial islander. + +The negro led the way from the splendid terraced walks which we have +described, to a path descending to the sea-shore, when a place +appeared, which, far from being trimmed, like other parts of the coast, +into walks of embankments, seemed, on the contrary, abandoned to +neglect, and was covered with the mouldering ruins of antiquity, where +these had not been overgrown by the luxuriant vegetation of the +climate. These fragments of building, occupying a sort of recess of the +bay, were hidden by steep banks on each side, and although in fact they +formed part of the city, yet they were not seen from any part of it, +and, embosomed in the manner we have described, did not in turn command +any view of the churches, palaces, towers, and fortifications, amongst +which they lay. The sight of this solitary, and apparently deserted +spot, encumbered with ruins, and overgrown with cypress and other +trees, situated as it was in the midst of a populous city, had +something in it impressive and awful to the imagination. The ruins were +of an ancient date, and in the style of a foreign people. The gigantic +remains of a portico, the mutilated fragments of statues of great size, +but executed in a taste and attitude so narrow and barbaric as to seem +perfectly the reverse of the Grecian, and the half-defaced +hieroglyphics which could be traced on some part of the decayed +sculpture, corroborated the popular account of their origin, which we +shall briefly detail. + +According to tradition, this had been a temple dedicated to the +Egyptian goddess Cybele, built while the Roman Empire was yet heathen, +and while Constantinople was still called by the name of Byzantium. It +is well known that the superstition of the Egyptians--vulgarly gross in +its literal meaning as well as in its mystical interpretation, and +peculiarly the foundation of many wild doctrines,--was disowned by the +principles of general toleration, and the system of polytheism received +by Rome, and was excluded by repeated laws from the respect paid by the +empire to almost every other religion, however extravagant or absurd. +Nevertheless, these Egyptian rites had charms for the curious and the +superstitious, and had, after long opposition, obtained a footing in +the empire. + +Still, although tolerated, the Egyptian priests were rather considered +as sorcerers than as pontiffs, and their whole ritual had a nearer +relation, to magic in popular estimation, than to any regular system of +devotion. + +Stained with these accusations, even among the heathen themselves, the +worship of Egypt was held in more mortal abhorrence by the Christians, +than the other and more rational kinds of heathen devotion; that is, if +any at all had a right to be termed so. The brutal worship of Apis and +Cybele was regarded, not only as a pretext for obscene and profligate +pleasures, but as having a direct tendency to open and encourage a +dangerous commerce with evil spirits, who were supposed to take upon +themselves, at these unhallowed altars, the names and characters of +these foul deities. Not only, therefore, the temple of Cybele, with its +gigantic portico, its huge and inelegant statues, and its fantastic +hieroglyphics, was thrown down and defaced when the empire was +converted to the Christian faith, but the very ground on which it stood +was considered as polluted and unhallowed; and no Emperor having yet +occupied the site with a Christian church, the place still remained +neglected and deserted as we have described it. + +The Varangian Hereward was perfectly acquainted with the evil +reputation of the place; and when the negro seemed disposed to advance +into the interior of the ruins, he hesitated, and addressed his guide +thus:--"Hark thee, my black friend, these huge fantastic images, some +having dogs' heads, some cows' heads, and some no heads at all, are not +held reverently in popular estimation. Your own colour, also, my +comrade, is greatly too like that of Satan himself, to render you an +unsuspicious companion amid ruins, in which the false spirit, it is +said, daily walks his rounds. Midnight and Noon are the times, it is +rumoured, of his appearance. I will go no farther with you, unless you +assign me a fit reason for so doing." + +"In making so childish a proposal" said the negro, "you take from me, +in effect, all desire to guide you to my master. I thought I spoke to a +man of invincible courage, and of that good sense upon which courage is +best founded. But your valour only emboldens you to beat a black slave, +who has neither strength nor title to resist you; and your courage is +not enough to enable you to look without trembling on the dark side of +a wall, even when the sun is in the heavens." + +"Thou art insolent," said Hereward, raising his axe. + +"And thou art foolish," said the negro, "to attempt to prove thy +manhood and thy wisdom by the very mode which gives reason for calling +them both in question. I have already said there can be little valour +in beating a wretch like me; and no man, surely, who wishes to discover +his way, would begin by chasing away his guide." + +"I follow thee" said Hereward, stung with the insinuation of cowardice; +"but if thou leadest me into a snare, thy free talk shall not save thy +bones, if a thousand of thy complexion, from earth or hell, were +standing ready to back thee." + +"Thou objectest sorely to my complexion," said the negro; "how knowest +thou that it is, in fact, a thing to be counted and acted upon as +matter of reality? Thine own eyes daily apprize thee, that the colour +of the sky nightly changes from bright to black, yet thou knowest that +this is by no means owing to any habitual colour of the heavens +themselves. The same change that takes place in the hue of the heavens, +has existence in the tinge of the deep sea--How canst thou tell, but +what the difference of my colour from thine own may be owing to some +deceptions change of a similar nature--not real in itself, but only +creating an apparent reality?" + +"Thou mayst have painted thyself, no doubt," answered the Varangian, +upon reflection, "and thy blackness, therefore, may be only apparent; +but I think thy old friend himself could hardly have presented these +grinning lips, with the white teeth and flattened nose, so much to the +life, unless that peculiarity of Nubian physiognomy, as they call it, +had accurately and really an existence; and to save thee some trouble, +my dark friend, I will tell thee, that though thou speakest to an +uneducated Varangian, I am not entirely unskilled in the Grecian art of +making subtle words pass upon the hearers instead of reason." + +"Ay?" said the negro, doubtfully, and somewhat surprised; "and may the +slave Diogenes--for so my master has christened me--enquire into the +means by which you reached knowledge so unusual?" + +"It is soon told," replied Hereward. "My countryman, Witikind, being a +constable of our bands, retired from active service, and spent the end +of a long life in this city of Constantinople. Being past all toils of +battle, either those of reality, as you word it, or the pomp and +fatigue of the exercising ground, the poor old man, in despair of +something to pass his time, attended the lectures of the philosophers." + +"And what did he learn there?" said the negro; "for a barbarian, grown +grey under the helmet, was not, as I think, a very hopeful student in +our schools." + +"As much though, I should think, as a menial slave, which I understand +to be thy condition," replied the soldier. "But I have understood from +him, that the masters of this idle science make it their business to +substitute, in their argumentations, mere words instead of ideas; and +as they never agree upon the precise meaning of the former, their +disputes can never arrive at a fair or settled conclusion, since they +do not agree in the language in which they express them. Their +theories, as they call them, are built on the sand, and the wind and +tide shall prevail against them." + +"Say so to my master," answered the black, in a serious tone. + +"I will," said the Varangian; "and he shall know me as an ignorant +soldier, having but few ideas, and those only concerning my religion +and my military duty. But out of these opinions I will neither be +beaten by a battery of sophisms, nor cheated by the arts or the terrors +of the friends of heathenism, either in this world or the next." + +"You may speak your mind to him then yourself," said Diogenes. He +stepped aside as if to make way for the Varangian, to whom he motioned +to go forward. + +Hereward advanced accordingly, by a half-worn and almost imperceptible +path leading through the long rough grass, and, turning round a +half-demolished shrine, which exhibited the remains of Apis, the bovine +deity, he came immediately in front of the philosopher, Agelastes, who, +sitting among the ruins, reposed his limbs on the grass. + + + + +CHAPTER THE EIGHTH. + + Through the vain webs which puzzle sophists' skill, + Plain sense and honest meaning work their way; + So sink the varying clouds upon the hill, + When the clear dawning--brightens into day. + DR. WATTS. + + +The old man rose from the ground with alacrity, as Hereward approached. +"My bold Varangian" he said, "thou who valuest men and things not +according to the false estimate ascribed to them in this world, but to +their real importance and actual value, thou art welcome, whatever has +brought thee hither--thou art welcome to a place, where it is held the +best business of philosophy to strip man of his borrowed ornaments, and +reduce him to the just value of his own attributes of body and mind, +singly considered." + +"You are a courtier, sir," said the Saxon, "and as a permitted +companion of the Emperor's Highness, you must be aware, that there are +twenty times more ceremonies than such a man as I can be acquainted +with, for regulating the different ranks in society; while a plain man +like myself may be well excused from pushing himself into the company +of those above him, where he does not exactly know how he should +comport himself." + +"True," said the philosopher; "but a man like yourself, noble Hereward, +merits more consideration in the eyes of a real philosopher, than a +thousand of those mere insects, whom the smiles of a court call into +life, and whom its frowns reduce to annihilation." + +"You are yourself, grave sir, a follower of the court," said Hereward. + +"And a most punctilious one," said Agelastes. "There is not, I trust, a +subject in the empire who knows better the ten thousand punctilios +exigible from those of different ranks, and clue to different +authorities. The man is yet to be born who has seen me take advantage +of any more commodious posture than that of standing in presence of the +royal family. But though I use those false scales in society, and so +far conform to its errors, my real judgment is of a more grave +character, and more worthy of man, as said to be formed in the image of +his Creator." + +"There can be small occasion," said the Varangian, "to exercise your +judgment in any respect upon me, nor am I desirous that any one should +think of me otherwise than I am; a poor exile, namely, who endeavours +to fix his faith upon Heaven, and to perform his duty to the world he +lives in, and to the prince in whose service he is engaged. And now, +grave sir, permit me to ask, whether this meeting is by your desire, +and for what is its purpose? An African slave, whom I met in the public +walks, and who calls himself Diogenes, tells me that you desired to +speak with me; he hath somewhat the humour of the old scoffer, and so +he may have lied. If so, I will even forgive him the beating which I +owe his assurance, and make my excuse at the same time for having +broken in upon your retirement, which I am totally unfit to share." + +"Diogenes has not played you false," answered Agelastes; "he has his +humours, as you remarked even now, and with these some qualities also +that put him upon a level with those of fairer complexion and better +features." + +"And for what," said the Varangian, "have you so employed him? Can your +wisdom possibly entertain a wish to converse with me?" + +"I am an observer of nature and of humanity," answered the philosopher; +"is it not natural that I should tire of those beings who are formed +entirely upon artifice, and long to see something more fresh from the +hand of nature?" + +"You see not that in me," said the Varangian; "the rigour of military +discipline, the camp--the centurion--the armour--frame a man's +sentiments and limbs to them, as the sea-crab is framed to its shell. +See one of us, and you see us all." + +"Permit me to doubt that," said Agelastes; "and to suppose that in +Hereward, the son of Waltheoff, I see an extraordinary man, although he +himself may be ignorant, owing to his modesty, of the rarity of his own +good qualities." + +"The son of Waltheoff!" answered the Varangian, somewhat startled.--"Do +you know my father's name?" + +"Be not surprised," answered the philosopher, "at my possessing so +simple a piece of information. It has cost me but little trouble to +attain it, yet I would gladly hope that the labour I have taken in that +matter may convince you of my real desire to call you friend." + +"It was indeed an unusual compliment," said Hereward, "that a man of +your knowledge and station should be at the trouble to enquire, among +the Varangian cohorts, concerning the descent of one of their +constables. I scarcely think that my commander, the Acolyte himself, +would think such knowledge worthy of being collected or preserved." + +"Greater men than he," said Agelastes, "certainly would not-----You +know one in high office, who thinks the names of his most faithful +soldiers of less moment than those of his hunting dogs or his hawks, +and would willingly save himself the trouble of calling them otherwise +than by a whistle." + +"I may not hear this," answered the Varangian. + +"I would not offend you," said the philosopher, "I would not even shake +your good opinion of the person I allude to; yet it surprises me that +such should be entertained by one of your great qualities." + +"A truce with this, grave sir, which is in fact trifling in a person of +your character and appearance," answered the Anglo-Saxon. "I am like +the rocks of my country; the fierce winds cannot shake me, the soft +rains cannot melt me; flattery and loud words are alike lost upon me." + +"And it is even for that inflexibility of mind," replied Agelastes, +"that steady contempt of every thing that approaches thee, save in the +light of a duty, that I demand, almost like a beggar, that personal +acquaintance, which thou refusest like a churl." + +"Pardon me," said Hereward, "if I doubt this. Whatever stories you may +have picked up concerning me, not unexaggerated probably--since the +Greeks do not keep the privilege of boasting so entirely to themselves +but the Varangians have learned a little of it--you can have heard +nothing of me which can authorise your using your present language, +excepting in jest." + +"You mistake, my son," said Agelastes; "believe me not a person to mix +in the idle talk respecting you, with your comrades at the ale-cup. +Such as I am, I can strike on this broken image of Anubis"--(here he +touched a gigantic fragment of a statue by his side)--"and bid the +spirit who long prompted the oracle, descend, and once more reanimate +the trembling mass. We that are initiated enjoy high privileges--we +stamp upon those ruined vaults, and the echo which dwells there answers +to our demand. Do not think, that although I crave thy friendship, I +Heed therefore supplicate thee for information either respecting +thyself or others." + +"Your words are wonderful," said the Anglo-Saxon; "but by such +promising words I have heard that many souls have been seduced from the +path of heaven. My grandsire, Kenelm, was wont to say, that the fair +words of the heathen philosophy were more hurtful to the Christian +faith than the menaces of the heathen tyrants." + +"I know him," said Agelastes. "What avails it whether it was in the +body or in the spirit?--He was converted from the faith of Woden by a +noble monk, and died a priest at the shrine of saint Augustin." +[Footnote: At Canterbury.] + +"True"--said Hereward; "all this is certain--and I am the rather bound +to remember his words now that he is dead and gone. When I hardly knew +his meaning, he bid me beware of the doctrine which causeth to err, +which is taught by false prophets, who attest their doctrine by unreal +miracles." + +"This," said Agelastes, "is mere superstition. Thy grandsire was a good +and excellent man, but narrow-minded, like other priests; and, deceived +by their example, he wished but to open a small wicket in the gate of +truth, and admit the world only on that limited scale. Seest thou, +Hereward, thy grandsire and most men of religion would fain narrow our +intellect to the consideration of such parts of the Immaterial world as +are essential to our moral guidance here, and our final salvation +hereafter; but it is not the less true, that man has liberty, provided +he has wisdom and courage, to form intimacies with beings more powerful +than himself, who can defy the bounds of space by which he is +circumscribed, and overcome, by their metaphysical powers, difficulties +which, to the timid and unlearned, may appear wild and impossible." + +"You talk of a folly," answered Hereward, "at which childhood gapes and +manhood smiles." + +"On the contrary," said the sage, "I talk of a longing wish which every +man feels at the bottom of his heart, to hold communication with beings +more powerful than himself, and who are not naturally accessible to our +organs. Believe me, Hereward, so ardent and universal an aspiration had +not existed in our bosoms, had there not also been means, if steadily +and wisely sought, of attaining its accomplishment. I will appeal to +thine own heart, and prove to thee even by a single word, that what I +say is truth. Thy thoughts are even now upon a being long absent or +dead, and with the name of BERTHA, a thousand emotions rush to thy +heart, which in thy ignorance thou hadst esteemed furled up for ever, +like spoils of the dead hung above a tombstone!--Thou startest and +changest thy colour--I joy to see by these signs, that the firmness and +indomitable courage which men ascribe to thee, have left the avenues of +the heart as free as ever to kindly and to generous affections, while +they have barred them against those of fear, uncertainty, and all the +caitiff tribe of meatier sensations. I have proffered to esteem thee, +and I have no hesitation in proving it. I will tell thee, If thou +desirest to know it, the fate of that very Bertha, whose memory thou +hast cherished in thy breast in spite of thee, amidst the toil of the +day and the repose of the night, in the battle and in the truce, when +sporting with thy companions in fields of exercise, or attempting to +prosecute the study of Greek learning, in which if thou wouldst +advance, I can teach it by a short road." + +While Agelastes thus spoke, the Varangian in some degree recovered his +composure, and made answer, though his voice was somewhat +tremulous,--"Who thou art, I know not--what thou wouldst with me, I +cannot tell--by what means thou hast gathered intelligence of such +consequence to me, and of so little to another, I have no +conception--But this I know, that by intention or accident, thou hast +pronounced a name which agitates my heart to its deepest recesses; yet +am I a Christian and Varangian, and neither to my God nor to my adopted +prince will I willingly stagger in my faith. What is to be wrought by +idols or by false deities, must be a treason to the real divinity. Nor +is it less certain that thou hast let glance some arrows, though the +rules of thy allegiance strictly forbid it, at the Emperor himself. +Henceforward, therefore, I refuse to communicate with thee, be it for +weal or woe. I am the Emperor's waged soldier, and although I affect +not the nice precisions of respect and obedience, which are exacted in +so many various cases, and by so many various rules, yet I am his +defence, and my battle-axe is his body-guard." + +"No one doubts it," said the philosopher. "But art not thou also bound +to a nearer dependence upon' the great Acolyte, Achilles Tatius?" + +"No. He is my general, according to the rules of our service," answered +the Varangian; "to me he has always shown himself a kind and +good-natured man, and, his dues of rank apart, I may say has deported +himself as a friend rather than a commander. He is, however, my +master's servant as well as I am; nor do I hold the difference of great +amount, which the word of a man can give or take away at pleasure." + +"It is nobly spoken," said Agelastes; "and you yourself are surely +entitled to stand erect before one whom you supersede in courage and in +the art of war." + +"Pardon me," returned the Briton, "if I decline the attributed +compliment, as what in no respect belongs to me. The Emperor chooses +his own officers, in respect of their power of serving him as he +desires to be served. In this it is likely I might fail; I have said +already, I owe my Emperor my obedience, my duty, and my service, nor +does it seem to me necessary to carry our explanation farther." + +"Singular man!" said Agelastes; "is there nothing than can move thee +but things that are foreign to thyself? The name of thy Emperor and thy +commander are no spell upon thee, and even that of the object thou has +loved"-- + +Here the Varangian interrupted him. + +"I have thought," he said, "upon the words thou hast spoken--thou hast +found the means to shake my heart-strings, but not to unsettle my +principles. I will hold no converse with thee on a matter in which thou +canst not have interest.--Necromancers, it is said, perform their +spells by means of the epithets of the Holiest; no marvel, then, should +they use the names of the purest of his creation to serve their +unhallowed purposes. I will none of such truckling, disgraceful to the +dead perhaps as to the living. Whatever has been thy purpose, old +man--for, think not thy strange words have passed unnoticed--be thou +assured I bear that in my heart which defies alike the seduction of men +and of fiends." + +With this the soldier turned, and left the ruined temple, after a +slight inclination of his head to the philosopher. + +Agelastes, after the departure of the soldier, remained alone, +apparently absorbed in meditation, until he was suddenly disturbed by +the entrance, into the ruins, of Achilles Tatius. The leader of the +Varangians spoke not until he had time to form some result from the +philosopher's features. He then said, "Thou remainest, sage Agelastes, +confident in the purpose of which we have lately spoke together?" + +"I do," said Agelastes, with gravity and firmness. + +"But," replied Achilles Tatius, "thou hast not gained to our side that +proselyte, whose coolness and courage would serve us better in our hour +of need than the service of a thousand cold-hearted slaves?" + +"I have not succeeded," answered the philosopher. + +"And thou dost not blush to own it?" said the imperial officer in reply. + +"Thou, the wisest of those who yet pretend to Grecian wisdom, the most +powerful of those who still assert the skill by words, signs, names, +periapts, and spells, to exceed the sphere to which thy faculties +belong, hast been foiled in thy trade of persuasion, like an infant +worsted in debate with its domestic tutor? Out upon thee, that thou +canst not sustain in argument the character which thou wouldst so fain, +assume to thyself!" + +"Peace!" said the Grecian. "I have as yet gained nothing, it is true, +over this obstinate and inflexible man; but, Achilles Tatius, neither +have I lost. We both stand where yesterday we did, with this advantage +on my side, that I have suggested to him such an object of interest as +he shall never be able to expel from his mind, until he hath had +recourse to me to obtain farther knowledge concerning it.--And now let +this singular person remain for a time unmentioned; yet, trust me, +though flattery, avarice, and ambition may fail to gain him, a bait +nevertheless remains, that shall make him as completely our own as any +that is bound within our mystic and inviolable contract. Tell me then, +how go on the affairs of the empire? Does this tide of Xiatin warriors, +so strangely set aflowing, still rush on to the banks of the Bosphorus? +and does Alexius still entertain hopes to diminish and divide the +strength of numbers, which he could in vain hope to defy?" + +"Something further of intelligence has been gained, even within a very +few hours," answered Achilles Tatius. "Bohemond came to the city with +some six or eight light horse, and in a species of disguise. +Considering how often he had been the Emperor's enemy, his project was +a perilous one. But when is it that these Franks draw back on account +of danger? The Emperor perceived at once that the Count was come to see +what he might obtain, by presenting himself as the very first object of +his liberality, and by offering his assistance as mediator with Godfrey +of Bouillon and the other princes of the crusade." + +"It is a species of policy," answered the sage, "for which he would +receive full credit from the Emperor." + +Achilles Tatius proceeded:--"Count Bohemond was discovered to the +imperial court as if it were by mere accident, and he was welcomed with +marks of favour and splendour which had never been even mentioned as +being fit for any one of the Frankish race. There was no word of +ancient enmity or of former wars, no mention of Bohemond as the ancient +usurper of Antioch, and the encroacher upon the empire. But thanks to +Heaven were returned on all sides, which had sent a faithful ally to +the imperial assistance at a moment of such imminent peril." + +"And what said Bohemond?" enquired the philosopher. + +"Little or nothing," said the captain of the Varangians, "until, as I +learned from the domestic slave Narses, a large sum of gold had been +abandoned to him. Considerable districts were afterwards agreed to be +ceded to him, and other advantages granted, on condition he should +stand on this occasion the steady friend of the empire and its master. +Such was the Emperor's munificence towards the greedy barbarian, that a +chamber in the palace was, by chance, as it were, left exposed to his +view, containing large quantities of manufactured silks, of jewellers' +work, of gold and silver, and other articles of great value. When the +rapacious Frank could not forbear some expressions of admiration, he +was assured, that the contents of the treasure-chamber were his own, +provided he valued them as showing forth the warmth and sincerity of +his imperial ally towards his friends; and these precious articles were +accordingly conveyed to the tent of the Norman leader. By such +measures, the Emperor must make himself master of Bohemond, both body +and soul, for the Franks themselves say it is strange to see a man of +undaunted bravery, and towering ambition, so infected, nevertheless, +with avarice, which they term a mean and unnatural vice." + +"Bohemond," said Agelastes, "is then the Emperor's for life and +death--always, that is, till the recollection of the royal munificence +be effaced by a greater gratuity. Alexius, proud as he naturally is of +his management with this important chieftain, will no doubt expect to +prevail by his counsels, on most of the other crusaders, and even on +Godfrey of Bouillon himself, to take an oath of submission and fidelity +to the Emperor, which, were it not for the sacred nature of their +warfare, the meanest gentleman among them would not submit to, were it +to be lord of a province. There, then, we rest. A few days must +determine what we have to do. An earlier discovery would be +destruction." + +"We meet not then to-night?" said the Acolyte. + +"No," replied the sage; "unless we are summoned to that foolish +stage-play or recitation; and then we meet as playthings in the hand of +a silly woman, the spoiled child of a weak-minded parent." + +Tatius then took his leave of the philosopher, and, as if fearful of +being seen in each other's company, they left their solitary place of +meeting by different routes. The Varangian, Hereward, received, shortly +after, a summons from his superior, who acquainted him, that he should +not, as formerly intimated, require his attendance that evening. + +Achilles then paused, and added,--"Thou hast something on thy lips thou +wouldst say to me, which, nevertheless hesitates to break forth." + +"It is only this," answered the soldier: "I have had an interview with +the man called Agelastes, and he seems something so different from what +he appeared when we last spoke of him, that I cannot forbear mentioning +to you what I have seen. He is not an insignificant trifler, whose +object it is to raise a laugh at his own expense, or that of any other. +He is a deep-thinking and far-reaching man, who, for some reason or +other, is desirous of forming friends, and drawing a party to himself. +Your own wisdom will teach you to beware of him." + +"Thou art an honest fellow, my poor Hereward," said Achilles Tatius, +with an affectation of good-natured contempt. "Such men as Agelastes do +often frame their severest jests in the shape of formal gravity--they +will pretend to possess the most unbounded power over elements and +elemental spirits--they will make themselves masters of the names and +anecdotes best known to those whom they make their sport; and any one +who shall listen to them, shall, in the words of the Divine Homer, only +expose himself to a flood of inextinguishable laughter. I have often +known him select one of the rawest and most ignorant persons in +presence, and to him for the amusement of the rest, he has pretended to +cause the absent to appear, the distant to draw near, and the dead +themselves to burst the cerements of the grave. Take care, Hereward, +that his arts make not a stain on the credit of one of my bravest +Varangians." + +"There is no danger," answered Hereward. "I shall not be fond of being +often with this man. If he jests upon one subject which he hath +mentioned to me, I shall be but too likely to teach him seriousness +after a rough manner. And if he is serious in his pretensions in such +mystical matters, we should, according to the faith of my grandfather, +Kenelm, do insult to the deceased, whose name is taken in the mouth of +a soothsayer, or impious enchanter. I will not, therefore, again go +near this Agelastes, be he wizard, or be he impostor." + +"You apprehend me not," said the Acolyte, hastily; "you mistake my +meaning. He is a man from whom, if he pleases to converse with such as +you, you may derive much knowledge; keeping out of the reach of those +pretended secret arts, which he will only use to turn thee into +ridicule." With these words, which he himself would perhaps have felt +it difficult to reconcile, the leader and his follower parted. + + + + +CHAPTER THE NINTH. + + Between the foaming jaws of the white torrent, + The skilful artist draws a sudden mound; + By level long he subdivides their strength, + Stealing the waters from their rocky bed, + First to diminish what he means to conquer; + Then, for the residue he forms a road, + Easy to keep, and painful to desert, + And guiding to the end the planner aim'd at. + THE ENGINEER + + +It would have been easy for Alexius, by a course of avowed suspicion, +or any false step in the manner of receiving this tumultuary invasion +of the European nations, to have blown into a flame the numerous but +smothered grievances under which they laboured; and a similar +catastrophe would not have been less certain, had he at once abandoned +all thoughts of resistance, and placed his hope of safety in +surrendering to the multitudes of the west whatsoever they accounted +worth taking. The Emperor chose a middle course; and, unquestionably, +in the weakness of the Greek empire, it was the only one which would +have given him at once safety, and a great degree of consequence in the +eyes of the Frank invaders and those of his own subjects. The means +with, which he acted were of various kinds, and, rather from policy +than inclination, were often stained with falsehood or meanness; +therefore it follows that the measures of the Emperor resembled those +of the snake, who twines himself through the grass, with the purpose of +stinging insidiously those whom he fears to approach with the step of +the bold and generous lion. We are not, however, writing the History of +the Crusades, and what we have already said of the Emperor's +precautions on the first appearance of Godfrey of Bouillon, and his +associates, may suffice for the elucidation of our story. + +About four weeks had now passed over, marked by quarrels and +reconcilements between the crusaders and the Grecians of the empire. +The former were, as Alexius's policy dictated, occasionally and +individually, received with extreme honour, and their leaders loaded +with respect and favour; while, from time to time, such bodies of them +as sought distant or circuitous routes to the capital, were intercepted +and cut to pieces by light-armed troops, who easily passed upon their +ignorant opponents for Turks, Scythians, or other infidels, and +sometimes were actually such, but in the service of the Grecian +monarch. Often, too, it happened, that while the more powerful chiefs +of the crusade were feasted by the Emperor and his ministers with the +richest delicacies, and their thirst slaked with iced wines, their +followers were left at a distance, where, intentionally supplied with +adulterated flour, tainted provisions, and bad water, they contracted +diseases, and died in great numbers, without having once seen a foot of +the Holy Land, for the recovery of which they had abandoned their +peace, their competence, and their native country. These aggressions +did not pass without complaint. Many of the crusading chiefs impugned +the fidelity of their allies, exposed the losses sustained by their +armies as evils voluntarily inflicted on them by the Greeks, and on +more than one occasion, the two nations stood opposed to each other on +such terms that a general war seemed to be inevitable. + +Alexius, however, though obliged to have recourse to every finesse, +still kept his ground, and made peace with the most powerful chiefs, +under one pretence or other. The actual losses of the crusaders by the +sword he imputed to their own aggressions--their misguidance, to +accident and to wilfulness--the effects produced on them by the +adulterated provisions, to the vehemence of their own appetite for raw +fruits and unripened wines. In short, there was no disaster of any kind +whatsoever which could possibly befall the unhappy pilgrims, but the +Emperor stood prepared to prove that it was the natural consequence of +their own violence, wilfulness of conduct, or hostile precipitancy. + +The chiefs, who were not ignorant of their strength, would not, it was +likely, have tamely suffered injuries from a power so inferior to their +own, were it not that they had formed extravagant ideas of the wealth +of the Eastern empire, which Alexius seemed willing to share with them +with an excess of bounty as new to the leaders as the rich productions +of the East were tempting to their followers. + +The French nobles would perhaps have been the most difficult to be +brought into order when differences arose; but an accident, which the +Emperor might have termed providential, reduced the high-spirited Count +of Vermandois to the situation, of a suppliant, when he expected to +hold that of a dictator. A fierce tempest surprised his fleet after he +set sail from Italy, and he was finally driven on the coast of Greece. +Many ships were destroyed, and those troops who got ashore were so much +distressed, that they were obliged to surrender themselves to the +lieutenants of Alexius. So that the Count of Vermandois, so haughty in +his bearing when he first embarked, was sent to the court of +Constantinople, not as a prince, but as a prisoner. In this case, the +Emperor instantly set the soldiers at liberty, and loaded them with +presents. [Footnote: See Mills' History of the Crusades, vol. i, p. 96] + +Grateful, therefore, for attentions in which Alexius was unremitting, +Count Hugh was by gratitude as well as interest, inclined to join the +opinion of those who, for other reasons, desired the subsistence of +peace betwixt the crusaders and the empire of Greece. A better +principle determined the celebrated Godfrey, Raymond of Thoulouse, and +some others, in whom devotion was something more than a mere burst of +fanaticism. These princes considered with what scandal their whole +journey must be stained, if the first of their exploits should be a war +upon the Grecian empire, which might justly be called the barrier of +Christendom. If it was weak, and at the same time rich--if at the same +time it invited rapine, and was unable to protect itself against it--it +was the more their interest and duty, as Christian soldiers, to protect +a Christian state, whose existence was of so much consequence to the +common cause, even when it could not defend itself. It was the wish of +these frank-hearted men to receive the Emperor's professions of +friendship with such sincere returns of amity--to return his kindness +with so much usury, as to convince him that their purpose towards him +was in every respect fair and honourable, and that it would be his +interest to abstain from every injurious treatment which might induce +or compel them to alter their measures towards him. + +It was with this accommodating spirit towards Alexius, which, for many +different and complicated reasons, had now animated most of the +crusaders, that the chiefs consented to a measure which, in other +circumstances, they would probably have refused, as undue to the +Greeks, and dishonourable to themselves. This was the famous +resolution, that, before crossing the Bosphorus to go in quest of that +Palestine which they had vowed to regain, each chief of crusaders would +acknowledge individually the Grecian Emperor, originally lord paramount +of all these regions, as their liege lord and suzerain. + +The Emperor Alexius, with trembling joy, beheld the crusaders approach +a conclusion to which he had hoped to bribe them rather by interested +means than by reasoning, although much might be said why provinces +reconquered from the Turks or Saracens should, if recovered from the +infidel, become again a part of the Grecian empire, from which they had +been rent without any pretence, save that of violence. + +Though fearful, and almost despairing of being able to manage the rude +and discordant army of haughty chiefs, who were wholly independent of +each other, Alexius failed not, with eagerness and dexterity, to seize +upon the admission of Godfrey and his compeers, that the Emperor was +entitled to the allegiance of all who should war on Palestine, and +natural lord paramount of all the conquests which should be made in the +course of the expedition. He was resolved to make this ceremony so +public, and to interest men's minds in it by such a display of the +imperial pomp and munificence, that it should not either pass unknown, +or be readily forgotten. + +An extensive terrace, one of the numerous spaces which extend along the +coast of the Propontis, was chosen for the site of the magnificent +ceremony. Here was placed an elevated and august throne, calculated for +the use of the Emperor alone. On this occasion, by suffering no other +seats within view of the pageant, the Greeks endeavoured to secure a +point of ceremony peculiarly dear to their vanity, namely, that none of +that presence, save the Emperor himself, should be seated. Around the +throne of Alexius Comnenus were placed in order, but standing, the +various dignitaries of his splendid court, in their different ranks, +from the Protosebastos and the Caesar, to the Patriarch, splendid in +his ecclesiastical robes, and to Agelastes, who, in his simple habit, +gave also the necessary attendance. Behind and around the splendid +display of the Emperor's court, were drawn many dark circles of the +exiled Anglo-Saxons. These, by their own desire, were not, on that +memorable day, accoutred in the silver corslets which were the fashion +of an idle court, but sheathed in mail and plate. They desired, they +said, to be known as warriors to warriors. This was the more readily +granted, as there was no knowing what trifle might infringe a truce +between parties so inflammable as were now assembled. + +Beyond the Varangians, in much greater numbers, were drawn up the bands +of Grecians, or Romans, then known by the title of Immortals, which had +been borrowed by the Romans originally from the empire of Persia. The +stately forms, lofty crests, and splendid apparel of these guards, +would have given the foreign princes present a higher idea of their +military prowess, had there not occurred in their ranks a frequent +indication of loquacity and of motion, forming a strong contrast to the +steady composure and death-like silence with which the well-trained +Varangians stood in the parade, like statues made of iron. + +The reader must then conceive this throne in all the pomp of Oriental +greatness, surrounded by the foreign and Roman troops of the empire, +and closed on the rear by clouds of light-horse, who shifted their +places repeatedly, so as to convey an idea of their multitude, without +affording the exact means of estimating it. Through the dust which they +raised by these evolutions, might be seen banners and standards, among +which could be discovered by glances, the celebrated LABARUM, +[Footnote: Ducange fills half a column of his huge page with the mere +names of the authors who have written at length on the _Labarum_, or +principal standard of the empire for the time of Constantine. It +consisted of a spear of silver, or plated with that metal, having +suspended from, a cross beam below the spoke a small square silken +banner, adorned with portraits of the reigning family, and over these +the famous Monogram which expresses at once the figure of the cross and +the initial letters of the name of Christ. The bearer of the _Labarum_ +was an officer of high rank down to the last days of the Byzantine +government.--See Gibbon, chap. 20. + +Ducange seems to have proved, from the evidence of coins and triumphial +monuments, that a standard of the form of the _Labarum_ was used by +various barbarous nations long before it was adopted by their Roman +conquerors, and he is of opinion that its name also was borrowed from +either Teutonic Germany, or Celtic Gaul, or Sclavonic Illyria. It is +certain that either the German language or the Welsh may afford at this +day a perfectly satisfactory etymon: _Lap-heer_ in the former and +_Lab-hair_ in the latter, having precisely the same meaning--_the cloth +of the host_. + +The form of the _Labarum_ may still be recognised in the banners +carried in ecclesiastical processions in all Roman Catholic countries.] +the pledge of conquest to the imperial banners, but whose sacred +efficacy had somewhat failed of late days. The rude soldiers of the +West, who viewed the Grecian army, maintained that the standards which +were exhibited in front of their line, were at least sufficient for the +array of ten times the number of soldiers. + +Far on the right, the appearance of a very large body of European +cavalry drawn up on the sea-shore, intimated the presence of the +crusaders. So great was the desire to follow the example of the chief +Princes, Dukes, and Counts, in making the proposed fealty, that the +number of independent knights and nobles who were to perform this +service, seemed very great when collected together for that purpose; +for every crusader who possessed a tower, and led six lances, would +have thought himself abridged of his dignity if he had not been called +to acknowledge the Grecian Emperor, and hold the lands he should +conquer of his throne, as well as Godfrey of Bouillon, or Hugh the +Great, Count of Vermandois. And yet, with strange inconsistency, though +they pressed to fulfil the homage, as that which was paid by greater +persons than themselves, they seemed, at the very same time, desirous +to find some mode of intimating that the homage which they rendered +they felt as an idle degradation, and in fact held the whole show as a +mere piece of mockery. + +The order of the procession had been thus settled:--The Crusaders, or, +as the Grecians called them, the _Counts_,--that being the most common +title among them,--were to advance from the left of their body, and +passing the Emperor one by one, were apprized, that, in passing, each +was to render to him, in as few words as possible, the homage which had +been previously agreed on. Godfrey of Bouillon, his brother Baldwin, +Bohemond of Antioch, and several other crusaders of eminence, were the +first to perform the ceremony, alighting when their own part was +performed, and remaining in attendance by the Emperor's chair, to +prevent, by the awe of their presence, any of their numerous associates +from being guilty of petulance or presumption during the solemnity. +Other crusaders of less degree retained their station near the Emperor, +when they had once gained it, out of mere curiosity, or to show that +they were as much at liberty to do so as the greater commanders who +assumed that privilege. + +Thus two great bodies of troops, Grecian and European, paused at some +distance from each other on the banks of the Bosphorus canal, differing +in language, arms, and appearance. The small troops of horse which from +time to time issued forth from these bodies, resembled the flashes of +lightning passing from one thunder-cloud to another, which communicate +to each other by such emissaries their overcharged contents. After some +halt on the margin of the Bosphorus, the Franks who had performed +homage, straggled irregularly forward to a quay on the shore, where +innumerable galleys and smaller vessels, provided for the purpose, lay +with sails and oars prepared to waft the warlike pilgrims across the +passage, and place them on that Asia which they longed so passionately +to visit, and from which but few of them were likely to return. The gay +appearance of the vessels which were to receive them, the readiness +with which they were supplied with refreshments, the narrowness of the +strait they had to cross, the near approach of that active service +which they had vowed and longed to discharge, put the warriors into gay +spirits, and songs and music bore chorus to the departing oars. + +While such was the temper of the crusaders, the Grecian Emperor did his +best through the whole ceremonial to impress on the armed multitude the +highest ideas of his own grandeur, and the importance of the occasion +which had brought them together. This was readily admitted by the +higher chiefs; some because their vanity had been propitiated,--some +because their avarice had been gratified,--some because their ambition +had been inflamed,--and a few, a very few, because to remain friends +with Alexius was the most probable means of advancing the purposes of +their expedition. Accordingly the great lords, from these various +motives, practised a humility which perhaps they were far from feeling, +and carefully abstained from all which might seem like irreverence at +the solemn festival of the Grecians. But there were very many of a +different temper. + +Of the great number of counts, lords, and knights, under whose variety +of banners the crusaders were led to the walls of Constantinople, many +were too insignificant to be bribed to this distasteful measure of +homage; and these, though they felt it dangerous to oppose resistance, +yet mixed their submission with taunts, ridicule, and such +contraventions of decorum, as plainly intimated that they entertained +resentment and scorn at the step they were about to take, and esteemed +it as proclaiming themselves vassals to a prince, heretic in his faith, +limited in the exercise of his boasted power, their enemy when he dared +to show himself such, and the friend of those only among their number, +who were able to compel him to be so; and who, though to them an +obsequious ally, was to the others, when occasion offered, an insidious +and murderous enemy. + +The nobles of Frankish origin and descent were chiefly remarkable for +their presumptuous contempt of every other nation engaged in the +crusade, as well as for their dauntless bravery, and for the scorn with +which they regarded the power and authority of the Greek empire. It was +a common saying among them, that if the skies should fall, the French +crusaders alone were able to hold them up with their lances. The same +bold and arrogant disposition showed itself in occasional quarrels with +their unwilling hosts, in which the Greeks, notwithstanding all their +art, were often worsted; so that Alexius was determined, at all events, +to get rid of these intractable and fiery allies, by ferrying them over +the Bosphorus with all manner of diligence. To do this with safety, he +availed himself of the presence of the Count of Vermandois, Godfrey of +Bouillon, and other chiefs of great influence, to keep in order the +lesser Frankish knights, who were so numerous and unruly. [Footnote: +See Mills, vol. i. chap. 3.] + +Struggling with his feelings of offended pride, tempered by a prudent +degree of apprehension, the Emperor endeavoured to receive with +complacence a homage tendered in mockery. An incident shortly took +place of a character highly descriptive of the nations brought together +in so extraordinary a manner, and with such different feelings and +sentiments. Several bands of French had passed, in a sort of +procession, the throne of the Emperor, and rendered, with some +appearance of gravity, the usual homage. On this occasion they bent +their knees to Alexius, placed their hands within his, and in that +posture paid the ceremonies of feudal fealty. But when it came to the +turn of Bohemond of Antioch, already mentioned, to render this fealty, +the Emperor, desirous to show every species of honour to this wily +person, his former enemy, and now apparently his ally, advanced two or +three paces towards the sea-side, where the boats lay as if in +readiness for his use. + +The distance to which the Emperor moved was very small, and it was +assumed as a piece of deference to Bohemond; but it became the means of +exposing Alexius himself to a cutting affront, which his guards and +subjects felt deeply, as an intentional humiliation. A half score of +horsemen, attendants of the Frankish Count who was next to perform the +homage, with their lord at their head, set off at full gallop from the +right flank of the French squadrons, and arriving before the throne, +which was yet empty, they at once halted. The rider at the head of the +band was a strong herculean figure, with a decided and stern +countenance, though extremely handsome, looking out from thick black +curls. His head was surmounted with a barret cap, while his hands, +limbs, and feet were covered with garments of chamois leather, over +which he in general wore the ponderous and complete armour of his +country. This, however, he had laid aside for personal convenience, +though in doing so he evinced a total neglect of the ceremonial which +marked so important a meeting. He waited not a moment for the Emperor's +return, nor regarded the impropriety of obliging Alexius to hurry his +steps back to his throne, but sprung from his gigantic horse, and threw +the reins loose, which were instantly seized by one of the attendant +pages. Without a moment's hesitation the Frank seated himself in the +vacant throne of the Emperor, and extending his half-armed and robust +figure on the golden cushions which were destined for Alexius, he +indolently began to caress a large wolf-hound which had followed him, +and which, feeling itself as much at ease as its master, reposed its +grim form on the carpets of silk and gold damask, which tapestried the +imperial foot-stool. The very hound stretched itself with a bold, +ferocious insolence, and seemed to regard no one with respect, save the +stern knight whom it called master. + +The Emperor, turning back from the short space which, as a special mark +of favour, he had accompanied Bohemond, beheld with astonishment his +seat occupied by this insolent Frank. The bands of the half-savage +Varangians who were stationed around, would not have hesitated an +instant in avenging the insult, by prostrating the violator of their +master's throne even in this act of his contempt, had they not been +restrained by Achilles Tatius and other officers, who were uncertain +what the Emperor would do, and somewhat timorous of taking a resolution +for themselves. + +Meanwhile, the unceremonious knight spoke aloud, in a speech which, +though provincial, might be understood by all to whom the French +language was known, while even those who understood it not, gathered +its interpretation from his tone and manner. "What churl is this," he +said, "who has remained sitting stationary like a block of wood, or the +fragment of a rock, when so many noble knights, the flower of chivalry +and muster of gallantry, stand uncovered around, among the thrice +conquered Varangians?" + +A deep, clear accent replied, as if from the bottom of the earth, so +like it was to the accents of some being from the other world,--"If the +Normans desire battle of the Varangians, they will meet them in the +lists man to man, without the poor boast of insulting the Emperor of +Greece, who is well known to fight only by the battle-axes of his +guard." + +The astonishment was so great when this answer was heard, as to affect +even the knight, whose insult upon the Emperor had occasioned it; and +amid the efforts of Achilles to retain his soldiers within the bounds +of subordination and silence, a loud murmur seemed to intimate that +they would not long remain so. Bohemond returned through the press with +a celerity which did not so well suit the dignity of Alexius, and +catching the crusader by the arm, he, something between fair means and +a gentle degree of force, obliged him to leave the chair of the +Emperor, in which he had placed himself so boldly. + +"How is it," said Bohemond, "noble Count of Paris? Is there one of this +great assembly who can see with patience, that your name, so widely +renowned for valour, is now to be quoted in an idle brawl with +hirelings, whose utmost boast it is to bear a mercenary battle-axe in +the ranks of the Emperor's guards? For shame--for shame--do not, for +the discredit of Norman chivalry, let it be so!" + +"I know not," said the crusader, rising reluctantly--"I am not nice in +choosing the degree of my adversary, when he bears himself like one who +is willing and forward in battle. I am good-natured, I tell thee, Count +Bohemond; and Turk or Tartar, or wandering Anglo-Saxon, who only +escapes from the chain of the Normans to become the slave of the Greek, +is equally welcome to whet his blade clean against my armour, if he +desires to achieve such an honourable office." + +The Emperor had heard what passed--had heard it with indignation, mixed +with fear; for he imagined the whole scheme of his policy was about to +be overturned at once by a premeditated plan of personal affront, and +probably an assault upon his person. He was about to call to arms, +when, casting his eyes on the right flank of the crusaders, he saw that +all remained quiet after the Frank Baron had transferred himself from +thence. He therefore instantly resolved to let the insult pass, as one +of the rough pleasantries of the Franks, since the advance of more +troops did not give any symptom of an actual onset. + +Resolving on his line of conduct with the quickness of thought, he +glided back to his canopy, and stood beside his throne, of which, +however, he chose not instantly to take possession, lest he should give +the insolent stranger some ground for renewing and persisting in a +competition for it. + +"What bold Vavasour is this," said he to Count Baldwin, "whom, as is +apparent from his dignity, I ought to have received seated upon my +throne, and who thinks proper thus to vindicate his rank?" + +"He is reckoned one of the bravest men in our host," answered Baldwin, +"though the brave are as numerous there as the sands of the sea. He +will himself tell you his name and rank." + +Alexius looked at the Vavasour. He saw nothing in his large, +well-formed features, lighted by a wild touch of enthusiasm which spoke +in his quick eye, that intimated premeditated insult, and was induced +to suppose that what had occurred, so contrary to the form and +ceremonial of the Grecian court, was neither an intentional affront, +nor designed as the means of introducing a quarrel. He therefore spoke +with comparative ease, when he addressed the stranger thus:--"We know +not by what dignified name to salute you: but we are aware, from Count +Baldwin's information, that we are honoured in having in our presence +one of the bravest knights whom a sense of the wrongs done to the Holy +Land has brought thus far on his way to Palestine, to free it from its +bondage." + +"If you mean to ask my name," answered the European knight, "any one of +these pilgrims can readily satisfy you, and more gracefully than I can +myself; since we use to say in our country, that many a fierce quarrel +is prevented from being fought out by an untimely disclosure of names, +when men, who might have fought with the fear of God before their eyes, +must, when their names are manifested, recognise each other as +spiritual allies, by baptism, gossipred, or some such irresistible bond +of friendship; whereas, had they fought first and told their names +afterwards, they could have had some assurance of each other's valour, +and have been able to view their relationship as an honour to both." + +"Still," said the Emperor, "methinks I would know if you, who, in this +extraordinary press of knights, seem to assert a precedence to +yourself, claim the dignity due to a king or prince?" + +"How speak you that?" said the Frank, with a brow somewhat +over-clouded; "do you feel that I have not left you unjostled by my +advance to these squadrons of yours?" + +Alexius hastened to answer, that he felt no particular desire to +connect the Count with an affront or offence; observing, that in the +extreme necessity of the Empire, it was no time for him, who was at the +helm, to engage in idle or unnecessary quarrels. + +The Frankish knight heard him, and answered drily--"Since such are your +sentiments, I wonder that you have ever resided long enough within the +hearing of the French language to learn to speak it as you do. I would +have thought some of the sentiments of the chivalry of the nation, +since you are neither a monk nor a woman, would, at the same time with +the words of the dialect, have found their way into your heart." "Hush, +Sir Count," said Bohemond, who remained by the Emperor to avert the +threatening quarrel. "It is surely requisite to answer the Emperor with +civility; and those who are impatient for warfare, will have infidels +enough to wage it with. He only demanded your name and lineage, which +you of all men can have the least objection to disclose." + +"I know not if it will interest this prince, or Emperor as you term +him," answered the Frank Count; "but all the account I can give of +myself is this:--In the midst of one of the vast forests which, occupy +the centre of France, my native country, there stands a chapel, sunk so +low into the ground, that it seems as if it were become decrepid by its +own great age. The image of the Holy Virgin who presides over its +altar, is called by all men our Lady of the Broken Lances, and is +accounted through the whole kingdom the most celebrated for military +adventures. Four beaten roads, each leading from an opposite point in +the compass, meet before the principal door of the chapel; and ever and +anon, as a good knight arrives at this place, he passes in to the +performance of his devotions in the chapel, having first sounded his +horn three times, till ash and oak-tree quiver and ring. Having then +kneeled down to his devotions, he seldom arises from the mass of Her of +the Broken Lances, but there is attending on his leisure some +adventurous knight ready to satisfy the new comer's desire of battle. +This station have I held for a month and more against all comers, and +all gave me fair thanks for the knightly manner of quitting myself +towards them, except one, who had the evil hap to fall from his horse, +and did break his neck; and another, who was struck through the body, +so that the lance came out behind his back about a cloth-yard, all +dripping with blood. Allowing for such accidents, which cannot easily +be avoided, my opponents parted with me with fair acknowledgment of the +grace I had done them." + +"I conceive, Sir Knight," said the Emperor, "that a form like yours, +animated by the courage you display, is likely to find few equals even +among your adventurous countrymen; far less among men who are taught +that to cast away their lives in a senseless quarrel among themselves, +is to throw away, like a boy, the gift of Providence." + +"You are welcome to your opinion," said the Frank, somewhat +contemptuously; "yet I assure you, if you doubt that our gallant strife +was unmixed with sullenness and anger, and that we hunt not the hart or +the boar with merrier hearts in the evening, than we discharge our task +of chivalry by the morn had arisen, before the portal of the old +chapel, you do us foul injustice." + +"With the Turks you will not enjoy this amiable exchange of +courtesies," answered Alexius. "Wherefore I would advise you neither to +stray far into the van nor into the rear, but to abide by the standard +where the best infidels make their efforts, and the best knights are +required to repel them." + +"By our Lady of the Broken Lances," said the Crusader, "I would not +that the Turks were more courteous than they are Christian, and am well +pleased that unbeliever and heathen hound are a proper description for +the best of them, as being traitor alike to their God and to the laws +of chivalry; and devoutly do I trust that I shall meet with them in the +front rank of our army, beside our standard, or elsewhere, and have an +open field to my devoir against them, both as the enemies of our Lady +and the holy saints, and as, by their evil customs, more expressly my +own. Meanwhile you have time to seat yourself and receive my homage, +and I will be bound to you for despatching this foolish ceremony with +as little waste and delay of time as the occasion will permit." + +The Emperor hastily seated himself, and received into his the sinewy +hands of the Crusader, who made the acknowledgment of his homage, and +was then guided off by Count Baldwin, who walked with the stranger to +the ships, and then, apparently well pleased at seeing him in the +course of going on board, returned back to the side of the Emperor. + +"What is the name," said the Emperor, "of that singular and assuming +man?" + +"It is Robert, Count of Paris," answered Baldwin, "accounted one of the +bravest peers who stand around the throne of France." + +After a moment's recollection, Alexius Comnenus issued orders, that the +ceremonial of the day should be discontinued, afraid, perhaps, lest the +rough and careless humour of the strangers should produce some new +quarrel. The crusaders were led, nothing loth, back to palaces in which +they had been hospitably received, and readily resumed the interrupted +feast, from which they had been called to pay their homage. The +trumpets of the various leaders blew the recall of the few troops of an +ordinary character who were attendant, together with the host of +knights and leaders, who, pleased with the indulgences provided for +them, and obscurely foreseeing that the passage of the Bosphorus would +be the commencement of their actual suffering, rejoiced in being called +to the hither side. + +It was not probably intended; but the hero, as he might be styled, of +the tumultuous day, Count Robert of Paris, who was already on his road +to embarkation on the strait, was disturbed in his purpose by the sound +of recall which was echoed around; nor could Bohemond, Godfrey, or any +one who took upon him to explain the signal, alter his resolution of +returning to Constantinople. He laughed to scorn the threatened +displeasure of the Emperor, and seemed to think there would be a +peculiar pleasure in braving Alexius at his own board, or, at least, +that nothing could be more indifferent than whether he gave offence or +not. + +To Godfrey of Bouillon, to whom he showed some respect, he was still +far from paying deference; and that sagacious prince, having used every +argument which might shake his purpose of returning to the imperial +city, to the very point of making it a quarrel with him in person, at +length abandoned him to his own discretion, and pointed him out to the +Count of Thoulouse, as he passed, as a wild knight-errant, incapable of +being influenced by any thing save his own wayward fancy. "He brings +not five hundred men to the crusade," said Godfrey; "and I dare be +sworn, that even in this, the very outset of the undertaking, he knows +not where these five hundred men are, and how their wants are provided +for. There is an eternal trumpet in his ear sounding to assault, nor +has he room or time to hear a milder or more rational signal. See how +he strolls along yonder, the very emblem of an idle schoolboy, broke +out of the school-bounds upon a holyday, half animated by curiosity and +half by love of mischief." + +"And," said Raymond, Count of Thoulouse, "with resolution sufficient to +support the desperate purpose of the whole army of devoted crusaders. +And yet so passionate a Rodomont is Count Robert, that he would rather +risk the success of the whole expedition, that omit an opportunity of +meeting a worthy antagonist _en champ-clos_, or lose, as he terms it, a +chance of worshipping our Lady of the Broken Lances. Who are yon with +whom he has now met, and who are apparently walking, or rather +strolling in the same way with him, back to Constantinople?" + +"An armed knight, brilliantly equipped--yet of something less than +knightly stature," answered Godfrey. "It is, I suppose, the celebrated +lady who won Robert's heart in the lists of battle, by bravery and +valour equal to his own; and the pilgrim form in the long vestments may +be their daughter or niece." + +"A singular spectacle, worthy Knight," said the Count of Thoulouse, "do +our days present to us, to which we have had nothing similar, since +Gaita, [Footnote: This Amazon makes a conspicuous figure in Anna +Comnena's account of her father's campaigns against Robert Guiscard. On +one occasion (Alexiad, lib. iv. p. 93) she represents her as thus +recalling the fugitive soldiery of her husband to their duty,--[Greek: +Hae de ge Taita Aeallas allae, kan mae Athaenae kat auton megisaen +apheisa phonaen, monon ou to Homaerikon epos tae idia dialektio legein +eokei. Mechri posou pheuxesthou; ataete aneres ese. Hos de eti +pheugontas toutous eora, dory makron enagkalisamenae, holous rhytaeras +endousa kata ton pheugonton ietai].--That is, exhorting them, in all +but Homeric language, at the top of her voice; and when this failed, +brandishing a long spear, and rushing upon the fugitives at the utmost +speed of her horse. + +This heroic lady, according to the _Chronigue Scandaleuse_, of those +days, was afterwards deluded by some cunning overtures of the Greek +Emperor, and poisoned her husband in expectation of gaining a place on +the throne of Constantinople. Ducange, however, rejects the story, and +so does Gibbon.] wife of Robert Guiscard, first took upon her to +distinguish herself by manly deeds of emprise, and rival her husband, +as well in the front of battle as at the dancing-room or banquet." + +"Such is the custom of this pair, most noble knight," answered another +Crusader, who had joined them, "and Heaven pity the poor man who has no +power to keep domestic peace by an appeal to the stronger hand!" + +"Well!" replied Raymond, "if it be rather a mortifying reflection, that +the lady of our love is far past the bloom of youth, it is a +consolation that she is too old-fashioned to beat us, when we return +back with no more of youth or manhood than a long crusade has left. But +come, follow on the road to Constantinople, and in the rear of this +most doughty knight." + + + + +CHAPTER THE TENTH. + + Those were wild times--the antipodes of ours: + Ladies were there, who oftener saw themselves + In the broad lustre of a foeman's shield + Than in a mirror, and who rather sought + To match themselves in battle, than in dalliance + To meet a lover's onset.--But though Nature + Was outraged thus, she was not overcome. + FEUDAL TIMES. + + +Brenhilda, Countess of Paris, was one of those stalwart dames who +willingly hazarded themselves in the front of battle, which, during the +first crusade, was as common as it was possible for a very unnatural +custom to be, and, in fact, gave the real instances of the Marphisas +and Bradamantes, whom the writers of romance delighted to paint, +assigning them sometimes the advantage of invulnerable armour, or a +spear whose thrust did not admit of being resisted, in order to soften +the improbability of the weaker sex being frequently victorious over +the male part of the creation. + +But the spell of Brenhilda was of a more simple nature, and rested +chiefly in her great beauty. + +From a girl she despised the pursuits of her sex; and they who ventured +to become suitors for the hand of the young Lady of Aspramonte, to +which warlike fief she had succeeded, and which perhaps encouraged her +in her fancy, received for answer, that they must first merit it by +their good behaviour in the lists. The father of Brenhilda was dead; +her mother was of a gentle temper, and easily kept under management by +the young lady herself. + +Brenhilda's numerous suitors readily agreed to terms which were too +much according to the manners of the age to be disputed. A tournament +was held at the Castle of Aspramonte, in which one half of the gallant +assembly rolled headlong before their successful rivals, and withdrew +from the lists mortified and disappointed. The successful party among +the suitors were expected to be summoned to joust among themselves. But +they were surprised at being made acquainted with the lady's further +will. She aspired to wear armour herself, to wield a lance, and back a +steed, and prayed the knights that they would permit a lady, whom they +professed to honour so highly, to mingle in their games of chivalry. +The young knights courteously received their young mistress in the +lists, and smiled at the idea of her holding them triumphantly against +so many gallant champions of the other sex. But the vassals and old +servants of the Count, her father, smiled to each other, and intimated +a different result than the gallants anticipated. The knights who +encountered the fair Brenhilda were one by one stretched on the sand; +nor was it to be denied, that the situation of tilting with one of the +handsomest women of the time was an extremely embarrassing one. Each +youth was bent to withhold his charge in full volley, to cause his +steed to swerve at the full shock, or in some other way to flinch from +doing the utmost which was necessary to gain the victory, lest, in so +gaining it, he might cause irreparable injury to the beautiful opponent +he tilted with. But the Lady of Aspramonte was not one who could be +conquered by less than the exertion of the whole strength and talents +of the victor. The defeated suitors departed from the lists the more +mortified at their discomfiture, because Robert of Paris arrived at +sunset, and, understanding what was going forward, sent his name to the +barriers, as that of a knight who would willingly forego the reward of +the tournament, in case he had the fortune to gain it, declaring, that +neither lauds nor ladies' charms were what he came thither to seek. +Brenhilda, piqued and mortified, chose a new lance, mounted her best +steed, and advanced into the lists as one determined to avenge upon the +new assailant's brow the slight of her charms which he seemed to +express. But whether her displeasure had somewhat interfered with her +usual skill, or whether she had, like others of her sex, felt a +partiality towards one whose heart was not particularly set upon +gaining hers--or whether, as is often said on such occasions, her fated +hour was come, so it was that Count Robert tilted with his usual +address and good fortune. Brenhilda of Aspramonte was unhorsed and +unhelmed, and stretched on the earth, and the beautiful face, which +faded from very red to deadly pale before the eyes of the victor, +produced its natural effect in raising the value of his conquest. He +would, in conformity with his resolution, have left the castle after +having mortified the vanity of the lady; but her mother opportunely +interposed; and when she had satisfied herself that no serious injury +had been sustained by the young heiress, she returned her thanks to the +stranger knight who had taught her daughter a lesson, which, she +trusted, she would not easily forget. Thus tempted to do what he +secretly wished, Count Robert gave ear to those sentiments, which +naturally whispered to him to be in no hurry to withdraw. + +He was of the blood of Charlemagne, and, what was still of more +consequence in the young lady's eyes, one of the most renowned of +Norman knights in that jousting day. After a residence of ten days in +the castle of Aspramonte, the bride and bridegroom set out, for such +was Count Robert's will, with a competent train, to our Lady of the +Broken Lances, where it pleased him to be wedded. Two knights who were +waiting to do battle, as was the custom of the place, were rather +disappointed at the nature of the cavalcade, which seemed to interrupt +their purpose. But greatly were they surprised when they received a +cartel from the betrothed couple, offering to substitute their own +persons in the room of other antagonists, and congratulating themselves +in commencing their married life in a manner so consistent with that +which they had hitherto led. They were victorious as usual; and the +only persons having occasion to rue the complaisance of the Count and +his bride, were the two strangers, one of whom broke an arm in the +rencontre, and the other dislocated a collar-bone. + +Count Robert's course of knight-errantry did not seem to be in the +least intermitted by his marriage; on the contrary, when he was called +upon to support his renown, his wife was often known also in military +exploits, nor was she inferior to him in thirst after fame. They both +assumed the cross at the same time, that being then the predominating +folly in Europe. + +The Countess Brenhilda was now above six-and-twenty years old, with as +much beauty as can well fall to the share of an Amazon. A figure, of +the largest feminine size, was surmounted by a noble countenance, to +which even repeated warlike toils had not given more than a sunny hue, +relieved by the dazzling whiteness of such parts of her face as were +not usually displayed. + +As Alexius gave orders that his retinue should return to +Constantinople, he spoke in private to the Follower, Achilles Tatius. +The Satrap answered with a submissive bend of the head, and separated +with a few attendants from the main body of the Emperor's train. The +principal road to the city was, of course, filled with the troops, and +with the numerous crowds of spectators, all of whom were inconvenienced +in some degree by the dust and heat of the weather. + +Count Robert of Paris had embarked his horses on board of ship, and all +his retinue, except an old squire or valet of his own, and an attendant +of his wife. He felt himself more incommoded in this crowd than he +desired, especially as his wife shared it with him, and began to look +among the scattered trees which fringed the shores, down almost to the +tide-mark, to see if he could discern any by-path which might carry +them more circuitously, but more pleasantly, to the city, and afford +them at the same time, what was their principal object in the East, +strange sights, or adventures of chivalry. A broad and beaten path +seemed to promise them all the enjoyment which shade could give in a +warm climate. The ground through which it wound its way was beautifully +broken by the appearance of temples, churches, and kiosks, and here and +there a fountain distributed its silver produce, like a benevolent +individual, who, self-denying to himself, is liberal to all others who +are in necessity. The distant sound of the martial music still regaled +their way; and, at the same time, as it detained the populace on the +high-road, prevented the strangers from becoming incommoded with +fellow-travellers. + +Rejoicing in the abated heat of the day-wondering, at the same time, at +the various kinds of architecture, the strange features of the +landscape, or accidental touches of manners, exhibited by those who met +or passed them upon their journey, they strolled easily onwards. One +figure particularly caught the attention of the Countess Brenhilda. +This was an old man of great stature, engaged, apparently, so deeply +with the roll of parchment which he held in his hand, that he paid no +attention to the objects which were passing around him. Deep thought +appeared to reign on his brow, and his eye was of that piercing kind +which seems designed to search and winnow the frivolous from the +edifying part of human discussion, and limit its inquiry to the last. +Raising his eyes slowly from the parchment on which he had been gazing, +the look of Agelastes--for it was the sage himself--encountered those +of Count Robert and his lady, and addressing them, with the kindly +epithet of "my children," he asked if they had missed their road, or +whether there was any thing in which he could do them any pleasure. + +"We are strangers, father," was the answer, "from a distant country, +and belonging to the army which has passed hither upon pilgrimage; one +object brings us here in common, we hope, with all that host. We desire +to pay our devotions where the great ransom was paid for us, and to +free, by our good swords, enslaved Palestine, from the usurpation and +tyranny of the infidel. When we have said this, we have announced our +highest human motive. Yet Robert of Paris and his Countess would not +willingly set their foot on a land, save what should resound its echo. +They have not been accustomed to move in silence upon the face of the +earth, and they would purchase an eternal life of fame, though it were +at the price of mortal existence." + +"You seek, then, to barter safety for fame," said Agelastes, "though +you may, perchance, throw death into the scale by which you hope to +gain it?" + +"Assuredly," said Count Robert; "nor is there one wearing such a belt +as this, to whom such a thought is stranger." + +"And as I understand," said Agelastes, "your lady shares with your +honourable self in these valorous resolutions?--Can this be?" + +"You may undervalue my female courage, father, if such is your will," +said the Countess; "but I speak in presence of a witness who can attest +the truth, when I say that a man of half your years had not doubted the +truth with impunity." + +"Nay, Heaven protect me from the lightning of your eyes," said +Agelastes, "whether in anger or in scorn. I bear an aegis about myself +against what I should else have feared. But age, with its incapacities, +brings also its apologies. Perhaps, indeed, it is one like me whom you +seek to find, and in that case I should be happy to render to you such +services as it is my duty to offer to all worthy knights." + +"I have already said," replied Count Robert, "that after the +accomplishment of my vow,"--he looked upwards and crossed +himself,--"there is nothing on earth to which I am more bound than to +celebrate my name in arms as becomes a valiant cavalier. When men die +obscurely, they die for ever. Had my ancestor Charles never left the +paltry banks of the Saale, he had not now been much better known than +any vine-dresser who wielded his pruning-hook in the same territories. +But he bore him like a brave man, and his name is deathless in the +memory of the worthy." + +"Young man," said the old Grecian, "although it is but seldom that such +as you, whom I was made to serve and to value, visit this country, it +is not the less true that I am well qualified to serve you in the +matter which you have so much at heart. My acquaintance with nature has +been so perfect and so long, that, during its continuance, she has +disappeared, and another world has been spread before me, in which she +has but little to do. Thus the curious stores which I have assembled +are beyond the researches of other men, and not to be laid before those +whose deeds of valour are to be bounded by the ordinary probabilities +of everyday nature. No romancer of your romantic country ever devised +such extraordinary adventures out of his own imagination, and to feed +the idle wonder of those who sat listening around, as those which I +know, not of idle invention, but of real positive existence, with the +means of achieving and accomplishing the conditions of each adventure." + +"If such be your real profession," said the French Count, "you have met +one of those whom you chiefly search for; nor will my Countess and I +stir farther upon our road until you have pointed out to us some one of +those adventures which, it is the business of errant-knights to be +industrious in seeking out." + +So saying, he sat down by the side of the old man; and his lady, with a +degree of reverence which had something in it almost diverting, +followed his example. + +"We have fallen right, Brenhilda," said Count Robert; "our guardian. +angel has watched his charge carefully. Here have we come among an, +ignorant set of pedants, chattering their absurd language, and holding +more important the least look that a cowardly Emperor can give, than +the best blow that a good knight can deal. Believe me, I was wellnigh +thinking that we had done ill to take the cross--God forgive such an +impious doubt! Yet here, when we were even despairing to find the road +to fame, we have met with one of those excellent men whom the knights +of yore were wont to find sitting by springs, by crosses, and by +altars, ready to direct the wandering knight where fame was to be +found. Disturb him not, my Brenhilda," said the Count, "but let him +recall to himself his stories of the ancient time, and thou shalt see +he will enrich us with the treasures of his information." + +"If," replied Agelastes, after some pause, "I have waited for a longer +term than human life is granted to most men, I shall still be overpaid +by dedicating what remains of existence to the service of a pair so +devoted to chivalry. What first occurs to me is a story of our Greek +country, so famous in adventures, and which I shall briefly detail to +you:-- + +"Afar hence, in our renowned Grecian Archipelago, amid storms and +whirlpools, rocks which, changing their character, appear to +precipitate themselves against each other, and billows that are never +in a pacific state, lies the rich island of Zulichium, inhabited, +notwithstanding its wealth, by a very few natives, who live only upon +the sea-coast. The inland part of the island is one immense mountain, +or pile of mountains, amongst which, those who dare approach near +enough, may, we are assured, discern the moss-grown and antiquated +towers and pinnacles of a stately, but ruinous castle, the habitation +of the sovereign of the island, in which she has been, enchanted for a +great many years. + +"A bold knight, who came upon, a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, made a vow to +deliver this unhappy victim of pain and sorcery; feeling, with justice, +vehemently offended, that the fiends of darkness should exercise any +authority near the Holy Land, which might be termed the very fountain +of light. Two of the oldest inhabitants of the island undertook to +guide him as near to the main gate as they durst, nor did they approach +it more closely than the length of a bow-shot. Here, then, abandoned to +himself, the brave Frank set forth upon his enterprise, with a stout +heart, and Heaven alone to friend. The fabric which he approached +showed, by its gigantic size, and splendour of outline, the power and +wealth of the potentate who had erected it. The brazen gates unfolded +themselves as if with hope and pleasure; and aerial voices swept around +the spires and turrets, congratulating the genius of the place, it +might be, upon the expected approach of its deliverer. + +"The knight passed on, not unmoved with wonder, though untainted by +fear; and the Gothic splendours which he saw were of a kind highly to +exalt his idea of the beauty of the mistress for whom a prison-house +had been so richly decorated. Guards there were in Eastern dress and +arms, upon bulwark and buttress, in readiness, it appeared, to bend +their bows; but the warriors were motionless and silent, and took no +more notice of the armed step of the knight than if a monk or hermit +had approached their guarded post. They were living, and yet, as to all +power and sense, they might be considered among the dead. If there was +truth in the old tradition, the sun had shone and the rain had fallen +upon them for more than four hundred changing seasons, without their +being sensible of the genial warmth of the one or the coldness of the +other. Like the Israelites in the desert, their shoes had not decayed, +nor their vestments waxed old. As Time left them, so and without +alteration was he again to find them." The philosopher began now to +recall what he had heard of the cause of their enchantment. + +"The sage to whom this potent charm is imputed, was one of the Magi who +followed the tenets of Zoroaster. He had come to the court of this +youthful Princess, who received him with every attention which +gratified vanity could dictate, so that in a short time her awe of this +grave personage was lost in the sense of ascendency which her beauty +gave her over him. It was no difficult matter--in fact it happens every +day--for the beautiful woman to lull the wise man into what is not +inaptly called a fool's paradise. The sage was induced to attempt feats +of youth which his years rendered ridiculous; he could command the +elements, but the common course of nature was beyond his power. When, +therefore, he exerted his magic strength, the mountains bent and the +seas receded; but when the philosopher attempted to lead forth the +Princess of Zulichium in the youthful dance, youths and maidens turned +their heads aside lest they should make too manifest the ludicrous +ideas with which they were impressed. + +"Unhappily, as the aged, even the wisest of them, will forget +themselves, so the young naturally enter into an alliance to spy out, +ridicule, and enjoy their foibles. Many were the glances which the +Princess sent among her retinue, intimating the nature of the amusement +which she received from the attentions of her formidable lover. In +process of time she lost her caution, and a glance was detected, +expressing to the old man the ridicule and contempt in which he had +been all along held by the object of his affections. Earth has no +passion so bitter as love converted to hatred; and while the sage +bitterly regretted what he had done, he did not the less resent the +light-hearted folly of the Princess by whom he had been duped. + +"If, however, he was angry, he possessed the art to conceal it. Not a +word, not a look expressed the bitter disappointment which he had +received. A shade of melancholy, or rather gloom, upon his brow, alone +intimated the coming storm. The Princess became somewhat alarmed; she +was besides extremely good-natured, nor had her intentions of leading +the old man into what would render him ridiculous, been so accurately +planned with malice prepense, as they were the effect of accident and +chance. She saw the pain which he suffered, and thought to end it by +going up to him, when about to retire, and kindly wishing him +good-night. + +"'You say well, daughter,' said the sage, 'good-night--but who, of the +numbers who hear me, shall say good-morning?' + +"The speech drew little attention, although two or three persons to +whom the character of the sage was known, fled from the island that +very night, and by their report made known the circumstances attending +the first infliction of this extraordinary spell on those who remained +within the Castle. A sleep like that of death fell upon them, and was +not removed. Most of the inhabitants left the island; the few who +remained were cautious how they approached the Castle, and watched +until some bold adventurer should bring that happy awakening which the +speech of the sorcerer seemed in some degree to intimate. + +"Never seemed there a fairer opportunity for that awakening to take +place than when the proud step of Artavan de Hautlieu was placed upon +those enchanted courts. On the left, lay the palace and donjon-keep; +but the right, more attractive, seemed to invite to the apartment of +the women. At a side door, reclined on a couch, two guards of the +haram, with their naked swords grasped in their hands, and features +fiendishly contorted between sleep and dissolution, seemed to menace +death to any who should venture to approach. This threat deterred not +Artavan de Hautlieu. He approached the entrance, when the doors, like +those of the great entrance to the Castle, made themselves instantly +accessible to him. A guard-room of the same effeminate soldiers +received him, nor could the strictest examination have discovered to +him whether it was sleep or death which arrested the eyes that seemed +to look upon and prohibit his advance. Unheeding the presence of these +ghastly sentinels, Artavan pressed forward into an inner apartment, +where female slaves of the most distinguished beauty were visible in +the attitude of those who had already assumed their dress for the +night. There was much in this scene which might have arrested so young +a pilgrim as Artavan of Hautlieu; but his heart was fixed on achieving +the freedom of the beautiful Princess, nor did he suffer himself to be +withdrawn from that object by any inferior consideration. He passed on, +therefore, to a little ivory door, which, after a moment's pause, as if +in maidenly hesitation, gave way like the rest, and yielded access to +the sleeping apartment of the Princess herself. A soft light, +resembling that of evening, penetrated into a chamber where every thing +seemed contrived to exalt the luxury of slumber. The heaps of cushions, +which formed a stately bed, seemed rather to be touched than impressed +by the form of a nymph of fifteen, the renowned Princess of Zulichium." + +"Without interrupting you, good father," said the Countess Brenhilda, +"it seems to me that we can comprehend the picture of a woman asleep +without much dilating upon it, and that such a subject is little +recommended either by our age or by yours." + +"Pardon me, noble lady," answered Agelastes, "the most approved part of +my story has ever been this passage, and while I now suppress it in +obedience to your command, bear notice, I pray you, that I sacrifice +the most beautiful part of the tale." + +"Brenhilda," added the Count, "I am surprised you think of interrupting +a story which has hitherto proceeded with so much fire; the telling of +a few words more or less will surely have a much greater influence +upon, the sense of the narrative, than such an addition can possibly +possess over our sentiments of action." + +"As you will," said his lady, throwing herself carelessly back upon the +seat; "but methinks the worthy father protracts this discourse, till it +becomes of a nature more trifling than interesting." + +"Brenhilda," said the Count, "this is the first time I have remarked in +you a woman's weakness." + +"I may as well say, Count Robert, that it is the first time," answered +Brenhilda, "that you have shown to me the inconstancy of your sex." + +"Gods and goddesses," said the philosopher, "was ever known a quarrel +more absurdly founded! The Countess is jealous of one whom her husband +probably never will see, nor is there any prospect that the Princess of +Zulichium will be hereafter better known, to the modern world, than if +the curtain hung before her tomb." + +"Proceed," said Count Robert of Paris; "if Sir Artavan of Hautlieu has +not accomplished the enfranchisement of the Princess of Zulichium, I +make a vow to our Lady of the Broken Lances,"-- + +"Remember," said his lady interfering, "that you are already under a +vow to free the Sepulchre of God; and to that, methinks, all lighter +engagements might give place." + +"Well, lady--well," said Count Robert, but half satisfied with this +interference, "I will not engage myself, you may be assured, on any +adventure which may claim precedence of the enterprise of the Holy +Sepulchre, to which we are all bound." + +"Alas!" said Agelastes, "the distance of Zulichium from the speediest +route to the sepulchre is so small that"-- + +"Worthy father," said the Countess, "we will, if it pleases you, hear +your tale to an end, and then determine what we will do. We Norman +ladies, descendants of the old Germans, claim a voice with our lords in +the council which precedes the battle; nor has our assistance in the +conflict been deemed altogether useless." + +The tone in which this was spoken conveyed an awkward innuendo to the +philosopher, who began to foresee that the guidance of the Norman +knight would be more difficult than he had foreseen, while his consort +remained by his side. He took up, therefore, his oratory on somewhat a +lower key than before, and avoided those warm descriptions which had +given such offence to the Countess Brenhilda. + +"Sir Artavan de Hautlieu, says the story, considered in what way he +should accost the sleeping damsel, when it occurred to him in what +manner the charm would be most likely to be reversed. I am in your +judgment, fair lady, if he judged wrong in resolving that the method of +his address should be a kiss upon the lips." The colour of Brenhilda +was somewhat heightened, but she did not deem the observation worthy of +notice. + +"Never had so innocent an action," continued the philosopher, "an +effect more horrible. The delightful light of a summer evening was +instantly changed into a strange lurid hue, which, infected with +sulphur, seemed to breathe suffocation through the apartment. The rich +hangings, and splendid furniture of the chamber, the very walls +themselves, were changed into huge stones tossed together at random, +like the inside of a wild beast's den, nor was the den without an +inhabitant. The beautiful and innocent lips to which Artavan de +Hautlieu had approached his own, were now changed into the hideous and +bizarre form, and bestial aspect of a fiery dragon. A moment she +hovered upon the wing, and it is said, had Sir Artavan found courage to +repeat his salute three times, he would then have remained master of +all the wealth, and of the disenchanted princess. But the opportunity +was lost, and the dragon, or the creature who seemed such, sailed out +at a side window upon its broad pennons, uttering loud wails of +disappointment." + +Here ended the story of Agelastes. "The Princess," he said, "is still +supposed to abide her doom in the Island of Zulichium, and several +knights have undertaken the adventure; but I know not whether it was +the fear of saluting the sleeping maiden, or that of approaching the +dragon into which she was transformed, but so it is, the spell remains +unachieved. I know the way, and if you say the word, you may be +to-morrow on the road to the castle of enchantment." + +The Countess heard this proposal with the deepest anxiety, for she knew +that she might, by opposition, determine her husband irrevocably upon +following out the enterprise. She stood therefore with a timid and +bashful look, strange in a person whose bearing was generally so +dauntless, and prudently left it to the uninfluenced mind of Count +Robert to form the resolution which should best please him. + +"Brenhilda," he said, taking her hand, "fame and honour are dear to thy +husband as ever they were to knight who buckled a brand upon his side. +Thou hast done, perhaps, I may say, for me, what I might in vain have +looked for from ladies of thy condition; and therefore thou mayst well +expect a casting voice in such points of deliberation.--Why dost thou +wander by the side of a foreign and unhealthy shore, instead of the +banks of the lovely Seine?--Why dost thou wear a dress unusual to thy +sex?--Why dost thou seek death, and think it little in comparison of +shame?--Why? but that the Count of Paris may have a bride worthy of +him.--Dost thou think that this affection is thrown away? No, by the +saints! Thy knight repays it as he best ought, and sacrifices to thee +every thought which thy affection may less than entirely approve." + +Poor Brenhilda, confused as she was by the various emotions with which +she was agitated, now in vain endeavoured to maintain the heroic +deportment which her character as an Amazon required from her. She +attempted to assume the proud and lofty look which was properly her +own, but failing in the effort, she threw herself into the Count's +arms, hung round his neck, and wept like a, village maiden, whose true +love is pressed for the wars. Her husband, a little ashamed, while he +was much moved by this burst of affection in one to whose character it +seemed an unusual attribute, was, at the same time, pleased and proud +that he could have awakened an affection so genuine and so gentle in a +soul so high-spirited and so unbending. + +"Not thus," he said, "my Brenhilda! I would not have it thus, either +for thine own sake or for mine. Do not let this wise old man suppose +that thy heart is made of the malleable stuff which forms that of other +maidens; and apologize to him, as may well become thee, for having +prevented my undertaking the adventure of Zulichium, which he +recommends." + +It was not easy for Brenhilda to recover herself, after having afforded +so notable an instance how nature can vindicate her rights, with +whatever rigour she may have been disciplined and tyrannized over. With +a look of ineffable affection, she disjoined herself from her husband, +still keeping hold of his hand, and turning to the old man with a +countenance in which the half-effaced tears were succeeded by smiles of +pleasure and of modesty, she spoke to Agelastes as she would to a +person whom she respected, and towards whom she had some offence to +atone. "Father," she said, respectfully, "be not angry with me that I +should have been an obstacle to one of the best knights that ever +spurred steed, undertaking the enterprise of thine enchanted Princess; +but the truth is, that in our land, where knighthood and religion agree +in permitting only one lady love, and one lady wife, we do not quite so +willingly see our husbands run into danger--especially of that kind +where lonely ladies are the parties relieved--and--and kisses are the +ransom paid. I have as much confidence in my Robert's fidelity, as a +lady can have in a loving knight, but still"-- + +"Lovely lady," said Agelastes, who, notwithstanding his highly +artificial character, could not help being moved by the simple and +sincere affection of the handsome young pair, "you have done no evil. +The state of the Princess is no worse than it was, and there cannot be +a doubt that the knight fated to relieve her, will appear at the +destined period." The Countess smiled sadly, and shook her head. "You +do not know," she said, "how powerful is the aid of which I have +unhappily deprived this unfortunate lady, by a jealousy which I now +feel to have been alike paltry and unworthy; and, such is my regret, +that I could find in my heart to retract my opposition to Count +Robert's undertaking this adventure." She looked at her husband with +some anxiety, as one that had made an offer she would not willingly see +accepted, and did not recover her courage until he said, decidedly, +"Brenhilda, that may not be." + +"And why, then, may not Brenhilda herself take the adventure," +continued the Countess, "since she can neither fear the charms of the +Princess nor the terrors of the dragon?" + +"Lady," said Agelastes, "the Princess must be awakened by the kiss of +love, and not by that of friendship." + +"A sufficient reason," said the Countess, smiling, "why a lady may not +wish her lord to go forth upon an adventure of which the conditions are +so regulated." + +"Noble minstrel, or herald, or by whatever name this country calls +you," said Count Robert, "accept a small remuneration for an hour +pleasantly spent, though spent, unhappily, in vain. I should make some +apology for the meanness of my offering, but French knights, you may +have occasion to know, are more full of fame than of wealth." + +"Not for that, noble sir," replied Agelastes, "would I refuse your +munificence; a besant from your worthy hand, or that of your +noble-minded lady, were centupled in its value, by the eminence of the +persons from whom it came. I would hang it round my neck by a string of +pearls, and when I came into the presence of knights and of ladies, I +would proclaim that this addition to my achievement of armorial +distinction, was bestowed by the renowned Count Robert of Paris, and +his unequalled lady." The Knight and the Countess looked on each other, +and the lady, taking from her finger a ring of pure gold, prayed the +old man to accept of it, as a mark of her esteem and her husband's. +"With one other condition," said the philosopher, "which I trust you +will not find altogether unsatisfactory. I have, on the way to the city +by the most pleasant road, a small kiosk, or hermitage, where I +sometimes receive my friends, who, I venture to say, are among the most +respectable personages of this empire. Two or three of these will +probably honour my residence today, and partake of the provision it +affords. Could I add to these the company of the noble Count and +Countess of Paris, I should deem my poor habitation honoured for ever." + +"How say you, my noble wife?" said the Count. "The company of a +minstrel befits the highest birth, honours the highest rank, and adds +to the greatest achievements; and the invitation does us too much +credit to be rejected." + +"It grows somewhat late," said the Countess: "but we came not here to +shun a sinking sun or a darkening sky, and I feel it my duty, as well +as my satisfaction, to place at the command of the good father every +pleasure which it is in my power to offer to him, for having been the +means of your neglecting his advice." + +"The path is so short," said Agelastes, "that we had better keep our +present mode of travelling, if the lady should not want the assistance +of horses." + +"No horses on my account," said the Lady Brenhilda. "My waiting-woman, +Agatha, has what necessaries I may require; and, for the rest, no +knight ever travelled so little embarrassed with baggage as my husband." + +Agelastes, therefore, led the way through the deepening wood, which was +freshened by the cooler breath of evening, and his guests accompanied +him. + + + + +CHAPTER THE ELEVENTH. + + Without, a ruin, broken, tangled, cumbrous, + Within, it was a little paradise, + Where Taste had made her dwelling. Statuary, + First-born of human art, moulded her images, + And bade men. mark and worship. + ANONYMOUS. + + +The Count of Paris and his lady attended the old man, whose advanced +age, his excellence in the use of the French language, which he spoke +to admiration,--above all, his skill in applying it to poetical and +romantic subjects, which was essential to what was then termed history +and belles lettres,--drew from the noble hearers a degree of applause, +which, as Agelastes had seldom been vain enough to consider as his due, +so, on the part of the Knight of Paris and his lady, had it been but +rarely conferred. They had walked for some time by a path which +sometimes seemed to hide itself among the woods that came down to the +shore of the Propontis, sometimes emerged from concealment, and skirted +the open margin of the strait, while, at every turn, it seemed guided +by the desire to select a choice and contrast of beauty. Variety of +scenes and manners enlivened, from their novelty, the landscape to the +pilgrims. By the sea-shore, nymphs were seen dancing, and shepherds +piping, or beating the tambourine to their steps, as represented in +some groups of ancient statuary. The very faces had a singular +resemblance to the antique. If old, their long robes, their attitudes, +and magnificent heads, presented the ideas which distinguish prophets +and saints; while, on the other hand, the features of the young +recalled the expressive countenances of the heroes of antiquity, and +the charms of those lovely females by whom their deeds were inspired. +But the race of the Greeks was no longer to be seen, even in its native +country, unmixed, or in absolute purity; on the contrary, they saw +groups of persons with features which argued a different descent. + +In a retiring bosom of the shore, which was traversed by the path, the +rocks, receding from the beach, rounded off a spacious portion of level +sand, and, in some degree, enclosed it. A party of heathen Scythians +whom they beheld, presented the deformed features of the demons they +were said to worship--flat noses with expanded nostrils, which seemed +to admit the sight to their very brain; faces which extended rather in +breadth than length, with strange unintellectual eyes placed in the +extremity; figures short and dwarfish, yet garnished with legs and arms +of astonishing sinewy strength, disproportioned to their bodies. As the +travellers passed, the savages held a species of tournament, as the +Count termed it. In this they exercised themselves by darting at each +other long reeds, or canes, balanced for the purpose, which, in this +rude sport, they threw with such force, as not unfrequently to strike +each other from their steeds, and otherwise to cause serious damage. +Some of the combatants being, for the time, out of the play, devoured +with greedy looks the beauty of the Countess, and eyed her in such a +manner, that she said to Count Robert,--"I have never known fear, my +husband, nor is it for me to acknowledge it now; but if disgust be an +ingredient of it, these misformed brutes are qualified to inspire it." +"What, ho, Sir Knight!" exclaimed one of the infidels, "your wife, or +your lady love, has committed a fault against the privileges of the +Imperial Scythians, and not small will be the penalty she has incurred. +You may go your way as fast as you will out of this place, which is, +for the present; our hippodrome, or atmeidan, call it which you will, +as you prize the Roman or the Saracen language; but for your wife, if +the sacrament has united you, believe my word, that she parts not so +soon or so easy." + +"Scoundrel heathen," said the Christian Knight, "dost thou hold that +language to a Peer of France?" + +Agelastes here interposed, and using the sounding language of a Grecian +courtier, reminded the Scythians, (mercenary soldiers, as they seemed, +of the empire,) that all violence against the European pilgrims was, by +the Imperial orders, strictly prohibited under pain of death. + +"I know better," said the exulting savage, shaking one or two javelins +with broad steel heads, and wings of the eagle's feather, which last +were dabbled in blood. "Ask the wings of my javelin," he said, "in +whose heart's blood these feathers have been dyed. They shall reply to +you, that if Alexius Comnenus be the friend of the European pilgrims, +it is only while he looks upon them; and we are too exemplary soldiers +to serve our Emperor otherwise than he wishes to be served." + +"Peace, Toxartis," said the philosopher, "thou beliest thine Emperor." + +"Peace thou!" said Toxartis, "or I will do a deed that misbecomes a +soldier, and rid the world of a prating old man." + +So saying, he put forth his hand to take hold of the Countess's veil. +With the readiness which frequent use had given to the warlike lady, +she withdrew herself from the heathen's grasp, and with her trenchant +sword dealt him so sufficient a blow, that Toxartis lay lifeless on the +plain. The Count leapt on the fallen leader's steed, and crying his +war-cry, "Son of Charlemagne, to the rescue!" he rode amid the rout of +heathen cavaliers with a battle-axe, which he found at the saddlebow of +the deceased chieftain, and wielding it with remorseless dexterity, he +soon slew or wounded, or compelled to flight, the objects of his +resentment; nor was there any of them who abode an instant to support +the boast which they had made. "The despicable churls!" said the +Countess to Agelastes; "it irks me that a drop of such coward blood +should stain the hands of a noble knight. They call their exercise a +tournament, although in their whole exertions every blow is aimed +behind the back, and not one has the courage to throw his windlestraw +while he perceives that of another pointed against himself." + +"Such is their custom," said Agelastes; "not perhaps so much from +cowardice as from habit, in exercising before his Imperial Majesty. I +have seen that Toxartis literally turn his back upon the mark when he +bent his bow in full career, and when in the act of galloping the +farthest from his object, he pierced it through the very centre with a +broad arrow." + +"A force of such soldiers," said Count Robert, who had now rejoined his +friends, "could not, methinks, be very formidable, where there was but +an ounce of genuine courage in the assailants." + +"Mean time, let us pass on to my kiosk," said Agelastes, "lest the +fugitives find friends to encourage them in thoughts of revenge." + +"Such friends," said Count Robert, "methinks the insolent heathens +ought not to find in any land which calls itself Christian; and if I +survive the conquest of the Holy Sepulchre, I shall make it my first +business to enquire by what right your Emperor retains in his service a +band of Paynim and unmannerly cut-throats, who dare offer injury upon +the highway, which ought to be sacred to the peace of God and the king, +and to noble ladies and inoffensive pilgrims. It is one of a list of +many questions which, my vow accomplished, I will not fail to put to +him; ay, and expecting an answer, as they say, prompt and categorical." + +"You shall gain no answer from me though," said Agelastes to himself. +"Your demands, Sir Knight, are over-peremptory, and imposed under too +rigid conditions, to be replied to by those who can evade them." He +changed the conversation, accordingly, with easy dexterity; and they +had not proceeded much farther, before they reached a spot, the natural +beauties of which called forth the admiration of his foreign +companions. A copious brook, gushing out of the woodland, descended to +the sea with no small noise and tumult; and, as if disdaining a quieter +course, which it might have gained by a little circuit to the right, it +took the readiest road to the ocean, plunging over the face of a lofty +and barren precipice which overhung the sea-shore, and from thence led +its little tribute, with as much noise as if it had the stream of a +full river to boast of, to the waters of the Hellespont. + +The rock, we have said, was bare, unless in so far as it was clothed +with the foaming waters of the cataract; but the banks on each side +were covered with plane-trees, walnut-trees, cypresses, and other kinds +of large timber proper to the East. The fall of water, always agreeable +in a warm climate, and generally produced by artificial means, was here +natural, and had been chosen, something like the Sibyl's temple at +Tivoli, for the seat of a goddess to whom the invention of Polytheism +had assigned a sovereignty over the department around. The shrine was +small and circular, like many of the lesser temples of the rustic +deities, and enclosed by the wall of an outer court. After its +desecration, it had probably been converted into a luxurious summer +retreat by Agelastes, or some Epicurean philosopher. As the building, +itself of a light, airy, and fantastic character, was dimly seen +through the branches and foliage on the edge of the rock, so the mode +by which it was accessible was not at first apparent amongst the mist +of the cascade. A pathway, a good deal hidden, by vegetation, ascended +by a gentle acclivity, and prolonged by the architect by means of a few +broad and easy marble steps, making part of the original approach, +conducted the passenger to a small, but exquisitely lovely velvet lawn, +in front of the turret or temple we have described, the back part of +which building overhung the cataract. + + + + +CHAPTER THE TWELFTH. + + The parties met. The wily, wordy Greek, + Weighing each word, and canvassing each syllable; + Evading, arguing, equivocating. + And the stern Frank came with his two-hand sword, + Watching to see which way the balance sways, + That he may throw it in, and turn the scales. + PALESTINE. + + +At a signal made by Agelastes, the door of this romantic retreat was +opened by Diogenes, the negro slave, to whom our readers have been +already introduced; nor did it escape the wily old man, that the Count +and his lady testified some wonder at his form and lineaments, being +the first African perhaps whom they had ever seen so closely. The +philosopher lost not the opportunity of making an impression on their +minds, by a display of the superiority of his knowledge. + +"This poor being," he observed, "is of the race of Ham, the undutiful +son of Noah; for his transgressions against his parent, he was banished +to the sands of Africa, and was condemned to be the father of a race +doomed to be the slaves of the issue of his more dutiful brethren." + +The knight and his lady gazed on the wonderful appearance before them, +and did not, it may be believed, think of doubting the information +which was so much of a piece with their prejudices, while their opinion +of their host was greatly augmented by the supposed extent of his +knowledge. + +"It gives pleasure to a man of humanity," continued Agelastes, "when, +in old age, or sickness, we must employ the services of others, which +is at other times scarce lawful, to choose his assistants out of a race +of beings, hewers of wood and drawers of water--from their birth +upwards destined to slavery; and to whom, therefore, by employing them +as slaves, we render no injury, but carry into effect, in a slight +degree, the intentions of the Great Being who made us all." + +"Are there many of a race," said the Countess, "so singularly unhappy +in their destination? I have hitherto thought the stories of black men +as idle as those which minstrels tell of fairies and ghosts." + +"Do not believe so," said the philosopher; "the race is numerous as the +sands of the sea, neither are they altogether unhappy in discharging +the duties which their fate has allotted them. Those who are of worse +character suffer even in this life the penance due to their guilt; they +become the slaves of the cruel and tyrannical, are beaten, starved, and +mutilated. To those whose moral characters are better, better masters +are provided, who share with their slaves, as with their children, food +and raiment, and the other good things which they themselves enjoy. To +some, Heaven allots the favour of kings and of conquerors, and to a +few, but those the chief favourites of the species, hath been assigned +a place in the mansions of philosophy, where, by availing themselves of +the lights which their masters can afford, they gain a prospect into +that world which is the residence of true happiness." + +"Methinks I understand you," replied the Countess, "and if so, I ought +rather to envy our sable friend here than to pity him, for having been +allotted in the partition of his kind to the possession of his present +master, from whom, doubtless, he has acquired the desirable knowledge +which you mention." + +"He learns, at least," said Agelastes, modestly, "what I can teach, +and, above all, to be contented with his situation.--Diogenes, my good +child," said he, changing his address to the slave, "thou seest I have +company--What does the poor hermit's larder afford, with which he may +regale his honoured guests?" + +Hitherto they had advanced no farther than a sort of outer room, or +hall of entrance, fitted up with no more expense than might have suited +one who desired at some outlay, and more taste, to avail himself of the +ancient building for a sequestered and private retirement. The chairs +and couches were covered with Eastern wove mats, and were of the +simplest and most primitive form. But on touching a spring, an interior +apartment was displayed, which had considerable pretension to splendour +and magnificence. The furniture and hangings of this apartment were of +straw-coloured silk, wrought on the looms of Persia, and crossed with +embroidery, which produced a rich, yet simple effect. The ceiling was +carved in Arabesque, and the four corners of the apartment were formed +into recesses for statuary, which had been produced in a better age of +the art than that which existed at the period of our story. In one +nook, a shepherd seemed to withdraw himself, as if ashamed to produce +his scantily-covered person, while he was willing to afford the +audience the music of the reed which he held in his hand. Three +damsels, resembling the Graces in the beautiful proportions of their +limbs, and the slender clothing which they wore, lurked in different +attitudes, each in her own niche, and seemed but to await the first +sound of the music, to bound forth from thence and join in the frolic +dance. The subject was beautiful, yet somewhat light, to ornament the +study of such a sage as Agelastes represented himself to be. + +He seemed to be sensible that this might attract observation.--"These +figures," he said, "executed at the period of the highest excellence of +Grecian art, were considered of old as the choral nymphs assembled to +adore the goddess of the place, waiting but the music to join in the +worship of the temple. And, in truth, the wisest may be interested in +seeing how near to animation the genius of these wonderful men could +bring the inflexible marble. Allow but for the absence of the divine +afflatus, or breath of animation, and an unenlightened heathen might +suppose the miracle of Prometheus was about to be realized. But we," +said he, looking upwards, "are taught to form a better judgment between +what man can do and the productions of the Deity." + +Some subjects of natural history were painted on the walls, and the +philosopher fixed the attention of his guests upon the half-reasoning +elephant, of which he mentioned several anecdotes, which they listened +to with great eagerness. + +A distant strain was here heard, as if of music in the woods, +penetrating by fits through the hoarse roar of the cascade, which, as +it sunk immediately below the windows, filled the apartment with its +deep voice. + +"Apparently," said Agelastes, "the friends whom I expected are +approaching, and bring with them the means of enchanting another sense. +It is well they do so, since wisdom tells us that we best honour the +Deity by enjoying the gifts he has provided us." + +These words called the attention of the philosopher's Frankish guests +to the preparations exhibited in this tasteful saloon. These were made +for an entertainment in the manner of the ancient Romans, and couches, +which were laid beside a table ready decked, announced that the male +guests, at least, were to assist at the banquet in the usual recumbent +posture of the ancients; while seats, placed among the couches, seemed +to say that females were expected, who would observe the Grecian +customs, in eating seated. The preparations for good cheer were such +as, though limited in extent, could scarce be excelled in quality, +either by the splendid dishes which decked Trimalchio's banquet of +former days, or the lighter delicacies of Grecian cookery, or the +succulent and highly-spiced messes indulged in by the nations of the +East, to whichever they happened to give the preference; and it was +with an air of some vanity that Agelastes asked his guests to share a +poor pilgrim's meal. + +"We care little for dainties," said the Count; "nor does our present +course of life as pilgrims, bound by a vow, allow us much choice on +such subjects. Whatever is food for soldiers, suffices the Countess and +myself; for, with our will, we would at every hour be ready for battle, +and the less time we use in preparing for the field, it is even so much +the better. Sit then, Brenhilda, since the good man will have it so, +and let us lose no time in refreshment, lest we waste that which should +be otherwise employed." "A moment's forgiveness," said Agelastes, +"until the arrival of my other friends, whose music you may now hear is +close at hand, and who will not long, I may safely promise, divide you +from your meal." + +"For that," said the Count, "there is no haste; and since you seem to +account it a part of civil manners, Brenhilda and I can with ease +postpone our repast, unless you will permit us, what I own would be +more pleasing, to take a morsel of bread and a cup of water presently; +and, thus refreshed, to leave the space clear for your more curious and +more familiar guests." + +"The saints above forbid!" said Agelastes; "guests so honoured never +before pressed these cushions, nor could do so, if the sacred family of +the imperial Alexius himself even now stood at the gate." + +He had hardly uttered these words, when the full-blown peal of a +trumpet, louder in a tenfold degree than the strains of music they had +before heard, was now sounded in the front of the temple, piercing +through the murmur of the waterfall, as a Damascus blade penetrates the +armour, and assailing the ears of the hearers, as the sword pierces the +flesh of him who wears the harness. + +"You seem surprised or alarmed, father," said Count Robert. "Is there +danger near, and do you distrust our protection?" + +"No," said Agelastes, "that would give me confidence in any extremity; +but these sounds excite awe, not fear. They tell me that some of the +Imperial family are about to be my guests. Yet fear nothing, my noble +friends--they, whose look is life, are ready to shower their favours +with profusion upon strangers so worthy of honour as they will see +here. Meantime, my brow must touch my threshold, in order duly to +welcome them." So saying, he hurried to the outer door of the building. + +"Each land has its customs," said the Count, as he followed his host, +with his wife hanging on his arm; "but, Brenhilda, as they are so +various, it is little wonder that they appear unseemly to each other. +Here, however, in deference to my entertainer, I stoop my crest, in the +manner which seems to be required." So saying, he followed Agelastes +into the anteroom, where a new scene awaited them. + + + + +CHAPTER THE THIRTEENTH. + + +Agelastes gained his threshold before Count Robert of Paris and his +lady. He had, therefore, time to make his prostrations before a huge +animal, then unknown to the western world, but now universally +distinguished as the elephant. On its back was a pavilion or palanquin, +within which were enclosed the august persons of the Empress Irene, and +her daughter Anna Comnena. Nicephorus Briennius attended the Princesses +in the command of a gallant body of light horse, whose splendid armour +would have given more pleasure to the crusader, if it had possessed +less an air of useless wealth and effeminate magnificence. But the +effect which it produced in its appearance was as brilliant as could +well be conceived. The officers alone of this _corps de garde_ followed +Nicephorus to the platform, prostrated themselves while the ladies of +the Imperial house descended, and rose up again under a cloud of waving +plumes and flashing lances, when they stood secure upon the platform in +front of the building. Here the somewhat aged, but commanding form of +the Empress, and the still juvenile beauties of the fair historian, +were seen to great advantage. In the front of a deep back-ground of +spears and waving crests, stood the sounder of the sacred trumpet, +conspicuous by his size and the richness of his apparel; he kept his +post on a rock above the stone staircase, and, by an occasional note of +his instrument, intimated to the squadrons beneath that they should +stay their progress, and attend the motions of the Empress and the wife +of the Caesar. + +The fair form of the Countess Brenhilda, and the fantastic appearance +of her half masculine garb, attracted the attention of the ladies of +Alexius' family, but was too extraordinary to command their admiration. +Agelastes became sensible there was a necessity that he should +introduce his guests to each other, if he desired they should meet on +satisfactory terms. "May I speak," he said, "and live? The armed +strangers whom you find now with me are worthy companions of those +myriads, whom zeal for the suffering inhabitants of Palestine has +brought from the western extremity of Europe, at once to enjoy the +countenance of Alexius Comnenus, and to aid him, since it pleases him +to accept their assistance, in expelling the Paynims from the bounds of +the sacred empire, and garrison those regions in their stead, as +vassals of his Imperial Majesty." + +"We are pleased," said the Empress, "worthy Agelastes, that you should +be kind to those who are disposed to be so reverent to the Emperor. And +We are rather disposed to talk with them ourselves, that our daughter +(whom Apollo hath gifted with the choice talent of recording what she +sees) may become acquainted with one of those female warriors of the +West, of whom we have heard so much by common fame, and yet know so +little with certainty." + +"Madam," said the Count, "I can but rudely express to you what I have +to find fault with in the explanation which this old man hath given of +our purpose in coming hither. Certain it is, we neither owe Alexius +fealty, nor had we the purpose of paying him any, when we took the vow +upon ourselves which brought us against Asia. We came, because we +understood that the Holy Land had been torn from the Greek Emperor by +the Pagans, Saracens, Turks, and other infidels, from whom we are come +to win it back. The wisest and most prudent among us have judged it +necessary to acknowledge the Emperor's authority, since there was no +such safe way of passing to the discharge of our vow, as that of +acknowledging fealty to him, as the best mode of preventing quarrels +among Christian States. We, though independent of any earthly king, do +not pretend to be greater men than they, and therefore have +condescended to pay the same homage." + +The Empress coloured several times with indignation in the course of +this speech, which, in more passages than one, was at variance with +those imperial maxims of the Grecian court, which held its dignity so +high, and plainly intimated a tone of opinion which was depreciating to +the Emperor's power. But the Empress Irene had received instructions +from her imperial spouse to beware how she gave, or even took, any +ground of quarrel with the crusaders, who, though coming in the +appearance of subjects, were, nevertheless, too punctilious and ready +to take fire, to render them safe discussers of delicate differences. +She made a graceful reverence accordingly, as if she had scarce +understood what the Count of Paris had explained so bluntly. + +At this moment the appearance of the principal persons on either hand +attracted, in a wonderful degree, the attention of the other party, and +there seemed to exist among them a general desire of further +acquaintance, and, at the same time, a manifest difficulty in +expressing such a wish. + +Agelastes--to begin with the master of the house--had risen from the +ground indeed, but without venturing to assume an upright posture; he +remained before the Imperial ladies with his body and head still bent, +his hand interposed between his eyes and their faces, like a man that +would shade his eyesight from the level sun, and awaited in silence the +commands of those to whom he seemed to think it disrespectful to +propose the slightest action, save by testifying in general, that his +house and his slaves were at their unlimited command. The Countess of +Paris, on the other hand, and her warlike husband, were the peculiar +objects of curiosity to Irene, and her accomplished daughter, Anna +Comnena; and it occurred to both these Imperial ladies, that they had +never seen finer specimens of human strength and beauty; but by a +natural instinct, they preferred the manly bearing of the husband to +that of the wife, which seemed to her own sex rather too haughty and +too masculine to be altogether pleasing. + +Count Robert and his lady had also their own object of attention in the +newly arrived group, and, to speak truth, it was nothing else than the +peculiarities of the monstrous animal which they now saw, for the first +time, employed as a beast of burden in the service of the fair Irene +and her daughter. The dignity and splendour of the elder Princess, the +grace and vivacity of the younger, were alike lost in Brenhilda's +earnest inquiries into the history of the elephant, and the use which +it made of its trunk, tusks, and huge ears, upon different occasions. + +Another person, who took a less direct opportunity to gaze on Brenhilda +with a deep degree of interest, was the Caesar, Nicephorus. This Prince +kept his eye as steadily upon the Frankish Countess as he could well +do, without attracting the attention, and exciting perhaps the +suspicions, of his wife and mother-in-law; he therefore endeavoured to +restore speech to an interview which would have been awkward without +it. "It is possible," he said, "beautiful Countess, that this being +your first visit to the Queen, of the world, you have never hitherto +seen the singularly curious animal called the elephant." + +"Pardon me," said the Countess, "I have been treated by this learned +gentleman to a sight, and some account of that wonderful creature." + +By all who heard this observation, the Lady Brenhilda was supposed to +have made a satirical thrust at the philosopher himself, who, in the +imperial court, usually went by the name of the elephant. + +"No one could describe the beast more accurately than Agelastes," said +the Princess, with a smile of intelligence, which went round her +attendants. + +"He knows its docility, its sensibility, and its fidelity," said the +philosopher, in a subdued tone. + +"True, good Agelastes," said the Princess; "we should not criticise the +animal which kneels to take us up.--Come, lady of a foreign land," she +continued, turning to the Frank Count, and especially his +Countess--"and you her gallant lord! When you return to your native +country, you shall say you have seen the imperial family partake of +their food, and in so far acknowledge themselves to be of the same clay +with other mortals, sharing their poorest wants, and relieving them in +the same manner." + +"That, gentle lady, I can well believe," said Count Robert; "my +curiosity would be more indulged by seeing this strange animal at his +food." + +"You will see the elephant more conveniently at his mess within doors," +answered the Princess, looking at Agelastes. + +"Lady," said Brenhilda, "I would not willingly refuse an invitation +given in courtesy, but the sun has waxed low unnoticed, and we must +return to the city." + +"Be not afraid," said the fair historian; "you shall have the advantage +of our Imperial escort to protect you in your return." + +"Fear?---afraid?--escort?--protect?--These are words I know not. Know, +lady, that my husband, the noble Count of Paris, is my sufficient +escort; and even were he not with me, Brenhilda de Aspramonte fears +nothing, and can defend herself." + +"Fair daughter," said Agelastes, "if I may be permitted to speak, you +mistake the gracious intentions of the Princess, who expresses herself +as to a lady of her own land. What she desires is to learn from you +some of the most marked habits and manners of the Franks, of which you +are so beautiful an example; and in return for such information the +illustrious Princess would be glad to procure your entrance to those +spacious collections, where animals from all corners of the habitable +world have been assembled at the command of our Emperor Alexius, as if +to satisfy the wisdom of those sages to whom all creation is known, +from the deer so small in size that it is exceeded by an ordinary rat, +to that huge and singular inhabitant of Africa that can browse on the +tops of trees that are forty feet high, while the length of its +hind-legs does not exceed the half of that wondrous height." + +"It is enough," said the Countess, with some eagerness; but Agelastes +had got a point of discussion after his own mind. + +"There is also," he said, "that huge lizard, which, resembling in shape +the harmless inhabitant of the moors of other countries, is in Egypt a +monster thirty feet in length, clothed in impenetrable scales, and +moaning over his prey when he catches it, with the hope and purpose of +drawing others within his danger, by mimicking the lamentations of +humanity." + +"Say no more, father!" exclaimed the lady. "My Robert, we will go--will +we not, where such objects are to be seen?" + +"There is also," said Agelastes, who saw that he would gain his point +by addressing himself to the curiosity of the strangers, "the huge +animal, wearing on its back an invulnerable vestment, having on its +nose a horn, and sometimes two, the folds of whose hide are of the most +immense thickness, and which never knight was able to wound." + +"We will go, Robert--will we not?" reiterated the Countess. + +"Ay," replied the Count, "and teach, these Easterns how to judge of a +knight's sword, by a single blow of my trusty Tranchefer." + +"And who knows," said Brenhilda, "since this is a land of enchantment, +but what some person, who is languishing in a foreign shape, may have +their enchantment unexpectedly dissolved by a stroke of the good +weapon?" + +"Say no more, father!" exclaimed the Count. "We will attend this +Princess, since such she is, were her whole escort bent to oppose our +passage, instead of being by her command to be our guard. For know, all +who hear me, thus much of the nature of the Franks, that when you tell +us of danger and difficulties, you give us the same desire to travel +the road where they lie, as other men have in seeking either pleasure +or profit in the paths in which such are to be found." + +As the Count pronounced these words, he struck his hand upon his +Tranchefer, as an illustration of the manner in which he purposed upon +occasion to make good his way. The courtly circle startled somewhat at +the clash of steel, and the fiery look of the chivalrous Count Robert. +The Empress indulged her alarm by retreating into the inner apartment +of the pavilion. + +With a grace, which was rarely deigned to any but those in close +alliance with the Imperial family, Anna Comnena took the arm of the +noble Count. "I see," she said, "that the Imperial Mother has honoured +the house of the learned Agelastes, by leading the way; therefore, to +teach you Grecian breeding must fall to my share." Saying this she +conducted him to the inner apartment. + +"Fear not for your wife," she said, as she noticed the Frank look +round; "our husband, like ourselves, has pleasure in showing attention +to the stranger, and will lead the Countess to our board. It is not the +custom of the Imperial family to eat in company with strangers; but we +thank Heaven for having instructed us in that civility, which can know +no degradation in dispensing with ordinary rules to do honour to +strangers of such merit as yours. I know it will be my mother's +request, that you will take your places without ceremony; and also, +although the grace be somewhat particular, I am sure that it will have +my Imperial father's approbation. + +"Be it as your ladyship lists," said Count Robert. "There are few men +to whom I would yield place at the board, if they had not gone before +me in the battle-field. To a lady, especially so fair a one, I +willingly yield my place, and bend my knee, whenever I have the good +hap to meet her." + +The Princess Anna, instead of feeling herself awkward in the discharge +of the extraordinary, and, as she might have thought it, degrading +office of ushering a barbarian chief to the banquet, felt, on the +contrary, flattered, at having bent to her purpose a heart so obstinate +as that of Count Robert, and elated, perhaps, with a certain degree of +satisfied pride while under his momentary protection. + +The Empress Irene had already seated herself at the head of the table. +She looked with some astonishment, when her daughter and son-in-law, +taking their seats at her right and left hand, invited the Count and +Countess of Paris, the former to recline, the latter to sit at the +board, in the places next to themselves; but she had received the +strictest orders from her husband to be deferential in every respect to +the strangers, and did not think it right, therefore, to interpose any +ceremonious scruples. + +The Countess took her seat, as indicated, beside the Caesar; and the +Count, instead of reclining in the mode of the Grecian men, also seated +himself in the European fashion by the Princess. + +"I will not lie prostrate," said he, laughing, "except in consideration +of a blow weighty enough to compel me to do so; nor then either, if I +am able to start up and return it." + +The service of the table then began, and, to say truth, it appeared to +be an important part of the business of the day. The officers who +attended to perform their several duties of deckers of the table, +sewers of the banquet, removers and tasters to the Imperial family, +thronged into the banqueting room, and seemed to vie with each other in +calling upon Agelastes for spices, condiments, sauces, and wines of +various kinds, the variety and multiplicity of their demands being +apparently devised _ex preposito_, for stirring the patience of the +philosopher. But Agelastes, who had anticipated most of their requests, +however unusual, supplied them completely, or in the greatest part, by +the ready agency of his active slave Diogenes, to whom, at the same +time, he contrived to transfer all blame for the absence of such +articles as he was unable to provide. + +"Be Homer my witness, the accomplished Virgil, and the curious felicity +of Horace, that, trifling and unworthy as this banquet was, my note of +directions to this thrice unhappy slave gave the instructions to +procure every ingredient necessary to convey to each dish its proper +gusto.--Ill-omened carrion that thou art, wherefore placedst thou the +pickled cucumber so far apart from the boar's head? and why are these +superb congers unprovided with a requisite quantity of fennel? The +divorce betwixt the shell-fish and the Chian wine, in a presence like +this, is worthy of the divorce of thine own soul from thy body; or, to +say the least, of a lifelong residence in the Pistrinum." While thus +the philosopher proceeded with threats, curses, and menaces against his +slave, the stranger might have an opportunity of comparing the little +torrent of his domestic eloquence, which the manners of the times did +not consider as ill-bred, with the louder and deeper share of adulation +towards his guests. They mingled like the oil with the vinegar and +pickles which Diogenes mixed for the sauce. Thus the Count and Countess +had an opportunity to estimate the happiness and the felicity reserved +for those slaves, whom the Omnipotent Jupiter, in the plenitude of +compassion for their state, and in guerdon of their good morals, had +dedicated to the service of a philosopher. The share they themselves +took in the banquet, was finished with a degree of speed which gave +surprise not only to their host, but also to the Imperial guests. + +The Count helped himself carelessly out of a dish which stood near him, +and partaking of a draught of wine, without enquiring whether it was of +the vintage which the Greeks held it matter of conscience to mingle +with that species of food, he declared himself satisfied; nor could the +obliging entreaties of his neighbour, Anna Comnena, induce him to +partake of other messes represented as being either delicacies or +curiosities. His spouse ate still more moderately of the food which +seemed most simply cooked, and stood nearest her at the board, and +partook of a cup of crystal water, which she slightly tinged with wine, +at the persevering entreaty of the Caesar. They then relinquished the +farther business of the banquet, and leaning back upon their seats, +occupied themselves in watching the liberal credit done to the feast by +the rest of the guests present. + +A modern synod of gourmands would hardly have equalled the Imperial +family of Greece seated, at a philosophical banquet, whether in the +critical knowledge displayed of the science of eating in all its +branches, or in the practical cost and patience with which they +exercised it. The ladies, indeed, did not eat much of any one dish, but +they tasted of almost all that were presented to them, and their name +was Legion. Yet, after a short time, in Homeric phrase, the rage of +thirst and hunger was assuaged, or, more probably, the Princess Anna +Comnena was tired of being an object of some inattention to the guest +who sat next her, and who, joining his high military character to his +very handsome presence, was a person by whom few ladies would willingly +be neglected. There is no new guise, says our father Chaucer, but what +resembles an old one; and the address of Anna Comnena to the Frankish +Count might resemble that of a modern lady of fashion, in her attempts +to engage in conversation the _exquisite_, who sits by her side in an +apparently absent fit. "We have piped unto you," said the Princess, +"and you have not danced! We have sung to you the jovial chorus of +_Evoe, evoe,_ and you will neither worship Comus nor Bacchus! Are we +then to judge you a follower of the Muses, in whose service, as well as +in that of Phoebus, we ourselves pretend to be enlisted?" + +"Fair lady," replied the Frank, "be not offended at my stating once for +all, in plain terms, that I am a Christian man, spitting at, and +bidding defiance to Apollo, Bacchus, Comus, and all other heathen +deities whatsoever." + +"O! cruel interpretation of my unwary words!" said the Princess; "I did +but mention the gods of music, poetry, and eloquence, worshipped by our +divine philosophers, and whose names are still used to distinguish the +arts and sciences over which they presided--and the Count interprets it +seriously into a breach of the second commandment! Our Lady preserve +me, we must take care how we speak, when our words are so sharply +interpreted." + +The Count laughed as the Princess spoke. "I had no offensive meaning, +madam," he said, "nor would I wish to interpret your words otherwise +than as being most innocent and praiseworthy. I shall suppose that your +speech contained all that was fair and blameless. You are, I have +understood, one of those who, like our worthy host, express in +composition the history and feats of the warlike time in which you +live, and give to the posterity which shall succeed us, the knowledge +of the brave deeds which have been achieved in our day. I respect the +task to which you have dedicated yourself, and know not how a lady +could lay after ages under an obligation to her in the same degree, +unless, like my wife, Brenhilda, she were herself to be the actress of +deeds which she recorded. And, by the way, she now looks towards her +neighbour at the table, as if she were about to rise and leave him; her +inclinations are towards Constantinople, and, with your ladyship's +permission, I cannot allow her to go thither alone." + +"That you shall neither of you do," said Anna Comnena; "since we all go +to the capital directly, and for the purpose of seeing those wonders of +nature, of which numerous examples have been collected by the splendour +of my Imperial father.--If my husband seems to have given offence to +the Countess, do not suppose that it was intentionally dealt to her; on +the contrary, you will find the good man, when you are better +acquainted with him, to be one of those simple persons who manage so +unhappily what they mean for civilties, that those to whom they are +addressed receive them frequently in another sense." + +The Countess of Paris, however, refused again to sit down to the table +from which she had risen, so that Agelastes and his Imperial guests saw +themselves under the necessity either to permit the strangers to +depart, which they seemed unwilling to do, or to detain them by force, +to attempt which might not perhaps have been either safe or pleasant; +or, lastly, to have waived the etiquette of rank and set out along with +them, at the same time managing their dignity, so as to take the +initiatory step, though the departure took place upon the motion of +their wilful guests. Much tumult there was--bustling, disputing, and +shouting--among the troops and officers who were thus moved from their +repast, two hours at least sooner than had been experienced upon +similar occasions in the memory of the oldest among them. A different +arrangement of the Imperial party likewise seemed to take place by +mutual consent. + +Nicephorus Briennius ascended the seat upon the elephant, and remained +there placed beside his august mother-in-law. Agelastes, on a +sober-minded palfrey, which permitted him to prolong his philosophical +harangues at his own pleasure, rode beside the Countess Brenhilda, whom +he made the principal object of his oratory. The fair historian, though +she usually travelled in a litter, preferred upon this occasion a +spirited horse, which enabled her to keep pace with Count Robert of +Paris, on whose imagination, if not his feelings, she seemed to have it +in view to work a marked impression. The conversation of the Empress +with her son-in-law requires no special detail. It was a tissue of +criticisms upon the manners and behaviour of the Franks, and a hearty +wish that they might be soon transported from the realms of Greece, +never more to return. Such was at least the tone of the Empress, nor +did the Caesar find it convenient to express any more tolerant opinion +of the strangers. On the other hand, Agelastes made a long circuit ere +he ventured to approach the subject which he wished to introduce. He +spoke of the menagerie of the Emperor as a most superb collection of +natural history; he extolled different persons at court for having +encouraged Alexius Comnenus in this wise and philosophical amusement. +But, finally, the praise of all others was abandoned that the +philosopher might dwell upon that of Nicephorus Briennius, to whom the +cabinet or collection of Constantinople was indebted, he said, for the +principal treasures it contained. + +"I am glad it is so," said the haughty Countess, without lowering her +voice or affecting any change of manner; "I am glad that he understands +some things better worth understanding than whispering with stranger +young women. Credit me, if he gives much license to his tongue among +such women of nay country as these stirring times may bring hither, +some one or other of them will fling him into the cataract which dashes +below." + +"Pardon me, fair lady," said Agelastes; "no female heart could meditate +an action so atrocious against so fine a form as that of the Caesar +Nicephorus Briennius." + +"Put it not on that issue, father," said the offended Countess; "for, +by my patroness Saint, our Lady of the Broken Lances, had it not been +for regard to these two ladies, who seemed to intend some respect to my +husband and myself, that same Nicephorus should have been as perfectly +a Lord of the Broken Bones as any Caesar who has borne the title since +the great Julius!" + +The philosopher, upon this explicit information, began to entertain +some personal fear for himself, and hastened, by diverting the +conversation, which he did with great dexterity, to the story of Hero +and Leander, to put the affront received out of the head of this +unscrupulous Amazon. + +Meantime, Count Robert of Paris was engrossed, as it may be termed, by +the fair Anna Comnena. She spoke on all subjects, on some better, +doubtless, others worse, but on none did she suspect herself of any +deficiency; while the good Count wished heartily within himself that +his companion had been safely in bed with the enchanted Princess of +Zulichium. She performed, right or wrong, the part of a panegyrist of +the Normans, until at length the Count, tired of hearing her prate of +she knew not exactly what, broke in as follows:-- + +"Lady," he said, "notwithstanding I and my followers are sometimes so +named, yet we are not Normans, who come hither as a numerous and +separate body of pilgrims, under the command of their Duke Robert, a +valiant, though extravagant, thoughtless, and weak man. I say nothing +against the fame of these Normans. They conquered, in our fathers' +days, a kingdom far stronger than their own, which men call England; I +see that you entertain some of the natives of which country in your +pay, under the name of Varangians. Although defeated, as I said, by the +Normans, they are, nevertheless, a brave race; nor would we think +ourselves much dishonoured by mixing in battle with them. Still we are +the valiant Franks, who had their dwelling on the eastern banks of the +Rhine and of the Saale, who were converted to the Christian faith by +the celebrated Clovis, and are sufficient, by our numbers and courage, +to re-conquer the Holy Land, should all Europe besides stand neutral in +the contest." + +There are few things more painful to the vanity of a person like the +Princess, than the being detected in an egregious error, at the moment +she is taking credit to herself for being peculiarly accurately +informed. + +"A false slave, who knew not what he was saying, I suppose," said the +Princess, "imposed upon me the belief that the Varangians were the +natural enemies of the Normans. I see him marching there by the side of +Achilles Tatius, the leader of his corps.--Call him hither, you +officers!--Yonder tall man, I mean, with the battle-axe upon his +shoulder." + +Hereward, distinguished by his post at the head of the squadron, was +summoned from thence to the presence of the Princess, where he made his +military obeisance with a cast of sternness in his aspect, as his +glance lighted upon the proud look of the Frenchman who rode beside +Anna Comnena. + +"Did I not understand thee, fellow," said Anna Comnena, "to have +informed me, nearly a month ago, that the Normans and the Franks were +the same people, and enemies to the race from which you spring?" + +"The Normans are our mortal enemies, Lady," answered Hereward, "by whom +we were driven from our native land. The Franks are subjects of the +same Lord-Paramount with the Normans, and therefore they neither love +the Varangians, nor are beloved by them." + +"Good fellow," said the French Count, "you do the Franks wrong, and +ascribe to the Varangians, although not unnaturally, an undue degree of +importance, when you suppose that a race which has ceased to exist as +an independent nation for more than a generation, can be either an +object of interest or resentment to such as we are." + +"I am no stranger," said the Varangian, "to the pride of your heart, or +the precedence which you assume over those who have been less fortunate +in war than yourselves. It is God who casteth down and who buildeth up, +nor is there in the world a prospect to which the Varangians would look +forward with more pleasure than that a hundred of their number should +meet in a fair field, either with the oppressive Normans, or their +modern compatriots, the vain Frenchmen, and let God be the judge which +is most worthy of victory." + +"You take an insolent advantage of the chance," said the Count of +Paris, "which gives you an unlooked-for opportunity to brave a +nobleman." + +"It is my sorrow and shame," said the Varangian, "that that opportunity +is not complete; and that there is a chain around me which forbids me +to say, Slay me, or I'll kill thee before we part from this spot!" + +"Why, thou foolish and hot-brained churl," replied the Count, "what +right hast thou to the honour of dying by my blade? Thou art mad, or +hast drained the ale-cup so deeply that thou knowest not what thou +thinkest or sayest." + +"Thou liest," said the Varangian; "though such a reproach be the utmost +scandal of thy race." + +The Frenchman motioned his hand quicker than light to his sword, but +instantly withdrew it, and said with dignity, "thou canst not offend +me." + +"But thou," said the exile, "hast offended me in a matter which can +only be atoned by thy manhood." + +"Where and how?" answered the Count; "although it is needless to ask +the question, which thou canst not answer rationally." + +"Thou hast this day," answered the Varangian, "put a mortal affront +upon a great prince, whom thy master calls his ally, and by whom thou +hast been received with every rite of hospitality. Him thou hast +affronted as one peasant at a merry-making would do shame to another, +and this dishonour thou hast done to him in the very face of his own +chiefs and princes, and the nobles from every court of Europe." + +"It was thy master's part to resent my conduct," said the Frenchman, +"if in reality he so much felt it as an affront." + +"But that," said Hereward, "did not consist with the manners of his +country to do. Besides that, we trusty Varangians esteem ourselves +bound by our oath as much to defend our Emperor, while the service +lasts, on every inch of his honour as on every foot of his territory; I +therefore tell thee, Sir Knight, Sir Count, or whatever thou callest +thyself, there is mortal quarrel between thee and the Varangian guard, +ever and until thou hast fought it out in fair and manly battle, body +to body, with one of the said Imperial Varangians, when duty and +opportunity shall permit:--and so God schaw the right!" + +As this passed in the French language, the meaning escaped the +understanding of such Imperialists as were within hearing at the time; +and the Princess, who waited with some astonishment till the Crusader +and the Varangian had finished their conference, when it was over, said +to him with interest, "I trust you feel that poor man's situation to be +too much at a distance from your own, to admit of your meeting him in +what is termed knightly battle?" + +"On such a question," said the knight, "I have but one answer to any +lady who does not, like my Brenhilda, cover herself with a shield, and +bear a sword by her side, and the heart of a knight in her bosom." + +"And suppose for once," said the Princess Anna Comnena, "that I +possessed such titles to your confidence, what would your answer be to +me?" + +"There can be little reason for concealing it," said the Count. "The +Varangian is a brave man, and a strong one; it is contrary to my vow to +shun his challenge, and perhaps I shall derogate from my rank by +accepting it; but the world is wide, and he is yet to be born who has +seen Robert of Paris shun the face of mortal man. By means of some +gallant officer among the Emperor's guards, this poor fellow, who +nourishes so strange an ambition, shall learn that he shall have his +wish gratified." + +"And then?"--said Anna Comnena. + +"Why, then," said the Count, "in the poor man's own language, God schaw +the right!" + +"Which is to say," said the Princess, "that if my father has an officer +of his guards honourable enough to forward so pious and reasonable a +purpose, the Emperor must lose an ally, in whose faith he puts +confidence, or a most trusty and faithful soldier of his personal +guard, who has distinguished himself upon many occasions?" + +"I am happy to hear," said the Count, "that the man bears such a +character. In truth, his ambition ought to have some foundation. The +more I think of it, the rather am I of opinion that there is something +generous, rather than derogatory, in giving to the poor exile, whose +thoughts are so high and noble, those privileges of a man of rank, +which some who were born in such lofty station are too cowardly to +avail themselves of. Yet despond not, noble Princess; the challenge is +not yet accepted of, and if it was, the issue is in the hand of God. As +for me, whose trade is war, the sense that I have something so serious +to transact with this resolute man, will keep me from other less +honourable quarrels, in which a lack of occupation might be apt to +involve me." + +The Princess made no farther observation, being resolved, by private +remonstrance to Achilles Tatius, to engage him to prevent a meeting +which might be fatal to the one or the other of two brave men. The town +now darkened before them, sparkling, at the same time, through its +obscurity, by the many lights which illuminated the houses of the +citizens. The royal cavalcade held their way to the Golden Gate, where +the trusty centurion put his guard under arms to receive them. + +"We must now break off, fair ladies," said the Count, as the party, +having now dismounted, were standing together at the private gate of +the Blacquernal Palace, "and find as we can, the lodgings which we +occupied last night." + +"Under your favour, no," said the Empress. "You must be content to take +your supper and repose in quarters more fitting your rank; and," added +Irene, "with no worse quartermaster than one of the Imperial family who +hag been your travelling companion." + +This the Count heard, with considerable inclination to accept the +hospitality which was so readily offered. Although as devoted as a man +could well be to the charms of his Brenhilda, the very idea never +having entered his head of preferring another's beauty to hers, yet, +nevertheless, he had naturally felt himself flattered by the attentions +of a woman of eminent beauty and very high rank; and the praises with +which the Princess had loaded him, had not entirely fallen to the +ground. He was no longer in the humour in which the morning had found +him, disposed to outrage the feelings of the Emperor, and to insult his +dignity; but, flattered by the adroit sycophancy which the old +philosopher had learned from the schools, and the beautiful Princess +had been gifted with by nature, he assented to the Empress's proposal; +the more readily, perhaps, that the darkness did not permit him to see +that there was distinctly a shade of displeasure on the brow of +Brenhilda. Whatever the cause, she cared not to express it, and the +married pair had just entered that labyrinth of passages through which +Hereward had formerly wandered, when a chamberlain, and a female +attendant, richly dressed, bent the knee before them, and offered them +the means and place to adjust their attire, ere they entered the +Imperial presence. Brenhilda looked upon her apparel and arms, spotted +with the blood of the insolent Scythian, and, Amazon as she was, felt +the shame of being carelessly and improperly dressed. The arms of the +knight were also bloody, and in disarrangement. + +"Tell my female squire, Agatha, to give her attendance," said the +Countess. "She alone is in the habit of assisting to unarm and to +attire me." + +"Now, God be praised," thought the Grecian lady of the bed-chamber, +"that I am not called to a toilet where smiths' hammers and tongs are +like to be the instruments most in request!" + +"Tell Marcian, my armourer," said the Count, "to attend with the silver +and blue suit of plate and mail which I won in a wager from the Count +of Thoulouse." [Footnote: Raymond Count of Thoulouse, and St. Giles, +Duke of Carboune, and Marquis of Provence, an aged warrior who had won +high distinction in the contests against the Saracens in Spain, was the +chief leader of the Crusaders from the south of France. His title of +St. Giles is corrupted by Anna Comnena into _Sangles_, by which name +she constantly mentions him in the Alexiad.] + +"Might I not have the honour of adjusting your armour," said a +splendidly drest courtier, with some marks of the armourer's +profession, "since I have put on that of the Emperor himself?--may his +name be sacred!" + +"And how many rivets hast thou clenched upon the occasion with this +hand," said the Count, catching hold of it, "which looks as if it had +never been washed, save with milk of roses,--and with this childish +toy?" pointing to a hammer with ivory haft and silver head, which, +stuck into a milk-white kidskin apron, the official wore as badges of +his duty. The armourer fell back in some confusion. "His grasp," he +said to another domestic, "is like the seizure of a vice!" + +While this little scene passed apart, the Empress Irene, her daughter, +and her son-in-law, left the company, under pretence of making a +necessary change in their apparel. Immediately after, Agelastes was +required to attend the Emperor, and the strangers were conducted to two +adjacent chambers of retirement, splendidly fitted up, and placed for +the present at their disposal, and that of their attendants. There we +shall for a time leave them, assuming, with the assistance of their own +attendants, a dress which their ideas regarded as most fit for a great +occasion; those of the Grecian court willingly keeping apart from a +task which they held nearly as formidable as assisting at the lair of a +royal tiger or his bride. + +Agelastes found the Emperor sedulously arranging his most splendid +court-dress; for, as in the court of Pekin, the change of ceremonial +attire was a great part of the ritual observed at Constantinople. + +"Thou hast done well, wise Agelastes," said Alexius to the philosopher, +as he approached with abundance of prostrations and genuflexions--"Thou +hast done well, and we are content with thee. Less than thy wit and +address must have failed in separating from their company this tameless +bull, and unyoked heifer, over whom, if we obtain influence, we shall +command, by every account, no small interest among those who esteem +them the bravest in the host." + +"My humble understanding," said Agelastes, "had been infinitely +inferior to the management of so prudent and sagacious a scheme, had it +not been shaped forth and suggested by the inimitable wisdom of your +most sacred Imperial Highness." + +"We are aware," said Alexius, "that we had the merit of blocking forth +the scheme of detaining these persons, either by their choice as +allies, or by main force as hostages. Their friends, ere yet they have +missed them, will be engaged in war with the Turks, and at no liberty, +if the devil should suggest such an undertaking, to take arms against +the sacred empire. Thus, Agelastes, we shall obtain hostages at least +as important and as valuable as that Count of Vermandois, whose liberty +the tremendous Godfrey of Bouillon extorted from us by threats of +instant war." + +"Pardon," said Agelastes, "if I add another reason to those which of +themselves so heavily support your august resolution. It is possible +that we may, by observing the greatest caution and courtesy towards +these strangers, win them in good earnest to our side." + +"I conceive you, I conceive you,"--said the Emperor; "and this very +night I will exhibit myself to this Count and his lady in the royal +presence chamber, in the richest robes which our wardrobe can furnish. +The lions of Solomon shall roar, the golden tree of Comnenus shall +display its wonders, and the feeble eyes of these Franks shall be +altogether dazzled by the splendour of the empire. These spectacles +cannot but sink into their minds, and dispose them to become the allies +and servants of a nation so much more powerful, skilful, and wealthy +than their own--Thou hast something to say, Agelastes. Years and long +study have made thee wise; though we have given our opinion, thou mayst +speak thine own, and live." + +Thrice three times did Agelastes press his brow against the hem of the +Emperor's garment, and great seemed his anxiety to find such words as +might intimate his dissent from his sovereign, yet save him from the +informality of contradicting him expressly. + +"These sacred words, in which your sacred Highness has uttered your +most just and accurate opinions, are undeniable, and incapable of +contradiction, were any vain enough to attempt to impugn them. +Nevertheless, be it lawful to say, that men show the wisest arguments +in vain to those who do not understand reason, just as you would in +vain exhibit a curious piece of limning to the blind, or endeavour to +bribe, as scripture saith, a sow by the offer of a precious stone. The +fault is not, in such case, in the accuracy of your sacred reasoning, +but in the obtuseness and perverseness of the barbarians to whom it is +applied." + +"Speak more plainly," said the Emperor; "how often must we tell thee, +that in cases in which we really want counsel, we know we must be +contented to sacrifice ceremony?" + +"Then in plain words," said Agelastes, "these European barbarians are +like no others under the cope of the universe, either on the things on +which they look with desire, or on those which they consider as +discouraging. The treasures of this noble empire, so far as they +affected their wishes, would merely inspire them with the desire to go +to war with a nation possessed of so much wealth, and who, in their +self-conceited estimation, were less able to defend, than they +themselves are powerful to assail. Of such a description, for instance, +is Bohemond of Tarentum,--and such, a one is many a crusader less able +and sagacious than he;--for I think I need not tell your Imperial +Divinity, that he holds his own self-interest to be the devoted guide +of his whole conduct through this extraordinary war; and that, +therefore, you can justly calculate his course, when once you are aware +from which point of the compass the wind of avarice and self-interest +breathes with respect to him. But there are spirits among the Franks of +a very different nature, and who must be acted upon by very different +motives, if we would make ourselves masters of their actions, and the +principles by which they are governed. If it were lawful to do so, I +would request your Majesty to look at the manner by which an artful +juggler of your court achieves his imposition upon the eyes of +spectators, yet needfully disguises the means by which he attains his +object. This people--I mean the more lofty-minded of these crusaders, +who act up to the pretences of the doctrines which they call +chivalry--despise the thirst of gold, and gold itself, unless to hilt +their swords, or to furnish forth some necessary expenses, as alike +useless and contemptible. The man who can be moved by the thirst of +gain, they contemn, scorn, and despise, and liken him, in the meanness +of his objects, to the most paltry serf that ever followed the plough, +or wielded the spade. On the other hand, if it happens that they +actually need gold, they are sufficiently unceremonious in taking it +where they can most easily find it. Thus, they are neither easily to be +bribed by giving them sums of gold, nor to be starved into compliance +by withholding what chance may render necessary for them. In the one +case, they set no value upon the gift of a little paltry yellow dross; +in the other, they are accustomed to take what they want." + +"Yellow dross," interrupted Alexius. "Do they call that noble metal, +equally respected by Roman and barbarian, by rich and poor, by great +and mean, by churchmen and laymen, which all mankind are fighting for, +plotting for, planning for, intriguing for, and damning themselves for, +both soul and body--by the opprobrious name of yellow dross? They are +mad, Agelastes, utterly mad. Perils and dangers, penalties and +scourges, are the arguments to which men who are above the universal +influence which moves all others, can possibly be accessible." + +"Nor are they," said Agelastes, "more accessible to fear than they are +to self-interest. They are indeed, from their boyhood, brought up to +scorn those passions which influence ordinary minds, whether by means +of avarice to impel, or of fear to hold back. So much is this the case, +that what is enticing to other men, must, to interest them, have the +piquant sauce of extreme danger. I told, for instance, to this very +hero, a legend of a Princess of Zulichium, who lay on an enchanted +couch, beautiful as an angel, awaiting the chosen knight who should, by +dispelling her enchanted slumbers, become master of her person, of her +kingdom of Zulichium, and of her countless treasures; and, would your +Imperial Majesty believe me, I could scarce get the gallant to attend +to my legend or take any interest in the adventure, till I assured him +he would have to encounter a winged dragon, compared to which the +largest of those in the Frank romances was but like a mere dragon-fly?" + +"And did this move the gallant?" said the Emperor. + +"So much so," replied the philosopher, "that had I not unfortunately, +by the earnestness of my description, awakened the jealousy of his +Penthesilea of a Countess, he had forgotten the crusade and all +belonging to it, to go in quest of Zulichium and its slumbering +sovereign." + +"Nay, then," said the Emperor, "we have in our empire (make us sensible +of the advantage!) innumerable tale-tellers who are not possessed in +the slightest degree of that noble scorn of gold which is proper to the +Franks, but shall, for a brace of besants, lie with the devil, and beat +him to boot, if in that manner we can gain, as mariners say, the +weathergage of the Franks." + +"Discretion," said Agelastes, "is in the highest degree necessary. +Simply to lie is no very great matter; it is merely a departure from +the truth, which is little different from missing a mark at archery, +where the whole horizon, one point alone excepted, will alike serve the +shooter's purpose; but to move the Frank as is desired, requires a +perfect knowledge of his temper and disposition, great caution and +presence of mind, and the most versatile readiness in changing from one +subject to another. Had I not myself been, somewhat alert, I might have +paid the penalty of a false step in your Majesty's service, by being +flung into my own cascade by the virago whom I offended." + +"A perfect Thalestris!" said the Emperor; "I shall take care what +offence I give her." + +"If I might speak and live," said Agelastes, "the Caesar Nicephorus +Briennius had best adopt the same precaution." + +"Nicephorus," said the Emperor, "must settle that with our daughter. I +have ever told her that she gives him too much of that history, of +which a page or two is sufficiently refreshing; but by our own self we +must swear it, Agelastes, that, night after night, hearing nothing +else, would subdue the patience of a saint!--Forget, good Agelastes, +that them hast heard me say such a thing--more especially, remember it +not when thou art in presence of our Imperial wife and daughter." + +"Nor were the freedoms taken by the Caesar beyond the bounds of an +innocent gallantry," said Agelastes; "but the Countess, I must needs +say, is dangerous. She killed this day the Scythian Toxartis, by what +seemed a mere fillip on the head." + +"Hah!" said the Emperor; "I knew that Toxartis, and he was like enough +to deserve his death, being a bold unscrupulous marauder. Take notes, +however, how it happened, the names of witnesses, &c., that, if +necessary, we may exhibit the fact as a deed of aggression on the part +of the Count and Countess of Paris, to the assembly of the crusaders." + +"I trust," said Agelastes, "your Imperial Majesty will not easily +resign the golden opportunity of gaining to your standard persons whose +character stands so very high in chivalry. It would cost you but little +to bestow upon them a Grecian island, worth a hundred of their own +paltry lordship of Paris; and if it were given under the condition of +their expelling the infidels or the disaffected who may have obtained +the temporary possession, it would be so much the more likely to be an +acceptable offer. I need not say that the whole knowledge, wisdom, and +skill of the poor Agelastes is at your Imperial Majesty's disposal." + +The Emperor paused for a moment, and then said, as if on full +consideration, "Worthy Agelastes, I dare trust thee in this difficult +and somewhat dangerous matter; but I will keep my purpose of exhibiting +to them the lions of Solomon, and the golden tree of our Imperial +house." + +"To that there can be no objection," returned the philosopher; "only +remember to exhibit few guards, for these Franks are like a fiery +horse; when in temper he may be ridden with a silk thread, but when he +has taken umbrage or suspicion, as they would likely do if they saw +many armed men, a steel bridle would not restrain him." + +"I will be cautious," said the Emperor, "in that particular, as well as +others.--Sound the silver bell, Agelastes, that the officers of our +wardrobe may attend." + +"One single word, while your Highness is alone," said Agelastes. "Will +your Imperial Majesty transfer to me the direction of your menagerie, +or collection of extraordinary creatures?" + +"You make me wonder," said the Emperor, taking a signet, bearing upon +it a lion, with the legend, _Vicit Leo ex tribu Judae_. "This," he +said, "will give thee the command of our dens. And now, be candid for +once with thy master--for deception is thy nature even with me--By what +charm wilt thou subdue these untamed savages?" + +"By the power of falsehood," replied Agelastes, with deep reverence. + +"I believe thee an adept in it," said the Emperor. "And to which of +their foibles wilt thou address it?" + +"To their love of fame," said the philosopher; and retreated backwards +out of the royal apartment, as the officers of the wardrobe entered to +complete the investment of the Emperor in his Imperial habiliments. + + + + +CHAPTER THE FOURTEENTH. + + I will converse with iron-witted fools, + And unrespective boys; none are for me, + That look into me with considerate eyes;-- + High-reaching Buckingham grows circumspect. + RICHARD III. + + +As they parted from each other, the Emperor and philosopher had each +their own anxious thoughts on the interview which had passed between +them; thoughts which they expressed in broken sentences and +ejaculations, though for the better understanding of the degree of +estimation in which they held each other, we will give them a more +regular and intelligible form. + +"Thus, then," half muttered half said Alexius, but so low as to hide +his meaning from the officers of the wardrobe, who entered to do their +office,--"thus, then, this bookworm--this remnant of old heathen +philosophy, who hardly believes, so God save me, the truth of the +Christian creed, has topp'd his part so well that he forces his Emperor +to dissemble in his presence. Beginning by being the buffoon of the +court, he has wormed himself into all its secrets, made himself master +of all its intrigues, conspired with my own son-in-law against me, +debauched my guards,--indeed so woven his web of deceit, that my life +is safe no longer, than he believes me the imperial dolt which I have +affected to seem, in order to deceive him; fortunate that even so can I +escape his cautionary anticipation of my displeasure, by avoiding to +precipitate his measures of violence. But were this sudden storm of the +crusade fairly passed over, the ungrateful Caesar, the boastful coward +Achilles Tatius, and the bosom serpent Agelastes, shall know whether +Alexius Comnenus has been born their dupe. When Greek meets Greek, +comes the strife of subtlety, as well as the tug of war." Thus saying, +he resigned himself to the officers of his wardrobe, who proceeded to +ornament him as the solemnity required, + +"I trust him not," said Agelastes, the meaning of whose gestures and +exclamations, we, in like manner, render into a connected meaning. "I +cannot, and do not trust him--he somewhat overacts his part. He has +borne himself upon other occasions with the shrewd wit of his family +the Comneni; yet he now trusts to the effect of his trumpery lions upon +such a shrewd people as the Franks and Normans, and seems to rely upon +me for the character of men with whom he has been engaged in peace and +war for many years. This can be but to gain my confidence; for there +were imperfect looks, and broken sentences, which seemed to say, +'Agelastes, the Emperor knows thee and confides not in thee.' Yet the +plot is successful and undiscovered, as far as can be judged; and were +I to attempt to recede now, I were lost for ever. A little time to +carry on this intrigue with the Frank, when possibly, by the assistance +of this gallant, Alexius shall exchange the crown for a cloister, or a +still narrower abode; and then, Agelastes, thou deservest to be blotted +from the roll of philosophers, if thou canst not push out of the throne +the conceited and luxurious Caesar, and reign in his stead, a second +Marcus Antoninus, when the wisdom of thy rule, long unfelt in a world +which has been guided by tyrants and voluptuaries, shall soon +obliterate recollection of the manner in which thy power was acquired. +To work then--be active, and be cautious. The time requires it, and the +prize deserves it." + +While these thoughts passed through his mind, he arrayed himself, by +the assistance of Diogenes, in a clean suit of that simple apparel in +which he always frequented the court; a garb as unlike that of a +candidate for royalty, as it was a contrast to the magnificent robes +with which Alexius was now investing himself, + +In their separate apartments, or dressing-rooms, the Count of Paris and +his lady put on the best apparel which they had prepared to meet such a +chance upon their journey. Even in France, Robert was seldom seen in +the peaceful cap and sweeping mantle, whose high plumes and flowing +folds were the garb of knights in times of peace. He was now arrayed in +a splendid suit of armour, all except the head, which was bare +otherwise than as covered by his curled locks. The rest of his person +was sheathed in the complete mail of the time, richly inlaid with +silver, which contrasted with the azure in which the steel was +damasked. His spurs were upon his heels--his sword was by his side, and +his triangular shield was suspended round his neck, bearing, painted +upon it, a number of _fleures-de-lis semees_, as it is called, upon the +field, being the origin of those lily flowers which after times reduced +to three only; and which were the terror of Europe, until they suffered +so many reverses in our own time. + +The extreme height of Count Robert's person adapted him for a garb, +which had a tendency to make persons of a lower stature appear rather +dwarfish and thick when arrayed _cap-a-pie_. The features, with their +self-collected composure, and noble contempt of whatever could have +astounded or shaken an ordinary mind, formed a well-fitted capital to +the excellently proportioned and vigorous frame which they terminated. +The Countess was in more peaceful attire; but her robes were short and +succinct, like those of one who might be called to hasty exercise. The +upper part of her dress consisted of more than one tunic, sitting close +to the body, while a skirt, descending from the girdle, and reaching to +the ankles, embroidered elegantly but richly, completed an attire which +a lady might have worn in much more modern times. Her tresses were +covered with a light steel head-piece, though some of them, escaping, +played round her face, and gave relief to those handsome features which +might otherwise have seemed too formal, if closed entirely within the +verge of steel. Over these undergarments was flung a rich velvet cloak +of a deep green colour, descending from the head, where a species of +hood was loosely adjusted over the helmet, deeply laced upon its verges +and seams, and so long as to sweep the ground behind. A dagger of rich +materials ornamented a girdle of curious goldsmith's work, and was the +only offensive weapon which, notwithstanding her military occupation, +she bore upon this occasion. + +The toilet--as modern times would say--of the Countess, was not nearly +so soon ended as that of Count Robert, who occupied his time, as +husbands of every period are apt to do, in little sub-acid complaints +between jest and earnest, upon the dilatory nature of ladies, and the +time which they lose in doffing and donning their garments. But when +the Countess Brenhilda came forth in the pride of loveliness, from the +inner chamber where she had attired herself, her husband, who was still +her lover, clasped her to his breast and expressed his privilege by the +kiss which he took as of right from a creature so beautiful. Chiding +him for his folly, yet almost returning the kiss which she received, +Brenhilda began now to wonder how they were to find their way to the +presence of the Emperor. + +The query was soon solved, for a gentle knock at the door announced +Agelastes, to whom, as best acquainted with the Frankish manners, had +been committed, by the Emperor, the charge of introducing the noble +strangers. A distant sound, like that of the roaring of a lion, or not +unsimilar to a large and deep gong of modern times, intimated the +commencement of the ceremonial. The black slaves upon guard, who, as +hath been observed, were in small numbers, stood ranged in their state +dresses of white and gold, bearing in one hand a naked sabre, and in +the other a torch of white wax, which served to guide the Count and +Countess through the passages that led to the interior of the palace, +and to the most secret hall of audience. + +The door of this _sanctum sanctorum_ was lower than usual, a simple +stratagem devised by some superstitious officer of the Imperial +household, to compel the lofty-crested Frank to lower his body, as he +presented himself in the Imperial presence. Robert, when the door flew +open, and he discovered in the background the Emperor seated upon his +throne amidst a glare of light, which was broken and reflected in ten +thousand folds by the jewels with which his vestments were covered, +stopt short, and demanded the meaning of introducing him through so low +an arch? Agelastes pointed to the Emperor by way of shifting from +himself a question which he could not have answered. The mute, to +apologize for his silence, yawned, and showed the loss of his tongue. + +"Holy Virgin!" said the Countess, "what can these unhappy Africans have +done, to have deserved a condemnation which involves so cruel a fate?" + +"The hour of retribution is perhaps come," said the Count, in a +displeased tone, while Agelastes, with such hurry as time and place +permitted, entered, making his prostrations and genuflexions, little +doubting that the Frank must follow him, and to do so must lower his +body to the Emperor. The Count, however, in the height of displeasure +at the trick which he conceived had been, intended him, turned himself +round, and entered the presence-chamber with his back purposely turned +to the sovereign, and did not face Alexius until he reached the middle +of the apartment, when he was joined by the Countess, who had made her +approach in a more seemly manner. The Emperor, who had prepared to +acknowledge the Count's expected homage in the most gracious manner, +found himself now even more unpleasantly circumstanced than when this +uncompromising Frank had usurped the royal throne in the course of the +day. + +The officers and nobles who stood around, though a very select number, +were more numerous than usual, as the meeting was not held for counsel, +but merely for state. These assumed such an appearance of mingled +displeasure and confusion as might best suit with the perplexity of +Alexius, while the wily features of the Norman-Italian, Bohemond of +Tarentum, who was also present, had a singular mixture of fantastical +glee and derision. It is the misfortune of the weaker on such +occasions, or at least the more timid, to be obliged to take the petty +part of winking hard, as if not able to see what they cannot avenge. + +Alexius made the signal that the ceremonial of the grand reception +should immediately commence. Instantly the lions of Solomon, which had +been newly furbished, raised their heads, erected their manes, +brandished their tails, until they excited the imagination of Count +Robert, who, being already on fire at the circumstances of his +reception, conceived the bellowing of these automata to be the actual +annunciation of immediate assault. Whether the lions, whose forms he +beheld, were actually lords of the forest,--whether they were mortals +who had suffered transformation,--whether they were productions of the +skill of an artful juggler or profound naturalist, the Count neither +knew nor cared. All that he thought of the danger was, it was worthy of +his courage; nor did his heart permit him a moment's irresolution. He +strode to the nearest lion, which seemed in the act of springing up, +and said, in a tone loud and formidable as its own, "How now, dog!" At +the same time he struck the figure with his clenched fist and steel +gauntlet with so much force, that its head burst, and the steps and +carpet of the throne were covered with wheels, springs, and other +machinery, which had been the means of producing its mimic terrors. + +On this display of the real nature of the cause of his anger, Count +Robert could not but feel a little ashamed of having given way to +passion on such an occasion. He was still more confused when Bohemond, +descending from his station near the Emperor, addressed him in the +Frank language;--"You have done a gallant deed, truly, Count Robert, in +freeing the court of Byzantium from an object of fear which has long +been used to frighten peevish children and unruly barbarians!" + +Enthusiasm has no greater enemy than ridicule. "Why, then," said Count +Robert, blushing deeply at the same time, "did they exhibit its +fantastic terrors to me? I am neither child nor barbarian." + +"Address yourself to the Emperor, then, as an intelligent man," +answered Bohemond. "Say something to him in excuse of your conduct, and +show that our bravery has not entirely run away with our common sense. +And hark you also, while I have a moment's speech of you,--do you and +your wife heedfully follow my example at supper!" These words were +spoken with a significant tone and corresponding look. + +The opinion of Bohemond, from his long intercourse, both in peace and +war, with the Grecian Emperor, gave him great influence with the other +crusaders, and Count Robert yielded to his advice. He turned towards +the Emperor with something liker an obeisance than he had hitherto +paid. "I crave your pardon," he said, "for breaking that gilded piece +of pageantry; but, in sooth, the wonders of sorcery, and the portents +of accomplished and skilful jugglers, are so numerous in this country, +that one does not clearly distinguish what is true from what is false, +or what is real from what is illusory." + +The Emperor, notwithstanding the presence of mind for which he was +remarkable, and the courage in which he was not held by his countrymen +to be deficient, received this apology somewhat awkwardly. Perhaps the +rueful complaisance with which he accepted the Count's apology, might +be best compared to that of a lady of the present day when an awkward +guest has broken a valuable piece of china. He muttered something about +the machines having been long preserved in the Imperial family, as +being made on the model of those which guarded the throne of the wise +King of Israel; to which the blunt plain-spoken Count expressed his +doubt in reply, whether the wisest prince in the world ever +condescended to frighten his subjects or guests by the mimic roarings +of a wooden lion. "If," said he, "I too hastily took it for a living +creature, I have had the worst, by damaging my excellent gauntlet in +dashing to pieces its timber skull." + +The Emperor, after a little more had been said, chiefly on the same +subject, proposed that they should pass to the banquet-room. +Marshalled, accordingly, by the grand sewer of the Imperial table, and +attended by all present, excepting the Emperor and the immediate +members of his family, the Frankish guests were guided through a +labyrinth of apartments, each of which was filled with wonders of +nature and art, calculated to enhance their opinion of the wealth and +grandeur which had assembled together so much that was wonderful. Their +passage being necessarily slow and interrupted, gave the Emperor time +to change his dress, according to the ritual of his court, which did +not permit his appearing twice in the same vesture before the same +spectators. He took the opportunity to summon Agelastes into his +presence, and, that their conference might be secret, he used, in +assisting his toilet, the agency of some of the mutes destined for the +service of the interior. + +The temper of Alexius Comnenus was considerably moved, although it was +one of the peculiarities of his situation to be ever under the +necessity of disguising the emotions of his mind, and of affecting, in +presence of his subjects, a superiority to human passion, which he was +far from feeling. It was therefore with gravity, and even reprehension, +that he asked, "By whose error it was that the wily Bohemond, +half-Italian, and half-Norman, was present at this interview? Surely, +if there be one in the crusading army likely to conduct that foolish +youth and his wife behind the scenes of the exhibition by which we +hoped to impose upon them, the Count of Tarentum, as he entitles +himself, is that person." + +"It was that old man," said Agelastes, "(if I may reply and live,) +Michael Cantacuzene, who deemed that his presence was peculiarly +desired; but he returns to the camp this very night." + +"Yes," said Alexius, "to inform Godfrey, and the rest of the crusaders, +that one of the boldest and most highly esteemed of their number is +left, with his wife, a hostage in our Imperial city, and to bring back, +perhaps, an alternative of instant war, unless they are delivered up!" + +"If it is your Imperial Highness's will to think so," said Agelastes, +"you can suffer Count Robert and his wife to return to the camp with +the Italian-Norman." + +"What?" answered the Emperor, "and so lose all the fruits of an +enterprise, the preparations for which have already cost us so much in +actual expense; and, were our heart made of the same stuff with that of +ordinary mortals, would have cost us so much more in vexation and +anxiety? No, no; issue warning to the crusaders, who are still on the +hither side, that farther rendering of homage is dispensed with, and +that they repair to the quays on the banks of the Bosphorus, by peep of +light to-morrow. Let our admiral, as he values his head, pass every man +of them over to the farther side before noon. Let there be largesses, a +princely banquet on the farther bank--all that may increase their +anxiety to pass. Then, Agelastes, we will trust to ourselves to meet +this additional danger, either by bribing the venality of Bohemond, or +by bidding defiance to the crusaders. Their forces are scattered, and +the chief of them, with the leaders themselves, are all now--or by far +the greater part--on the east side of the Bosphorus.--And now to the +banquet! seeing that the change of dress has been made sufficient to +answer the statutes of the household; since our ancestors chose to make +rules for exhibiting us to our subjects, as priests exhibit their +images at their shrines!" + +"Under grant of life," said Agelastes, "it was not done +inconsiderately, but in order that the Emperor, ruled ever by the same +laws from father to son, might ever be regarded as something beyond the +common laws of humanity--the divine image of a saint, therefore, rather +than a human being." + +"We know it, good Agelastes," answered the Emperor, with a smile, "and +we are also aware, that many of our subjects, like the worshippers of +Bel in holy writ, treat us so far as an image, as to assist us in +devouring the revenues of our provinces, which are gathered in our +name, and for our use. These things we now only touch lightly, the time +not suiting them." + +Alexius left the secret council accordingly, after the order for the +passage of the crusaders had been written out and subscribed in due +form, and in the sacred ink of the Imperial chancery. + +Meantime, the rest of the company had arrived in a hall, which, like +the other apartments in the palace, was most tastefully as well as +gorgeously fitted up, except that a table, which presented a princely +banquet, might have been deemed faulty in this respect, that the +dishes, which were most splendid, both in the materials of which they +were composed, and in the viands which they held, were elevated by +means of feet, so as to be upon a level with female guests as they sat, +and with men as they lay recumbent at the banquet which it offered. + +Around stood a number of black slaves richly attired, while the grand +sewer, Michael Cantazucene, arranged the strangers with his golden +wand, and conveyed orders to them, by signs, that all should remain +standing around the table, until a signal should be given. + +The upper end of the board, thus furnished, and thus surrounded, was +hidden by a curtain of muslin and silver, which fell from the top of +the arch under which the upper part seemed to pass. On this curtain the +sewer kept a wary eye; and when he observed it slightly shake, he waved +his wand of office, and all expected the result. + +As if self-moved, the mystic curtain arose, and discovered behind it a +throne eight steps higher than the end of the table, decorated in the +most magnificent manner, and having placed before it a small table of +ivory inlaid with silver, behind which was seated Alexius Comnenus, in +a dress entirely different from what he had worn in the course of the +day, and so much more gorgeous than his former vestments, that it +seemed not unnatural that his subjects should prostrate themselves +before a figure so splendid. His wife, his daughter, and his son-in-law +the Caesar, stood behind him with faces bent to the ground, and it was +with deep humility, that, descending from the throne at the Emperor's +command, they mingled with the guests of the lower table, and, exalted +as they were, proceeded to the festive board at the signal of the grand +sewer. So that they could not be said to partake of the repast with the +Emperor, nor to be placed at the Imperial table, although they supped +in his presence, and were encouraged by his repeated request to them to +make good cheer. No dishes presented at the lower table were offered at +the higher; but wines, and more delicate sorts of food, which arose +before the Emperor as if by magic, and seemed designed for his own +proper use, were repeatedly sent, by his special directions, to one or +other of the guests whom Alexius delighted to honour--among these the +Franks being particularly distinguished. + +The behaviour of Bohemond was on this occasion particularly remarkable. + +Count Robert, who kept an eye upon him, both from his recent words, and +owing to an expressive look which he once or twice darted towards him, +observed, that in no liquors or food, not even those sent from the +Emperor's own table, did this astucious prince choose to indulge. A +piece of bread, taken from the canister at random, and a glass of pure +water, was the only refreshment of which he was pleased to partake. His +alleged excuse was, the veneration due to the Holy Festival of the +Advent, which chanced to occur that very night, and which both the +Greek and Latin rule agree to hold sacred. + +"I had not expected this of you, Sir Bohemond," said the Emperor, "that +you should have refused my personal hospitality at my own board, on the +very day on which you honoured me by entering into my service as vassal +for the principality of Antioch." + +"Antioch is not yet conquered," said Sir Bohemond; "and conscience, +dread sovereign, must always have its exceptions, in whatever temporal +contracts we may engage." + +"Come, gentle Count," said the Emperor, who obviously regarded +Bohemond's inhospitable humour as something arising more from suspicion +than devotion, "we invite, though it is not our custom, our children, +our noble guests, and our principal officers here present, to a general +carouse. Fill the cups called the Nine Muses! let them be brimful of +the wine which is said to be sacred to the Imperial lips!" + +At the Emperor's command the cups were filled; they were of pure gold, +and there was richly engraved upon each the effigy of the Muse to whom +it was dedicated. + +"You at least," said the Emperor, "my gentle Count Robert, you and your +lovely lady, will not have any scruple to pledge your Imperial host?" + +"If that scruple is to imply suspicion of the provisions with which we +are here served, I disdain to nourish such," said Count Robert. "If it +is a sin which I commit by tasting wine to-night, it is a venial one; +nor shall I greatly augment my load by carrying it, with the rest of my +trespasses, to the next confessional." + +"Will you then, Prince Bohemond, not be ruled by the conduct of your +friend?" said the Emperor. + +"Methinks," replied the Norman-Italian, "my friend might have done +better to have been, ruled by mine; but be it as his wisdom pleases. +The flavour of such exquisite wine is sufficient for me." + +"So saying, he emptied the wine into another goblet, and seemed +alternately to admire the carving of the cup, and the flavour of what +it had lately contained. + +"You are right, Sir Bohemond," said the Emperor; "the fabric of that +cup is beautiful; it was done by one of the ancient gravers of Greece. +The boasted cup of Nestor, which Homer has handed down to us, was a +good deal larger perhaps, but neither equalled these in the value of +the material, nor the exquisite beauty of the workmanship. Let each +one, therefore, of my stranger guests, accept of the cup which he +either has or might have drunk out of, as a recollection of me; and may +the expedition against the infidels be as propitious as their +confidence and courage deserve!" + +"If I accept your gift, mighty Emperor," said Bohemond, "it is only to +atone for the apparent discourtesy, when my devotion, compels me to +decline your Imperial pledge, and to show you that we part on the most +intimate terms of friendship." + +So saying, he bowed deeply to the Emperor, who answered him with a +smile, into which was thrown, a considerable portion of sarcastic +expression. + +"And I," said the Count of Paris, "having taken upon my conscience the +fault of meeting your Imperial pledge, may stand excused from incurring +the blame of aiding to dismantle your table of these curious drinking +cups. We empty them to your health, and we cannot in any other respect +profit by them." + +"But Prince Bohemond can," said the Emperor; "to whose quarters they +shall be carried, sanctioned by your generous use. And we have still a +set for you, and for your lovely Countess, equal to that of the Graces, +though no longer matching in number the nymphs of Parnassus.--The +evening bell rings, and calls us to remember the hour of rest, that we +may be ready to meet the labours of to-morrow." + +The party then broke up for the evening. Bohemond left the palace that +night, not forgetting the Muses, of whom he was not in general a +devotee. The result was, as the wily Greek had intended, that he had +established between Bohemond and the Count, not indeed a quarrel, but a +kind of difference of opinion; Bohemond feeling that the fiery Count of +Paris must think his conduct sordid and avaricious, while Count Robert +was far less inclined than before to rely on him as a counsellor. + + + + +CHAPTER THE FIFTEENTH. + + +The Count of Paris and his lady were that night lodged in the Imperial +Palace of the Blacquernal. Their apartments were contiguous, but the +communication between them was cut off for the night by the mutual door +being locked and barred. They marvelled somewhat at this precaution. +The observance, however, of the festival of the Church, was pleaded as +an admissible, and not unnatural excuse for this extraordinary +circumstance. Neither the Count nor his lady entertained, it may be +believed, the slightest personal fear for any thing which could happen +to them. Their attendants, Marcian and Agatha, having assisted their +master and mistress in the performance of their usual offices, left +them, in order to seek the places of repose assigned to them among +persons of their degree. + +The preceding day had been one of excitation, and of much bustle and +interest; perhaps, also, the wine, sacred to the Imperial lips, of +which Count Robert had taken a single, indeed, but a deep draught, was +more potent than the delicate and high-flavoured juice of the Gascogne +grape, to which he was accustomed; at any rate, it seemed to him that, +from the time he felt that he had slept, daylight ought to have been +broad in his chamber when he awaked, and yet it was still darkness +almost palpable. Somewhat surprised, he gazed eagerly around, but could +discern nothing, except two balls of red light which shone from among +the darkness with a self-emitted brilliancy, like the eyes of a wild +animal while it glares upon its prey. The Count started from bed to put +on his armour, a necessary precaution if what he saw should really be a +wild creature and at liberty; but the instant he stirred, a deep growl +was uttered, such as the Count had never heard, but which might be +compared to the sound of a thousand monsters at once; and, as the +symphony, was heard the clash of iron chains, and the springing of a +monstrous creature towards the bedside, which appeared, however, to be +withheld by some fastening from attaining the end of its bound. The +roars which it uttered now ran thick on each other. They were most +tremendous, and must have been heard throughout the whole palace. The +creature seemed to gather itself many yards nearer to the bed than by +its glaring eyeballs it appeared at first to be stationed, and how much +nearer, or what degree of motion, might place him within the monster's +reach, the Count was totally uncertain. Its breathing was even heard, +and Count Robert thought he felt the heat of its respiration, while his +defenceless limbs might not be two yards distant from the fangs which +he heard grinding against each other, and the claws which tore up +fragments of wood from the oaken floor. The Count of Paris was one of +the bravest men who lived in a time when bravery was the universal +property of all who claimed a drop of noble blood, and the knight was a +descendant of Charlemagne. He was, however, a man, and therefore cannot +be said to have endured unappalled a sense of danger so unexpected and +so extraordinary. But his was not a sudden alarm or panic, it was a +calm sense of extreme peril, qualified by a resolution to exert his +faculties to the uttermost, to save his life if it were possible. He +withdrew himself within the bed, no longer a place of rest, being thus +a few feet further from the two glaring eyeballs which remained so +closely fixed upon him, that, in spite of his courage, nature painfully +suggested the bitter imagination of his limbs being mangled, torn, and +churned with their life-blood, in the jaws of some monstrous beast of +prey. One saving thought alone presented itself--this might be a trial, +an experiment of the philosopher Agelastes, or of the Emperor his +master, for the purpose of proving the courage of which the Christians +vaunted so highly, and punishing the thoughtless insult which the Count +had been misadvised enough to put upon the Emperor the preceding day. + +"Well is it said," he reflected in his agony, "beard not the lion in +his den! Perhaps even, now some base slave deliberates whether I have +yet tasted enough of the preliminary agonies of death, and whether he +shall yet slip the chain which keeps the savage from doing his work. +But come death when it will, it shall never be said that Count Robert +was heard to receive it with prayers for compassion, or with cries of +pain or terror." He turned his face to the wall, and waited, with a +strong mental exertion, the death which he conceived to be fast +approaching. + +His first feelings had been unavoidably of a selfish nature. The danger +was too instant, and of a description too horrible, to admit of any +which involved a more comprehensive view of his calamity; and other +reflections of a more distant kind, were at first swallowed up in the +all-engrossing thought of immediate death. But as his ideas became +clearer, the safety of his Countess rushed upon his mind--what might +she now be suffering! and, while he was subjected to a trial so +extraordinary, for what were her weaker frame and female courage +reserved? Was she still within a few yards of him, as when he lay down +the last night? or had the barbarians, who had devised for him a scene +so cruel, availed themselves of his and his lady's incautious +confidence to inflict upon her some villany of the same kind, or even +yet more perfidious? Did she sleep or wake, or could she sleep within +the close hearing of that horrible cry, which shook all around? He +resolved to utter her name, warning her, if possible, to be upon her +guard, and to answer without venturing rashly into the apartment which +contained a guest so horribly perilous. + +He uttered, therefore, his wife's name, but in trembling accents, as if +he had been afraid of the savage beast overhearing him. + +"Brenhilda! Brenhilda!--there is danger-awake, and speak to me, but do +not arise." There was no answer.--"What am I become," he said to +himself, "that I call upon Brenhilda of Aspramonte, like a child on its +sleeping nurse, and all because there is a wild-cat in the same room +with me? Shame on thee, Count of Paris! Let thy arms be rent, and thy +spurs be hacked from thy heels!--What ho!" he cried aloud, but still +with a tremulous voice, "Brenhilda, we are beset, the foe are upon us! +--Answer me, but stir not." + +A deep growl from the monster which garrisoned his apartment was the +only answer. The sound seemed to say, "Thou hast no hope!" and it ran +to the knight's bosom as the genuine expression of despair. + +"Perhaps, however, I am still too cold in making my misery known. What +ho! my love! Brenhilda!" + +A voice, hollow and disconsolate as that which might have served an +inhabitant of the grave, answered as if from a distance. "What +disconsolate wretch art thou, who expectest that the living can answer +thee from the habitations of the dead?" + +"I am a Christian man, a free noble of the kingdom of France," answered +the Count. "Yesterday the captain of five hundred men, the bravest in +France--the bravest, that is, who breathe mortal air--and I am here +without a glimpse of light, to direct me how to avoid the corner in +which lies a wild tiger-cat, prompt to spring upon and to devour me." + +"Thou art an example," replied the voice, "and wilt not long be the +last, of the changes of fortune. I, who am now suffering in my third +year, was that mighty Ursel, who rivalled Alexius Comnenus for the +Crown of Greece, was betrayed by my confederates, and being deprived of +that eyesight which is the chief blessing of humanity, I inhabit these +vaults, no distant neighbour of the wild animals by whom they are +sometimes occupied, and whose cries of joy I hear when unfortunate +victims like thyself are delivered up to their fury." + +"Didst thou not then hear," said Count Robert, in return, "a warlike +guest and his bride conducted hither last night, with sounds as it +might seem, of bridal music?--O, Brenhilda! hast thou, so young--so +beautiful--been so treacherously done to death by means so unutterably +horrible!" + +"Think not," answered Ursel, as the voice had called its owner, "that +the Greeks pamper their wild beasts on such lordly fare. For their +enemies, which term includes not only all that are really such, but all +those whom they fear or hate, they have dungeons whose locks never +revolve; hot instruments of steel, to sear the eyeballs in the head; +lions and tigers, when it pleases them to make a speedy end of their +captives--but these are only for the male prisoners. While for the +women--if they be young and beautiful, the princes of the land have +places in their bed and bower; nor are they employed like the captives +of Agamemnon's host, to draw water from an Argive spring, but are +admired and adored by those whom fate has made the lords of their +destiny." + +"Such shall never be the doom of Brenhilda!" exclaimed Count Robert; +"her husband still lives to assist her, and should he die, she knows +well how to follow him without leaving a blot in the epitaph of either." + +The captive did not immediately reply, and a short pause ensued, which +was broken by Ursel's voice. "Stranger," he said, "what noise is that I +hear?" + +"Nay, I hear nothing," said Count Robert. + +"But I do," said Ursel. "The cruel deprivation of my eyesight renders +my other senses more acute." + +"Disquiet not thyself about the matter, fellow-prisoner," answered the +Count, "but wait the event in silence." + +Suddenly a light arose in the apartment, lurid, red, and smoky. The +knight had bethought him of a flint and match which he usually carried +about him, and with as little noise as possible had lighted the torch +by the bedside; this he instantly applied to the curtains of the bed, +which, being of thin muslin, were in a moment in flames. The knight +sprung, at the same instant, from his bed. The tiger, for such it was, +terrified at the flame, leaped backwards as far as his chain would +permit, heedless of any thing save this new object of terror. Count +Robert upon this seized on a massive wooden stool, which was the only +offensive weapon on which he could lay his hand, and, marking at those +eyes which now reflected the blaze of fire, and which had recently +seemed so appalling, he discharged against them this fragment of +ponderous oak, with a force which less resembled human strength than +the impetus with which an engine hurls a stone. He had employed his +instant of time so well, and his aim was so true, that the missile went +right to the mark and with incredible force. The skull of the tiger, +which might be, perhaps, somewhat exaggerated if described as being of +the very largest size, was fractured by the blow, and with the +assistance of his dagger, which had fortunately been left with him, the +French Count despatched the monster, and had the satisfaction to see +him grin his last, and roll, in the agony of death, those eyes which +were lately so formidable. + +Looking around him, he discovered, by the light of the fire which he +had raised, that the apartment in which he now lay was different from +that in which he had gone to bed overnight; nor could there be a +stronger contrast between the furniture of both, than the flickering +half-burnt remains of the thin muslin curtains, and the strong, bare, +dungeon-looking walls of the room itself, or the very serviceable +wooden stool, of which he had made such good use. + +The knight had no leisure to form conclusions upon such a subject. He +hastily extinguished the fire, which had, indeed, nothing that it could +lay hold of, and proceeded, by the light of the flambeau, to examine +the apartment, and its means of entrance. It is scarce necessary to +say, that he saw no communication with the room of Brenhilda, which +convinced him that they had been separated the evening before under +pretence of devotional scruples, in order to accomplish some most +villanous design upon one or both of them. His own part of the night's +adventure we have already seen, and success, so far, over so formidable +a danger, gave him a trembling hope that Brenhilda, by her own worth +and valour, would be able to defend herself against all attacks of +fraud or force, until he could find his way to her rescue. "I should +have paid more regard," he said, "to Bohemond's caution last night, +who, I think, intimated to me as plainly as if he had spoke it in +direct terms, that that same cup of wine was a drugged potion. But +then, fie upon him for an avaricious hound! How was it possible I +should think he suspected any such thing, when he spoke not out like a +man, but, for sheer coldness of heart, or base self-interest, suffered +me to run the risk of being poisoned by the wily despot?" + +Here he heard a voice from the same quarter as before. "Ho, there! Ho, +stranger! Do you live, or have you been murdered? What means this +stifling smell of smoke? For God's sake, answer him who can receive no +information from eyes, closed, alas, for ever!" + +"I am at liberty," said the Count, "and the monster destined to devour +me has groaned its last. I would, my friend Ursel, since such is thy +name, thou hadst the advantage of thine eyes, to have borne witness to +yonder combat; it had been worth thy while, though thou shouldst have +lost them a minute afterwards, and it would have greatly advantaged +whoever shall have the task of compiling my history." + +While he gave a thought to that vanity which strongly ruled him, he +lost no time in seeking some mode of escape from the dungeon, for by +that means only might he hope to recover his Countess. At last he found +an entrance in the wall, but it was strongly locked and bolted. "I have +found the passage,"--he called out; "and its direction is the same in +which thy voice is heard--But how shall I undo the door?" + +"I'll teach thee that secret," said Ursel. "I would I could as easily +unlock each bolt that withholds us from the open air; but, as for thy +seclusion within the dungeon, heave up the door by main strength, and +thou shalt lift the locks to a place where, pushing then the door from +thee, the fastenings will find a grooved passage in the wall, and the +door itself will open. Would that I could indeed see thee, not only +because, being a gallant man, thou must be a goodly sight, but also +because I should thereby know that I was not caverned in darkness for +ever." + +While he spoke thus, the Count made a bundle of his armour, from which +he missed nothing except his sword, Tranchefer, and then proceeded to +try what efforts he could make, according to the blind man's +instructions, to open the door of his prison-house. Pushing in a direct +line was, he soon found, attended with no effect; but when he applied +his gigantic strength, and raised the door as high as it would go, he +had the satisfaction to find that the bolts yielded, though +reluctantly. A space had been cut so as to allow them to move out of +the socket into which they had been forced; and without the turn of a +key, but by a powerful thrust forwards, a small passage was left open. +The knight entered, bearing his armour in his hand. + +"I hear thee," said Ursel, "O stranger! and am aware thou art come into +my place of captivity. For three years have I been employed in cutting +these grooves, corresponding to the sockets which hold these iron +bolts, and preserving the knowledge of the secret from the +prison-keepers. Twenty such bolts, perhaps, must be sawn through, ere +my steps shall approach the upper air. What prospect is there that I +shall have strength of mind sufficient to continue the task? Yet, +credit me, noble stranger, I rejoice in having been thus far aiding to +thy deliverance; for if Heaven blesses not, in any farther degree, our +aspirations after freedom, we may still be a comfort to each other, +while tyranny permits our mutual life." + +Count Robert looked around, and shuddered that a human being should +talk of any thing approaching to comfort, connected with his residence +in what seemed a living tomb. Ursel's dungeon was not above twelve feet +square, vaulted in the roof, and strongly built in the walls by stones +which the chisel had morticed closely together. A bed, a coarse +footstool, like that which Robert had just launched at the head of the +tiger, and a table of equally massive materials, were its only articles +of furniture. On a long stone, above the bed, were these few, but +terrible words:--Zedekias Ursel, imprisoned here on the Ides of March, +A.D.----. Died and interred on the spot"--A blank was left for filling +up the period. The figure of the captive could hardly be discerned amid +the wildness of his dress and dishabille. The hair of his head, uncut +and uncombed, descended in elf-locks, and mingled with a beard of +extravagant length. + +"Look on me," said the captive, "and rejoice that thou canst yet see +the wretched condition to which iron-hearted tyranny can reduce a +fellow-creature, both in mortal existence and in future hope." + +"Was it thou," said Count Robert, whose blood ran cold in his veins, +"that hadst the heart to spend thy time in sawing through the blocks of +stone by which these bolts are secured?" + +"Alas!" said Ursel, "what could a blind man do? Busy I must be, if I +would preserve my senses. Great as the labour was, it was to me the +task of three years; nor can you wonder that I should have devoted to +it my whole time, when I had no other means of occupying it. Perhaps, +and most likely, my dungeon does not admit the distinction of day and +night; but a distant cathedral clock told me how hour after hour fled +away, and found me expending them in rubbing one stone against another. +But when the door gave way, I found I had only cut an access into a +prison more strong than that which held me. I rejoice, nevertheless, +since it has brought us together, given thee an entrance to my dungeon, +and me a companion in my misery." + +"Think better than that," said Count Robert, "think of liberty--think +of revenge! I cannot believe such unjust treachery will end +successfully, else needs must I say, the heavens are less just than +priests tell us of. How art thou supplied with food in this dungeon of +thine?" + +"A warder," said Ursel, "and who, I think, understands not the Greek +language--at least he never either answers or addresses me--brings a +loaf and a pitcher of water, enough to supply my miserable life till +two days are past. I must, therefore, pray that you will retire for a +space into the next prison, so that the warder may have no means of +knowing that we can hold correspondence together." + +"I see not," said Count Robert, "by what access the barbarian, if he is +one, can enter my dungeon without passing through yours; but no matter, +I will retire into the inner or outer room, whichever it happens to be, +and be thou then well aware that the warder will have some one to +grapple with ere he leaves his prison-work to-day. Meanwhile, think +thyself dumb as thou art blind, and be assured that the offer of +freedom itself would not induce me to desert the cause of a companion +in adversity." + +"Alas," said the old man, "I listen to thy promises as I should to +those of the morning gale, which tells me that the sun is about to +rise, although I know that I at least shall never behold it. Thou art +one of those wild and undespairing knights, whom for so many years the +west of Europe hath sent forth to attempt impossibilities, and from +thee, therefore, I can only hope for such a fabric of relief as an idle +boy would blow out of soap bubbles." + +"Think better of us, old man," said Count Robert, retiring; "at least +let me die with my blood warm, and believing it possible for me to be +once more united to my beloved Brenhilda." + +So saying, he retired into his own cell, and replaced the door, so that +the operations of Ursel, which indeed were only such as three years' +solitude could have achieved, should escape observation when again +visited by the Warder. "It is ill luck," said he, when once more within +his own prison--for that in which the tiger had been secured, he +instinctively concluded to be destined for him--"It is ill luck that I +had not found a young and able fellow-captive, instead of one decrepit +by imprisonment, blind, and broken down past exertion. But God's will +be done! I will not leave behind me the poor wretch whom I have found +in such a condition, though he is perfectly unable to assist me in +accomplishing my escape, and is rather more likely to retard it. +Meantime, before we put out the torch, let us see, if, by close +examination, we can discover any door in the wall save that to the +blind man's dungeon. If not, I much suspect that my descent has been +made through the roof. That cup of wine--that Muse, as they called it, +had a taste more like medicine than merry companions' pledge." + +He began accordingly a strict survey of the walls, which he resolved to +conclude by extinguishing the torch, that he might take the person who +should enter his dungeon darkling and by surprise, For a similar +reason, he dragged into the darkest corner the carcass of the tiger, +and covered it with the remains of the bed-clothes, swearing at the +same time, that a half tiger should be his crest in future, if he had +the fortune, which his bold heart would not suffer him to doubt, of +getting through the present danger. "But," he added, "if these +necromantic vassals of hell shall raise the devil upon, me, what shall +I do then? And so great is the chance, that methinks I would fain +dispense with extinguishing the flambeau. Yet it is childish for one +dubbed in the chapel of Our Lady of the Broken Lances, to make much +difference between a light room and a dark one. Let them come, as many +fiends as the cell can hold, and we shall see if we receive them not as +becomes a Christian knight; and surely, Our Lady, to whom I was ever a +true votary, will hold it an acceptable sacrifice that I tore myself +from my Brenhilda, even for a single moment, in honour of her advent, +and thus led the way for our woful separation. Fiends! I defy ye in the +body as in the spirit, and I retain the remains of this flambeau until +some more convenient opportunity." He dashed it against the wall as he +spoke, and then quietly sat down in a corner, to watch what should next +happen. + +Thought after thought chased each other through his mind. His +confidence in his wife's fidelity, and his trust in her uncommon +strength and activity, were the greatest comforts which he had; nor +could her danger present itself to him in any shape so terrible, but +that he found consolation in these reflections: "She is pure," he said, +"as the dew of heaven, and heaven will not abandon its own." + + + + +CHAPTER THE SIXTEENTH. + + Strange ape of man! who loathes thee while he scorns thee. + Half a reproach to us and half a jest. + What fancies can be ours ere we have pleasure + In viewing our own form, our pride and passions, + Reflected in a shape grotesque as thine! + ANONYMOUS. + + +Count Robert of Paris having ensconced himself behind the ruins of the +bed, so that he could not well be observed, unless a strong light was +at once flung upon the place of his retreat, waited with anxiety how +and in what manner the warder of the dungeon, charged with the task of +bringing food to the prisoners, should make himself visible; nor was it +long ere symptoms of his approach began to be heard and observed. + +A light was partially seen, as from a trap-door opening in the roof, +and a voice was heard to utter these words in Anglo-Saxon, "Leap, +sirrah; come, no delay; leap, my good Sylvan, show your honour's +activity." A strange chuckling hoarse voice, in a language totally +unintelligible to Count Robert, was heard to respond, as if disputing +the orders which were received. + +"What, sir," said his companion, "you must contest the point, must you? +Nay, if thou art so lazy, I must give your honour a ladder, and perhaps +a kick to hasten your journey." Something then, of very great size, in +the form of a human being, jumped down from the trap-door, though the +height might be above fourteen feet. This figure was gigantic, being +upwards of seven feet high. In its left hand it held a torch, and in +its right a skein of fine silk, which unwinding itself as it descended, +remained unbroken, though it was easy to conceive it could not have +afforded a creature so large any support in his descent from the roof. +He alighted with perfect safety and activity upon his feet, and, as if +rebounding from the floor, he sprung upwards again, so as almost to +touch the roof. In this last gambaud the torch which he bore was +extinguished; but this extraordinary warder whirled it round his head +with infinite velocity, so that it again ignited. The bearer, who +appeared to intend the accomplishment of this object, endeavoured to +satisfy himself that it was really attained by approaching, as if +cautiously, its left hand to the flame of the torch. This practical +experiment seemed attended with consequences which the creature had not +expected, for it howled with pain, shaking the burnt hand, and +chattering as if bemoaning itself. + +"Take heed there, Sylvanus!" said the same voice in Anglo-Saxon, and in +a tone of rebuke. "Ho, there! mind thy duty, Sylvan! Carry food to the +blind man, and stand not there to play thyself, lest I trust thee not +again alone on such an errand!" + +The creature--for it would have been rash to have termed it a +man--turning its eye upwards to the place from whence the voice came, +answered with a dreadful grin and shaking of its fist, yet presently +began to undo a parcel, and rummage in the pockets of a sort of jerkin +and pantaloons which it wore, seeking, it appeared, a bunch of keys, +which at length it produced, while it took from the pocket a loaf of +bread. Heating the stone of the wall, it affixed the torch to it by a +piece of wax, and then cautiously looked out for the entrance to the +old man's dungeon, which it opened with a key selected from the bunch. +Within the passage it seemed to look for and discover the handle of a +pump, at which it filled a pitcher that it bore, and bringing back the +fragments of the former loaf, and remains of the pitcher of water, it +ate a little, as if it were in sport, and very soon making a frightful +grimace, flung the fragments away. The Count of Paris, in the +meanwhile, watched anxiously the proceedings of this unknown animal. +His first thought was, that the creature, whose limbs were so much +larger than humanity, whose grimaces were so frightful, and whose +activity seemed supernatural, could be no other than the Devil himself, +or some of his imps, whose situation and office in those gloomy regions +seemed by no means hard to conjecture. The human voice, however, which +he had heard, was less that of a necromancer conjuring a fiend than +that of a person giving commands to a wild animal, over whom he had, by +training, obtained a great superiority. + +"A shame on it," said the Count, "if I suffer a common jackanapes,--for +such I take this devil-seeming beast to be, although twice as large as +any of its fellows whom I have ever seen,--to throw an obstacle in the +way of my obtaining daylight and freedom! Let us but watch, and the +chance is that we make that furry gentleman our guide to the upper +regions." + +Meantime the creature, which rummaged about everywhere, at length. +discovered the body of the tiger,--touched it, stirred it, with many +strange motions, and seemed to lament and wonder at its death. At once +it seemed struck with the idea that some one must have slain it, and +Count Robert had the mortification to see it once more select the key, +and spring towards the door of Ursel's prison with such alacrity, that +had its intention been to strangle him, it would have accomplished its +purpose before the interference of Count Robert could have prevented +its revenge taking place. Apparently, however, it reflected, that for +reasons which seemed satisfactory, the death of the tiger could not be +caused by the unfortunate Ursel, but had been accomplished by some one +concealed within the outer prison. + +Slowly grumbling, therefore, and chattering to itself, and peeping +anxiously into every corner, the tremendous creature, so like yet so +very unlike to the human form, came stealing along the walls, moving +whatever he thought could seclude a man from his observation. Its +extended legs and arms were protruded forward with great strides, and +its sharp eyes, on the watch to discover the object of its search, kept +prying, with the assistance of the torch, into every corner. + +Considering the vicinity of Alexius's collection of animals, the +reader, by this time, can have little doubt that the creature in +question, whose appearance seemed to the Count of Paris so very +problematical, was a specimen of that gigantic species of ape--if it is +not indeed some animal more nearly allied to ourselves--to which, I +believe, naturalists have given the name of the Ourang Outang. This +creature differs from the rest of its fraternity, in being +comparatively more docile and serviceable: and though possessing the +power of imitation which is common to the whole race, yet making use of +it less in mere mockery, than in the desire of improvement and +instruction perfectly unknown to his brethren. The aptitude which it +possesses of acquiring information, is surprisingly great, and +probably, if placed in a favourable situation, it might admit of being +domesticated in a considerable degree; but such advantages the ardour +of scientific curiosity has never afforded this creature. The last we +have heard of was seen, we believe, in the Island of Sumatra--it was of +great size and strength, and upwards of seven feet high. It died +defending desperately its innocent life against a party of Europeans, +who, we cannot help thinking, might have better employed the +superiority which their knowledge gave them over the poor native of the +forest. It was probably this creature, seldom seen, but when once seen +never forgotten, which occasioned the ancient belief in the god Pan, +with his sylvans and satyrs. Nay, but for the gift of speech, which we +cannot suppose any of the family to have attained, we should have +believed the satyr seen by St. Anthony in the desert to have belonged +to this tribe. + +We can, therefore, the more easily credit the annals which attest that +the collection of natural history belonging to Alexius Comnenus, +preserved an animal of this kind, which had been domesticated and +reclaimed to a surprising extent, and showed a degree of intelligence +never perhaps to be attained in any other case. These explanations +being premised, we return to the thread of our story. + +The animal advanced with long noiseless steps; its shadow on the wall, +when it held the torch so as to make it visible to the Frank, forming +another fiend-resembling mimicry of its own large figure and +extravagant-looking members. Count Robert remained in his lurking hole, +in no hurry to begin a strife, of which it was impossible to foretell +the end. In the meantime, the man of the woods came nigh, and every +step by which he approached, caused the Count's heart to vibrate almost +audibly, at the idea of meeting danger of a nature so strange and new. +At length the creature approached the bed--his hideous eyes were fixed +on those of the Count; and, as much surprised at seeing him as Robert +was at the meeting, he skipped about fifteen paces backwards at one +spring, with a cry of instinctive terror, and then advanced on tiptoe, +holding his torch as far forward as he could, between him and the +object of his fears, as if to examine him at the safest possible +distance. Count Robert caught up a fragment of the bedstead, large +enough to form a sort of club, with which he menaced the native of the +wilds. + +Apparently this poor creature's education, like education of most +kinds, had not been acquired without blows, of which the recollection +was as fresh as that of the lessons which they enforced. Sir Robert of +Paris was a man at once to discover and to avail himself of the +advantage obtained by finding that he possessed a degree of ascendancy +over his enemy, which he had not suspected. He erected his warlike +figure, assumed a step as if triumphant in the lists, and advanced +threatening his enemy with his club, as he would have menaced his +antagonist with the redoutable Tranchefer. The man of the woods, on the +other hand, obviously gave way, and converted his cautious advance into +a retreat no less cautious. Yet apparently the creature had not +renounced some plan of resistance; he chattered in an angry and hostile +tone, held out his torch in opposition, and seemed about to strike the +crusader with it. Count Robert, however, determined to take his +opponent at advantage, while his fears influenced him, and for this +purpose resolved, if possible, to deprive him of his natural +superiority in strength and agility, which his singular form showed he +could not but possess over the human species. A master of his weapon, +therefore, the Count menaced his savage antagonist with a stroke on the +right side of his head, but suddenly averting the blow, struck him with +his whole force on the left temple, and in an instant was kneeling +above him, when, drawing his dagger, he was about to deprive him of +life. + +The Ourang Outang, ignorant of the nature of this new weapon with which +he was threatened, attempted at one and the same moment, to rise from +the ground, overthrow his antagonist, and wrench the dagger from his +grasp. In the first attempt, he would probably have succeeded; and as +it was, he gained his knees, and seemed likely to prevail in the +struggle, when he became sensible that the knight, drawing his poniard +sharply through his grasp, had cut his paw severely, and seeing him aim +the trenchant weapon at his throat, became probably aware that his +enemy had his life at command. He suffered himself to be borne +backwards without further resistance, with a deep wailing and +melancholy cry, having in it something human, which excited compassion. +He covered his eyes with the unwounded hand, as if he would have hid +from his own sight the death which seemed approaching him. + +Count Robert, notwithstanding his military frenzy, was, in ordinary +matters, a calm-tempered and mild man, and particularly benevolent to +the lower classes of creation. The thought rushed through his mind, +"Why take from this unfortunate monster the breath which is in its +nostrils, after which it cannot know another existence? And then, may +it not be some prince or knight changed to this grotesque shape, that +it may help to guard these vaults, and the wonderful adventures that +attach to them? Should I not, then, be guilty of a crime by slaying +him, when he has rendered himself, rescue or no rescue, which he has +done as completely as his transformed figure permits; and if he be +actually a bestial creature, may he not have some touch of gratitude? I +have heard the minstrels sing the lay of Androcles and the Lion. I will +be on my guard with him."' + +So saying, he rose from above the man of the woods, and permitted him. +also to arise. The creature seemed sensible of the clemency, for he +muttered in a low and supplicating tone, which seemed at once to crave +for mercy, and to return thanks for what he had already experienced. He +wept too, as he saw the blood dropping from his wound, and with an +anxious countenance, which had more of the human now that it was +composed into an expression of pain and melancholy, seemed to await in +terror the doom of a being more powerful than himself. + +The pocket which the knight wore under his armour, capable of +containing but few things, had, however, some vulnerary balsam, for +which its owner had often occasion, a little lint, and a small roll of +linen; these the knight took out, and motioned to the animal to hold +forth his wounded hand. The man of the woods obeyed with hesitation and +reluctance, and Count Robert applied the balsam and the dressings, +acquainting his patient, at the same time, in a severe tone of voice, +that perhaps he did wrong in putting to his use a balsam compounded for +the service of the noblest knights; but that, if he saw the least sign +of his making an ungrateful use of the benefit he had conferred, he +would bury the dagger, of which he had felt the efficacy, to the very +handle, in his body. + +The Sylvan looked fixedly upon Count Robert, almost as if he understood +the language used to him, and, making one of its native murmurs, it +stooped to the earth, kissed the feet of the knight, and embracing his +knees, seemed to swear to him eternal gratitude and fidelity. +Accordingly, when the Count retired to the bed and assumed his armour, +to await the re-opening of the trap-door, the animal sat down by his +side, directing its eyes in the line with his, and seemed quietly to +wait till the door should open. After waiting about an hour, a slight +noise was heard in the upper chamber, and the wild man plucked the +Frank by the cloak, as if to call his attention to what was about to +happen. The same voice which had before spoken, was, after a whistle or +two, heard to call, "Sylvan, Sylvan! where loiterest thou? Come +instantly, or, by the rood, thou shalt abye thy sloth!" + +The poor monster, as Trinculo might have called him, seemed perfectly +aware of the meaning of this threat, and showed his sense of it by +pressing close to the side of Count Robert, making at the same time a +kind of whining, entreating, it would seem, the knight's protection. +Forgetting the great improbability there was, even in his own opinion, +that the creature could understand him, Count Robert said, "Why, my +friend, thou hast already learned the principal court prayer of this +country, by which men. entreat permission, to speak and live. Fear +nothing, poor creature--I am thy protector." + +"Sylvan! what, ho!" said the voice again; "whom hast thou got for a +companion?--some of the fiends, or ghosts of murdered men, who they say +are frequent in these dungeons? or dost thou converse with the old +blind rebel Grecian?--or, finally, is it true what men say of thee, +that thou canst talk intelligibly when thou wilt, and only gibberest +and chatterest for fear thou art sent to work? Come, thou lazy rascal! +thou shalt have the advantage of the ladder to ascend by, though thou +needest it no more than a daw to ascend the steeple of the Cathedral of +St. Sophia. [Footnote: Now the chief mosque of the Ottoman capital.] +Come along then," he said, putting a ladder down the trap-door, "and +put me not to the trouble of descending to fetch thee, else, by St. +Swithin, it shall be the worse for thee. Come along, therefore, like a +good fellow, and for once I shall spare the whip." + +The animal, apparently, was moved by this rhetoric, for, with a doleful +look, which Count Robert saw by means of the nearly extinguished torch, +he seemed to bid him farewell, and to creep away towards the ladder +with the same excellent good-will wherewith a condemned criminal +performs the like evolution. But no sooner did the Count look angry, +and shake the formidable dagger, than the intelligent animal seemed at +once to take his resolution, and clenching his hands firmly together in +the fashion of one who has made up his mind, he returned from the +ladder's foot, and drew up behind Count Robert,--with the air, however, +of a deserter, who feels himself but little at home when called into +the field against his ancient commander. + +In a short time the warder's patience was exhausted, and despairing of +the Sylvan's voluntary return, he resolved to descend in quest of him. +Down the ladder he came, a bundle of keys in one hand, the other +assisting his descent, and a sort of dark lantern, whose bottom was so +fashioned that he could wear it upon his head like a hat. He had scarce +stept on the floor, when he was surrounded by the nervous arms of the +Count of Paris. At first the warder's idea was, that he was seized by +the recusant Sylvan. + +"How now, villain!" he said; "let me go, or thou shalt die the death." + +"Thou diest thyself," said the Count, who, between the surprise and his +own skill in wrestling, felt fully his advantage in the struggle. + +"Treason! treason!" cried the warder, hearing by the voice that a +stranger had mingled in the contest; "help, ho! above there! help, +Hereward--Varangian!--Anglo-Saxon, or whatever accursed name thou +callest thyself!" + +While he spoke thus, the irresistible grasp of Count Robert seized his +throat, and choked his utterance. They fell heavily, the jailor +undermost, upon the floor of the dungeon, and Robert of Paris, the +necessity of whose case excused the action, plunged his dagger in the +throat of the unfortunate. Just as he did so, a noise of armour was +heard, and, rattling down the ladder, our acquaintance Hereward stood +on the floor of the dungeon. The light, which had rolled from the head +of the warder, continued to show him streaming with blood, and in the +death-grasp of a stranger. Hereward hesitated not to fly to his +assistance, and, seizing upon the Count of Paris at the same advantage +which that knight had gained over his own adversary a moment before, +held him forcibly down with his face to the earth. Count Robert was one +of the strongest men of that military age; but then so was the +Varangian; and save that the latter had obtained a decided advantage by +having his antagonist beneath him, it could not certainly have been +conjectured which way the combat was to go. + +"Yield, as your own jargon goes, rescue or no rescue," said the +Varangian, "or die on the point of my dagger!" + +"A French Count never yields," answered Robert, who began to conjecture +with what sort of person he was engaged, "above all to a vagabond slave +like thee!" With this he made an effort to rise, so sudden, so strong, +so powerful, that he had almost freed himself from the Varangian's +grasp, had not Hereward, by a violent exertion of his great strength, +preserved the advantage he had gained, and raised his poniard to end +the strife for ever; but a loud chuckling laugh of an unearthly sound +was at this instant heard. The Varangian's extended arm was seized with +vigour, while a rough arm embracing his throat, turned him over on his +back, and gave the French Count an opportunity of springing up. + +"Death to thee, wretch!" said the Varangian, scarce knowing whom he +threatened; but the man of the woods apparently had an awful +recollection of the prowess of human beings. He fled, therefore, +swiftly up the ladder, and left Hereward and his deliverer to fight it +out with what success chance might determine between them. + +The circumstances seemed to argue a desperate combat; both were tall, +strong, and courageous, both had defensive armour, and the fatal and +desperate poniard was their only offensive weapon. They paused facing +each other, and examined eagerly into their respective means of defence +before hazarding a blow, which, if it missed, its attaint would +certainly be fatally requited. During this deadly pause, a gleam shone +from the trapdoor above, as the wild and alarmed visage of the man of +the woods was seen peering down by the light of a newly kindled torch +which he held as low into the dungeon as he well could. + +"Fight bravely, comrade," said Count Robert of Paris, "for we no longer +battle in private; this respectable person, having chosen to constitute +himself judge of the field." + +Hazardous as his situation was, the Varangian looked up, and was so +struck with the wild and terrified expression which the creature had +assumed, and the strife between curiosity and terror which its +grotesque features exhibited, that he could not help bursting into a +fit of laughter. + +"Sylvan is among those," said Hereward, "who would rather hold the +candle to a dance so formidable than join in it himself." + +"Is there then," said Count Robert, "any absolute necessity that thou +and I perform this dance at all?" + +"None but our own pleasure," answered Hereward; "for I suspect there is +not between us any legitimate cause of quarrel demanding to be fought +out in such a place, and before such a spectator. Thou art, if I +mistake not, the bold Frank, who was yesternight imprisoned in this +place with, a tiger, chained within no distant spring of his bed?" + +"I am," answered the Count. + +"And where is the animal who was opposed to thee?" + +"He lies yonder," answered the Count, "never again to be the object of +more terror than the deer whom he may have preyed on in his day." He +pointed to the body of the tiger, which Hereward examined by the light +of the dark lantern already mentioned. + +"And this, then, was thy handiwork?" said the wondering Anglo-Saxon. + +"Sooth to say it was," answered the Count, with indifference. + +"And thou hast slain my comrade of this strange watch?" said the +Varangian. + +"Mortally wounded him at the least," said Count Robert. + +"With your patience, I will be beholden to you for a moment's truce, +while I examine his wound," said Hereward. + +"Assuredly," answered the Count; "blighted be the arm which strikes a +foul blow at an open antagonist!" + +Without demanding further security, the Varangian quitted his posture +of defence and precaution, and set himself, by the assistance of the +dark lantern, to examine the wound of the first warder who appeared on +the field, who seemed, by his Roman military dress, to be a soldier of +the bands called Immortals. Pie found him in the death-agony, but still +able to speak. + +"So, Varangian, thou art come at last,--and is it to thy sloth or +treachery that I am to impute my fate?--Nay, answer me not!--The +stranger struck me over the collar-bone--had we lived long together, or +met often, I had done the like by thee, to wipe out the memory of +certain transactions at the Golden Gate.--I know the use of the knife +too well to doubt the effect of a blow aimed over the collar-bone by so +strong a hand--I feel it coming. The Immortal, so called, becomes now, +if priests say true, an immortal indeed, and Sebastes of Mytilene's bow +is broken ere his quiver is half emptied." + +The robber Greek sunk back in Hereward's arms, and closed his life with +a groan, which was the last sound he uttered. The Varangian laid the +body at length on the dungeon floor. + +"This is a perplexed matter," he said; "I am certainly not called upon +to put to death a brave man, although my national enemy, because he +hath killed a miscreant who was privately meditating my own murder. +Neither is this a place or a light by which to fight as becomes the +champions of two nations. Let that quarrel be still for the +present.--How say you then, noble sir, if we adjourn the present +dispute till we effect your deliverance from the dungeons of the +Blacquernal, and your restoration to your own friends and followers? If +a poor Varangian should be of service to you in this matter, would you, +when it was settled, refuse to meet him in fair fight, with your +national weapons or his own?" + +"If," said Count Robert, "whether friend or enemy, thou wilt extend thy +assistance to my wife, who is also imprisoned somewhere in this +inhospitable palace, be assured, that whatever be thy rank, whatever be +thy country, whatever be thy condition, Robert of Paris will, at thy +choice, proffer thee his right hand in friendship, or raise it against +thee in fair and manly battle--a strife not of hatred, but of honour +and esteem; and this I vow by the soul of Charlemagne, my ancestor, and +by the shrine of my patroness, Our Lady of the Broken Lances." + +"Enough said," replied Hereward. "I am as much bound to the assistance +of your Lady Countess, being a poor exile, as if I were the first in +the ranks of chivalry; for if any thing can make the cause of worth and +bravery yet more obligatory, it must be its being united with that of a +helpless and suffering female." + +"I ought," said Count Robert, "to be here silent, without loading thy +generosity with farther requests; yet thou art a man, whom, if fortune +has not smiled at thy birth, by ordaining thee to be born within the +ranks of noblesse and knighthood, yet Providence hath done thee more +justice by giving thee a more gallant heart than is always possessed, I +fear, by those who are inwoven in the gayest wreath of chivalry. There +lingers here in these dungeons, for I cannot say he lives--a blind old +man, to whom for three years every thing beyond his prison has been a +universal blot. His food is bread and water, his intercourse limited to +the conversation of a sullen warder, and if death can ever come as a +deliverer, it must be to this dark old man. What sayst thou? Shall he, +so unutterably miserable, not profit by perhaps the only opportunity of +freedom that may ever occur to him?" + +"By St. Dunstan," answered the Varangian, "thou keepest over truly the +oath thou hast taken as a redresser of wrongs! Thine own case is +well-nigh desperate, and thou art willing to make it utterly so by +uniting with it that of every unhappy person whom fate throws in thy +way!" + +"The more of human misery we attempt to relieve," said Robert of Paris, +"the more we shall carry with us the blessing of our merciful saints, +and Our Lady of the Broken Lances, who views with so much pain every +species of human suffering or misfortune, save that which occurs within +the enclosure of the lists. But come, valiant Anglo-Saxon, resolve me +on my request as speedily as thou canst. There is something in thy face +of candour as well as sense, and it is with no small confidence that I +desire to see us set forth in quest of my beloved Countess, who, when +her deliverance is once achieved, will be a powerful aid to us in +recovering that of others." + +"So be it, then," said the Varangian; "we will proceed in quest of the +Countess Brenhilda; and if, on recovering her, we find ourselves strong +enough to procure the freedom of the dark old man, my cowardice, or +want of compassion, shall never stop the attempt." + + + + +CHAPTER THE SEVENTEENTH. + + 'Tis strange that, in the dark sulphureous mine, + Where wild ambition piles its ripening stores + Of slumbering thunder, Love will interpose + His tiny torch, and cause the stern explosion + To burst, when the deviser's least aware. + ANONYMOUS. + + +About noon of the same day, Agelastes met with Achilles Tatius, the +commander of the Varangian guard, in those ruins of the Egyptian temple +in which we formerly mentioned Hereward having had an interview with +the philosopher. They met, as it seemed, in a very different humour. +Tatius was gloomy, melancholy, and downcast; while the philosopher +maintained the calm indifference which procured for him, and in some +sort deserved, the title of the Elephant. "Thou blenchest, Achilles +Tatius," said the philosopher, "now that thou hast frankly opposed +thyself to all the dangers which stood between thee and greatness. Thou +art like the idle boy who turned the mill-stream upon the machine, and +that done, instead of making a proper use of it, was terrified at +seeing it in motion." + +"Thou dost me wrong, Agelastes," answered the Acolyte, "foul wrong; I +am but like the mariner, who although determined upon his voyage, yet +cannot forbear a sorrowing glance at the shore, before he parts with +it, it may be, for ever." + +"It may have been right to think of this, but pardon me, valiant +Tatius, when I tell you the account should have been made up before; +and the grandson of Alguric the Hun ought to have computed chances and +consequences ere he stretched his hand to his master's diadem." + +"Hush! for Heaven's sake," said Tatius, looking round; "that, thou +knowest, is a secret between our two selves; for if Nicephorus, the +Caesar, should learn it, where were we and our conspiracy?" + +"Our bodies on the gibbet, probably," answered Agelastes, "and our +souls divorced from them, and in the way of discovering the secrets +which thou hast hitherto taken upon trust." + +"Well," said Achilles, "and should not the consciousness of the +possibility of this fate render us cautious?" + +"Cautious _men_, if you will," answered Agelastes, "but not timid +children." + +"Stone walls can hear,"--said the Follower, lowering his voice. +"Dionysius the tyrant, I have read, had an ear which conveyed to him +the secrets spoken within his state-prison at Syracuse." + +"And that Ear is still stationary at Syracuse," said the philosopher. +"Tell me, my most simple friend, art thou afraid it has been +transported hither in one night, as the Latins believe of Our Lady's +house of Loretto?" + +"No," answered Achilles, "but in an affair so important too much +caution cannot be used." + +"Well, thou most cautious of candidates for empire, and most cold of +military leaders, know that the Caesar, deeming, I think, that there is +no chance of the empire falling to any one but himself, hath taken in +his head to consider his succession to Alexius as a matter of course, +whenever the election takes place. In consequence, as matters of course +are usually matters of indifference, he has left all thoughts of +securing his interest upon, this material occasion to thee and to me, +while the foolish voluptuary hath himself run mad--for what think you? +Something between man and woman,--female in her lineaments, her limbs, +and a part at least of her garments; but, so help me St. George, most +masculine in the rest of her attire, in her propensities, and in her +exercises." + +"The Amazonian wife, thou meanest," said Achilles, "of that iron-handed +Frank, who dashed to pieces last night the golden lion of Solomon with +a blow of his fist? By St. George, the least which can come of such an +amour is broken bones." + +"That," said Agelastes, "is not quite so improbable as that Dionysius's +Ear should fly hither from Syracuse in a single night; but he is +presumptuous in respect of the influence which his supposed good looks +have gained him among the Grecian dames." + +"He was too presumptuous, I suppose," said Achilles Tatius, "to make a +proper allowance for his situation as Caesar, and the prospect of his +being Emperor." + +"Meantime," said Agelastes, "I have promised him an interview with his +Bradamante, who may perhaps reward his tender epithets of _Zoe kai +psyche_, [Footnote: "Life and Soul."] by divorcing his amorous soul +from his unrivalled person." + +"Meantime," said the Follower, "thou obtainest, I conclude, such orders +and warrants as the Caesar can give for the furtherance of our plot?" + +"Assuredly," said Agelastes, "it is an opportunity not to be lost. This +love fit, or mad fit, has blinded him; and without exciting too much +attention to the progress of the plot, we can thus in safety conduct +matters our own way, without causing malevolent remarks; and though I +am conscious that, in doing so, I act somewhat at variance with my age +and character, yet the end being to convert a worthy Follower into an +Imperial Leader, I shame me not in procuring that interview with the +lady, of which the Caesar, as they term him, is so desirous.--What +progress, meanwhile, hast thou made with the Varangians, who are, in +respect of execution, the very arm of our design?" + +"Scarce so good as I could wish," said Achilles Tatius; "yet I have +made sure of some two or three score of those whom I found most +accessible; nor have I any doubt, that when the Caesar is set aside, +their cry will be for Achilles Tatius." + +"And what of the gallant who assisted at our prelections?" said +Agelastes; "your Edward, as Alexius termed him?" + +"I have made no impression upon him," said the Follower; "and I am +sorry for it, for he is one whom his comrades think well of, and would +gladly follow. Meantime I have placed him as an additional sentinel +upon the iron-witted Count of Paris, whom, both having an inveterate +love of battle, he is very likely to put to death; and if it is +afterwards challenged by the crusaders as a cause of war, it is only +delivering up the Varangian, whose personal hatred will needs be +represented as having occasioned the catastrophe. All this being +prepared beforehand, how and when shall we deal with the Emperor?" + +"For that," said Agelastes, "we must consult the Caesar, who, although +his expected happiness of to-day is not more certain than the state +preferment that he expects to-morrow, and although his ideas are much +more anxiously fixed upon his success with this said Countess than his +succession to the empire, will, nevertheless, expect to be treated as +the head of the enterprise for accelerating the latter. But, to speak +my opinion, valiant Tatius, to-morrow will be the last day that Alexius +shall hold the reins of empire." + +"Let me know for certain," said the Follower, "as soon as thou canst, +that I may warn our brethren, who are to have in readiness the +insurgent citizens, and those of the Immortals who are combined with +us, in the neighbourhood of the court, and in readiness to act--And, +above all, that I may disperse upon distant guards such Varangians as I +cannot trust." + +"Rely upon me," said Agelastes, "for the most accurate information and +instructions, so soon as I have seen Nicephorus Briennius. One word +permit me to ask--in what manner is the wife of the Caesar to be +disposed of?" + +"Somewhere," said the Follower, "where I can never be compelled to hear +more of her history. Were it not for that nightly pest of her lectures, +I could be good-natured enough to take care of her destiny myself, and +teach her the difference betwixt a real emperor and this Briennius, who +thinks so much of himself." So saying, they separated; the Follower +elated in look and manner considerably above what he had been when they +met. + +Agelastes looked after his companion with a scornful laugh. "There," he +said, "goes a fool, whose lack of sense prevents his eyes from being +dazzled by the torch which cannot fail to consume them. A half-bred, +half-acting, half-thinking, half-daring caitiff, whose poorest +thoughts--and those which deserve that name must be poor indeed--are +not the produce of his own understanding. He expects to circumvent the +fiery, haughty, and proud Nicephorus Briennius! If he does so, it will +not be by his own policy, and still less by his valour. Nor shall Anna +Comnena, the soul of wit and genius, be chained to such an +unimaginative log as yonder half-barbarian. No--she shall have a +husband of pure Grecian extraction, and well stored with that learning +which was studied when Rome was great, and Greece illustrious. Nor will +it be the least charm of the Imperial throne, that it is partaken by a +partner whose personal studies have taught her to esteem and value +those of the Emperor." He took a step or two with conscious elevation, +and then, as conscience-checked, he added, in a suppressed voice, "But +then, if Anna were destined for Empress, it follows of course that +Alexius must die--no consent could be trusted.--And what then?--the +death of an ordinary man is indifferent, when it plants on the throne a +philosopher and a historian; and at what time were possessors of the +empire curious to enquire when or by whose agency their predecessors +died?--Diogenes! Ho, Diogenes!" The slave did not immediately come, so +that Agelastes, wrapt in the anticipation of his greatness, had time to +add a few more words "Tush--I must reckon with Heaven, say the priests, +for many things, so I will throw this also into the account. The death +of the Emperor may be twenty ways achieved without my having the blame +of it. The blood which we have shed may spot our hand, if closely +regarded, but it shall scarce stain our forehead." Diogenes here +entered--"Has the Frank lady been removed?" said the philosopher. + +The slave signified his assent. + +"How did she bear her removal?" + +"As authorised by your lordship, indifferently well. She had resented +her separation from her husband, and her being detained in the palace, +and committed some violence upon the slaves of the Household, several +of whom were said to be slain, although we perhaps ought only to read +sorely frightened. She recognised me at once, and when I told her that +I came to offer her a day's retirement in your own lodgings, until it +should be in your power to achieve the liberation of her husband, she +at once consented, and I deposited her in the secret Cytherean +garden-house." + +"Admirably done, my faithful Diogenes," said the philosopher; "thou art +like the genii who attended on the Eastern talisman; I have but to +intimate my will to thee, and it is accomplished." + +Diogenes bowed deeply, and withdrew. + +"Yet remember, slave!" said Agelastes, speaking to himself; "there is +danger in knowing too much---and should my character ever become +questioned, too many of my secrets are in the power of Diogenes." + +At this moment a blow thrice repeated, and struck upon one of the +images without, which had been so framed as to return a tingling sound, +and in so far deserved the praise of being vocal, interrupted his +soliloquy. + +"There knocks," said he, "one of our allies; who can it be that comes +so late?" He touched the figure of Iris with his staff, and the Caesar +Nicephorus Briennius entered in the full Grecian habit, and that +graceful dress anxiously arranged to the best advantage. "Let me hope, +my Lord," said Agelastes, receiving the Caesar with an apparently grave +and reserved face, "your Highness comes to tell me that your sentiments +are changed on reflection, and that whatever you had to confer about +with this Frankish lady, may be at least deferred until the principal +part of our conspiracy has been successfully executed." + +"Philosopher," answered the Caesar, "no. My resolution, once taken, is +not the sport of circumstances. Believe me, that I have not finished so +many labours without being ready to undertake others. The favour of +Venus is the reward of the labours of Mars, nor would I think it worth +while to worship the god armipotent with the toil and risk attending +his service, unless I had previously attained some decided proofs that +I was wreathed with the myrtle, intimating the favour of his beautiful +mistress." + +"I beg pardon for my boldness," said Agelastes; "but has your Imperial +Highness reflected, that you were wagering, with the wildest rashness, +an empire, including thine own life, mine, and all who are joined with +us, in a hardy scheme? And against what were they waged? Against the +very precarious favour of a woman, who is altogether divided betwixt +fiend and female, and in either capacity is most likely to be fatal to +our present scheme, either by her good will, or by the offence which +she may take. If she prove such as you wish, she will desire to keep +her lover by her side, and to spare him the danger of engaging in a +perilous conspiracy; and if she remains, as the world believe her, +constant to her husband, and to the sentiments she vowed to him at the +altar, you may guess what cause of offence you are likely to give, by +urging a suit which she has already received so very ill." + +"Pshaw, old man! Thou turnest a dotard, and in the great knowledge thou +possessest of other things, hast forgotten the knowledge best worth +knowing---that of the beautiful part of the creation. Think of the +impression likely to be made by a gallant neither ignoble in situation, +nor unacceptable in presence, upon a lady who must fear the +consequences of refusal! Come, Agelastes, let me have no more of thy +croaking, auguring bad fortune like the raven from the blasted oak on +the left hand; but declaim, as well thou canst, how faint heart never +won fair lady, and how those best deserve empire who can wreathe the +myrtles of Venus with the laurels of Mars. Come, man, undo me the +secret entrance which combines these magical ruins with groves that are +fashioned rather like those of Cytheros or Naxos." + +"It must be as you will!" said the philosopher, with a deep and +somewhat affected sigh. + +"Here, Diogenes!" called aloud the Caesar; "when thou art summoned, +mischief is not far distant. Come, undo the secret entrance. Mischief, +my trusty negro, is not so distant but she will answer the first +clatter of the stones." + +The negro looked at his master, who returned him a glance acquiescing +in the Caesar's proposal. Diogenes then went to a part of the ruined +wall which was covered by some climbing shrubs, all of which he +carefully removed. This showed a little postern door, closed +irregularly, and filled up, from the threshold to the top, with large +square stones, all of which the slave took out and piled aside, as if +for the purpose of replacing them. "I leave thee," said Agelastes to +the negro, "to guard this door, and let no one enter, except he has the +sign, upon the peril of thy life. It were dangerous it should be left +open at this period of the day." + +The obsequious Diogenes put his hand to his sabre and to his head, as +if to signify the usual promise of fidelity or death, by which those in +his condition generally expressed their answer to their master's +commands. Diogenes then lighted a small lantern, and pulling out a key, +opened an inner door of wood, and prepared to step forward. + +"Hold, friend Diogenes," said the Caesar; "thou wantest not my lantern, +to discern an honest man, whom, if thou didst seek, I must needs say +thou hast come to the wrong place to find one. Nail thou up these +creeping shrubs before the entrance of the place, and abide thou there +as already directed, till our return, to parry the curiosity of any who +may be attracted by the sight of the private passage." + +The black slave drew back as he gave the lamp to the Caesar, and +Agelastes followed the light through a long, but narrow, arched +passage, well supplied with air from space to space, and not neglected +in the inside to the degree which its exterior would have implied. + +"I will not enter with you into the Gardens," said Agelastes, "or to +the bower of Cytherea, where I am too old to be a worshipper. Thou +thyself, I think, Imperial Caesar, art well aware of the road, having +travelled it divers times! and, if I mistake not, for the fairest +reasons." + +"The more thanks," said the Caesar, "are due to mine excellent friend +Agelastes, who forgets his own age to accommodate the youth of his +friends." + + + + +CHAPTER THE EIGHTEENTH. + + +We must now return to the dungeon of the Blacquernal, where +circumstances had formed at least a temporary union between the stout +Varangian and Count Robert of Paris, who had a stronger resemblance to +each other in their dispositions than probably either of them would +have been willing to admit. The virtues of the Varangian were all of +that natural and unrefined kind which Nature herself dictates to a +gallant man, to whom a total want of fear, and the most prompt alacrity +to meet danger, had been attributes of a life-long standing. The Count, +on the other hand, had all that bravery, generosity, and love of +adventure, which was possessed by the rude soldier, with the virtues, +partly real, partly fantastic, which those of his rank and country +acquired from the spirit of chivalry. The one might be compared to the +diamond as it came from the mine, before it had yet received the +advantages of cutting and setting; the other was the ornamented gem, +which, cut into facets and richly set, had lost perhaps a little of its +original substance, yet still, at the same time, to the eye of an +inspector, had something more showy and splendid than when it was, +according to the phrase of lapidaries, _en brut_. In the one case, the +value was more artificial; in the other, it was the more natural and +real of the two. Chance, therefore, had made a temporary alliance +between two men, the foundation of whose characters bore such strong +resemblance to each other, that they were only separated by a course of +education, which had left rigid prejudices on both sides, and which +prejudices were not unlikely to run counter to each other. The +Varangian commenced his conversation with the Count in a tone of +familiarity, approaching nearer to rudeness than the speaker was aware +of, and much of which, though most innocently intended by Hereward, +might be taken amiss by his new brother in arms. The most offensive +part of his deportment, however, was a blunt, bold disregard to the +title of those whom he addressed, adhering thereby to the manners of +the Saxons, from whom he drew his descent, and which was likely to be +at least unpleasing to the Franks as well as Normans, who had already +received and become very tenacious of the privileges of the feudal +system, the mummery of heraldry, and the warlike claims assumed by +knights, as belonging only to their own order. + +Hereward was apt, it must be owned, to think too little of these +distinctions; while he had at least a sufficient tendency to think +enough of the power and wealth of the Greek empire which he served,--of +the dignity inherent in Alexius Comnenus, and which he was also +disposed to grant to the Grecian officers, who, under the Emperor, +commanded his own corps, and particularly to Achilles Tatius. This man +Hereward knew to be a coward, and half-suspected to be a villain. +Still, however, the Follower was always the direct channel through +which the Imperial graces were conferred on the Varangians in general, +as well as upon Hereward himself; and he had always the policy to +represent such favours as being more or less indirectly the consequence +of his own intercession. He was supposed vigorously to espouse the +quarrel of the Varangians, in all the disputes between them and the +other corps; he was liberal and open-handed; gave every soldier his +due; and, bating the trifling circumstance of valour, which was not +particularly his forte, it would have been difficult for these +strangers to have demanded a leader more to their wishes. Besides this, +our friend Hereward was admitted by him into his society, attended him, +as we have seen, upon secret expeditions, and shared, therefore, +deeply, in what may be termed by an expressive, though vulgar phrase, +the sneaking kindness entertained for this new Achilles by the greater +part of his myrmidons. Their attachment might be explained, perhaps, as +a liking to their commander, as strong as could well exist with a +marvellous lack of honour and esteem. The scheme, therefore, formed by +Hereward to effect the deliverance of the Count of Paris, comprehended +as much faith to the Emperor, and his representative, the Acolyte or +Follower, as was consistent with rendering justice to the injured Frank. + +In furtherance of this plan, he conducted Count Robert from the +subterranean vaults of the Blacquernal, of the intricacies of which he +was master, having been repeatedly, of late, stationed sentinel there, +for the purpose of acquiring that knowledge of which Tatius promised +himself the advantage in the ensuing conspiracy. When they were in the +open air, and at some distance from the gloomy towers of the Palace, he +bluntly asked the Count of Paris whether he knew Agelastes the +Philosopher. The other answered in the negative. + +"Look you now, Sir Knight, you hurt yourself in attempting to impose +upon me," said Hereward. "You must know him; for I saw you dined with +him yesterday." + +"O! with that learned old man?" said the Count. "I know nothing of him +worth owning or disguising to thee or any one. A wily person he is, +half herald and half minstrel." + +"Half procurer and whole knave," subjoined the Varangian. "With the +mask of apparent good-humour he conceals his pandering to the vices of +others; with the specious jargon of philosophy, he has argued himself +out of religious belief and moral principle; and, with the appearance +of the most devoted loyalty, he will, if he is not checked in time, +either argue his too confiding master out of life and empire, or, if he +fails in this, reason his simple associates into death and misery." + +"And do you know all this," said Count Robert, "and permit this man to +go unimpeached?" + +"O, content you, sir," replied the Varangian; "I cannot yet form any +plot which Agelastes may not countermine; but the time will come, nay +it is already approaching, when the Emperor's attention shall be +irresistibly turned to the conduct of this man, and then let the +philosopher sit fast, or by St. Dunstan the barbarian overthrows him! I +would only fain, methinks, save from his clutches a foolish friend, who +has listed to his delusions." + +"But what have I to do," said the Count, "with this man, or with his +plots?" + +"Much," said Hereward, "although you know it not. The main supporter of +this plot is no other than the Caesar, who ought to be the most +faithful of men; but ever since Alexius has named a Sebastocrator, an +officer that is higher in rank, and nearer to the throne than the +Caesar himself, so long has Nicephorus Briennius been displeased and +dissatisfied, though for what length of time he has joined the schemes +of the astucious Agelastes it is more difficult to say. This I know, +that for many months he has fed liberally, as his riches enable him to +do, the vices and prodigality of the Caesar. He has encouraged him to +show disrespect to his wife, although the Emperor's daughter; has put +ill-will between him and the royal family. And if Briennius bears no +longer the fame of a rational man, and the renown of a good leader, he +is deprived of both by following the advice of this artful sycophant." + +"And what is all this to me?" said, the Frank. "Agelastes may be a true +man or a time-serving slave; his master, Alexius Comnenus, is not so +much allied to me or mine that I should meddle in the intrigues of his +court." + +"You may be mistaken in that," said the blunt Varangian; "if these +intrigues involve the happiness and virtue"'-- + +"Death of a thousand martyrs!" said the Frank, "doth paltry intrigues +and quarrels of slaves involve a single thought of suspicion of the +noble Countess of Paris? The oaths of thy whole generation were +ineffectual to prove but that one of her hairs had changed its colour +to silver!" + +"Well imagined, gallant knight," said the Anglo-Saxon; "thou art a +husband fitted for the atmosphere of Constantinople, which calls for +little vigilance and a strong belief. Thou wilt find many followers and +fellows in this court of ours." + +"Hark thee, friend," replied the Frank, "let us have no more words, nor +walk farther together than just to the most solitary nook of this +bewildered city, and let us there set to that work which we left even +now unfinished." + +"If thou wert a Duke, Sir Count," replied the Varangian, "thou couldst +not invite to a combat one who is more ready for it. Yet consider the +odds on which we fight. If I fall, my moan is soon made; but will my +death set thy wife at liberty if she is under restraint, or restore her +honour if it is tarnished?--Will it do any thing more than remove from +the world the only person who is willing to give thee aid, at his own +risk and danger, and who hopes to unite thee to thy wife, and replace +thee at the head of thy forces?" + +"I was wrong," said the Count of Paris; "I was entirely wrong; but +beware, my good friend, how thou couplest the name of Brenhilda of +Aspramonte with the word of dishonour, and tell me, instead of this +irritating discourse, whither go we now?" + +"To the Cytherean gardens of Agelastes, from which we are not far +distant," said the Anglo-Saxon; "yet he hath a nearer way to it than +that by which we now travel, else I should be at a loss to account for +the short space in which he could exchange the charms of his garden for +the gloomy ruins of the Temple of Isis, and the Imperial palace of the +Blacquernal." + +"And wherefore, and how long," said Count Robert, "dost thou conclude +that my Countess is detained in these gardens?" + +"Ever since yesterday," replied Hereward. "When both I, and several of +my companions, at my request, kept close watch upon the Caesar and your +lady, we did plainly perceive passages of fiery admiration on his part, +and anger as it seemed on hers, which Agelastes, being Nicephorus's +friend, was likely, as usual, to bring to an end, by a separation of +you both from the army of the crusaders, that your wife, like many a +matron before, might have the pleasure of taking up her residence in +the gardens of that worthy sage; while you, my Lord, might take up your +own permanently in the castle of Blacquernal." + +"Villain! why didst thou not apprize me of this yesterday?" + +"A likely thing," said Hereward, "that I should feel myself at liberty +to leave the ranks, and make such a communication to a man, whom, far +from a friend, I then considered in the light of a personal enemy! +Methinks, that instead of such language as this, you should be thankful +that so many chance circumstances have at length brought me to befriend +and assist you." + +Count Robert felt the truth of what was said, though at the same time +his fiery temper longed to avenge itself, according to its wont, upon +the party which was nearest at hand. + +But now they arrived at what the citizens of Constantinople called the +Philosopher's Gardens. Here Hereward hoped to obtain entrance, for he +had gained a knowledge of some part, at least, of the private signals +of Achilles and Agelastes, since he had been introduced to the last at +the ruins of the Temple of Isis. They had not indeed admitted him to +their entire secret; yet, confident in his connexion with the Follower, +they had no hesitation in communicating to him snatches of knowledge, +such as, committed to a man of shrewd natural sense like the +Anglo-Saxon, could scarce fail, in time and by degrees, to make him +master of the whole. Count Robert and his companion stood before an +arched door, the only opening in a high wall, and the Anglo-Saxon was +about to knock, when, as if the idea had suddenly struck him,-- + +"What if the wretch Diogenes opens the gate? We must kill him, ere he +can fly back and betray us. Well, it is a matter of necessity, and the +villain has deserved his death by a hundred horrid crimes." + +"Kill him then, thyself," retorted Count Robert; "he is nearer thy +degree, and assuredly I will not defile the name of Charlemagne with +the blood of a black slave." + +"Nay, God-a-mercy!" answered the Anglo-Saxon, "but you must bestir +yourself in the action, supposing there come rescue, and that I be +over-borne by odds." + +"Such odds," said the knight, "will render the action more like a +_melee_, or general battle; and assure yourself, I will not be slack +when I may, with my honour, be active." + +"I doubt it not," said the Varangian; "but the distinction seems a +strange one, that before permitting a man to defend himself, or annoy +his enemy, requires him to demand the pedigree of his ancestor." + +"Fear you not, sir," said Count Robert. "The strict rule of chivalry +indeed bears what I tell thee, but when the question is, Fight or not? +there is great allowance to be made for a decision in the affirmative." + +"Let me give then the exorciser's rap," replied Hereward, "and see what +fiend will appear." + +So saying, he knocked in a particular manner, and the door opened +inwards; a dwarfish negress stood in the gap--her white hair contrasted +singularly with her dark complexion, and with the broad laughing look +peculiar to those slaves. She had something in her physiognomy which, +severely construed, might argue malice, and a delight in human misery. + +"Is Agelastes"---said the Varangian; but he had not completed the +sentence, when she answered him, by pointing down a shadowed walk. + +The Anglo-Saxon and Frank turned in that direction, when the hag rather +muttered, than said distinctly, "You are one of the initiated, +Varangian; take heed whom you take with you, when you may hardly, +peradventure, be welcomed even going alone." + +Hereward made a sign that he understood her, and they were instantly +out of her sight. The path winded beautifully through the shades of an +Eastern garden, where clumps of flowers and labyrinths of flowering +shrubs, and the tall boughs of the forest trees, rendered even the +breath of noon cool and acceptable. + +"Here we must use our utmost caution," said Hereward, speaking in a low +tone of voice; "for here it is most likely the deer that we seek has +found its refuge. Better allow me to pass before, since you are too +deeply agitated to possess the coolness necessary for a scout. Keep +concealed beneath yon oak, and let no vain scruples of honour deter you +from creeping beneath the underwood, or beneath the earth itself, if +you should hear a footfall. If the lovers have agreed, Agelastes, it is +probable, walks his round, to prevent intrusion." + +"Death and furies! it cannot be!" exclaimed the fiery Frank.--"Lady of +the Broken Lances, take thy votary's life, ere thou torment him with +this agony!" + +He saw, however, the necessity of keeping a strong force upon himself, +and permitted, without further remonstrance, the Varangian to pursue +his way, looking, however, earnestly after him. + +By advancing forward a little, he could observe Hereward draw near to a +pavilion which arose at no great distance from the place where they had +parted. Here he observed him apply, first his eye, and then his ear, to +one of the casements, which were in a great measure grown over, and +excluded from the light, by various flowering shrubs. He almost thought +he saw a grave interest take place in the countenance of the Varangian, +and he longed to have his share of the information which he had +doubtless obtained. + +He crept, therefore, with noiseless steps, through the same labyrinth +of foliage which had covered the approaches of Hereward; and so silent +were his movements, that he touched the Anglo-Saxon, in order to make +him aware of his presence, before he observed his approach. + +Hereward, not aware at first by whom he was approached, turned on the +intruder with a countenance like a burning coal. Seeing, however, that +it was the Frank, he shrugged his shoulders, as if pitying the +impatience which could not be kept under prudent restraint, and drawing +himself back allowed the Count the privilege of a peeping place through +plinths of the casement, which could not be discerned by the sharpest +eye from the inner side. The sombre character of the light which +penetrated into this abode of pleasure, was suited to that species of +thought to which a Temple of Cytherea was supposed to be dedicated. +Portraits and groups of statuary were also to be seen, in the taste of +those which they had beheld at the Kiosk of the waterfall, yet +something more free in the ideas which they conveyed than were to be +found at their first resting-place. Shortly after, the door of the +pavilion opened, and the Countess entered, followed by her attendant +Agatha. The lady threw herself on a couch as she came in, while her +attendant, who was a young and very handsome woman, kept herself +modestly in the background, so much so as hardly to be distinguished. + +"What dost thou think," said the Countess, "of so suspicious a friend +as Agelastes? so gallant an enemy as the Caesar, as he is called?" + +"What should I think," returned the damsel, "except that what the old +man calls friendship is hatred, and what the Caesar terms a patriotic +love for his country, which will not permit him to set its enemies at +liberty, is in fact too strong an affection for his fair captive?" + +"For such an affection," said the Countess, "he shall have the same +requital as if it were indeed the hostility of which he would give it +the colour.--My true and noble lord; hadst thou an idea of the +calamities to which they have subjected me, how soon wouldst thou break +through every restraint to hasten to my relief!" + +"Art thou a man," said Count Robert to his companion; "and canst thou +advise me to remain still and hear this?" + +"I am one man," said the Anglo-Saxon; "you, sir, are another; but all +our arithmetic will not make us more than two; and in this place, it is +probable that a whistle from the Caesar, or a scream from Agelastes, +would bring a thousand to match us, if we were as bold as Bevis of +Hampton.--Stand still and keep quiet. I counsel this, less as +respecting my own life, which, by embarking upon a wild-goose chase +with so strange a partner, I have shown I put at little value, than for +thy safety, and that of the lady thy Countess, who shows herself as +virtuous as beautiful." + +"I was imposed on at first," said the Lady Brenhilda to her attendant. +"Affectation of severe morals, of deep learning, and of rigid +rectitude, assumed by this wicked old man, made me believe in part the +character which he pretended; but the gloss is rubbed off since he let +me see into his alliance with the unworthy Caesar, and the ugly picture +remains in its native loathsomeness. Nevertheless, if I can, by address +or subtlety, deceive this arch-deceiver,--as he has taken from me, in a +great measure, every other kind of assistance,--I will not refuse that +of craft, which he may find perhaps equal to his own?" + +"Hear you that?" said the Varangian to the Count of Paris. "Do not let +your impatience mar the web of your lady's prudence. I will weigh a +woman's wit against a man's valour where there is aught to do! Let us +not come in with our assistance until time shall show us that it is +necessary for her safety and our success." + +"Amen," said the Count of Paris; "but hope not, Sir Saxon, that thy +prudence shall persuade me to leave this garden without taking full +vengeance on that unworthy Caesar, and the pretended philosopher, if +indeed he turns out to have assumed a character"---The Count was here +beginning to raise his voice, when the Saxon, without ceremony, placed +his hand on his mouth. "Thou takest a liberty," said Count Robert, +lowering however his tones. + +"Ay, truly," said Hereward; "when the house is on fire, I do not stop +to ask whether the water which I pour on it be perfumed or no." + +This recalled the Frank to a sense of his situation; and if not +contented with the Saxon's mode of making an apology, he was at least +silenced. A distant noise was now heard--the Countess listened, and +changed colour. "Agatha," she said, "we are like champions in the +lists, and here comes the adversary. Let us retreat into this side +apartment, and so for a while put off an encounter thus alarming." So +saying, the two females withdrew into a sort of anteroom, which opened +from the principal apartment behind the seat which Brenhilda had +occupied. + +They had scarcely disappeared, when, as the stage direction has it, +enter from the other side the Caesar and Agelastes. They had perhaps +heard the last words of Brenhilda, for the Caesar repeated in a low +tone-- + + "Militat omnis amans, habet et sua castra Cupido. + +"What, has our fair opponent withdrawn her forces? No matter, it shows +she thinks of the warfare, though the enemy be not in sight. Well, thou +shalt not have to upbraid me this time, Agelastes, with precipitating +my amours, and depriving myself of the pleasure of pursuit. By Heavens, +I will be as regular in my progress as if in reality I bore on my +shoulders the whole load of years which make the difference between us; +for I shrewdly suspect that with thee, old man, it is that envious +churl Time that hath plucked the wings of Cupid." + +"Say not so, mighty Caesar," said the old man; "it is the hand of +Prudence, which, depriving Cupid's wing of some wild feathers, leaves +him still enough to fly with an equal and steady flight." + +"Thy flight, however, was less measured, Agelastes, when thou didst +collect that armoury--that magazine of Cupid's panoply, out of which +thy kindness permitted me but now to arm myself, or rather to repair my +accoutrements." + +So saying, he glanced his eye over his own person, blazing with gems, +and adorned with a chain of gold, bracelets, rings, and other +ornaments, which, with a new and splendid habit, assumed since his +arrival at these Cytherean gardens, tended to set off his very handsome +figure. + +"I am glad," said Agelastes, "if you have found among toys, which I now +never wear, and seldom made use of even when life was young with me, +anything which may set off your natural advantages. Remember only this +slight condition, that such of these trifles as have made part of your +wearing apparel on this distinguished day, cannot return to a meaner +owner, but must of necessity remain the property of that greatness of +which they had once formed the ornament." + +"I cannot consent to this, my worthy friend," said the Caesar; "I know +thou valuest these jewels only in so far as a philosopher may value +them; that is, for nothing save the remembrances which attach to them. +This large seal-ring, for instance, was--I have heard you say--the +property of Socrates; if so, you cannot view it save with devout +thankfulness, that your own philosophy has never been tried with the +exercise of a Xantippe. These clasps released, in older times, the +lovely bosom of Phryne; and they now belong to one who could do better +homage to the beauties they concealed or discovered than could the +cynic Diogenes. These buckles, too"--- + +"I will spare thy ingenuity, good youth," said Agelastes, somewhat +nettled; "or rather, noble Caesar. Keep thy wit--thou wilt have ample +occasion for it." + +"Fear not me," said the Caesar. "Let us proceed, since you will, to +exercise the gifts which we possess, such as they are, either natural +or bequeathed to us by our dear and respected friend. Hah!" he said, +the door opening suddenly, and the Countess almost meeting him, "our +wishes are here anticipated." + +He bowed accordingly with the deepest deference to the Lady Brenhilda, +who, having made some alterations to enhance the splendour of her +attire, now moved forward from the withdrawing-room into which she had +retreated. + +"Hail, noble lady," said the Caesar, "whom I have visited with the +intention of apologizing for detaining you, in some degree against your +will, in those strange regions in which yon unexpectedly find yourself." + +"Not in some degree," answered the lady, "but entirely contrary to my +inclinations, which are, to be with my husband, the Count of Paris, and +the followers who have taken the cross under his banner." + +"Such, doubtless, were your thoughts when you left the land of the +west," said Agelastes; "but, fair Countess, have they experienced no +change? You have left a shore streaming with human blood when the +slightest provocation occurred, and thou hast come to one whose +principal maxim is to increase the sum of human happiness by every mode +which can be invented. In the west yonder, he or she is respected most +who can best exercise their tyrannical strength in making others +miserable, while, in these more placid realms, we reserve our garlands +for the ingenious youth, or lovely lady, who can best make happy the +person whose affection is fixed upon her." + +"But, reverend philosopher," said the Countess, "who labourest so +artificially in recommending the yoke of pleasure, know that you +contradict every notion which I have been taught from my infancy. In +the land where my nurture lay, so far are we from acknowledging your +doctrines, that we match not, except like the lion and the lioness, +when the male has compelled the female to acknowledge his superior +worth and valour. Such is our rule, that a damsel, even of mean degree, +would think herself heinously undermatched, if wedded to a gallant +whose fame in arms was yet unknown." + +"But, noble lady," said the Caesar, "a dying man may then find room for +some faint hope. Were there but a chance that distinction in arms could +gain those affections which have been stolen, rather than fairly +conferred, how many are there who would willingly enter into the +competition where the prize is so fair! What is the enterprise too bold +to be under-taken on such a condition! And where is the individual +whose heart would not feel, that in baring his sword for the prize, he +made vow never to return it to the scabbard, without the proud boast, +What I have not yet won, I have deserved!" + +"You see, lady," said Agelastes, who, apprehending that the last speech +of the Caesar had made some impression, hastened to follow it up with a +suitable observation---"You see that the fire of chivalry burns as +gallantly in the bosom of the Grecians as in that of the western +nations." + +"Yes," answered Brenhilda, "and I have heard of the celebrated siege of +Troy, on which occasion a dastardly coward carried off the wife of a +brave man, shunned every proffer of encounter with the husband whom he +had wronged, and finally caused the death of his numerous brothers, the +destruction of his native city, with all the wealth which it contained, +and died himself the death of a pitiful poltroon, lamented only by his +worthless leman, to show how well the rules of chivalry were understood +by your predecessors." + +"Lady, you mistake," said the Caesar; "the offences of Paris were those +of a dissolute Asiatic; the courage which avenged them was that of the +Greek Empire." + +"You are learned, sir," said the lady; "but think not that I will trust +your words until you produce before me a Grecian knight, gallant enough +to look upon the armed crest of my husband without quaking." + +"That, methinks, were not extremely difficult," returned the Caesar; +"if they have not flattered me, I have myself been thought equal in +battle to more dangerous men than him who has been strangely mated with +the Lady Brenhilda." + +"That is soon tried," answered the Countess. "You will hardly, I think, +deny, that my husband, separated from me by some unworthy trick, is +still at thy command, and could be produced at thy pleasure. I will ask +no armour for him save what he wears, no weapon but his good sword +Tranchefer; then place him in this chamber, or any other lists equally +narrow, and if he flinch, or cry craven, or remain dead under shield, +let Brenhilda be the prize of the conqueror.--Merciful Heaven!" she +concluded, as she sunk back upon her seat, "forgive me for the crime of +even imagining such a termination, which is equal almost to doubting +thine unerring judgment!" + +"Let me, however," said the Caesar, "catch up these precious words +before they fall to the ground,--Let me hope that he, to whom the +heavens shall give power and strength to conquer this highly-esteemed +Count of Paris, shall succeed him in the affections of Brenhilda; and +believe me, the sun plunges not through the sky to his resting-place, +with the same celerity that I shall hasten to the encounter." + +"Now, by Heaven!" said Count Robert, in an anxious whisper to Hereward, +"it is too much to expect me to stand by and hear a contemptible Greek, +who durst not stand even the rattling farewell which Tranchefer takes +of his scabbard, brave me in my absence, and affect to make love to my +lady _par amours!_ And she, too--methinks Brenhilda allows more license +than she is wont to do to yonder chattering popinjay. By the rood! I +will spring into the apartment, front them with my personal appearance, +and confute yonder braggart in a manner he is like to remember." + +"Under favour," said the Varangian, who was the only auditor of this +violent speech, "you shall be ruled by calm reason while I am with you. +When we are separated, let the devil of knight-errantry, which has such +possession of thee, take thee upon his shoulders, and carry thee full +tilt wheresoever he lists." + +"Thou art a brute," said the Count, looking at him with a contempt +corresponding to the expression he made use of; "not only without +humanity, but without the sense of natural honour or natural shame. The +most despicable of animals stands not by tamely and sees another assail +his mate. The bull offers his horns to a rival--the mastiff uses his +jaws--and even the timid stag becomes furious, and gores." + +"Because they are beasts," said the Varangian, "and their mistresses +also creatures without shame or reason, who are not aware of the +sanctity of a choice. But thou, too, Count, canst thou not see the +obvious purpose of this poor lady, forsaken by all the world, to keep +her faith towards thee, by eluding the snares with which wicked men +have beset her? By the souls of my fathers! my heart is so much moved +by her ingenuity, mingled as I see it is with the most perfect candour +and faith, that I myself, in fault of a better champion, would +willingly raise the axe in her behalf!" + +"I thank thee, my good friend," said the Count; "I thank thee as +heartily as if it were possible thou shouldst be left to do that good +office for Brenhilda, the beloved of many a noble lord, the mistress of +many a powerful vassal; and, what is more, much more than thanks, I +crave thy pardon for the wrong I did thee but now." + +"My pardon you cannot need" said the Varangian; "for I take no offence +that is not seriously meant.--Stay, they speak again." + +"It is strange it should be so," said the Caesar, as he paced the +apartment; "but methinks, nay, I am almost certain, Agelastes, that I +hear voices in the vicinity of this apartment of thy privacy." "It is +impossible," said Agelastes; "but I will go and see." Perceiving him to +leave the pavilion, the Varangian made the Frank sensible that they +must crouch down among a little thicket of evergreens, where they lay +completely obscured. The philosopher made his rounds with a heavy step, +but a watchful eye; and the two listeners were obliged to observe the +strictest silence, without motion of any kind, until he had completed +an ineffectual search, and returned into the pavilion. "By my faith, +brave man," said the Count, "ere we return to our skulking-place, I +must tell thee in thine ear, that never, in my life, was temptation so +strong upon me, as that which prompted me to beat out that old +hypocrite's brains, provided I could have reconciled it with my honour; +and heartily do I wish that thou, whose honour no way withheld thee, +had experienced and given way to some impulse of a similar nature." + +"Such fancies have passed through my head," said the Varangian; "but I +will not follow them till they are consistent both with our own safety, +and more particularly with that of the Countess." + +"I thank thee again for thy good-will to her," said Count Robert; "and, +by Heaven! if fight we must at length, as it seems likely, I will +neither grudge thee an honourable antagonist, nor fair quarter if the +combat goes against thee." + +"Thou hast my thanks," was the reply of Hereward; "only, for Heaven's +sake, be silent in this conjecture, and do what thou wilt afterwards." +Before the Varangian and the Count had again resumed their posture of +listeners, the parties within the pavilion, conceiving themselves +unwatched, had resumed their conversation, speaking low, yet with +considerable animation. + +"It is in vain you would persuade me," said the Countess, "that you +know not where my husband is, or that you have not the most absolute +influence over his captivity. Who else could have an interest in +banishing or putting to death the husband, but he that affects to +admire the wife?" "You do me wrong, beautiful lady," answered the +Caesar, "and forget that I can in no shape be termed the moving-spring +of this empire; that my father-in-law, Alexius, is the Emperor; and +that the woman who terms herself my wife, is jealous as a fiend can be +of my slightest motion.-What possibility was there that I should work +the captivity of your husband and your own? The open affront which the +Count of Paris put upon the Emperor, was one which he was likely to +avenge, either by secret guile or by open force. Me it no way touched, +save as the humble vassal of thy charms; and it was by the wisdom and +the art of the sage Agelastes, that I was able to extricate thee from +the gulf in which thou hadst else certainly perished. Nay, weep not, +lady, for as yet we know not the fate of Count Robert; but, credit me, +it is wisdom to choose a better protector, and consider him as no more." + +"A better than him," said Brenhilda, "I can never have, were I to +choose out of the knighthood of all the world!" + +"This hand," said the Caesar, drawing himself into a martial attitude, +"should decide that question, were the man of whom thou thinkest so +much yet moving on the face of this earth and at liberty." + +"Thou art," said Brenhilda, looking fixedly at him with the fire of +indignation flashing from every feature--"thou art--but it avails not +telling thee what is thy real name; believe me, the world shall one day +ring with it, and be justly sensible of its value. Observe what I am +about to say--Robert of Paris is gone--or captive, I know not where. He +cannot fight the match of which thou seemest so desirous--but here +stands Brenhilda, born heiress of Aspramonte, by marriage the wedded +wife of the good Count of Paris. She was never matched in the lists by +mortal man, except the valiant Count, and since thou art so grieved +that thou canst not meet her husband in battle, thou canst not surely +object, if she is willing to meet thee in his stead!" + +"How, madam?" said the Caesar, astonished; "do you propose yourself to +hold the lists against me?" + +"Against you!" said the Countess; "against all the Grecian Empire, if +they shall affirm that Robert of Paris is justly used and lawfully +confined." + +"And are the conditions," said the Caesar, "the same as if Count Robert +himself held the lists? The vanquished must then be at the pleasure of +the conqueror for good or evil." + +"It would seem so," said the Countess, "nor do I refuse the hazard; +only, that if the other champion shall bite the dust, the noble Count +Robert shall be set at liberty, and permitted to depart with all +suitable honours." + +"This I refuse not," said the Caesar, "provided it is in my power." + +A deep growling sound, like that of a modern gong, here interrupted the +conference. + + + + +CHAPTER THE NINETEENTH. + + +The Varangian and Count Robert, at every risk of discovery, had +remained so near as fully to conjecture, though they could not +expressly overhear, the purport of the conversation. + +"He has accepted her challenge!" said the Count of Paris. + +"And with apparent willingness," said Hereward. + +"O, doubtless, doubtless,"--answered the Crusader; "but he knows not +the skill in war which a woman may attain; for my part, God knows I +have enough depending upon the issue of this contest, yet such is my +confidence, that I would to God I had more. I vow to our Lady of the +Broken Lances, that I desire every furrow of land I possess--every +honour which I can call my own, from the Countship of Paris, down to +the leather that binds my spur, were dependent and at issue upon this +fair field, between your Caesar, as men term him, and Brenhilda of +Aspramonte." + +"It is a noble confidence," said the Varangian, "nor durst I say it is +a rash one; only I cannot but remember that the Caesar is a strong man, +as well as a handsome, expert in the use of arms, and, above all, less +strictly bound than you esteem yourself by the rules of honour. There +are many ways in which advantage may be given and taken, which will +not, in the Caesar's estimation, alter the character of the field from +an equal one, although it might do so in the opinion of the chivalrous +Count of Paris, or even in that of the poor Varangian. But first let me +conduct you to some place of safety, for your escape must be soon, if +it is not already, detected. The sounds which we heard intimate that +some of his confederate plotters have visited the garden on other than +love affairs. I will guide thee to another avenue than that by which we +entered. But you would hardly, I suppose, be pleased to adopt the +wisest alternative?" + +"And what may that be?" said the Count. + +"To give thy purse, though it were thine all, to some poor ferryman to +waft thee over the Hellespont, then hasten to carry thy complaint to +Godfrey of Bouillon, and what friends thou mayst have among thy +brethren crusaders, and determine, as thou easily canst, on a +sufficient number of them to come back and menace the city with instant +war, unless the Emperor should deliver up thy lady, most unfairly made +prisoner, and prevent, by his authority, this absurd and unnatural +combat." + +"And would you have me, then," said Count Robert, "move the crusaders +to break a fairly appointed field of battle? Do you think that Godfrey +of Bouillon would turn back upon his pilgrimage for such an unworthy +purpose; or that the Countess of Paris would accept as a service, means +of safety which would stain her honour for ever, by breaking an +appointment solemnly made on her own challenge?--Never!" + +"My judgment is then at fault," said the Varangian, "for I see I can +hammer out no expedient which is not, in some extravagant manner or +another, controlled by your foolish notions. Here is a man who has been +trapped into the power of his enemy, that he might not interfere to +prevent a base stratagem upon his lady, involving both her life and +honour; yet he thinks it a matter of necessity that he keeps faith as +precisely with these midnight poisoners, as he would had it been +pledged to the most honourable men!" + +"Thou say'st a painful truth," said Count Robert; "but my word is the +emblem of my faith; and if it pass to a dishonourable or faithless foe, +it is imprudently done on my part; but if I break it, being once +pledged, it is a dishonourable action, and the disgrace can never be +washed from my shield." + +"Do you mean, then," said the Varangian, "to suffer your wife's honour +to remain pledged as it at present is, on the event of an unequal +combat?" + +"God and the saints pardon thee such a thought!" said the Count of +Paris. "I will go to see this combat with a heart as firm, if not as +light, as any time I ever saw spears splintered. If by the influence of +any accident or treachery,--for fairly, and with such an antagonist, +Brenhilda of Aspramonte cannot be overthrown,--I step into the lists, +proclaim the Caesar as he is--a villain--show the falsehood of his +conduct from beginning to end,--appeal to every noble heart that hears +me, and then--God show the right!" + +Hereward paused, and shook his head. "All this," he said, "might be +feasible enough provided the combat were to be fought in the presence +of your own countrymen, or even, by the mass! if the Varangians were to +be guards of the lists. But treachery of every kind is so familiar to +the Greeks, that I question if they would view the conduct of their +Caesar as any thing else than a pardonable and natural stratagem of Dan +Cupid, to be smiled at, rather than subjected to disgrace or +punishment." + +"A nation," said Count Robert, "who could smile at such a jest, may +heaven refuse them sympathy at their utmost need, when their sword is +broken in their hand, and their wives and daughters shrieking in the +relentless grasp of a barbarous enemy!" + +Hereward looked upon his companion, whose flushed cheeks and sparkling +eyes bore witness to his enthusiasm. + +"I see," he said, "you are resolved, and I know that your resolution +can in justice be called by no other name than an act of heroic folly: +--What then? it is long since life has been bitter to the Varangian +exile. Morn has raised him from a joyless bed, which night has seen him +lie down upon, wearied with wielding a mercenary weapon in the wars of +strangers. He has longed to lay down his life in an honourable cause, +and this is one in which the extremity and very essence of honour is +implicated. It tallies also with my scheme of saving the Emperor, which +will be greatly facilitated by the downfall of his ungrateful +son-in-law." Then addressing himself to the Count, he continued, "Well, +Sir Count, as thou art the person principally concerned, I am willing +to yield to thy reasoning in this affair; but I hope you will permit me +to mingle with your resolution some advices of a more everyday and less +fantastic nature. For example, thy escape from the dungeons of the +Blacquernal must soon be generally known. In prudence, indeed, I myself +must be the first to communicate it, since otherwise the suspicion will +fall on me--Where do you think of concealing yourself? for assuredly +the search will be close and general." + +"For that," said the Count of Paris, "I must be indebted to thy +suggestion, with thanks for every lie which thou findest thyself +obliged to make, to contrive, and produce in my behalf, entreating thee +only to render them as few as possible, they being a coin which I +myself never fabricate." + +"Sir knight," answered Hereward, "let me begin first by saying, that no +knight that ever belted sword is more a slave to truth, when truth is +observed towards him, than the poor soldier who talks to thee; but when +the game depends not upon fair play, but upon lulling men's +cautiousness asleep by falsehood, and drugging their senses by opiate +draughts, they who would scruple at no means of deceiving me, can +hardly expect that I, who am paid in such base money, should pass +nothing on my part but what is lawful and genuine. For the present thou +must remain concealed within my poor apartment, in the barracks of the +Varangians, which is the last place where they will think of seeking +for thee. Take this, my upper cloak, and follow me; and now that we are +about to leave these gardens, thou mayst follow me unsuspected as a +sentinel attending his officer; for, take it along with you, noble +Count, that we Varangians are a sort of persons upon whom the Greeks +care not to look very long or fixedly." + +They now reached the gate where they had been admitted by the negress, +and Hereward, who was intrusted with the power, it seems, of letting +himself out of the philosopher's premises, though not of entering +without assistance from the portress, took out a key which turned the +lock on the garden side, so that they soon found themselves at liberty. +They then proceeded by by-paths through the city, Hereward leading the +way, and the Count following, without speech or remonstrance, until +they stood before the portal of the barracks of the Varangians. + +"Make haste," said the sentinel who was on duty, "dinner is already +begun." The communication sounded joyfully in the ears of Hereward, who +was much afraid that his companion might have been stopt and examined. +By a side passage he reached his own quarters, and introduced the Count +into a small room, the sleeping chamber of his squire, where he +apologized for leaving him for some time; and, going out, locked the +door, for fear, as he said, of intrusion. + +The demon of suspicion was not very likely to molest a mind so frankly +constituted as that of Count Robert, and yet the last action of +Hereward did not fail to occasion some painful reflections. + +"This man," he said, "had needs be true, for I have reposed in him a +mighty trust, which few hirelings in his situation would honourably +discharge. What is to prevent him to report to the principal officer of +his watch, that the Frank prisoner, Robert, Count of Paris, whose wife +stands engaged for so desperate a combat with the Caesar, has escaped, +indeed, this morning, from the prisons of the Blacquernal, but has +suffered himself to be trepanned at noon, and is again a captive in the +barracks of the Varangian Guard?---what means of defence are mine, were +I discovered to these mercenaries?--What man could do, by the favour of +our Lady of the Broken Lances, I have not failed to achieve. I have +slain a tiger in single combat--I have killed one warder, and conquered +the desperate and gigantic creature by whom he was supported. I have +had terms enough at command to bring over this Varangian to my side, in +appearance at least; yet all this does not encourage me to hope that I +could long keep at bay ten or a dozen such men as these beef-fed knaves +appear to be, led in upon me by a fellow of thewes and sinews such as +those of my late companion.--Yet for shame, Robert! such thoughts are +unworthy a descendant of Charlemagne. When wert thou wont so curiously +to count thine enemies, and when wert thou wont to be suspicious, since +he, whose bosom may truly boast itself incapable of fraud, ought in +honesty to be the last to expect it in another? The Varangian's look is +open, his coolness in danger is striking, his speech is more frank and +ready than ever was that of a traitor. If he is false, there is no +faith in the hand of nature, for truth, sincerity, and courage are +written upon his forehead." + +While Count Robert was thus reflecting upon his condition, and +combating the thick-coming doubts and suspicions which its +uncertainties gave rise to, he began to be sensible that he had not +eaten for many hours; and amidst many doubts and fears of a more heroic +nature, he half entertained a lurking suspicion, that they meant to let +hunger undermine his strength before they adventured into the apartment +to deal with him. + +We shall best see how far these doubts were deserved by Hereward, or +how far they were unjust, by following his course after he left his +barrack-room. Snatching a morsel of dinner, which he ate with an +affectation of great hunger, but, in fact, that his attention to his +food might be a pretence for dispensing with disagreeable questions, or +with conversation of any kind, he pleaded duty, and immediately leaving +his comrades, directed his course to the lodgings of Achilles Tatius, +which were a part of the same building. A Syrian slave, who opened the +door, after a deep reverence to Hereward, whom he knew as a favourite +attendant of the Acolyte, said to him that his master was gone forth, +but had desired him to say, that if he wished to see him, he would find +him at the Philosopher's Gardens, so called, as belonging to the sage +Agelastes. + +Hereward turned about instantly, and availing himself of his knowledge +of Constantinople to thread its streets in the shortest time possible, +at length stood alone before the door in the garden-wall, at which he +and the Count of Paris had previously been admitted in the earlier part +of the day. The same negress appeared at the same private signal, and +when he asked for Achilles Tatius, she replied, with some sharpness, +"Since you were here this morning, I marvel you did not meet him, or +that, having business with him, you did not stay till he arrived. Sure +I am, that not long after you entered the garden the Acolyte was +enquiring for you." + +"It skills not, old woman" said the Varangian; "I communicate the +reason of my motions to my commander, but not to thee." He entered the +garden accordingly, and avoiding the twilight path that led to the +Bower of Love,--so was the pavilion named in which he had overheard the +dialogue between the Caesar and the Countess of Paris,--he arrived +before a simple garden-house, whose humble and modest front seemed to +announce that it was the abode of philosophy and learning. Here, +passing before the windows, he made some little noise, expecting to +attract the attention either of Achilles Tatius, or his accomplice +Agelastes, as chance should determine. It was the first who heard, and +who replied. The door opened; a lofty plume stooped itself, that its +owner might cross the threshold, and the stately form of Achilles +Tatius entered the gardens. "What now," he said, "our trusty sentinel? +what hast thou, at this time of day, come to report to us? Thou art our +good friend, and highly esteemed soldier, and well we wot thine errand +must be of importance, since thou hast brought it thyself, and at an +hour so unusual." + +"Pray Heaven," said Hereward, "that the news I have brought deserve a +welcome." + +"Speak them instantly," said the Acolyte, "good or bad; thou speakest +to a man to whom fear is unknown." But his eye, which quailed as he +looked on the soldier--his colour, which went and came--his hands, +which busied themselves in an uncertain manner in adjusting the belt of +his sword,--all argued a state of mind very different from that which +his tone of defiance would fain have implied. "Courage," he said, "my +trusty soldier! speak the news to me. I can bear the worst thou hast to +tell." + +"In a word, then," said the Varangian, "your Valour directed me this +morning to play the office of master of the rounds upon those dungeons +of the Blacquernal palace, where last night the boisterous Count Robert +of Paris was incarcerated"-- + +"I remember well," said Achilles Tatius.--"What then?" + +"As I reposed me," said Hereward, "in an apartment above the vaults, I +heard cries from beneath, of a kind which attracted my attention. I +hastened to examine, and my surprise was extreme, when looking down +into the dungeon, though I could see nothing distinctly, yet, by the +wailing and whimpering sounds, I conceived that the Man of the Forest, +the animal called Sylvan, whom our soldiers have so far indoctrinated +in our Saxon tongue as to make him useful in the wards of the prison, +was bemoaning himself on account of some violent injury. Descending +with a torch, I found the bed on which the prisoner had been let down +burnt to cinders; the tiger which had been chained within a spring of +it, with its skull broken to pieces; the creature called Sylvan, +prostrate, and writhing under great pain and terror, and no prisoner +whatever in the dungeon. There were marks that all the fastenings had +been withdrawn by a Mytilenian soldier, companion of my watch, when he +visited the dungeon at the usual hour; and as, in my anxious search, I +at length found his dead body, slain apparently by a stab in the +throat, I was obliged to believe that while I was examining the cell, +he, this Count Robert, with whose daring life the adventure is well +consistent, had escaped into the upper air, by means, doubtless, of the +ladder and trap-door by which I had descended." + +"And wherefore didst thou not instantly call treason, and raise the hue +and cry?" demanded the Acolyte. + +"I dared not venture to do so," replied the Varangian, "till I had +instructions from your Valour. The alarming cry of treason, and the +various rumours likely at this moment to ensue, might have involved a +search so close, as perchance would have discovered matters in which +the Acolyte himself would have been rendered subject to suspicion." + +"Thou art right," said Achilles Tatius, in a whisper: "and yet it will +be necessary that we do not pretend any longer to conceal the flight of +this important prisoner, if we would not pass for being his +accomplices. Where thinkest thou this unhappy fugitive can have taken +refuge?" + +"That I was in hopes of learning from your Valour's greater wisdom," +said Hereward. + +"Thinkest thou not," said Achilles, "that he may have crossed the +Hellespont, in order to rejoin his own countrymen and adherents?" + +"It is much to be dreaded," said Hereward. "Undoubtedly, if the Count +listened to the advice of any one who knew the face of the country, +such would be the very counsel he would receive." + +"The danger, then, of his return at the head of a vengeful body of +Franks," said the Acolyte, "is not so immediate as I apprehended at +first, for the Emperor gave positive orders that the boats and galleys +which yesterday transported the crusaders to the shores of Asia should +recross the strait, and bring back no single one of them from the step +upon their journey on which he had so far furthered them.--Besides, +they all,--their leaders, that is to say,--made their vows before +crossing, that they would not turn back so much as a foot's pace, now +that they had set actually forth on the road to Palestine." + +"So, therefore," said Hereward, "one of the two propositions is +unquestionable; either Count Robert is on the eastern side of the +strait, having no means of returning with his brethren to avenge the +usage he has received, and may therefore be securely set, at +defiance,--or else he lurks somewhere in Constantinople, without a +friend or ally to take his part, or encourage him openly to state his +supposed wrongs; in either case, there can, I think, be no tact in +conveying to the palace the news that he has freed himself, since it +would only alarm the court, and afford the Emperor ground for many +suspicions.--But it is not for an ignorant barbarian like me to +prescribe a course of conduct to your valour and wisdom, and methinks +the sage Agelastes were a fitter counsellor than such as I am." + +"No, no, no," said the Acolyte, in a hurried whisper; "the philosopher +and I are right good friends, sworn good friends, very especially bound +together; but should it come to this, that one of us must needs throw +before the footstool of the Emperor the head of the other, I think thou +wouldst not advise that I, whose hairs have not a trace of silver, +should be the last in making the offering; therefore we will say +nothing of this mishap, but give thee full power, and the highest +charge to seek for Count Robert of Paris, be he dead or alive, to +secure him within the dungeons set apart for the discipline of our own +corps, and when thou hast done so, to bring me notice. I may make him +my friend in many ways, by extricating his wife from danger by the axes +of my Varangians. What is there in this metropolis that they have to +oppose them?" + +"When raised in a just cause," answered Hereward, "nothing." + +"Hah!--say'st thou?" said the Acolyte; "how meanest thou by that?--but +I know--Thou art scrupulous about having the just and lawful command of +thy officer in every action in which thou art engaged, and, thinking in +that dutiful and soldierlike manner, it is my duty as thine Acolyte to +see thy scruples satisfied. A warrant shalt thou have, with full +powers, to seek for and imprison this foreign Count of whom we have +been speaking--And, hark thee, my excellent friend," he continued, with +some hesitation, "I think thou hadst better begone, and begin, or +rather continue thy search. It is unnecessary to inform our friend +Agelastes of what has happened, until his advice be more needful than +as yet it is on the occasion. Home--home to the barracks; I will +account to him for thy appearance here, if he be curious on the +subject, which, as a suspicious old man, he is likely to be. Go to the +barracks, and act as if thou hadst a warrant in every respect full and +ample. I will provide thee with one when I come back to my quarters." + +The Varangian turned hastily homewards. + +"Now, is it not," he said, "a strange thing, and enough to make a man a +rogue for life--to observe how the devil encourages young beginners in +falsehood! I have told a greater lie--at least I have suppressed more +truth--than on any occasion before in my whole life--and what is the +consequence? Why, my commander throws almost at my head a warrant +sufficient to guarantee and protect me in all I have done, or propose +to do! If the foul fiend were thus regular in protecting his votaries, +methinks they would have little reason to complain of him, or better +men to be astonished at their number. But a time comes, they say, when +he seldom fails to desert them. Therefore, get thee behind me, Satan! +If I have seemed to be thy servant for a short time, it is but with an +honest and Christian purpose." + +As he entertained these thoughts, he looked back upon the path, and was +startled at an apparition of a creature of a much greater size, and a +stranger shape than human, covered, all but the face, with a reddish +dun fur; his expression an ugly, and yet a sad melancholy; a cloth was +wrapped round one hand, and an air of pain and languor bespoke +suffering from a wound. So much was Hereward pre-occupied with his own +reflections, that at first he thought his imagination had actually +raised the devil; but after a sudden start of surprise, he recognised +his acquaintance Sylvan. "Hah! old friend," he said, "I am happy thou +hast made thy escape to a place where them wilt find plenty of fruit to +support thee. Take my advice--keep out of the way of discovery--Keep +thy friend's counsel." + +The Man of the Wood uttered a chattering noise in return to this +address. + +"I understand thee," said Hereward, "thou wilt tell no tales, thou +sayest; and faith, I will trust thee rather than the better part of my +own two-legged race, who are eternally circumventing or murdering each +other." + +A minute after the creature was out of sight, Hereward heard the shriek +of a female, and a voice which cried for help. The accents must have +been uncommonly interesting to the Varangian, since, forgetting his own +dangerous situation, he immediately turned and flew to the suppliant's +assistance. + + + + +CHAPTER THE TWENTIETH. + + She comes! she comes! in all the charms of youth, + Unequall'd love, and unsuspected truth! + + +Hereward was not long in tracing the cry through the wooded walks, when +a female rushed into his arms; alarmed, as it appeared, by Sylvan, who +was pursuing her closely. The figure of Hereward, with his axe +uplifted, put an instant stop to his career, and with a terrified note +of his native cries, he withdrew into the thickest of the adjoining +foliage. + +Relieved from his presence, Hereward had time to look at the female +whom he had succoured: She was arrayed in a dress which consisted of +several colours, that which predominated being a pale yellow; her tunic +was of this colour, and, like a modern gown, was closely fitted to the +body, which, in the present case, was that of a tall, but very +well-formed person. The mantle, or upper garment, in which the whole +figure was wrapped, was of fine cloth; and the kind of hood which was +attached to it having flown back with the rapidity of her motion, gave +to view the hair beautifully adorned and twisted into a natural +head-dress. Beneath this natural head-gear appeared a face pale as +death, from a sense of the supposed danger, but which preserved, even +amidst its terrors, an exquisite degree of beauty. + +Hereward was thunderstruck at this apparition. The dress was neither +Grecian, Italian, nor of the costume of the Franks;--it was +_Saxon!_--connected by a thousand tender remembrances with Hereward's +childhood and youth. The circumstance was most extraordinary. Saxon +women, indeed, there were in Constantinople, who had united their +fortunes with those of the Varangians; and those often chose to wear +their national dress in the city, because the character and conduct of +their husbands secured them a degree of respect, which they might not +have met with either as Grecian or as stranger females of a similar +rank. But almost all these were personally known to Hereward. It was no +time, however, for reverie--he was himself in danger---the situation of +the young female might be no safe one. In every case, it was judicious +to quit the more public part of the gardens; he therefore lost not a +moment in conveying the fainting Saxon to a retreat he fortunately was +acquainted with. A covered path, obscured by vegetation, led through a +species of labyrinth to an artificial cave, at the bottom of which, +half-paved with shells, moss, and spar, lay the gigantic and +half-recumbent statue of a river deity, with its usual attributes--that +is, its front crowned with water-lilies and sedges, and its ample hand +half-resting upon an empty urn. The attitude of the whole figure +corresponded with the motto,--"I SLEEP--AWAKE ME NOT." + +"Accursed relic of paganism," said Hereward, who was, in proportion to +his light, a zealous Christian--"brutish stock or stone that thou art! +I will wake thee with a vengeance." So saying, he struck the head of +the slumbering deity with his battle-axe, and deranged the play of the +fountain so much that the water began to pour into the basin. + +"Thou art a good block, nevertheless," said the Varangian, "to send +succour so needful to the aid of my poor countrywoman. Thou shalt give +her also, with thy leave, a portion of thy couch." So saying he +arranged his fair burden, who was as yet insensible, upon the pedestal +where the figure of the River God reclined. In doing this, his +attention was recalled to her face, and again and again he was thrilled +with an emotion of hope, but so excessively like fear, that it could +only be compared to the flickering of a torch, uncertain whether it is +to light up or be instantly extinguished. With a sort of mechanical +attention, he continued to make such efforts as he could to recall the +intellect of the beautiful creature before him. His feelings were those +of the astronomical sage, to whom the rise of the moon slowly restores +the contemplation of that heaven, which is at once, as a Christian, his +hope of felicity, and, as a philosopher, the source of his knowledge. +The blood returned to her cheek, and reanimation, and even +recollection, took place in her earlier than in the astonished +Varangian. + +"Blessed Mary!" she said, "have I indeed tasted the last bitter cup, +and is it here where thou reunitest thy votaries after death!--Speak, +Hereward! if thou art aught but an empty creature of the +imagination!--speak, and tell me, if I have but dreamed of that +monstrous ogre!" + +"Collect thyself, my beloved Bertha," said the Anglo-Saxon, recalled by +the sound of her voice, "and prepare to endure what thou livest to +witness, and thy Hereward survives to tell. That hideous thing +exists--nay, do not start, and look for a hiding-place--thy own gentle +hand with a riding rod is sufficient to tame its courage. And am I not +here, Bertha? Wouldst thou wish another safeguard?" + +"No--no," exclaimed she, seizing on the arm of her recovered lover. "Do +I not know you now?" + +"And is it but now you know me, Bertha?" said Hereward. + +"I suspected before," she said, casting down her eyes; "but I know with +certainty that mark of the boar's tusk." + +Hereward suffered her imagination to clear itself from the shock it had +received so suddenly, before he ventured to enter upon present events, +in which there was so much both to doubt and to fear. He permitted her, +therefore, to recall to her memory all the circumstances of the rousing +the hideous animal, assisted by the tribes of both their fathers. She +mentioned in broken words the flight of arrows discharged against the +boar by young and old, male and female, and how her own well aimed, but +feeble shaft, wounded him sharply; she forgot not how, incensed at the +pain, the creature rushed upon her as the cause, laid her palfrey dead +upon the spot, and would soon have slain her, had not Hereward, when +every attempt failed to bring his horse up to the monster, thrown +himself from his seat, and interposed personally between the boar and +Bertha. The battle was not decided without a desperate struggle; the +boar was slain, but Hereward received the deep gash upon his brow which +she whom he had saved how recalled to her memory. "Alas!" she said, +"what have we been to each other since that period? and what are we +now, in this foreign land?" + +"Answer for thyself, my Bertha," said the Varangian, "if thou +canst;--and if thou canst with truth say that thou art the same Bertha +who vowed affection to Hereward, believe me, it were sinful to suppose +that the saints have brought us together with a view of our being +afterwards separated." + +"Hereward," said Bertha, "you have not preserved the bird in your bosom +safer than I have; at home or abroad, in servitude or in freedom, +amidst sorrow or joy, plenty or want, my thought was always on the +troth I had plighted to Hereward at the stone of Odin." + +"Say no more of that," said Hereward; "it was an impious rite, and good +could not come of it." + +"Was it then so impious?" she said, the unbidden tear rushing into her +large blue eyes.--"Alas! it was a pleasure to reflect that Hereward was +mine by that solemn engagement!" + +"Listen to me, my Bertha," said Hereward, taking her hand: "We were +then almost children; and though our vow was in itself innocent, yet it +was so far wrong, as being sworn in the presence of a dumb idol, +representing one who was, while alive, a bloody and cruel magician. But +we will, the instant an opportunity offers itself, renew our vow before +a shrine of real sanctity, and promise suitable penance for our +ignorant acknowledgment of Odin, to propitiate the real Deity, who can +bear us through those storms of adversity which are like to surround +us." + +Leaving them for the time to their love-discourse, of a nature pure, +simple, and interesting, we shall give, in a few words, all that the +reader needs to know of their separate history between the boar's hunt +and the time of their meeting in the gardens of Agelastes. + +In that doubtful state experienced by outlaws, Waltheoff, the father of +Hereward, and Engelred, the parent of Bertha, used to assemble their +unsubdued tribes, sometimes in the fertile regions of Devonshire, +sometimes in the dark wooded solitudes of Hampshire, but as much as +possible within the call of the bugle of the famous Edric the Forester, +so long leader of the insurgent Saxons. The chiefs we have mentioned +were among the last bold men who asserted the independence of the Saxon +race of England; and like their captain Edric, they were generally +known by the name of Foresters, as men who lived by hunting, when their +power of making excursions was checked and repelled. Hence they made a +step backwards in civilization, and became more like to their remote +ancestors of German descent, than they were to their more immediate and +civilized predecessors, who before the battle of Hastings, had advanced +considerably in the arts of civilized life. + +Old superstitions had begun to revive among them, and hence the +practice of youths and maidens plighting their troth at the stone +circles dedicated, as it was supposed, to Odin, in whom, however, they +had long ceased to nourish any of the sincere belief which was +entertained by their heathen ancestors. + +In another respect these outlaws were fast resuming a striking +peculiarity of the ancient Germans. Their circumstances naturally +brought the youth of both sexes much together, and by early marriage, +or less permanent connexions, the population would have increased far +beyond the means which the outlaws had to maintain, or even to protect +themselves. The laws of the Foresters, therefore, strictly enjoined +that marriages should be prohibited until the bridegroom was twenty-one +years complete. Future alliances were indeed often formed by the young +people, nor was this discountenanced by their parents, provided that +the lovers waited until the period when the majority of the bridegroom +should permit them to marry. Such youths as infringed this rule, +incurred the dishonourable epithet of _niddering_, or worthless,--an +epithet of a nature so insulting, that men were known to have slain +themselves, rather than endure life under such opprobrium. But the +offenders were very few amidst a race trained in moderation and +self-denial; and hence it was that woman, worshipped for so many years +like something sacred, was received, when she became the head of a +family, into the arms and heart of a husband who had so long expected +her, was treated as something more elevated than the mere idol of the +moment; and feeling the rate at which she was valued, endeavoured by +her actions to make her life correspond with it. + +It was by the whole population of these tribes, as well as their +parents, that after the adventure of the boar hunt, Hereward and Bertha +were considered as lovers whose alliance was pointed out by Heaven, and +they were encouraged to approximate as much as their mutual +inclinations prompted them. The youths of the tribe avoided asking +Martha's hand at the dance, and the maidens used no maidenly entreaty +or artifice to detain Hereward beside them, if Bertha was present at +the feast. They clasped each other's hands through the perforated +stone, which they called the altar of Odin, though later ages have +ascribed it to the Druids, and they implored that if they broke their +faith to each other, their fault might be avenged by the twelve swords +which were now drawn around them during the ceremony by as many youths, +and that their misfortunes might be so many as twelve maidens, who +stood around with their hair loosened, should be unable to recount, +either in prose or verse. + +The torch of the Saxon Cupid shone for some years as brilliant as when +it was first lighted. The time, however, came when they were to be +tried by adversity, though undeserved by the perfidy of either. Years +had gone past, and Hereward had to count with anxiety how many months +and weeks were to separate him from the bride, who was beginning +already by degrees to shrink less shyly from the expressions and +caresses of one who was soon to term her all his own. William Rufus, +however, had formed a plan of totally extirpating the Foresters, whose +implacable hatred, and restless love of freedom, had so often disturbed +the quiet of his kingdom, and despised his forest laws. He assembled +his Norman forces, and united to them a body of Saxons who had +submitted to his rule. He thus brought an overpowering force upon the +bands of Waltheoff and Engelred, who found no resource but to throw the +females of their tribe, and such as could, not bear arms, into a +convent dedicated to St. Augustin, of which Kenelm their relation was +prior, and then turning to the battle, vindicated their ancient valour +by fighting it to the last. Both the unfortunate chiefs remained dead +on the field, and Hereward and his brother had wellnigh shared their +fate; but some Saxon inhabitants of the neighbourhood, who adventured +on the field of battle, which the victors had left bare of every thing +save the booty of the kites and the ravens, found the bodies of the +youths still retaining life. As they were generally well known and much +beloved by these people, Hereward and his brother were taken care of +till their wounds began to close, and their strength returned. Hereward +then heard the doleful news of the death of his father and Engelred. +His next enquiry was concerning his betrothed bride and her mother. The +poor inhabitants could give him little information. Some of the females +who had taken refuge in the convent, the Norman knights and nobles had +seized upon as their slaves, and the rest, with the monks who had +harboured them, were turned adrift, and their place of retreat was +completely sacked and burnt to the ground. + +Half-dead himself at hearing these tidings, Hereward sallied out, and +at every risk of death, for the Saxon Foresters were treated as +outlaws, commenced enquiries after those so dear to him. He asked +concerning the particular fate of Bertha and her mother, among the +miserable creatures who yet hovered about the neighbourhood of the +convent, like a few half-scorched bees about their smothered hive. But, +in the magnitude of their own terrors, none had retained eyes for their +neighbours, and all that they could say was, that the wife and daughter +of Engelred were certainly lost; and their imaginations suggested so +many heart-rending details to this conclusion, that Hereward gave up +all thoughts of further researches, likely to terminate so uselessly +and so horribly. + +The young Saxon had been all his life bred up in a patriotic hatred to +the Normans, who did not, it was likely, become dearer to his thoughts +in consequence of this victory. He dreamed at first of crossing the +strait, to make war against the hated enemy in their own country; but +an idea so extravagant did not long retain possession of his mind. His +fate was decided by his encountering an aged palmer, who knew or +pretended to have known, his father, and to be a native of England. +This man was a disguised Varangian, selected for the purpose, possessed +of art and dexterity, and well provided with money. He had little +difficulty in persuading Hereward, in the hopeless desolation of his +condition, to join the Varangian Guard, at this moment at war with the +Normans, under which name it suited Hereward's prepossessions to +represent the Emperor's wars with Robert Guiscard, his son Bohemond, +and other adventurers, in Italy, Greece, or Sicily. A journey to the +East also inferred a pilgrimage, and gave the unfortunate Hereward the +chance of purchasing pardon for his sins by visiting the Holy Land. In +gaining Hereward, the recruiter also secured the services of his elder +brother, who had vowed not to separate from him. + +The high character of both brothers for courage, induced this wily +agent to consider them as a great prize, and it was from the memoranda +respecting the history and character of those whom he recruited, in +which the elder had been unreservedly communicative, that Agelastes +picked up the information respecting Hereward's family and +circumstances, which, at their first secret interview, he made use of +to impress upon the Varangian the idea of his supernatural knowledge. +Several of his companions in arms were thus gained over; for it will +easily be guessed, that these memorials were intrusted to the keeping +of Achilles Tatius, and he, to further their joint purposes, imparted +them to Agelastes, who thus obtained a general credit for supernatural +knowledge among these ignorant men. But Hereward's blunt faith and +honesty enabled him to shun the snare. + +Such being the fortunes of Hereward, those of Bertha formed the subject +of a broken and passionate communication between the lovers, broken +like an April day, and mingled with many a tender caress, such as +modesty permits to lovers when they meet again unexpectedly after a +separation, which threatened to be eternal. But the story may be +comprehended in few words. Amid the general sack of the monastery, an +old Norman knight seized upon Bertha as his prize. Struck with her +beauty, he designed her as an attendant upon his daughter, just then +come out of the years of childhood, and the very apple of her father's +eye, being the only child of his beloved Countess, and sent late in +life to bless their marriage-bed. It was in the order of things that +the lady of Aspramonte, who was considerably younger than the knight, +should govern her husband, and that Brenhilda, their daughter, should +govern both her parents. + +The Knight of Aspramonte, however, it may be observed, entertained some +desire to direct his young offspring to more feminine amusements than +those which began already to put her life frequently in danger. +Contradiction was not to be thought of, as the good old knight knew by +experience. The influence and example of a companion a little older +than herself might be of some avail, and it was with this view that, in +the confusion of the sack, Aspramonte seized upon the youthful Bertha. +Terrified to the utmost degree, she clung to her mother, and the Knight +of Aspramonte, who had a softer heart than was then usually found under +a steel cuirass, moved by the affliction of the mother and daughter, +and recollecting that the former might also be a useful attendant upon +his lady, extended his protection to both, and conveying them out of +the press, paid the soldiers who ventured to dispute the spoil with +him, partly in some small pieces of money, and partly in dry blows with +the reverse of his lance. + +The well-natured knight soon after returned to his own castle, and +being a man of an orderly life and virtuous habits, the charming +beauties of the Saxon virgin, and the more ripened charms of her +mother, did not prevent their travelling in all honour as well as +safety to his family fortress, the castle of Aspramonte. Here such +masters as could be procured were got together to teach the young +Bertha every sort of female accomplishment, In the hope that her +mistress, Brenhilda, might be inspired with a desire to partake in her +education; but although this so far succeeded, that the Saxon captive +became highly skilled in such music, needle-work, and other female +accomplishments as were known to the time, yet her young mistress, +Brenhilda, retained the taste for those martial amusements which had so +sensibly grieved her father, but to which her mother, who herself had +nourished such fancies in her youth, readily gave sanction. + +The captives, however, were kindly treated. Brenhilda became infinitely +attached to the young Anglo-Saxon, whom she loved less for her +ingenuity in arts, than for her activity in field sports, to which her +early state of independence had trained her. + +The Lady of Aspramonte was also kind to both the captives; but, in one +particular, she exercised a piece of petty tyranny over them. She had +imbibed an idea, strengthened by an old doting father-confessor, that +the Saxons were heathens at that time, or at least heretics, and made a +positive point with her husband that the bondswoman and girl who were +to attend on her person and that of her daughter, should be qualified +for the office by being anew admitted into the Christian Church by +baptism. + +Though feeling the falsehood and injustice of the accusation, the +mother had sense enough to submit to necessity, and received the name +of Martha in all form at the altar, to which she answered during the +rest of her life. + +But Bertha showed a character upon this occasion inconsistent with the +general docility and gentleness of her temper. She boldly refused to be +admitted anew into the pale of the Church, of which her conscience told +her she was already a member, or to exchange for another the name +originally given her at the font. It was in vain that the old knight +commanded, that the lady threatened, and that her mother advised and +entreated. More closely pressed in private by her mother, she let her +motive be known, which had not before been suspected. "I know," she +said, with a flood of tears, "that my father would have died ere I was +subjected to this insult; and then--who shall assure me that vows which +were made to the Saxon Bertha, will be binding if a French Agatha be +substituted in her stead? They may banish me," she said, "or kill me if +they will, but if the son of Waltheoff should again meet with the +daughter of Engelred, he shall meet that Bertha whom he knew in the +forests of Hampton." + +All argument was in vain; the Saxon maiden remained obstinate, and to +try to break her resolution, the Lady of Aspramonte at length spoke of +dismissing her from the service of her young mistress, and banishing +her from the castle. To this also she had made up her mind, and she +answered firmly though respectfully, that she would sorrow bitterly at +parting with her young lady; but as to the rest, she would rather beg +under her own name, than be recreant to the faith of her fathers and +condemn it as heresy, by assigning one of Frank origin. The Lady +Brenhilda, in the meantime, entered the chamber, where her mother was +just about to pass the threatened doom of banishment.--"Do not stop for +my entrance, madam," said the dauntless young lady; "I am as much +concerned in the doom which you are about to pass as is Bertha; If she +crosses the drawbridge of Aspramonte as an exile, so will I, when she +has dried her tears, of which even my petulance could never wring one +from her eyes. She shall be my squire and body attendant, and +Launcelot, the bard, shall follow with my spear and shield." + +"And you will return, mistress," said her mother, "from so foolish an +expedition, before the sun sets?" + +"So heaven further me in my purpose, lady," answered the young heiress, +"the sun shall neither rise nor set that sees us return, till this name +of Bertha, and of her mistress, Brenhilda, are wafted as far as the +trumpet of fame can sound them.--Cheer up, my sweetest Bertha!" she +said, taking her attendant by the hand, "If heaven hath torn thee from +thy country and thy plighted troth, it hath given thee a sister and a +friend, with whom thy fame shall be forever blended." + +The Lady of Aspramonte was confounded: She knew that her daughter was +perfectly capable of the wild course which she had announced, and that +she herself, even with her husband's assistance, would be unable to +prevent her following it. She passively listened, therefore, while the +Saxon matron, formerly Urica, but now Martha, addressed her daughter. +"My child," she said, "as you value honour, virtue, safety, and +gratitude, soften your heart towards your master and mistress, and +follow the advice of a parent, who has more years and more judgment +than you. And you, my dearest young lady, let not your lady-mother +think that an attachment to the exercises you excel in, has destroyed +in your bosom filial affection, and a regard to the delicacy of your +sex!--As they seem both obstinate, madam," continued the matron, after +watching the influence of this advice upon the young woman, "perhaps, +if it may be permitted me. I could state an alternative, which might, +in the meanwhile, satisfy your ladyship's wishes, accommodate itself to +the wilfulness of my obstinate daughter, and answer the kind purpose of +her generous mistress." The Lady of Aspramonte signed to the Saxon +matron to proceed. She went on accordingly: "The Saxons, dearest lady, +of the present day, are neither pagans nor heretics; they are, in the +time of keeping Easter, as well as in all other disputable doctrine, +humbly obedient to the Pope of Rome; and this our good Bishop well +knows, since he upbraided some of the domestics for calling me an old +heathen. Yet our names are uncouth in the ears of the Franks, and bear, +perhaps, a heathenish sound. If it be not exacted that my daughter +submit to a new rite of baptism, she will lay aside her Saxon name of +Bertha upon all occasions while in your honourable household. This will +cut short a debate which, with forgiveness, I think is scarce of +importance enough to break the peace of this castle. I will engage +that, in gratitude for this indulgence of a trifling scruple, my +daughter, if possible, shall double the zeal and assiduity of her +service to her young lady." + +The Lady of Aspramonte was glad to embrace the means which this offer +presented, of extricating herself from the dispute with as little +compromise of dignity as could well be. "If the good Lord Bishop +approved of such a compromise," she said, "she would for herself +withdraw her opposition." The prelate approved accordingly, the more +readily that he was informed that the young heiress desired earnestly +such an agreement. The peace of the castle was restored, and Bertha +recognized her new name of Agatha as a name of service, but not a name +of baptism. + +One effect the dispute certainly produced, and that was, increasing in +an enthusiastic degree the love of Bertha for her young mistress. With +that amiable failing of attached domestics and humble friends, she +endeavoured to serve her as she knew she loved to be served; and +therefore indulged, her mistress in those chivalrous fancies which +distinguished her even in her own age, and in ours would have rendered +her a female Quixote. Bertha, indeed, never caught the frenzy of her +mistress; but, strong, willing, and able-bodied, she readily qualified +herself to act upon occasion as a squire of the body to a Lady +Adventuress; and, accustomed from her childhood to see blows dealt, +blood flowing, and men dying, she could look with an undazzled eye upon +the dangers which her mistress encountered, and seldom teased her with +remonstrances, unless when those were unusually great. This compliance +on most occasions, gave Bertha a right of advice upon some, which, +always given with the best intentions and at fitting times, +strengthened her influence with her mistress, which a course of conduct +savouring of diametrical opposition would certainly have destroyed. + +A few more words serve to announce the death of the Knight of +Aspramonte--the romantic marriage of the young lady with the Count of +Paris--their engagement in the crusade--and the detail of events with +which the reader is acquainted. + +Hereward did not exactly comprehend some of the later incidents of the +story, owing to a slight strife which arose between Bertha and him +during the course of her narrative. When she avowed the girlish +simplicity with which she obstinately refused to change her name, +because, in her apprehension, the troth-plight betwixt her and her +lover might be thereby prejudiced, it was impossible for Hereward not +to acknowledge her tenderness, by snatching her to his bosom, and +impressing his grateful thanks upon her lips. She extricated herself +immediately from his grasp, however, with cheeks more crimsoned in +modesty than in anger, and gravely addressed her lover thus: "Enough, +enough, Hereward! this may be pardoned to so unexpected a meeting; but +we must in future remember, that we are probably the last of our race; +and let it not be said, that the manners of their ancestors were +forgotten by Hereward and by Bertha; think, that though we are alone, +the shades of our fathers are not far off, and watch to see what use we +make of the meeting, which, perhaps, their intercession has procured +us." + +"You wrong me, Bertha," said Hereward, "if you think me capable of +forgetting my own duty and yours, at a moment when our thanks are due +to Heaven, to be testified very differently than by infringing on its +behests, or the commands of our parents. The question is now, How we +shall rejoin each other when we separate? since separate, I fear, we +must." + +"O! do not say so!" exclaimed the unfortunate Bertha. + +"It must be so," said Hereward, "for a time; but I swear to thee by the +hilt of my sword, and the handle of my battle-axe, that blade was never +so true to shaft as I will be to thee!" + +"But wherefore, then, leave me, Hereward?" said the maiden; "and oh! +wherefore not assist me in the release of my mistress?" + +"Of thy mistress!" said Hereward. "Shame! that thou canst give that +name to mortal woman!" + +"But she _is_ my mistress," answered Bertha, "and by a thousand kind +ties which cannot be separated so long as gratitude is the reward of +kindness." + +"And what is her danger," said Hereward; "what is it she wants, this +accomplished lady whom thou callest mistress?" + +"Her honour, her life, are alike in danger," said Bertha. "She has +agreed to meet the Caesar in the field, and he will not hesitate, like +a baseborn miscreant, to take every advantage in the encounter, which, +I grieve to say, may in all likelihood be fatal to my mistress." + +"Why dost thou think so?" answered Hereward. "This lady has won many +single combats, unless she is belied, against adversaries more +formidable than the Caesar." + +"True," said the Saxon maiden; "but you speak of things that passed in +a far different land, where faith and honour are not empty sounds; as, +alas! they seem but too surely to be here. Trust me, it is no girlish +terror which sends me out in this disguise of my country dress, which, +they say, finds respect at Constantinople: I go to let the chiefs of +the Crusade know the peril in which the noble lady stands, and trust to +their humanity, to their religion, to their love of honour, and fear of +disgrace, for assistance in this hour of need; and now that I have had +the blessing of meeting with thee, all besides will go well--all will +go well--and I will back to my mistress and report whom I have seen." + +"Tarry yet another moment, my recovered treasure!" said Hereward, "and +let me balance this matter carefully. This Frankish lady holds the +Saxons like the very dust that thou brushest from the hem of her +garment. She treats--she regards--the Saxons as pagans and heretics. +She has dared to impose slavish tasks upon thee, born in freedom. Her +father's sword has been embrued to the hilt with Anglo-Saxon +blood--perhaps that of Waltheoff and Engelred has added death to the +stain! She has been, besides, a presumptuous fool, usurping for herself +the trophies and warlike character which belong to the other sex. +Lastly, it will be hard to find a champion to fight in her stead, since +all the crusaders have passed over to Asia, which is the land, they +say, in which they have come to war; and by orders of the Emperor, no +means of return to the hither shore will be permitted to any of them." + +"Alas! alas!" said Bertha, "how does this world change us! The son of +Waltheoff I once knew brave, ready to assist distress, bold and +generous. Such was what I pictured him to myself during his absence. I +have met him again, and he is calculating, cold, and selfish!" + +"Hush, damsel," said the Varangian, "and know him of whom thou +speakest, ere thou judgest him. The Countess of Paris is such as I have +said; yet let her appear boldly in the lists, and when the trumpet +shall sound thrice, another shall reply, which shall announce the +arrival of her own noble lord to do battle in her stead; or should he +fail to appear--I will requite her kindness to thee, Bertha, and be +ready in his place." + +"Wilt thou? wilt thou indeed?" said the damsel; "that was spoken like +the son of Waltheoff--like the genuine stock! I will home, and comfort +my mistress; for surely if the judgment of God ever directed the issue +of a judicial combat, its influence will descend upon this. But you +hint that the Count is here--that he is at liberty--she will enquire +about that." + +"She must be satisfied," replied Hereward, "to know that her husband is +under the guidance of a friend, who will endeavour to protect him from +his own extravagances and follies; or, at all events, of one who, if he +cannot properly be called a friend, has certainly not acted, and will +not act, towards him the part of an enemy.--And now, farewell, long +lost--long loved!"--Before he could say more, the Saxon maiden, after +two or three vain attempts to express her gratitude, threw herself into +her lover's arms, and despite the coyness which she had recently shown, +impressed upon his lips the thanks which she could not speak. + +They parted, Bertha returning to her mistress at the lodge, which she +had left both with trouble and danger, and Hereward by the portal kept +by the negro-portress, who, complimenting the handsome Varangian on his +success among the fair, intimated, that she had been in some sort a +witness of his meeting with the Saxon damsel. A piece of gold, part of +a late largesse, amply served to bribe her tongue; and the soldier, +clear of the gardens of the philosopher, sped back as he might to the +barrack--judging that it was full time to carry some supply to Count +Robert, who had been left without food the whole day. + +It is a common popular saying, that as the sensation of hunger is not +connected with any pleasing or gentle emotion, so it is particularly +remarkable for irritating those of anger and spleen. It is not, +therefore, very surprising that Count Robert, who had been so unusually +long without sustenance, should receive Hereward with a degree of +impatience beyond what the occasion merited, and injurious certainly to +the honest Varangian, who had repeatedly exposed his life that day for +the interest of the Countess and the Count himself. + +"Soh, sir!" he said, in that accent of affected restraint by which a +superior modifies his displeasure against his inferior into a cold and +scornful expression--"You have played a liberal host to us!--Not that +it is of consequence; but methinks a Count of the most Christian +kingdom dines not every day with a mercenary soldier, and might expect, +if not the ostentatious, at least the needful part of hospitality." + +"And methinks," replied the Varangian, "O most Christian Count, that +such of your high rank as, by choice or fate, become the guests of such +as I, may think themselves pleased, and blame not their host's +niggardliness, but the difficulty of his circumstances, if dinner +should not present itself oftener than once in four-and-twenty hours." +So saying, he clapt his hands together, and his domestic Edric entered. +His guest looked astonished at the entrance of this third party into +their retirement. "I will answer for this man," said Hereward, and +addressed him in the following words:--"What food hast thou, Edric, to +place before the honourable Count?" + +"Nothing but the cold pasty," replied the attendant, "marvellously +damaged by your honour's encounter at breakfast." + +The military domestic, as intimated, brought forward a large pasty, but +which had already that morning sustained a furious attack, insomuch, +that Count Robert of Paris, who, like all noble Normans, was somewhat +nice and delicate in his eating, was in some doubt whether his +scrupulousness should not prevail over his hunger; but on looking more +closely, sight, smell, and a fast of twenty hours, joined to convince +him that the pasty was an excellent one, and that the charger on which +it was presented possessed corners yet untouched. At length, having +suppressed his scruples, and made bold inroad upon the remains of the +dish, he paused to partake of a flask of strong red wine which stood +invitingly beside him, and a lusty draught increased the good-humour +which had begun to take place towards Hereward, in exchange for the +displeasure with which he had received him. + +"Now, by heaven!" he said, "I myself ought to be ashamed to lack the +courtesy which I recommend to others! Here have I, with the manners of +a Flemish boor, been devouring the provisions of my gallant host, +without even asking him to sit down at his own table, and to partake of +his own good cheer!" + +"I will not strain courtesies with you for that," said Hereward; and +thrusting his hand into the pasty, he proceeded with great speed and +dexterity to devour the miscellaneous contents, a handful of which was +enclosed in his grasp. The Count now withdrew from the table, partly in +disgust at the rustic proceedings of Hereward, who, however, by now +calling Edric to join him in his attack upon the pasty, showed that he +had, in fact, according to his manners, subjected himself previously to +some observance of respect towards his guest; while the assistance of +his attendant enabled him to make a clear cacaabulum of what was left. +Count Robert at length summoned up courage sufficient to put a +question, which had been trembling upon his lips ever since Hereward +had returned. + +"Have thine enquiries, my gallant friend, learned more concerning my +unfortunate wife, my faithful Brenhilda?" + +"Tidings I have," said the Anglo-Saxon, "but whether pleasing or not, +yourself must be the judge. This much I have learned;--she hath, as you +know, come under an engagement to meet the Caesar in arms in the lists, +but under conditions which you may perhaps think strange; these, +however, she hath entertained without scruple." + +"Let me know these terms,", said the Count of Paris; "they will, I +think, appear less strange in my eyes than in thine." + +But while he affected to speak with the utmost coolness, the husband's +sparkling eye and crimsoned cheek betrayed the alteration which had +taken place in his feelings. "The lady and the Caesar," said Hereward, +"as you partly heard yourself, are to meet in fight; if the Countess +wins, of course she remains the wife of the noble Count of Paris; if +she loses, she becomes the paramour of the Caesar Nicephorus Briennius." + +"Saints and angels forbid!" said Count Robert; "were they to permit +such treason to triumph, we might be pardoned for doubting their +divinity!" + +"Yet methinks," said the Anglo-Saxon, "it were no disgraceful +precaution that both you and I, with other friends, if we can obtain +such, should be seen under shield in the lists on the morning of the +conflict. To triumph, or to be defeated, is in the hand of fate; but +what we cannot fail to witness is, whether or not the lady receives +that fair play which is the due of an honourable combatant, and which, +as you have yourself seen, can be sometimes basely transgressed in this +Grecian empire." + +"On that condition," said the Count, "and protesting, that not even the +extreme danger of my lady shall make me break through the rule of a +fair fight, I will surely attend the lists, if thou, brave Saxon, canst +find me any means of doing so.--Yet stay," he continued, after +reflecting for a moment, "thou shalt promise not to let her know that +her Count is on the field, far less to point him out to her eye among +the press of warriors. O, thou dost not know that the sight of the +beloved will sometimes steal from us our courage, even when it has most +to achieve!" + +"We will endeavour," said the Varangian, "to arrange matters according +to thy pleasure, so that thou findest out no more fantastical +difficulties; for, by my word, an affair so complicated in itself, +requires not to be confused by the fine-spun whims of thy national +gallantry. Meantime, much must be done this night; and while I go about +it, thou, Sir Knight, hadst best remain here, with such disguise of +garments, and such food, as Edric may be able to procure for thee. Fear +nothing from intrusion on the part of thy neighbours. We Varangians +respect each other's secrets, of whatever nature they may chance to be." + + + + +CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FIRST. + + But for our trusty brother-in-law-and the Abbot, + With all the rest of that consorted crew,-- + Destruction straight shall dog them at the heels:-- + Good uncle, help to order several powers + To Oxford, or where'er these traitors are: + They shall not live within this world, I swear. + RICHARD II. + + +As Hereward spoke the last words narrated in the foregoing chapter, he +left the count in his apartment, and proceeded to the Blacquernal +Palace. We traced his first entrance into the court, but since then he +had frequently been summoned, not only by order of the Princess Anna +Comnena, who delighted in asking him questions concerning the customs +of his native country, and marking down the replies in her own inflated +language; but also by the direct command of the Emperor himself, who +had the humour of many princes, that of desiring to obtain direct +information from persons in a very inferior station in their Court. The +ring which the Princess had given to the Varangian, served as a +pass-token more than once, and was now so generally known by the slaves +of the palace, that Hereward had only to slip it into the hand of a +principal person among them, and was introduced into a small chamber, +not distant from the saloon already mentioned, dedicated to the Muses. +In this small apartment, the Emperor, his spouse Irene, and their +accomplished daughter Anna Comnena, were seated together, clad in very +ordinary apparel, as indeed the furniture of the room itself was of the +kind used by respectable citizens, saving that mattrasses, composed of +eiderdown, hung before each door to prevent the risk of eavesdropping. + +"Our trusty Varangian," said the Empress. + +"My guide and tutor respecting the manners of those steel-clad men," +said the Princess Anna Comnena, "of whom it is so necessary that I +should form an accurate idea." + +"Your Imperial Majesty," said the Empress, "will not, I trust, think +your consort and your muse-inspired daughter, are too many to share +with you the intelligence brought by this brave and loyal man?" + +"Dearest wife and daughter," returned the Emperor, "I have hitherto +spared you the burden of a painful secret, which I have locked in my +own bosom, at whatever expense of solitary sorrow and unimparted +anxiety. Noble daughter, you in particular will feel this calamity, +learning, as you must learn, to think odiously of one, of whom it has +hitherto been your duty to hold a very different opinion." + +"Holy Mary!" exclaimed the Princess. + +"Rally yourself," said the Emperor; "remember you are a child of the +purple chamber, born, not to weep for your father's wrongs, but to +avenge them,--not to regard even him who has lain by your side as half +so important as the sacred Imperial grandeur, of which you are yourself +a partaker." + +"What can such words preface?" said Anna Comnena, in great agitation. + +"They say," answered the Emperor, "that the Caesar is an ungrateful man +to all my bounties, and even to that which annexed him to my own. +house, and made him by adoption my own son. He hath consorted himself +with a knot of traitors, whose very names are enough to raise the foul +fiend, as if to snatch his assured prey!" + +"Could Nicephorus do this?" said the astonished and forlorn Princess; +"Nicephorus, who has so often called my eyes the lights by which he +steered his path? Could he do this to my father, to whose exploits he +has listened hour after hour, protesting that he knew not whether it +was the beauty of the language, or the heroism of the action, which +most enchanted him? Thinking with the same thought, seeing with the +same eye, loving with the same heart,--O, my father! it is impossible +that he could be so false. Think of the neighbouring Temple of the +Muses!" + +"And if I did," murmured Alexius in his heart, "I should think of the +only apology which could be proposed for the traitor. A little is well +enough, but the full soul loatheth the honey-comb." Then speaking +aloud, "My daughter," he said, "be comforted; we ourselves were +unwilling to believe the shameful truth; but our guards have been +debauched; their commander, that ungrateful Achilles Tatius, with the +equal traitor, Agelastes, have been seduced to favour our imprisonment +or murder; and, alas for Greece in the very moment when she required +the fostering care of a parent, she was to be deprived of him by a +sudden and merciless blow!" + +Here the Emperor wept, whether for the loss to be sustained by his +subjects, or of his own life, it is hard to say. + +"Methinks," said Irene, "your Imperial Highness is slow in taking +measures against the danger." + +"Under your gracious permission, mother," answered the Princess, "I +would rather say he was hasty in giving belief to it. Methinks the +evidence of a Varangian, granting him to be ever so stout a +man-at-arms, is but a frail guarantee against the honour of your +son-in-law--the approved bravery and fidelity of the captain of your +guards--the deep sense, virtue, and profound wisdom, of the greatest of +your philosophers"-- + +"And the conceit of an over-educated daughter," said the Emperor, "who +will not allow her parent to judge in what most concerns him. I will +tell thee, Anna, I know every one of them, and the trust which may be +reposed in them; the honour of your Nicephorus--the bravery and +fidelity of the Acolyte--and the virtue and wisdom of Agelastes--have I +not had them all in my purse? And had my purse continued well filled, +and my arm strong as it was of late, there they would have still +remained. But the butterflies went off as the weather became cold, and +I must meet the tempest without their assistance. You talk of want of +proof? I have proof sufficient when I see danger; this honest soldier +brought me indications which corresponded with my own private remarks, +made on purpose. Varangian he shall be of Varangians; Acolyte he shall +be named, in place of the present traitor; and who knows what may come +thereafter?" + +"May it please your Highness," said the Varangian, who had been +hitherto silent, "many men in this empire rise to dignity by the fall +of their original patrons, but it is a road to greatness to which I +cannot reconcile my conscience; moreover, having recovered a friend, +from whom I was long ago separated, I shall require, in short space, +your Imperial license for going hence, where I shall leave thousands of +enemies behind me, and spending my life, like many of my countrymen, +under the banner of King William of Scotland"-- + +"Part with _thee_, most inimitable man!" cried the Emperor, with +emphasis; "where shall I get a soldier--a champion--a friend--so +faithful?" + +"Noble sir," replied the Anglo-Saxon, "I am every way sensible to your +goodness and munificence; but let me entreat you to call me by my own +name, and to promise me nothing but your forgiveness, for my having +been the agent of such confusion among your Imperial servants. Not only +is the threatened fate of Achilles Tatius, my benefactor; of the +Caesar, whom I think my well-wisher; and even of Agelastes himself, +painful, so far as it is of my bringing round; but also I have known it +somehow happen, that those on whom your Imperial Majesty has lavished +the most valuable expressions of your favour one day, were the next day +food to fatten the chough and crow. And this, I acknowledge, is a +purpose, for which I would not willingly have it said I had brought my +English limbs to these Grecian shores." + +"Call thee by thine own name, my Edward," said the Emperor, (while he +muttered aside--"by Heaven, I have again forgot the name of the +barbarian!")--"by thine own name certainly for the present, but only +until we shall devise one more fitted for the trust we repose in thee. +Meantime, look at this scroll, which contains, I think, all the +particulars which we have been able to learn of this plot, and give it +to these unbelieving women, who will not credit that an Emperor is in +danger, till the blades of the conspirators' poniards are clashing +within his ribs." + +Hereward did as he was commanded, and having looked at the scroll, and +signified, by bending his head, his acquiescence in its contents, he +presented it to Irene, who had not read long, ere, with a countenance +so embittered that she had difficulty in pointing out the cause of her +displeasure to her daughter, she bade her, with animation, "Read +that--read that, and judge of the gratitude and affection of thy +Caesar!" + +The Princess Anna Comnena awoke from a state of profound and +overpowering melancholy, and looked at the passage pointed out to her, +at first with an air of languid curiosity, which presently deepened +into the most intense interest. She clutched the scroll as a falcon +does his prey, her eye lightened with indignation; and it was with the +cry of the bird when in fury that she exclaimed, "Bloody-minded, +double-hearted traitor! what wouldst thou have? Yes, father," she said, +rising in fury, "it is no longer the voice of a deceived princess that +shall intercede to avert from the traitor Nicephorus the doom he has +deserved! Did he think that one born in the purple chamber could be +divorced--murdered, perhaps--with the petty formula of the Romans, +'Restore the keys---be no longer my domestic drudge?'[Footnote: The +laconic form of the Roman divorce.] Was a daughter of the blood of +Comnenus liable to such insults as the meanest of Quirites might bestow +on a family housekeeper!" + +So saying, she dashed the tears from her eyes, and her countenance, +naturally that of beauty and gentleness, became animated with the +expression of a fury. Hereward looked at her with a mixture of fear, +dislike and compassion. She again burst forth, for nature having given +her considerable abilities, had lent her at the same time an energy of +passion, far superior in power to the cold ambition of Irene, or the +wily, ambidexter, shuffling policy of the Emperor. + +"He shall abye it," said the Princess; "he shall dearly abye it! False, +smiling, cozening traitor!--and for that unfeminine barbarian! +Something of this I guessed, even at that old fool's banqueting-house; +and yet if this unworthy Caesar submits his body to the chance of arms, +he is less prudent than I have some reason to believe. Think you he +will have the madness to brand us with such open neglect, my father? +and will you not invent some mode of ensuring our revenge?" + +"Soh!" thought the Emperor, "this difficulty is over; she will run down +hill to her revenge, and will need the snaffle and curb more than the +lash. If every jealous dame in Constantinople were to pursue her fury +as unrelentingly, our laws should be written, like Draco's, not in ink, +but in blood.--Attend to me now," he said aloud, "my wife, my daughter, +and thou, dear Edward, and you shall learn, and you three only, my mode +of navigating the vessel of the state through these shoals." + +"Let us see distinctly," continued Alexius, "the means by which they +propose to act, and these shall instruct us how to meet them. A certain +number of the Varangians are unhappily seduced, under pretence of +wrongs, artfully stirred up by their villanous general. A part of them +are studiously to be arranged nigh our person--the traitor Ursel, some +of them suppose, is dead, but if it were so, his name is sufficient to +draw together his old factionaries--I have a means of satisfying them +on that point, on which I shall remain silent for the present.--A +considerable body of the Immortal Guards have also given way to +seduction; they are to be placed to support the handful of treacherous +Varangians, who are in the plot to attack our person.--Now. a slight +change in the stations of the soldiery, which thou, my faithful Edward +--or--a--a--whatever thou art named,--for which thou, I say, shalt have +full authority, will derange the plans of the traitors, and place the +true men in such position around them as to cut them to pieces with +little trouble." + +"And the combat, my lord?" said the Saxon. + +"Thou hadst been no true Varangian hadst thou not enquired after that," +said the Emperor, nodding good-humouredly towards him. "As to the +combat, the Caesar has devised it, and it shall be my care that he +shall not retreat from the dangerous part of it. He cannot in honour +avoid fighting with this woman, strange as the combat is; and however +it ends, the conspiracy will break forth, and as assuredly as it comes +against persons prepared, and in arms, shall it be stifled in the blood +of the conspirators!" + +"My revenge does not require this," said the Princess; "and your +Imperial honour is also interested that this Countess shall be +protected." + +"It is little business of mine," said the Emperor. "She comes here with +her husband altogether uninvited. He behaves with insolence in my +presence, and deserves whatever may be the issue to himself or his lady +of their mad adventure. In sooth, I desired little more than to give +him a fright with those animals whom their ignorance judged enchanted, +and to give his wife a slight alarm about the impetuosity of a Grecian +lover, and there my vengeance should have ended. But it may be that his +wife may be taken under my protection, now that little revenge is over." + +"And a paltry revenge it was," said the Empress, "that you, a man past +middle life, and with a wife who might command some attention, should +constitute yourself the object of alarm to such a handsome man as Count +Robert, and the Amazon his wife." + +"By your favour, dame Irene, no," said the Emperor. "I left that part +of the proposed comedy to my son-in-law the Caesar." + +But when the poor Emperor had in some measure stopt one floodgate, he +effectually opened another, and one which was more formidable. "The +more shame to your Imperial wisdom, my father!" exclaimed the Princess +Anna Comnena; "it is a shame, that with wisdom and a beard like yours, +you should be meddling in such indecent follies as admit disturbance +into private families, and that family your own daughter's! Who can say +that the Caesar Nicephorus Briennius ever looked astray towards another +woman than his wife, till the Emperor taught him to do so, and involved +him in a web of intrigue and treachery, in which he has endangered the +life of his father-in-law?" + +"Daughter! daughter! daughter!"--said the Empress; "daughter of a +she-wolf, I think, to goad her parent at such an unhappy time, when all +the leisure he has is too little to defend his life!" + +"Peace, I pray you, women both, with your senseless clamours," answered +Alexius, "and let me at least swim for my life undisturbed with your +folly. God knows if I am a man to encourage, I will not say the reality +of wrong, but even its mere appearance!" + +These words he uttered, crossing himself, with a devout groan. His wife +Irene, in the meantime, stept before him, and said, with a bitterness +in her looks and accent, which only long-concealed nuptial hatred +breaking forth at once could convey,--"Alexius, terminate this affair +how it will, you have lived a hypocrite, and thou wilt not fail to die +one." So saying, with an air of noble indignation, and carrying her +daughter along with her, she swept out of the apartment. + +The Emperor looked after her in some confusion. He soon, however, +recovered his self-possession, and turning to Hereward, with a look of +injured majesty, said, "Ah! my dear Edward,"---for the word had become +rooted in his mind, instead of the less euphonic name of +Hereward,--"thou seest how it is even with the greatest, and that the +Emperor, in moments of difficulty, is a subject of misconstruction, as +well as the meanest burgess of Constantinople; nevertheless, my trust +is so great in thee, Edward, that I would have thee believe, that my +daughter, Anna Comnena, is not of the temper of her mother, but rather +of my own; honouring, thou mayst see, with religious fidelity, the +unworthy ties which I hope soon to break, and assort her with other +fetters of Cupid, which shall be borne more lightly. Edward, my main +trust is in thee. Accident presents us with an opportunity, happy of +the happiest, so it be rightly improved, of having all the traitors +before us assembled on one fair field. Think, _then_, on that day, as +the Franks say at their tournaments, that fair eyes behold thee. Thou +canst not devise a gift within my power, but I will gladly load thee +with it." + +"It needs not," said the Varangian, somewhat coldly; "my highest +ambition is to merit the epitaph upon my tomb, 'Hereward was faithful.' +I am about, however, to demand a proof of your imperial confidence, +which, perhaps, you may think a startling one." + +"Indeed!" said the Emperor. "What, in one word, is thy demand?" + +"Permission," replied Hereward, "to go to the Duke of Bouillon's +encampment, and entreat his presence in the lists, to witness this +extraordinary combat." + +"That he may return with his crusading madmen," said the Emperor, "and +sack Constantinople, under pretence of doing justice to his +Confederates? This, Varangian, is at least speaking thy mind openly." + +"No, by Heavens!" said Hereward suddenly; "the Duke of Bouillon shall +come with no more knights than may be a reasonable guard, should +treachery be offered to the Countess of Paris." + +"Well, even in this," said the Emperor, "will I be conformable; and if +thou, Edward, betrayest my trust, think that thou forfeitest all that +my friendship has promised, and dost incur, besides, the damnation that +is due to the traitor who betrays with a kiss." + +"For thy reward, noble sir," answered the Varangian, "I hereby renounce +all claim to it. When the diadem is once more firmly fixed upon thy +brow, and the sceptre in thy hand, if I am then alive, if my poor +services should deserve so much, I will petition thee for the means of +leaving this court, and returning to the distant island in which I was +born. Meanwhile, think me not unfaithful, because I have for a time the +means of being so with effect. Your Imperial Highness shall learn that +Hereward is as true as is your right hand to your left."--So saying, he +took his leave with a profound obeisance. + +The Emperor gazed after him with a countenance in which doubt was +mingled with admiration. + +"I have trusted him," he said, "with all he asked, and with the power +of ruining me entirely, if such be his purpose. He has but to breathe a +whisper, and the whole mad crew of crusaders, kept in humour at the +expense of so much current falsehood, and so much more gold, will +return with fire and sword to burn down Constantinople, and sow with +salt the place where it stood. I have done what I had resolved never to +do,--I have ventured kingdom and life on the faith of a man born of +woman. How often have I said, nay, sworn, that I would not hazard +myself on such peril, and yet, step by step, I have done so! I cannot +tell--there is in that man's looks and words a good faith which +overwhelms me; and, what is almost incredible, my belief in him has +increased in proportion to his showing me how slight my power was over +him. I threw, like the wily angler, every bait I could devise, and some +of them such as a king would scarcely have disdained; to none of these +would he rise; but yet he gorges, I may say, the bare hook, and enters +upon my service without a shadow of self-interest.--Can this be +double-distilled treachery?--or can it be what men call +disinterestedness?--If I thought him false, the moment is not yet +past--he has not yet crossed the bridge--he has not passed the guards +of the palace, who have no hesitation, and know no disobedience--But +no--I were then alone in the land, and without a friend or +confidant.--I hear the sound of the outer gate unclose, the sense of +danger certainly renders my ears more acute than usual.--It shuts +again--the die is cast. He is at liberty--and Alexius Comnenus must +stand or fall, according to the uncertain faith of a mercenary +Varangian." He clapt his hands; a slave appeared, of whom he demanded +wine. He drank, and his heart was cheered within him. "I am decided," +he said, "and will abide with resolution the cast of the throw, for +good or for evil." + +So saying, he retired to his apartment, and was not again seen during +that night. + + + + +CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SECOND. + + And aye, as if for death, some lonely trumpet peal'd. + CAMPBELL. + + +The Varangian, his head agitated with the weighty matters which imposed +on him, stopt from time to time as he journeyed through the moonlight +streets, to arrest passing ideas as they shot through his mind, and +consider them with accuracy in all their bearings. His thoughts were +such as animated or alarmed him alternately, each followed by a +confused throng of accompaniments which it suggested, and banished +again in its turn by reflections of another description. It was one of +those conjunctures when the minds of ordinary men feel themselves +unable to support a burden which is suddenly flung upon them, and when, +on the contrary, those of uncommon fortitude, and that best of Heaven's +gifts, good sense, founded on presence of mind, feel their talents +awakened and regulated for the occasion, like a good steed under the +management of a rider of courage and experience. + +As he stood in one of those fits of reverie, which repeatedly during +that night arrested his stern military march, Hereward thought that his +ear caught the note of a distant trumpet. This surprised him; a trumpet +blown at that late hour, and in the streets of Constantinople, argued +something extraordinary; for as all military movements were the subject +of special ordinance, the etiquette of the night could hardly have been +transgressed without some great cause. The question was, what that +cause could be? + +Had the insurrection broken out unexpectedly, and in a different manner +from what the conspirators proposed to themselves?--If so, his meeting +with his plighted bride, after so many years' absence, was but a +delusive preface to their separating for ever. Or had the crusaders, a +race of men upon whose motions it was difficult to calculate, suddenly +taken arms and returned from the opposite shore to surprise the city? +This might very possibly be the case; so numerous had been the +different causes of complaint afforded to the crusaders, that, when +they were now for the first time assembled into one body, and had heard +the stories which they could reciprocally tell concerning the perfidy +of the Greeks, nothing was so likely, so natural, even perhaps so +justifiable, as that they should study revenge. + +But the sound rather resembled a point of war regularly blown, than the +tumultuous blare of bugle-horns and trumpets, the accompaniments at +once, and the annunciation, of a taken town, in which the horrid +circumstances of storm had not yet given place to such stern peace as +the victors' weariness of slaughter and rapine allows at length to the +wretched inhabitants. Whatever it was, it was necessary that Hereward +should learn its purport, and therefore he made his way into a broad +street near the barracks, from, which the sound seemed to come, to +which point, indeed, his way was directed for other reasons. + +The inhabitants of that quarter of the town did not appear violently +startled by this military signal. The moonlight slept on the street, +crossed by the gigantic shadowy towers of Sancta Sophia. No human being +appeared in the streets, and such as for an instant looked from their +doors or from their lattices, seemed to have their curiosity quickly +satisfied, for they withdrew their heads, and secured the opening +through which they had peeped. + +Hereward could not help remembering the traditions which were recounted +by the fathers of his tribe, in the deep woods, of Hampshire, and which +spoke of invisible huntsmen, who were heard to follow with viewless +horses and hounds the unseen chase through the depths of the forests of +Germany. Such it seemed were the sounds with which these haunted woods +were wont to ring while the wild chase was up; and with such apparent +terror did the hearers listen to their clamour. + +"Fie!" he said, as he suppressed within him a tendency to the same +superstitious fears; "do such childish fancies belong to a man trusted +with so much, and from whom so much is expected?" He paced down the +street, therefore, with his battle-axe over his shoulder, and the first +person whom he saw venturing to look out of his door, he questioned +concerning the cause of this military music at such an unaccustomed +hour. + +"I cannot tell, so please you, my lord," said the citizen, unwilling, +it appeared, to remain in the open air, or to enter into conversation, +and greatly disposed to decline further questioning. This was the +political citizen of Constantinople whom we met with at the beginning +of this history, and who, hastily stepping into his habitation, +eschewed all further conversation. + +The wrestler Stephanos showed himself at the next door, which was +garlanded with oak and ivy leaves, in honour of some recent victory. He +stood unshrinking, partly encouraged by the consciousness of personal +strength, and partly by a rugged surliness of temper, which is often +mistaken among persons of this kind for real courage. His admirer and +flatterer, Lysimachus, kept himself ensconced behind his ample +shoulders. + +As Hereward passed, he put the same question as he did to the former +citizen,--"Know you the meaning of these trumpets sounding so late?" + +"You should know best yourself," answered Stephanos, doggedly; "for, to +judge by your axe and helmet, they are your trumpets, and not ours, +which disturb honest men in their first sleep." + +"Varlet!" answered the Varangian, with an emphasis which made the +prizer start,--"but--when that trumpet sounds, it is no time for a +soldier to punish insolence as it deserves." + +The Greek started back and bolted into his house, nearly overthrowing +in the speed of his retreat the artist Lysimachus, who was listening to +what passed. + +Hereward passed on to the barracks, where the military music had seemed +to halt; but on the Varangian crossing the threshold of the ample +courtyard, it broke forth again with a tremendous burst, whose clangour +almost stunned him, though well accustomed to the sounds. "What is the +meaning of this, Engelbrecht?" he said to the Varangian sentinel, who +paced axe in hand before the entrance. + +"The proclamation of a challenge and combat," answered Engelbrecht. +"Strange things towards, comrade; the frantic crusaders have bit the +Grecians, and infected them with their humour of tilting, as they say +dogs do each other with madness." + +Hereward made no reply to the sentinel's speech, but pressed forward +into a knot of his fellow-soldiers who were assembled in the court, +half-armed, or, more properly, in total disarray, as just arisen from +their beds, and huddled around the trumpets of their corps, which were +drawn out in full pomp. He of the gigantic instrument, whose duty it +was to intimate the express commands of the Emperor, was not wanting in +his place, and the musicians were supported by a band of the Varangians +in arms, headed by Achilles Tatius himself. Hereward could also notice, +on approaching nearer, as his comrades made way for him, that six of +the Imperial heralds were on duty on this occasion; four of these (two +acting at the same time) had already made proclamation, which was to be +repeated for the third time by the two last, as was the usual fashion +in Constantinople with Imperial mandates of great consequence. Achilles +Tatius, the moment he saw his confidant, made him a sign, which +Hereward understood as conveying a desire to speak with him after the +proclamation was over. The herald, after the flourish of trumpets was +finished, commenced in. these words: + +"By the authority of the resplendent and divine Prince Alexius +Comnenus, Emperor of the most holy Roman Empire, his Imperial Majesty +desires it to be made known to all and sundry the subjects of his +empire, whatever their race of blood may be, or at whatever shrine of +divinity they happen, to bend--Know ye, therefore, that upon the second +day after this is dated, our beloved son-in-law, the much esteemed +Caesar, hath taken upon, him to do battle with our sworn enemy, Robert, +Count of Paris, on account of his insolent conduct, by presuming +publicly to occupy our royal seat, and no less by breaking, in our +Imperial presence, those curious specimens of art, ornamenting our +throne, called by tradition the Lions of Solomon. And that there may +not remain a man in Europe who shall dare to say that the Grecians are +behind other parts of the world in any of the manly exercises which +Christian nations use, the said noble enemies, renouncing all +assistance from falsehood, from spells, or from magic, shall debate +this quarrel in three courses with grinded spears, and three passages +of arms with sharpened swords; the field to be at the judgment of the +honourable Emperor, and to be decided at his most gracious and unerring +pleasure. And so God show the right!" + +Another formidable flourish of the trumpets concluded the ceremony. +Achilles then dismissed the attendant troops, as well as the heralds +and musicians, to their respective quarters; and having got Hereward +close to his side, enquired of him whether he had learned any thing of +the prisoner, Robert, Count of Paris. + +"Nothing," said the Varangian, "save the tidings your proclamation +contains." + +"You think, then," said Achilles, "that the Count has been a party to +it." + +"He ought to have been so," answered the Varangian. "I know no one but +himself entitled to take burden for his appearance in the lists." + +"Why, look you," said the Acolyte, "my most excellent, though +blunt-witted Hereward, this Caesar of ours hath had the extravagance to +venture his tender wit in comparison to that of Achilles Tatius. He +stands upon his honour, too, this ineffable fool, and is displeased +with the idea of being supposed either to challenge a woman, or to +receive a challenge at her hand. He has substituted, therefore, the +name of the lord instead of the lady. If the Count fail to appear, the +Caesar walks forward challenger and successful combatant at a cheap +rate, since no one has encountered him, and claims that the lady should +be delivered up to him as a captive of his dreaded bow and spear. This +will be the signal for a general tumult, in which, if the Emperor be +not slain on the spot, he will be conveyed to the dungeon of his own +Blacquernal, there to endure the doom which his cruelty has inflicted +upon so many others." + +"But"---said the Varangian. + +"But---but--but," said his officer; "but thou art a fool. Canst thou +not see that this gallant Caesar is willing to avoid the risk of +encountering with this lady, while he earnestly desires to be supposed +willing to meet her husband? It is our business to fix the combat in +such a shape as to bring all who are prepared for insurrection together +in arms to play their parts. Do thou only see that our trusty friends +are placed near to the Emperor's person, and in such a manner as to +keep from him the officious and meddling portion of guards, who may be +disposed to assist him; and whether the Caesar fights a combat with +lord or lady, or whether there be any combat at all or not, the +revolution shall be accomplished, and the Tatii shall replace the +Comneni upon the Imperial throne of Constantinople. Go, my trusty +Hereward. Thou wilt not forget that the signal word of the insurrection +is Ursel, who lives in the affections of the people, although his body, +it is said, has long lain a corpse in the dungeons of the Blacquernal." + +"What was this Ursel," said Hereward, "of whom I hear men talk so +variously?" + +"A competitor for the crown with Alexius Comnenus--good, brave, and +honest; but overpowered by the cunning, rather than the skill or +bravery of his foe. He died, as I believe, in the Blacquernal; though +when, or how, there are few that can say. But, up and be doing, my +Hereward! Speak encouragement to the Varangians--Interest whomsoever +thou canst to join us. Of the Immortals, as they are called, and of the +discontented citizens, enough are prepared to fill up the cry, and +follow in the wake of those on whom we must rely as the beginners of +the enterprise. No longer shall Alexius's cunning, in avoiding popular +assemblies, avail to protect him; he cannot, with regard to his honour, +avoid being present at a combat to be fought beneath his own eye; and +Mercury be praised for the eloquence which inspired him, after some +hesitation, to determine for the proclamation!" + +"You have seen him, then, this evening?" said the Varangian. + +"Seen him! Unquestionably," answered the Acolyte. "Had I ordered these +trumpets to be sounded without his knowledge, the blast had blown the +head from my shoulders." + +"I had wellnigh met you at the palace," said Hereward; while his heart +throbbed almost as high as if he had actually had such a dangerous +encounter. + +"I heard something of it," said Achilles; "that you came to take the +parting orders of him who now acts the sovereign. Surely, had I seen +you there, with that steadfast, open, seemingly honest countenance, +cheating the wily Greek by very dint of bluntness, I had not forborne +laughing at the contrast between that and the thoughts of thy heart." + +"God alone," said Hereward, "knows the thoughts of our hearts; but I +take him to witness, that I am faithful to my promise, and will +discharge the task intrusted to me." + +"Bravo! mine honest Anglo-Saxon," said Achilles. "I pray thee to call +my slaves to unarm me; and when thou thyself doffest those weapons of +an ordinary life-guardsman, tell them they never shall above twice more +enclose the limbs of one for whom fate has much more fitting garments +in store." + +Hereward dared not intrust his voice with an answer to so critical a +speech; he bowed profoundly, and retired to his own quarters in the +building. + +Upon entering the apartment, he was immediately saluted by the voice of +Count Robert, in joyful accents, not suppressed by the fear of making +himself heard, though prudence should have made that uppermost in his +mind. + +"Hast thou heard it, my dear Hereward," he said--"hast thou heard the +proclamation, by which this Greek antelope hath defied me to tilting +with grinded spears, and fighting three passages of arms with sharpened +swords? Yet there is something strange, too, that he should not think +it safer to hold my lady to the encounter! He may think, perhaps, that +the crusaders would not permit such a battle to be fought. But, by our +Lady of the Broken Lances! he little knows that the men of the West +hold their ladies' character for courage as jealously as they do their +own. This whole night have I been considering in what armour I shall +clothe me; what shift I shall make for a steed; and whether I shall not +honour him sufficiently by using Tranchefer, as my only weapon, against +his whole armour, offensive and defensive." + +"I shall take care, however," said Hereward, "that, thou art better +provided in case of need.--Thou knowest not the Greeks." + + + + +CHAPTER THE TWENTY-THIRD. + + +The Varangian did not leave the Count of Paris until the latter had in +his hands his signet-ring, _semee_, (as the heralds express it,) _with +lances splintered_, and bearing the proud motto, "Mine yet unscathed." +Provided with this symbol of confidence, it was now his business to +take order for communicating the approaching solemnity to the leader of +the crusading army, and demanding from him, in the name of Robert of +Paris, and the Lady Brenhilda, such a detachment of western cavaliers +as might ensure strict observance of honour and honesty in the +arrangement of the lists, and during the progress of the combat. The +duties imposed on Hereward were such as to render it impossible for him +to proceed personally to the camp of Godfrey: and though there were +many of the Varangians in whose fidelity he could have trusted, he knew +of none among those under his immediate command whose intelligence, on +so novel an occasion, might be entirely depended on. In this +perplexity, he strolled, perhaps without well knowing why, to the +gardens of Agelastes, where fortune once more produced him an interview +with Bertha. + +No sooner had Hereward made her aware of his difficulty, than the +faithful bower-maiden's resolution was taken. + +"I see," said she, "that the peril of this part of the adventure must +rest with me; and wherefore should it not? My mistress, in the bosom of +prosperity, offered herself to go forth into the wide world for my +sake; I will for hers go to the camp of this Frankish lord. He is an +honourable man, and a pious Christian, and his followers are faithful +pilgrims. A woman can have nothing to fear who goes to such men upon +such an errand." + +The Varangian, however, was too well acquainted with the manners of +camps to permit the fair Bertha to go alone. He provided, therefore, +for her safe-guard a trusty old soldier, bound to his person by long +kindness and confidence, and having thoroughly possessed her of the +particulars of the message she was to deliver, and desired her to be in +readiness without the enclosure at peep of dawn, returned once more to +his barracks. + +With the earliest light, Hereward was again at the spot where he had +parted overnight with Bertha, accompanied by the honest soldier to +whose care he meant to confide her. In a short time, he had seen them +safely on board of a ferry-boat lying in the harbour; the master of +which readily admitted them, after some examination of their license, +to pass to Scutari, which was forged in the name of the Acolyte, as +authorised by that foul conspirator, and which agreed with the +appearance of old Osmund and his young charge. + +The morning was lovely; and erelong the town of Scutari opened on the +view of the travellers, glittering, as now, with a variety of +architecture, which, though it might be termed fantastical, could not +be denied the praise of beauty. These buildings rose boldly out of a +thick grove of cypresses, and other huge trees, the larger, probably, +as they were respected for filling the cemeteries, and being the +guardians of the dead. + +At the period we mention, another circumstance, no less striking than +beautiful, rendered doubly interesting a scene which must have been at +all times greatly so. A large portion of that miscellaneous army which +came to regain the holy places of Palestine, and the blessed Sepulchre +itself, from the infidels, had established themselves in a camp within +a mile, or thereabouts, of Scutari. Although, therefore, the crusaders +were destitute in a great measure of the use of tents, the army +(excepting the pavilions of some leaders of high rank) had constructed +for themselves temporary huts, not unpleasing to the eye, being +decorated with leaves and flowers, while the tall pennons and banners +that floated over them with various devices, showed that the flower of +Europe were assembled at that place. A loud and varied murmur, +resembling that of a thronged hive, floated from the camp of the +crusaders to the neighbouring town of Scutari, and every now and then +the deep tone was broken by some shriller sound, the note of some +musical instrument, or the treble scream of some child or female, in +fear or in gaiety. + +The party at length landed in safety; and as they approached one of the +gates of the camp, there sallied forth a brisk array of gallant +cavaliers, pages, and squires, exercising their masters' horses or +their own. From the noise they made, conversing at the very top of +their voices, galloping, curvetting, and prancing their palfreys, it +seemed as if their early discipline had called them to exercise ere the +fumes of last night's revel were thoroughly dissipated by repose. So +soon as they saw Bertha and her party, they approached them with cries +which marked their country was Italy--"Al'erta! al'erta!--Roba de +guadagno, cameradi!" [Footnote: That is--"Take heed! take heed! there +is booty, comrades!"] + +They gathered round the Anglo-Saxon maiden and her companions, +repeating their cries in a manner which made Bertha tremble. Their +general demand was, "What was her business in their camp?" + +"I would to the general-in-chief, cavaliers," answered Bertha, "having +a secret message to his ear." + +"For whose ear?" said a leader of the party, a handsome youth of about +eighteen years of age, who seemed either to have a sounder brain than +his fellows, or to have overflowed it with less wine. "Which of our +leaders do you come hither to see?" he demanded. + +"Godfrey of Bouillon." + +"Indeed!" said the page who had spoken first; "can nothing of less +consequence serve thy turn? Take a look amongst us; young are we all, +and reasonably wealthy. My Lord of Bouillon is old, and if he has any +sequins, he is not like to lavish them in this way." + +"Still I have a token to Godfrey of Bouillon," answered Bertha, "an +assured one; and he will little thank any who obstructs my free passage +to him;" and therewithal showing a little case, in which the signet of +the Count of Paris was enclosed, "I will trust it in your hands," she +said, "if you promise not to open it, but to give me free access to the +noble leader of the crusaders." + +"I will," said the youth, "and if such be the Duke's pleasure, thou +shalt be admitted to him." + +"Ernest the Apulian, thy dainty Italian wit is caught in a trap," said +one of his companions. + +"Thou art an ultramontane fool, Polydore," returned Ernest; "there may +be more in this than either thy wit or mine is able to fathom. This +maiden and one of her attendants wear a dress belonging to the +Varangian Imperial guard. They have perhaps been intrusted with a +message from the Emperor, and it is not irreconcilable with Alexius's +politics to send it through such messengers as these. Let us, +therefore, convey them in all honour to the General's tent." + +"With all my heart," said Polydore. "A blue-eyed wench is a pretty +thing, but I like not the sauce of the camp-marshal, nor his taste in +attiring men who gave way to temptation. [Footnote: Persons among the +Crusaders found guilty of certain offences, did penance in a dress of +tar and feathers though it is supposed a punishment of modern +invention.] Yet, ere I prove a fool like my companion, I would ask who +or what this pretty maiden is, who comes to put noble princes and holy +pilgrims in mind that they have in their time had the follies of men?" + +Bertha advanced and whispered in the ear of Ernest. Meantime joke +followed jest, among Polydore and the rest of the gay youths, in +riotous and ribald succession, which, however characteristic of the +rude speakers, may as well be omitted here. Their effect was to shake +in some degree the fortitude of the Saxon maiden, who had some +difficulty in mustering courage to address them. "As you have mothers, +gentlemen," she said, "as you have fair sisters, whom you would protect +from dishonour with your best blood--as you love and honour those holy +places which you are sworn to free from the infidel enemy, have +compassion on me, that you may merit success in your undertaking!" + +"Fear nothing, maiden," said Ernest, "I will be your protector; and +you, my comrades, be ruled by me. I have, during your brawling, taken a +view, though somewhat against my promise, of the pledge which she +bears, and if she who presents it is affronted or maltreated, be +assured Godfrey of Bouillon will severely avenge the wrong done her." + +"Nay, comrade, if thou canst warrant us so much," said Polydore, "I +will myself be most anxious to conduct the young woman in honour and +safety to Sir Godfrey's tent." + +"The Princes," said Ernest, "must be nigh meeting there in council. +What I have said I will warrant and uphold with hand and life. More I +might guess, but I conclude this sensible young maiden can speak for +herself." + +"Now, Heaven bless thee, gallant squire," said Bertha, "and make thee +alike brave and fortunate! Embarrass yourself no farther about me, than +to deliver me safe to your leader, Godfrey." + +"We spend time," said Ernest, springing from his horse. "You are no +soft Eastern, fair maid, and I presume you will find yourself under no +difficulty in managing a quiet horse?" + +"Not the least," said Bertha, as, wrapping herself in her cassock, she +sprung from the ground, and alighted upon the spirited palfrey, as a +linnet stoops upon a rose-bush. "And now, sir, as my business really +brooks no delay, I will be indebted to you to show me instantly to the +tent of Duke Godfrey of Bouillon." + +By availing herself of this courtesy of the young Apulian, Bertha +imprudently separated herself from the old Varangian; but the +intentions of the youth were honourable, and he conducted her through +the tents and huts to the pavilion of the celebrated General-in-chief +of the Crusade. + +"Here," he said, "you must tarry for a space, under the guardianship of +my companions," (for two or three of the pages had accompanied them, +out of curiosity to see the issue,) "and I will take the commands of +the Duke of Bouillon upon the subject." + +To this nothing could be objected, and Bertha had nothing better to do, +than to admire the outside of the tent, which, in one of Alexius's fits +of generosity and munificence, had been presented by the Greek Emperor +to the Chief of the Franks. It was raised upon tall spear-shaped poles, +which had the semblance of gold; its curtains were of thick stuff, +manufactured of silk, cotton, and gold thread. The warders who stood +round, were (at least during the time that the council was held) old +grave men, the personal squires of the body, most of them, of the +sovereigns who had taken the Cross, and who could, therefore, be +trusted as a guard over the assembly, without danger of their blabbing +what they might overhear. Their appearance was serious and considerate, +and they looked like men who had taken upon them the Cross, not as an +idle adventure of arms, but as a purpose of the most solemn and serious +nature. One of these stopt the Italian, and demanded what business +authorized him to press forward into the council of the crusaders, who +were already taking their seats. The page answered by giving his name, +"Ernest of Otranto, page of Prince Tancred;" and stated that he +announced a young woman, who bore a token to the Duke of Bouillon, +adding that it was accompanied by a message for his own ear. + +Bertha, meantime, laid aside her mantle, or upper garment, and disposed +the rest of her dress according to the Anglo-Saxon costume. She had +hardly completed this task, before the page of Prince Tancred returned, +to conduct her into the presence of the council of the Crusade. She +followed his signal; while the other young men who had accompanied her, +wondering at the apparent ease with which she gained admittance, drew +back to a respectful distance from the tent, and there canvassed the +singularity of their morning's adventure. + +In the meanwhile, the ambassadress herself entered the council chamber, +exhibiting an agreeable mixture of shamefacedness and reserve, together +with a bold determination to do her duty at all events. There were +about fifteen of the principal crusaders assembled in council, with +their chieftain Godfrey. He himself was a tall strong man, arrived at +that period of life in--which men are supposed to have lost none of +their resolution, while they have acquired a wisdom and circumspection +unknown to their earlier years. The countenance of Godfrey bespoke both +prudence and boldness, and resembled his hair, where a few threads of +silver were already mingled with his raven locks. + +Tancred, the noblest knight of the Christian chivalry, sat at no great +distance from him, with Hugh, Earl of Vermandois, generally called the +Great Count, the selfish and wily Bohemond, the powerful Raymond of +Provence, and others of the principal crusaders, all more or less +completely sheathed in armour. + +Bertha did not allow her courage to be broken down, but advancing with +a timid grace towards Godfrey, she placed in his hands the signet which +had been restored to her by the young page, and after a deep obeisance, +spoke these words: "Godfrey, Count of Bouillon, Duke of Lorraine the +Lower, Chief of the Holy Enterprise called the Crusade, and you, his +gallant comrades, peers, and companions, by whatever titles you may be +honoured, I, an humble maiden of England, daughter of Engelred, +originally a franklin of Hampshire, and since Chieftain of the +Foresters, or free Anglo-Saxons, under the command of the celebrated +Edric, do claim what credence is due to the bearer of the true pledge +which I put into your hand, on the part of one not the least +considerable of your own body, Count Robert of Paris"--- + +"Our most honourable confederate," said Godfrey, looking at the ring. +"Most of you, my lords, must, I think, know this signet--a field sown +with the fragments of many splintered lances." The signet was handed +from one of the Assembly to another, and generally recognised. + +When Godfrey had signified so much, the maiden resumed her message. "To +all true crusaders, therefore, comrades of Godfrey of Bouillon, and +especially to the Duke himself,--to all, I say, excepting Bohemond of +Tarentum, whom he counts unworthy of his notice"-- + +"Hah! me unworthy of his notice," said Bohemond. "What mean you by +that, damsel?--But the Count of Paris shall answer it to me." + +"Under your favour, Sir Bohemond," said Godfrey, "no. Our articles +renounce the sending of challenges among ourselves, and the matter, if +not dropt betwixt the parties, must be referred to the voice of this +honourable council." + +"I think I guess the business now, my lord," said Bohemond. "The Count +of Paris is disposed to turn and tear me, because I offered him good +counsel on the evening before we left Constantinople, when he neglected +to accept or be guided by it"-- + +"It will be the more easily explained when we have heard his message," +said Godfrey.--"Speak forth Lord Robert of Paris's charge, damsel, that +we may take some order with that which now seems a perplexed business." + +Bertha resumed her message; and, having briefly narrated the recent +events, thus concluded:--"The battle is to be done to-morrow, about two +hours after daybreak, and the Count entreats of the noble Duke of +Lorraine that he will permit some fifty of the lances of France to +attend the deed of arms, and secure that fair and honourable conduct +which he has otherwise some doubts of receiving at the hands of his +adversary. Or if any young and gallant knight should, of his own free +will, wish to view the said combat, the Count will feel his presence as +an honour; always he desires that the name of such knight be numbered +carefully with the armed crusaders who shall attend in the lists, and +that the whole shall be limited, by Duke Godfrey's own inspection, to +fifty lances only, which are enough to obtain the protection required, +while more would be considered as a preparation for aggression upon the +Grecians, and occasion the revival of disputes which are now happily at +rest." + +Bertha had no sooner finished delivering her manifesto, and made with +great grace her obeisance to the council, than a sort of whisper took +place in the assembly, which soon assumed a more lively tone. + +Their solemn vow not to turn their back upon Palestine, now that they +had set their hands to the plough, was strongly urged by some of the +elder knights of the council, and two or three high prelates, who had +by this time entered to take share in the deliberations. The young +knights, on the other hand, were fired with indignation on hearing the +manner in which their comrade had been trepanned; and few of them could +think of missing a combat in the lists in a country in which such +sights were so rare, and where one was to be fought so near them. + +Godfrey rested his brow on his hand, and seemed in great perplexity. To +break with the Greeks, after having suffered so many injuries in order +to maintain the advantage of keeping the peace with them, seemed very +impolitic, and a sacrifice of all he had obtained by a long course of +painful forbearance towards Alexius Comnenus. On the other hand, he was +bound as a man of honour to resent the injury offered to Count Robert +of Paris, whose reckless spirit of chivalry made him the darling of the +army. It was the cause, too, of a beautiful lady, and a brave one: +every knight in the host would think himself bound, by his vow, to +hasten to her defence. When Godfrey spoke, it was to complain of the +difficulty of the determination, and the short time there was to +consider the case. + +"With submission to my Lord Duke of Lorraine," said Tancred, "I was a +knight ere I was a crusader, and took on me the vows of chivalry, ere I +placed this blessed, sign upon my shoulder: the vow first made must be +first discharged. I will therefore do penance for neglecting, for a +space, the obligations of the second vow, while I observe that which +recalls me to the first duty of knighthood,--the relief of a distressed +lady in the hands of men whose conduct towards her, and towards this +host, in every respect entitles me to call them treacherous faitours." + +"If my kinsman Tancred," said Bohemond, "will check his impetuosity, +and you, my lords, will listen, as you have sometimes deigned to do, to +my advice, I think I can direct you how to keep clear of any breach of +your oath, and yet fully to relieve our distressed fellow-pilgrims.--I +see some suspicious looks are cast towards me, which are caused perhaps +by the churlish manner in which this violent, and, in this case, almost +insane young warrior, has protested against receiving my assistance. My +great offence is the having given him warning, by precept and example, +of the treachery which was about to be practised against him, and +instructed him to use forbearance and temperance. My warning he +altogether contemned--my example he neglected to follow, and fell into +the snare which was spread, as it were, before his very eyes. Yet the +Count of Paris, in rashly contemning me, has acted only from a temper +which misfortune and disappointment have rendered irrational and +frantic. I am so far from bearing him ill-will, that, with your +lordship's permission, and that of the present council, I will haste to +the place of rendezvous with fifty lances, making up the retinue which +attends upon each to at least ten men, which will make the stipulated +auxiliary force equal to five hundred; and with these I can have little +doubt of rescuing the Count and his lady." + +"Nobly proposed," said the Duke of Bouillon; "and with a charitable +forgiveness of injuries which becomes our Christian expedition. But +thou hast forgot the main difficulty, brother Bohemond, that we are +sworn never to turn back upon the sacred journey." + +"If we can elude that oath upon the present occasion," said Bohemond, +"it becomes our duty to do so. Are we such bad horsemen, or are our +steeds so awkward, that we cannot rein them back from this to the +landing-place at Scutari? We can get them on shipboard in the same +retrograde manner, and when we arrive in Europe, where our vow binds us +no longer, the Count and Countess of Paris are rescued, and our vow +remains entire in the Chancery of Heaven." + +A general shout arose--"Long life to the gallant Bohemond!--Shame to us +if we do not fly to the assistance of so valiant a knight, and a lady +so lovely, since we can do so without breach of our vow." + +"The question," said Godfrey, "appears to me to be eluded rather than +solved; yet such evasions have been admitted by the most learned and +scrupulous clerks; nor do I hesitate to admit of Bohemond's expedient, +any more than if the enemy had attacked our rear, which might have +occasioned our countermarching to be a case of absolute necessity." + +Some there were in the assembly, particularly the churchmen, inclined +to think that the oath by which the crusaders had solemnly bound +themselves, ought to be as literally obeyed. But Peter the Hermit, who +had a place in the council, and possessed great weight, declared it as +his opinion, "That since the precise observance of their vow would tend +to diminish the forces of the crusade, it was in fact unlawful, and +should not be kept according to the literal meaning, if, by a fair +construction, it could be eluded." + +He offered himself to back the animal which he bestrode--that is, his +ass; and though he was diverted from showing this example by the +remonstrances of Godfrey of Bouillon, who was afraid of his becoming a +scandal in the eyes of the heathen, yet he so prevailed by his +arguments, that the knights, far from scrupling to countermarch, +eagerly contended which should have the honour of making one of the +party which should retrograde to Constantinople, see the combat, and +bring back to the host in safety the valorous Count of Paris, of whose +victory no one doubted, and his Amazonian Countess. + +This emulation was also put an end to by the authority of Godfrey, who +himself selected the fifty knights who were to compose the party. They +were chosen from different nations, and the command of the whole was +given to young Tancred of Otranto. Notwithstanding the claim of +Bohemond, Godfrey detained the latter, under the pretext that his +knowledge of the country and people was absolutely necessary to enable +the council to form the plan of the campaign in Syria; but in reality +he dreaded the selfishness of a man of great ingenuity as well as +military skill, who, finding himself in a separate command, might be +tempted, should opportunities arise, to enlarge his own power and +dominion, at the expense of the pious purposes of the crusade in +general. The younger men of the expedition were chiefly anxious to +procure such horses as had been thoroughly trained, and could go +through with ease and temper the manoeuvre of equitation, by which it +was designed to render legitimate the movement which they had recourse +to. The selection was at length made, and the detachment ordered to +draw up in the rear, or upon the eastward line of the Christian +encampment. In the meanwhile, Godfrey charged Bertha with a message for +the Count of Paris, in which, slightly censuring him for not observing +more caution in his intercourse with the Greeks, he informed him that +he had sent a detachment of fifty lances, with the corresponding +squires, pages, men-at-arms, and cross-bows, five hundred in number, +commanded by the valiant Tancred, to his assistance. The Duke also +informed him, that he had added a suit of armour of the best temper +Milan could afford, together with a trusty war-horse, which he +entreated him to use upon the field of battle; for Bertha had not +omitted to intimate Count Robert's want of the means of knightly +equipment. The horse was brought before the pavilion accordingly, +completely barbed or armed in steel, and laden with armour for the +knight's body. Godfrey himself put the bridle into Bertha's hand. + +"Thou need'st not fear to trust thyself with this steed, he is as +gentle and docile as he is fleet and brave. Place thyself on his back, +and take heed thou stir not from the side of the noble Prince Tancred +of Otranto, who will be the faithful defender of a maiden that has this +day shown dexterity, courage, and fidelity." + +Bertha bowed low, as her cheeks glowed at praise from one whose talents +and worth were in such general esteem, as to have raised him to the +distinguished situation of leader of a host which numbered in it the +bravest and most distinguished captains of Christendom. + +"Who are yon two persons?" continued Godfrey, speaking of the +companions of Bertha, whom he saw in the distance before the tent. + +"The one," answered the damsel, "is the master of the ferry-boat which +brought me over; and the other an old Varangian who came hither as my +protector." + +"As they may come to employ their eyes here, and their tongues on the +opposite side," returned the general of the crusaders, "I do not think +it prudent to let them accompany you. They shall remain here for some +short time. The citizens of Scutari will not comprehend for some space +what our intention is, and I could wish Prince Tancred and his +attendants to be the first to announce their own arrival." + +Bertha accordingly intimated the pleasure of the French general to the +parties, without naming his motives; when the ferryman began to exclaim +on the hardship of intercepting him in his trade; and Osmund to +complain of being detained from his duties. But Bertha, by the orders +of Godfrey, left them, with the assurance that they would be soon at +liberty. Finding themselves thus abandoned, each applied himself to his +favourite amusement. The ferryman occupied himself in staring about at +all that was new; and Osmund, having in the meantime accepted an offer +of breakfast from some of the domestics, was presently engaged with a +flask of such red wine as would have reconciled him to a worse lot than +that which he at present experienced. + +The detachment of Tancred, fifty spears and their armed retinue, which +amounted fully to five hundred men, after having taken a short and +hasty refreshment, were in arms and mounted before the sultry hour of +noon. After some manoeuvres, of which the Greeks of Scutari, whose +curiosity was awakened by the preparations of the detachment, were at a +loss to comprehend the purpose, they formed into a single column, +having four men in front. When the horses were in this position, the +whole riders at once began to rein back. The action was one to which +both the cavaliers and their horses were well accustomed, nor did it at +first afford much surprise to the spectators; but when the same +retrograde evolution was continued, and the body of crusaders seemed +about to enter the town of Scutari in so extraordinary a fashion, some +idea of the truth began to occupy the citizens. The cry at length was +general, when Tancred and a few others, whose horses were unusually +well-trained, arrived at the port, and possessed themselves of a +galley, into which they led their horses, and, disregarding all +opposition from the Imperial officers of the haven, pushed the vessel +off from the shore. + +Other cavaliers did not accomplish their purpose so easily; the riders, +or the horses, were less accustomed to continue in the constrained pace +for such a considerable length of time, so that many of the knights, +having retrograded for one or two hundred yards, thought their vow was +sufficiently observed by having so far deferred to it, and riding in +the ordinary manner into the town, seized without farther ceremony on +some vessels, which, notwithstanding the orders of the Greek Emperor, +had been allowed to remain on the Asiatic side of the strait. Some less +able horsemen met with various accidents; for though it was a proverb +of the time, that nothing was so bold as a blind horse, yet from this +mode of equitation, where neither horse nor rider saw the way he was +going, some steeds were overthrown, others backed upon dangerous +obstacles; and the bones of the cavaliers themselves suffered much more +than would have been the case in an ordinary march. + +Those horsemen, also, who met with falls, incurred the danger of being +slain by the Greeks, had not Godfrey, surmounting his religious +scruples, despatched a squadron to extricate them--a task which they +performed with great ease. The greater part of Tancred's followers +succeeded in embarking, as was intended, nor was there more than a +score or two finally amissing. To accomplish their voyage, however, +even the Prince of Otranto himself, and most of his followers, were +obliged to betake themselves to the unknightly labours of the oar. This +they found extremely difficult, as well from the state both of the tide +and the wind, as from the want of practice at the exercise. Godfrey in +person viewed their progress anxiously, from a neighbouring height, and +perceived with regret the difficulty which they found in making their +way, which was still more increased by the necessity for their keeping +in a body, and waiting for the slowest and worst manned vessels, which +considerably detained those that were more expeditious. They made some +progress, however; nor had the commander-in-chief the least doubt, that +before sunset they would safely reach the opposite side of the strait. + +He retired at length from his post of observation, having placed a +careful sentinel in his stead, with directions to bring him word the +instant that the detachment reached the opposite shore. This the +soldier could easily discern by the eye, if it was daylight at the +time; if, on the contrary, it was night before they could arrive, the +Prince of Otranto had orders to show certain lights, which, in case of +their meeting resistance from the Greeks, should be arranged in a +peculiar manner, so as to indicate danger. + +Godfrey then explained to the Greek authorities of Scutari, whom he +summoned before him, the necessity there was that he should keep in +readiness such vessels as could be procured, with which, in case of +need, he was determined to transport a strong division from his army to +support those who had gone before. He then rode back to his camp, the +confused murmurs of which, rendered more noisy by the various +discussions concerning the events of the day, rolled off from the +numerous host of the crusaders, and mingled with the hoarse sound of +the many-billowed Hellespont. + + + + +CHAPTER THE TWENTH-FOURTH. + + All is prepared--the chambers of the mine + Are cramm'd with the combustible, which, harmless + While yet unkindled, as the sable sand, + Needs but a spark to change its nature so, + That he who wakes it from its slumbrous mood, + Dreads scarce the explosion less than he who knows + That 'tis his towers which meet its fury. + ANONYMOUS. + + +When the sky is darkened suddenly, and the atmosphere grows thick and +stifling, the lower ranks of creation entertain the ominous sense of a +coming tempest. The birds fly to the thickets, the wild creatures +retreat to the closest covers which their instinct gives them the habit +of frequenting, and domestic animals show their apprehension of the +approaching thunderstorm by singular actions and movements inferring +fear and disturbance. + +It seems that human nature, when its original habits are cultivated and +attended to, possesses, on similar occasions, something of that +prescient foreboding, which announces the approaching tempest to the +inferior ranks of creation. The cultivation of our intellectual powers +goes perhaps too far, when it teaches us entirely to suppress and +disregard those natural feelings, which were originally designed as +sentinels by which nature warned us of impending danger. + +Something of the kind, however, still remains, and that species of +feeling which announces to us sorrowful or alarming tidings, may be +said, like the prophecies of the weird sisters, to come over us like a +sudden cloud. + +During the fatal day which was to precede the combat of the Caesar with +the Count of Paris, there were current through the city of +Constantinople the most contradictory, and at the same time the most +terrific reports. Privy conspiracy, it was alleged, was on the very eve +of breaking out; open war, it was reported by others, was about to +shake her banners over the devoted city; the precise cause was not +agreed upon, any more than the nature of the enemy. Some said that the +barbarians from the borders of Thracia, the Hungarians, as they were +termed, and the Comani, were on their march from the frontiers to +surprise the city; another report stated that the Turks, who, during +this period, were established in Asia, had resolved to prevent the +threatened attack of the crusaders upon Palestine, by surprising not +only the Western Pilgrims, but the Christians of the East, by one of +their innumerable invasions, executed with their characteristic +rapidity. + +Another report, approaching more near to the truth, declared that the +crusaders themselves, having discovered their various causes of +complaint against Alexius Comnenus, had resolved to march back their +united forces to the capital, with a view of dethroning or chastising +him; and the citizens were dreadfully alarmed for the consequences of +the resentment of men so fierce in their habits and so strange in their +manners. In short, although they did not all agree on the precise cause +of danger, it was yet generally allowed that something of a dreadful +kind was impending, which appeared to be in a certain degree confirmed +by the motions that were taking place among the troops. The Varangians, +as well as the Immortals, were gradually assembled, and placed in +occupation of the strongest parts of the city, until at length the +fleet of galleys, row-boats, and transports, occupied by Tancred and +his party, were observed to put themselves in motion from Scutari, and +attempt to gain such a height in the narrow sea, as upon the turn of +the tide should transport them to the port of the capital. + +Alexius Comnenus was himself struck at this unexpected movement on the +part of the crusaders. Yet, after some conversation with Hereward, on +whom he had determined to repose his confidence, and had now gone too +far to retreat, he became reassured, the more especially by the limited +size of the detachment which seemed to meditate so bold a measure as an +attack upon his capital. To those around him he said with carelessness, +that it was hardly to be supposed that a trumpet could blow to the +charge, within hearing of the crusaders' camp, without some out of so +many knights coming forth to see the cause and the issue of the +conflict. + +The conspirators also had their secret fears when the little armament +of Tancred had been seen on the straits. Agelastes mounted a mule, and +went to the shore of the sea, at the place now called Galata. He met +Bertha's old ferryman, whom Godfrey had set at liberty, partly in +contempt, and partly that the report he was likely to make, might serve +to amuse the conspirators in the city. Closely examined by Agelastes, +he confessed that the present detachment, so far as he understood, was +despatched at the instance of Bohemond, and was under the command of +his kinsman Tancred, whose well-known banner was floating from the +headmost vessel. This gave courage to Agelastes, who, in the course of +his intrigues, had opened a private communication with the wily and +ever mercenary Prince of Antioch. The object of the philosopher had +been to obtain from Bohemond a body of his followers to co-operate in +the intended conspiracy, and fortify the party of insurgents. It is +true, that Bohemond had returned no answer, but the account now given +by the ferryman, and the sight of Tancred the kinsman of Bohemond's +banner displayed on the straits, satisfied the philosopher that his +offers, his presents, and his promises, had gained to his side the +avaricious Italian, and that this band had been selected by Bohemond, +and were coming to act in his favour. + +As Agelastes turned to go off, he almost jostled a person, as much +muffled up, and apparently as unwilling to be known, as the philosopher +himself. Alexius Comnenus, however--for it was the Emperor +himself--knew Agelastes, though rather from his stature and gestures, +than his countenance; and could not forbear whispering in his ear, as +he passed, the well-known lines, to which the pretended sage's various +acquisitions gave some degree of point:-- + + "Grammaticus, rhetor, geometres, pictor, aliptes, + Augur, schoenobates, medicus, magus; omnia novit. + Graeculus esuriens in caelum, jusseris, ibit." [Footnote: The +lines of Juvenal imitated by Johnson in his _London_-- + "All sciences a fasting Monsieur knows, + And bid him go to hell--to hell he goes."] + +Agelastes first started at the unexpected sound of the Emperor's voice, +yet immediately recovered presence of mind, the want of which had made +him suspect himself betrayed; and without taking notice of the rank of +the person to whom he spoke, he answered by a quotation which should +return the alarm he had received. The speech that suggested itself was +said to be that which the Phantom of Cleonice dinned into the ears of +the tyrant who murdered her:-- + + "Tu cole justitiam; toque atque alios manet ultor." [Footnote: "Do +thou cultivate justice: for thee and for others there remains an +avenger."--_Ovid. Met._] + +The sentence, and the recollections which accompanied it, thrilled +through the heart of the Emperor, who walked on, however, without any +notice or reply. + +"The vile conspirator," he said, "had his associates around him, +otherwise he had not hazarded that threat. Or it may have been +worse--Agelastes himself, on the very brink of this world, may have +obtained that singular glance into futurity proper to that situation, +and perhaps speaks less from his own reflection than from a strange +spirit of prescience, which dictates his words. Have I then in earnest +sinned so far in my imperial duty, as to make it just to apply to me +the warning used by the injured Cleonice to her ravisher and murderer? +Methinks I have not. Methinks that at less expense than that of a just +severity, I could ill have kept my seat in the high place where Heaven +has been pleased to seat me, and where, as a ruler, I am bound to +maintain my station. Methinks the sum of those who have experienced my +clemency may be well numbered with that of such as have sustained the +deserved punishments of their guilt--But has that vengeance, however +deserved in itself, been always taken in a legal or justifiable manner? +My conscience, I doubt, will hardly answer so home a question; and +where is the man, had he the virtues of Antoninus himself, that can +hold so high and responsible a place, yet sustain such an interrogation +as is implied in that sort of warning which I have received from this +traitor? _Tu cole justitiam_--we all need to use justice to +others--_Teque atque alios manet ultor_--we are all amenable to an +avenging being--I will see the Patriarch--instantly will I see him; and +by confessing my transgressions to the Church, I will, by her plenary +indulgence, acquire the right of spending the last day of my reign in a +consciousness of innocence, or at least of pardon--a state of mind +rarely the lot of those whose lines have fallen in lofty places." + +So saying, he passed to the palace of Zosimus the Patriarch, to whom he +could unbosom himself with more safety, because he had long considered +Agelastes as a private enemy to the Church, and a man attached to the +ancient doctrines of heathenism. In the councils of the state they were +also opposed to each other, nor did the Emperor doubt, that in +communicating the secret of the conspiracy to the Patriarch, he was +sure to attain a loyal and firm supporter in the defence which he +proposed to himself. He therefore gave a signal by a low whistle, and a +confidential officer, well mounted, approached him, who attended him in +his ride, though unostentatiously, and at some distance. + +In this manner, therefore, Alexius Comnenus proceeded to the palace of +the Patriarch, with as much speed as was consistent with his purpose of +avoiding to attract any particular notice as he passed through the +street. During the whole ride, the warning of Agelastes repeatedly +occurred to him, and his conscience reminded him of too many actions of +his reign which could only be justified by necessity, emphatically said +to be the tyrant's plea, and which were of themselves deserving the +dire vengeance so long delayed. + +When he came in sight of the splendid towers which adorned the front of +the patriarchal palace, he turned aside from the lofty gates, repaired +to a narrow court, and again giving his mule to his attendant, he stopt +before a postern, whose low arch and humble architrave seemed to +exclude the possibility of its leading to any place of importance. On +knocking, however, a priest of an inferior order opened the door, who, +with a deep reverence, received the Emperor so soon as he had made +himself known, and conducted him into the interior of the palace. +Demanding a secret interview with the Patriarch, Alexius was then +ushered into his private library, where he was received by the aged +priest with the deepest respect, which the nature of his communication +soon changed into horror and astonishment. + +Although Alexius was supposed by many of his own court, and +particularly by some members of his own family, to be little better +than a hypocrite in his religious professions, yet such severe +observers were unjust in branding him with a name so odious. He was +indeed aware of the great support which he received from the good +opinion of the clergy, and to them he was willing to make sacrifices +for the advantage of the Church, or of individual prelates who +manifested fidelity to the crown; but though, on the one hand, such +sacrifices were rarely made by Alexius, without a view to temporal +policy, yet, on the other, he regarded them as recommended by his +devotional feelings, and took credit to himself for various grants and +actions, as dictated by sincere piety, which, in another aspect, were +the fruits of temporal policy. His mode of looking on these measures +was that of a person with oblique vision, who sees an object in a +different manner, according to the point from which he chances to +contemplate it. + +The Emperor placed his own errors of government before the Patriarch in +his confession, giving due weight to every branch of morality as it +occurred, and stripping from them the lineaments and palliative +circumstances which had in his own imagination lessened their guilt. +The Patriarch heard, to his astonishment, the real thread of many a +court intrigue, which had borne a very different appearance, till the +Emperor's narrative either justified his conduct upon the occasion, or +left it totally unjustifiable. Upon the whole, the balance was +certainly more in favour of Alexius than the Patriarch had supposed +likely in that more distant view he had taken of the intrigues of the +court, when, as usual, the ministers and the courtiers endeavoured to +make up for the applause which they had given in council in the most +blameable actions of the absolute monarch, by elsewhere imputing to his +motives greater guilt than really belonged to them. Many men who had +fallen sacrifices, it was supposed to the personal spleen or jealousy +of the Emperor, appeared to have been in fact removed from life, or +from liberty, because their enjoying either was inconsistent with the +quiet of the state and the safety of the monarch. + +Zosimus also learned, what he perhaps already suspected, that amidst +the profound silence of despotism which seemed to pervade the Grecian +empire, it heaved frequently with convulsive throes, which ever and +anon made obvious the existence of a volcano under the surface. Thus, +while smaller delinquencies, or avowed discontent with the Imperial +government, seldom occurred, and were severely punished when they did, +the deepest and most mortal conspiracies against the life and the +authority of the Emperor were cherished by those nearest to his person; +and he was often himself aware of them, though it was not until they +approached an explosion that he dared act upon his knowledge, and +punish the conspirators. + +The whole treason of the Caesar, with his associates, Agelastes and +Achilles Tatius, was heard by the Patriarch with wonder and +astonishment, and he was particularly surprised at the dexterity with +which the Emperor, knowing the existence of so dangerous a conspiracy +at home, had been able to parry the danger from the crusaders occurring +at the same moment. + +"In that respect," said the Emperor, to whom indeed the churchman +hinted his surprise, "I have been singularly unfortunate. Had I been +secure of the forces of my own empire, I might have taken one out of +two manly and open courses with these frantic warriors of the west--I +might, my reverend father, have devoted the sums paid to Bohemond and +other of the more selfish among the crusaders, to the honest and open +support of the army of western Christians, and safely transported them +to Palestine, without exposing them to the great loss which they are +likely to sustain by the opposition of the Infidels; their success +would have been in fact my own, and a Latin kingdom in Palestine, +defended by its steel-clad warriors, would have been a safe and +unexpugnable barrier of the empire against the Saracens, Or, if it was +thought more expedient for the protection of the empire and the holy +Church, over which you are ruler, we might at once, and by open force, +have defended the frontiers of our states, against a host commanded by +so many different and discording chiefs, and advancing upon us with +such equivocal intentions. If the first swarm of these locusts, under +him whom they called Walter the Penniless, was thinned by the +Hungarians, and totally destroyed by the Turks, as the pyramids of +bones on the frontiers of the country still keep in memory, surely the +united forces of the Grecian empire would have had little difficulty in +scattering this second flight, though commanded by these Godfreys, +Bohemonds, and Tancreds." + +The Patriarch was silent, for though he disliked, or rather detested +the crusaders, as members of the Latin Church, he yet thought it highly +doubtful that in feats of battle they could have been met and overcome +by the Grecian forces. + +"At any rate," said Alexius, rightly interpreting his silence, "if +vanquished, I had fallen under my shield as a Greek emperor should, nor +had I been forced into these mean measures of attacking men by stealth, +and with forces disguised as infidels; while the lives of the faithful +soldiers of the empire, who have fallen in obscure skirmishes, had +better, both for them and me, been lost bravely in their ranks, +avowedly fighting for their native emperor and their native country. +Now, and as the matter stands, I shall be handed down to posterity as a +wily tyrant, who engaged his subjects in fatal feuds for the safety of +his own obscure life. Patriarch! these crimes rest not with me, but +with the rebels whose intrigues compelled me into such courses--What, +reverend father, will be my fate hereafter?--and in what light shall I +descend to posterity, the author of so many disasters?" + +"For futurity," said the Patriarch, "your grace hath referred yourself +to the holy Church, which hath power to bind and loose; your means of +propitiating her are ample, and I have already indicated such as she +may reasonably expect, in consequence of your repentance and +forgiveness." + +"They shall be granted," replied the Emperor, "in their fullest extent; +nor will I injure you in doubting their effect in the next world. In +this present state of existence, however, the favourable opinion of the +Church may do much for me during this important crisis. If we +understand each other, good Zosimus, her doctors and bishops are to +thunder in my behalf, nor is my benefit from her pardon, to be deferred +till the funeral monument closes upon me?" + +"Certainly not," said Zosimus; "the conditions which I have already +stipulated being strictly attended to." + +"And my memory in history," said Alexius, "in what manner is that to be +preserved?" + +"For that," answered the Patriarch, "your Imperial Majesty must trust +to the filial piety and literary talents of your accomplished daughter, +Anna Comnena." + +The Emperor shook his head. "This unhappy Caesar," he said, "is like to +make a quarrel between us; for I shall scarce pardon so ungrateful a +rebel as he is, because my daughter clings to him with a woman's +fondness. Besides, good Zosimus, it is not, I believe, the page of a +historian such as my daughter that is most likely to be received +without challenge by posterity. Some Procopius, some philosophical +slave, starving in a garret, aspires to write the life of an Emperor +whom he durst not approach; and although the principal merit of his +production be, that it contains particulars upon the subject which no +man durst have promulgated while the prince was living, yet no man +hesitates to admit such as true when he has passed from the scene." + +"On that subject," said Zosimus, "I can neither afford your Imperial +Majesty relief or protection. If, however, your memory is unjustly +slandered upon earth, it will be a matter of indifference to your +Highness, who will be then, I trust, enjoying a state of beatitude +which idle slander cannot assail. The only way, indeed, to avoid it +while on this side of time, would be to write your Majesty's own +memoirs while you are yet in the body; so convinced am I that it is in +your power to assign legitimate excuses for those actions of your life, +which, without your doing so, would seem most worthy of censure." + +"Change we the subject," said the Emperor; "and since the danger is +imminent, let us take care for the present, and leave future ages to +judge for themselves.--What circumstance is it, reverend father, in +your opinion, which encourages these conspirators to make so audacious +an appeal to the populace and the Grecian soldiers?" + +"Certainly," answered the Patriarch, "the most irritating incident of +your highness's reign was the fate of Ursel, who, submitting, it is +said, upon capitulation, for life, limb, and liberty, was starved to +death by your orders, in the dungeons of the Blacquernal, and whose +courage, liberality, and other popular virtues, are still fondly +remembered by the citizens of this metropolis, and by the soldiers of +the guard, called Immortal." + +"And this," said the Emperor, fixing his eye upon his confessor, "your +reverence esteems actually the most dangerous point of the popular +tumult?" + +"I cannot doubt," said the Patriarch, "that his very name, boldly +pronounced, and artfully repeated, will be the watchword, as has been +plotted, of a horrible tumult." + +"I thank Heaven!" said the Emperor; "on that particular I will be on my +guard. Good-night to your reverence! and, believe me, that all in this +scroll, to which I have set my hand, shall be with the utmost fidelity +accomplished. Be not, however, over-impatient in this business;--such a +shower of benefits falling at once upon the Church, would make men +suspicious that the prelates and ministers proceeded rather as acting +upon a bargain between the Emperor and Patriarch, than as paying or +receiving an atonement offered by a sinner in excuse of his crimes. +This would be injurious, father, both to yourself and me." + +"All regular delay," said the Patriarch, "shall be interposed at your +highness's pleasure; and we shall trust to you for recollection that +the bargain, if it could be termed one, was of your own seeking, and +that the benefit to the Church was contingent upon the pardon and the +support which she has afforded to your majesty." + +"True," said the Emperor--"most true--nor shall I forget it. Once more +adieu, and forget not what I have told thee. This is a night, Zosimus, +in which the Emperor must toil like a slave, if he means not to return +to the humble Alexius Comnenus, and even then there were no +resting-place." + +So saying, he took leave of the Patriarch, who was highly gratified +with the advantages he had obtained for the Church, which many of his +predecessors had struggled for in vain. He resolved, therefore, to +support the staggering Alexius. + + + + +CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FIFTH. + + Heaven knows its time; the bullet has its billet, + Arrow and javelin each its destined purpose; + The fated beasts of Nature's lower strain + Have each their separate task. + OLD PLAY. + + +Agelastes, after crossing the Emperor in the manner we have already +described, and after having taken such measures as occurred to him to +ensure the success of the conspiracy, returned to the lodge of his +garden, where the lady of the Count of Paris still remained, her only +companion being an old woman named Vexhelia, the wife of the soldier +who accompanied Bertha to the camp of the Crusaders; the kind-hearted +maiden having stipulated that, during her absence, her mistress was not +to be left without an attendant, and that attendant connected with the +Varangian guard. He had been all day playing the part of the ambitious +politician, the selfish time-server, the dark and subtle conspirator; +and now it seemed, as if to exhaust the catalogue of his various parts +in the human drama, he chose to exhibit himself in the character of the +wily sophist, and justify, or seem to justify, the arts by which he had +risen to wealth and eminence, and hoped even now to arise to royalty +itself. + +"Fair Countess," he said, "what occasion is there for your wearing this +veil of sadness over a countenance so lovely?" + +"Do you suppose me," said Brenhilda, "a stock, or stone, or a creature +without the feelings of a sensitive being, that I should endure +mortification, imprisonment, danger and distress, without expressing +the natural feelings of humanity? Do you imagine that to a lady like +me, as free as the unreclaimed falcon, you can offer the insult of +captivity, without my being sensible to the disgrace, or incensed +against the authors of it? And dost thou think that I will receive +consolation at thy hands--at thine--one of the most active artificers +in this web of treachery in which I am so basely entangled?" + +"Not entangled certainly by my means"--answered Agelastes; "clap your +hands, call for what you wish, and the slave who refuses instant +obedience had better been unborn. Had I not, with reference to your +safety and your honour, agreed for a short time to be your keeper, that +office would have been usurped by the Caesar, whose object you know, +and may partly guess the modes by which it would be pursued. Why then +dost thou childishly weep at being held for a short space in an +honourable restraint, which the renowned arms of your husband will +probably put an end to long ere to-morrow at noon?" + +"Canst thou not comprehend," said the Countess, "thou man of many +words, but of few honourable thoughts, that a heart like mine, which +has been trained in the feelings of reliance upon my own worth and +valour, must be necessarily affected with shame at being obliged to +accept, even from the sword of a husband, that safety which I would +gladly have owed only to my own?" + +"Thou art misled, Countess," answered the philosopher, "by thy pride, a +failing predominant in woman. Thinkest thou there has been no offensive +assumption in laving aside the character of a mother and a wife, and +adopting that of one of those brain-sick female fools, who, like the +bravoes of the other sex, sacrifice every thing that is honourable or +useful to a frantic and insane affectation of courage? Believe me, fair +lady, that the true system of virtue consists in filling thine own +place gracefully in society, breeding up thy children, and delighting +those of the other sex, and any thing beyond this, may well render thee +hateful or terrible, but can add nothing to thy amiable qualities." + +"Thou pretendest," said the Countess, "to be a philosopher; methinks +thou shouldst know, that the fame which hangs its chaplet on the tomb +of a brave hero or heroine, is worth all the petty engagements in which +ordinary persons spend the current of their time. One hour of life, +crowded to the full with glorious action, and filled with noble risks, +is worth whole years of those mean observances of paltry decorum, in +which men steal through existence, like sluggish waters through a +marsh, without either honour or observation." + +"Daughter," said Agelastes, approaching near to the lady, "it is with +pain I see you bewildered in errors which a little calm reflection +might remove. We may flatter ourselves, and human vanity usually does +so, that beings infinitely more powerful than those belonging to mere +humanity, are employed daily in measuring out the good and evil of this +world, the termination of combats, or the fate of empires, according to +their own ideas of what is right or wrong, or, more properly, according +to what we ourselves conceive to be such. The Greek heathens, renowned +for their wisdom, and glorious for their actions, explained to men of +ordinary minds the supposed existence of Jupiter and his Pantheon, +where various deities presided over various virtues and vices, and +regulated the temporal fortune and future happiness of such as +practised them. The more learned and wise of the ancients rejected such +the vulgar interpretation, and wisely, although affecting a deference +to the public faith, denied before their disciples in private, the +gross fallacies of Tartarus and Olympus, the vain doctrines concerning +the gods themselves, and the extravagant expectations which the vulgar +entertained of an immortality, supposed to be possessed by creatures +who were in every respect mortal, both in the conformation of their +bodies, and in the internal belief of their souls. Of these wrise and +good men some granted the existence of the supposed deities, but denied +that they cared about the actions of mankind any more than those of the +inferior animals. A merry, jovial, careless life, such as the followers +of Epicurus would choose for themselves, was what they assigned for +those gods whose being they admitted. Others, more bold or more +consistent, entirely denied the existence of deities who apparently had +no proper object or purpose, and believed that such of them, whose +being and attributes were proved to us by no supernatural appearances, +had in reality no existence whatever." + +"Stop, wretch!" said the Countess, "and know that thou speakest not to +one of those blinded heathens, of whose abominable doctrines you are +detailing the result. Know, that if an erring, I am nevertheless a +sincere daughter of the Church, and this cross displayed on my +shoulder, is a sufficient emblem of the vows I have undertaken in its +cause. Bo therefore wary, as thou art wily; for, believe me, if thou +scoffest or utterest reproach against my holy religion, what I am +unable to answer in language, I will reply to, without hesitation, with +the point of my dagger." + +"To that argument" said Agelastes, drawing back from the neighbourhood +of Brenhilda, "believe me, fair lady, I am very willing to urge your +gentleness. But although I shall not venture to say any thing of those +superior and benevolent powers to whom you ascribe the management of +the world, you will surely not take offence at my noticing those base +superstitions which have been adopted in explanation of what is called +by the Magi, the Evil Principle. Was there ever received into a human +creed, a being so mean--almost so ridiculous--as the Christian Satan? A +goatish figure and limbs, with grotesque features, formed to express +the most execrable passions; a degree of power scarce inferior to that +of the Deity; and a talent at the same time scarce equal to that of the +stupidest of the lowest order! What is he, this being, who is at least +the second arbiter of the human race, save an immortal spirit, with the +petty spleen and spite of a vindictive old man or old woman?" + +Agelastes made a singular pause in this part of his discourse. A mirror +of considerable size hung in the apartment, so that the philosopher +could see in its reflection the figure of Brenhilda, and remark the +change of her countenance, though she had averted her face from him in +hatred of the doctrines which he promulgated. On this glass the +philosopher had his eyes naturally fixed, and he was confounded at +perceiving a figure glide from behind the shadow of a curtain, and +glare at him with the supposed mien and expression of the Satan of +monkish mythology, or a satyr of the heathen age. + +"Man!" said Brenhilda, whose attention was attracted by this +extraordinary apparition, as it seemed, of the fiend, "have thy wicked +words, and still more wicked thoughts, brought the devil amongst us? If +so, dismiss him instantly, else, by Our Lady of the Broken Lances! thou +shalt know better than at present, what is the temper of a Frankish +maiden, when in presence of the fiend himself, and those who pretend +skill to raise him! I wish not to enter into a contest unless +compelled; but if I am obliged to join battle with an enemy so +horrible, believe me, no one shall say that Brenildha feared him." + +Agelastes, after looking with surprise and horror at the figure as +reflected in the glass, turned back his head to examine the substance, +of which the reflection was so strange. The object, however, had +disappeared behind the curtain, under which it probably lay hid, and it +was after a minute or two that the half-gibing, half-scowling +countenance showed itself again in the same position in the mirror. + +"By the gods!" said Agelastes-- + +"In whom but now," said the Countess, "you professed unbelief." + +"By the gods!" repeated Agelastes, in part recovering himself, "it is +Sylvan! that singular mockery of humanity, who was said to have been +brought from Taprobana. I warrant he also believes in his jolly god +Pan, or the veteran Sylvanus. He is to the uninitiated a creature whose +appearance is full of terrors, but he shrinks before the philosopher +like ignorance before knowledge." So saying, he with one hand pulled +down the curtain, under which the animal had nestled itself when it +entered from the garden-window of the pavilion, and with the other, in +which he had a staff uplifted, threatened to chastise the creature, +with the words,--"How now, Sylvanus! what insolence is this?--To your +place!" + +As, in uttering these words, he struck the animal, the blow unluckily +lighted upon his wounded hand, and recalled its bitter smart. The wild +temper of the creature returned, unsubdued for the moment by any awe of +man; uttering a fierce, and, at the same time, stifled cry, it flew on +the philosopher, and clasped its strong and sinewy arms about his +throat with the utmost fury. The old man twisted and struggled to +deliver himself from the creature's grasp, but in vain. Sylvan kept +hold of his prize, compressed his sinewy arms, and abode by his purpose +of not quitting his hold of the philosopher's throat till he had +breathed his last. Two more bitter yells, accompanied each with a +desperate contortion of the countenance, and squeeze of the hands, +concluded, in less than five minutes, the dreadful strife. Agelastes +lay dead upon the ground, and his assassin Sylvan, springing from the +body as if terrified and alarmed at what he had done, made his escape +by the window. The Countess stood in astonishment, not knowing exactly +whether she had witnessed a supernatural display of the judgment of +Heaven, or an instance of its vengeance by mere mortal means. Her new +attendant Vexhelia was no less astonished, though her acquaintance with +the animal was considerably more intimate. + +"Lady," she said, "that gigantic creature is an animal of great +strength, resembling mankind in form, but huge in its size, and, +encouraged by its immense power, sometimes malevolent in its +intercourse with mortals. I have heard the Varangians often talk of it +as belonging to the Imperial museum. It is fitting we remove the body +of this unhappy man, and hide it in a plot of shrubbery in the garden. +It is not likely that he will be missed to-night, and to-morrow there +will be other matter astir, which will probably prevent much enquiry +about him." The Countess Brenhilda assented, for she was not one of +those timorous females to whom the countenances of the dead are objects +of terror. + +Trusting to the parole which she had given, Agelastes had permitted the +Countess and her attendant the freedom of his gardens, of that part at +least adjacent to the pavilion. They therefore were in little risk of +interruption as they bore forth the dead body between them, and without +much trouble disposed of it in the thickest part of one of the bosquets +with which the garden was studded. + +As they returned to their place of abode or confinement, the Countess, +half speaking to herself, half addressing Vexhelia, said, "I am sorry +for this; not that the infamous wretch did not deserve the full +punishment of Heaven coming upon him in the very moment of blasphemy +and infidelity, but because the courage and truth of the unfortunate +Brenhilda may be brought into suspicion, as his slaughter took place +when he was alone with her and her attendant, and as no one was witness +of the singular manner in which the old blasphemer met his end.--Thou +knowest," she added, addressing herself to Heaven--"thou! blessed Lady +of the Broken Lances, the protectress both of Brenhilda and her +husband, well knowest, that whatever faults may be mine, I am free from +the slightest suspicion of treachery; and into thy hands I put my +cause, with a perfect reliance upon thy wisdom and bounty to bear +evidence in my favour." So saying, they returned to the lodge unseen, +and with pious and submissive prayers, the Countess closed that +eventful evening. + + + + +CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SIXTH. + + Will you hear of a Spanish lady, + How she wooed an Englishman? + Garments gay, as rich as may be, + Deck'd with jewels she had on. + Of a comely countenance and grace was she, + And by birth and parentage of high degree. + OLD BALLAD. + + +We left Alexius Comnenus after he had unloaded his conscience in the +ears of the Patriarch, and received from him a faithful assurance of +the pardon and patronage of the national Church. He took leave of the +dignitary with some exulting exclamations, so unexplicitly expressed, +however, that it was by no means easy to conceive the meaning of what +he said. His first enquiry, when he reached the Blacquernal, being for +his daughter, he was directed to the room encrusted with beautifully +carved marble, from which she herself, and many of her race, derived +the proud appellation of _Porphyrogenita_, or born in the purple. Her +countenance was clouded with anxiety, which, at the sight of her +father, broke out into open and uncontrollable grief. + +"Daughter," said the Emperor, with a harshness little common to his +manner, and a seriousness which he sternly maintained, instead of +sympathizing with his daughter's affliction, "as you would prevent the +silly fool with whom you are connected, from displaying himself to the +public both as an ungrateful monster and a traitor, you will not fail +to exhort him, by due submission, to make his petition for pardon, +accompanied with a full confession of his crimes, or, by my sceptre and +my crown, he shall die the death! Nor will I pardon any who rushes upon +his doom in an open tone of defiance, under such a standard of +rebellion as my ungrateful son-in-law has hoisted. + +"What can you require of me, father?" said the Princess. "Can you +expect that I am to dip my own hands in the blood of this unfortunate +man; or wilt thou seek a revenge yet more bloody than that which was +exacted by the deities of antiquity, upon those criminals who offended +against their divine power?" + +"Think not so, my daughter!" said the Emperor; "but rather believe that +thou hast the last opportunity afforded by my filial affection, of +rescuing, perhaps from death, that silly fool thy husband, who has so +richly deserved it." + +"My father," said the Princess, "God knows it is not at your risk that +I would wish to purchase the life of Nicephorus; but he has been the +father of my children, though they are now no more, and women cannot +forget that such a tie has existed, even though it has been broken by +fate. Permit me only to hope that the unfortunate culprit shall have an +opportunity of retrieving his errors; nor shall it, believe me, be my +fault, if he resumes those practices, treasonable at once, and +unnatural, by which his life is at present endangered." + +"Follow me, then, daughter," said the Emperor, "and know, that to thee +alone I am about to intrust a secret, upon which the safety of my life +and crown, as well as the pardon of my son-in-law's life, will be found +eventually to depend." + +He then assumed in haste the garment of a slave of the Seraglio, and +commanded his daughter to arrange her dress in a more succinct form, +and to take in her hand a lighted lamp. + +"Whither are we going, my father?" said Anna Comnena. + +"It matters not," replied her father, "since my destiny calls me, and +since thine ordains thee to be my torch-bearer. Believe it, and record +it, if thou darest, in thy book, that Alexius Comnenus does not, +without alarm, descend into those awful dungeons--which his +predecessors built for men, even when his intentions are innocent, and +free from harm.--Be silent, and should we meet any inhabitant of those +inferior regions, speak not a word nor make any observation upon his +appearance." + +Passing through the intricate apartments of the palace, they now came +to that large hall through which Hereward had passed on the first night +of his introduction to the place of Anna's recitation called the Temple +of the Muses. It was constructed, as we have said, of black marble, +dimly illuminated. At the upper end of the apartment was a small altar, +on which was laid some incense, while over the smoke was suspended, as +if projecting from the wall, two imitations of human hands and arms, +which were but imperfectly seen. + +At the bottom of this hall, a small iron door led to a narrow and +winding staircase, resembling a draw-well in shape and size, the steps +of which were excessively steep, and which the Emperor, after a solemn +gesture to his daughter commanding her attendance, began to descend +with the imperfect light, and by the narrow and difficult steps by +which those who visited the under regions of the Blacquernal seemed to +bid adieu to the light of day. Door after door they passed in their +descent, leading, it was probable, to different ranges of dungeons, +from which was obscurely heard the stifled voice of groans and sighs, +such as attracted Hereward's attention on a former occasion. The +Emperor took no notice of these signs of human misery, and three +stories or ranges of dungeons had been already passed, ere the father +and daughter arrived at the lowest story of the building, the base of +which was the solid rock, roughly carved, upon which were erected the +side-walls and arches of solid but unpolished marble. + +"Here," said Alexius Comnenus, "all hope, all expectation takes +farewell, at the turn of a hinge or the grating of a lock. Yet shall +not this be always the case--the dead shall revive and resume their +right, and the disinherited of these regions shall again prefer their +claim to inhabit the upper world. If I cannot entreat Heaven to my +assistance, be assured, my daughter, that rather than be the poor +animal which I have stooped to be thought, and even to be painted in +thy history, I would sooner brave every danger of the multitude which +now erect themselves betwixt me and safety. Nothing is resolved save +that I will live and die an Emperor; and thou, Anna, be assured, that +if there is power in the beauty or in the talents, of which so much has +been boasted, that power shall be this evening exercised to the +advantage of thy parent, from whom it is derived." + +"What is it that you mean, Imperial father?--Holy Virgin! is this the +promise you made me to save the life of the unfortunate Nicephorus?" + +"And so I will," said the Emperor; "and I am now about that action of +benevolence. But think not I will once more warm in my bosom the +household snake which had so nearly stung me to death. No, daughter, I +have provided for thee a fitting husband, in one who is able to +maintain and defend the rights of the Emperor thy father;--and beware +how thou opposest an obstacle to what is my pleasure! for behold these +walls of marble, though unpolished, and recollect it is as possible to +die within the marble as to be born there." + +The Princess Anna Comnena was frightened at seeing her father in a +state of mind entirely different from any which she had before +witnessed. "O, heaven! that my mother were here!" she ejaculated, in +the terror of something she hardly knew what. + +"Anna," said the Emperor, "your fears and your screams are alike in +vain. I am one of those, who, on ordinary occasions, hardly nourish a +wish of my own, and account myself obliged to those who, like my wife +and daughter, take care to save me all the trouble of free judgment. +But when the vessel is among the breakers, and the master is called to +the helm, believe that no meaner hand shall be permitted to interfere +with him, nor will the wife and daughter, whom he indulged in +prosperity, be allowed to thwart his will while he can yet call it his +own. Thou couldst scarcely fail to understand that I was almost +prepared to have given thee, as a mark of my sincerity, to yonder +obscure Varangian, without asking question of either birth or blood. +Thou mayst hear when I next promise thee to a three years' inhabitant +of these vaults, who shall be Caesar in Briennius's stead, if I can +move him to accept a princess for his bride, and an imperial crown for +his inheritance, in place of a starving dungeon." + +"I tremble at your words, father," said Anna Comnena; "how canst thou +trust a man who has felt thy cruelty?--How canst thou dream that aught +can ever in sincerity reconcile thee to one whom thou hast deprived of +his eyesight?" + +"Care not for that," said Alexius; "he becomes mine, or he shall never +know what it is to be again his own.--And thou, girl, mayst rest +assured that, if I will it, thou art next day the bride of my present +captive, or thou retirest to the most severe nunnery, never again to +mix with society. Be silent, therefore, and await thy doom, as it shall +come, and hope not that thy utmost endeavours can avert the current of +thy destiny." + +As he concluded this singular dialogue, in which he had assumed a tone +to which his daughter was a stranger, and before which she trembled, he +passed on through more than one strictly fastened door, while his +daughter, with a faltering step, illuminated him on the obscure road. +At length he found admittance by another passage into the cell in which +Ursel was confined, and found him reclining in hopeless misery,--all +those expectations having faded from his heart which the Count of Paris +had by his indomitable gallantry for a time excited. He turned his +sightless eyes towards the place where he heard the moving of bolts and +the approach of steps. + +"A new feature," he said, "in my imprisonment--a man comes with a heavy +and determined step, and a woman or a child with one that scarcely +presses the floor!--is it my death that you bring?--Believe me, that I +have lived long enough in these dungeons to bid my doom welcome." + +"It is not thy death, noble Ursel," said the Emperor, in a voice +somewhat disguised. Life, liberty, whatever the world has to give, is +placed by the Emperor Alexius at the feet of his noble enemy, and he +trusts that many years of happiness and power, together with the +command of a large share of the empire, will soon obliterate the +recollection of the dungeons of the Blacquernal." + +"It cannot be," said Ursel, with a sigh. "He upon whose eyes the sun +has set even at middle day, can have nothing left to hope from the most +advantageous change of circumstances." + +"You are not entirely assured of that," said the Emperor; "allow us to +convince you that what is intended towards you is truly favourable and +liberal, and I hope you will be rewarded by finding that there is more +possibility of amendment in your case, than your first apprehensions +are willing to receive. Make an effort, and try whether your eyes are +not sensible of the light of the lamp." + +"Do with, me," said Ursel, "according to your pleasure; I have neither +strength to remonstrate, nor the force of mind equal to make me set +your cruelty at defiance. Of something like light I am sensible; but +whether it is reality or illusion, I cannot determine. If you are come +to deliver me from this living sepulchre, I pray God to requite you; +and if, under such deceitful pretence, you mean to take my life, I can +only commend my soul to Heaven, and the vengeance due to my death to +Him who can behold the darkest places in which injustice can shroud +itself." + +So saying, and the revulsion of his spirits rendering him unable to +give almost any other signs of existence, Ursel sunk back upon his seat +of captivity, and spoke not another word during the time that Alexius +disembarrassed him of those chains which had so long hung about him, +that they almost seemed to make a part of his person. + +"This is an affair in which thy aid can scarce be sufficient, Anna," +said the Emperor; "it would have been well if you and I could have +borne him into the open air by our joint strength, for there is little +wisdom in showing the secrets of this prison-house to those to whom +they are not yet known; nevertheless, go, my child, and at a short +distance from the head of the staircase which we descended, thou wilt +find Edward, the bold and trusty Varangian, who on your communicating +to him my orders, will come hither and render his assistance; and see +that you send also the experienced leech, Douban." Terrified, +half-stifled, and half struck with horror, the lady yet felt a degree +of relief from the somewhat milder tone in which her father addressed +her. With tottering steps, yet in some measure encouraged by the tenor +of her instructions, she ascended the staircase which yawned upon these +infernal dungeons. As she approached the top, a large and strong figure +threw its broad shadow between the lamp and the opening of the hall. +Frightened nearly to death at the thoughts of becoming the wife of a +squalid wretch like Ursel, a moment of weakness seized upon the +Princess's mind, and, when she considered the melancholy option which +her father had placed before her, she could not but think that the +handsome and gallant Varangian, who had already rescued the royal +family from such imminent danger, was a fitter person with whom to +unite herself, if she must needs make a second choice, than the +singular and disgusting being whom her father's policy had raked from +the bottom of the Blacquernal dungeons. + +I will not say of poor Anna Comnena, who was a timid but not an +unfeeling woman, that she would have embraced such a proposal, had not +the life of her present husband Nicephorus Briennius been in extreme +danger; and it was obviously the determination of the Emperor, that if +he spared him, it should be on the sole condition of unloosing his +daughter's hand, and binding her to some one of better faith, and +possessed of a greater desire to prove an affectionate son-in-law. +Neither did the plan of adopting the Varangian as a second husband, +enter decidedly into the mind of the Princess. The present was a moment +of danger, in which her rescue to be successful must be sudden, and +perhaps, if once achieved, the lady might have had an opportunity of +freeing herself both from Ursel and the Varangian, without disjoining +either of them from her father's assistance, or of herself losing it. +At any rate, the surest means of safety were to secure, if possible, +the young soldier, whose features and appearance were of a kind which +rendered the task no way disagreeable to a beautiful woman. The schemes +of conquest are so natural to the fair sex, and the whole idea passed +so quickly through Anna Comnena's mind, that having first entered while +the soldier's shadow was interposed between her and the lamp, it had +fully occupied her quick imagination, when, with deep reverence and +great surprise at her sudden appearance on the ladder of Acheron, the +Varangian advancing, knelt down, and lent his arm to the assistance of +the fair lady, in order to help her out of the dreary staircase. + +"Dearest Hereward," said the lady, with a degree of intimacy which +seemed unusual, "how much do I rejoice, in this dreadful night, to have +fallen under your protection! I have been in places which the spirit of +hell appears to have contrived for the human race." The alarm of the +Princess, the familiarity of a beautiful woman, who, while in mortal +fear, seeks refuge, like a frightened dove, in the bosom of the strong +and the brave, must be the excuse of Anna Comnena for the tender +epithet with which she greeted Hereward; nor, if he had chosen to +answer in the same tone, which, faithful as he was, might have proved +the case if the meeting had chanced before he saw Bertha, would the +daughter of Alexius have been, to say the truth, irreconcilably +offended. Exhausted as she was, she suffered herself to repose upon, +the broad breast and shoulder of the Anglo-Saxon; nor did she make an +attempt to recover herself, although the decorum of her sex and station +seemed to recommend such an exertion. Hereward was obliged himself to +ask her, with the unimpassioned and reverential demeanour of a private +soldier to a princess, whether he ought to summon her female +attendants? to which she faintly uttered a negative. "No, no," said +she, "I have a duty to execute for my father, and I must not summon +eye-witnesses;--he knows me to be in safety, Hereward, since he knows I +am with thee; and if I am a burden to you in my present state of +weakness, I shall soon recover, if you will set me down upon the marble +steps." + +"Heaven forbid, lady," said Hereward, "that I were thus neglectful of +your Highness's gracious health! I see your two young ladies, Astarte +and Violante, are in quest of you--Permit me to summon them hither, and +I will keep watch upon you, if you are unable to retire to your +chamber, where, methinks, the present disorder of your nerves will be +most properly treated." + +"Do as thou wilt, barbarian," said the Princess, rallying herself, with +a certain degree of pique, arising perhaps from her not thinking more +_dramatis personae_ were appropriate to the scene, than the two who +were already upon the stage. Then, as if for the first time, appearing +to recollect the message with which she had been commissioned, she +exhorted the Varangian to repair instantly to her father. + +On such occasions, the slightest circumstances have their effect on the +actors. The Anglo-Saxon was sensible that the Princess was somewhat +offended, though whether she was so, on account of her being actually +in Hereward's arms, or whether the cause of her anger was the being +nearly discovered there by the two young maidens, the sentinel did not +presume to guess, but departed for the gloomy vaults to join Alexius, +with the never-failing double-edged axe, the bane of many a Turk, +glittering upon his shoulder. + +Astarte and her companion had been despatched by the Empress Irene in +search of Anna Comnena, through those apartments of the palace which +she was wont to inhabit. The daughter of Alexius could nowhere be +found, although the business on which they were seeking her was +described by the Empress as of the most pressing nature. Nothing, +however, in a palace, passes altogether unespied, so that the Empress's +messengers at length received information that their mistress and the +Emperor had been seen to descend that gloomy access to the dungeons, +which, by allusion to the classical infernal regions, was termed the +Pit of Acheron. They came thither, accordingly, and we have related the +consequences. Hereward thought it necessary to say that her Imperial +Highness had swooned upon being suddenly brought into the upper air. +The Princess, on the other part, briskly shook off her juvenile +attendants, and declared herself ready to proceed to the chamber of her +mother. The obeisance which she made Hereward at parting, had something +in it of haughtiness, yet evidently qualified by a look of friendship +and regard. As she passed an apartment in which some of the royal +slaves were in waiting, she addressed to one of them, an old +respectable man, of medical skill, a private and hurried order, +desiring him to go to the assistance of her father, whom he would find +at the bottom of the staircase called the Pit of Acheron, and to take +his scimitar along with him. To hear, as usual, was to obey, and +Douban, for that was his name, only replied by that significant sign +which indicates immediate acquiescence. In the meantime, Anna Comnena +herself hastened onward to her mother's apartments, in which she found +the Empress alone. + +"Go hence, maidens," said Irene, "and do not let any one have access to +these apartments, even if the Emperor himself should command it. Shut +the door," she said, "Anna Comnena; and if the jealousy of the stronger +sex do not allow us the masculine privileges of bolts and bars, to +secure the insides of our apartments, let us avail ourselves, as +quickly as may be, of such opportunities as are permitted us; and +remember, Princess, that however implicit your duty to your father, it +is yet more so to me, who am of the same sex with thyself, and may +truly call thee, even according to the letter, blood of my blood, and +bone of my bone. Be assured thy father knows not, at this moment, the +feelings of a woman. Neither he nor any man alive can justly conceive +the pangs of the heart which beats under a woman's robe. These men, +Anna, would tear asunder without scruple the tenderest ties of +affection, the whole structure of domestic felicity, in which lie a +woman's cares, her joy, her pain, her love, and her despair. Trust, +therefore, to me, my daughter, and believe me, I will at once save thy +father's crown and thy happiness. The conduct of thy husband has been +wrong, most cruelly wrong; but, Anna, he is a man--and in calling him +such, I lay to his charge, as natural frailties, thoughtless treachery, +wanton infidelity, every species of folly and inconsistency, to which +his race is subject. You ought not, therefore, to think of his faults, +unless it be to forgive them." + +"Madam," said Anna Comnena, "forgive me if I remind you that you +recommend to a princess, born in the purple itself, a line of conduct +which would hardly become the female who carries the pitcher for the +needful supply of water to the village well. All who are around me have +been taught to pay me the obeisance due to my birth, and while this +Nicephorus Briennius crept on his knees to your daughter's hand, which +you extended towards him, he was rather receiving the yoke of a +mistress than accepting a household alliance with a wife. He has +incurred his doom, without a touch even of that temptation which may be +pled by lesser culprits in his condition; and if it is the will of my +father that he should die, or suffer banishment, or imprisonment, for +the crime he has committed, it is not the business of Anna Comnena to +interfere, she being the most injured among the imperial family, who +have in so many, and such gross respects, the right to complain of his +falsehood." + +"Daughter," replied the Empress, "so far I agree with you, that the +treason of Nicephorus towards your father and myself has been in a +great degree unpardonable; nor do I easily see on what footing, save +that of generosity, his life could be saved. But still you are yourself +in different circumstances from me, and may, as an affectionate and +fond wife, compare the intimacies of your former habits with the bloody +change which is so soon to be the consequence and the conclusion of his +crimes. He is possessed of that person and of those features which +women most readily recall to their memory, whether alive or dead. Think +what it will cost you to recollect that the rugged executioner received +his last salute,--that the shapely neck had no better repose than the +rough block--that the tongue, the sound of which you used to prefer to +the choicest instruments of music, is silent in the dust!" + +Anna, who was not insensible to the personal graces of her husband, was +much affected by this forcible appeal. "Why distress me thus, mother?" +she replied in a weeping accent. "Did I not feel as acutely as you +would have me to do, this moment, however awful, would be easily borne. +I had but to think of him as he is, to contrast his personal qualities +with those of the mind, by which they are more than overbalanced, and +resign myself to his deserved fate with unresisting submission to my +father's will." + +"And that," said the Empress, "would be to bind thee, by his sole fiat, +to some obscure wretch, whose habits of plotting and intriguing had, by +some miserable chance, given him the opportunity of becoming of +importance to the Emperor, and who is, therefore, to be rewarded by the +hand of Anna Comnena." + +"Do not think so meanly of me, madam," said the Princess--"I know, as +well as ever Grecian maiden did, how I should free myself from +dishonour; and, you may trust me, you shall never blush for your +daughter." + +"Tell me not that," said the Empress, "since I shall blush alike for +the relentless cruelty which gives up a once beloved husband to an +ignominious death, and for the passion, for which I want a name, which +would replace him by an obscure barbarian from the extremity of Thule, +or some wretch escaped from the Blacquernal dungeons." + +The Princess was astonished to perceive that her mother was acquainted +with the purposes, even the most private, which her father had formed +for his governance during this emergency. She was ignorant that Alexius +and his royal consort, in other respects living together with a decency +ever exemplary in people of their rank, had, sometimes, on interesting +occasions, family debates, in which the husband, provoked by the +seeming unbelief of his partner, was tempted to let her guess more of +his real purposes than he would have coolly imparted of his own calm +choice. + +The Princess was affected at the anticipation of the death of her +husband, nor could this have been reasonably supposed to be otherwise; +but she was still more hurt and affronted by her mother taking it for +granted that she designed upon the instant to replace the Caesar by an +uncertain, and at all events an unworthy successor. Whatever +considerations had operated to make Hereward her choice, their effect +was lost when the match was placed in this odious and degrading point +of view; besides which is to be remembered, that women almost +instinctively deny their first thoughts in favour of a suitor, and +seldom willingly reveal them, unless time and circumstance concur to +favour them. She called Heaven therefore passionately to witness, while +she repelled the charge. + +"Bear witness," she said, "Our Lady, Queen of Heaven! Bear witness, +saints and martyrs all, ye blessed ones, who are, more than ourselves, +the guardians of our mental purity! that I know no passion which I dare +not avow, and that if Nicephorus's life depended on my entreaty to God +and men, all his injurious acts towards me disregarded and despised, it +should be as long as Heaven gave to those servants whom it snatched +from the earth without suffering the pangs of mortality!" + +"You have sworn boldly," said the Empress. "See, Anna Comnena, that you +keep your word, for believe me it will be tried." + +"What will be tried, mother?" said the Princess; "or what have I to do +to pronounce the doom of the Caesar, who is not subject to my power?" + +"I will show you," said the Empress, gravely; and, leading her towards +a sort of wardrobe, which formed a closet in the wall, she withdrew a +curtain which hung before it, and placed before her her unfortunate +husband, Nicephorus Briennius, half-attired, with his sword drawn in +his hand. Looking upon him as an enemy, and conscious of some schemes +with respect to him which had passed through her mind in the course of +these troubles, the Princess screamed faintly, upon perceiving him so +near her with a weapon in his hand. + +"Be more composed," said the Empress, "or this wretched man, if +discovered, falls no less a victim to thy idle fears than to thy +baneful revenge." + +Nicephorus at this speech seemed to have adopted his cue, for, dropping +the point of his sword, and falling on his knees before the Princess, +he clasped his hands to entreat for mercy. + +"What hast thou to ask from me?" said his wife, naturally assured, by +her husband's prostration, that the stronger force was upon her own +side--"what hast thou to ask from me, that outraged gratitude, betrayed +affection, the most solemn vows violated, and the fondest ties of +nature torn asunder like the spider's broken web, will permit thee to +put in words for very shame?" + +"Do not suppose, Anna," replied the suppliant, "that I am at this +eventful period of my life to play the hypocrite, for the purpose of +saving the wretched remnant of a dishonoured existence. I am but +desirous to part in charity with thee, to make my peace with Heaven, +and to nourish the last hope of making my way, though burdened with +many crimes, to those regions in which alone I can find thy beauty, thy +talents, equalled at least, if not excelled." + +"You hear him, daughter?" said Irene; "his boon is for forgiveness +alone; thy condition is the more godlike, since thou mayst unite the +safety of his life with the pardon of his offences." + +"Thou art deceived, mother," answered Anna. "It is not mine to pardon +his guilt, far less to remit his punishment. You have taught me to +think of myself as future ages shall know me; what will they say of me, +those future ages, when I am described as the unfeeling daughter, who +pardoned the intended assassin of her father, because she saw in him +her own unfaithful husband?" + +"See there," said the Caesar, "is not that, most serene Empress, the +very point of despair? and have I not in vain offered my life-blood to +wipe out the stain of parricide and ingratitude? Have I not also +vindicated myself from the most unpardonable part of the accusation, +which charged me with attempting the murder of the godlike Emperor? +Have I not sworn by all that is sacred to man, that my purpose went no +farther than to sequestrate Alexius for a little time from the fatigues +of empire, and place him where he should quietly enjoy ease and +tranquillity? while, at the same time, his empire should be as +implicitly regulated by himself, his sacred pleasure being transmitted +through me, as in any respect, or at any period, it had ever been?" + +"Erring man!" said the Princess, "hast thou approached so near to the +footstool of Alexius Comnenus, and durst thou form so false an estimate +of him, as to conceive it possible that he would consent to be a mere +puppet by whose intervention you might have brought his empire into +submission? Know that the blood of Comnenus is not so poor; my father +would have resisted the treason in arms; and by the death of thy +benefactor only couldst thou have gratified the suggestions of thy +criminal ambition." + +"Be such your belief," said the Caesar; "I have said enough for a life +which is not and ought not to be dear to me. Call your guards, and let +them take the life of the unfortunate Briennius, since it has become +hateful to his once beloved Anna Comnena. Be not afraid that any +resistance of mine shall render the scene of my apprehension dubious or +fatal. Nicephorus Briennius is Caesar no longer, and he thus throws at +the feet of his Princess and spouse, the only poor means which he has +of resisting the just doom which is therefore at her pleasure to pass." + +He cast his sword before the feet of the Princess, while Irene +exclaimed, weeping, or seeming to weep bitterly, "I have indeed read of +such scenes! but could I ever have thought that my own daughter would +have been the principal actress in one of them--could I ever have +thought that her mind, admired by every one as a palace for the +occupation of Apollo and the Muses, should not have had room enough for +the humbler, but more amiable virtue of feminine charity and +compassion, which builds itself a nest in the bosom of the lowest +village girl? Do thy gifts, accomplishments, and talents, spread +hardness as well as polish over thy heart? If so, a hundred times +better renounce them all, and retain in their stead those gentle and +domestic virtues which are the first honours of the female heart. A +woman who is pitiless, is a worse monster than one who is unsexed by +any other passion." + +"What would you have me do?" said Anna. "You, mother, ought to know +better than I, that the life of my father is hardly consistent with the +existence of this bold and cruel man. O, I am sure he still meditates +his purpose of conspiracy! He that could deceive a woman in the manner +he has done me, will not relinquish a plan which is founded upon the +death of his benefactor." + +"You do me injustice, Anna," said Briennius, starting up, and +imprinting a kiss upon her lips ere she was aware. "By this caress, the +last that will pass between us, I swear, that if in my life I have +yielded to folly, I have, notwithstanding, never been guilty of a +treason of the heart towards a woman as superior to the rest of the +female world in talents and accomplishments, as in personal beauty." + +The Princess, much softened, shook her head, as she replied--"Ah, +Nicephorus!--such were once your words! such, perhaps, were then your +thoughts! But who, or what, shall now warrant to me the veracity of +either?" + +"Those very accomplishments, and that very beauty itself," replied +Nicephorus. + +"And if more is wanting," said Irene, "thy mother will enter her +security for him. Deem her not an insufficient pledge in this affair; +she is thy mother, and the wife of Alexius Comnenus, interested beyond +all human beings in the growth and increase of the power and dignity of +her husband and her child; and one who sees on this occasion an +opportunity for exercising generosity, for soldering up the breaches of +the Imperial house, and reconstructing the frame of government upon a +basis, which, if there be faith and gratitude in man, shall never be +again exposed to hazard." + +"To the reality of that faith and gratitude, then," said the Princess, +"we must trust implicitly, as it is your will, mother; although even my +own knowledge of the subject, both through study and experience of the +world, has called me to observe the rashness of such confidence. But +although we two may forgive Nicephorus's errors, the Emperor is still +the person to whom the final reference must be had, both as to pardon +and favour." + +"Fear not Alexius," answered her mother; "he will speak determinedly +and decidedly; but, if he acts not in the very moment of forming the +resolution, it is no more to be relied on than an icicle in time of +thaw. Do thou apprize me, if thou canst, what the Emperor is at present +doing, and take my word I will find means to bring him round to our +opinion." + +"Must I then betray secrets which my father has intrusted to me?" said +the Princess; "and to one who has so lately held the character of his +avowed enemy?" + +"Call it not betray," said Irene, "since it is written thou shalt +betray no one, least of all thy father, and the father of the empire. +Yet again it is written, by the holy Luke, that men shall be betrayed, +both by parents and brethren, and kinsfolk and friends, and therefore +surely also by daughters; by which I only mean thou shalt discover to +us thy father's secrets, so far as may enable us to save the life of +thy husband. The necessity of the case excuses whatever may be +otherwise considered as irregular." + +"Be it so then, mother. Having yielded my consent perhaps too easily, +to snatch this malefactor from my father's justice, I am sensible I +must secure his safety by such means as are in my power. I left my +father at the bottom of those stairs, called the Pit of Acheron, in the +cell of a blind man, to whom he gave the name of Ursel." + +"Holy Mary!" exclaimed the Empress, "thou hast named a name which has +been long unspoken in the open air." + +"Has the Emperor's sense of his danger from the living," said the +Caesar, "induced him to invoke the dead?--for Ursel has been no living +man for the space of three years." + +"It matters not," said Anna Comnena; "I tell you true. My father even +now held conference with a miserable-looking prisoner, whom he so +named." + +"It is a danger the more," said the Caesar; "he cannot have forgotten +the zeal with which I embraced the cause of the present Emperor against +his own; and so soon as he is at liberty, he will study to avenge it. +For this we must endeavour to make some provision, though it increases +our difficulties.--Sit down then, my gentle, my beneficent mother; and +thou, my wife, who hast preferred thy love for an unworthy husband to +the suggestions of jealous passion and of headlong revenge, sit down, +and let us see in what manner it may be in our power, consistently with +your duty to the Emperor, to bring our broken vessel securely into +port." + +He employed much natural grace of manner in handing the mother and +daughter to their seats; and, taking his place confidentially between +them, all were soon engaged in concerting what measures should be taken +for the morrow, not forgetting such as should at once have the effect +of preserving the Caesar's life, and at the same time of securing the +Grecian empire against the conspiracy of which he had been the chief +instigator. Briennius ventured to hint, that perhaps the best way would +be to suffer the conspiracy to proceed as originally intended, pledging +his own faith that the rights of Alexius should be held inviolate +during the struggle; but his influence over the Empress and her +daughter did not extend to obtaining so great a trust. They plainly +protested against permitting him to leave the palace, or taking the +least share in the confusion which to-morrow was certain to witness. + +"You forget, noble ladies," said the Caesar, "that my honour is +concerned in meeting the Count of Paris." + +"Pshaw! tell me not of your honour, Briennius," said Anna Comnena; "do +I not well know, that although the honour of the western knights be a +species of Moloch, a flesh-devouring, blood-quaffing demon, yet that +which is the god of idolatry to the eastern warriors, though equally +loud and noisy in the hall, is far less implacable in the field? +Believe not that I have forgiven great injuries and insults, in order +to take such false coin as _honour_ in payment; your ingenuity is but +poor, if you cannot devise some excuse which will satisfy the Greeks; +and in good sooth, Briennius, to this battle you go not, whether for +your good or for your ill. Believe not that I will consent to your +meeting either Count or Countess, whether in warlike combat or amorous +parley. So you may at a word count upon remaining prisoner here until +the hour appointed for such gross folly be past and over." + +The Caesar, perhaps, was not in his heart angry that his wife's +pleasure was so bluntly and resolutely expressed against the intended +combat. "If," said he, "you are determined to take my honour into your +own keeping, I am here for the present your prisoner, nor have I the +means of interfering with your pleasure. When once at liberty, the free +exercise of my valour and my lance is once more my own." + +"Be it so, Sir Paladin," said the Princess, very composedly. "I have +good hope that neither of them will involve you with any of yon +dare-devils of Paris, whether male or female, and that we will regulate +the pitch to which your courage soars, by the estimation of Greek +philosophy, and the judgment of our blessed Lady of Mercy, not her of +the Broken Lances." + +At this moment an authoritative knock at the door alarmed the +consultation of the Caesar and the ladies. + + + + +CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SEVENTH. + + Physician. Be comforted, good madam; the great rage, + You see is cured in him: and yet it is danger + To make him even o'er the time he has lost. + Desire him to go in: trouble him no more, + Till further settling. + KING LEAR. + + +We left the Emperor Alexius Comnenus at the bottom of a subterranean +vault, with a lamp expiring, and having charge of a prisoner, who +seemed himself nearly reduced to the same extremity. For the first two +or three moments, he listened after his daughter's retiring footsteps. +He grew impatient, and began to long for her return before it was +possible she could have traversed the path betwixt him and the summit +of these gloomy stairs. A minute or two he endured with patience the +absence of the assistance which he had sent her to summon; but strange +suspicions began to cross his imagination. Could it be possible? Had +she changed her purpose on account of the hard words which he had used +towards her? Had she resolved to leave her father to his fate in his +hour of utmost need? and was he to rely no longer upon the assistance +which he had implored her to send? + +The short time which the Princess trifled away in a sort of gallantry +with the Varangian Hereward, was magnified tenfold by the impatience of +the Emperor, who began to think that she was gone to fetch the +accomplices of the Caesar to assault their prince in his defenceless +condition, and carry into effect their half-disconcerted conspiracy. + +After a considerable time, filled up with this feeling of agonizing +uncertainty, he began at length, more composedly, to recollect the +little chance there was that the Princess would, even for her own sake, +resentful as she was in the highest degree of her husband's ill +behaviour, join her resources to his, to the destruction of one who had +so generally showed himself an indulgent and affectionate father. When +he had adopted this better mood, a step was heard upon the staircase, +and after a long and unequal descent, Hereward, in his heavy armour, at +length coolly arrived at the bottom of the steps. Behind him, panting +and trembling, partly with cold and partly with terror, came Douban, +the slave well skilled in medicine. + +"Welcome, good Edward! Welcome, Douban!" he said, "whose medical skill +is sufficiently able to counterbalance the weight of years which hang +upon him." + +"Your Highness is gracious," said Douban--but what he would have +farther said was cut off by a violent fit of coughing, the consequence +of his age, of his feeble habit, of the damps of the dungeon, and the +rugged exercise of descending the long and difficult staircase. + +"Thou art unaccustomed to visit thy patients in so rough an abode," +said Alexius; "and, nevertheless, to the damps of these dreary regions +state necessity obliges us to confine many, who are no less our beloved +subjects in reality than they are in title." + +The medical man continued his cough, perhaps as an apology for not +giving that answer of assent, with which his conscience did not easily +permit him to reply to an observation, which, though stated by one who +should know the fact, seemed not to be in itself altogether likely. + +"Yes, my Douban," said the Emperor, "in this strong case of steel and +adamant have we found it necessary to enclose the redoubted Ursel, +whose fame is spread through the whole world, both for military skill, +political wisdom, personal bravery, and other noble gifts, which we +have been obliged to obscure for a time, in order that we might, at the +fittest conjuncture, which is now arrived, restore them to the world in +their full lustre. Feel his pulse, therefore, Douban--consider him as +one who hath suffered severe confinement, with all its privations, and +is about to be suddenly restored to the full enjoyment of life, and +whatever renders life valuable." + +"I will do my best," said Douban; "but your Majesty must consider, that +we work upon a frail and exhausted subject, whose health seems already +wellnigh gone, and may perhaps vanish in an instant--like this pale and +trembling light, whose precarious condition the life-breath of this +unfortunate patient seems closely to resemble." + +"Desire, therefore, good Douban, one or two of the mutes who serve in +the interior, and who have repeatedly been thy assistants in such +cases--or stay--Edward, thy motions will be more speedy; do thou go for +the mutes--make them bring some kind of litter to transport the +patient; and, Douban, do thou superintend the whole. Transport him +instantly to a suitable apartment, only taking care that it be secret, +and let him enjoy the comforts of the bath, and whatever else may tend +to restore his feeble animation--keeping in mind, that he must, if +possible, appear to-morrow in the field." + +"That will be hard," said Douban, "after having been, it would appear. +subjected to such fare and such usage as his fluctuating pulse +intimates but too plainly." + +"'Twas a mistake of the dungeon-keeper, the inhuman villain, who should +not go without his reward," continued the Emperor, "had not Heaven +already bestowed it by the strange means of a sylvan man, or native of +the woods, who yesterday put to death the jailor who meditated the +death of his prisoner--Yes, my dear Douban, a private sentinel of our +guards called the Immortal, had wellnigh annihilated this flower of our +trust, whom for a time we were compelled to immure in secret. Then, +indeed, a rude hammer had dashed to pieces an unparalleled brilliant, +but the fates have arrested such a misfortune." + +The assistance having arrived, the physician, who seemed more +accustomed to act than to speak, directed a bath to be prepared with +medicated herbs, and gave it as his opinion, that the patient should +not be disturbed till to-morrow's sun was high in the heavens. Ursel +accordingly was assisted to the bath, which was employed according to +the directions of the physician; but without affording any material +symptoms of recovery. From thence he was transferred to a cheerful +bedchamber, opening by an ample window to one of the terraces of the +palace, which commanded an extensive prospect. These operations were +performed upon a frame so extremely stupified by previous suffering, so +dead to the usual sensations of existence, that it was not till the +sensibility should be gradually restored by friction of the stiffened +limbs, and other means, that the leech hoped the mists of the intellect +should at length begin to clear away. + +Douban readily undertook to obey the commands of the Emperor, and +remained by the bed of the patient until the dawn of morning, ready to +support nature as far as the skill of leechcraft admitted. + +From the mutes, much more accustomed to be the executioners of the +Emperor's displeasure than of his humanity, Douban selected one man of +milder mood, and by Alexius's order, made him understand, that the ask +in which he was engaged was to be kept most strictly secret, while the +hardened slave was astonished to find that the attentions paid to the +sick were to be rendered with yet more mystery than the bloody offices +of death and torture. + +The passive patient received the various acts of attention which were +rendered to him in silence; and if not totally without consciousness, +at least without a distinct comprehension of their object. After the +soothing operation of the bath, and the voluptuous exchange of the rude +and musty pile of straw, on which he had stretched himself for years, +for a couch of the softest down, Ursel was presented with a sedative +draught, slightly tinctured with an opiate. The balmy restorer of +nature came thus invoked, and the captive sunk into a delicious slumber +long unknown to him, and which seemed to occupy equally his mental +faculties and his bodily frame, while the features were released from +their rigid tenor, and the posture of the limbs, no longer disturbed by +fits of cramp, and sudden and agonizing twists and throes, seemed +changed for a placid state of the most perfect ease and tranquillity. + +The morn was already colouring the horizon, and the freshness of the +breeze of dawn had insinuated itself into the lofty halls of the palace +of the Blacquernal, when a gentle tap at the door of the chamber +awakened Douban, who, undisturbed from the calm state of his patient, +had indulged himself in a brief repose. The door opened, and a figure +appeared, disguised in the robes worn by an officer of the palace, and +concealed, beneath an artificial beard of great size, and of a white +colour, the features of the Emperor himself. "Douban," said Alexius, +"how fares it with thy patient, whose safety is this day of such +consequence to the Grecian state?" + +"Well, my lord," replied the physician, "excellently well; and if he is +not now disturbed, I will wager whatever skill I possess, that nature, +assisted by the art of the physician, will triumph over the damps and +the unwholesome air of the impure dungeon. Only be prudent, my lord, +and let not an untimely haste bring this Ursel forward into the contest +ere he has arranged the disturbed current of his ideas, and recovered, +in some degree, the spring of his mind, and the powers of his body." + +"I will rule my impatience," said the Emperor, "or rather, Douban, I +will be ruled by thee. Thinkest thou he is awake?" + +"I am inclined to think so," said the leech, "but he opens not his +eyes, and seems to me as if he absolutely resisted the natural impulse +to rouse himself and look around him." + +"Speak to him," said the Emperor, "and let us know what is passing in +his mind." + +"It is at some risk," replied the physician, "but you shall be obeyed. +--Ursel," he said, approaching the bed of his blind patient, and then, +in a louder tone, he repeated again, "Ursel! Ursel!" + +"Peace--Hush!" muttered the patient; "disturb not the blest in their +ecstacy--nor again recall the most miserable of mortals to finish the +draught of bitterness which his fate had compelled him to commence." + +"Again, again," said the Emperor, aside to Douban, "try him yet again; +it is of importance for me to know in what degree he possesses his +senses, or in what measure they have disappeared from him." + +"I would not, however," said the physician, "be the rash and guilty +person, who, by an ill-timed urgency, should produce a total alienation +of mind and plunge him back either into absolute lunacy, or produce a +stupor in which he might remain for a long period." + +"Surely not," replied the Emperor: "my commands are those of one +Christian to another, nor do I wish them farther obeyed than as they +are consistent with the laws of God and man." + +He paused for a moment after this declaration, and yet but few minutes +had elapsed ere he again urged the leech to pursue the interrogation of +his patient. "If you hold me not competent," said Douban, somewhat vain +of the trust necessarily reposed in him, "to judge of the treatment of +my patient, your Imperial Highness must take the risk and the trouble +upon yourself." + +"Marry, I shall," said the Emperor, "for the scruples of leeches are +not to be indulged, when the fate of kingdoms and the lives of monarchs +are placed against them in the scales.--Rouse thee, my noble Ursel! +hear a voice, with which thy ears were once well acquainted, welcome +thee back to glory and command! Look around thee, and see how the world +smiles to welcome thee back from imprisonment to empire!" + +"Cunning fiend!" said Ursel, "who usest the most wily baits in order to +augment the misery of the wretched! Know, tempter, that I am conscious +of the whole trick of the soothing images of last night--thy baths--thy +beds--and thy bowers of bliss.--But sooner shalt thou be able to bring +a smile upon the cheek of St. Anthony the Eremite, than induce me to +curl mine after the fashion of earthly voluptuaries." + +"Try it, foolish man," insisted the Emperor, "and trust to the evidence +of thy senses for the reality of the pleasures by which thou art now +surrounded; or, if thou art obstinate in thy lack of faith, tarry as +thou art for a single moment, and I will bring with me a being so +unparalleled in her loveliness, that a single glance of her were worth +the restoration of thine eyes, were it only to look upon her for a +moment." So saying he left the apartment. + +"Traitor," said Ursel, "and deceiver of old, bring no one hither! and +strive not, by shadowy and ideal forms of beauty, to increase the +delusion that gilds my prison-house for a moment, in order, doubtless, +to destroy totally the spark of reason, and then exchange this earthly +hell for a dungeon in the infernal regions themselves." + +"His mind is somewhat shattered," mused the physician, "which is often +the consequence of a long solitary confinement. I marvel much," was his +farther thought, "if the Emperor can shape out any rational service +which this man can render him, after being so long immured in so +horrible a dungeon.--Thou thinkest, then," continued he, addressing the +patient, "that the seeming release of last night, with its baths and +refreshments, was only a delusive dream, without any reality?" + +"Ay--what else?" answered Ursel. + +"And that the arousing thyself, as we desire thee to do, would be but a +resigning to a vain temptation, in order to wake to more unhappiness +than formerly?" + +"Even so," returned the patient. + +"What, then, are thy thoughts of the Emperor by whose command thou +sufferest so severe a restraint?" + +Perhaps Douban wished he had forborne this question, for, in the very +moment when he put it, the door of the chamber opened, and the Emperor +entered, with his daughter hanging upon his arm, dressed with +simplicity, yet with becoming splendour. She had found time, it seems, +to change her dress for a white robe, which resembled a kind of +mourning, the chief ornament of which was a diamond chaplet, of +inestimable value, which surrounded and bound the long sable tresses, +that reached from her head to her waist. Terrified almost to death, she +had been surprised by her father in the company of her husband the +Caesar, and her mother; and the same thundering mandate had at once +ordered Briennius, in the character of a more than suspected traitor, +under the custody of a strong guard of Varangians, and commanded her to +attend her father to the bedchamber of Ursel, in which she now stood; +resolved, however, that she would stick by the sinking fortunes of her +husband, even in the last extremity, yet no less determined that she +would not rely upon her own entreaties or remonstrances, until she +should see whether her father's interference was likely to reassume a +resolved and positive character. Hastily as the plans of Alexius had +been formed, and hastily as they had been disconcerted by accident, +there remained no slight chance that he might be forced to come round +to the purpose on which his wife and daughter had fixed their heart, +the forgiveness, namely, of the guilty Nicephorus Briennius. To his +astonishment, and not perhaps greatly to his satisfaction, he heard the +patient deeply engaged with the physician in canvassing his own +character. + +"Think not," said Ursel in reply to him, "that though I am immured in +this dungeon, and treated as something worse than an outcast of +humanity--and although I am, moreover, deprived of my eyesight, the +dearest gift of Heaven--think not, I say, though I suffer all this by +the cruel will of Alexius Comnenus, that therefore I hold him to be +mine enemy; on the contrary, it is by his means that the blinded and +miserable prisoner has been taught to seek a liberty far more +unconstrained than this poor earth can afford, and a vision far more +clear than any Mount Pisgah on this wretched side of the grave can give +us: Shall I therefore account the Emperor among mine enemies? He who +has taught me the vanity of earthly things--the nothingness of earthly +enjoyments--and the pure hope of a better world, as a certain exchange +for the misery of the present? No!" + +The Emperor had stood somewhat disconcerted at the beginning of this +speech, but hearing it so very unexpectedly terminate, as he was +willing to suppose, much in his own favour, he threw himself into an +attitude which was partly that of a modest person listening to his own +praises, and partly that of a man highly struck with the commendations +heaped upon him by a generous adversary. + +"My friend," he said aloud, "how truly do you read my purpose, when you +suppose that the knowledge which men of your disposition can extract +from evil, was all the experience which I wished you to derive from a +captivity protracted by adverse circumstances, far, very far, beyond my +wishes! Let me embrace the generous man who knows so well how to +construe the purpose of a perplexed, but still faithful friend." + +The patient raised himself in his bed. + +"Hold there!" he said, "methinks my faculties begin to collect +themselves. Yes," he muttered, "that is the treacherous voice which +first bid me welcome as a friend, and then commanded fiercely that I +should be deprived of the sight of my eyes!--Increase thy rigour if +thou wilt, Comnenus--add, if thou canst, to the torture of my +confinement--but since I cannot see thy hypocritical and inhuman +features, spare me, in mercy, the sound of a voice, more distressing to +mine ear than toads, than serpents,--than whatever nature has most +offensive and disgusting!" + +This speech was delivered with so much energy, that it was in vain that +the Emperor strove to interrupt its tenor; although he himself, as well +as Douban and his daughter, heard a great deal more of the language of +unadorned and natural passion than he had counted upon. + +"Raise thy head, rash man," he said, "and charm thy tongue, ere it +proceed in a strain which may cost thee dear. Look at me, and see if I +have not reserved a reward capable of atoning for all the evil which +thy folly may charge to my account." + +Hitherto the prisoner had remained with his eyes obstinately shut, +regarding the imperfect recollection he had of sights which had been +before his eyes the foregoing evening, as the mere suggestion of a +deluded imagination, if not actually presented by some seducing spirit. +But now when his eyes fairly encountered the stately figure of the +Emperor, and the graceful form of his lovely daughter, painted in the +tender rays of the morning dawn, he ejaculated faintly, "I see!--I +see!"--And with that ejaculation fell back on the pillow in a swoon, +which instantly found employment for Douban and his restoratives. + +"A most wonderful cure indeed!" exclaimed the physician; "and the +height of my wishes would be to possess such another miraculous +restorative." + +"Fool!" said the Emperor; "canst thou not conceive that what has never +been taken away is restored with little difficulty? He was made," he +said, lowering his voice, "to undergo a painful operation, which led +him to believe that the organs of sight were destroyed; and as light +scarcely ever visited him, and when it did, only in doubtful and +invisible glimmerings, the prevailing darkness, both physical and +mental, that surrounded him, prevented him from being sensible of the +existence of that precious faculty, of which he imagined himself +bereft. Perhaps thou wilt ask my reason for inflicting upon him so +strange a deception?--Simply it was, that being by it conceived +incapable of reigning, his memory might pass out of the minds of the +public, while, at the same time, I reserved his eyesight, that in case +occasion should call, it might be in my power once more to liberate him +from his dungeon, and employ, as I now propose to do, his courage and +talents in the service of the empire, to counterbalance those of other +conspirators." + +"And can your imperial Highness," said Douban, "hope that you have +acquired this man's duty and affection by the conduct you have observed +to him?" + +"I cannot tell," answered the Emperor; "that must be as futurity shall +determine. All I know is, that it is no fault of mine, if Ursel does +not reckon freedom and a long course of Empire--perhaps sanctioned by +an alliance with our own blood--and the continued enjoyment of the +precious organs of eyesight, of which a less scrupulous man would have +deprived him, against a maimed and darkened existence." + +"Since such is your Highness's opinion and resolution," said Douban, +"it is for me to aid, and not to counteract it. Permit me, therefore, +to pray your Highness and the Princess to withdraw, that I may use such +remedies as may confirm a mind which has been so strangely shaken, and +restore to him fully the use of those eyes, of which he has been so +long deprived." + +"I am content, Douban," said the Emperor; "but take notice, Ursel is +not totally at liberty until he has expressed the resolution to become +actually mine. It may behove both him and thee to know, that although +there is no purpose of remitting him to the dungeons of the Blacquernal +palace, yet if he, or any on his part, should aspire to head a party in +these feverish times,--by the honour of a gentleman, to swear a +Frankish oath, he shall find that he is not out of the reach of the +battle-axes of my Varangians. I trust to thee to communicate this fact, +which concerns alike him and all who have interest in his +fortunes.--Come, daughter, we will withdraw, and leave the leech with +his patient --Take notice, Douban, it is of importance that you +acquaint me the very first moment when the patient can hold rational +communication with me." + +Alexius and his accomplished daughter departed accordingly. + + + + +CHAPTER THE TWENTY-EIGHTH. + + Sweet are the uses of adversity, + Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, + Bears yet a precious jewel in its head. + AS YOU LIKE IT. + + +From a terraced roof of the Blacquernal palace, accessible by a +sash-door, which opened from the bed-chamber of Ursel, there was +commanded one of the most lovely and striking views which the romantic +neighbourhood of Constantinople afforded. + +After suffering him to repose and rest his agitated faculties, it was +to this place that the physician led his patient; for when somewhat +composed, he had of himself requested to be permitted to verify the +truth of his restored eyesight, by looking out once more upon the +majestic face of nature. + +On the one hand, the scene which he beheld was a masterpiece of human +art. The proud city, ornamented with stately buildings, as became the +capital of the world, showed a succession of glittering spires and +orders of architecture, some of them chaste and simple, like those the +capitals of which were borrowed from baskets-full of acanthus; some +deriving the fluting of their shafts from the props made originally to +support the lances of the earlier Greeks--forms simple, yet more +graceful in their simplicity, than any which human ingenuity has been +able since to invent. With the most splendid specimens which ancient +art could afford of those strictly classical models were associated +those of a later age, where more modern taste had endeavoured at +improvement, and, by mixing the various orders, had produced such as +were either composite, or totally out of rule. The size of the +buildings in which they were displayed, however, procured them respect; +nor could even the most perfect judge of architecture avoid being +struck by the grandeur of their extent and effect, although hurt by the +incorrectness of the taste in which they were executed. Arches of +triumph, towers, obelisks, and spires, designed for various purposes, +rose up into the air in confused magnificence; while the lower view was +filled by the streets of the city, the domestic habitations forming +long narrow alleys, on either side of which the houses arose to various +and unequal heights, but, being generally finished with terraced +coverings, thick set with plants and flowers, and fountains, had, when +seen from an eminence, a more noble and interesting aspect than is ever +afforded by the sloping and uniform roofs of streets in the capitals of +the north of Europe. + +It has taken us some time to give, in words, the idea which was at a +single glance conveyed to Ursel, and affected him at first with great +pain. His eyeballs had been long strangers to that daily exercise, +which teaches us the habit of correcting the scenes as they appear to +our sight, by the knowledge which we derive from the use of our other +senses. His idea of distance was so confused, that it seemed as if all +the spires, turrets, and minarets which he beheld, were crowded forward +upon his eyeballs, and almost touching them. With a shriek of horror, +Ursel turned himself to the further side, and cast his eyes upon a +different scene. Here also he saw towers, steeples, and turrets, but +they were those of the churches and public buildings beneath his feet, +reflected from the dazzling piece of water which formed the harbour of +Constantinople, and which, from the abundance of wealth which it +transported to the city, was well termed the Golden Horn. In one place, +this superb basin was lined with quays, where stately dromonds and +argosies unloaded their wealth, while, by the shore of the haven, +galleys, feluccas, and other small craft, idly flapped the singularly +shaped and snow-white pinions which served them for sails. In other +places the Golden Horn lay shrouded in a verdant mantle of trees, where +the private gardens of wealthy or distinguished individuals, or places +of public recreation, shot down upon and were bounded by the glassy +waters. + +On the Bosphorus, which might be seen in the distance, the little fleet +of Tancred was lying in the same station they had gained during the +night, which was fitted to command the opposite landing; this their +general had preferred to a midnight descent upon Constantinople, not +knowing whether, so coming, they might be received as friends or +enemies. This delay, however, had given the Greeks an opportunity, +either by the orders of Alexius, or the equally powerful mandates of +some of the conspirators, to tow six ships of war, full of armed men, +and provided with the maritime offensive weapons peculiar to the Greeks +at that period, which they had moored so as exactly to cover the place +where the troops of Tancred must necessarily land. + +This preparation gave some surprise to the valiant Tancred, who did not +know that such vessels had arrived in the harbour from Lemnos on the +preceding night. The undaunted courage of that prince was, however, in +no respect to be shaken by the degree of unexpected danger with which +his adventure now appeared to be attended. + +This splendid view, from the description of which we have in some +degree digressed, was seen by the physician and Ursel from a terrace, +the loftiest almost on the palace of the Blacquernal. To the city-ward, +it was bounded by a solid wall, of considerable height, giving a +resting-place for the roof of a lower building, which, sloping outward, +broke to the view the vast height unobscured otherwise save by a high +and massy balustrade, composed of bronze, which, to the havenward, sunk +sheer down upon an uninterrupted precipice. + +No sooner, therefore, had Ursel turned his eyes that way, than, though +placed far from the brink of the terrace, he exclaimed, with a shriek, +"Save me--save me! if you are not indeed the destined executors of the +Emperor's will." + +"We are indeed such," said Douban, "to save, and if possible to bring +you to complete recovery; but by no means to do you injury, or to +suffer it to be offered by others." + +"Guard me then from myself," said Ursel, "and save me from the reeling +and insane desire which I feel to plunge myself into the abyss, to the +edge of which you have guided me." + +"Such a giddy and dangerous temptation is," said the physician, "common +to those who have not for a long time looked down from precipitous +heights, and are suddenly brought to them. Nature, however bounteous, +hath not provided for the cessation of our faculties for years, and for +their sudden resumption in full strength and vigour. An interval, +longer or shorter, must needs intervene. Can you not believe this +terrace a safe station while you have my support and that of this +faithful slave?" + +"Certainly," said Ursel; "but permit me to turn my face towards this +stone wall, for I cannot bear to look at the flimsy piece of wire, +which is the only battlement of defence that interposes betwixt me and +the precipice." He spoke of the bronze balustrade, six feet high, and +massive in proportion. Thus saying, and holding fast by the physician's +arm, Ursel, though himself a younger and more able man, trembled, and +moved his feet as slowly as if made of lead, until he reached the +sashed-door, where stood a kind of balcony-seat, in which he placed +himself.--"Here," he said, "will I remain." + +"And here," said Douban, "will I make the communication of the Emperor, +which it is necessary you should be prepared to reply to. It places +you, you will observe, at your own disposal for liberty or captivity, +but it conditions for your resigning that sweet but sinful morsel +termed revenge, which, I must not conceal from you, chance appears +willing to put into your hand. You know the degree of rivalry in which +you have been held by the Emperor, and you know the measure of evil you +have sustained at his hand. The question is, Can you forgive what has +taken place?" + +"Let me wrap my head round with my mantle," said Ursel, "to dispel this +dizziness which still oppresses my poor brain, and as soon as the power +of recollection is granted me, you shall know my sentiments." + +He sunk upon the seat, muffled in the way which he described, and after +a few minutes' reflection, with a trepidation which argued the patient +still to be under the nervous feeling of extreme horror mixed with +terror, he addressed Douban thus: "The operation of wrong and cruelty, +in the moment when they are first inflicted, excites, of course, the +utmost resentment of the sufferer; nor is there, perhaps, a passion +which lives so long in his bosom as the natural desire of revenge. If, +then, during the first month, when I lay stretched upon my bed of want +and misery, you had offered me an opportunity of revenge upon my cruel +oppressor, the remnant of miserable life which remained to me should +have been willingly bestowed to purchase it. But a suffering of weeks, +or even months, must not be compared in effect with that of years. For +a short space of endurance, the body, as well as the mind, retains that +vigorous habit which holds the prisoner still connected with life, and +teaches him to thrill at the long-forgotten chain of hopes, of wishes, +of disappointments, and mortifications, which affected his former +existence. But the wounds become callous as they harden, and other and +better feelings occupy their place, while they gradually die away in +forgetfulness. The enjoyments, the amusements of this world, occupy no +part of his time upon whom the gates of despair have once closed. I +tell thee, my kind physician, that for a season, in an insane attempt +to effect my liberty, I cut through a large portion of the living rock. +But Heaven cured me of so foolish an idea; and if I did not actually +come to love Alexius Comnenus--for how could that have been a possible +effect in any rational state of my intellects?--yet as I became +convinced of my own crimes, sins, and follies, the more and more I was +also persuaded that Alexius was but the agent through whom Heaven +exercised a dearly-purchased right of punishing me for my manifold +offences and transgressions; and that it was not therefore upon the +Emperor that my resentment ought to visit itself. And I can now say to +thee, that so far as a man who has undergone so dreadful a change can +be supposed to know his own mind, I feel no desire either to rival +Alexius in a race for empire, or to avail myself of any of the various +proffers which he proposes to me as the price of withdrawing my claim. +Let him keep unpurchased the crown, for which he has paid, in my +opinion, a price which it is not worth." + +"This is extraordinary stoicism, noble Ursel," answered the physician +Douban. "Am I then to understand that you reject the fair offers of +Alexius, and desire, instead of all which he is willing--nay, anxious +to bestow--to be committed safely back to thy old blinded dungeon in +the Blacquernal, that you may continue at ease those pietistic +meditations which have already conducted thee to so extravagant a +conclusion?" + +"Physician," said Ursel, while a shuddering fit that affected his whole +body testified his alarm at the alternative proposed--"one would +imagine thine own profession might have taught thee, that no mere +mortal man, unless predestined to be a glorified saint, could ever +prefer darkness to the light of day; blindness itself to the enjoyment +of the power of sight; the pangs of starving to competent sustenance, +or the damps of a dungeon to the free air of God's creation. No!--it +may be virtue to do so, but to such a pitch mine does not soar. All I +require of the Emperor for standing by him with all the power my name +can give him at this crisis is, that he will provide for my reception +as a monk in some of those pleasant and well endowed seminaries of +piety, to which his devotion, or his fears, have given rise. Let me not +be again the object of his suspicion, the operation of which is more +dreadful than that of being the object of his hate. Forgotten by power, +as I have myself lost the remembrance of those that wielded it, let me +find my way to the grave, unnoticed, unconstrained, at liberty, in +possession of my dim and disused organs of sight, and, above all, at +peace." + +"If such be thy serious and earnest wish, noble Ursel," said the +physician, "I myself have no hesitation to warrant to thee the full +accomplishment of thy religious and moderate desires. But, bethink +thee, thou art once more an inhabitant of the court, in which thou +mayst obtain what thou wilt to-day; while to-morrow, shouldst thou +regret thy indifference, it may be thy utmost entreaty will not suffice +to gain for thee the slightest extension of thy present conditions." + +"Be it so," said Ursel; "I will then stipulate for another condition, +which indeed has only reference to this day. I will solicit his +Imperial Majesty, with all humility, to spare me the pain of a personal +treaty between himself and me, and that he will be satisfied with the +solemn assurance that I am most willing to do in his favour all that he +is desirous of dictating; while, on the other hand, I desire only the +execution of those moderate conditions of my future aliment which I +have already told thee at length." + +"But wherefore," said Douban, "shouldst thou be afraid of announcing to +the Emperor thy disposition to an agreement, which cannot be esteemed +otherwise than extremely moderate on thy part? Indeed, I fear the +Emperor will insist on a brief personal conference." + +"I am not ashamed," said Ursel, "to confess the truth. It is true, that +I have, or think I have, renounced what the Scripture calls the pride +of life; but the old Adam still lives within us, and maintains against +the better part of our nature an inextinguishable quarrel, easy to be +aroused from its slumber, but as difficult to be again couched in +peace. While last night I but half understood that mine enemy was in my +presence, and while my faculties performed but half their duty in +recalling his deceitful and hated accents, did not my heart throb in my +bosom with all the agitation of a taken bird, and shall I again have to +enter into a personal treaty with the man who, be his general conduct +what it may, has been, the constant and unprovoked cause of my +unequalled misery? Douban, no!--to listen to his voice again, were to +hear an alarm sounded to every violent and vindictive passion, of my +heart; and though, may Heaven so help me as my intentions towards him +are upright, yet it is impossible for me to listen to his professions +with a chance of safety either to him or to myself." + +"If you be so minded," replied Douban, "I shall only repeat to him your +stipulation, and you must swear to him that you will strictly observe +it. Without this being done, it must be difficult, or perhaps +impossible, to settle the league of which both are desirous." + +"Amen!" said Ursel; "and as I am pure in my purpose, and resolved to +keep it to the uttermost, so may Heaven guard me from the influence of +precipitate revenge, ancient grudge, or new quarrel!" + +An authoritative knock at the door of the sleeping chamber was now +heard, and Ursel, relieved by more powerful feelings, from the +giddiness of which he had complained, walked firmly into the bedroom, +and seating himself, waited with averted eyes the entrance of the +person who demanded admittance, and who proved to be no other than +Alexius Comnenus. + +The Emperor appeared at the door in a warlike dress, suited for the +decoration of a prince who was to witness a combat in the lists fought +out before him. + +"Sage Douban," he said, "has our esteemed prisoner, Ursel, made his +choice between our peace and enmity?" + +"He hath, my lord," replied the physician, "embraced the lot of that +happy portion of mankind, whose hearts and lives are devoted to the +service of your Majesty's government." + +"He will then this day," continued the Emperor, "render me the office +of putting down all those who may pretend to abet insurrection in his +name, and under pretext of his wrongs?" + +"He will, my lord," replied the physician, "act to the fullest the part +which you require." + +"And in what way," said the Emperor, adopting his most gracious tone of +voice, "would our faithful Ursel desire that services like these, +rendered in the hour of extreme need; should be acknowledged by the +Emperor?" + +"Simply," answered Douban, "by saying nothing upon the subject. He +desires only that all jealousies between you and him may be henceforth +forgotten, and that he may be admitted into one of your Highness's +monastic institutions, with leave to dedicate the rest of his life to +the worship of Heaven and its saints." + +"Hath he persuaded thee of this, Douban?"--said the Emperor, in a low +and altered voice. "By Heaven! when I consider from what prison he was +brought, and in what guise he inhabited it, I cannot believe in this +gall-less disposition. He must at least speak to me himself, ere I can +believe, in some degree, the transformation of the fiery Ursel into a +being so little capable of feeling the ordinary impulses of mankind." + +"Hear me, Alexius Comnenus," said the prisoner; "and so may thine own +prayers to Heaven find access and acceptation, as thou believest the +words which I speak to thee in simplicity of heart. If thine empire of +Greece were made of coined gold, it would hold out no bait for my +acceptance; nor, I thank Heaven, have even the injuries I have +experienced at thy hand, cruel and extensive as they have been, +impressed upon me the slightest desire of requiting treachery with +treachery. Think of me as thou wilt, so thou seek'st not again to +exchange words with me; and believe me, that when thou hast put me +under the most rigid of thy ecclesiastical foundations, the discipline, +the fare, and the vigils, will be far superior to the existence falling +to the share of those whom the King delights to honour, and who +therefore must afford the King their society whenever they are summoned +to do so." + +"It is hardly for me," said the physician, "to interpose in so high a +matter; yet, as trusted both by the noble Ursel, and by his Highness +the Emperor, I have made a brief abstract of these short conditions to +be kept by the high parties towards each other, _sub crimine falsi_." + +The Emperor protracted the intercourse with Ursel, until he more fully +explained to him the occasion which he should have that very day for +his services. When they parted, Alexius, with a great show of +affection, embraced his late prisoner, while it required all the +self-command and stoicism of Ursel to avoid expressing in plain terms +the extent to which he abhorred the person who thus caressed him. + + + + +CHAPTER THE TWENTY-NINTH. + + * * * * O, Conspiracy! + Sham'st thou to show thy dangerous brow by night, + When evils are most free? O, then, by day, + Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough + To mask thy monstrous visage? Seek none, Conspiracy; + Hide it in smiles and affability; + For if thou path thy native semblance on, + Not Erebus itself were dim enough + To hide thee from prevention. + JULIUS CAESAR + + +The important morning at last arrived, on which, by the Imperial +proclamation, the combat between the Caesar and Count Robert of Paris +was appointed to take place. This was a circumstance in a great measure +foreign to the Grecian manners, and to which, therefore, the people +annexed different ideas from those which were associated with the same +solemn decision of God, as the Latins called it, by the Western +nations. The consequence was a vague, but excessive agitation among the +people, who connected the extraordinary strife which they were to +witness, with the various causes which had been whispered abroad as +likely to give occasion to some general insurrection of a great and +terrible nature. + +By the Imperial order, regular lists had been prepared for the combat, +with opposite gates, or entrances, as was usual, for the admittance of +the two champions; and it was understood that the appeal was to be made +to the Divinity by each, according to the forms prescribed by the +Church of which the combatants were respectively members. The situation +of these lists was on the side of the shore adjoining on the west to +the continent. At no great distance, the walls of the city were seen, +of various architecture, composed of lime and of stone, and furnished +with no less than four-and-twenty gates, or posterns, five of which +regarded the land, and nineteen the water. All this formed a beautiful +prospect, much of which is still visible. The town itself is about +nineteen miles in circumference; and as it is on all sides surrounded +with lofty cypresses, its general appearance is that of a city arising +out of a stately wood of these magnificent trees, partly shrouding the +pinnacles, obelisks, and minarets, which then marked the site of many +noble Christian temples; but now, generally speaking, intimate the +position of as many Mahomedan mosques. + +These lists, for the convenience of spectators, were surrounded on all +sides by long rows of seats, sloping downwards. In the middle of these +seats, and exactly opposite the centre of the lists, was a high throne, +erected for the Emperor himself; and which was separated from the more +vulgar galleries by a circuit of wooden barricades, which an +experienced eye could perceive, might, in case of need, be made +serviceable for purposes of defence. + +The lists were sixty yards in length, by perhaps about forty in +breadth, and these afforded ample space for the exercise of the combat, +both on horseback and on foot. Numerous bands of the Greek citizens +began, with the very break of day, to issue from the gates and posterns +of the city, to examine and wonder at the construction of the lists, +pass their criticisms upon the purposes of the peculiar parts of the +fabric, and occupy places, to secure them for the spectacle. Shortly +after arrived a large band of those soldiers who were called the Roman +Immortals. These entered without ceremony, and placed themselves on +either hand of the wooden barricade which fenced the Emperor's seat. +Some of them took even a greater liberty; for, affecting to be pressed +against the boundary, there were individuals who approached the +partition itself, and seemed to meditate climbing over it, and placing +themselves on the same side with the Emperor. Some old domestic slaves +of the household now showed themselves, as if for the purpose of +preserving this sacred circle for Alexius and his court; and, in +proportion as the Immortals began to show themselves encroaching and +turbulent, the strength of the defenders of the prohibited precincts +seemed gradually to increase. + +There was, though scarcely to be observed, besides the grand access to +the Imperial seat from without, another opening also from the outside, +secured by a very strong door, by which different persons received +admission beneath the seats destined for the Imperial party. These +persons, by their length of limb, breadth of shoulders, by the fur of +their cloaks, and especially by the redoubted battle-axes which all of +them bore, appeared to be Varangians; but, although neither dressed in +their usual habit of pomp, nor in their more effectual garb of war, +still, when narrowly examined, they might be seen to possess their +usual offensive weapons. These men, entering in separate and straggling +parties, might be observed to join the slaves of the interior of the +palace in opposing the intrusion of the Immortals upon the seat of the +Emperor, and the benches around. Two or three Immortals, who had +actually made good their frolic, and climbed over the division, were +flung back again, very unceremoniously, by the barbaric strength and +sinewy arms of the Varangians. + +The people around, and in the adjacent galleries, most of whom had the +air of citizens in their holyday dresses, commented a good deal on +these proceedings, and were inclined strongly to make part with the +Immortals. "It was a shame to the Emperor," they said, "to encourage +these British barbarians to interpose themselves by violence between +his person and the Immortal cohorts of the city, who were in some sort +his own children." + +Stephanos, the gymnastic, whose bulky strength and stature rendered him +conspicuous amid this party, said, without hesitation, "If there are +two people here who will join in saying that the Immortals are unjustly +deprived of their right of guarding the Emperor's person, here is the +hand that shall place them beside the Imperial chair." + +"Not so," quoth a centurion of the Immortals, whom we have already +introduced to our readers by the name of Harpax; "Not so, Stephanos; +that happy time may arrive, but it is not yet come, my gem of the +circus. Thou knowest that on this occasion it is one of these Counts, +or western Franks, who undertakes the combat; and the Varangians, who +call these people their enemies, have some reason to claim a precedency +in guarding the lists, which it might not at this moment be convenient +to dispute with them. Why, man, if thou wert half so witty as thou art +long, thou wouldst be sensible that it were bad woodmanship to raise +the hollo upon the game, ere it had been driven within compass of the +nets." + +While the athlete rolled his huge grey eyes as if to conjure out the +sense of this intimation, his little friend Lysimachus, the artist, +putting himself to pain to stand upon his tiptoe, and look intelligent, +said, approaching as near as he could to Harpax's ear, "Thou mayst +trust me, gallant centurion, that this man. of mould and muscle shall +neither start like a babbling hound on a false scent, nor become mute +and inert, when the general signal is given. But tell me," said he, +speaking very low, and for that purpose mounting a bench, which brought +him on a level with the centurion's ear, "would it not have been better +that a strong guard of the valiant Immortals had been placed in this +wooden citadel, to ensure the object of the day?" + +"Without question," said the centurion, "it was so meant; but these +strolling Varangians have altered their station of their own authority." + +"Were it not--well," said Lysimachus, "that you, who are greatly more +numerous than the barbarians, should begin a fray before more of these +strangers arrive?" + +"Content ye, friend," said the centurion, coldly, "we know our time. An +attack commenced too early would be worse than thrown away, nor would +an opportunity occur of executing our project in the fitting time, if +an alarm were prematurely given at this moment." + +So saying, he shuffled off among his fellow-soldiers, so as to avoid +suspicious intercourse with such persons as were only concerned with +the civic portion of the conspirators. + +As the morning advanced, and the sun took a higher station in the +horizon, the various persons whom curiosity, or some more decided +motive, brought to see the proposed combat, were seen streaming from +different parts of the town, and rushing to occupy such accommodation +as the circuit round the lists afforded them. In their road to the +place where preparation for combat was made, they had to ascend a sort +of cape, which, in the form of a small hill, projected into the +Hellespont, and the butt of which, connecting it with the shore, +afforded a considerable ascent, and of course a more commanding view of +the strait between Europe and Asia, than either the immediate vicinity +of the city, or the still lower ground upon which the lists were +erected. In passing this height, the earlier visitants of the lists +made little or no halt; but after a time, when it became obvious that +those who had hurried forward to the place of combat were lingering +there without any object or occupation, they that followed them in the +same route, with natural curiosity, paid a tribute to the landscape, +bestowing some attention on its beauty, and paused to see what auguries +could be collected from the water, which were likely to have any +concern in indicating the fate of the events that were to take place. +Some straggling seamen were the first who remarked that a squadron of +the Greek small craft (being that of Tancred) were in the act of making +their way from Asia, and threatening a descent upon Constantinople. + +"It is strange," said a person, by rank the captain of a galley, "that +these small vessels, which were ordered to return to Constantinople as +soon as they disembarked the Latins, should have remained so long at +Scutari, and should not be rowing back to the imperial city until this +time, on the second day after their departure from thence." + +"I pray to Heaven," said another of the same profession, "that these +seamen may come alone. It seems to me as if their ensign-staffs, +bowsprits, and topmasts were decorated with the same ensigns, or nearly +the same, with those which the Latins displayed upon them, when, by the +Emperor's order, they were transported towards Palestine; so methinks +the voyage back again resembles that of a fleet of merchant vessels, +who have been prevented from discharging their cargo at the place of +their destination." + +"There is little good," said one of the politicians whom we formerly +noticed, "in dealing with such commodities, whether they are imported +or exported. Yon ample banner which streams over the foremost galley, +intimates the presence of a chieftain of no small rank among the +Counts, whether it be for valour or for nobility." + +The seafaring leader added, with the voice of one who hints alarming +tidings, "They seem to have got to a point in the straits as high as +will enable them to run down--with the tide, and clear the cape which +we stand on, although with what purpose they aim to land so close +beneath the walls of the city, he is a wiser man than I who pretends to +determine." + +"Assuredly," returned his comrade, "the intention is not a kind one. +The wealth of the city has temptations to a poor people, who only value +the iron which they possess as affording them the means of procuring +the gold which they covet." + +"Ay, brother," answered Demetrius the politician, "but see you not, +lying at anchor within this bay which is formed by the cape, and at the +very point where these heretics are likely to be carried by the tide, +six strong vessels, having the power of sending forth, not merely +showers of darts and arrows, but of Grecian fire, as it is called, from +their hollow decks? If these Frank gentry continue directing their +course upon the Imperial city, being, as they are, + + ------'propago + Contemptrix Superum sane, saevaeque avidissima caedis + Et violenta;' [Footnote: Ovid, Met.] + +we shall speedily see a combat better worth witnessing than that +announced by the great trumpet of the Varangians. If you love me, let +us sit down here for a moment, and see how this matter is to end." + +"An excellent motion, my ingenious friend," said Lascaris, which was +the name of the other citizen; "but bethink you, shall we not be in +danger from the missiles with which the audacious Latins will not fail +to return the Greek fire, if, according to your conjecture, it shall be +poured upon them by the Imperial squadron?" + +"That is not ill argued, my friend," said Demetrius; "but know that you +have to do with a man who has been in such extremities before now; and +if such a discharge should open from the sea, I would propose to you to +step back some fifty yards inland, and thus to interpose the very crest +of the cape between us and the discharge of missiles; a mere child +might thus learn to face them without any alarm." + +"You are a wise man, neighbour," said Lascaris, "and possess such a +mixture of valour and knowledge as becomes a man whom a friend might be +supposed safely to risk his life with. There be those, for instance, +who cannot show you the slightest glimpse of what is going on, without +bringing you within peril of your life; whereas you, my worthy friend +Demetrius, between your accurate knowledge of military affairs, and +your regard for your friend, are sure to show him all that is to be +seen without the least risk to a person, who is naturally unwilling to +think of exposing himself to injury. But, Holy Virgin! what is the +meaning of that red flag which the Greek Admiral has this instant +hoisted?" + +"Why, you see, neighbour," answered Demetrius, "yonder western heretic +continues to advance without minding the various signs which our +Admiral has made to him to desist, and now he hoists the bloody +colours, as if a man should clench his fist and say, If you persevere +in your uncivil intention, I will do so and so." + +"By St. Sophia," said Lascaris, "and that is giving him fair warning. +But what is it the Imperial Admiral is about to do?" + +"Run! run! friend Lascaris," said Demetrius, "or you will see more of +that than perchance you have any curiosity for." + +Accordingly, to add the strength of example to precept, Demetrius +himself girt up his loins, and retreated with the most edifying speed +to the opposite side of the ridge, accompanied by the greater part of +the crowd, who had tarried there to witness the contest which the +newsmonger promised, and were determined to take his word for their own +safety. The sound and sight which had alarmed Demetrius, was the +discharge of a large portion of Greek fire, which perhaps may be best +compared to one of those immense Congreve rockets of the present day, +which takes on its shoulders a small grapnel or anchor, and proceeds +groaning through the air, like a fiend overburdened by the mandate of +some inexorable magician, and of which the operation was so terrifying, +that the crews of the vessels attacked by this strange weapon +frequently forsook every means of defence, and ran themselves ashore. +One of the principal ingredients of this dreadful fire was supposed to +be naphtha, or the bitumen which is collected on the banks of the Dead +Sea, and which, when in a state of ignition, could only be extinguished +by a very singular mixture, and which it was not likely to come in +contact with. It produced a thick smoke and loud explosion, and was +capable, says Gibbon, of communicating its flames with equal vehemence +in descent or lateral progress, [Footnote: For a full account of the +Greek five, see Gibbon, chapter 53] In sieges, it was poured from the +ramparts, or launched like our bombs, in red-hot balls of stone or +iron, or it was darted in flax twisted round arrows and in javelins. It +was considered as a state secret of the greatest importance; and for +wellnigh four centuries it was unknown to the Mahomedans. But at length +the composition was discovered by the Saracens, and used by them for +repelling the crusaders, and overpowering the Greeks, upon whose side +it had at one time been the most formidable implement of defence. Some +exaggeration--we must allow for a barbarous period; but there seems no +doubt that the general description of the crusader Joinville should be +admitted as correct:--"It came flying through the air," says that good +knight, "like a winged dragon, about the thickness of a hogshead, with +the report of thunder and the speed of lightning, and the darkness of +the night was dispelled by this horrible illumination." + +Not only the bold Demetrius and his pupil Lascaris, but all the crowd +whom they influenced, fled manfully when the commodore of the Greeks +fired the first discharge; and as the other vessels in the squadron +followed his example, the heavens were filled with the unusual and +outrageous noise, while the smoke was so thick as to darken the very +air. As the fugitives passed the crest of the hill, they saw the +seaman, whom we formerly mentioned as a spectator, snugly reclining +under cover of a dry ditch, where he managed so as to secure himself as +far as possible from any accident. He could not, however, omit breaking +his jest on the politicians. + +"What, ho!" he cried, "my good friends," without raising himself above +the counterscarp of his ditch, "will you not remain upon your station +long enough to finish that hopeful lecture upon battle by sea and land, +which you had so happy an opportunity of commencing? Believe me, the +noise is more alarming than hurtful; the fire is all pointed in a +direction opposite to yours, and if one of those dragons which you see +does happen to fly landward instead of seaward, it is but the mistake +of some cabin-boy, who has used his linstock with more willingness than +ability." + +Demetrius and Lascaris just heard enough of the naval hero's harangue, +to acquaint them with the new danger with which they might be assailed +by the possible misdirection of the weapons, and, rushing clown towards +the lists at the head of a crowd half-desperate with fear, they hastily +propagated the appalling news, that the Latins were coming back from +Asia with the purpose of landing in arms, pillaging, and burning the +city. The uproar, in the meantime, of this unexpected occurrence, was +such as altogether to vindicate, in public opinion, the reported cause, +however exaggerated. The thunder of the Greek fire came successively, +one hard upon the other, and each, in its turn, spread a blot of black +smoke upon the face of the landscape, which, thickened by so many +successive clouds, seemed at last, like that raised by a sustained fire +of modern artillery to overshadow the whole horizon. + +The small squadron of Tancred were completely hid from view in the +surging volumes of darkness, which the breath of the weapons of the +enemy had spread around him; and it seemed by a red light, which began +to show itself among the thickest of the veil of darkness, that one of +the flotilla at least had caught fire. Yet the Latins resisted, with an +obstinacy worthy of their own courage, and the fame of their celebrated +leader. Some advantage they had, on account of their small size, and +their lowness in the water, as well as the clouded state of the +atmosphere, which rendered them difficult marks for the fire of the +Greeks. + +To increase these advantages, Tancred, as well by boats as by the kind +of rude signals made use of at the period, dispersed orders to his +fleet, that each bark, disregarding the fate of the others, should +press forward individually, and that the men from each should be put on +shore wheresoever and howsoever they could effect that manoeuvre. +Tancred himself set a noble example; he was on board a stout vessel, +fenced in some degree against the effect of the Greek fire by being in +a great measure covered with raw hides, which hides had also been +recently steeped in water. This vessel contained upwards of a hundred +valiant warriors, several of them of knightly order, who had all night +toiled at the humble labours of the oar, and now in the morning applied +their chivalrous hands to the arblast and to the bow, which were in +general accounted the weapons of persons of a lower rank. Thus armed, +and thus manned. Prince Tancred bestowed upon his bark the full +velocity which wind, and tide, and oar, could enable her to obtain, and +placing her in the situation to profit by them as much as his maritime +skill could direct, he drove with the speed of lightning among the +vessels of Lemnos, plying on either side, bows, crossbows, javelins, +and military missiles of every kind, with the greater advantage that +the Greeks, trusting to their artificial fire, had omitted arming +themselves with other weapons; so that when the valiant Crusader bore +down on them with so much fury, repaying the terrors of their fire with +a storm of bolts and arrows no less formidable, they began to feel that +their own advantage was much less than they had supposed, and that, +like most other dangers, the maritime fire of the Greeks, when +undauntedly confronted, lost at least one-half of its terrors. The +Grecian sailors, too, when they observed the vessels approach so near, +filled with the steel-clad Latins, began to shrink from a contest to be +maintained hand to hand with so terrible an enemy. + +By degrees, smoke began to issue from the sides of the great Grecian +argosy, and the voice of Tancred announced to his soldiers that the +Grecian Admiral's vessel had taken fire, owing to negligence in the +management of the means of destruction she possessed, and that all they +had now to do was to maintain such a distance as to avoid sharing her +fate. Sparkles and flashes of flame were next seen leaping from place +to place on board of the great hulk, as if the element had had the +sense and purpose of spreading wider the consternation, and disabling +the few who still paid attention to the commands of their Admiral, and +endeavoured to extinguish the fire. The consciousness of the +combustible nature of the freight, began to add despair to terror; from +the boltsprit, the rigging, the yards, the sides, and every part of the +vessel, the unfortunate crew were seen dropping themselves, to exchange +for the most part a watery death for one by the more dreadful agency of +fire. The crew of Tancred's bark, ceasing, by that generous prince's +commands, to offer any additional annoyance to an enemy who was at once +threatened by the perils of the ocean and of conflagration, ran their +vessel ashore in a smooth part of the bay, and jumping into the shallow +sea, made the land without difficulty; many of their steeds being, by +the exertions of the owners, and the docility of the animals, brought +ashore at the same time with their masters. Their commander lost no +time in forming their serried ranks into a phalanx of lancers, few +indeed at first, but perpetually increasing as ship after ship of the +little flotilla ran ashore, or, having more deliberately moored their +barks, landed their men, and joined their companions. + +The cloud which had been raised by the conflict was now driven to +leeward before the wind, and the strait exhibited only the relics of +the combat. Here tossed upon the billows the scattered and broken +remains of one or two of the Latin vessels which had been burnt at the +commencement of the combat, though their crews, by the exertions of +their comrades, had in general been saved. Lower down were seen the +remaining five vessels of the Lemnos squadron, holding a disorderly and +difficult retreat, with the purpose of gaining the harbour of +Constantinople. In the place so late the scene of combat, lay moored +the hulk of the Grecian Admiral, burnt to the water's edge, and still +sending forth a black smoke from its scathed beams and planks. The +flotilla of Tancred, busied in discharging its troops, lay irregularly +scattered along the bay, the men making ashore as they could, and +taking their course to join the standard of their leader. Various black +substances floated on the surface of the water, nearer, or more distant +to the shore; some proved to be the wreck of the vessels which had been +destroyed, and others, more ominous still, the lifeless bodies of +mariners who had fallen in the conflict. + +The standard had been borne ashore by the Prince's favourite page, +Ernest of Apulia, so soon as the keel of Tancred's galley had grazed +upon the sand. It was then pitched on the top of that elevated cape +between Constantinople and the lists, where Lascaris, Demetrius, and +other gossips, had held their station at the commencement of the +engagement, but from which all had fled, between the mingled dread of +the Greek fire and the missiles of the Latin crusaders. + + + + +CHAPTER THE THIRTIETH. + + +Sheathed in complete armour, and supporting with his right hand the +standard of his fathers, Tancred remained with his handful of warriors +like so many statues of steel, expecting some sort of attack from the +Grecian party which had occupied the lists, or from the numbers whom +the city gates began now to pour forth--soldiers some of them, and +others citizens, many of whom were arrayed as if for conflict. These +persons, alarmed by the various accounts which were given of the +combatants, and the progress of the fight, rushed towards the standard +of Prince Tancred, with the intention of beating it to the earth, and +dispersing the guards who owed it homage and defence. But if the reader +shall have happened to have ridden at any time through a pastoral +country, with a clog of a noble race following him, he must have +remarked, in the deference ultimately paid to the high-bred animal by +the shepherd's cur as he crosses the lonely glen, of which the latter +conceives himself the lord and guardian, something very similar to the +demeanour of the incensed Greeks, when they approached near to the +little band of Franks. At the first symptom of the intrusion of a +stranger, the dog of the shepherd starts from his slumbers, and rushes +towards the noble intruder with a clamorous declaration of war; but +when the diminution of distance between them shows to the aggressor the +size and strength of his opponent, he becomes like a cruiser, who, in a +chase, has, to his surprise and alarm, found two tier of guns opposed +to him instead of one. He halts--suspends his clamorous yelping, and, +in fine, ingloriously retreats to his master, with, all the +dishonourable marks of positively declining the combat. + +It was in this manner that the troops of the noisy Greeks, with much +hallooing and many a boastful shout, hastened both from the town and +from the lists, with the apparent intention of sweeping from the field +the few companions of Tancred. As they advanced, however, within the +power of remarking the calm and regular order of those men who had +landed, and arranged themselves under this noble chieftain's banner, +their minds were altogether changed as to the resolution of instant +combat; their advance became an uncertain and staggering gait, their +heads were more frequently turned back to the point from which they +came, than towards the enemy; and their desire to provoke an instant +scuffle vanished totally, when there did not appear the least symptom +that their opponents cared about the matter. + +It added to the extreme confidence with which the Latins kept their +ground, that they were receiving frequent, though small reinforcements +from their comrades, who were landing by detachments all along the +beach; and that, in the course of a short hour, their amount had been +raised, on horseback and foot, to a number, allowing for a few +casualties, not much less than that which set sail from Scutari. + +Another reason why the Latins remained unassailed, was certainly the +indisposition of the two principal armed parties on shore to enter into +a quarrel with them. The guards of every kind, who were faithful to the +Emperor, more especially the Varangians, had their orders to remain +firm at their posts, some in the lists, and others at various places of +rendezvous in Constantinople, where their presence was necessary to +prevent the effects of the sudden insurrection which Alexius knew to be +meditated against him. These, therefore, made no hostile demonstration +towards the band of Latins, nor was it the purpose of the Emperor they +should do so. + +On the other hand, the greater part of the Immortal Guards, and those +citizens who were prepared to play a part in the conspiracy, had been +impressed by the agents of the deceased Agelastes with the opinion, +that this band of Latins, commanded by Tancred, the relative of +Bohemond, had been despatched by the latter to their assistance. These +men, therefore, stood still, and made no attempt to guide or direct the +popular efforts of such as inclined to attack these unexpected +visitors; in which purpose, therefore, no very great party were united, +while the majority were willing enough to find an apology for remaining +quiet. + +In the meantime, the Emperor, from his palace of Blacquernal, observed +what passed upon the straits, and beheld his navy from Lemnos totally +foiled in their attempt, by means of the Greek fire, to check, the +intended passage of Tancred and his men. He had no sooner seen the +leading ship of the squadron, begin to beacon the darkness with its own +fire, than the Emperor formed a secret resolution to disown the +unfortunate Admiral, and make peace with the Latins, if that should be +absolutely necessary, by sending them his head. He had hardly, +therefore, seen the flames burst forth, and the rest of the vessels +retreat from their moorings, than in his own mind, the doom of the +unfortunate Phraortes, for such was the name of the Admiral, was signed +and sealed. + +Achilles Tatius, at the same instant, determining to keep a close eye +upon the Emperor at this important crisis, came precipitately into the +palace, with an appearance of great alarm. + +"My Lord!---my Imperial Lord! I am unhappy to be the messenger of such +unlucky news; but the Latins have in great numbers succeeded in +crossing the strait from Scutari. The Lemnos squadron endeavoured to +stop them, as was last night determined upon in the Imperial Council of +War. By a heavy discharge of the Greek fire, one or two of the +crusaders' vessels were consumed, but by far the greater number of them +pushed on their course, burnt the leading ship of the unfortunate +Phraortes, and It is strongly reported he has himself perished, with +almost all his men. The rest have cut their cables, and abandoned the +defence of the passage of the Hellespont." + +"And you, Achilles Tatius," said the Emperor, "with what purpose is it +that you now bring me this melancholy news, at a period so late, when I +cannot amend the consequences!" + +"Under favour, most gracious Emperor," replied the conspirator, not +without colouring and stammering, "such was not my intention--I had +hoped to submit a plan, by which I might easily have prepared the way +for correcting this little error." + +"Well, your plan, sir?" said the Emperor, dryly. + +"With your sacred Majesty's leave," said the Acolyte, "I would myself +have undertaken instantly to lead against this Tancred and his Italians +the battle-axes of the faithful Varangian guard, who will make no more +account of the small number of Franks who have come ashore, than the +farmer holds of the hordes of rats and mice, and such like mischievous +vermin, who have harboured in his granaries." + +"And what mean you," said the Emperor, "that I am to do, while my +Anglo-Saxons fight for my sake?" + +"Your Majesty," replied Achilles, not exactly satisfied with the dry +and caustic manner in which the Emperor addressed him, "may put +yourself at the head of the Immortal cohorts of Constantinople; and I +am your security, that you may either perfect the victory over the +Latins, or at least redeem the most distant chance of a defeat, by +advancing at the head of this choice body of domestic troops, should +the day appear doubtful." + +"You, yourself, Achilles Tatius," returned the Emperor, "have +repeatedly assured us, that these Immortals retain a perverse +attachment to our rebel Ursel. How is it, then, you would have us +intrust our defence to these bands, when we have engaged our valiant +Varangians in the proposed conflict with the flower of the western +army?--Did you think of this risk, Sir Follower?" + +Achilles Tatius, much alarmed at an intimation indicative of his +purpose being known, answered, "That in his haste he had been more +anxious to recommend the plan which should expose his own person to the +greater danger, than that perhaps which was most attended with personal +safety to his Imperial Master." + +"I thank you for so doing," said the Emperor; "you have anticipated my +wishes, though it is not in my power at present to follow the advice +you have given me. I would have been well contented, undoubtedly, had +these Latins measured their way over the strait again, as suggested by +last night's council; but since they have arrived, and stand embattled +on our shores, it is better that we pay them with money and with spoil, +than with the lives of our gallant subjects. We cannot, after all, +believe that they come with any serious intention of doing us injury; +it is but the insane desire of witnessing feats of battle and single +combat, which is to them the breath of their nostrils, that can have +impelled them to this partial countermarch. I impose upon you, Achilles +Tatius, combining the Protospathaire in the same commission with you, +the duty of riding up to yonder standard, and learning of their chief, +called the Prince Tancred, if he is there in person, the purpose of his +return, and the cause of his entering into debate with Phraortes and +the Lemnos squadron. If they send us any reasonable excuse, we shall +not be averse to receive it at their hands; for we have not made so +many sacrifices for the preservation of peace, to break forth into war, +if, after all, so great an evil can be avoided. Thou wilt receive, +therefore, with a candid and complacent mind, such apologies as they +may incline to bring forward; and, be assured, that the sight of this +puppet-show of a single combat, will be enough of itself to banish +every other consideration from the reflection of these giddy crusaders." + +A knock was at this moment heard at the door of the Emperor's +apartment; and upon the word being given to enter, the Protospathaire +made his appearance. He was arrayed in a splendid suit of ancient Roman +fashioned armour. The want of a visor left his countenance entirely +visible; which, pale and anxious as it was, did not well become the +martial crest and dancing plume with which it was decorated. He +received the commission already mentioned with the less alacrity, +because the Acolyte was added to him as his colleague; for, as the +reader may have observed, these two officers were of separate factions +in the army, and on indifferent terms with each other. Neither did the +Acolyte consider his being united in commission with the +Protospathaire, as a mark either of the Emperor's confidence, or of his +own safety. He was, however, in the meantime, in the Blacquernal, where +the slaves of the interior made not the least hesitation, when ordered, +to execute any officer of the court. The two generals had, therefore, +no other alternative, than that which is allowed to two greyhounds who +are reluctantly coupled together. The hope of Achilles Tatius was, that +he might get safely through his mission to Tancred, after which he +thought the successful explosion of the conspiracy might take place and +have its course, either as a matter desired and countenanced by those +Latins, or passed over as a thing in which they took no interest on +either side. + +By the parting order of the Emperor, they were to mount on horseback at +the sounding of the great Varangian trumpet, put themselves at the head +of those Anglo-Saxon guards in the court-yard of their barrack, and +await the Emperor's further orders. + +There was something in this arrangement which pressed hard on the +conscience of Achilles Tatius, yet he was at a loss to justify his +apprehensions to himself, unless from a conscious feeling of his own +guilt, he felt, however, that in being detained, under pretence of an +honourable mission, at the head of the Varangians, he was deprived of +the liberty of disposing of himself, by which he had hoped to +communicate with the Caesar and Hereward, whom he reckoned upon as his +active accomplices, not knowing that the first was at this moment a +prisoner in the Blacquernal, where Alexius had arrested him in the +apartments of the Empress, and that the second was the most important +support of Comnenus during the whole of that eventful day. + +When the gigantic trumpet of the Varangian guards sent forth its deep +signal through the city, the Protospathaire hurried Achilles along with +him to the rendezvous of the Varangians, and on the way said to him, in +an easy and indifferent tone, "As the Emperor is in the field in +person, you, his representative, or Follower, will of course transmit +no orders to the body guard, except such as shall receive their origin +from himself, so that you will consider your authority as this day +suspended." + +"I regret," said Achilles, "that there should have seemed any cause for +such precautions; I had hoped my own truth and fidelity--but--I am +obsequious to his imperial pleasure in all things." + +"Such are his orders," said the other officer, "and you know under what +penalty obedience is enforced." + +"If I did not," said Achilles, "the composition of this body of guards +would remind me, since it comprehends not only great part of those +Varangians, who are the immediate defenders of the Emperor's throne, +but those slaves of the interior, who are the executioners of his +pleasure." To this the Protospathaire returned no answer, while the +more closely the Acolyte looked upon the guard which attended, to the +unusual number of nearly three thousand men, the more had he reason to +believe that he might esteem himself fortunate, if, by the intervention +of either the Caesar, Agelastes, or Hereward, he could pass to the +conspirators a signal to suspend the intended explosion, which seemed +to be provided against by the Emperor with unusual caution. He would +have given the full dream of empire, with which he had been for a short +time lulled to sleep, to have seen but a glimpse of the azure plume of +Nicephorus, the white mantle of the philosopher, or even a glimmer of +Hereward's battle-axe. No such objects could be seen anywhere, and not +a little was the faithless Follower displeased to see that whichever +way he turned his eyes, those of the Protospathaire, but especially of +the trusty domestic officers of the empire, seemed to follow and watch +their occupation. + +Amidst the numerous soldiers whom he saw on all sides, his eye did not +recognise a single man with whom he could exchange a friendly or +confidential glance, and he stood in all that agony of terror, which is +rendered the more discomfiting, because the traitor is conscious that, +beset by various foes, his own fears are the most likely of all to +betray him. Internally, as the danger seemed to increase, and as his +alarmed imagination attempted to discern new reasons for it, he could +only conclude that either one of the three principal conspirators, or +at least some of the inferiors, had turned informers; and his doubt +was, whether he should not screen his own share of what had been +premeditated, by flinging himself at the feet of the Emperor, and +making a full confession. But still the fear of being premature in +having recourse to such base means of saving himself, joined to the +absence of the Emperor, united to keep within his lips a secret, which +concerned not only all his future fortunes, but life itself. He was in +the meantime, therefore, plunged as it were in a sea of trouble and +uncertainty, while the specks of land, which seemed to promise him +refuge, were distant, dimly seen, and extremely difficult of attainment. + + + + +CHAPTER THE THIRTY-FIRST. + + To-morrow--oh, that's sudden! Spare him, spare him! + He's not prepared to die. + SHAKSPEARE. + + +At the moment when Achilles Tatius, with a feeling of much insecurity, +awaited the unwinding of the perilous skein of state politics, a +private council of the Imperial family was held in the hall termed the +Temple of the Muses, repeatedly distinguished as the apartment in which +the Princess Anna Comnena was wont to make her evening recitations to +those who were permitted the honour of hearing prelections of her +history. The council consisted of the Empress Irene, the Princess +herself, and the Emperor, with the Patriarch of the Greek Church, as a +sort of mediator between a course of severity and a dangerous degree of +lenity. + +"Tell not me, Irene," said the Emperor, "of the fine things attached to +the praise of mercy. Here have I sacrificed my just revenge over my +rival Ursel, and what good do I obtain by it? Why, the old obstinate +man, instead of being tractable, and sensible of the generosity which +has spared his life and eyes, can be with difficulty brought to exert +himself in favour of the Prince to whom he owes them. I used to think +that eyesight and the breath of life were things which one would +preserve at any sacrifice; but, on the contrary, I now believe men +value them like mere toys. Talk not to me, therefore, of the gratitude +to be excited by saving this ungrateful cub; and believe me, girl," +turning to Anna, "that not only will all my subjects, should I follow +your advice, laugh at me for sparing a man so predetermined to work my +ruin, but even thou thyself wilt be the first to upbraid me with the +foolish kindness thou art now so anxious to extort from me." + +"Your Imperial pleasure, then," said the Patriarch, "is fixed that your +unfortunate son-in-law shall suffer death for his accession to this +conspiracy, deluded by that heathen villain Agelastes, and the +traitorous Achilles Tatius?" + +"Such is my purpose," said the Emperor; "and in evidence that I mean +not again to pass over a sentence of this kind with a seeming execution +only, as in the case of Ursel, this ungrateful traitor of ours shall be +led from the top of the staircase, or ladder of Acheron, as it is +called, through the large chamber named the Hall of Judgment, at the +upper end of which are arranged the apparatus for execution, by which I +swear"---- + +"Swear not at all!" said the Patriarch; "I forbid thee, in the name of +that Heaven whose voice (though unworthy) speaks in my person, to +quench the smoking flax, or destroy the slight hope which there may +remain, that you may finally be persuaded to alter your purpose +respecting your misguided son-in-law, within the space allotted to him +to sue for your mercy. Remember, I pray you, the remorse of +Constantine." + +"What means your reverence?" said Irene. + +"A trifle," replied the Emperor, "not worthy being quoted from such a +mouth as the Patriarch's, being, as it probably is, a relic of +paganism." + +"What is it?" exclaimed the females anxiously, in the hope of hearing +something which might strengthen their side of the argument, and +something moved, perhaps, by curiosity, a motive which seldom slumbers +in a female bosom, even when the stronger passions are in arms. + +"The Patriarch will tell you," answered Alexius, "since you must needs +know; though I promise you, you will not receive any assistance in your +argument from a silly legendary tale." + +"Hear it, however," said the Patriarch; "for though it is a tale of the +olden time, and sometimes supposed to refer to the period when +heathenism predominated, it is no less true, that it was a vow made and +registered in the chancery of the rightful Deity, by an Emperor of +Greece." + +"What I am now to relate to you," continued he, "is, in truth, a tale +not only of a Christian Emperor, but of him who made the whole empire +Christian; and of that very Constantine, who was also the first who +declared Constantinople to be the metropolis of the empire. This hero, +remarkable alike for his zeal for religion and for his warlike +achievements, was crowned by Heaven with repeated victory, and with all +manner of blessings, save that unity in his family which wise men are +most ambitious to possess. Not only was the blessing of concord among +brethren denied to the family of this triumphant Emperor, but a +deserving son of mature age, who had been supposed to aspire to share +the throne with his father, was suddenly, and at midnight, called upon +to enter his defence against a capital charge of treason. You will +readily excuse my referring to the arts by which the son was rendered +guilty in the eyes of the father. Be it enough to say, that the +unfortunate young man fell a victim to the guilt of his step-mother, +Fausta, and that he disdained to exculpate himself from a charge so +gross and so erroneous. It is said, that the anger of the Emperor was +kept up against his son by the sycophants who called upon Constantine +to observe that the culprit disdained even to supplicate for mercy, or +vindicate his innocence from so foul a charge. + +"But the death-blow had no sooner struck the innocent youth, than his +father obtained proof of the rashness with which he had acted. He had +at this period been engaged in constructing the subterranean parts of +the Blacquernal palace, which his remorse appointed to contain a record +of his paternal grief and contrition. At the upper part of the +staircase, called the Pit of Acheron, he caused to be constructed a +large chamber, still called the Hall of Judgment, for the purpose of +execution. A passage through an archway in the upper wall leads from +the hall to the place of misery, where the axe, or other engine, is +disposed for the execution of state prisoners of consequence. Over this +archway was placed a species of marble altar, surmounted by an image of +the unfortunate Crispus--the materials were gold, and it bore the +memorable inscription, TO MY SON, WHOM I RASHLY CONDEMNED, AND TOO +HASTILY EXECUTED. When constructing this passage, Constantine made a +vow, that he himself and his posterity, being reigning Emperors, would +stand beside the statue of Crispus, at the time when any individual of +their family should be led to execution, and before they suffered him +to pass from the Hall of Judgment to the Chamber of Death, that they +should themselves be personally convinced of the truth of the charge +under which he suffered. + +"Time rolled on--the memory of Constantine was remembered almost like +that of a saint, and the respect paid to it threw into shadow the +anecdote of his son's death. The exigencies of the state rendered it +difficult to keep so large a sum in specie invested in a statue, which +called to mind the unpleasant failings of so great a man. Your Imperial +Highness's predecessors applied the metal which formed the statue to +support the Turkish wars; and the remorse and penance of Constantine +died away in an obscure tradition of the Church or of the palace. +Still, however, unless your Imperial Majesty has strong reasons to the +contrary, I shall give it as my opinion, that you will hardly achieve +what is due to the memory of the greatest of your predecessors, unless +you give this unfortunate criminal, being so near a relation of your +own, an opportunity of pleading his cause before passing by the altar +of refuge; being the name which is commonly given to the monument of +the unfortunate Crispus, son of Constantine, although now deprived both +of the golden letters which composed the inscription, and the golden +image which represented the royal sufferer." + +A mournful strain of music was now heard to ascend the stair so often +mentioned. + +"If I must hear the Caesar Nicephorus Briennius, ere he pass the altar +of refuge, there must be no loss of time," said the Emperor; "for these +melancholy sounds announce that he has already approached the Hall of +Judgment." + +Both the Imperial ladies began instantly, with the utmost earnestness, +to deprecate the execution of the Caesar's doom, and to conjure +Alexius, as he hoped for quiet in his household, and the everlasting +gratitude of his wife and daughter, that he would listen to their +entreaties in behalf of an unfortunate man, who had been seduced into +guilt, but not from his heart. + +"I will at least see him," said the Emperor, "and the holy vow of +Constantine shall be in the present instance strictly observed. But +remember, you foolish women, that the state of Crispus and the present +Caesar, is as different as guilt from innocence, and that their fates, +therefore, may be justly decided upon opposite principles, and with +opposite results. But I will confront this criminal; and you, +Patriarch, may be present to render what help is in your power to a +dying man; for you, the wife and mother of the traitor, you will, +methinks, do well to retire to the church, and pray God for the soul of +the deceased, rather than disturb his last moments with unavailing +lamentations." + +"Alexius," said the Empress Irene, "I beseech you to be contented; be +assured that we will not leave you in this dogged humour of +blood-shedding, lest you make such materials for history as are fitter +for the time of Nero than of Constantine." + +The Emperor, without reply, led the way into the Hall of Judgment, +where a much stronger light than usual was already shining up the stair +of Acheron, from which were heard to sound, by sullen and intermitted +fits, the penitential psalms which the Greek Church has appointed to be +sung at executions. Twenty mute slaves, the pale colour of whose +turbans gave a ghastly look to the withered cast of their features, and +the glaring whiteness of their eyeballs, ascended two by two, as it +were from the bowels of the earth, each of them bearing in one hand a +naked sabre, and in the other a lighted torch. After these came the +unfortunate Nicephorus; his looks were those of a man half-dead from +the terror of immediate dissolution, and what he possessed of remaining +attention, was turned successively to two black-stoled monks, who were +anxiously repeating religious passages to him alternately from the +Greek scripture, and the form of devotion adopted by the court of +Constantinople. The Caesar's dress also corresponded to his mournful +fortunes: His legs and arms were bare, and a simple white tunic, the +neck of which was already open, showed that ho had assumed the garments +which were to serve his last turn. A tall muscular Nubian slave, who +considered himself obviously as the principal person in the procession, +bore on his shoulder a large heavy headsman's axe, and, like a demon +waiting on a sorcerer, stalked step for step after his victim. The rear +of the procession was closed by a band of four priests, each of whom +chanted from time to time the devotional psalm which was thundered +forth on the occasion; and another of slaves, armed with bows and +quivers, and with lances, to resist any attempt at rescue, if such +should be offered. + +It would have required a harder heart than that of the unlucky princess +to have resisted this gloomy apparatus of fear and sorrow, surrounding, +at the same time directed against, a beloved object, the lover of her +youth, and the husband of her bosom, within a few minutes of the +termination of his mortal career. + +As the mournful train approached towards the altar of refuge, +half-encircled as it now was by the two great and expanded arms which +projected from the wall, the Emperor, who stood directly in the +passage, threw upon the flame of the altar some chips of aromatic wood, +steeped in spirit of wine, which, leaping at once into a blaze, +illuminated the doleful procession, the figure of the principal +culprit, and the slaves, who had most of them extinguished their +flambeaux so soon as they had served the purpose of lighting them up +the staircase. + +The sudden light spread from the altar failed not to make the Emperor +and the Princess visible to the mournful group which approached through +the hall. All halted--all were silent. It was a meeting, as the +Princess has expressed herself in her historical work, such as took +place betwixt Ulysses and the inhabitants of the other world, who, when +they tasted of the blood of his sacrifices, recognised him indeed, but +with empty lamentations, and gestures feeble and shadowy. The hymn of +contrition sunk also into silence; and, of the whole group, the only +figure rendered more distinct, was the gigantic executioner, whose high +and furrowed forehead, as well as the broad steel of his axe, caught +and reflected back the bright gleam from the altar. Alexius saw the +necessity of breaking the silence which ensued, lest it should, give +the intercessors for the prisoner an opportunity of renewing their +entreaties. + +"Nicephorus Briennius," he said, with a voice which, although generally +interrupted by a slight hesitation, which procured him, among his +enemies, the nickname of the Stutterer, yet, upon important occasions +like the present, was so judiciously tuned and balanced in its +sentences, that no such defect was at all visible--"Nicephorus +Briennius," he said, "late Caesar, the lawful doom hath been spoken, +that, having conspired against the life of thy rightful sovereign and +affectionate father, Alexius Comnenus, thou shalt suffer the +appropriate sentence, by having thy head struck from thy body. Here, +therefore, at the last altar of refuge, I meet thee, according to the +vow of the immortal Constantine, for the purpose of demanding whether +thou hast any thing to allege why this doom should not be executed? +Even at this eleventh hour, thy tongue is unloosed to speak with +freedom what may concern thy life. All is prepared in this world and in +the next. Look forward beyond yon archway--the block is fixed. Look +behind thee, thou seest the axe already sharpened--thy place for good +or evil in the next world is already determined--time flies--eternity +approaches. If thou hast aught to say, speak it freely--if nought, +confess the justice of thy sentence, and pass on to death." + +The Emperor commenced this oration, with those looks described by his +daughter as so piercing, that they dazzled like lightning, and his +periods, if not precisely flowing like burning lava, were yet the +accents of a man having the power of absolute command, and as such +produced an effect not only on the criminal, but also upon the Prince +himself, whose watery eyes and faltering voice acknowledged his sense +and feeling of the fatal import of the present moment. + +Rousing himself to the conclusion of what he had commenced, the Emperor +again demanded whether the prisoner had any thing to say in his own +defence. + +Nicephorus was not one of those hardened criminals who may be termed +the very prodigies of history, from the coolness with which they +contemplated the consummation of their crimes, whether in their own +punishment, or the misfortunes of others. "I have been tempted," he +said, dropping on his knees, "and I have fallen. I have nothing to +allege in excuse of my folly and ingratitude; but I stand prepared to +die to expiate my guilt," A deep sigh, almost amounting to a scream, +was here heard, close behind the Emperor, and its cause assigned by the +sudden exclamation of Irene,--"My lord! my lord! your daughter is +gone!" And in fact Anna Comnena had sunk into her mother's arms without +either sense or motion. The father's attention was instantly called to +support his swooning child, while the unhappy husband strove with the +guards to be permitted to go to the assistance of his wife. "Give me +but five minutes of that time which the law has abridged--let my +efforts but assist in recalling her to a life which should be as long +as her virtues and her talents deserve; and then let me die at her +feet, for I care not to go an inch beyond." + +The Emperor, who in fact had been more astonished at the boldness and +rashness of Nicephorus, than alarmed by his power, considered him as a +man rather misled than misleading others, and felt, therefore, the full +effect of this last interview. He was, besides, not naturally cruel, +where severities were to be enforced under his own eye. + +"The divine and immortal Constantine," he said, "did not, I am +persuaded, subject his descendants to this severe trial, in order +further to search out the innocence of the criminals, but rather to +give to those who came after him an opportunity of generously forgiving +a crime which could not, without pardon--the express pardon of the +Prince--escape unpunished. I rejoice that I am born of the willow +rather than of the oak, and I acknowledge my weakness, that not even +the safety of my own life, or resentment of this unhappy man's +treasonable machinations, have the same effect with me as the tears of +my wife, and the swooning of my daughter. Rise up, Nicephorus +Briennius, freely pardoned, and restored even to the rank of Caesar. We +will direct thy pardon to be made out by the great Logothete, and +sealed with the golden bull. For four-and-twenty hours thou art a +prisoner, until an arrangement is made for preserving the public peace. +Meanwhile, thou wilt remain under the charge of the Patriarch, who will +be answerable for thy forthcoming.--Daughter and wife, you must now go +hence to your own apartment; a future time will come, during which you +may have enough of weeping and embracing, mourning and rejoicing. Pray +Heaven that I, who, having been trained on till I have sacrificed +justice and true policy to uxorious compassion and paternal tenderness +of heart, may not have cause at last for grieving in good earnest for +all the events of this miscellaneous drama." + +The pardoned Caesar, who endeavoured to regulate his ideas according to +this unexpected change, found it as difficult to reconcile himself to +the reality of his situation as Ursel to the face of nature, after +having been long deprived of enjoying it; so much do the dizziness and +confusion of ideas, occasioned by moral and physical causes of surprise +and terror, resemble each other in their effects on the understanding. + +At length he stammered forth a request that he might be permitted to go +to the field with the Emperor, and divert, by the interposition of his +own body, the traitorous blows which some desperate man might aim +against that of his Prince, in a day which was too likely to be one of +danger and bloodshed. + +"Hold there!" said Alexius Comnenus;--"we will not begin thy +newly-redeemed life by renewed doubts of thine allegiance; yet it is +but fitting to remind thee, that thou art still the nominal and +ostensible head of those who expect to take a part in this day's +insurrection, and it will be the safest course to trust its +pacification to others than to thee. Go, sir, compare notes with the +Patriarch, and merit your pardon by confessing to him any traitorous +intentions concerning this foul conspiracy with which we may be as yet +unacquainted.--Daughter and wife, farewell! I must now depart for the +lists, where I have to speak with the traitor Achilles Tatius and the +heathenish infidel Agelastes, if he still lives, but of whose +providential death I hear a confirmed rumour." + +"Yet do not go, my dearest father!" said the Princess; "but let me +rather go to encourage the loyal subjects in your behalf. The extreme +kindness which you have extended towards my guilty husband, convinces +me of the extent of your affection towards your unworthy daughter, and +the greatness of the sacrifice which you have made to her almost +childish affection for an ungrateful man who put your life in danger." + +"That is to say, daughter," said the Emperor, smiling, "that the pardon +of your husband is a boon which has lost its merit when it is granted. +Take my advice, Anna, and think otherwise; wives and their husbands +ought in prudence to forget their offences towards each other as soon +as human nature will permit them. Life is too short, and conjugal +tranquillity too uncertain, to admit of dwelling long upon such +irritating subjects. To your apartments, Princesses, and prepare the +scarlet-buskins, and the embroidery which is displayed on the cuffs and +collars of the Caesar's robe, indicative of his high rank. He must not +be seen without them on the morrow.--Reverend father, I remind you once +more that the Caesar is in your personal custody from this moment until +to-morrow at the same hour." + +They parted; the Emperor repairing to put himself at the head of his +Varangian guards--the Caesar, under the superintendence of the +Patriarch, withdrawing into the interior of the Blacquernal Palace, +where Nicephorus Briennius was under the necessity of "unthreading the +rude eye of rebellion," and throwing such lights as were in his power +upon the progress of the conspiracy. + +"Agelastes," he said, "Achilles Tatius, and Hereward the Varangian, +were the persons principally entrusted in its progress. But whether +they had been all true to their engagements, he did not pretend to be +assured." + +In the female apartments, there was a violent discussion betwixt Anna +Comnena and her mother. The Princess had undergone during the day many +changes of sentiment and feeling; and though they had finally united +themselves into one strong interest in her husband's favour, yet no +sooner was the fear of his punishment removed, than the sense of his +ungrateful behaviour began to revive. She became sensible also that a +woman of her extraordinary attainments, who had been by a universal +course of flattery disposed to entertain a very high opinion of her own +consequence, made rather a poor figure when she had been the passive +subject of a long series of intrigues, by which she was destined to be +disposed of in one way or the other, according to the humour of a set +of subordinate conspirators, who never so much as dreamed of regarding +her as a being capable of forming a wish in her own behalf, or even +yielding or refusing a consent. Her father's authority over her, and +right to dispose of her, was less questionable; but even then it was +something derogatory to the dignity of a Princess born in the +purple--an authoress besides, and giver of immortality--to be, without +her own consent, thrown, as it were, at the head now of one suitor, now +of another, however mean or disgusting, whose alliance could for the +time benefit the Emperor. The consequence of these moody reflections, +was that Anna Comnena deeply toiled in spirit for the discovery of some +means by which she might assert her sullied dignity, and various were +the expedients which she revolved. + + + + +CHAPTER THE THIRTY-SECOND. + + But now the hand of fate is on the curtain, + And brings the scene to light. + DON SEBASTIAN. + + +The gigantic trumpet of the Varangians sounded its loudest note of +march, and the squadrons of the faithful guards, sheathed in complete +mail, and enclosing in their centre the person of their Imperial +master, set forth upon their procession through the streets of +Constantinople. The form of Alexius, glittering in his splendid armour, +seemed no unmeet central point for the force of an empire; and while +the citizens crowded in the train of him and his escort, there might be +seen a visible difference between those who came with the premeditated +intention of tumult, and the greater part, who, like the multitude of +every great city, thrust each other and shout for rapture on account of +any cause for which a crowd may be collected together. The hope of the +conspirators was lodged chiefly in the Immortal Guards, who were levied +principally for the defence of Constantinople, partook of the general +prejudices of the citizens, and had been particularly influenced by +those in favour of Ursel, by whom, previous to his imprisonment, they +had themselves been commanded. The conspirators had determined that +those of this body who were considered as most discontented, should +early in the morning take possession of the posts in the lists most +favourable for their purpose of assaulting the Emperor's person. But, +in spite of all efforts short of actual violence, for which the time +did not seem to be come, they found themselves disappointed in this +purpose, by parties of the Varangian guards, planted with apparent +carelessness, but in fact, with perfect skill, for the prevention of +their enterprise. Somewhat confounded at perceiving that a design, +which they could not suppose to be suspected, was, nevertheless, on +every part controlled and counter-checked, the conspirators began to +look for the principal persons of their own party, on whom they +depended for orders in this emergency; but neither the Caesar nor +Agelastes was to be seen, whether in the lists or on the military march +from Constantinople: and though Achilles Tatius rode in the latter +assembly, yet it might be clearly observed that he was rather attending +upon the Protospathaire, than, assuming that independence as an officer +which he loved to affect. + +In this manner, as the Emperor with his glittering bands approached the +phalanx of Tancred and his followers, who were drawn up, it will be +remembered, upon a rising cape between the city and the lists, the main +body of the Imperial procession deflected in some degree from the +straight road, in order to march past them without interruption; while +the Protospathaire and the Acolyte passed under the escort of a band of +Varangians, to bear the Emperor's inquiries to Prince Tancred, +concerning the purpose of his being there with his band. The short +march was soon performed--the large trumpet which attended the two +officers sounded a parley, and Tancred himself, remarkable for that +personal beauty which Tasso has preferred to any of the crusaders, +except Rinaldo d'Este, the creatures of his own poetical imagination, +advanced to parley with them. + +"The Emperor of Greece," said the Protospathaire to Tancred, "requires +the Prince of Otranto to show, by the two high officers who shall +deliver him this message, with what purpose he has returned, contrary +to his oath, to the right side of these straits; assuring Prince +Tancred at the same time, that nothing will so much please the Emperor, +as to receive an answer not at variance with his treaty with the Duke +of Bouillon, and the oath which was taken by the crusading nobles and +their soldiers; since that would enable the Emperor, in conformity to +his own wishes, by his kind reception of Prince Tancred and his troop, +to show how high is his estimation of the dignity of the one, and the +bravery of both--We wait an answer." + +The tone of the message had nothing in it very alarming, and its +substance cost Prince Tancred very little trouble to answer. "The +cause," he said, "of the Prince of Otranto appearing here with fifty +lances, is this cartel, in which a combat is appointed betwixt +Nicephorus Briennius, called the Caesar, a high member of this empire, +and a worthy knight of great fame, the partner of the Pilgrims who have +taken the Cross, in their high vow to rescue Palestine from the +infidels. The name of the said Knight is the redoubted Robert of Paris. +It becomes, therefore, an obligation, indispensable upon the Holy +Pilgrims of the Crusade, to send one chief of their number, with a body +of men-at-arms, sufficient to see, as is usual, fair play between the +combatants. That such is their intention, may be seen from, their +sending no more than fifty lances, with their furniture and following; +whereas it would have cost them no trouble to have detached ten times +the number, had they nourished any purpose of interfering by force, or +disturbing the fair combat which is about to take place. The Prince of +Otranto, therefore, and his followers, will place themselves at the +disposal of the Imperial Court, and witness the proceedings of the +combat, with the most perfect confidence that the rules of fair battle +will be punctually observed." + +The two Grecian officers transmitted this reply to the Emperor, who +heard it with pleasure, and immediately proceeding to act upon the +principle which he had laid down, of maintaining peace, if possible, +with the crusaders, named Prince Tancred with the Protospathaire as +Field Marshals of the lists, fully empowered, under the Emperor, to +decide all the terms of the combat, and to have recourse to Alexius +himself where their opinions disagreed. This was made known to the +assistants, who were thus prepared for the entry into the lists of the +Grecian officer and the Italian Prince in full armour, while a +proclamation announced to all the spectators their solemn office. The +same annunciation commanded the assistants of every kind to clear a +convenient part of the seats which surrounded the lists on one side, +that it might serve for the accommodation of Prince Tancred's followers. + +Achilles Tatius, who was a heedful observer of all these passages, saw +with alarm, that by the last collocation the armed Latins were +interposed between the Immortal Guards and the discontented citizens, +which made it most probable that the conspiracy was discovered, and +that Alexius found he had a good right to reckon upon the assistance of +Tancred and his forces in the task of suppressing it. This, added to +the cold and caustic manner in which the Emperor communicated his +commands to him, made the Acolyte of opinion, that his best chance of +escape from the danger in which he was now placed, was, that the whole +conspiracy should fall to the ground, and that the day should pass +without the least attempt to shake the throne of Alexius Comnenus. Even +then it continued highly doubtful, whether a despot, so wily and so +suspicious as the Emperor, would think it sufficient to rest satisfied +with the private knowledge of the undertaking, and its failure, with +which he appeared to be possessed, without putting into exercise the +bow-strings and the blinding-irons of the mutes of the interior. There +was, however, little possibility either of flight or of resistance. The +least attempt to withdraw himself from the neighbourhood of those +faithful followers of the Emperor, personal foes of his own, by whom he +was gradually and more closely surrounded, became each moment more +perilous, and more certain to provoke a rupture, which it was the +interest of the weaker party to delay, with whatever difficulty. And +while the soldiers under Achilles's immediate authority seemed still to +treat him as their superior officer, and appeal to him for the word of +command, it became more and more evident that the slightest degree of +suspicion which should be excited, would be the instant signal for his +being placed under arrest. With a trembling heart, therefore, and eyes +dimmed by the powerful idea of soon parting with the light of day, and +all that it made visible, the Acolyte saw himself condemned to watch +the turn of circumstances over which he could have no influence, and to +content himself with waiting the result of a drama, in which his own +life was concerned, although the piece was played by others. Indeed, it +seemed as if through the whole assembly some signal was waited for, +which no one was in readiness to give. + +The discontented citizens and soldiers looked in vain for Agelastes and +the Caesar, and when they observed the condition of Achilles Tatius, it +seemed such as rather to express doubt and consternation, than to give +encouragement to the hopes they had entertained. Many of the lower +classes, however, felt too secure in their own insignificance to fear +the personal consequences of a tumult, and were desirous, therefore, to +provoke the disturbance, which seemed hushing itself to sleep. + +A hoarse murmur, which attained almost the importance of a shout, +exclaimed,--"Justice, justice!--Ursel, Ursel!--The rights of the +Immortal Guards!" &c. At this the trumpet of the Varangians awoke, and +its tremendous tones were heard to peal loudly over the whole assembly, +as the voice of its presiding deity. A dead silence prevailed in the +multitude, and the voice of a herald announced, in the name of Alexius +Comnenus, his sovereign will and pleasure. + +"Citizens of the Roman Empire, your complaints, stirred up by factious +men, have reached the ear of your Emperor; you shall yourselves be +witness to his power of gratifying his people. At your request, and +before your own sight, the visual ray which hath been quenched shall be +re-illumined--the mind whose efforts were restricted to the imperfect +supply of individual wants shall be again extended, if such is the +owner's will, to the charge of an ample Theme or division of the +empire. Political jealousy, more hard to receive conviction than the +blind to receive sight, shall yield itself conquered, by the Emperor's +paternal love of his people, and his desire to give them satisfaction. +Ursel, the darling of your wishes, supposed to be long dead, or at +least believed to exist in blinded seclusion, is restored to you well +in health, clear in eyesight, and possessed of every faculty necessary +to adorn the Emperor's favour, or merit the affection of the people." + +As the herald thus spoke, a figure, which had hitherto stood shrouded +behind some officers of the interior, now stepped forth, and flinging +from him a dusky veil, in which he was wrapt, appeared in a dazzling +scarlet garment, of which the sleeves and buskins displayed those +ornaments which expressed a rank nearly adjacent to that of the Emperor +himself. He held in his hand a silver truncheon, the badge of delegated +command over the Immortal Guards, and kneeling before the Emperor, +presented it to his hands, intimating a virtual resignation of the +command which it implied. The whole assembly were electrified at the +appearance of a person long supposed either dead, or by cruel means +rendered incapable of public trust. Some recognised the man, whose +appearance and features were not easily forgot, and gratulated him upon +his most unexpected return to the service of his country. Others stood +suspended in amazement, not knowing whether to trust their eyes, while +a few determined malecontents eagerly pressed upon the assembly an +allegation that the person presented as Ursel was only a counterfeit, +and the whole a trick of the Emperor. + +"Speak to them, noble Ursel," said the Emperor. "Tell them, that if I +have sinned against thee, it has been because I was deceived, and that +my disposition to make thee amends is as ample as ever was my purpose +of doing thee wrong." + +"Friends and countrymen," said Ursel, turning himself to the assembly, +"his Imperial Majesty permits me to offer my assurance, that if in any +former part of my life I have suffered at his hand, it is more than +wiped out by the feelings of a moment so glorious as this; and that I +am well satisfied, from the present instant, to spend what remains of +my life in the service of the most generous and beneficent of +sovereigns, or, with his permission, to bestow it in preparing, by +devotional exercises, for an infinite immortality to be spent in the +society of saints and angels. Whichever choice I shall make, I reckon +that you, my beloved countrymen, who have remembered me so kindly +during years of darkness and captivity, will not fail to afford me the +advantage of your prayers." + +This sudden apparition of the long-lost Ursel had too much of that +which elevates and surprises not to captivate the multitude, and they +sealed their reconciliation with three tremendous shouts, which are +said to have shaken the air, that birds, incapable of sustaining +themselves, sunk down exhausted out of their native element. + + + + +CHAPTER THE THIRTY-THIRD. + + "What, leave the combat out!" exclaimed the knight. + "Yea! or we must renounce the Stagyrite. + So large a crowd the stage will ne'er contain." + --"Then build a new, or act it on a plain." + POPE. + + +The sounds of the gratulating shout had expanded over the distant +shores of the Bosphorus by mountain and forest, and died at length in +the farthest echoes, when the people, in the silence which ensued, +appeared to ask each other what next scene was about to adorn a pause +so solemn and a stage so august. The pause would probably have soon +given place to some new clamour, for a multitude, from whatever cause +assembled, seldom remains long silent, had not a new signal from the +Varangian trumpet given notice of a fresh purpose to solicit their +attention. The blast had something in its tone spirit-stirring and yet +melancholy, partaking both of the character of a point of war, and of +the doleful sounds which might be chosen to announce an execution of +peculiar solemnity. Its notes were high and widely extended, and +prolonged and long dwelt upon, as if the brazen clamour had been waked +by something more tremendous than the lungs of mere mortals. + +The multitude appeared to acknowledge these awful sounds, which were +indeed such as habitually solicited their attention to Imperial edicts, +of melancholy import, by which rebellions were announced, dooms of +treason discharged, and other tidings of a great and affecting import +intimated to the people of Constantinople. When the trumpet had in its +turn ceased, with its thrilling and doleful notes, to agitate the +immense assembly, the voice of the herald again addressed them. + +It announced in a grave and affecting strain, that it sometimes chanced +how the people failed in their duty to a sovereign, who was unto them +as a father, and how it became the painful duty of the prince to use +the rod of correction rather than the olive sceptre of mercy. + +"Fortunate," continued the herald, "it is, when the supreme Deity +having taken on himself the preservation of a throne, in beneficence +and justice resembling his own, has also assumed the most painful task +of his earthly delegate, by punishing those whom his unerring judgment +acknowledges as most guilty, and leaving to his substitute the more +agreeable task of pardoning such of those as art has misled, and +treachery hath involved in its snares. + +"Such being the case, Greece and its accompanying Themes are called +upon to listen and learn that a villain, namely Agelastes, who had +insinuated himself into the favour of the Emperor, by affection of deep +knowledge and severe virtue, had formed a treacherous plan for the +murder of the Emperor Alexius Comnenus, and a revolution in the state. +This person, who, under pretended wisdom, hid the doctrines of a +heretic and the vices of a sensualist, had found proselytes to his +doctrines even among the Emperor's household, and those persons who +were most bound to him, and down to the lower order, to excite the last +of whom were dispersed a multitude of forged rumours, similar to those +concerning Ursol's death and blindness, of which your own eyes have +witnessed the falsehood." + +The people, who had hitherto listened in silence, upon this appeal +broke forth in a clamorous assent. They had scarcely been again silent, +ere the iron-voiced herald continued his proclamation. + +"Not Korah, Dathan, and Abiram," he said, "had more justly, or more +directly fallen under the doom of an offended Deity, than this villain, +Agelastes. The steadfast earth gaped to devour the apostate sons of +Israel, but the termination of this wretched man's existence has been, +as far as can now be known, by the direct means of an evil spirit, whom +his own arts had evoked into the upper air. By the spirit, as would +appear by the testimony of a noble lady, and other females, who +witnessed the termination of his life, Agelastes was strangled, a fate +well-becoming his odious crimes. Such a death, even of a guilty man, +must, indeed, be most painful to the humane feelings of the Emperor, +because it involves suffering beyond this world. But the awful +catastrophe carries with it this comfort, that it absolves the Emperor +from the necessity of carrying any farther a vengeance which Heaven +itself seems to have limited to the exemplary punishment of the +principal conspirator. Some changes of offices and situations shall be +made, for the sake of safety and good order; but the secret who had or +who had not, been concerned in this awful crime, shall sleep in the +bosoms of the persons themselves implicated, since the Emperor is +determined to dismiss their offence from his memory, as the effect of a +transient delusion. Let all, therefore, who now hear me, whatever +consciousness they may possess of a knowledge of what was this day +intended, return to their houses, assured that their own thoughts will +be their only punishment. Let them rejoice that Almighty goodness has +saved them from the meditations of their own hearts, and, according to +the affecting language of Scripture,--'Let them repent and sin no more, +lest a worse thing befall them.'" + +The voice of the herald then ceased, and was again answered by the +shouts of the audience. These were unanimous; for circumstances +contributed to convince the malecontent party that they stood at the +Sovereign's mercy, and the edict that they heard having shown his +acquaintance with their guilt, it lay at his pleasure to let loose upon +them the strength of the Varangians, while, from the terms on which it +had pleased him to receive Tancred, it was probable that the Apuleian +forces were also at his disposal. + +The voices, therefore, of the bulky Stephanos, of Harpax the centurion, +and other rebels, both of the camp and city, were the first to thunder +forth their gratitude for the clemency of the Emperor, and their thanks +to Heaven for his preservation. + +The audience, reconciled to the thoughts of the discovered and +frustrated conspiracy, began meantime, according to their custom, to +turn themselves to the consideration of the matter which had more +avowedly called them together, and private whispers, swelling by +degrees into murmurs, began to express the dissatisfaction of the +citizens at being thus long assembled, without receiving any +communication respecting the announced purpose of their meeting. + +Alexius was not slow to perceive the tendency of their thoughts; and, +on a signal from his hand, the trumpets blew a point of war, in sounds +far more lively than those which had prefaced the Imperial edict. +"Robert, Count of Paris," then said a herald, "art thou here in thy +place, or by knightly proxy, to answer the challenge brought against +thee by his Imperial Highness Nicephorus Briennius, Caesar of this +empire?" + +The Emperor conceived himself to have equally provided against the +actual appearance at this call of either of the parties named, and had +prepared an exhibition of another kind, namely, certain cages, tenanted +by wild animals, which being now loosened should do their pleasure with +each other in the eyes of the assembly. His astonishment and confusion, +therefore, were great, when, as the last note of the proclamation died +in the echo, Count Robert of Paris stood forth, armed cap-a-pie, his +mailed charger led behind him from within the curtained enclosure, at +one end of the lists, as if ready to mount at the signal of the marshal. + +The alarm and the shame that were visible in every countenance near the +Imperial presence when no Caesar came forth in like fashion to confront +the formidable Frank, were not of long duration. Hardly had the style +and title of the Count of Paris been duly announced by the heralds, and +their second summons of his antagonist uttered in due form, when a +person, dressed like one of the Varangian Guards, sprung into the +lists, and announced himself as ready to do battle in the name and +place of the Caesar Nicephorus Briennius, and for the honour of the +empire. + +Alexius, with the utmost joy, beheld this unexpected assistance, and +readily gave his consent to the bold soldier who stood thus forward in +the hour of utmost need, to take upon himself the dangerous office of +champion. He the more readily acquiesced, as, from the size and +appearance of the soldier, and the gallant bearing he displayed, he had +no doubt of his individual person, and fully confided in his valour. +But Prince Tancred interposed his opposition. + +"The lists," he said, "were only open to knights and nobles; or, at any +rate, men were not permitted to meet therein who were not of some +equality of birth and blood; nor could he remain a silent witness where +the laws of chivalry are in such respects forgotten." + +"Let Count Robert of Paris," said the Varangian, "look upon my +countenance, and say whether he has not, by promise, removed all +objection to our contest which might be founded upon an inequality of +condition, and let him be judge himself, whether, by meeting me in this +field, he will do more than comply with a compact which he has long +since become bound by." + +Count Robert, upon this appeal, advanced and acknowledged, without +further debate, that, notwithstanding their difference of rank, he held +himself bound by his solemn word to give this valiant soldier a meeting +in the field. That he regretted, on account of this gallant man's +eminent virtues, and the high services he had received at his hands, +that they should now stand upon terms of such bloody arbitration; but +since nothing was more common, than that the fate of war called on +friends to meet each other in mortal combat, he would not shrink from +the engagement he had pledged himself to; nor did he think his quality +in the slightest degree infringed or diminished, by meeting in battle a +warrior so well known and of such good account as Hereward, the brave +Varangian. He added, that "he willingly admitted that the combat should +take place on foot, and with the battle-axe, which was the ordinary +weapon of the Varangian guard." + +Hereward had stood still, almost like a statue, while this discourse +passed; but when the Count of Paris had made this speech, he inclined +himself towards him with a grateful obeisance, and expressed himself +honoured and gratified by the manly manner in which the Count acquitted +himself, according to his promise, with complete honour and fidelity. + +"What we are to do," said Count Robert, with a sigh of regret, which +even his love of battle could not prevent, "let us do quickly; the +heart may be affected, but the hand must do its duty." + +Hereward assented, with the additional remark, "Let us then lose no +more time, which is already flying fast." And, grasping his axe, he +stood prepared for combat. + +"I also am ready," said Count Robert of Paris, taking the same weapon +from a Varangian soldier, who stood by the lists. Both were immediately +upon the alert, nor did further forms or circumstances put off the +intended duel. + +The first blows were given and parried with great caution, and Prince +Tancred and others thought that on the part of Count Robert the caution +was much greater than usual; but, in combat as in food, the appetite +increases with the exercise. The fiercer passions began, as usual, to +awaken with the clash of arms and the sense of deadly blows, some of +which were made with great fury on either side, and parried with +considerable difficulty, and not so completely but that blood flowed on +both their parts. The Greeks looked with astonishment on a single +combat, such as they had seldom witnessed, and held their breath as +they beheld the furious blows dealt by either warrior, and expected +with each stroke the annihilation of one or other of the combatants. As +yet their strength and agility seemed somewhat equally matched, +although those who judged with more pretension to knowledge, were of +opinion, that Count Robert spared putting forth some part of the +military skill for which he was celebrated; and the remark was +generally made and allowed that he had surrendered a great advantage by +not insisting upon his right to fight upon horseback. On the other +hand, it was the general opinion that the gallant Varangian omitted to +take advantage of one or two opportunities afforded him by the heat of +Count Robert's temper, who obviously was incensed at the duration of +the combat. + +Accident at length seemed about to decide what had been hitherto an +equal contest. Count Robert, making a feint on one side of his +antagonist, struck him on the other, which was uncovered, with the edge +of his weapon, so that the Varangian reeled, and seemed in the act of +falling to the earth. The usual sound made by spectators at the sight +of any painful or unpleasant circumstance, by drawing the breath +between the teeth, was suddenly heard to pass through the assembly, +while a female voice loud and eagerly exclaimed,--"Count Robert of +Paris!--forget not this day that thou owest a life to Heaven and me." +The Count was in the act of again seconding his blow, with what effect +could hardly be judged, when this cry reached his ears, and apparently +took away his disposition for farther combat. + +"I acknowledge the debt," he said, sinking his battle-axe, and +retreating two steps from his antagonist, who stood in astonishment, +scarcely recovered from the stunning effect of the blow by which he was +so nearly prostrated. He sank the blade of his battle-axe in imitation +of his antagonist, and seemed to wait in suspense what was to be the +next process of the combat. "I acknowledge my debt," said the valiant +Count of Paris, "alike to Bertha of Britain and to the Almighty, who +has preserved me from the crime of ungrateful blood-guiltiness.--You +have seen the fight, gentlemen," turning to Tancred and his chivalry, +"and can testify, on your honour, that it has been maintained fairly on +both sides, and without advantage on either. I presume my honourable +antagonist has by this time satisfied the desire which brought me under +his challenge, and which certainly had no taste in it of personal or +private quarrel. On my part, I retain towards him such a sense of +personal obligation as would render my continuing this combat, unless +compelled to it by self-defence, a shameful and sinful action." + +Alexius gladly embraced the terms of truce, which he was far from +expecting, and threw down his warder, in signal that the duel was +ended. Tancred, though somewhat surprised, and perhaps even +scandalized, that a private soldier of the Emperor's guard should have +so long resisted the utmost efforts of so approved a knight, could not +but own that the combat had been fought with perfect fairness and +equality, and decided upon terms dishonourable to neither party. The +Count's character being well known and established amongst the +crusaders, they were compelled to believe that some motive of a most +potent nature formed the principle upon which, very contrary to his +general practice, he had proposed a cessation of the combat before it +was brought to a deadly, or at least to a decisive conclusion. The +edict of the Emperor upon the occasion, therefore, passed into a law, +acknowledged by the assent of the chiefs present, and especially +affirmed and gratulated by the shouts of the assembled spectators. + +But perhaps the most interesting figure in the assembly was that of the +bold Varangian, arrived so suddenly at a promotion of military renown, +which the extreme difficulty he had experienced in keeping his ground +against Count Robert had prevented him from anticipating, although his +modesty had not diminished the indomitable courage with which he +maintained the contest. He stood in the middle of the lists, his face +ruddy with the exertion of the combat, and not less so from the modest +consciousness proper to the plainness and simplicity of his character, +which was disconcerted by finding himself the central point of the gaze +of the multitude. + +"Speak to me, my soldier," said Alexius, strongly affected by the +gratitude which he felt was due to Hereward upon so singular an +occasion, "speak to thine Emperor as his superior, for such thou art at +this moment, and tell him if there is any manner, even at the expense +of half his kingdom, to atone for his own life saved, and, what is yet +dearer, for the honour of his country, which thou hast so manfully +defended and preserved?" + +"My Lord," answered Hereward, "your Imperial Highness values my poor +services over highly, and ought to attribute them to the noble Count of +Paris, first, for his condescending to accept of an antagonist so mean +in quality as myself; and next, in generously relinquishing victory +when he might have achieved it by an additional blow; for I here +confess before your Majesty, my brethren, and the assembled Grecians, +that my power of protracting the combat was ended, when the gallant +Count, by his generosity, put a stop to it." + +"Do not thyself that wrong, brave man," said Count Robert; "for I vow +to our Lady of the Broken Lances, that the combat was yet within the +undetermined doom of Providence, when the pressure of my own feelings +rendered me incapable of continuing it, to the necessary harm, perhaps +to the mortal damage, of an antagonist to whom I owe so much kindness. +Choose, therefore, the recompense which the generosity of thy Emperor +offers in a manner so just and grateful, and fear not lest mortal voice +pronounces that reward unmerited which Robert of Paris shall avouch +with his sword to have been gallantly won upon his own crest." + +"You are too great, my lord, and too noble," answered the Anglo-Saxon, +"to be gainsaid by such as I am, and I must not awaken new strife +between us by contesting the circumstances under which our combat so +suddenly closed, nor would it be wise or prudent in me further to +contradict you. My noble Emperor generously offers me the right of +naming what he calls my recompense; but let not his generosity be +dispraised, although it is from you, my lord, and not from his Imperial +Highness, that I am to ask a boon, to me the dearest to which my voice +can give utterance." + +"And that," said the Count, "has reference to Bertha, the faithful +attendant of my wife?" + +"Even so," said Hereward; "it is my proposal to request my discharge +from the Varangian guard, and permission to share in your lordship's +pious and honourable vow for the recovery of Palestine, with liberty to +fight under your honoured banner, and permission from time to time to +recommend my love-suit to Bertha, the attendant of the Countess of +Paris, and the hope that it may find favour in the eyes of her noble +lord and lady. I may thus finally hope to be restored to a country, +which I have never ceased to love over the rest of the world." + +"Thy service, noble soldier," said the Count, "shall be as acceptable +to me as that of a born earl; nor is there an opportunity of acquiring +honour which I can shape for thee, to which, as it occurs, I will not +gladly prefer thee. I will not boast of what interest I have with the +King of England, but something I can do with him, and it shall be +strained to the uttermost to settle thee in thine own beloved native +country." + +The Emperor then spoke. "Bear witness, heaven and earth, and you my +faithful subjects, and you my gallant allies; above all, you my bold +and true Varangian Guard, that we would rather have lost the brightest +jewel from our Imperial crown, than have relinquished the service of +this true and faithful Anglo-Saxon. But since go he must and will, it +shall be my study to distinguish him by such marks of beneficence as +may make it known through his future life, that he is the person to +whom the Emperor Alexius Comnenus acknowledged a debt larger than his +empire could discharge. You, my Lord Tancred, and your principal +leaders, will sup with us this evening, and to-morrow resume your +honourable and religious purpose of pilgrimage. We trust both the +combatants will also oblige us by their presence.--Trumpets, give the +signal for dismission." + +The trumpets sounded accordingly, and the different classes of +spectators, armed and unarmed, broke up into various parties, or formed +into their military ranks, for the purpose of their return to the city. + +The screams of women suddenly and strangely raised, was the first thing +that arrested the departure of the multitude, when those who glanced +their eyes back, saw Sylvan, the great ourang-outang, produce himself +in the lists, to their surprise and astonishment. The women, and many +of the men who were present, unaccustomed to the ghastly look and +savage appearance of a creature so extraordinary, raised a yell of +terror so loud, that it discomposed the animal who was the occasion of +its being raised. Sylvan, in the course of the night, having escaped +over the garden-wall of Agelastes, and clambered over the rampart of +the city, found no difficulty in hiding himself in the lists which were +in the act of being raised, having found a lurking-place in some dark +corner under the seats of the spectators. From this he was probably +dislodged by the tumult of the dispersing multitude, and had been +compelled, therefore, to make an appearance in public when he least +desired it, not unlike that of the celebrated Puliccinello, at the +conclusion of his own drama, when he enters in mortal strife with the +foul fiend himself, a scene which scarcely excites more terror among +the juvenile audience, than did the unexpected apparition of Sylvan +among the spectators of the duel. Bows were bent, and javelins pointed +by the braver part of the soldiery, against an animal of an appearance +so ambiguous, and whom his uncommon size and grizzly look caused most +who beheld him to suppose either the devil himself, or the apparition +of some fiendish deity of ancient days, whom the heathens worshipped. +Sylvan had so far improved such opportunities as had been afforded him, +as to become sufficiently aware that the attitudes assumed by so many +military men, inferred immediate danger to his person, from which he +hastened to shelter himself by flying to the protection of Hereward, +with whom he had been in some degree familiarized. He seized him, +accordingly, by the cloak, and, by the absurd and alarmed look of his +fantastic features, and a certain wild and gibbering chatter, +endeavoured to express his fear and to ask protection. Hereward +understood the terrified creature, and turning to the Emperor's throne, +said aloud,--"Poor frightened being, turn thy petition, and gestures, +and tones, to a quarter which, having to-day pardoned so many offences +which were wilfully and maliciously schemed, will not be, I am sure, +obdurate to such as thou, in thy half-reasoning capacity, may have been +capable of committing." + +The creature, as is the nature of its tribe, caught from Hereward +himself the mode of applying with most effect his gestures and pitiable +supplication, while the Emperor, notwithstanding the serious scene +which had just past, could not help laughing at the touch of comedy +flung into it by this last incident. + +"My trusty Hereward,"--he said aside, ("I will not again call him +Edward if I can help it)--thou art the refuge of the distressed, +whether it be man or beast, and nothing that sues through thy +intercession, while thou remainest in our service, shall find its +supplication in vain. Do thou, good Hereward," for the name was now +pretty well established in his Imperial memory, "and such of thy +companions as know the habits of the creature, lead him back to his old +quarters in the Blacquernal; and that done, my friend, observe that we +request thy company, and that of thy faithful mate Bertha, to partake +supper at our court, with our wife and daughter, and such of our +servants and allies as we shall request to share the same honour. Be +assured, that while thou remainest with us, there is no point of +dignity which shall not be willingly paid to thee.--And do thou +approach, Achilles Tatius, as much favoured by thine Emperor as before +this day dawned. What charges are against thee have been only whispered +in a friendly ear, which remembers them not, unless (which Heaven +forefend!) their remembrance is renewed by fresh offences." + +Achilles Tatius bowed till the plume of his helmet mingled with the +mane of his fiery horse, but held it wisest to forbear any answer in +words, leaving his crime and his pardon to stand upon those general +terms in which the Emperor had expressed them. + +Once more the multitude of all ranks returned on their way to the city, +nor did any second interruption arrest their march. Sylvan, accompanied +by one or two Varangians, who led him in a sort of captivity, took his +way to the vaults of the Blacquernal, which were in fact his proper +habitation. + +Upon the road to the city, Harpax, the notorious corporal of the +Immortal Guards, held a discourse with one or two of his own soldiers, +and of the citizens who had been members of the late conspiracy. + +"So," said Stephanos, the prize-fighter, "a fine affair we have made of +it, to suffer ourselves to be all anticipated and betrayed by a +thick-sculled Varangian; every chance turning against us as they would +against Corydon, the shoemaker, if he were to defy me to the circus. +Ursel, whose death made so much work, turns out not to be dead after +all; and what is worse, he lives not to our advantage. This fellow +Hereward, who was yesterday no better than myself--What do I +say?--better!--he was a great deal worse--an insignificant nobody in +every respect!--is now crammed with honours, praises, and gifts, till +he wellnigh returns what they have given him, and the Caesar and the +Acolyte, our associates, have lost the Emperor's love and confidence, +and if they are suffered to survive, it must be like the tame domestic +poultry, whom we pamper with food, one day, that upon the next their +necks may be twisted for spit or spot." + +"Stephanos," replied the centurion, "thy form of body fits thee well +for the Palaestra, but thy mind is not so acutely formed as to detect +that which is real from that which is only probable, in the political +world, of which thou art now judging. Considering the risk incurred by +lending a man's ear to a conspiracy, thou oughtest to reckon it a +saving in every particular, where he escapes with his life and +character safe. This has been the case with Achilles Tatius, and with +the Caesar. They have remained also in their high places of trust and +power, and maybe confident that the Emperor will hardly dare to remove +them at a future period, since the possession of the full knowledge of +their guilt has not emboldened him to do so. Their power, thus left +with them, is in fact ours; nor is there a circumstance to be supposed, +which can induce them to betray their confederates to the government. +It is much more likely that they will remember them with the +probability of renewing, at a finer time, the alliance which binds them +together. Cheer up thy noble resolution, therefore, my Prince of the +Circus, and think that thou shalt still retain that predominant +influence which the favourites of the amphitheatre are sure to possess +over the citizens of Constantinople." + +"I cannot tell," answered Stephanos; "but it gnaws at my heart like the +worm that dieth not, to see this beggarly foreigner betray the noblest +blood in the land, not to mention the best athlete in the Palaestra, +and move off not only without punishment for his treachery, but with +praise, honour, and preferment." + +"True," said Harpax; "but observe, my friend, that he does move off to +purpose. He leaves the land, quits the corps in which he might claim +preferment and a few vain honours, being valued at what such trifles +amount to. Hereward, in the course of one or two days, shall be little +better than a disbanded soldier, subsisting by the poor bread which he +can obtain as a follower of this beggarly Count, or which he is rather +bound to dispute with the infidel, by encountering with his battle-axe +the Turkish sabres. What will it avail him amidst the disasters, the +slaughter, and the famine of Palestine, that he once upon a time was +admitted to supper with the Emperor? We know Alexius Comnenus---he is +willing to discharge, at the highest cost, such obligations as are +incurred to men like this Hereward; and, believe me, I think that I see +the wily despot shrug his shoulders in derision, when one morning he is +saluted with the news of a battle in Palestine lost by the crusaders in +which his old acquaintance has fallen a dead man. I will not insult +thee, by telling thee how easy it might be to acquire the favour of a +gentlewoman in waiting upon a lady of quality; nor do I think it would +be difficult, should that be the object of the prize-fighter, to +acquire the property of a large baboon like Sylvan, which no doubt +would set up as a juggler any Frank who had meanness of spirit to +propose to gain his bread in such a capacity, from the alms of the +starving chivalry of Europe. But he who can stoop to envy the lot of +such a person, ought not to be one whose chief personal distinctions +are sufficient to place him first in rank over all the favourites of +the amphitheatre." + +There was something in this sophistical kind of reasoning, which was +but half satisfactory to the obtuse intellect of the prize-fighter, to +whom it was addressed, although the only answer which he attempted was +couched in this observation:-- + +"Ay, but, noble centurion, you forget that, besides empty honours, this +Varangian Hereward, or Edward, whichever is his name, is promised a +mighty donative of gold." + +"Marry, you touch me there," said the centurion; "and when you tell me +that the promise is fulfilled, I will willingly agree that the +Anglo-Saxon hath gained something to be envied for; but while it +remains in the shape of a naked promise, you shall pardon me, my worthy +Stephanos, if I hold it of no more account than the mere pledges which +are distributed among ourselves as well as to the Varangians, promising +upon future occasions mints of money, which we are likely to receive at +the same time with the last year's snow. Keep up your heart, therefore, +noble Stephanos, and believe not that your affairs are worse for the +miscarriage of this day; and let not thy gallant courage sink, but +remembering those principles upon which it was called into action, +believe that thy objects are not the less secure because fate has +removed their acquisition to a more distant day." The veteran and +unbending conspirator, Harpax, thus strengthened for some future +renewal of their enterprise the failing spirits of Stephanos. + +After this, such leaders as were included in the invitation given by +the Emperor, repaired to the evening meal, and, from the general +content and complaisance expressed by Alexius and his guests of every +description, it could little have been supposed that the day just +passed over was one which had inferred a purpose so dangerous and +treacherous. + +The absence of the Countess Brenhilda, during this eventful day, +created no small surprise to the Emperor and those in his immediate +confidence, who knew her enterprising spirit, and the interest she must +have felt in the issue of the combat. Bertha had made an early +communication to the Count, that his lady, agitated with the many +anxieties of the few preceding days, was unable to leave her apartment. +The valiant knight, therefore, lost no time in acquainting his faithful +Countess of his safety; and afterwards joining those who partook of the +banquet at the palace, he bore himself as if the least recollection did +not remain on his mind of the perfidious conduct of the Emperor at the +conclusion of the last entertainment. He knew, in truth, that the +knights of Prince Tancred not only maintained a strict watch round the +house where Brenhilda remained, but also that they preserved a severe +ward in the neighbourhood of the Blacquernal, as well for the safety of +their heroic leader, as for that of Count Robert, the respected +companion of their military pilgrimage. + +It was the general principle of the European chivalry, that distrust +was rarely permitted to survive open quarrels, and that whatever was +forgiven, was dismissed from their recollection, as unlikely to recur; +but on the present occasion there was a more than usual assemblage of +troops, which the occurrences of the day had drawn together, so that +the crusaders were called upon to be particularly watchful. + +It may be believed that the evening passed over without any attempt to +renew the ceremonial in the council chamber of the Lions, which had +been upon a former occasion terminated in such misunderstanding. Indeed +it would have been lucky if the explanation between the mighty Emperor +of Greece and the chivalrous Knight of Paris had taken place earlier; +for reflection on what had passed, had convinced the Emperor that the +Franks were not a people to be imposed upon by pieces of clockwork, and +similar trifles, and that what they did not understand, was sure, +instead of procuring their awe or admiration, to excite their anger and +defiance. Nor had it altogether escaped Count Robert, that the manners +of the Eastern people were upon a different scale from those to which +he had been accustomed; that they neither were so deeply affected by +the spirit of chivalry, nor, in his own language, was the worship of +the Lady of the Broken Lances so congenial a subject of adoration. This +notwithstanding, Count Robert observed, that Alexius Comnenus was a +wise and politic prince; his wisdom perhaps too much allied to cunning, +but yet aiding him to maintain with great address that empire over the +minds of his subjects, which was necessary for their good, and for +maintaining his own authority. He therefore resolved to receive with +equanimity whatever should be offered by the Emperor, either in +civility or in the way of jest, and not again to disturb an +understanding which might be of advantage to Christendom, by a quarrel +founded upon misconception of terms or misapprehension of manners. To +this prudent resolution the Count of Paris adhered during the whole +evening; with some difficulty, however, since it was somewhat +inconsistent with his own fiery and inquisitive temper, which was +equally desirous to know the precise amount of whatever was addressed +to him, and to take umbrage at it, should it appear in the least degree +offensive, whether so intended or not. + + + + +CHAPTER THE THIRTY-FOURTH. + + +It was not until after the conquest of Jerusalem that Count Robert of +Paris returned to Constantinople, and with his wife, and such +proportion of his followers as the sword and pestilence had left after +that bloody warfare, resumed his course to his native kingdom. Upon +reaching Italy, the first care of the noble Count and Countess was to +celebrate in princely style the marriage of Hereward and his faithful +Bertha, who had added to their other claims upon their master and +mistress, those acquired by Hereward's faithful services in Palestine, +and no less by Bertha's affectionate ministry to her lady in +Constantinople. + +As to the fate of Alexius Comnenus, it may be read at large in the +history of his daughter Anna, who has represented him as the hero of +many a victory, achieved, says the purple-born, in the third chapter +and fifteenth book of her history, sometimes by his arms and sometimes +by his prudence. + +"His boldness alone has gained some battles, at other times his success +has been won by stratagem. He has erected the most illustrious of his +trophies by confronting danger, by combating like a simple soldier, and +throwing himself bareheaded into the thickest of the foe. But there are +others," continues the accomplished lady, "which he gained an +opportunity of erecting by assuming the appearance of terror, and even +of retreat. In a word, he knew alike how to triumph either in flight or +in pursuit, and remained upright even before those enemies who appeared +to have struck him down; resembling the military implement termed the +calthrop, which remains always upright in whatever direction it is +thrown on the ground." + +It would be unjust to deprive the Princess of the defence she herself +makes against the obvious charge of partiality. + +"I must still once more repel the reproach which some bring against me, +as if my history was composed merely according to the dictates of the +natural love for parents which is engraved in the hearts of children. +In truth, it is not the effect of that affection which I bear to mine, +but it is the evidence of matter of fact, which obliges me to speak as +I have done. Is it not possible that one can have at the same time an +affection for the memory of a father and for truth? For myself, I have +never directed my attempt to write history, otherwise than for the +ascertainment of the matter of fact. With this purpose, I have taken +for my subject the history of a worthy man. Is it just, that, by the +single accident of his being the author of my birth, his quality of my +father ought to form a prejudice against me, which would ruin my credit +with my readers? I have given, upon other occasions, proofs +sufficiently strong of the ardour which I had for the defence of my +father's interests, which those that know me can never doubt but, on +the present, I have been limited by the inviolable fidelity with which +I respect the truth, which I should have felt conscience to have +veiled, under pretence of serving the renown of my father."--_Alexiad_, +chap. iii. book xv. + +This much we have deemed it our duty to quote, in justice to the fair +historian; we will extract also her description of the Emperor's death, +and are not unwilling to allow, that the character assigned to the +Princess by our own Gibbon, has in it a great deal of fairness and of +truth. + +Notwithstanding her repeated protests of sacrificing rather to the +exact and absolute truth than to the memory of her deceased parent, +Gibbon remarks truly, that "instead of the simplicity of style and +narrative which wins a belief, an elaborate affectation of rhetoric and +science betrays in every page the vanity of a female author. The +genuine character of Alexius is lost in a vague constellation of +virtues; and the perpetual strain of panegyric and apology awakens our +jealousy to question the veracity of the historian, and the merit of +the hero. We cannot, however, refuse her judicious and important +remark, that the disorders of the times were the misfortune and the +glory of Alexius; and that every calamity which can afflict a declining +empire was accumulated on his reign by the justice of Heaven and the +vices of his predecessors."--GIBBON'S _Roman Empire_, vol. ix. p. 83, +foot-note. + +The Princess accordingly feels the utmost assurance, that a number of +signs which appeared in heaven and on earth, were interpreted by the +soothsayers of the day as foreboding the death of the Emperor. By these +means, Anna Comnena assigned to her father those indications of +consequence, which ancient historians represent as necessary +intimations of the sympathy of nature, with the removal of great +characters from the world; but she fails not to inform the Christian +reader that her father's belief attached to none of these prognostics, +and that even on the following remarkable occasion he maintained his +incredulity:--A splendid statue, supposed generally to be a relic of +paganism, holding in its hand a golden sceptre, and standing upon a +base of porphyry, was overturned by a tempest, and was generally +believed to be an intimation of the death of the Emperor. This, +however, he generously repelled. Phidias, he said, and other great +sculptors of antiquity, had the talent of imitating the human frame +with surprising accuracy; but to suppose that the power of foretelling +future events was reposed in these master-pieces of art, would be to +ascribe to their makers the faculties reserved by the Deity for +himself, when he says, "It is I who kill and make alive." During his +latter days, the Emperor was greatly afflicted with the gout, the +nature of which has exercised the wit of many persons of science as +well as of Anna Comnena. The poor patient was so much exhausted, that +when the Empress was talking of most eloquent persons who should assist +in the composition of his history, he said, with a natural contempt of +such vanities, "The passages of my unhappy life call rather for tears +and lamentation than for the praises you speak of." + +A species of asthma having come to the assistance of the gout, the +remedies of the physicians became as vain as the intercession of the +monks and clergy, as well as the alms which were indiscriminately +lavished. Two or three deep successive swoons gave ominous warning of +the approaching blow; and at length was terminated the reign and life +of Alexius Comnenus, a prince who, with all the faults which may be +imputed to him, still possesses a real right, from the purity of his +general intentions, to be accounted one of the best sovereigns of the +Lower Empire. + +For some time, the historian forgot her pride of literary rank, and, +like an ordinary person, burst into tears and shrieks, tore her hair, +and defaced her countenance, while the Empress Irene cast from her her +princely habits, cut off her hair, changed her purple buskins for black +mourning shoes, and her daughter Mary, who had herself been a widow, +took a black robe from one of her own wardrobes, and presented it to +her mother. "Even in the moment when she put it on," says Anna Comnena, +"the Emperor gave up the ghost, and in that moment the sun of my life +set." + +We shall not pursue her lamentations farther. She upbraids herself +that, after the death of her father, that light of the world, she had +also survived Irene, the delight alike of the east and of the west, and +survived her husband also. "I am indignant," she said, "that my soul, +suffering under such torrents of misfortune, should still deign to +animate my body. Have I not," said she, "been more hard and unfeeling +than the rocks themselves; and is it not just that one, who could +survive such a father and mother, and such a husband, should be +subjected to the influence of so much calamity? But let me finish this +history, rather than any longer fatigue my readers with my unavailing +and tragical lamentation." + +Having thus concluded her history, she adds the following two lines:-- + + "The learned Comnena lays her pen aside, + What time her subject and her father died." [Footnote: [Greek: + Laexen hopou biotoio Alexios d Komnaenos + Entha kalae thygataer laexen Alexiados.]] + +These quotations will probably give the readers as much as they wish to +know of the real character of this Imperial historian. Fewer words will +suffice to dispose of the other parties who have been selected from her +pages, as persons in the foregoing drama. + +There is very little doubt that the Count Robert of Paris, whose +audacity in seating himself upon the throne of the Emperor gives a +peculiar interest to his character, was in fact a person of the highest +rank; being no other, as has been conjectured by the learned Du Cange, +than an ancestor of the house of Bourbon, which has so long given Kings +to France. He was a successor, it has been conceived, of the Counts of +Paris, by whom the city was valiantly defended against the Normans, and +an ancestor of Hugh Capet. There are several hypotheses upon this +subject, deriving the well-known Hugh Capet, first, from the family of +Saxony; secondly, from St. Arnoul, afterwards Bishop of Altex; third, +from Nibilong; fourth, from the Duke of Bavaria; and fifth, from a +natural son of the Emperor Charlemagne. Variously placed, but in each +of these contested pedigrees, appears this Robert surnamed the +_Strong_, who was Count of that district, of which Paris was the +capital, most peculiarly styled the County, or Isle of France. Anna +Comnena, who has recorded the bold usurpation of the Emperor's seat by +this haughty chieftain, has also acquainted us with his receiving a +severe, if not a mortal wound, at the battle of Dorylseum, owing to his +neglecting the warlike instructions with which her father had favoured +him on the subject of the Turkish wars. The antiquary who is disposed +to investigate this subject, may consult the late Lord Ashburnham's +elaborate Genealogy of the Royal House of France; also a note of Du +Cange's on the Princess's history, p. 362, arguing for the identity of +her "Robert of Paris, a haughty barbarian," with the "Robert called the +Strong," mentioned as an ancestor of Hugh Capet. Gibbon, vol. xi. p. +52, may also be consulted. The French antiquary and the English +historian seem alike disposed to find the church, called in the tale +that of the Lady of the Broken Lances, in that dedicated to St. Drusas, +or Drosin of Soissons, who was supposed to have peculiar influence on +the issue of combats, and to be in the habit of determining them in +favour of such champions as spent the night preceding at his shrine. + +In consideration of the sex of one of the parties concerned, the author +has selected our Lady of the Broken Lances as a more appropriate +patroness than St. Drusas himself, for the Amazons, who were not +uncommon in that age. Gaita, for example, the wife of Robert Guiscard, +a redoubted hero, and the parent of a most heroic race of sons, was +herself an Amazon, fought in the foremost ranks of the Normans, and is +repeatedly commemorated by our Imperial historian, Anna Comnena. + +The reader can easily conceive to himself that Robert of Paris +distinguished himself among his brethren-at-arms and fellow-crusaders. +His fame resounded from the walls of Antioch; but at the battle of +Dorylaeum, he was so desperately wounded, as to be disabled from taking +a part in the grandest scene of the expedition. His heroic Countess, +however, enjoyed the great satisfaction of mounting the walls of +Jerusalem, and in so far discharging her own vows and those of her +husband. This was the more fortunate, as the sentence of the physicians +pronounced that the wounds of the Count had been inflicted by a +poisoned weapon, and that complete recovery was only to be hoped for by +having recourse to his native air. After some time spent in the vain +hope of averting by patience this unpleasant alternative, Count Robert +subjected himself to necessity, or what was represented as such, and, +with his wife and the faithful Hereward, and all others of his +followers who had been like himself disabled from combat, took the way +to Europe by sea. + +A light galley, procured at a high rate, conducted them safely to +Venice, and from that then glorious city, the moderate portion of spoil +which had fallen to the Count's share among the conquerors of +Palestine, served to convey them to his own dominions, which, more +fortunate than those of most of his fellow-pilgrims, had been left +uninjured by their neighbours during the time of their proprietor's +absence on the Crusade. The report that the Count had lost his health, +and the power of continuing his homage to the Lady of the Broken +Lances, brought upon him the hostilities of one or two ambitious or +envious neighbours, whose covetousness was, however, sufficiently +repressed by the brave resistance of the Countess and the resolute +Hereward. Less than a twelvemonth was required to restore the Count of +Paris to his full health, and to render him, as formerly, the assured +protector of his own vassals, and the subject in whom the possessors of +the French throne reposed the utmost confidence. This latter capacity +enabled Count Robert to discharge his debt towards Hereward in a manner +as ample as he could have hoped or expected. Being now respected alike +for his wisdom and his sagacity, as much as he always was for his +intrepidity and his character as a successful crusader, he was +repeatedly employed by the Court of France in settling the troublesome +and intricate affairs in which the Norman possessions of the English +crown involved the rival nations. William Rufus was not insensible to +his merit, nor blind to the importance of gaining his good will; and +finding out his anxiety that Hereward should be restored to the land of +his fathers, he took, or made an opportunity, by the forfeiture of some +rebellious noble, of conferring upon our Varangian a large district +adjacent to the New Forest, being part of the scenes which his father +chiefly frequented, and where it is said the descendants of the valiant +squire and his Bertha have subsisted for many a long year, surviving +turns of time and chance, which are in general fatal to the continuance +of more distinguished families. + +[Illustration] + +Tales of my Landlord. + +CASTLE DANGEROUS + + As I stood by yon roofless tower, + Where the wa'flower scents the dewy air, + Where the howlet mourns in her ivy bower, + And tells the midnight moon her care: + The winds were laid, the air was still, + The stars they shot along the sky; + The Fox was howling on the hill, + And the distant echoing glens reply. + ROBERT BURNS. + + +INTRODUCTION.--(1832.) + +[The following Introduction to "Castle Dangerous" was forwarded by Sir +Walter Scott from Naples in February 1832, together with some +corrections of the text, and notes on localities mentioned in the Novel. + +The materials for the Introduction must have been collected before he +left Scotland in September 1831; but in the hurry of preparing for his +voyage, he had not been able to arrange them so as to accompany the +first edition of this Romance. A few notes, supplied by the Editor, are +placed within brackets.] + +The incidents on which the ensuing Novel mainly turns, are derived from +the ancient Metrical Chronicle of "The Brace," by Archdeacon Barbour, +and from the "History of the Houses of Douglas and Angus," by David +Hume of Godscroft; and are sustained by the immemorial tradition of the +western parts of Scotland. They are so much in consonance with the +spirit and manners of the troubled age to which they are referred, that +I can see no reason for doubting their being founded in fact; the +names, indeed, of numberless localities in the vicinity of Douglas +Castle, appear to attest, beyond suspicion, many even of the smallest +circumstances embraced in the story of Godscroft. + +Among all the associates of Robert the Brace, in his great enterprise +of rescuing Scotland from the power of Edward, the first place is +universally conceded to James, the eighth Lord Douglas, to this day +venerated by his countrymen as "the Good Sir James:" + + "The Gud Schyr James of Douglas, + That in his time sa worthy was, + That off his price and his bounte, + In far landis renownyt was he." + BARBOUR. + + "The Good Sir James, the dreadful blacke Douglas, + That in his dayes so wise and worthie was, + Wha here, and on the infidels of Spain, + Such honour, praise, and triumphs did obtain." + GORDON. + +From the time when the King of England refused to reinstate him, on his +return from France, where he had received the education of chivalry, in +the extensive possessions of his family,--which had been held forfeited +by the exertions of his father, William the Hardy--the young knight of +Douglas appears to have embraced the cause of Bruce with enthusiastic +ardour, and to have adhered to the fortunes of his sovereign with +unwearied fidelity and devotion. "The Douglasse," says Hollinshed, "was +right joyfully received of King Robert, in whose service he faithfully +continued, both in peace and war, to his life's end. Though the surname +and familie of the Douglasses was in some estimation of nobilitie +before those daies, yet the rising thereof to honour chanced through +this James Douglasse; for, by meanes of his advancement, others of that +lineage tooke occasion, by their singular manhood and noble prowess, +shewed at sundrie times in defence of the realme, to grow to such +height in authoritie and estimation, that their mightie puissance in +mainrent, [Footnote: Vassalage.] lands, and great possessions, at +length was (through suspicion conceived by the kings that succeeded) +the cause in part of their ruinous decay." + +In every narrative of the Scottish war of independence, a considerable +space is devoted to those years of perilous adventure and suffering +which were spent by the illustrious friend of Bruce, in harassing the +English detachments successively occupying his paternal territory, and +in repeated and successful attempts to wrest the formidable fortress of +Douglas Castle itself from their possession. In the English, as well as +Scotch Chronicles, and in Rymer's Foedera, occur frequent notices of +the different officers intrusted by Edward with the keeping of this +renowned stronghold; especially Sir Robert de Clifford, ancestor of the +heroic race of the Cliffords, Earls of Cumberland; his lieutenant, Sir +Richard de Thurlewalle, (written sometimes Thruswall,) of Thirwall +Castle, on the Tippal, in Northumberland; and Sir John de Walton, the +romantic story of whose love pledge, to hold the Castle of Douglas for +a year and day, or surrender all hope of obtaining his mistress's +favour, with the tragic consequences, softened in the Novel, is given +at length in Godscroft, and has often been pointed out as one of the +affecting passages in the chronicles of chivalry. [Footnote: [The +reader will find both this story, and that of Robert of Paris, in Sir +W. Scott's Essay on Chivalry, published in 1818, in the Supplement to +the Encyclopaedia Britannica.--_E_.]] + +The Author, before he had made much progress in this, probably the last +of his Novels, undertook a journey to Douglasdale, for the purpose of +examining the remains of the famous Castle, the Kirk of St. Bride of +Douglas, the patron saint of that great family, and the various +localities alluded to by Godscroft, in his account of the early +adventures of good Sir James; but though he was fortunate enough to +find a zealous and well-informed _cicerone_ in Mr. Thomas Haddow, and +had every assistance from the kindness of Mr. Alexander Finlay, the +resident Chamberlain of his friend Lord Douglas, the state of his +health at the time was so feeble, that he found himself incapable of +pursuing his researches, as in better days he would have delighted to +do, and was obliged to be contented with such a cursory view of scenes, +in themselves most interesting, as could be snatched in a single +morning, when any bodily exertion was painful. Mr. Haddow was attentive +enough to forward subsequently some notes on the points which the +Author had seemed desirous of investigating; but these did not reach +him until, being obliged to prepare matters for a foreign excursion in +quest of health and strength, he had been compelled to bring his work, +such as it is, to a conclusion. + +The remains of the old Castle of Douglas are inconsiderable. They +consist indeed of but one ruined tower, standing at a short distance +from the modern mansion, which itself is only a fragment of the design +on which the Duke of Douglas meant to reconstruct the edifice, after +its last accidental destruction by fire. [Footnote: [The following +notice of Douglas Castle, &c., is from the Description of the +Sheriffdom of Lanark, by William Hamilton of Wishaw, written in the +beginning of the last century, and printed by the Maitland Club of +Glasgow in 1831:]-- + +"Douglass parish, and baronie and lordship, heth very long appertained +to the family of Douglass, and continued with the Earles of Douglass +untill their fatall forfeiture, anno 1455; during which tyme there are +many noble and important actions recorded in histories performed by +them, by the lords and earls of that great family. It was thereafter +given to Douglass, Earle of Anguse, and continued with them untill +William, Earle of Anguse, was created Marquess of Douglass, anno 1633; +and is now the principal seat, of the Marquess of Douglass his family. +It is a large baronie and parish, and ane laick patronage; and the +Marquess is both titular and patron. He heth there, near to the church, +a very considerable great house, called the Castle of Douglas; and near +the church is a fyne village called the town of Douglass, long since +erected in a burgh of baronie. It heth ane handsome church, with many +ancient monuments and inscriptions on the old, interments of the Earles +of this place. + +"The water of Douglas runs quyte through the whole length of this +parish, and upon either side of the water it is called Douglasdale. It +toucheth Clyde towards the north, and is bounded by Lesmahagow to the +west, Kyle to the southwest, Crawford John and Carmichaell to the south +and southeast. It is a pleasant strath, plentifull in grass and corn, +and coal; and the minister is well provided. + +"The lands of Heysleside belonging to Samuel Douglass, has a good house +and pleasant seat, close by wood," &c.--P. 65.] His Grace had kept in +view the ancient prophecy, that as often as Douglas Castle might be +destroyed, it should rise again in enlarged dimensions and improved +splendour, and projected a pile of building, which, if it had been +completed, would have much exceeded any nobleman's residence then +existing in Scotland--as, indeed, what has been finished, amounting to +about one-eighth part of the plan, is sufficiently extensive for the +accommodation of a large establishment, and contains some apartments +the dimensions of which are magnificent. The situation is commanding; +and though the Duke's successors have allowed the mansion to continue +as he left it, great expense has been lavished on the environs, which +now present a vast sweep of richly undulated woodland, stretching to +the borders of the Cairntable mountains, repeatedly mentioned as the +favourite retreat of the great ancestor of the family in the days of +his hardship and persecution. There remains at the head of the +adjoining _bourg_, the choir of the ancient church of St. Bride, having +beneath it the vault which was used till lately as the burial-place of +this princely race, and only abandoned when their stone and leaden +coffins had accumulated, in the course of five or six hundred years, in +such a way that it could accommodate no more. Here a silver case, +containing the dust of what was once the brave heart of Good Sir James, +is still pointed out; and in the dilapidated choir above appears, +though in a sorely ruinous state, the once magnificent tomb of the +warrior himself. After detailing the well-known circumstances of Sir +James's death in Spain, 20th August, 1330, where he fell, assisting the +King of Arragon in an expedition against the Moors, when on his way +back to Scotland from Jerusalem, to which he had conveyed the heart of +Bruce,--the old poet Barbour tells us that-- + + "Quhen his men lang had mad murnyn, + Thai debowalyt him, and syne + Gert scher him swa, that mycht be tane + The flesch all haly frae the bane. + And the carioune thar in haly place + Erdyt, with rycht gret worschip, was. + + "The banys haue thai with them tane; + And syne ar to thair schippis gane; + Syne towart Scotland held thair way, + And thar ar cummyn in full gret hy. + And the banys honbrabilly + In till the Kyrk of Douglas war + Erdyt, with dule and mekill car. + Schyr Archebald his sone gert syn + Off alabastre, bath fair and fyne, + Ordane a tumbe sa richly + As it behowyt to swa worthy." + +The monument is supposed to have been wantonly mutilated and defaced by +a detachment of Cromwell's troops, who, as was their custom, converted +the kirk of St. Bride of Douglas into a stable for their horses. +Enough, however, remains to identify the resting-place of the great Sir +James. The effigy, of dark stone, is crossed-legged, marking his +character as one who had died after performing the pilgrimage to the +Holy Sepulchre, and in actual conflict with the infidels of Spain; and +the introduction of the HEART, adopted as an addition to the old arms +of Douglas, in consequence of the knight's fulfilment of Bruce's dying +injunction, appears, when taken in connexion with the posture of the +figure, to set the question at rest. The monument, in its original +state, must have been not inferior in any respect to the best of the +same period in Westminster Abbey; and the curious reader is referred +for farther particulars of it to "The Sepulchral Antiquities of Great +Britain, by Edward Blore, F.S.A." London, 4to, 1826: where may also be +found interesting details of some of the other tombs and effigies in +the cemetery of the first house of Douglas. + +As considerable liberties have been taken, with the historical +incidents on which this novel is founded, it is due to the reader to +place before him such extracts from Godscroft and Barbour as may enable +him to correct any mis-impression. The passages introduced in the +Appendix, from the ancient poem of "The Bruce," will moreover gratify +those who have not in their possession a copy of the text of Barbour, +as given in the valuable quarto edition of my learned friend Dr. +Jamieson, as furnishing on the whole a favourable specimen of the style +and manner of a venerable classic, who wrote when Scotland was still +full of the fame and glory of her liberators from the yoke of +Plantagenet, and especially of Sir James Douglas, "of whom," says +Godscroft, "we will not omit here, (to shut up all,) the judgment of +those times concerning him, in a rude verse indeed, yet such as beareth +witness of his true magnanimity and invincible mind in either fortune:-- + + "Good Sir James Douglas (who wise, and wight, and worthy was,) + Was never over glad in no winning, nor yet oversad for no lineing; + Good fortune and evil chance he weighed both in one balance." + W. S. + + + + +APPENDIX. + +No. I. + +EXTRACTS FROM "THE HISTORY OF THE HOUSES OF DOUGLAS AND ANGUS. BY +MASTER DAVID HUME OF GODSCROFT." FOL. EDIT. + + * * * And here indeed the course of the King's misfortunes begins to +make some halt and stay by thus much prosperous successe in his own +person; but more in the person of Sir James, by the reconquests of his +owne castles and countries. From hence he went into Douglasdale, where, +by the means of his father's old servant, Thomas Dickson, he took in +the Castle of Douglas, and not being able to keep it, he caused burn +it, contenting himself with this, that his enemies had one strength +fewer in that country than before. The manner of his taking of it is +said to have beene thus:--Sir James taking only with him two of his +servants, went to Thomas Dickson, of whom he was received with tears, +after he had revealed himself to him, for the good old man knew him not +at first, being in mean and homely apparel. There he kept him secretly +in a quiet chamber, and brought unto him such as had been trusty +servants to his father, not all at, once, but apart by one and one, for +fear of discoverie. Their advice was, that on Palm-Sunday, when the +English would come forth to the church, and his partners were +conveened, that then he should give the word, and cry the Douglas +slogan, and presently set upon them that should happen to be there, who +being despatched, the Castle might be taken easily. This being +concluded, and they come, so soon as the English were entered into the +church with palms in their hands, (according to the costume of that +day,) little suspecting or fearing any such thing, Sir James, according +to their appointment, cryed too soon (a Douglas, a Douglas!) which +being heard in the church, (this was Saint Bride's church of Douglas,) +Thomas Dickson, supposing he had beene hard at hand, drew out his +sword, and ran upon them, having none to second him but another man, so +that, oppressed by the number of his enemies, he was beaten downe and +slaine. In the meantime, Sir James being come, the English that were in +the chancel kept off the Scots, and having the advantage of the strait +and narrow entrie, defended themselves manfully. But Sir James +encouraging his men, not so much by words as by deeds and good example, +and having slain the boldest resisters, prevailed at last, and entring +the place, slew some twenty-six of their number, and took the rest, +about ten or twelve persons, intending by them to get the Castle upon +composition, or to enter with them when the gates should be opened to +let them in: but it needed not, for they of the Castle were so secure, +that there was none left to keep it save the porter and the cooke, who +knowing nothing of what had hapned at the church, which stood a large +quarter of a mile from thence, had left the gate wide open, the porter +standing without, and the cooke dressing the dinner within. They +entered without resistance, and meat being ready, and the cloth laid, +they shut the gates, and tooke their refection at good leasure. + +Now that he had gotten the Castle into his hands, considering with +himselfe (as he was a man no lesse advised than valiant) that it was +hard for him to keep it, the English being as yet the stronger in that +countrey, who if they should besiege him, he knewe of no reliefe, he +thought better to carry away such things as be most easily transported, +gold, silver, and apparell, with ammunition and armour, whereof he had +greatest use and need, and to destroy the rest of the provision, +together with the Castle itselfe, then to diminish the number of his +followers for a garrison there where it could do no good. And so he +caused carrie the meale and malt, and other cornes and graine, into the +cellar, and laid altogether in one heape: then he took the prisoners +and slew them, to revenge the death of his trustie and valiant servant, +Thomas Dickson, mingling the victuals with their bloud, and burying +their carkasses in the heap of corne: after that he struck out the +heads of the barrells and puncheons, and let the drink runn through +all; and then he cast the carkasses of dead horses and other carrion +amongst it, throwing the salt above all, so as to make altogether +unuseful to the enemie; and this cellar is called yet the Douglas +Lairder. Last of all, he set the house on fire, and burnt all the +timber, and what else the fire could overcome, leaving nothing but the +scorched walls behind him. And this seemes to be the first taking of +the Castle of Douglas, for it is supposed that he took it twice. For +this service, and others done to Lord William his father, Sir James +gave unto Thomas Dickson the lands of Hisleside, which hath beene given +him before the Castle was taken as an encouragement to whet him on, and +not after, for he was slain in the church; which was both liberally and +wisely done of him, thus to hearten and draw men to his service by such +a noble beginning. The Castle being burnt, Sir James retired, and +parting his men into divers companies, so as they might be most secret, +he caused cure such as were wounded in the fight, and he himselfe kept +as close as he could, waiting ever for an occasion to enterprise +something against the enemie. So soone as he was gone, the Lord +Clifford being advertised of what had happened, came himselfe in person +to Douglas, and caused re-edifie and repair the Castle in a very short +time, unto which he also added a Tower, which is yet called Harries +Tower from him, and so returned into England, leaving one Thurswall to +be Captain thereof.--Pp. 26-28. + + * * * * * * * + +He (Sir James Douglas) getting him again into Douglasdale, did use this +stratagem against Thurswall, Captain of the Castle, under the said Lord +Clifford. He caused some of his folk drive away the cattle that fed +near unto the Castle, and when the Captain of the garrison followed to +rescue, gave orders to his men to leave them and to flee away. Thus he +did often to make the Captain slight such frays, and to make him +secure, that he might not suspect any further end to be on it; which +when he had wrought sufficiently (as he thought), he laid some men in +ambuscado, and sent others away to drive such beasts as they should +find in the view of the Castle, as if they had been thieves and +robbers, as they had done often before. The Captain hearing of it, and +supposing there was no greater danger now than had been before, issued +forth of the Castle, and followed after them with such haste that his +men (running who should be first) were disordered and out of their +ranks. The drivers also fled as fast as they could till they had drawn +the Captain a little way beyond the place of ambuscado, which when they +perceived, rising quickly out of their covert, they set fiercely upon +him and his company, and so slew himself and chased his men back to the +Castle, some of whom were overtaken and slain, others got into the +Castle and so were saved. Sir James, not being able to force the house, +took what booty he could get without in the fields, and so departed. By +this means, and such other exploits, he so affrighted the enemy, that +it was counted a matter of such great jeopardy to keep this Castle, +that it began to be called the adventurous (or hazardous) Castle of +Douglas: Whereupon Sir John Walton being in suit of an English lady, +she wrote to him that when he had kept the adventurous Castle of +Douglas seven years, then, he might think himself worthy to be a suitor +to her. Upon this occasion Walton took upon him the keeping of it, and +succeeded to Thurswall; but he ran the same fortune with the rest that +were before him. + +For, Sir James having first dressed an ambuscado near unto the place, +he made fourteen of his men take so many sacks, and fill them with +grass, as though it had been corn, which they carried in the way toward +Lanark, the chief market town in that county: so hoping to draw forth +the Captain by that bait, and either to take him or the Castle, or both. + +Neither was this expectation frustrate, for the Captain did bite, and +came forth to have taken this victual (as he supposed). But ere he +could reach these carriers, Sir James, with his company, had gotten +between the Castle and him; and these disguised carriers, seeing the +Captain following after them, did quickly cast off their upper +garments, wherein they had masked themselves, and throwing off their +sacks, mounted themselves on horseback, and met the Captain with a +sharp encounter, he being so much the more amazed that it was unlooked +for: wherefore, when he saw these carriers metamorphosed into warriors, +and ready to assault him, fearing (that which was) that there was some +train laid for them, he turned about to have retired into the Castle; +but there also he met with his enemies; between which two companies he +and his followers were slain, so that none escaped; the Captain +afterwards being searched, they found (as it is reported) his +mistress's letters about him. Then he went and took in the Castle, but +it is uncertain (say our writers) whether by force or composition; but +it seems that the Constable, and those that were within, have yielded +it up without force; in regard that he used them so gently, which he +would not have done if he had taken it at utterance. For he sent them +all safe home to the Lord Clifford, and gave them also provision and +money for their entertainment by the way. The Castle, which he had +burnt only before, now he razeth, and casts down the walls thereof to +the ground. By these and the like proceedings, within a short while he +freed Douglasdale, Attrict Forest, and Jedward Forest, of the English +garrisons and subjection.--_Ibid_. p. 29. + +No. II. + +[Extracts from THE BRUCE.--"Liber compositus per Magistrum Johannem +Barber Archidiaeonum Abyrdonensem, de gestis, bellis, et vertutibus, +Domini Roberti Brwyes, Regis Scocie illustrissimi, et de conquestu +regni Scocie per eundem, et de Domino Jacobo de Douglas."--Edited by +John Jamieson, D.D. F.R.S.F. &c. &c. Edinburgh, 1820.] + +Now takis James his waige Towart Dowglas, his heretage, With twa yemen, +for his owtyn ma; That wes a symple stuff to ta, A land or a castell to +win. The quhethir he yarnyt to begyn Till bring purposs till ending; +For gud help is in gud begynnyng, For gud begynning, and hardy, Gyff it +be folwit wittily, May ger oftsyss unlikly thing Cum to full conabill +ending. Swa did it here: but he wes wyss And saw he mycht, on nakyn +wyss, Werray his fa with evyn mycht; Tharfur he thocht to wyrk with +slycht. And in Dowglas daile, his countre, Upon an evymiyng entryt he. +And than a man wonnyt tharby. That was off freyndis weill mychty, And +ryche of moble, and off cateill; And had bene till his fadyr leyll; And +till him selff in his yowthed. He haid done mony a thankfull deid. Thom +Dicson wes his name perlay. Till him he send; and gan him pray, That he +wald cum all anerly For to spek with him priuely. And he but daunger +till him gais: Bot fra he tauld him quhat he wais, He gret for joy, and +for pite; And him rycht till his houss had he; Quhar in a chambre +priuely He held him, and his cumpany, That nane had off him persaving. +Off mete, and drynk, and othyr thing, That mycht thuim eyss, thai had +plente. Sa wrocht he thorow sutelte, That all the lele men off that +land, That with his fadyr war duelland, This gud man gert cum, ane and +ane, And mak him manrent cuir ilkane; And he him selff fyrst homage +maid. Dowglas in part gret glaidschip haid, That the gud men off his +cuntre Wald swagate till him bundyn be. He speryt the conwyne off the +land, And quha the castell had in hand. And thai him tauld all halily; +And syne amang them priuely Thai ordanyt, that he still suld be In +hiddillis, and in priwete, Till Palme Sonday, that wes ner hand, The +thrid day eftyr folowand. For than the folk off that countre Assemblyt +at the kyrk wald be; And thai, that in the castell wer, Wald als be +thar, thar palmys to ber, As folk that had na dreid off ill; For thai +thoucht all wes at thair will. Than suld he cum with his twa men. Bot, +for that men suld nocht him ken, He suld ane mantill haiff auld and +bar, And a flaill, as he a thresscher war. Undyr the mantill nocht for +thi He suld be armyt priuely. And quhen the men off his countre, That +suld all boune befor him be, His ensenye mycht her hym cry. Then suld +thai, full enforcely, Rycht ymyddys the kyrk assaill The Ingliss men +with hard bataill Swa that nane mycht eschap them fra; For thar throwch +trowyt thai to ta The castell, that besid wes ner And quhen this, that +I tell you her, Wes diuisyt and undertane, Ilkane till his howss hame +is gane; And held this spek in priuete, Till the day off thar assembly. + +The folk upon the Sonounday Held to Saynct Bridis kyrk thair way, And +tha that in the castell war Ischyt owt, bath les and mar, And went +thair palmys for to her; Owtane a cuk and a porter. James off Dowglas +off thair cummyng, And quhat thai war, had witting; And sped him till +the kyrk in hy Bot or he come, too hastily Ane off his criyt, "Dowglas! +Dowglas!" Thomas Dicson, that nerrest was Till thaim that war off the +castell, That war all innouth the chancell, Quhen he "Dowglas!" swa hey +herd cry, Drew owt his swerd; and fellely Ruschyt amang thaim to and +fra. Bot ane or twa, for owtyn ma, Than in hy war left lyand Quhill +Dowglas come rycht at hand. And then enforcyt on thaim the cry. Bot +thai the chansell sturdely Held, and thaim defendyt wele, Till off +thair men war slayne sumdell. Bot the Dowglace sa weill him bar, That +all the men, that with him war, Had comfort off his wele doyng; And he +him sparyt nakyn thing. Bot provyt swa his force in fycht, That throw +his worschip, and his mycht, His men sa keynly helpyt than, That thai +the chansell on thaim wan. Than dang thai on swa hardyly, That in +schort tyme men mycht se ly The twa part dede, or then deand. The lave +war sesyt sone in hand, Swa that off thretty levyt nane, That thai ne +war slayne ilkan, or tane. + +James off Dowglas, quhen this wes done, The presoneris has he tane +alsone; And, with thaim off his cumpany, Towart the castell went in hy, +Or noyiss, or cry, suld ryss. And for he wald thaim sone suppriss, That +levyt in the castell war, That war but twa for owtyn mar, Fyve men or +sex befor send he, That fand all opyn the entre; And entryt, and the +porter tuk Rycht at the gate, and syne the cuk. With that Dowglas come +to the gat, And entryt in for owtyn debate; And fand the mete all ready +grathit, With burdys set, and clathis layit. The gaitis then he gert +sper, And sat, and eyt all at layser. Syne all the gudis turssyt thai +That thaim thocht thai mycht haiff away; And namly wapnys, and armyng, +Siluer, and tresour, and clethyng. Vyctallis, that, mycht nocht tursyt +be, On this manner destroyit he. All the vrctalis, owtane salt, Als +quheyt, and flour, and meill, and malt In the wyne sellar gert he +bring; And samyn on the flur all flyng. And the presoneris that he had +tane Rycht thar in gert he heid ilkane; Syne off the townnys he hedis +outstrak: A foule melle thar gane he mak. For meile, and malt, and +bluid, and wyne Ran all to gidder in a mellyne, That was unsemly for to +se. Tharfor the men of that countre, For swa fele thar mellyt wer, +Callit it the "Dowglas Lardner." Syne tuk he salt, as Ic hard tell, And +ded horss, and sordid the well. And brynt all, owtakyn stane; And is +forth, with his menye, gayne Till his resett; for him thoucht weill, +Giff he had haldyn the caslell, It had bene assegyt raith; And that him +thoucht to mekill waith. For he ne had hop of reskewyng. And it is to +peralous thing In castell assegyt to be, Quhar want is off thir thingis +thre; Victaill, or men with their armyng, Or than gud hop off rescuyng. +And for he dred thir thingis suld faile, He chesyt furthwart to +trawaill, Quhar he mycht at his larges be; And swa dryve furth his +destane. + +On this wise wes the castell tan, And slayne that war tharin ilkan. The +Dowglas syne all his menye Gert in ser placis depertyt be; For men suld +wyt quhar thai war, That yeid depertyt her and thar. Thim that war +woundyt gert he ly In till hiddillis, all priuely; And gert gud leechis +till thaim bring Quhill that thai war in till heling. And him selff, +with a few menye, Quhile ane, quhile twa and quhile thre, And umqumll +all him allane. In hiddillis throw the land is gane. Sa dred he Inglis +men his mycht, That he durst nocht wele cum in sycht. For thai war that +tyme all weldand As maist lordis, our all the land. + +Bot tythandis, that scalis sone, Off this deid that Dowglas has done, +Come to the Cliffurd his ere, in hy, That for his tynsaill wes sary; +And menyt his men that thai had slayne, And syne has to purpos tane, To +big the castell up agayne. Thar for, as man of mekill mayne, He +assemblit grret cumpany, And till Dowglas he went in hy. And biggyt wp +the castell swyth; And maid it rycht stalwart and styth And put tharin +victallis and men Ane off the Thyrwallys then He left behind him +Capitane, And syne till Ingland went agayne. + Book IV. v. 255-460. + +Bot yeit than Janvss of Dowglas In Dowglas Daile travailland was; Or +ellys weill ner hand tharby, In hyddillys sumdeill priuely. For he wald +se his gouernyng, That had the castell in keping: And gert mak mony +juperty, To se quhethyr he wald ische blythly. And quhen he persavyt +that he Wald blythly ische with his menye, He maid a gadringr priuely +Off thaim that war on his party; That war sa fele, that thai durst fych +With Thyrwall, and all the mycht Off thaim that in the castell war. He +schupe him in the nycht so far To Sandylandis: and thar ner by He him +enbuschyt priuely, And send a few a trane to ma; That sone in the +mornyng gan ga, And tuk catell, that wes the castell by, And syne +withdrew thaim hastely Towart thaim that enbuschit war. Than Thyrwall, +for owtyn mar, Gert arme his men, forowtyn baid; Aud ischyt with all +the men he haid: And foiowyt fast eftir the cry. He wes armyt at poynt +clenly, Owtane [that] his hede wes bar. Than, with the men that with +him war, The catell folowit he gud speid, Rycht as a man that had na +dreid, Till that he gat off thaim a sycht. Than prekyt thai with all +thar mycht, Folowand thaim owt off aray And thai sped thaim fleand, +quhill thai Fer by thair buschement war past: And Thyrwall ay chassyt +fast. And than thai that enbuschyt war Ischyt till him, bath les and +mar And rayssyt sudanly the cry. And thai that saw sa sudanly That folk +come egyrly prikand Rycht betuix thairn and thair warank, Thai war in +to full gret effray. And, for thai war owt off aray, Sum off thaim +fled, and some abad. And Dowglas, that thar with him had A gret mengye, +full egrely Assaylyt, and scalyt thaim hastyly: And in schort tyme +ourraid thaim swa, That weile nane eschapyt thaim fra. Thyrwall, that +wes thair capitane, Wes thar in the bargane slane: And off his men the +mast party. The lave fled full effraytly. + Book V. v. 10-60 + + + + +CASTLE DANGEROUS. + +CHAPTER THE FIRST. + + Hosts have been known at that dread sound to yield, + And, Douglas dead, his name hath won the field. + JOHN HOME. + + +It was at the close of an early spring day, when nature, in a cold +province of Scotland, was reviving from her winter's sleep, and the air +at least, though not the vegetation, gave promise of an abatement of +the rigour of the season, that two travellers, whose appearance at that +early period sufficiently announced their wandering character, which, +in general, secured a free passage even through a dangerous country, +were seen coming from the south-westward, within a few miles of the +Castle of Douglas, and seemed to be holding their course in the +direction of the river of that name, whose dale afforded a species of +approach to that memorable feudal fortress. The stream, small in +comparison to the extent of its fame, served as a kind of drain to the +country in its neighbourhood, and at the same time afforded the means +of a rough road to the castle and village. The high lords to whom the +castle had for ages belonged, might, had they chosen, have made this +access a great deal smoother and more convenient; but there had been as +yet little or no exercise for those geniuses, who have taught all the +world that it is better to take the more circuitous road round the base +of a hill, than the direct course of ascending it on the one side, and +descending it directly on the other, without yielding a single step to +render the passage more easy to the traveller; still less were those +mysteries dreamed of which M'Adam has of late days expounded. But, +indeed, to what purpose should the ancient Douglasses have employed his +principles, even if they had known them in ever so much perfection? +Wheel-carriages, except of the most clumsy description, and for the +most simple operations of agriculture, were totally unknown. Even the +most delicate female had no resource save a horse, or, in case of sore +infirmity, a litter. The men used their own sturdy limbs, or hardy +horses, to transport themselves from place to place; and travellers, +females in particular, experienced no small inconvenience from the +rugged nature of the country. A swollen torrent sometimes crossed their +path, and compelled them to wait until the waters had abated their +frenzy. The bank of a small river was occasionally torn away by the +effects of a thunder-storm, a recent inundation, or the like +convulsions of nature; and the wayfarer relied upon his knowledge of +the district, or obtained the best local information in his power, how +to direct his path so as to surmount such untoward obstacles. + +The Douglas issues from an amphitheatre of mountains which bounds the +valley to the south-west, from whose contributions, and the aid of +sudden storms, it receives its scanty supplies. The general aspect of +the country is that of the pastoral hills of the south of Scotland, +forming, as is usual, bleak and wild farms, many of which had, at no +great length of time from the date of the story, been covered with +trees; as some of them still attest by bearing the name of _shaw_, that +is, wild natural wood. The neighbourhood of the Douglas water itself +was flat land, capable of bearing strong crops of oats and rye, +supplying the inhabitants with what they required of these productions. +At no great distance from the edge of the river, a few special spots +excepted, the soil capable of agriculture was more and more mixed with +the pastoral and woodland country, till both terminated in desolate and +partly inaccessible moorlands. + +Above all, it was war-time, and of necessity all circumstances of mere +convenience were obliged to give way to a paramount sense of danger; +the inhabitants, therefore, instead of trying to amend the paths which +connected them with other districts, were thankful that the natural +difficulties which surrounded them rendered it unnecessary to break up +or to fortify the access from more open countries. Their wants, with a +very few exceptions, were completely supplied, as we have already said, +by the rude and scanty produce of their own mountains and _holms_, +[Footnote: Holms, or flat plains, by the sides of the brooks and +rivers, termed in the south, _Ings_.] the last of which served for the +exercise of their limited agriculture, while the better part of the +mountains and forest glens produced pasture for their herds and flocks. +The recesses of the unexplored depths of these sylvan retreats being +seldom disturbed, especially since the lords of the district had laid +aside, during this time of strife, their constant occupation of +hunting, the various kinds of game had increased of late very +considerably; so that not only in crossing the rougher parts of the +hilly and desolate country we are describing, different varieties of +deer were occasionally seen, but even the wild cattle peculiar to +Scotland sometimes showed themselves, and other animals, which +indicated the irregular and disordered state of the period. The +wild-cat was frequently surprised in the dark ravines or the swampy +thickets; and the wolf, already a stranger to the more populous +districts of the Lothians, here maintained his ground against the +encroachments of man, and was still himself a terror to those by whom +he was finally to be extirpated. In winter especially, and winter was +hardly yet past, these savage animals were wont to be driven to +extremity for lack of food, and used to frequent, in dangerous numbers, +the battle-field, the deserted churchyard--nay, sometimes the abodes of +living men, there to watch for children, their defenceless prey, with +as much familiarity as the fox now-a-days will venture to prowl near +the mistress's [Footnote: The good dame, or wife of a respectable +farmer, is almost universally thus designated in Scotland.] +poultry-yard. + +From what we have said, our readers, if they have made--as who in these +days has not--the Scottish tour, will be able to form a tolerably just +idea of the wilder and upper part of Douglas Dale, during the earlier +period of the fourteenth century. The setting sun cast his gleams along +a moorland country, which to the westward broke into larger swells, +terminating in the mountains called the Larger and Lesser Cairntable. +The first of these is, as it were, the father of the hills in the +neighbourhood, the source of an hundred streams, and by far the largest +of the ridge, still holding in his dark bosom, and in the ravines with +which his sides are ploughed, considerable remnants of those ancient +forests with which all the high grounds of that quarter were once +covered, and particularly the hills, in which the rivers--both those +which run to the east, and those which seek the west to discharge +themselves into the Solway---hide, like so many hermits, their original +and scanty sources. + +The landscape was still illuminated by the reflection of the evening +sun, sometimes thrown back from pool or stream; sometimes resting on +grey rocks, huge cumberers of the soil, which labour and agriculture +have since removed, and sometimes contenting itself with gilding the +banks of the stream, tinged, alternately grey, green, or ruddy, as the +ground itself consisted of rock, or grassy turf, or bare earthen mound, +or looked at a distance like a rampart of dark red porphyry. +Occasionally, too, the eye rested on the steep brown extent of moorland +as the sunbeam glanced back from the little tarn or mountain pool, +whose lustre, like that of the eye in the human countenance, gives a +life and vivacity to every feature around. + +The elder and stouter of the two travellers whom we have mentioned, was +a person well, and even showily dressed, according to the finery of the +times, and bore at his back, as wandering minstrels were wont, a case, +containing a small harp, rote or viol, or some such species of musical +instrument for accompanying the voice. The leathern case announced so +much, although it proclaimed not the exact nature of the instrument. +The colour of the traveller's doublet was blue, and that of his hose +violet, with slashes which showed a lining of the same colour with the +jerkin. A mantle ought, according to ordinary custom, to have covered +this dress; but the heat of the sun, though the season was so early, +had induced the wearer to fold up his cloak in small compass, and form +it into a bundle, attached to the shoulders like the military greatcoat +of the infantry soldier of the present day. The neatness with which it +was made up, argued the precision of a practised traveller, who had +been long accustomed to every resource which change of weather +required. A great profusion of narrow ribands or points, constituting +the loops with which our ancestors connected their doublet and hose, +formed a kind of cordon, composed of knots of blue or violet, which +surrounded the traveller's person, and thus assimilated in colour with +the two garments which it was the office of these strings to combine. +The bonnet usually worn with this showy dress, was of that kind with +which Henry the Eighth and his son, Edward the Sixth, are usually +represented. It was more fitted, from the gay stuff of which it was +composed, to appear in a public place, than to encounter a storm of +rain. It was party-coloured, being made of different stripes of blue +and violet; and the wearer arrogated a certain degree of gentility to +himself, by wearing a plume of considerable dimensions of the same +favourite colours. The features over which this feather drooped were in +no degree remarkable for peculiarity of expression. Yet in so desolate +a country as the west of Scotland, it would, not have been easy to pass +the man without more minute attention than he would have met with where +there was more in the character of the scenery to arrest the gaze of +the passengers. + +A quick eye, a sociable look, seeming to say, "Ay, look at me, I am a +man worth noticing, and not unworthy your attention," carried with it, +nevertheless, an interpretation which might be thought favourable or +otherwise, according to the character of the person whom the traveller +met. A knight or soldier would merely have thought that he had met a +merry fellow, who could sing a wild song, or tell a wild tale, and help +to empty a flagon, with all the accomplishments necessary for a boon +companion at an hostelry, except perhaps an alacrity at defraying his +share of the reckoning. A churchman, on the other hand, might have +thought he of the blue and violet was of too loose habits, and +accustomed too little to limit himself within the boundaries of +beseeming mirth, to be fit society for one of his sacred calling. Yet +the Man of Song had a certain steadiness of countenance, which seemed +fitted to hold place in scenes of serious business as well as of +gaiety. A wayfaring passenger of wealth (not at that time a numerous +class) might have feared in him a professional robber, or one whom +opportunity was very likely to convert into such; a female might have +been apprehensive of uncivil treatment; and a youth, or timid person, +might have thought of murder, or such direful doings. Unless privately +armed, however, the minstrel was ill-accoutred for any dangerous +occupation. His only visible weapon was a small crooked sword, like +what we now call a hanger; and the state of the times would have +justified any man, however peaceful his intentions, in being so far +armed against the perils of the road. + +If a glance at this man had in any respect prejudiced him in the +opinion of those whom he met on his journey, a look at his companion +would, so far as his character could be guessed at--for he was closely +muffled up--have passed for an apology and warrant for his associate. +The younger traveller was apparently in early youth, a soft and gentle +boy, whose Sclavonic gown, the appropriate dress of the pilgrim, he +wore more closely drawn about him than the coldness of the weather +seemed to authorize or recommend. His features, imperfectly seen under +the hood of his pilgrim's dress, were prepossessing in a high degree; +and though he wore a walking sword, it seemed rather to be in +compliance with general fashion than from any violent purpose he did +so. There were traces of sadness upon his brow, and of tears upon his +cheeks; and his weariness was such, as even his rougher companion +seemed to sympathize with, while he privately participated also in the +sorrow which left its marks upon a countenance so lovely. They spoke +together, and the elder of the two, while he assumed the deferential +air proper to a man of inferior rank addressing a superior, showed in +tone and gesture, something that amounted to interest and affection. + +"Bertram, my friend," said the younger of the two, "how far are we +still from Douglas Castle? We have already come farther than the twenty +miles, which thou didst say was the distance from Cammock--or how didst +thou call the last hostelry which we left by daybreak?" + +"Cummock, my dearest lady--I beg ten thousand excuses--my gracious +young lord." + +"Call me Augustine," replied his comrade, "if you mean to speak as is +fittest for the time." + +"Nay, as for that," said Bertram, "if your ladyship can condescend to +lay aside your quality, my own good breeding is not so firmly sewed to +me but that I can doff it, and resume it again without its losing a +stitch; and since your ladyship, to whom I am sworn in obedience, is +pleased to command that I should treat you as my own son, shame it were +to me if I were not to show you the affection of a father, more +especially as I may well swear my great oath, that I owe you the duty +of such, though well I wot it has, in our case, been the lot of the +parent to be maintained by the kindness and liberality of the child; +for when was it that I hungered or thirsted, and the _black +stock_[Footnote: The table dormant, which stood in a baron's hall, was +often so designated.] of Berkley did not relieve my wants?" + +"I would have it so," answered the young pilgrim; "I would have it so. +What use of the mountains of beef, and the oceans of beer, which they +say our domains produce, if there is a hungry heart among our +vassalage, or especially if thou, Bertram, who hast served as the +minstrel of our house for more than twenty years, shouldst experience +such a feeling?" + +"Certes, lady," answered Bertram, "it would be like the catastrophe +which is told of the Baron of Fastenough, when his last mouse was +starved to death in the very pantry; and if I escape this journey +without such a calamity, I shall think myself out of reach of thirst or +famine for the whole of my life." + +"Thou hast suffered already once or twice by these attacks, my poor +friend," said the lady. + +"It is little," answered Bertram, "any thing that I have suffered; and +I were ungrateful to give the inconvenience of missing a breakfast, or +making an untimely dinner, so serious a name. But then I hardly see how +your ladyship can endure this gear much longer. You must yourself feel, +that the plodding along these high lands, of which the Scots give us +such good measure in their miles, is no jesting matter; and as for +Douglas Castle, why it is still three good miles off." + +"The question then is," quoth the lady, heaving a sigh, "what we are to +do when we have so far to travel, and when the castle gates must be +locked long before we arrive there?" + +"For that I will pledge my word," answered Bertram. "The gates of +Douglas, under the care of Sir John de Walton, do not open so easily as +those of the buttery hatch at our own castle, when it is well oiled; +and if your ladyship take my advice, you will turn southward ho! and in +two days at farthest, we shall be in a land where men's wants are +provided for, as the inns proclaim it, with the least possible delay, +and the secret of this little journey shall never be known to living +mortal but ourselves, as sure as I am sworn minstrel, and man of faith." + +"I thank thee for thy advice, mine honest Bertram," said the lady, "but +I cannot profit by it. Should thy knowledge of these parts possess thee +with an acquaintance with any decent house, whether it belong to rich +or poor, I would willingly take quarters there, if I could obtain them +from this time until to-morrow morning. The gates of Douglas Castle +will then be open to guests of so peaceful an appearance as we carry +with us, and--and--it will out--we might have time to make such +applications to our toilet as might ensure us a good reception, by +drawing a comb through our locks, or such like foppery." + +"Ah, madam!" said Bertram, "were not Sir John de Walton in question, +methinks I should venture to reply, that an unwashed brow, an unkempt +head of hair, and a look far more saucy than your ladyship ever wears, +or can wear, were the proper disguise to trick out that minstrel's boy, +whom, you wish to represent in the present pageant." + +"Do you suffer your youthful pupils to be indeed so slovenly and so +saucy, Bertram?" answered the lady. "I for one will not imitate them in +that particular; and whether Sir John be now in the Castle of Douglas +or not, I will treat the soldiers who hold so honourable a charge with +a washed brow, and a head of hair somewhat ordered. As for going back +without seeing a castle which has mingled even with my very dreams--at +a word, Bertram, thou mayst go that way, but I will not." + +"And if I part with your ladyship on such terms," responded the +minstrel, "now your frolic is so nearly accomplished, it shall be the +foul fiend himself, and nothing more comely or less dangerous, that +shall tear me from your side; and for lodging, there is not far from +hence the house of one Tom Dickson of Hazelside, one of the most honest +fellows of the Dale, and who, although a labouring man, ranked as high +as a warrior, when I was in this country, as any noble gentleman that +rode in the band of the Douglas." + +"He is then a soldier?" said the lady. + +"When his country or his lord need his sword," replied Bertram--"and, +to say the truth, they are seldom at peace; but otherwise, he is no +enemy, save to the wolf which plunders his herds." + +"But forget not, my trusty guide," replied the lady, "that the blood in +our veins is English, and consequently, that we are in danger from all +who call themselves foes to the ruddy Cross." + +"Do not fear this man's faith," answered Bertram. "You may trust to him +as to the best knight or gentleman of the land. We may make good our +lodging by a tune or a song; and it may remember you that I undertook +(provided it pleased your ladyship) to temporize a little with the +Scots, who, poor souls, love minstrelsy, and when they have but a +silver penny, will willingly bestow it to encourage the _gay +science_--I promised you, I say, that we should be as welcome to them +as if we had been born amidst their own wild hills; and for the best +that such a house as Dickson's affords, the glee-man's son, fair lady, +shall not breathe a wish in vain. And now, will you speak your mind to +your devoted friend and adopted father, or rather your sworn servant +and guide, Bertram the Minstrel, what it is your pleasure to do in this +matter?" + +"O, we will certainly accept of the Scot's hospitality," said the lady, +"your minstrel word being plighted that he is a true man. Tom Dickson, +call you him?" + +"Yes," replied Bertram, "such is his name; and by looking on these +sheep, I am assured that we are now upon his land." + +"Indeed?" said the lady, with some surprise; "and how is your wisdom +aware of that?" + +"I see the first letter of his name marked upon this flock," answered +the guide. "Ah, learning is what carries a man through the world, as +well as if he had the ring by virtue of which old minstrels tell that +Adam understood the language of the beasts in paradise. Ah, madam! +there is more wit taught in the shepherd's shieling than the lady +thinks of, who sews her painted seam in her summer bower." + +"Be it so, good Bertram. And although not so deeply skilled in the +knowledge of written language as you are, it is impossible for me to +esteem its value more than I actually do; so hold we on the nearest +road to this Tom Dickson's, whose very sheep tell of his whereabout. I +trust we have not very far to go, although the knowledge that our +journey is shortened by a few miles has so much recovered my fatigue, +that methinks I could dance all the rest of the way." + + + + +CHAPTER THE SECOND. + + _Rosalind_. Well, this is the Forest of Arden. + _Touchstone_. Ay, now am I in Arden; the more fool I. When I +was at + home I was in a better place; but travellers must be content. + _Rosalind_. Ay, be so, good Touchstone. Look you, who comes +here; a + young man and an old, in solemn talk. + As You Like It. _Scene IV. Act 2_. + + +As the travellers spoke together, they reached a turn of the path which +presented a more extensive prospect than the broken face of the country +had yet shown them. A valley, through which flowed a small tributary +stream, exhibited the wild, but not unpleasant, features of "a lone +vale of green braken;" here and there besprinkled with groups of +alder-trees, of hazels, and of copse-oakwood, which had maintained +their stations in the recesses of the valley, although they had +vanished from the loftier and more exposed sides of the hills. The +farm-house or mansion-house, (for, from its size and appearance, it +might have been the one or the other,) was a large but low building, +and the walls of the out-houses were sufficiently strong to resist any +band of casual depredators. There was nothing, however, which could +withstand a more powerful force; for, in a country laid waste by war, +the farmer was then, as now, obliged to take his chance of the great +evils attendant upon that state of things; and his condition, never a +very eligible one, was rendered considerably worse by the insecurity +attending it. About half a mile farther was seen a Gothic building of +very small extent, having a half dismantled chapel, which the minstrel +pronounced to be the Abbey of Saint Bride. "The place," he said, "I +understand, is allowed to subsist, as two or three old monks and as +many nuns, whom it contains, are permitted by the English to serve God +there, and sometimes to give relief to Scottish travellers; and who +have accordingly taken assurance with Sir John de Walton, and accepted +as their superior a churchman on whom he thinks he can depend. But if +these guests happen to reveal any secrets, they are, by some means or +other, believed to fly towards the English governor; and therefore, +unless your ladyship's commands be positive, I think we had best not +trust ourselves to their hospitality." + +"Of a surety, no," said the lady, "if thou canst provide me with +lodgings where we shall have more prudent hosts." + +At this moment, two human forms were seen to approach the farm-house in +a different direction from the travellers, and speaking so high, in a +tone apparently of dispute, that the minstrel and his companion could +distinguish their voices though the distance was considerable. Having +screened his eyes with his hand for some minutes, Bertram at length +exclaimed, "By our Lady, it is my old friend, Tom Dickson, sure +enough!--What can make him in such bad humour with the lad, who, I +think, may be the little wild boy, his son Charles, who used to run +about and plait rushes some twenty years ago? It is lucky, however, we +have found our friends astir; for I warrant, Tom hath a hearty piece of +beef in the pot ere he goes to bed, and he must have changed his wont +if an old friend hath not his share; and who knows, had we come later, +at what hour they may now find it convenient to drop latch and draw +bolt so near a hostile garrison; for if we call things by their right +names, such is the proper term for an English garrison in the castle of +a Scottish nobleman." + +"Foolish man," answered the lady, "thou judgest of Sir John de Walton +as thou wouldst of some rude boor, to whom the opportunity of doing +what he wills is a temptation and license to exercise cruelty and +oppression. Now, I could plight you my word, that, setting apart the +quarrel of the kingdoms, which, of course, will be fought out in fair +battles on both sides, you will find that English and Scottish, within +this domain, and within the reach of Sir John de Walton's influence, +live together as that same flock of sheep and goats do with the +shepherd's dog; a foe from whom they fly upon certain occasions, but +around whom they nevertheless eagerly gather for protection should a +wolf happen to show himself." + +"It is not to your ladyship," answered Bertram, "that I should venture +to state my opinion of such matters; but the young knight, when he is +sheathed in armour, is a different being from him who feasts in halls +among press of ladies; and he that feeds by another man's fireside, and +when his landlord, of all men in the world, chances to be the Black +Douglas, has reason to keep his eyes about him as he makes his +meal:--but it were better I looked after our own evening refreshment, +than that I stood here gaping and talking about other folk's matters." +So saying, he called out in a thundering tone of voice, "Dickson!--what +ho, Thomas Dickson!--will you not acknowledge an old friend who is much +disposed to trust his supper and night's lodging to your hospitality?" + +The Scotchman, attracted by the call, looked first along the banks of +the river, then upward to the bare side of the hill, and at length cast +his eyes upon the two figures who were descending from it. + +As if he felt the night colder while he advanced from the more +sheltered part of the valley to meet them, the Douglas Dale farmer +wrapped closer around him the grey plaid, which, from an early period, +has been used by the shepherds of the south of Scotland, and the +appearance of which gives a romantic air to the peasantry and middle +classes; and which, although less brilliant and gaudy in its colours, +is as picturesque in its arrangement as the more military tartan mantle +of the Highlands. When they approached near to each other, the lady +might observe that this friend of her guide was a stout athletic man, +somewhat past the middle of life, and already showing marks of the +approach, but none of the infirmities, of age, upon a countenance which +had been exposed to many a storm. Sharp eyes, too, and a quick +observation, exhibited signs of vigilance, acquired by one who had +lived long in a country where he had constant occasion for looking +around him with caution. His features were still swollen with +displeasure; and the handsome young man who attended him seemed to be +discontented, like one who had undergone no gentle marks of his +father's indignation, and who, from the sullen expression which mingled +with an appearance of shame on his countenance, seemed at once affected +by anger and remorse. + +"Do you not remember me, old friend?" said Bertram, as they approached +within a distance for communing; "or have the twenty years which have +marched over us since we met, carried along with them all remembrance +of Bertram, the English minstrel?" + +"In troth," answered the Scot, "it is not for want of plenty of your +countrymen to keep you in my remembrance, and I have hardly heard one +of them so much as whistle + + 'Hey, now the day dawns,' + +but it has recalled some note of your blythe rebeck; and yet, such +animals are we, that I had forgot the mien of my old friend, and +scarcely knew him at a distance. But we have had trouble lately; there +are a thousand of your countrymen that keep garrison in the Perilous +Castle of Douglas yonder, as well as in other places through the vale, +and that is but a woful sight for a true Scotchman--even my own poor +house has not escaped the dignity of a garrison of a man-at-arms, +besides two or three archer knaves, and one or two slips of mischievous +boys called pages, and so forth, who will not let a man say, 'this is +my own,' by his own fireside. Do not, therefore, think hardly of me, +old comrade, if I show you a welcome something colder than you might +expect from a friend of other days; for, by Saint Bride of Douglas, I +have scarcely anything left to which I can say welcome." + +"Small welcome will serve," said Bertram. "My son, make thy reverence +to thy father's old friend. Augustine is learning my joyous trade, but +he will need some practice ere he can endure its fatigues. If you could +give him some little matter of food, and a quiet bed for the night, +there's no fear but that we shall both do well enough; for I dare say, +when you travel with my friend Charles there,--if that tall youth +chance to be my old acquaintance Charles,--you will find yourself +accommodated when his wants are once well provided for." + +"Nay, the foul fiend take me if I do," answered the Scottish +husbandman. "I know not what the lads of this day are made of--not of +the same clay as their fathers, to be sure--not sprung from their +heather, which fears neither wind nor rain, but from some delicate +plant of a foreign country, which will not thrive unless it be +nourished under glass, with a murrain to it. The good Lord of +Douglas--I have been his henchman, and can vouch for it--did not in his +pagehood desire such food and lodging as, in the present day, will +hardly satisfy such a lad as your friend Charles." + +"Nay," said Bertram, "it is not that my Augustine is over nice; but, +for other reasons, I must request of you a bed to himself; he hath of +late been unwell." + +"Ay, I understand," said Dickson, "your son hath had a touch of that +illness which terminates so frequently in the black death you English +folk die of? We hear much of the havoc it has made to the southward. +Comes it hitherward?" + +Bertram nodded. + +"Well, my father's house," continued the farmer, "hath more rooms than +one, and your son shall have one well-aired and comfortable; and for +supper, ye shall have a part of what is prepared for your countrymen, +though I would rather have their room than their company. Since I am +bound to feed a score of them, they will not dispute the claim of such +a skilful minstrel as thou art to a night's hospitality. I am ashamed +to say that I must do their bidding even in my own house, Well-a-day, +if my good lord were in possession of his own, I have heart and hand +enough to turn the whole of them out of my house, like--like"---- + +"To speak plainly," said Bertram, "like a southern strolling gang from +Redesdale, whom I have seen you fling out of your house like a litter +of blind puppies, when not one of them looked behind to see who had +done him the courtesy until he was half-way to Cairntable." + +"Ay," answered the Scotchman, drawing himself up at least six inches +taller than before; "then I had a house of my own, and a cause and an +arm to keep it. Now I am--what signifies it what I am?--the noblest +lord in Scotland is little better." + +"Truly, friend," said Bertram, "now you view this matter in a rational +light. I do not say that the wisest, the richest, or the strongest man +in this world has any right to tyrannize over his neighbour, because he +is the more weak, ignorant, and the poorer; but yet if he does enter +into such a controversy, he must submit to the course of nature, and +that will always give the advantage in the tide of battle to wealth, +strength, and health." + +"With permission, however," answered Dickson, "the weaker party, if he +use his facilities to the utmost, may, in the long run, obtain revenge +upon the author of his sufferings, which would be at least compensation +for his temporary submission; and he acts simply as a man, and most +foolishly as a Scotchman, whether he sustain these wrongs with the +insensibility of an idiot, or whether he endeavour to revenge them +before Heaven's appointed time has arrived.--But if I talk thus I shall +scare you, as I have scared some of your countrymen, from accepting a +meal of meat and a night's lodging, in a house where you might be +called with the morning to a bloody settlement of a national quarrel." + +"Never mind," said Bertram, "we have been known to each other of old; +and I am no more afraid of meeting unkindness in your house, than you +expect me to come here for the purpose of adding to the injuries of +which you complain." + +"So be it," said Dickson; "and you, my old friend, are as welcome to my +abode as when it never held any guest, save of my own inviting.--And +you, my young friend, Master Augustine, shall be looked after as well +as if you came with a gay brow and a light cheek, such as best becomes +the _gay science_." + +"But wherefore, may I ask," said Bertram, "so much displeased but now +at my young friend Charles?" + +The youth answered before his father had time to speak. "My father, +good sir, may put what show upon it he will, but shrewd and wise men +wax weak in the brain these troublous times. He saw two or three wolves +seize upon three of our choicest wethers; and because I shouted to give +the alarm to the English garrison, he was angry as if he could have +murdered me---just for saving the sheep from the jaws that would have +devoured them." + +"This is a strange account of thee, old friend," said Bertram. "Dost +thou connive with the wolves in robbing thine own fold?" + +"Why, let it pass, if thou lovest me," answered the countryman; +"Charles could tell thee something nearer the truth if he had a mind; +but for the present let it pass." + +The minstrel, perceiving that the Scotchman was fretted and embarrassed +with the subject, pressed it no farther. + +At this moment, in crossing the threshold of Thomas Dickson's house, +they were greeted with sounds from two English soldiers within. "Quiet, +Anthony," said one voice,--"quiet, man!--for the sake of common sense, +if not common manners;--Robin Hood himself never sat down to his board +ere the roast was ready." + +"Ready!" quoth another rough voice; "It is roasting to rags, and small +had been the knave Dickson's share, even of these rags, had it not been +the express orders of the worshipful Sir John de Walton, that the +soldiers who lie at outposts should afford to the inmates such +provisions as are not necessary for their own subsistence." + +"Hush, Anthony,--hush, for shame!" replied his fellow-soldier, "if ever +I heard our host's step, I heard it this instant; so give over thy +grumbling, since our captain, as we all know, hath prohibited, under +strict penalties, all quarrels between his followers and the people of +the country." + +"I am sure," replied Anthony, "that I have ministered occasion to none; +but I would I were equally certain of the good meaning of this +sullen-browed Thomas Dickson towards the English soldiers, for I seldom +go to bed in this dungeon of a house, but I expect my throat will gape +as wide as a thirsty oyster before I awaken. Here he comes, however," +added Anthony, sinking his sharp tones as he spoke; "and I hope to be +excommunicated if he has not brought with him that mad animal, his son +Charles, and two other strangers, hungry enough, I'll be sworn, to eat +up the whole supper, if they do us no other injury." + +"Shame of thyself, Anthony," repeated his comrade; "a good archer thou +as ever wore Kendal green, and yet affect to be frightened for two +tired travellers, and alarmed for the inroad their hunger may make on +the night's meal. There are four or five of us here--we have our bows +and our bills within reach, and scorn to be chased from our supper, or +cheated out of our share of it by a dozen Scotchmen, whether stationary +or strollers. How say'st thou?" he added, turning to Dickson--"How say +ye, quartermaster? it is no secret, that by the directions given to our +post, we must enquire into the occupations of such guests as you may +receive besides ourselves, your unwilling inmates; you are as ready for +supper, I warrant, as supper is for you, and I will only delay you and +my friend Anthony,--who becomes dreadfully impatient, until you answer +two or three questions which you wot of." + +"Bend-the-Bow," answered Dickson, "thou art a civil fellow; and +although it is something hard to be constrained to give an account of +one's friends, because they chance to quarter in one's own house for a +night or two, yet I must submit to the times, and make no vain +opposition. You may mark down in your breviary there, that upon the +fourteenth day before Palm Sunday, Thomas Dickson brought to his house +of Hazelside, in which you hold garrison, by orders from the English +governor, Sir John de Walton, two strangers, to whom the said Thomas +Dickson had promised refreshment, and a bed for the evening, if it be +lawful at this time and place." + +"But what are they, these strangers?" said Anthony, somewhat sharply. + +"A fine world the while," murmured Thomas Dickson, "that an honest man +should be forced to answer the questions of every paltry +companion!"--But he mitigated his voice and proceeded. "The eldest of +my guests is Bertram, an ancient English minstrel, who is bound on his +own errand to the Castle of Douglas, and will communicate what he has +to say of news to Sir John de Walton himself. I have known him for +twenty years, and never heard any thing of him save that he was good +man and true. The younger stranger is his son, a lad recovering from +the English disorder, which has been raging far and wide in +Westmoreland and Cumberland." + +"Tell me," said Bend-the-Bow, "this same Bertram,--was he not about a +year since in the service of some noble lady in our own country?" + +"I have heard so," answered Dickson. + +"We shall, in that case, I think, incur little danger," replied +Bend-the-Bow, "by allowing this old man and his son to proceed on their +journey to the castle." + +"You are my elder and my better," answered Anthony; "but I may remind +you that it is not so clearly our duty to give free passage, into a +garrison of a thousand men of all ranks, to a youth who has been so +lately attacked by a contagious disorder; and I question if our +commander would not rather hear that the Black Douglas, with a hundred +devils as black as himself, since such is his colour, had taken +possession of the outposts of Hazelside with sword and battle-axe, than +that one person suffering under this fell sickness had entered +peaceably, and by the open wicket of the castle." + +"There is something in what thou sayest, Anthony," replied his comrade; +"and considering that our governor, since he has undertaken the +troublesome job of keeping a castle which is esteemed so much more +dangerous than any other within Scotland, has become one of the most +cautious and jealous men in the world, we had better, I think, inform +him of the circumstance, and take his commands how the stripling is to +be dealt with." + +"Content am I," said the archer; "and first, methinks, I would just, in +order to show that we know what belongs to such a case, ask the +stripling a few questions, as how long he has been ill, by what +physicians he has been attended, when he was cured, and how his cure is +certified, &e." + +"True, brother," said Bend-the-Bow. "Thou hearest, minstrel, we would +ask thy son some questions--What has become of him?--he was in this +apartment but now." + +"So please you," answered Bertram, "he did but pass through the +apartment. Mr. Thomas Dickson, at my entreaty, as well as in respectful +reverence to your honour's health, carried him through the room without +tarriance, judging his own bed-chamber the fittest place for a young +man recovering from a severe illness, and after a day of no small +fatigue." + +"Well," answered the elder archer, "though it is uncommon for men who, +like us, live by bow-string and quiver, to meddle with interrogations +and examinations; yet, as the case stands, we must make some enquiries +of your son, ere we permit him to set forth to the Castle of Douglas, +where you say his errand leads him." + +"Rather my errand, noble sir," said the minstrel, "than that of the +young man himself." + +"If such be the case," answered Bend-the-Bow, "we may sufficiently do +our duty by sending yourself, with the first grey light of dawn, to the +castle, and letting your son remain in bed, which I warrant is the +fittest place for him, until we shall receive Sir John de Walton's +commands whether he is to be brought onward or not." + +"And we may as well," said Anthony, "since we are to have this man's +company at supper, make him acquainted with the rules of the +out-garrison stationed here for the time." So saying, he pulled a +scroll from his leathern pouch, and said, "Minstrel, canst thou read?" + +"It becomes my calling," said the minstrel. + +"It has nothing to do with mine, though," answered the archer, "and +therefore do thou read these regulations aloud; for since I do not +comprehend these characters by sight, I lose no chance of having them +read over to me as often as I can, that I may fix their sense in my +memory. So beware that thou readest the words letter for letter as they +are set down; for thou dost so at thy peril, Sir Minstrel, if thou +readest not like a true man." + +"On my minstrel word," said Bertram, and began to read excessively +slow; for he wished to gain a little time for consideration, which he +foresaw would be necessary to prevent his being separated from his +mistress, which was likely to occasion her much anxiety and distress. +He therefore began thus:--"'Outpost at Hazelside, the steading of +Goodman Thomas Dickson'--Ay, Thomas, and is thy house so called?" + +"It is the ancient name of the steading," said the Scot, "being +surrounded by a hazel-shaw, or thicket." + +"Hold your chattering tongue, minstrel," said Anthony, "and proceed, as +you value your ears, which you seem disposed to make less use of." + +"'His garrison'" proceeded the minstrel, reading, "'consists of a lance +with its furniture.' What, then, a lance, in other words, a belted +knight, commands this party?" + +"'Tis no concern of thine," said the archer. + +"But it is," answered the minstrel; "we have a right to be examined by +the highest person in presence." + +"I will show thee, thou rascal," said the archer, starting up, "that I +am lance enough for thee to reply to, and I will break thy head if thou +say'st a word more." + +"Take care, brother Anthony," said his comrade, "we are to use +travellers courteously--and, with your leave, those travellers best who +come from our native land." + +"It is even so stated here," said the minstrel, and he proceeded to +read:--"'The watch at this outpost of Hazelside [Footnote: Hazelside +Place, the fief granted to Thomas Dickson by William the Hardy, seventh +Lord Douglas, is still pointed out about two miles to the southwest of +the Castle Dangerous. Dickson was sixty years of age at the time when +Lord James first appeared in Douglasdale. His heirs kept possession of +the fief for centuries; and some respectable gentlemen's families in +Lanarkshire still trace themselves to this ancestor.--_From Notes by +Mr. Haddow_.] shall stop and examine all travellers passing by the said +station, suffering such to pass onward to the town of Douglas or to +Douglas Castle, always interrogating them with civility, and detaining +and turning them back if there arise matter of suspicion; but +conducting themselves in all matters civilly and courteously to the +people of the country, and to those who travel in it.' You see, most +excellent and valiant archer," added the commentator Bertram, "that +courtesy and civility are, above all, recommended to your worship in +your conduct towards the inhabitants, and those passengers who, like +us, may chance to fall under your rules in such matters." + +"I am not to be told at this time of day," said the archer, "how to +conduct myself in the discharge of my duties. Let me advise you, Sir +Minstrel, to be frank and open in your answers to our enquiries, and +you shall have no reason to complain." + +"I hope at all events," said the minstrel, "to have your favour for my +son, who is a delicate stripling, and not accustomed to play his part +among the crew which inhabit this wild world." + +"Well," continued the elder and more civil of the two archers, "if thy +son be a novice in this terrestrial navigation, I warrant that thou, my +friend, from thy look and manner of speech, hast enough of skill to use +thy compass. To comfort thee, although thou must thyself answer the +questions of our governor or deputy-governor, in order that he may see +there is no offence in thee, I think there may be permission granted +for thy son's residing here in the convent hard by, (where the nuns, by +the way, are as old as the monks, and have nearly as long beards, so +thou mayst be easy about thy son's morals,) until thou hast done thy +business at Douglas Castle, and art ready to resume thy journey." + +"If such permission," said the minstrel, "can be obtained, I should be +better pleased to leave him at the abbey, and go myself, in the first +place, to take the directions of your commanding officer." + +"Certainly," answered the archer, "that will be the safest and best +way; and with a piece or two of money, thou mayst secure the protection +of the abbot." + +"Thou say'st well," answered the minstrel; "I have known life, I have +known every stile, gap, pathway, and pass of this wilderness of ours +for some thirty years; and he that cannot steer his course fairly +through it like an able seaman, after having served such an +apprenticeship, can hardly ever be taught, were a century to be given +him to learn it in." + +"Since thou art so expert a mariner," answered the archer Anthony, +"thou hast, I warrant me, met in thy wanderings a potation called a +morning's draught, which they who are conducted by others, where they +themselves lack experience, are used to bestow upon those who undertake +the task of guide upon such an occasion?" + +"I understand you, sir," quoth the minstrel; "and although money, or +_drink-geld_, as the Fleming calls it, is rather a scarce commodity in +the purse of one of my calling, yet according to my feeble ability, +thou shalt have no cause to complain that thine eyes or those of thy +comrades have been damaged by a Scottish mist, while we can find an +English coin to pay for the good liquor which would wash them clear." + +"Content," said the archer; "we now understand each other; and if +difficulties arise on the road, thou shalt not want the countenance of +Anthony to sail triumphantly through them. But thou hadst better let +thy son know soon of the early visit to the abbot to-morrow, for thou +mayst guess that we cannot and dare not delay our departure for the +convent a minute after the eastern sky is ruddy; and, with other +infirmities, young men often are prone to laziness and a love of ease." + +"Thou shalt have no reason to think so," answered the minstrel; "not +the lark himself, when waked by the first ray peeping over the black +cloud, springs more lightly to the sky, than will my Augustine answer +the same brilliant summons. And now we understand each other, I would +only further pray you to forbear light talk while my son is in your +company,--a boy of innocent life, and timid in conversation." + +"Nay, jolly minstrel," said the elder archer, "thou givest us here too +gross an example of Satan reproving sin. If thou hast followed thy +craft for twenty years, as thou pretendest, thy son, having kept thee +company since childhood, must by this time be fit to open a school to +teach even devils the practice of the seven deadly sins, of which none +know the theory if those of the _gay science_ are lacking." + +"Truly, comrade, thou speakest well," answered Bertram, "and I +acknowledge that we minstrels are too much to blame in this matter. +Nevertheless, in good sooth, the fault is not one of which I myself am +particularly guilty; on the contrary, I think that he who would wish to +have his own hair honoured when time has strewed it with silver, should +so rein his mirth when in the presence of the young, as may show in +what respect he holds innocence. I will, therefore, with your +permission, speak a word to Augustine, that to-morrow we must be on +foot early." + +"Do so, my friend," said the English soldier; "and do the same the more +speedily that our poor supper is still awaiting until thou art ready to +partake of it." + +"To which, I promise thee," said Bertram, "I am disposed to entertain, +no delay." + +"Follow me, then," said Dickson, "and I will show thee where this young +bird of thine has his nest." + +Their host accordingly tripped up the wooden stair, and tapped at a +door, which he thus indicated was that of his younger guest. + +"Your father," continued he, as the door opened, "would speak with you, +Master Augustine." + +"Excuse me, my host," answered Augustine, "the truth is, that this room +being directly above your eating-chamber, and the flooring not in the +best possible repair, I have been compelled to the unhandsome practice +of eavesdropping, and not a word has escaped me that passed concerning +my proposed residence at the abbey, our journey to-morrow, and the +somewhat early hour at which I must shake off sloth, and, according to +thy expression, fly down from the roost." + +"And how dost thou relish," said Dickson, "being left with the Abbot of +Saint Bride's little flock here." + +"Why, well," said the youth, "if the abbot is a man of respectability +becoming his vocation, and not one of those swaggering churchmen, who +stretch out the sword, and bear themselves like rank soldiers in these +troublous times." + +"For that, young master," said Dickson, "if you let him put his hand +deep enough into your purse, he will hardly quarrel with any thing." +"Then I will leave him to my father," replied Augustine, "who will not +grudge him any thing he asks in reason." + +"In that case," replied the Scotchman, "you may trust to our abbot for +good accommodation--and so both sides are pleased." + +"It is well, my son," said Bertram, who now joined in the conversation; +"and that thou mayst be ready for early travelling, I shall presently +get our host to send thee some food, after partaking of which thou +shouldst go to bed and sleep off the fatigue of to-day, since to-morrow +will bring work for itself." + +"And as for thy engagement to these honest archers," answered +Augustine, "I hope you will be able to do what will give pleasure to +our guides, if they are disposed to be civil and true men." + +"God bless thee, my child!" answered Bertram; "thou knowest already +what would drag after thy beck all the English archers that were ever +on this side of the Solway. There is no fear of a grey goose shaft, if +you sing a _reveillez_ like to that which chimed even now from that +silken nest of dainty young goldfinches." + +"Hold me as in readiness, then," said the seeming youth, "when you +depart to-morrow morning. I am within hearing, I suppose, of the bells +of Saint Bride's chapel, and have no fear, through my sloth, of keeping +you or your company waiting." + +"Good night, and God bless thee, my child!" again said the minstrel; +"remember that your father sleeps not far distant, and on the slightest +alarm will not fail to be with you. I need scarce bid thee recommend +thyself, meantime, to the great Being, who is the friend and father of +us all." + +The pilgrim thanked his supposed father for his evening blessing, and +the visitors withdrew without farther speech at the time, leaving the +young lady to those engrossing fears, which, the novelty of her +situation, and the native delicacy of her sex being considered, +naturally thronged upon her. + +The tramp of a horse's foot was not long after heard at the house of +Hazelside, and the rider was welcomed by its garrison with marks of +respect. Bertram understood so much as to discover from the +conversation of the warders that this late arrival was Aymer de +Valence, the knight who commanded the little party, and to the +furniture of whose lance, as it was technically called, belonged the +archers with whom we have already been acquainted, a man-at-arms or +two, a certain proportion of pages or grooms, and, in short, the +command and guidance of the garrison at Thomas Dickson's, while in rank +he was Deputy-governor of Douglas Castle. + +To prevent all suspicion respecting himself and his companion, as well +as the risk of the latter being disturbed, the minstrel thought it +proper to present himself to the inspection of this knight, the great +authority of the little place. He found him with as little scruple as +the archers heretofore, making a supper of the relics of the roast beef. + +Before this young knight Bertram underwent an examination, while an old +soldier took down in writing such items of information as the examinate +thought proper to express in his replies, both with regard to the +minutiae of his present journey, his business at Castle Douglas, and +his route when that business should be accomplished; a much more minute +examination, in a word, than he had hitherto undergone by the archers, +or perhaps than was quite agreeable to him, being encumbered with at +least the knowledge of one secret, whatever more. Not that this new +examinator had any thing stern or severe in his looks or his questions. +As to the first, he was mild, gentle, and "meek as a maid," and +possessed exactly of the courteous manners ascribed by our father +Chaucer to the pattern of chivalry whom he describes upon his +pilgrimage to Canterbury. But with all his gentleness, De Valence +showed a great degree of acuteness and accuracy in his queries; and +well pleased was Bertram that the young knight did not insist upon +seeing his supposed son, although even in that case his ready wit had +resolved, like a seaman in a tempest, to sacrifice one part to preserve +the rest. He was not, however, driven to this extremity, being treated +by Sir Aymer with that degree of courtesy which in that age men of song +were in general thought entitled to. The knight kindly and liberally +consented to the lad's remaining in the convent, as a fit and quiet +residence for a stripling and an invalid, until Sir John de Walton +should express his pleasure on the subject; and Sir Aymer consented to +this arrangement the more willingly, as it averted all possible danger +of bringing disease into the English garrison. + +By the young knight's order, all in Dickson's house were despatched +earlier to rest than usual; the matin bell of the neighbouring chapel +being the signal for their assembly by daybreak. They rendezvoused +accordingly, and proceeded to Saint Bride's, where they heard mass, +after which an interview took place between the abbot Jerome and the +minstrel, in which the former undertook, with the permission of De +Valence, to receive Augustine into his abbey as a guest for a few days, +less or more, and for which Bertram promised an acknowledgment in name +of alms, which was amply satisfactory. + +"So be it," said Bertram, taking leave of his supposed son; "rely on it +I will not tarry a day longer at Douglas Castle than shall suffice for +transacting my business there, which is to look after the old books you +wot of, and I will speedily return for thee to the Abbey of Saint +Bride, to resume in company our journey homeward." + +"O father," replied the youth, with a smile, "I fear if you get among +romances and chronicles, you will be so earnest in your researches, +that you will forget poor Augustine and his concerns." + +"Never fear me, Augustine," said the old man, making the motion of +throwing a kiss towards the boy; "thou art good and virtuous, and +Heaven will not neglect thee, were thy father unnatural enough to do +so. Believe me, all the old songs since Merlin's day shall not make me +forget thee." + +Thus they separated, the minstrel, with the English knight and his +retinue, to move towards the castle, and the youth in dutiful +attendance on the venerable abbot, who was delighted to find that his +guest's thoughts turned rather upon spiritual things than on the +morning repast, of the approach of which he could not help being +himself sensible. + + + + +CHAPTER THE THIRD. + + This night, methinks, is but the daylight sick. + It looks a little paler; 'tis a day + Such as the day is when the sun is hid. + MERCHANT OF VENICE. + + +To facilitate the progress of the party on its way to Douglas Castle, +the Knight of Valence offered the minstrel the convenience of a horse, +which the fatigues of yesterday made him gladly accept. Any one +acquainted with equestrian exercise, is aware that no means of +refreshment carries away the sense of fatigue from over walking so +easily, as the exchange to riding, which calls into play another set of +muscles, and leaves those which have been over exerted an opportunity +of resting through change of motion, more completely than they could in +absolute repose. Sir Aymer de Valence was sheathed in armour, and +mounted on his charger, two of the archers, a groom of mean rank, and a +squire, who looked in his day for the honour of knighthood, completed +the detachment, which seemed so disposed as to secure the minstrel from +escape, and to protect him against violence. "Not," said the young +knight, addressing himself to Bertram, "that there is usually danger in +travelling in this country any more than in the most quiet districts of +England; but some disturbances, as you may have learnt, have broken out +here within this last year, and have caused the garrison of Castle +Douglas to maintain a stricter watch. But let us move on, for the +complexion of the day is congenial with the original derivation of the +name of the country, and the description of the chiefs to whom it +belonged--_Sholto Dhu Glass_--(see yon dark grey man,) and dark grey +will our route prove this morning, though by good luck it is not long." + +The morning was indeed what the original Gaelic words implied, a +drizzly, dark, moist day; the mist had settled upon the hills, and +unrolled itself upon brook, glade, and tarn, and the spring breeze was +not powerful enough to raise the veil, though from the wild sounds +which were heard occasionally on the ridges, and through the glens, it +might be supposed to wail at a sense of its own inability. The route of +the travellers was directed by the course which the river had ploughed +for itself down the valley, the banks of which bore in general that +dark grey livery which Sir Aymer de Valence had intimated to be the +prevalent tint of the country. Some ineffectual struggles of the sun +shot a ray here and there to salute the peaks of the hills; yet these +were unable to surmount the dulness of a March morning, and, at so +early an hour, produced a variety of shades, rather than a gleam of +brightness upon the eastern horizon. The view was monotonous and +depressing, and apparently the good knight Aymer sought some amusement +in occasional talk with Bertram, who, as was usual with his craft, +possessed a fund of knowledge, and a power of conversation, well suited +to pass away a dull morning. The minstrel, well pleased to pick up such +information as he might be able concerning the present state of the +country, embraced every opportunity of sustaining the dialogue. + +"I would speak with you, Sir Minstrel," said the young knight. "If thou +dost not find the air of this morning too harsh for thine organs, +heartily do I wish thou wouldst fairly tell me what can have induced +thee, being, as thou seemst, a man of sense, to thrust thyself into a +wild country like this, at such a time.--And you, my masters," +addressing the archers and the rest of the party, "methinks it would be +as fitting and seeming if you reined back your steeds for a horse's +length or so, since I apprehend you can travel on your way without the +pastime of minstrelsy." The bowmen took the hint, and fell back, but, +as was expressed by their grumbling observations, by no means pleased +that there seemed little chance of their overhearing what conversation +should pass between the young knight and the minstrel, which proceeded +as follows-- + +"I am, then, to understand, good minstrel," said the knight, "that you, +who have in your time borne arms, and even followed Saint George's +red-cross banner to the Holy Sepulchre, are so little tired of the +danger attending our profession, that you feel yourself attracted +unnecessarily to regions where the sword, for ever loose in its +scabbard, is ready to start on the slightest provocation?" + +"It would be hard," replied the minstrel bluntly, "to answer such a +question in the affirmative; and yet, when you consider how nearly +allied is his profession who celebrates deeds of arms with that of the +knight who performs them, your honour, I think, will hold it advisable +that a minstrel desirous of doing his devoir, should, like a young +knight, seek the truth of adventures where it is to be found, and +rather visit countries where the knowledge is preserved of high and +noble deeds, than those lazy and quiet realms, in which men live +indolently, and die ignobly in peace, or by sentence of law. You +yourself, sir, and those like you, who hold life cheap in respect of +glory, guide your course through this world on the very same principle +which brings your poor rhyming servant Bertram from a far province of +merry England, to this dark country of rugged Scotland called Douglas +Dale. You long to see adventures worthy of notice, and I (under favour +for naming us two in the same breath) seek a scanty and precarious, but +not a dishonourable living, by preparing for immortality, as well as I +can, the particulars of such exploits, especially the names of those +who were the heroes of these actions. Each, therefore, labours in his +vocation; nor can the one be justly wondered at more than the other, +seeing that if there be any difference in the degrees of danger to +which both the hero and the poet are exposed, the courage, strength, +arms, and address of the valiant knight, render it safer for him to +venture into scenes of peril, than for the poor man of rhyme." + +"You say well," answered the warrior; "and although it is something of +novelty to me to hear your craft represented as upon a level with my +own mode of life, yet shame were it to say that the minstrel who toils +so much to keep in memory the feats of gallant knights should not +himself prefer fame to existence, and a single achievement of valour to +a whole age without a name, or to affirm that he follows a mean and +unworthy profession." + +"Your worship will then acknowledge," said the minstrel, "that it is a +legitimate object in such as myself, who, simple as I am, have taken my +regular degrees among the professors of the _gay science_ at the +capital town of Aigues-Mortos, to struggle forward into this northern +district, where I am well assured many things have happened which have +been adapted to the harp by minstrels of great fame in ancient days, +and have become the subject of lays which lie deposited in the library +of Castle Douglas, where, unless copied over by some one who +understands the old British characters and language, they must, with +whatever they may contain, whether of entertainment or edification, be +speedily lost to posterity. If these hidden treasures were preserved +and recorded by the minstrel art of my poor self and others, it might +be held well to compensate for the risk of a chance blow of a +broadsword, or the sweep of a brown bill, while I am engaged in +collecting them; and I were unworthy of the name of a man, much more of +an inventor or finder, [Footnote: The name of Maker stands for _Poet_ +(with the original sense of which word it exactly corresponds) in the +old Scottish language. That of _Trouveur_ or Troubadour--Finder, in +short--has a similar meaning, and almost in every country the poetical +tribes have been graced with the same epithets, inferring the property +of those who employ invention or creation.] should I weigh the loss of +life, a commodity always so uncertain, against the chance of that +immortality which will survive in my lay after my broken voice and +shivered harp shall no longer be able either to express tune or +accompany tale." + +"Certainly," said Sir Aymer, "having a heart to feel such a motive, you +have an undoubted right to express it; nor should I have been in any +degree disposed to question it had I found many minstrels prepared, +like yourself, to prefer renown even to life itself, which most men +think of greatly more consequence." + +"There are, indeed, noble sir," replied Bertram, "minstrels, and, with +your reverence, even belted knights themselves, who do not sufficiently +value that renown which is acquired at the risk of life. To such +ignoble men we must leave their own reward--let us abandon to them +earth, and the things of earth, since they cannot aspire to that glory +which is the _best_ reward of others." + +The minstrel uttered these last words with such enthusiasm, that the +knight drew his bridle, and stood fronting Bertram, with his +countenance kindling at the same theme, on which, after a short +silence, he expressed himself with a like vivacity. + +"Well fare thy heart, gay companion! I am happy to see there is still +so much enthusiasm surviving in the world. Thou hast fairly won the +minstrel groat; and if I do not pay it in conformity to my sense of thy +merit, it shall be the fault of dame Fortune, who has graced my labours +in these Scottish wars with the niggard pay of Scottish money. A gold +piece or two there must be remaining of the ransom of one French +knight, whom chance threw into my hands, and that, my friend, shall +surely be thine own; and hark thee, I, Aymer de Valence, who now speak +to thee, am born of the noble House of Pembroke; and though now +landless, shall, by the grace of Our Lady, have in time a fitting +establishment, wherein I will find room for a minstrel like thee, if +thy talents have not by that time found thee a better patron." + +"Thank thee, noble knight," said the minstrel, "as well for thy present +intentions, as I hope I shall for thy future performance; but I may +say, with truth, that I have not the sordid inclination of many of my +brethren." + +"He who partakes the true thirst of noble fame," said the young knight, +"can have little room in his heart for the love of gold. But thou hast +not yet told me, friend minstrel, what are the motives, in particular +which have attracted thy wandering steps to this wild country?" + +"Were I to do so," replied Bertram, rather desirous to avoid the +question, as in some respects too nearly bordering on the secret +purpose of his journey, "it might sound like a studied panegyric on +thine own bold deeds, Sir Knight, and those of your companions in arms; +and such adulation, minstrel as I am, I hate like an empty cup at a +companion's lips. But let me say in few words, that Douglas Castle, and +the deeds of valour which it has witnessed, have sounded wide through +England; nor is there a gallant knight or trusty minstrel, whose heart +does not throb at the name of the stronghold, which, in former days, +the foot of an Englishman never entered, except in hospitality. There +is a magic in the very names of Sir John de Walton and Sir Aymer de +Valence, the gallant defenders of a place so often won back by its +ancient lords, and with such circumstances of valour and cruelty, that +it bears, in England, the name of the Dangerous Castle." + +"Yet I would fain hear," answered the knight, "your own minstrel +account of those legends which have induced you, for the amusement of +future times, to visit a country which, at this period, is so +distracted and perilous." + +"If you can endure the length of a minstrel tale," said Bertram--"I for +one am always amused by the exercise of my vocation, and have no +objection to tell my story, provided you do not prove an impatient +listener." + +"Nay, for that matter," said the young knight, "a fair listener thou +shalt have of me; and if my reward be not great, my attention at least +shall be remarkable." + +"And he," said the minstrel, "must be a poor gleeman who does not hold +himself better paid with that, than with gold or silver, were the +pieces English rose-nobles. On this condition, then, I begin a long +story, which may, in one or other of its details, find subject for +better minstrels than myself, and be listened to by such warriors as +you hundreds of years hence." + + + + +CHAPTER THE FOURTH. + + While many a merry lay and many a song + Cheer'd the rough road, we wish'd the rough road long; + The rough road then returning in a round, + Mark'd their impatient steps, for all was fairy ground. + DR. JOHNSON. + + +"It was about the year of redemption one thousand two hundred and +eighty-five years," began, the minstrel, "when King Alexander the Third +of Scotland lost his daughter Margaret, whose only child of the same +name, called the Maiden of Norway, (as her father was king of that +country,) became the heiress of this kingdom of Scotland, as well as of +her father's crown. An unhappy death was this for Alexander, who had no +nearer heirs left of his own body than this grandchild. She indeed +might claim his kingdom by birthright; but the difficulty of +establishing such a claim of inheritance must have been anticipated by +all who bestowed a thought upon the subject. The Scottish king, +therefore, endeavoured to make up for his loss by replacing his late +Queen, who was an English princess, sister of our Edward the First, +with Juletta, daughter of the Count de Dreux. The solemnities at the +nuptial ceremony, which took place in the town of Jedburgh, were very +great and remarkable, and particularly when, amidst the display of a +pageant which was exhibited on the occasion, a ghastly spectre made its +appearance in the form of a skeleton, as the King of Terrors is said to +be represented.--Your worship is free to laugh at this, if you think it +a proper subject for mirth; but men are alive who viewed it with their +own eyes, and the event showed too well of what misfortunes this +apparition was the singular prognostication." + +"I have heard the story," said the knight; "but the monk who told it +me, suggested that the figure, though unhappily chosen, was perhaps +purposely introduced as a part of the pageant." + +"I know not that," said the minstrel, dryly; "but there is no doubt +that shortly after this apparition King Alexander died, to the great +sorrow of his people. The Maid of Norway, his heiress, speedily +followed her grandfather to the grave, and our English king, Sir +Knight, raked up a claim of dependency and homage due, he said, by +Scotland, which neither the lawyers, nobles, priests, nor the very +minstrels of Scotland, had ever before heard of." + +"Now, beshrew me," interrupted Sir Aymer de Valence, "this is beyond +bargain. I agreed to hear your tale with patience, but I did not pledge +myself that it should contain matter to the reproach of Edward the +First, of blessed memory; nor will I permit his name to be mentioned in +my hearing without the respect due his high rank and noble qualities." + +"Nay," said the minstrel, "I am no highland bagpiper or genealogist, to +carry respect for my art so far as to quarrel with a man of worship who +stops me at the beginning of a pibroch. I am an Englishman, and wish +dearly well to my country; and, above all, I must speak the truth. But +I will avoid disputable topics. Your age, sir, though none of the +ripest, authorizes me to suppose you may have seen the battle of +Falkirk, and other onslaughts in which the competition of Bruce and +Baliol has been fiercely agitated, and you will permit me to say, that +if the Scottish have not had the right upon their side, they have at +least defended the wrong with the efforts of brave men and true." + +"Of brave men I grant you," said the knight, "for I have seen no +cowards amongst them; but as for truth, they can best judge of it who +know how often they have sworn faith to England, and how repeatedly +they have broken their vow." + +"I shall not stir the question," said the minstrel, "leaving it to your +worship to determine which has most falsehood--he who compels a weaker +person to take an unjust path, or he who, compelled by necessity, takes +the imposed oath without the intention of keeping his word." + +"Nay, nay," said De Valence, "let us keep our opinions, for we are not +likely to force each other from the faith we have adopted on this +subject. But take my advice, and whilst thou travellest under an +English pennon, take heed that thou keepest off this conversation in +the hall and kitchen, where perhaps the soldier may be less tolerant +than the officer; and now, in a word, what is thy legend of this +Dangerous Castle?" + +"For that," replied Bertram, "methinks your worship is most likely to +have a better edition than I, who have not been in this country for +many years; but it is not for me to bandy opinions with your +knightship. I will even proceed with the tale as I have heard it. I +need not, I presume, inform your worship that the Lords of Douglas, who +founded this castle, are second to no lineage in Scotland in the +antiquity of their descent. Nay, they have themselves boasted that +their family is not to be seen or distinguished, like other great +houses, until it is found at once in a certain degree of eminence. 'You +may see us in the tree,' they say, 'you cannot discover us in the twig; +you may see us in the stream, you cannot trace us to the fountain.' In +a word, they deny that historians or genealogists can point out the +first mean man named Douglas, who originally elevated the family; and +true it is, that so far back as we have known this race, they have +always been renowned for valour and enterprise, accompanied with the +power which made that enterprise effectual." + +"Enough," said the knight, "I have heard of the pride and power of that +great family, nor does it interest me in the least to deny or detract +from their bold claims to consideration in this respect." + +"Without doubt you must also have heard, noble sir," replied the +minstrel, "many things of James, the present heir of the house of +Douglas?" "More than enough," answered the English knight; "he is known +to have been a stout supporter of that outlawed traitor, William +Wallace; and again, upon the first raising of the banner by this Robert +Bruce, who pretends to be King of Scotland, this young springald, James +Douglas, must needs start into rebellion anew. He plunders his uncle, +the Archbishop of St. Andrews, of a considerable sum of money, to fill +the Scottish Usurper's not over-burdened treasury, debauches the +servants of his relation, takes arms, and though repeatedly chastised +in the field, still keeps his vaunt, and threatens mischief to those, +who, in the name of his rightful sovereign, defend the Castle of +Douglasdale." + +"It is your pleasure to say so, Sir Knight," replied Bertram; "yet I am +sure, were you a Scot, you would with patience hear me tell over what +has been said of this young man by those who have known him, and whose +account of his adventures shows how differently the same tale may be +told. These men talk of the present heir of this ancient family as +fully adequate to maintain and augment its reputation; ready, indeed, +to undergo every peril in the cause of Robert the Bruce, because the +Bruce is esteemed by him his lawful king; and sworn and devoted, with +such small strength as he can muster, to revenge himself on those +Southrons who have, for several years, as he thinks, unjustly, +possessed themselves of his father's abode." + +"O," replied Sir Aymer de Valence, "we have heard much of his +achievements in this respect, and of his threats against our governor +and ourselves; yet we think it scarce likely that Sir John de Walton +will move from Douglasdale without the King's order, although this +James Douglas, a mere chicken, take upon himself to crack his voice by +crowing like a cock of the game." + +"Sir," answered Bertram, "our acquaintance is but brief, and yet I feel +it has been so beneficial to me, that I trust there is no harm, in +hoping that James Douglas and you may never meet in bodily presence +till the state of the two countries shall admit of peace being between +you." + +"Thou art obliging, friend," answered Sir Aymer, "and, I doubt not, +sincere; and truly thou seemest to have a wholesome sense of the +respect due to this young knight, when men talk of him in his native +valley of Douglas. For me, I am only poor Aymer of Valence, without an +acre of land, or much hope of acquiring any, unless I cut something +huge with my broadsword out of the middle of these hills. Only this, +good minstrel, if thou livest to tell my story, may I pray thee to use +thy scrupulous custom of searching out the verity, and whether I live +or die thou shalt not, I think, discover that thy late acquaintance of +a spring morning hath added more to the laurels of James of Douglas, +than any man's death must give to him by whose stronger arm, or more +lucky chance, it is his lot to fall." + +"I nothing fear you, Sir Knight," said the minstrel, "for yours is that +happy brain, which, bold in youth as beseems a young knight, is in more +advanced life the happy source of prudent counsel, of which I would +not, by an early death, wish thy country to be deprived." + +"Thou art so candid, then, as to wish Old England the benefit of good +advice" said Sir Aymer, "though thou leanest to the side of Scotland in +the controversy?" + +"Assuredly, Sir Knight," said the minstrel, "since in wishing that +Scotland and England each knew their own true interest, I am bound to +wish them both alike well; and they should, I think, desire to live in +friendship together. Occupying each their own portion of the same +island, and living under the same laws, and being at peace with each +other, they might without fear, face the enmity of the whole world." + +"If thy faith be so liberal," answered the Knight, "as becomes a good +man, thou must certainly pray, Sir Minstrel, for the success of England +in the war, by which alone these murderous hostilities of the northern +nation can end in a solid peace. The rebellions of this obstinate +country are but the struggles of the stag when he is mortally wounded; +the animal grows weaker and weaker with every struggle, till his +resistance is effectually tamed by the hand of death." + +"Not so, Sir Knight," said the minstrel; "if my creed is well taught +me, we ought not so to pray. We may, without offence, intimate in our +prayers the end we wish to obtain; but it is not for us, poor mortals, +to point out to an all-seeing Providence the precise manner in which +our petitions are to be accomplished, or to wish the downfall of a +country to end its commotions, as the death-stab terminates the agonies +of the wounded stag. Whether I appeal to my heart or to my +understanding, the dictate would be to petition Heaven for what is just +and equal in the case; and if I should fear for thee, Sir Knight, in an +encounter with James of Douglas, it is only because he upholds, as I +conceive, the better side of the debate; and powers more earthly have +presaged to him success." + +"Do you tell me so, Sir Minstrel," said De Valence in a threatening +tone, "knowing me and my office?" + +"Your personal dignity and authority" said Bertram, "cannot change the +right into wrong, or avert what Providence has decreed to take place. +You know, I must presume, that the Douglas hath, by various devices, +already contrived to make himself master of this Castle of Douglas +three several times, and that Sir John de Walton, the present governor, +holds it with a garrison trebled in force, and under the assurance that +if, without surprise, he should keep it from the Scottish power for a +year and a day, he shall obtain the barony of Douglas, with its +extensive appendages, in free property for his reward; while, on the +other hand, if he shall suffer the fortress during this space to be +taken, either by guile or by open force, as has happened successively +to the holders of the Dangerous Castle, he will become liable to +dishonour as a knight, and to attainder as a subject; and the chiefs +who take share with him, and serve under him, will participate also in +his guilt and his punishment?" + +"All this I know well" said Sir Aymer; "and I only wonder that, having +become public, the conditions have, nevertheless, been told with so +much accuracy; but what has this to do with the issue of the combat, if +the Douglas and I should chance to meet? I will not surely be disposed +to fight with less animation because I wear my fortune upon my sword, +or become coward because I fight for a portion of the Douglas's estate, +as well as for fame and for fatherland? And after all"-- + +"Hear me," said the minstrel; "an ancient gleeman has said, that in a +false quarrel there is no true valour, and the _los_ or praise won +therein, is, when balanced against honest fame, as valueless as a +wreath formed out of copper, compared to a chaplet of pure gold; but I +bid you not take me for thy warrant in this important question. Thou +well knowest how James of Thirlwall, the last English commander before +Sir John de Walton, was surprised, and the castle sacked with +circumstances of great inhumanity." + +"Truly," said Sir Aymer, "I think that Scotland and England both have +heard of that onslaught, and of the disgusting proceedings of the +Scottish chieftain, when he caused transport into the wild forest gold, +silver, ammunition, and armour, and all things that could be easily +removed, and destroyed a large quantity of provisions in a manner +equally savage and unheard-of." + +"Perhaps, Sir Knight," said Bertram, "you were yourself an eyewitness +of that transaction, which has been spoken of far and wide, and is +called the Douglas Larder?" + +"I saw not the actual accomplishment of the deed," said De Valence; +"that is, I witnessed it not a-doing, but I beheld enough of the sad +relics to make the Douglas Larder never by me to be forgotten as a +record of horror and abomination. I would speak it truly, by the hand +of my father and by my honour as a knight! and I will leave it to thee +to judge whether it was a deed calculated to secure the smiles of +Heaven in favour of the actors. This is my edition of the story:-- + +"A large quantity of provisions had during two years or thereabouts +been collected from different points, and the Castle of Douglas, newly +repaired, and, as was thought, carefully guarded, was appointed as the +place where the said provisions were to be put in store for the service +of the King of England, or of the Lord Clifford, whichever should first +enter the Western Marches with an English army, and stand in need of +such a supply. This army was also to relieve our wants, I mean those of +my uncle the Earl of Pembroke, who for some time before had lain with a +considerable force in the town called Ayr, near the old Caledonian +Forest, and where we had hot wars with the insurgent Scots. Well, sir, +it happened, as in similar cases, that Thirlwall, though a bold and +active soldier, was surprised in the Castle of Douglas, about +Hallowmass, by this same worthy, young James Douglas. In no very good +humour was he, as you may suppose; for his father, called William the +Hardy, or William Longlegs, having refused, on any terms, to become +Anglicized, was made a lawful prisoner, and died as such, closely +confined in Berwick, or, as some say, in Newcastle. The news of his +father's death had put young Douglas into no small rage, and tended, I +think, to suggest what he did in his resentment. Embarrassed by the +quantity of provisions which he found in the castle, which, the English +being superior in the country, he had neither the means to remove, nor +the leisure to stay and consume, the fiend, as I think, inspired him +with a contrivance to render them unfit for human use. You shall judge +yourself whether it was likely to be suggested by a good or an evil +spirit. + +"According to this device, the gold, silver, and other transportable +commodities being carried to secret places of safety, Douglas caused +the meat, the malt, and other corn or grain, to be brought down into +the castle cellar, where he emptied the contents of the sacks into one +loathsome heap, striking out the heads of the barrels and puncheons, so +as to let the mingled drink run through the heap of meal, grain, and so +forth. The bullocks provided for slaughter were in like manner knocked +on the head, and their blood suffered to drain into the mass of edible +substances; and lastly, the flesh of these oxen was buried in the same +mass, in which was also included the dead bodies of those in the +castle, who, receiving no quarter from the Douglas, paid dear enough +for having kept no better watch. This base and unworthy abuse of +provisions intended for the use of man, together with throwing into the +well of the castle carcasses of men and horses, and other filth for +polluting the same, has since that time been called the DOUGLAS LARDER." + +"I pretend not, good Sir Aymer," said the minstrel, "to vindicate what +you justly reprove, nor can I conceive any mode of rendering provisions +arranged after the form of the Douglas Larder, proper for the use of +any Christian; yet this young gentleman might perhaps act under the +sting of natural resentment, rendering his singular exploit more +excusable than it may seem at first. Think, if your own noble father +had just died in a lingering captivity, his inheritance seized upon, +and occupied as a garrison by a foreign enemy, would not these things +stir you to a mode of resentment, which in cold blood, and judging of +it as the action of an enemy, your honour might hold in natural and +laudable abhorrence?--Would you pay respect to dead and senseless +objects, which no one could blame your appropriating to your own use, +or even scruple the refusal of quarter to prisoners, which is so often +practised even in wars which are otherwise termed fair and humane?" + +"You press me close, minstrel," said Aymer de Valence. "I at least have +no great interest to excuse the Douglas in this matter, since its +consequences were, that I myself, and the rest of my uncle's host, +laboured with Clifford and his army to rebuild this same Dangerous +Castle; and feeling no stomach for the cheer that the Douglas had left +us, we suffered hard commons, though I acknowledge we did not hesitate +to adopt for our own use such sheep and oxen as the miserable Scots had +still left around their farm-houses; and I jest not, Sir Minstrel, when +I acknowledge in sad earnest, that we martial men ought to make our +petitions with peculiar penitence to Heaven for mercy, when we reflect +on the various miseries which the nature of our profession compels us +to inflict on each other." + +"It seems to me," answered the minstrel, "that those who feel the +stings of their own conscience should be more lenient when they speak +of the offences of others; nor do I greatly rely on a sort of prophecy +which was delivered, as the men of this hill district say, to the young +Douglas, by a man who in the course of nature should have been long +since dead, promising him a course of success against the English for +having sacrificed his own castle to prevent their making it a garrison." + +"We have time enough for the story," said Sir Aymer, "and methinks it +would suit a knight and a minstrel better than the grave converse we +have hitherto held, which would have beseemed--so God save me--the +mouths of two travelling friars." + +"So be it," said the minstrel; "the rote or the viol easily changes its +time and varies its note." + + + + +CHAPTER THE FIFTH. + + A tale of sorrow, for your eyes may weep; + A tale of horror, for your flesh may tingle; + A tale of wonder, for the eyebrows arch, + And the flesh curdles if you read it rightly + OLD PLAY. + + +"Your honour must be informed, gentle Sir Aymer de Valence, that I have +heard this story told at a great distance from the land in which it +happened, by a sworn minstrel, the ancient friend and servant of the +house of Douglas, one of the best, it is said, who ever belonged to +that noble family. This minstrel, Hugo Hugonet by name, attended his +young master when on this fierce exploit, as was his wont. + +"The castle was in total tumult; in one corner the war-men were busy +breaking up and destroying provisions; in another, they were slaying +men, horses, and cattle, and these actions were accompanied with +appropriate sounds. The cattle, particularly, had become sensible of +their impending fate, and with awkward resistance and piteous cries, +testified that reluctance with which these poor creatures look +instinctively on the shambles. The groans and screams of men, +undergoing, or about to undergo, the stroke of death, and the screeches +of the poor horses which were in mortal agony, formed a fearful chorus. +Hugonet was desirous to remove himself from such unpleasant sights and +sounds; but his master, the Douglas, had been a man of some reading, +and his old servant was anxious to secure a book of poetry, to which he +had been attached of old. This contained the Lays of an ancient +Scottish Bard, who, if an ordinary human creature while he was in this +life, cannot now perhaps be exactly termed such. + +"He was, in short, that Thomas, distinguished by the name of the +Rhymer, and whose intimacy, it is said, became so great with the gifted +people, called the Faery folk, that he could, like them, foretell the +future deed before it came to pass, and united in his own person the +quality of bard and of soothsayer. But of late years he had vanished +almost entirely from this mortal scene; and although the time and +manner of his death were never publicly known, yet the general belief +was, that he was not severed from the land of the living, but removed +to the land of Faery, from whence he sometimes made excursions, and +concerned himself only about matters which were to come hereafter. +Hugonet was the more earnest to prevent the loss of the works of this +ancient bard, as many of his poems and predictions were said to be +preserved in the castle, and were supposed to contain much especially +connected with the old house of Douglas, as well as other families of +ancient descent, who had been subjects of this old man's prophecy; and +accordingly he determined to save this volume from destruction in the +general conflagration to which the building was about to be consigned +by the heir of its ancient proprietors. With this view he hurried up +into the little old vaulted room, called 'the Douglas's study,' in +which there might be some dozen old books written by the ancient +chaplains, in what the minstrels call _the letter black_. He +immediately discovered the celebrated lay, called Sir Tristrem, which +has been so often altered and abridged as to bear little resemblance to +the original. Hugonet, who well knew the value in which this poem was +held by the ancient lords of the castle, took the parchment volume from +the shelves of the library, and laid it upon a small desk adjacent to +the Baron's chair. Having made such preparation for putting it in +safety, he fell into a brief reverie, in which the decay of light, and +the preparations for the Douglas Larder, but especially the last sight +of objects which had been familiar to his eyes, now on the eve of +destruction, engaged him at that moment. + +"The bard, therefore, was thinking within himself upon the uncommon +mixture of the mystical scholar and warrior in his old master, when, as +he bent his eyes upon the book of the ancient Rhymer, he was astonished +to observe it slowly removed from the desk on which it lay by an +invisible hand. The old man looked with horror at the spontaneous +motion of the book, for the safety of which he was interested, and had +the courage to approach a little nearer the table, in order to discover +by what means it had been withdrawn. + +"I have said the room was already becoming dark, so as to render it +difficult to distinguish any person in the chair, though it now +appeared, on closer examination, that a kind of shadowy outline of a +human form was seated in it, but neither precise enough to convey its +exact figure to the mind, nor so detailed as to intimate distinctly its +mode of action. The Bard of Douglas, therefore, gazed upon the object +of his fear, as if he had looked upon something not mortal; +nevertheless, as he gazed more intently, he became more capable of +discovering the object which offered itself to his eyes, and they grew +by degrees more keen to penetrate what they witnessed. A tall thin +form, attired in, or rather shaded with, a long flowing dusky robe, +having a face and physiognomy so wild and overgrown with hair as to be +hardly human, were the only marked outlines of the phantom; and, +looking more attentively, Hugonet was still sensible of two other +forms, the outlines, it seemed, of a hart and a hind, which appeared +half to shelter themselves behind the person and under the robe of this +supernatural figure." + +"A probable tale," said the knight, "for you, Sir Minstrel, a man of +sense as you seem to be, to recite so gravely! From what wise authority +have you had this tale, which, though it might pass well enough amid +clanging beakers, must be held quite apocryphal in the sober hours of +the morning?" + +"By my minstrel word, Sir Knight," answered Bertram, "I am no +propagator of the fable, if it be one; Hugonet, the violer, when he had +retired into a cloister near the Lake of Pembelmere in Wales, +communicated the story to me as I now tell it. Therefore, as it was +upon the authority of an eyewitness, I apologize not for relating it to +you, since I could hardly discover a more direct source of knowledge." + +"Be it so, Sir Minstrel," said the knight; "tell on thy tale, and may +thy legend escape criticism from others as well as from me." + +"Hugonet, Sir Knight," answered Bertram, "was a holy man, and +maintained a fair character during his whole life, notwithstanding his +trade may be esteemed a light one. The vision spoke to him in an +antique language, like that formerly used in the kingdom of +Strath-Clyde, being a species of Scots or Gaelic, which few would have +comprehended. + +"'You are a learned man,' said the apparition, 'and not unacquainted +with the dialects used in your country formerly, although they are now +out of date, and you are obliged to translate them into the vulgar +Saxon of Deira or Northumberland; but highly must an ancient British +bard prize one in this "remote term of time," who sets upon the poetry +of his native country a value which invites him to think of its +preservation at a moment of such terror as influences the present +evening.' + +"'It is, indeed,' said Hugonet, 'a night of terror, that calls even the +dead from the grave, and makes them the ghastly and fearful companions +of the living--Who or what art thou, in God's name, who breakest the +bounds which divide them, and revisitest thus strangely the state thou +hast so long bid adieu to?' + +"'I am,' replied the vision, 'that celebrated Thomas the Rhymer, by +some called Thomas of Erceldoun, or Thomas the True Speaker. Like other +sages, I am permitted at times to revisit the scenes of my former life, +nor am I incapable of removing the shadowy clouds and darkness which +overhang futurity; and know, thou afflicted man, that what thou now +seest in this woeful country, is not a general emblem of what shall +therein befall hereafter, but in proportion as the Douglasses are now +suffering the loss and destruction of their home for their loyalty to +the rightful heir of the Scottish kingdom, so hath Heaven appointed for +them a just reward; and as they have not spared to burn and destroy +their own house and that of their fathers in the Bruce's cause, so is +it the doom of Heaven, that as often as the walls of Douglas Castle +shall be burnt to the ground, they shall be again rebuilt still more +stately and more magnificent than before.' + +"A cry was now heard like that of a multitude in the courtyard, joining +in a fierce shout of exultation; at the same time a broad and ruddy +glow seemed to burst from the beams and rafters, and sparks flew from +them as from the smith's stithy, while the element caught to its fuel, +and the conflagration broke its way through every aperture. + +"'See ye that?' said the vision, casting his eye towards the windows +and disappearing--'Begone! The fated hour of removing this book is not +yet come, nor are thine the destined hands. But it will be safe where I +have placed it, and the time of its removal shall come.' The voice was +heard after the form had vanished, and the brain of Hugonet almost +turned round at the wild scene which he beheld; his utmost exertion was +scarcely sufficient to withdraw him from the terrible spot, and Douglas +Castle that night sunk into ashes and smoke, to arise, in no great +length of time, in a form stronger than ever." The minstrel stopt, and +his hearer, the English knight, remained silent for some minutes ere at +length he replied. + +"It is true, minstrel," answered Sir Aymer, "that your tale is so far +undeniable, that this castle--three times burned down by the heir of +the house and of the barony--has hitherto been as often reared again by +Henry Lord Clifford, and other generals of the English, who endeavoured +on every occasion to build it up more artificially and more strongly +than it had formerly existed, since it occupies a position too +important to the safety of our Scottish border to permit our yielding +it up. This I myself have partly witnessed. But I cannot think, that +because the castle has been so destroyed, it is therefore decreed so to +be repaired in future, considering that such cruelties, as surely +cannot meet the approbation of Heaven, have attended the feats of the +Douglasses. But I see thou art determined to keep thine own faith, nor +can I blame thee, since the wonderful turns of fate which have attended +this fortress, are sufficient to warrant any one to watch for what seem +the peculiar indications of the will of Heaven; but thou mayst believe, +good minstrel, that the fault shall not be mine, if the young Douglas +shall have opportunity to exercise his cookery upon a second edition of +his family larder, or to profit by the predictions of Thomas the +Rhymer." + +"I do not doubt due circumspection upon your own part and Sir John de +Walton's," said Bertram; "but there is no crime in my saying that +Heaven can accomplish its own purposes. I look upon Douglas Castle as +in some degree a fated place, and I long to see what changes time may +have made in it during the currency of twenty years. Above all, I +desire to secure, if possible, the volume of this Thomas of Erceldoun, +having in it such a fund of forgotten minstrelsy, and of prophecies +respecting the future fates of the British kingdom, both northern and +southern." + +The knight made no answer, but rode a little space forward, keeping the +upper part of the ridge of the water, by which the road down the vale +seemed to be rather sharply conducted. It at length attained the summit +of an acclivity of considerable length. From this point, and behind a +conspicuous rock, which appeared to have been pushed aside, as it were, +like the scene of a theatre to admit a view of the under part of the +valley, the travellers beheld the extensive vale, parts of which have +been already shown in detail, but which, as the river became narrower, +was now entirely laid bare in its height and depth as far as it +extended, and displayed in its precincts, at a little distance from the +course of the stream, the towering and lordly castle to which it gave +the name. The mist which continued to encumber the valley with its +fleecy clouds, showed imperfectly the rude fortifications which served +to defend the small town of Douglas, which was strong enough to repel a +desultory attack, but not to withstand what was called in those days a +formal siege. The most striking feature was its church, an ancient +Gothic pile raised on an eminence in the centre of the town, and even +then extremely ruinous. To the left, and lying in the distance, might +be seen other towers and battlements; and divided from the town by a +piece of artificial water, which extended almost around it, arose the +Dangerous Castle of Douglas. + +Sternly was it fortified, after the fashion of the middle ages, with +donjon and battlements; displaying, above others, the tall tower, which +bore the name of Lord Henry's, or the Clifford's Tower. + +"Yonder is the castle," said Aymer de Valence, extending his arm with a +smile of triumph upon his brow; "thou mayst judge thyself, whether the +defences added to it under the Clifford are likely to render its next +capture a more easy deed than the last." + +The minstrel barely shook his head, and quoted from the +Psalmist--"_Nisi Dominus custodiet_." Nor did he prosecute the +discourse, though De Valence answered eagerly, "My own edition of the +text is not very different from thine; but, methinks thou art more +spiritually-minded than can always be predicated of a wandering +minstrel." + +"God knows," said Bertram, "that if I, or such as I, are forgetful of +the finger of Providence in accomplishing its purposes in this lower +world, we have heavier blame than that of other people, since we are +perpetually called upon, in the exercise of our fanciful profession, to +admire the turns of fate which bring good out of evil, and which render +those who think only of their own passions and purposes the executors +of the will of Heaven." + +"I do submit to what you say, Sir Minstrel," answered the knight, "and +it would be unlawful to express any doubt of the truths which you speak +so solemnly, any more than of your own belief in them. Let me add, sir, +that I think I have power enough in this garrison to bid you welcome, +and Sir John de Walton, I hope, will not refuse access to hall, castle, +or knight's bower, to a person of your profession, and by whose +conversation we shall, perhaps, profit somewhat. I cannot, however, +lead you to expect such indulgence for your son, considering the +present state of his health; but if I procure him the privilege to +remain at the convent of Saint Bride, he will be there unmolested and +in safety, until you have renewed your acquaintance with Douglas Dale +and its history, and are disposed to set forward on your journey." + +"I embrace your honour's proposal the more willingly," said the +minstrel, "that I can recompense the Father Abbot." + +"A main point with holy men or women," replied De Valence, "who, in +time of warfare, subsist by affording the visitors of their shrine the +means of maintenance in their cloisters for a passing season." + +The party now approached the sentinels on guard at the castle, who were +closely and thickly stationed, and who respectfully admitted Sir Aymer +de Valence, as next in command under Sir John de Walton. Fabian--for so +was the young squire named who attended on De Valence--mentioned it as +his master's pleasure that the minstrel should also be admitted. An old +archer, however, looked hard at the minstrel as he followed Sir Aymer. +"It is not for us," said he, "or any of our degree, to oppose the +pleasure of Sir Aymer do Valence, nephew to the Earl of Pembroke, in +such a matter; and for us, Master Fabian, welcomes are you to make the +gleeman your companion both at bed and board, as well as your visitant, +a week or two at the Castle of Douglas; but your worship is well aware +of the strict order of watch laid upon us, and if Solomon, King of +Israel, were to come here as a travelling minstrel, by my faith I durst +not give him entrance, unless I had positive authority from Sir John de +Walton." + +"Do you doubt, sirrah," said Aymer de Valence, who returned on hearing +an altercation betwixt Fabian and the archer--"do you doubt that I have +good authority to entertain a guest, or do you presume to contest it?" + +"Heaven forbid!" said the old man, "that I should presume to place my +own desire in opposition to your worship, who has so lately and so +honourably acquired your spurs; but in this matter I must think what +will be the wish of Sir John de Walton, who is your governor, Sir +Knight, as well as mine; and so far I hold it worth while to detain +your guest until Sir John return from a ride to the outposts of the +castle; and this, I conceive, being my duty, will be no matter of +offence to your worship." + +"Methinks," said the knight, "it is saucy in thee to suppose that my +commands can have any thing in them improper, or contradictory to those +of Sir John de Walton; thou mayst trust to me at least that thou shalt +come to no harm. Keep this man in the guard-room; let him not want good +cheer, and when Sir John de Walton returns, report him as a person +admitted by my invitation, and if any thing more be wanted to make out +your excuse, I shall not be reluctant in stating it to the governor." + +The archer made a signal of obedience with the pike which he held in +his hand, and resumed the grave and solemn manner of a sentinel upon +his post. He first, however, ushered in the minstrel, and furnished him +with food and liquor, speaking at the same time to Fabian, who remained +behind. The smart young stripling had become very proud of late, in +consequence of obtaining the name of Sir Aymer's squire, and advancing +a step in chivalry, as Sir Aymer himself had, somewhat earlier than the +usual period, been advanced from squire to knight. + +"I tell thee, Fabian," said the old archer, (whose gravity, sagacity, +and skill in his vocation, while they gained him the confidence of all +in the castle, subjected him, as he himself said, occasionally to the +ridicule of the young coxcombs; and at the same time we may add, +rendered him somewhat pragmatic and punctilious towards those who stood +higher than himself in birth and rank;) "I tell thee, Fabian, thou wilt +do thy master, Sir Aymer, good service, if thou wilt give him a hint to +suffer an old archer, man-at-arms, or such like, to give him a fair and +civil answer respecting that which he commands; for undoubtedly it is +not in the first score of a man's years that he learns the various +proper forms of military service; and Sir John de Walton, a most +excellent commander no doubt, is one earnestly bent on pursuing the +strict line of his duty, and will be rigorously severe, as well, +believe me, with thy master as with a lesser person. Nay, he also +possesses that zeal for his duty which induces him to throw blame, if +there be the slightest ground for it, upon Aymer de Valence himself, +although his uncle, the Earl of Pembroke, was John de Walton's steady +patron, and laid the beginning of his good fortune; for all which, by +training up his nephew in the true discipline of the French wars, Sir +John has taken the best way of showing himself grateful to the eld +Earl." + +"Be it as you will, old Gilbert Greenleaf," answered Fabian, "thou +knowest I never quarrel with thy sermonizing, and therefore give me +credit for submitting to many a lecture from Sir John de Walton and +thyself; but thou drivest this a little too far, if thou canst not let +a day pass without giving me a flogging. Credit me, Sir John de Walton +will not thank thee, if thou term him one too old to remember that he +himself had once some green sap in his veins. Ay, thus it is, the old +man will not forget that he has once been young, nor the young that he +must some day be old; and so the one changes his manners into the +lingering formality of advanced age, and the other remains like a +midsummer torrent swoln with rain, every drop of water in it noise, +froth, and overflow. There is a maxim for thee, Gilbert!--Heardest thou +ever better? hang it up amidst thy axioms of wisdom, and see if it will +not pass among them like fifteen to the dozen. It will serve to bring +thee off, man, when the wine-pot (thine only fault, good Gilbert) hath +brought thee on occasion into something of a scrape." + +"Best keep it for thyself, good Sir Squire," said the old man; +"methinks it is more like to stand thyself one day in good stead. Who +ever heard of a knight, or of the wood of which a knight is made, and +that is a squire, being punished corporally like a poor old archer or +horseboy? Your worst fault will be mended by some of these witty +sayings, and your best service will scarce be rewarded more thankfully +than by giving thee the name of Fabian the Fabler, or some such witty +title." + +Having unloosed his repartee to this extent, old Greenleaf resumed a +certain acidity of countenance, which may be said to characterise those +whose preferment hath become frozen under the influence of the slowness +of its progress, and who display a general spleen against such as have +obtained the advancement for which all are struggling, earlier, and, as +they suppose, with less merit than their own. From time to time the eye +of the old sentinel stole from the top of his pike, and with an air of +triumph rested upon the young man Fabian, as if to see how deeply the +wound had galled him, while at the same time he held himself on the +alert to perform whatever mechanical duty his post might require. Both +Fabian and his master were at the happy period of life when such +discontent as that of the grave archer affected them lightly, and, at +the very worst, was considered as the jest of an old man and a good +soldier; the more especially, as he was always willing to do the duty +of his companions, and was much trusted by Sir John de Walton, who, +though very much younger, had been bred up like Greenleaf in the wars +of Edward the First, and was tenacious in upholding strict discipline, +which, since the death of that great monarch, had been considerably +neglected by the young and warm-blooded valour of England. + +Meantime it occurred to Sir Aymer de Valence, that though in displaying +the usual degree of hospitality shown, to such a man as Bertram, he had +merely done what was becoming his own rank, as one possessed of the +highest honours of chivalry--the self-styled minstrel might not in +reality be a man of that worth which he assumed. There was certainly +something in his conversation, at least more grave, if not more +austere, than was common to those of his calling; and when he +recollected many points of Sir John de Walton's minuteness, a doubt +arose in his mind, that the governor might not approve of his having +introduced into the castle a person of Bertram's character, who was +capable of making observations from which the garrison might afterwards +feel much danger and inconvenience. Secretly, therefore, he regretted +that he had not fairly intimated to the wandering minstrel, that his +reception, or that of any stranger, within the Dangerous Castle, was +not at present permitted by the circumstances of the times. In this +case, the express line of his duty would have been his vindication, and +instead, perhaps of discountenance and blame, he would have had praise +and honour from his superior. + +With these thoughts passing through his mind, some tacit apprehension. +arose of a rebuke on the part of his commanding-officer; for this +officer, notwithstanding his strictness, Sir Aymer loved as well as +feared. He went, therefore, towards the guard-room of the castle, under +the pretence of seeing that the rites of hospitality had been duly +observed towards his late travelling companion. The minstrel arose +respectfully, and from the manner in which he paid his compliments, +seemed, if he had not expected this call of enquiry, at least to be in +no degree surprised at it. Sir Aymer, on the other hand, assumed an air +something more distant than he had yet used towards Bertram, and in +reverting to his former invitation, he now so far qualified it as to +say, that the minstrel knew that he was only second in command, and +that effectual permission to enter the castle ought to be sanctioned by +Sir John de Walton. + +There is a civil way of seeming to believe any apology which people are +disposed to receive in payment, without alleging suspicion of its +currency. The minstrel, therefore, tendered his thanks for the civility +which had so far been shown to him. "It was a mere wish of passing +curiosity," he said, "which, if not granted, could be attended with no +consequences either inconvenient or disagreeable to him. Thomas of +Erceldoun was, according to the Welsh triads, _one of the three bards +of Britain_, who never stained a spear with blood, or was guilty either +of taking or retaking castles and fortresses, and thus far not a person +likely, after death, to be suspected of such warlike feats. But I can +easily conceive why Sir John de Walton should have allowed the usual +rites of hospitality to fall into disuse, and why a man of public +character like myself ought not to desire food or lodging where it is +accounted so dangerous; and it can surprise no one why the governor did +not even invest his worthy young lieutenant with the power of +dispensing with so strict and unusual a rule." + +These words, very coolly spoken, had something of the effect of +affronting the young knight, as insinuating, that he was not held +sufficiently trustworthy by Sir John de Walton, with whom he had lived +on terms of affection and familiarity, though the governor had attained +his thirtieth year and upwards, and his lieutenant did not yet write +himself one-and-twenty, the full age of chivalry having been in his +case particularly dispensed with, owing to a feat of early manhood. Ere +he had fully composed the angry thoughts which were chafing in his +mind, the sound of a hunting bugle was heard at the gate, and from the +sort of general stir which it spread through the garrison, it was plain +that the governor had returned from his ride. Every sentinel, seemingly +animated by his presence, shouldered his pike more uprightly, gave the +word of the post more sharply, and seemed more fully awake and +conscious of his duty. Sir John de Walton having alighted from his +horse, asked Greenleaf what had passed during his absence; the old +archer thought it his duty to say that a minstrel, who seemed like a +Scotchman, or wandering borderer, had been admitted into the castle, +while his son, a lad sick of the pestilence so much talked of, had been +left for a time at the Abbey of Saint Bride. This he said on Fabian's +information. The archer added, that the father was a man of tale and +song, who could keep the whole garrison amused, without giving them +leave to attend to their own business. + +"We want no such devices to pass the time," answered the governor; "and +we would have been better satisfied if our lieutenant had been pleased +to find us other guests, and fitter for a direct and frank +communication, than one who, by his profession, is a detractor of God +and a deceiver of man." + +"Yet," said the old soldier, who could hardly listen even to his +commander without indulging the humour of contradiction, "I have heard +your honour intimate that the trade of a minstrel, when it is justly +acted up to, is as worthy as even the degree of knighthood itself." + +"Such it may have been in former days," answered the knight; "but in +modern minstrelsy, the duty of rendering the art an incentive to virtue +is forgotten, and it is well if the poetry which fired our fathers to +noble deeds, does not now push on their children to such as are base +and unworthy. But I will speak upon this to my friend Aymer, than whom +I do not know a more excellent, or a more high-spirited young man." + +While discoursing with the archer in this manner, Sir John de Walton, +of a tall and handsome figure, advanced and stood within the ample arch +of the guard-room chimney, and was listened to in reverential silence +by trusty Gilbert, who filled up with nods and signs, as an attentive +auditor, the pauses in the conversation. The conduct of another hearer +of what passed was not equally respectful, but, from his position, he +escaped observation. + +This third person was no other than the squire Fabian, who was +concealed from observation by his position behind the hob, or +projecting portion of the old-fashioned fireplace, and hid himself yet +more carefully when he heard the conversation between the governor and +the archer turn to the prejudice, as he thought, of his master. The +squire's employment at this time was the servile task of cleaning Sir +Aymer's arms, which was conveniently performed by heating, upon the +projection already specified, the pieces of steel armour for the usual +thin coating of varnish. He could not, therefore, if he should be +discovered, be considered as guilty of any thing insolent or +disrespectful. He was better screened from view, as a thick smoke arose +from a quantity of oak panelling, carved in many cases with the crest +and achievements of the Douglas family, which being the fuel nearest at +hand, lay smouldering in the chimney, and gathering to a blaze. + +The governor, unconscious of this addition to his audience, pursued his +conversation, with Gilbert Greenleaf: "I need not tell you," he said, +"that I am interested in the speedy termination of this siege or +blockade, with which Douglas continues to threaten us; my own honour +and affections are engaged in keeping this Dangerous Castle safe in +England's behalf, but I am troubled at the admission of this stranger; +and young De Valence would have acted more strictly in the line of his +duty, if he had refused to this wanderer any communication with this +garrison without my permission." + +"Pity it is," replied old Greenleaf, shaking his head, "that this +good-natured and gallant young knight is somewhat drawn aside by the +rash advices of his squire, the boy Fabian, who has bravery, but as +little steadiness in him as a bottle of fermented small beer." + +"Now hang thee," thought Fabian to himself, "for an old relic of the +wars, stuffed full of conceit and warlike terms, like the soldier who, +to keep himself from the cold, has lapped himself so close in a +tattered ensign for a shelter, that his very outside may show nothing +but rags and blazonry." + +"I would not think twice of the matter, were the party less dear to +me," said Sir John de Walton. "But I would fain be of use to this young +man, even although I should purchase his improvement in military +knowledge at the expense of giving him a little pain. Experience +should, as it were, be burnt in upon the mind of a young man, and not +merely impressed by marking the lines of his chart out for him with +chalk; I will remember the hint you, Greenleaf, have given, and take an +opportunity of severing these two young men; and though I most dearly +love the one, and am far from wishing ill to the other, yet at present, +as you well hint, the blind is leading the blind, and the young knight +has for his assistant and counsellor too young a squire, and that must +be amended." + +"Marry! out upon thee, old palmer-worm!" said the page within himself; +"have I found thee in the very fact of maligning myself and my master, +as it is thy nature to do towards all the hopeful young buds of +chivalry? If it were not to dirty the arms of an _eleve_ of chivalry, +by measuring them with one of thy rank, I might honour thee with a +knightly invitation to the field, while the scandal which thou hast +spoken is still foul upon thy tongue; as it is, thou shalt not carry +one kind of language publicly in the castle, and another before the +governor, upon the footing of having served with him under the banner +of Longshanks. I will carry to my master this tale of thine evil +intentions; and when we have concerted together, it shall appear +whether the youthful spirits of the garrison or the grey beards are +most likely to be the hope and protection, of this same Castle of +Douglas." + +It is enough to say that Fabian pursued his purpose, in carrying to his +master, and in no very good humour, the report of what had passed +between Sir John de Walton and the old soldier. He succeeded in +representing the whole as a formal offence intended to Sir Aymer de +Valence; while all that the governor did to remove the suspicions +entertained by the young knight, could not in any respect bring him to +take a kindly view of the feelings of his commander towards him. He +retained the impression which he had formed from Fabian's recital of +what he had heard, and did not think he was doing Sir John de Walton +any injustice, in supposing him desirous to engross the greatest share +of the fame acquired in the defence of the castle, and thrusting back +his companions, who might reasonably pretend to a fair portion of it. + +The mother of mischief, says a Scottish proverb, is no bigger than a +midge's wing. [Footnote: i.e. Gnat's wing] In this matter of quarrel, +neither the young man nor the older knight had afforded each other any +just cause of offence. De Walton was a strict observer of military +discipline, in which he had been educated from his extreme youth, and +by which he was almost as completely ruled as by his natural +disposition; and his present situation added force to his original +education. + +Common report had even exaggerated the military skill, the love of +adventure, and the great variety of enterprise, ascribed to James, the +young Lord of Douglas. He had, in the eyes of this Southern garrison, +the faculties of a fiend, rather than those of a mere mortal; for if +the English soldiers cursed the tedium of the perpetual watch and ward +upon the Dangerous Castle, which admitted of no relaxation from the +severity of extreme duty, they agreed that a tall form was sure to +appear to them with a battle-axe in his hand, and entering into +conversation in the most insinuating manner, never failed, with an +ingenuity and eloquence equal to that of a fallen spirit, to recommend +to the discontented sentinel some mode in which, by giving his +assistance to betray the English, he might set himself at liberty. The +variety of these devices, and the frequency of their recurrence, kept +Sir John de Walton's anxiety so perpetually upon the stretch, that he +at no time thought himself exactly out of the Black Douglas's reach, +any more than the good Christian supposes himself out of reach of the +wiles of the Devil; while every new temptation, instead of confirming +his hope, seems to announce that the immediate retreat of the Evil One +will be followed by some new attack yet more cunningly devised. Under +this general state of anxiety and apprehension, the temper of the +governor changed somewhat for the worse, and they who loved him best, +regretted most that he became addicted to complain of the want of +diligence on the part of those, who, neither invested with +responsibility like his, nor animated by the hope of such splendid +rewards, did not entertain the same degree of watchful and incessant +suspicion as himself. The soldiers muttered that the vigilance of their +governor was marked with severity; the officers and men of rank, of +whom there were several, as the castle was a renowned school of arms, +and there was a certain merit attained even by serving within its +walls, complained, at the same time, that Sir John de Walton no longer +made parties for hunting, for hawking, or for any purpose which might +soften the rigours of warfare, and suffered nothing to go forward but +the precise discipline of the castle. On the other hand, it may be +usually granted that the castle is well kept where the governor is a +disciplinarian; and where feuds and personal quarrels are found in the +garrison, the young men are usually more in fault than those whose +greater experience has convinced them of the necessity of using the +strictest precautions. + +A generous mind--and such was Sir John de Walton's--is often in this +way changed and corrupted by the habit of over-vigilance, and pushed +beyond its natural limits of candour. Neither was Sir Aymer de Valence +free from a similar change; suspicion, though from a different cause, +seemed also to threaten to bias his open and noble disposition, in +those qualities which had hitherto been proper to him. It was in vain +that Sir John de Walton studiously sought opportunities to give his +younger friend indulgences, which at times were as far extended as the +duty of the garrison permitted. The blow was struck; the alarm had been +given to a proud and fiery temper on both sides; and while De Valence +entertained an opinion that he was unjustly suspected by a friend, who +was in several respects bound to him, De Walton, on the other hand, was +led to conceive that a young man, of whom he took a charge as +affectionate as if he had been a son of his own, and who owed to his +lessons what he knew of warfare, and what success he had obtained in +life, had taken offence at trifles, and considered himself ill-treated +on very inadequate grounds. The seeds of disagreement, thus sown +between them, failed not, like the tares sown by the Enemy among the +wheat, to pass from one class of the garrison to another; the soldiers, +though without any better reason than merely to pass the time, took +different sides between their governor and his young lieutenant; and so +the ball of contention being once thrown up between them, never lacked +some arm or other to keep it in motion. + + + + +CHAPTER THE SIXTH. + + Alas! they had been friends in youth; + But whispering tongues can poison truth; + And constancy lives in realms above; + And life is thorny, and youth is vain; + And to be wroth with one we love, + Doth work like madness in' the brain. + * * * * * * + Each spoke words of high disdain, + And insult to his heart's dear brother, + But never either found another + To free the hollow heart from paining-- + They stood aloof, the scars remaining, + Like cliffs which had been rent asunder; + A dreary sea now flows between, + But neither heat, nor frost, nor thunder, + Shall wholly do away, I ween, + The marks of that which once hath been. + CHRISTABELLE OF COLERIDGE. + + +In prosecution of the intention which, when his blood was cool, seemed +to him wisest, Sir John de Walton resolved that he would go to the +verge of indulgence with his lieutenant and his young officers, furnish +them with every species of amusement which the place rendered possible, +and make them ashamed of their discontent, by overloading them with +courtesy. The first time, therefore, that he saw Aymer de Valence after +his return to the castle, he addressed him in high spirits, whether +real or assumed. + +"What thinkest thou, my young friend," said De Walton, "if we try some +of the woodland sports proper, they say, to this country? There are +still in our neighbourhood some herds of the Caledonian breed of wild +cattle, which are nowhere to be found except among the moorlands--the +black and rugged frontier of what was anciently called the Kingdom of +Strath-Clyde. There are some hunters, too, who have been accustomed to +the sport, and who vouch that these animals are by far the most bold +and fierce subjects of chase in the island of Britain." + +"You will do as you please," replied Sir Aymer, coldly; "but it is not +I, Sir John, who would recommend, for the sake of a hunting-match, that +you should involve the whole garrison in danger; you know best the +responsibilities incurred by your office here, and no doubt must have +heedfully attended to them before making a proposal of such a nature." + +"I do indeed know my own duty," replied De Walton, offended in turn, +"and might be allowed to think of yours also, without assuming more +than my own share of responsibility; but it seems to me as if the +commander of this Dangerous Castle, among other inabilities, were, as +old people in this country say, subjected to a spell--and one which +renders it impossible for him to guide his conduct so as to afford +pleasure to those whom he is most desirous to oblige. Not a great many +weeks since, whose eyes would have sparkled like those of Sir Aymer de +Valence at the proposal of a general hunting-match after a new object +of game; and now what is his bearing when such sport is proposed, +merely, I think, to disappoint my purpose of obliging him?--a cold +acquiescence drops half frozen from his lips, and he proposes to go to +rouse the wild cattle with an air of gravity, as if he were undertaking +a pilgrimage to the tomb of a martyr." + +"Not so, Sir John," answered the young knight. "In our present +situation we stand conjoined in more charges than one, and although the +greater and controlling trust is no doubt laid upon you as the elder +and abler knight, yet still I feel that I myself have my own share of a +serious responsibility. I trust, therefore, you will indulgently hear +my opinion, and bear with it, even though it should appear to have +relation to that part of our common charge which is more especially +intrusted to your keeping. The dignity of knighthood, which I have the +honour to share with you, the _accolade_ laid on my shoulder by the +royal Plantagenet, entitles me, methinks, to so much grace." + +"I cry you mercy," said the elder cavalier; "I forgot how important a +person I had before me, dubbed by King Edward himself, who was moved no +doubt by special reasons to confer such an early honour; and I +certainly feel that I overstep my duty when I propose any thing that +savours like idle sport to a person of such grave pretensions." + +"Sir John de Walton," retorted De Valence, "we have had something too +much of this--let it stop here. All that I mean to say is, that in this +wardship of Douglas Castle, it will not be by my consent, if any +amusement, which distinctly infers a relaxation of discipline, be +unnecessarily engaged in, and especially such as compels us to summon +to our assistance a number of the Scots, whose evil disposition towards +us we well know; nor will I, though my years have rendered me liable to +such suspicion, suffer any thing of this kind to be imputed to me; and +if unfortunately--though I am sure I know not why--we are in future to +lay aside those bonds of familiar friendship which formerly linked us +to each other, yet I see no reason why we should not bear ourselves in +our necessary communications like knights and gentlemen, and put the +best construction on each other's motives, since there can be no reason +for imputing the worst to any thing that comes from either of us." + +"You may be right, Sir Aymer de Valence," said the governor, bending +stiffly: "and since you say we are no longer bound to each other as +friends, you may be certain, nevertheless, that I will never permit a +hostile feeling, of which you are the object, to occupy my bosom. You +have been long, and I hope not uselessly, my pupil in the duties of +chivalry. You are the near relation of the Earl of Pembroke, my kind +and constant patron; and if these circumstances are well weighed, they +form a connexion which it would be difficult, at least for me, to break +through. If you feel yourself, as you seem to intimate, less strictly +tied by former obligations, you must take your own choice in fixing our +relations towards each other." + +"I can only say," replied De Valence, "that my conduct will naturally +be regulated by your own; and you, Sir John, cannot hope more devoutly +than I do that our military duties may be fairly discharged, without +interfering with our friendly intercourse." + +The knights here parted, after a conference which once or twice had +very nearly terminated in a full and cordial explanation; but still +there was wanting one kind heartfelt word from either to break, as it +were, the ice which was fast freezing upon their intercourse, and +neither chose to be the first in making the necessary advances with +sufficient cordiality, though each would have gladly done so, had the +other appeared desirous of meeting it with the same ardour; but their +pride was too high, and prevented either from saying what might at once +have put them upon an open and manly footing. They parted, therefore, +without again returning to the subject of the proposed diversion; until +it was afterwards resumed in a formal note, praying Sir Aymer de +Valence to accompany the commandant of Douglas Castle upon a solemn +hunting-match, which had for its object the wild cattle of the +neighbouring dale. + +The time of meeting was appointed at six in the morning, beyond the +gate of the outer barricade; and the chase was declared to be ended in +the afternoon, when the _recheat_ should be blown beneath the great +oak, known by the name of Sholto's Club, which stood a remarkable +object, where Douglas Dale was bounded by several scattered trees, the +outskirts of the forest and hill country. The usual warning was sent +out to the common people, or vassals of the district, which they, +notwithstanding their feeling of antipathy, received in general with +delight, upon the great Epicurean principle of _carpe diem_, that is to +say, in whatever circumstances it happens to present itself, be sure +you lose no recreation which life affords. A hunting-match has still +its attractions, even though an English knight take his pleasure in the +woods of the Douglas. + +It was no doubt afflicting to these faithful vassals, to acknowledge +another lord than the redoubted Douglas, and to wait by wood and river +at the command of English officers, and in the company of their +archers, whom they accounted their natural enemies. Still it was the +only species of amusement which had been permitted them for a long +time, and they were not disposed to omit the rare opportunity of +joining in it. The chase of the wolf, the wild boar, or even the timid +stag, required silvan arms; the wild cattle still more demanded this +equipment of war-bows and shafts, boar-spears and sharp swords, and +other tools of the chase similar to those used in actual war. +Considering this, the Scottish inhabitants were seldom allowed to join +in the chase, except under regulations as to number and arms, and +especially in preserving a balance of force on the side of the English +soldiers, which was very offensive to them. The greater part of the +garrison was upon such occasions kept on foot, and several detachments, +formed according to the governor's direction, were stationed in +different positions in case any quarrel should suddenly break out. + + + + +CHAPTER THE SEVENTH. + + The drivers thorough the wood went, + For to raise the deer; + Bowmen bickered upon the bent, + With their broad arrows clear. + + The wylde thorough the woods went, + On every side shear; + Grehounds thorough the groves glent, + For to kill thir deer. + BALLAD OF CHEVY CHASE, _Old Edit_. + + +The appointed morning came in cold and raw, after the manner of the +Scottish March weather. Dogs yelped, yawned, and shivered, and the +huntsmen, though hardy and cheerful in expectation of the day's sport, +twitched their mauds, or Lowland plaids, close to their throats, and +looked with some dismay at the mists which floated about the horizon, +now threatening to sink down on the peaks and ridges of prominent +mountains, and now to shift their position under the influence of some +of the uncertain gales, which rose and fell alternately, as they swept +along the valley. + +Nevertheless, the appearance of the whole formed, as is usual in almost +all departments of the chase, a gay and a jovial spectacle. A brief +truce seemed to have taken place between the nations, and the Scottish +people appeared for the time rather as exhibiting the sports of their +mountains in a friendly manner to the accomplished knights and bonny +archers of Old England, than as performing a feudal service, neither +easy nor dignified in itself, at the instigation of usurping +neighbours. The figures of the cavaliers, now half seen, now exhibited +fully, and at the height, of strenuous exertion, according to the +character of the dangerous and broken ground, particularly attracted +the attention of the pedestrians, who, leading the dogs or beating the +thickets, dislodged such objects of chase as they found in the dingles, +and kept their eyes fixed upon their companions, rendered more +remarkable from being mounted, and the speed at which they urged their +horses; the disregard of all accidents being as perfect as +Melton-Mowbray itself, or any other noted field of hunters of the +present day, can exhibit. + +The principles on which modern and ancient hunting were conducted, are, +however, as different as possible. A fox, or even a hare is, in our own +day, considered as a sufficient apology for a day's exercise to forty +or fifty dogs, and nearly as many men and horses; but the ancient +chase, even though not terminating, as it often did, in battle, carried +with it objects more important, and an interest immeasurably more +stirring. If indeed one species of exercise can be pointed out as more +universally exhilarating and engrossing than others, it is certainly +that of the chase. The poor over-laboured drudge, who has served out +his day of life, and wearied all his energies in the service of his +fellow-mortals--he who has been for many years the slave of +agriculture, or (still worse) of manufactures, engaged in raising a +single peck of corn from year to year, or in the monotonous labours of +the desk--can hardly remain dead to the general happiness when the +chase sweeps past him with hound and horn, and for a moment feels all +the exultation of the proudest cavalier who partakes the amusement. Let +any one who has witnessed the sight recall to his imagination the +vigour and lively interest which he has seen inspired into a village, +including the oldest and feeblest of its inhabitants. In the words of +Wordsworth, it is, on such occasions, + + "Up, Timothy, up with your staff and away, + Not a soul will remain in the village to-day; + The hare has just started from Hamilton's grounds, + And Skiddaw is glad with the cry of the hounds." + +But compare those inspiring sounds to the burst of a whole feudal +population enjoying the sport, whose lives, instead of being spent in +the monotonous toil of modern avocations, have been agitated by the +hazards of war, and of the chase, its near resemblance, and you must +necessarily suppose that the excitation is extended, like a fire which +catches to dry heath. To use the common expression, borrowed from +another amusement, all is fish that comes in the net on such occasions. +An ancient hunting-match (the nature of the carnage excepted) was +almost equal to a modern battle, when the strife took place on the +surface of a varied and unequal country. A whole district poured forth +its inhabitants, who formed a ring of great extent, called technically, +a tinchel, and, advancing and narrowing their circle by degrees, drove +before them the alarmed animals of every kind; all and each of which, +as they burst from the thicket or the moorland, were objects of the +bow, the javelin, or whatever missile weapons the hunters possessed; +while others were run down and worried by large greyhounds, or more +frequently brought to bay, when the more important persons present +claimed for themselves the pleasure of putting them to death with their +chivalrous hands, incurring individually such danger as is inferred +from a mortal contest even with the timid buck, when he is brought to +the death-struggle, and has no choice but yielding his life or putting +himself upon the defensive, by the aid of his splendid antlers, and +with all the courage of despair. + +The quantity of game found in Douglas Dale on this occasion was very +considerable, for, as already noticed, it was a long time since a +hunting upon a great scale had been attempted under the Douglasses +themselves, whose misfortunes had commenced several years before, with +those of their country. The English garrison, too, had not sooner +judged themselves strong or numerous enough to exercise these valued +feudal privileges. In the meantime, the game increased considerably. +The deer, the wild cattle, and the wild boars, lay near the foot of the +mountains, and made frequent irruptions into the lower part of the +valley, which in Douglas Dale bears no small resemblance to an oasis, +surrounded by tangled woods, and broken moors, occasionally rocky, and +showing large tracts of that bleak dominion to which wild creatures +gladly escape when pressed by the neighbourhood of man. + +As the hunters traversed the spots which separated the field from the +wood, there was always a stimulating uncertainty what sort of game was +to be found, and the marksman, with his bow ready bent, or his javelin +poised, and his good and well-bitted horse thrown upon its haunches, +ready for a sudden start, observed watchfully what should rush from the +covert, so that, were it deer, boar, wolf, wild cattle, or any other +species of game, he might be in readiness. + +The wolf, which, on account of its ravages, was the most obnoxious of +the beasts of prey, did not, however, supply the degree of diversion +which his name promised; he usually fled far--in some instances many +miles--before he took courage to turn to bay, and though formidable at +such moments, destroying both dogs and men by his terrible bite, yet at +other times was rather despised for his cowardice. The boar, on the +other hand, was a much more irascible and courageous animal. + +The wild cattle, the most formidable of all the tenants of the ancient +Caledonian forest, were, however, to the English cavaliers, by far the +most interesting objects of pursuit. [Footnote: These Bulls are thus +described by Hector Boetius, concerning whom he says--"In this wood +(namely the Caledonian wood) were sometime white bulls, with crisp and +curling manes, like fierce lions; and though they seemed meek and tame +in the remanent figure of their bodies, they were more wild than any +other beasts, and had such hatred against the society and company of +men, that they never came in the woods nor lesuries where they found +any foot or hand thereof, and many days after they eat not of the herbs +that were touched or handled by man. These bulls were so wild, that +they were never taken but by slight and crafty labour, and so +impatient, that after they were taken they died from insupportable +dolour. As soon as any man, invaded these bulls, they rushed with such, +terrible press upon him that they struck him to the earth, taking no +fear of hounds, sharp lances, or other most penetrative +weapons."--_Boetius, Chron. Scot_. Vol. I. page xxxix. + +The wild cattle of this breed, which are now only known in one manor in +England, that of Chillingham Castle, in Northumberland, (the seat of +the Earl of Tankerville,) were, in the memory of man, still preserved +in three places in Scotland, namely, Drumlanrig, Cumbernauld, and the +upper park at Hamilton Palace, at all of which places, except the last, +I believe, they have now been destroyed, on account of their ferocity. +But though those of modern days are remarkable for their white colour, +with black muzzles, and exhibiting, in a small degree, the black mane, +about three or four inches long, by which the bulls in particular are +distinguished, they do not by any means come near the terrific +description given us by the ancient authors, which has made some +naturalists think that these animals should probably be referred to a +different species, though possessing the same general habits, and +included in the same genus. The bones, which are often discovered in +Scottish mosses, belong certainly to a race of animals much larger than +those of Chillingham, which seldom grow to above 80 stone (of 14 lbs.), +the general weight varying from 60 to 80 stone. We should be accounted +very negligent by one class of readers, did we not record that the beef +furnished by those cattle is of excellent flavour, and finely marbled. + +[The following is an extract from, a letter received by Sir Walter +Scott, some time after the publication of the novel.-- + +"When it is wished to kill any of the cattle at Chillingham, the keeper +goes into the herd on horseback, in which way they are quite +accessible, and singling out his victim, takes aim with a large +rifle-gun, and seldom fails in bringing him down. If the poor animal +makes much bellowing in his agony, and especially if the ground be +stained with his blood, his companions become very furious, and are +themselves, I believe, accessory to his death. After which, they fly +off to a distant part of the park, and he is drawn away on a sledge. +Lord Tankerville is very tenacious of these singular animals; he will +on no account part with a living one, and hardly allows of a sufficient +number being killed, to leave pasturage for those that remain. + +"It happened on one occasion, three or four years ago, that a party +visiting at the castle, among whom were some men of war, who had hunted +buffaloes in foreign parts, obtained permission to do the keeper's +work, and shoot one of the wild cattle. They sallied out on horseback, +and duly equipped for the enterprise, attacked their object. The poor +animal received several wounds, but none of them proving fatal, he +retired before his pursuers, roaring with pain and rage, till, planting +himself against a wall or tree, he stood at bay, offering a front of +defiance. In this position the youthful heir of the castle, Lord +Ossulston, rode up to give him the fatal shot. Though warned of the +danger of approaching near to the enraged animal, and especially of +firing without first having turned his horse's head in a direction to +be ready for flight, he discharged his piece; but ere he could turn his +horse round to make his retreat, the raging beast had plunged his +immense horns into its flank. The horse staggered and was near falling, +but recovering by a violent effort, he extricated himself from his +infuriated pursuer, making off with all the speed his wasting strength +supplied, his entrails meanwhile dragging on the ground, till at length +he fell, and died at the same moment. The animal was now close upon his +rear, and the young Lord would unquestionably have shared the fate of +his unhappy steed, had not the keeper, deeming it full time to conclude +the day's diversion, fired at the instant. His shot brought the beast +to the ground, and running in with his large knife, he put a period to +his existence. + +"This scene of gentlemanly pastime was viewed from a turret of the +castle by Lady Tankerville and her female visitors. Such a situation +for the mother of the young hero, was anything but enviable."]] +Altogether, the ringing of bugles, the clattering of horses' hoofs, the +lowing and bellowing of the enraged mountain cattle, the sobs of deer +mingled by throttling dogs, the wild shouts of exultation of the +men,--made a chorus which extended far through the scene in which it +arose, and seemed to threaten the inhabitants of the valley even in its +inmost recesses. + +During the course of the hunting, when a stag or a boar was expected, +one of the wild cattle often came rushing forward, bearing down the +young trees, crashing the branches in its progress, and in general +dispersing whatever opposition was presented to it by the hunters. Sir +John de Walton was the only one of the chivalry of the party who +individually succeeded in mastering one of these powerful animals. Like +a Spanish tauridor, he bore down and killed with his lance a ferocious +bull; two well-grown calves and three kine were also slain, being +unable to carry off the quantity of arrows, javelins, and other +missiles, directed against them by the archers and drivers; but many +others, in spite of every endeavour to intercept them, escaped to their +gloomy haunts in the remote skirts of the mountain called Cairntable, +with their hides well feathered with those marks of human enmity. + +A large portion of the morning was spent in this way, until a +particular blast from the master of the hunt announced that he had not +forgot the discreet custom of the repast, which, on such occasions, was +provided for upon a scale proportioned to the multitude who had been +convened to attend the sport. + +The blast peculiar to the time, assembled the whole party in an open +space in a wood, where their numbers had room and accommodation to sit +down upon the green turf, the slain game affording a plentiful supply +for roasting or broiling, an employment in which the lower class were +all immediately engaged; while puncheons and pipes, placed in +readiness, and scientifically opened, supplied Gascoigne wine, and +mighty ale, at the pleasure of those who chose to appeal to them. + +The knights, whose rank did not admit of interference, were seated by +themselves, and ministered to by their squires and pages, to whom such +menial services were not accounted disgraceful, but, on the contrary, a +proper step of their education. The number of those distinguished +persons seated upon the present occasion at the table of dais, as it +was called, (in virtue of a canopy of green boughs with which it was +overshadowed,) comprehended Sir John de Walton, Sir Aymer de Valance, +and some reverend brethren dedicated to the service of Saint Bride, +who, though Scottish ecclesiastics, were treated with becoming respect +by the English soldiers. One or two Scottish retainers, or vavasours, +maintaining, perhaps in prudence, a suitable deference to the English +knights, sat at the bottom of the table, and as many English archers, +peculiarly respected by their superiors, were invited, according to the +modern phrase, to the honours of the sitting. + +Sir John de Walton sat at the head of the table; his eye, though it +seemed to have no certain object, yet never for a moment remained +stationary, but glanced from one countenance to another of the ring +formed by his guests, for such they all were, no doubt, though he +himself could hardly have told upon what principle he had issued the +invitations; and even apparently was at a loss to think what, in one or +two cases, had procured him the honour of their presence. + +One person in particular caught De Walton's eye, as having the air of a +redoubted man-at-arms, although it seemed as if fortune had not of late +smiled upon his enterprises. He was a tall raw-boned man, of an +extremely rugged countenance, and his skin, which showed itself through +many a loophole in his dress, exhibited a complexion which must have +endured all the varieties of an outlawed life; and akin to one who had, +according to the customary phrase, "ta'en the bent with Robin Bruce," +in other words occupied the moors with him as an insurgent. Some such +idea certainly crossed De Walton's mind. Yet the apparent coolness, and +absence of alarm, with which the stranger sat at the board of an +English officer, at the same time being wholly in his power, had much +in it which was irreconcilable with any such suggestion. De Walton, and +several of those about him, had in the course of the day observed that +this tattered cavalier, the most remarkable parts of whose garb and +equipments consisted of an old coat-of-mail and a rusted yet massive +partisan about eight feet long, was possessed of superior skill in the +art of hunting to any individual of their numerous party. The governor +having looked at this suspicious figure until he had rendered the +stranger aware of the special interest which he attracted, at length +filled a goblet of choice wine, and requested him, as one of the best +pupils of Sir Tristem who had attended upon the day's chase, to pledge +him in a vintage superior to that supplied to the general company. + +"I suppose, however, sir," said De Walton, "you will have no objections +to put off my challenge of a brimmer, until you can answer my pledge in +Gascoigne wine, which grew in the king's own demesne, was pressed for +his own lip, and is therefore fittest to be emptied to his majesty's +health and prosperity." + +"One half of the island of Britain," said the woodsman, with great +composure, "will be of your honour's opinion; but as I belong to the +other half, even the choicest liquor in Gascony cannot render that +health acceptable to me." + +A murmur of disapprobation ran through the warriors present; the +priests hung their heads, looked deadly grave, and muttered their +pater-nosters. + +"You see, stranger," said De Walton sternly, "that your speech +discomposes the company." + +"It may be so," replied the man, in the same blunt tone; "and it may +happen that there is no harm in the speech notwithstanding." + +"Do you consider that it is made in my presence?" answered De Walton. + +"Yes, Sir Governor." + +"And have you thought what must be the necessary inference?" continued +De Walton. + +"I may form a round guess," answered the stranger, "what I might have +to fear, if your safe conduct and word of honour, when inviting me to +this hunting, were less trustworthy than I know full well it really is. +But I am your guest--your meat is even now passing my throat--your cup, +filled with right good wine, I have just now quaffed off--and I would +not fear the rankest Paynim infidel, if we stood in such relation +together, much less an English knight. I tell you, besides, Sir Knight, +you undervalue the wine we have quaffed. The high flavour and contents +of your cup, grow where it will, give me spirit to tell you one or two +circumstances, which cold cautious sobriety would, in a moment like +this, have left unsaid. You wish, I doubt not, to know who I am? My +Christian name is Michael--my surname is that of Turnbull, a redoubted +clan, to whose honours, even in the field of hunting or of battle, I +have added something. My abode is beneath the mountain of Rubieslaw, by +the fair streams of Teviot. You are surprised that I know how to hunt +the wild cattle,--I, who have made them my sport from infancy in the +lonely forests of Jed and Southdean, and have killed more of them than +you or any Englishman in your host ever saw, even if you include the +doughty deeds of this day." + +The bold borderer made this declaration with the same provoking degree +of coolness which predominated in his whole demeanour, and was indeed +his principal attribute. His effrontery did not fail to produce its +effect upon Sir John De Walton, who instantly called out, "To arms! to +arms!--Secure the spy and traitor! Ho! pages and yeomen--William, +Anthony, Bend-the-bow, and Greenleaf--seize the traitor, and bind him +with your bow-strings and dog-leashes--bind him, I say, until the blood +start from beneath his nails!" + +"Here is a goodly summons!" said Turnbull, with a sort of horselaugh. +"Were I as sure of being answered by twenty men I could name, there +would be small doubt of the upshot of this day." + +The archers thickened around the hunter, yet laid no hold on him, none +of them being willing to be the first who broke the peace proper to the +occasion. + +"Tell me," said De Walton, "thou traitor, for what waitest thou here?" + +"Simply and solely," said the Jed forester, "that I may deliver up to +the Douglas the castle of his ancestors, and that I may ensure thee, +Sir Englishman, the payment of thy deserts, by cutting that very throat +which thou makest such a brawling use of." + +At the same time, perceiving that the yeomen were crowding behind him +to carry their lord's commands into execution so soon as they should be +reiterated, the huntsman turned himself short round upon those who +appeared about to surprise him, and having, by the suddenness of the +action, induced them to step back a pace, he proceeded--"Yes, John de +Walton, my purpose was ere now to have put thee to death, as one whom I +find in possession of that castle and territory which belong to my +master, a knight much more worthy than thyself; but I know not why I +have paused--thou hast given me food when I have hungered for +twenty-four hours, I have not therefore had the heart to pay thee at +advantage as thou hast deserved. Begone from this place and country, +and take the fair warning of a foe; thou hast constituted thyself the +mortal enemy of this people, and there are those among them who have +seldom been injured or defied with impunity. Take no care in searching +after me, it will be in vain,--until I meet thee at a time which will +come at my pleasure, not thine. Push not your inquisition into cruelty, +to discover by what means I have deceived you, for it is impossible for +you to learn; and with this friendly advice, look at me and take your +leave, for although we shall one day meet, it may be long ere I see you +again." + +De Walton remained silent, hoping that his prisoner, (for he saw no +chance of his escaping,) might, in his communicative humour, drop some +more information, and was not desirous to precipitate a fray with which +the scene was likely to conclude, unconscious at the same time of the +advantage which he thereby gave the daring hunter. + +As Turnbull concluded his sentence, he made a sudden spring backwards, +which carried him out of the circle formed around him, and before they +were aware of his intentions, at once disappeared among the underwood. + +"Seize him--seize him!" repeated De Walton: "let us have him at least +at our discretion, unless the earth has actually swallowed him." + +This indeed appeared not unlikely, for near the place where Turnbull +had made the spring, there yawned a steep ravine, into which he +plunged, and descended by the assistance of branches, bushes, and +copsewood, until he reached the bottom, where he found some road to the +outskirts of the forest, through which he made his escape, leaving the +most expert woodsmen among the pursuers totally at fault, and unable to +trace his footsteps. + + + + +CHAPTER THE EIGHTH. + + +This interlude carried some confusion into the proceedings of the hunt, +thus suddenly surprised by the apparition of Michael Turnbull, an armed +and avowed follower of the House of Douglas, a sight so little to be +expected in the territory where his master was held a rebel and a +bandit, and where he himself must have been well known to most of the +peasantry present. The circumstance made an obvious impression on the +English chivalry. Sir John de Walton looked grave and thoughtful, +ordered the hunters to be assembled on the spot, and directed his +soldiers to commence a strict search among the persons who had attended +the chase, so as to discover whether Turnbull had any companions among +them; but it was too late to make that enquiry in the strict fashion +which De Walton directed. + +The Scottish attendants on the chase, when they beheld that the +hunting, under pretence of which they were called together, was +interrupted for the purpose of laying hands upon their persons, and +subjecting them to examination, took care to suit their answers to the +questions put to them; in a word, they kept their own secret, if they +had any. Many of them, conscious of being the weaker party, became +afraid of foul play, slipt away from the places to which they had been +appointed, and left the hunting-match like men who conceived they had +been invited with no friendly intent. Sir John de Walton became aware +of the decreasing numbers of the Scottish--their gradual disappearance +awakening in the English knight that degree of suspicion which had of +late become his peculiar characteristic. + +"Take, I pray thee," said he to Sir Aymer de Valence, "as many +men-at-arms as thou canst get together in five minutes' space, and at +least a hundred of the mounted archers, and ride as fast as thou canst, +without permitting them to straggle from thy standard, to reinforce the +garrison of Douglas; for I have my own thoughts what may have been +attempted on the castle, when we observe with our own eyes such a nest +of traitors here assembled." + +"With reverence, Sir John," replied Aymer, "you shoot in this matter +rather beyond the mark. That the Scottish peasants have had bad +thoughts against us, I will be the last to deny; but, long debarred +from any silvan sport, you cannot wonder at their crowding to any +diversion by wood or river, and still less at their being easily +alarmed as to the certainty of the safe footing on which they stand +with us. The least rough usage is likely to strike them with fear, and +with the desire of escape, and so"-- + +"And so," said Sir John de Walton, who had listened with a degree of +impatience scarce consistent with the grave and formal politeness which +one knight was accustomed to bestow upon another, "and so I would +rather see Sir Aymer de Valence busy his horse's heels to execute my +orders, than give his tongue the trouble of impugning them." + +At this sharp reprimand, all present looked at each other with +indications of marked displeasure. Sir Aymer was highly offended, but +saw it was no time to indulge in reprisal. He bowed until the feather +which was in his barret-cap mingled with his horse's mane, and without +reply--for he did not even choose to trust his voice in reply at the +moment--headed a considerable body of cavalry by the straightest road +back to the Castle of Douglas. + +When he came to one of those eminences from which he could observe the +massive and complicated towers and walls of the old fortress, with the +glitter of the broad lake which surrounded it on three sides, he felt +much pleasure at the sight of the great banner of England, which +streamed from the highest part of the building. "I knew it," he +internally said; "I was certain that Sir John de Walton had become a +very woman in the indulgence of his fears and suspicions. Alas! that a +situation of responsibility should so much have altered a disposition +which I have known so noble and so knightly! By this good day, I scarce +know in what manner I should demean me when thus publicly rebuked +before the garrison. Certainly he deserves that I should, at some time +or other, let him understand, that however he may triumph in the +exercise of his short-lived command, yet, when man is to meet with man, +it will puzzle Sir John de Walton to show himself the superior of Aymer +de Valence, or perhaps to establish himself as his equal. But if, on +the contrary, his fears, however fantastic, are sincere at the moment +he expresses them, it becomes me to obey punctually commands which, +however absurd, are imposed in consequence of the governor's belief +that they are rendered necessary by the times, and not inventions +designed to vex and domineer over his officers in the indulgence of his +official powers. I would I knew which is the true statement of the +case, and whether the once famed De Walton is become afraid of his +enemies more than fits a knight, or makes imaginary doubts the pretext +of tyrannizing over his friend. I cannot say it would make much +difference to me, but I would rather have it that the man I once loved +had turned a petty tyrant than a weak-spirited coward; and I would be +content that he should study to vex me, rather than be afraid of his +own shadow." + +With these ideas passing in his mind, the young knight crossed the +causeway which traversed the piece of water that fed the moat, and, +passing under the strongly fortified gateway, gave strict orders for +letting down the portcullis, and elevating the drawbridge, even at the +appearance of De Walton's own standard before it. + +A slow and guarded movement from the hunting-ground to the Castle of +Douglas, gave the governor ample time to recover his temper, and to +forget that his young friend had shown less alacrity than usual in +obeying his commands. He was even disposed to treat as a jest the +length of time and extreme degree of ceremony with which every point of +martial discipline was observed on his own re-admission to the castle, +though the raw air of a wet spring evening whistled around his own +unsheltered person, and those of his followers, as they waited before +the castle gate for the exchange of pass-words, the delivery of keys, +and all the slow minutiae attendant upon the movements of a garrison in +a well-guarded fortress. + +"Come," said he to an old knight, who was peevishly blaming the +lieutenant-governor, "it was my own fault; I spoke but now to Aymer de +Valence with more authoritative emphasis than his newly-dubbed dignity +was pleased with, and this precise style of obedience is a piece of not +unnatural and very pardonable revenge. Well, we will owe him a return, +Sir Philip--shall we not? This is not a night to keep a man at the +gate." + +This dialogue, overheard by some of the squires and pages, was bandied +about from one to another, until it entirely lost the tone of +good-humour in which it was spoken, and the offence was one for which +Sir John de Walton and old Sir Philip were to meditate revenge, and was +said to have been represented by the governor as a piece of mortal and +intentional offence on the part of his subordinate officer. + +Thus an increasing feud went on from day to day between two warriors, +who, with no just cause of quarrel, had at heart every reason to esteem +and love each other. It became visible in the fortress even to those of +the lower rank, who hoped to gain some consequence by intermingling in +the species of emulation produced by the jealousy of the commanding +officers--an emulation which may take place, indeed, in the present +day, but can hardly have the same sense of wounded pride and jealous +dignity attached to it, which existed in times when the personal honour +of knighthood rendered those who possessed it jealous of every +punctilio. + +So many little debates took place between the two knights, that Sir +Aymer de Valence thought himself under the necessity of writing to his +uncle and namesake, the Earl of Pembroke, stating that his officer, Sir +John de Walton, had unfortunately of late taken some degree of +prejudice against him, and that after having borne with many provoking +instances of his displeasure, he was now compelled to request that his +place of service should be changed from the Castle of Douglas, to +wherever honour could be acquired, and time might be given to put an +end to his present cause of complaint against his commanding officer. +Through the whole letter, young Sir Aymer was particularly cautious how +he expressed his sense of Sir John de Walton's jealousy or severe +usage: but such sentiments are not easily concealed, and in spite of +him an air of displeasure glanced out from several passages, and +indicated his discontent with his uncle's old friend and companion in +arms, and with the sphere of military duty which his uncle had himself +assigned him. An accidental movement among the English troops brought +Sir Aymer an answer to his letter sooner than he could have hoped for +at that time of day, in the ordinary course of correspondence, which +was then extremely slow and interrupted. + +Pembroke, a rigid old warrior, entertained the most partial opinion of +Sir John de Walton, who was a work as it were of his own hands, and was +indignant to find that his nephew, whom he considered as a mere boy, +elated by having had the dignity of knighthood conferred upon him at an +age unusually early, did not absolutely coincide with him in this +opinion. He replied to him, accordingly, in a tone of high displeasure, +and expressed himself as a person of rank would write to a young and +dependent kinsman upon the duties of his profession; and, as he +gathered his nephew's cause of complaint from his own letter, he +conceived that he did him no injustice in making it slighter than it +really was. He reminded the young man that the study of chivalry +consisted in the faithful and patient discharge of military service, +whether of high or low degree, according to the circumstances in which +war placed the champion. That above all, the post of danger, which +Douglas Castle had been termed by common consent, was also the post of +honour; and that a young man should be cautious how he incurred the +supposition of being desirous of quitting his present honourable +command, because he was tired of the discipline of a military director +so renowned as Sir John de Walton. Much also there was, as was natural +in a letter of that time, concerning the duty of young men, whether in +council or in arms, to be guided implicitly by their elders; and it was +observed, with justice, that the commanding officer, who had put +himself into the situation of being responsible with his honour, if not +his life, for the event of the siege or blockade, might, justly, and in +a degree more than common, claim the implicit direction of the whole +defence. Lastly, Pembroke reminded his nephew that he was, in a great +measure, dependent upon the report of Sir John de Walton for the +character which he was to sustain in after life; and reminded him, that +a few actions of headlong and inconsiderate valour would not so firmly +found his military reputation, as months and years spent in regular, +humble, and steady obedience to the commands which the governor of +Douglas Castle might think necessary in so dangerous a conjuncture. + +This missive arrived within so short a time after the despatch of the +letter to which it was a reply, that Sir Aymer was almost tempted to +suppose that his uncle had some mode of corresponding with De Walton, +unknown to the young knight himself, and to the rest of the garrison. +And as the earl alluded to some particular displeasure which had been +exhibited by De Valence on a late trivial occasion, his uncle's +knowledge of this, and other minutiae, seemed to confirm his idea that +his own conduct was watched in a manner which he did not feel +honourable to himself, or dignified on the part of his relative; in a +word, he conceived himself exposed to that sort of surveillance of +which, in all ages, the young have accused the old. It hardly needs to +say that the admonition of the Earl of Pembroke greatly chafed the +fiery spirit of his nephew; insomuch, that if the earl had wished to +write a letter purposely to increase the prejudices which he desired to +put an end to, he could not have made use of terms better calculated +for that effect. + +The truth was, that the old archer, Gilbert Greenleaf, had, without the +knowledge of the young knight, gone to Pembroke's camp, in Ayrshire, +and was recommended by Sir John de Walton to the earl, as a person who +could give such minute information respecting Aymer de Valence, as he +might desire to receive. The old archer was, as we have seen, a +formalist, and when pressed on some points of Sir Aymer de Valence's +discipline, he did not hesitate to throw out hints, which, connected +with those in the knight's letter to his uncle, made the severe old +earl adopt too implicitly the idea that his nephew was indulging a +spirit of insubordination, and a sense of impatience under authority, +most dangerous to the character of a young soldier. A little +explanation might have produced a complete agreement in the sentiments +of both; but for this, fate allowed neither time nor opportunity; and +the old earl was unfortunately induced to become a party, instead of a +negotiator, in the quarrel, + + "And by decision more embroil'd the fray." + +Sir John de Walton soon perceived, that the receipt of Pembroke's +letter did not in any respect alter the cold ceremonious conduct of his +lieutenant towards him, which limited their intercourse to what their +situation rendered indispensable, and exhibited no advances to any more +frank or intimate connexion. Thus, as may sometimes be the case between +officers in their relative situations even at the present day, they +remained in that cold stiff degree of official communication, in which +their intercourse was limited to as few expressions as the respective +duties of their situation absolutely demanded. Such a state of +misunderstanding is, in fact, worse than a downright quarrel;--the +latter may be explained or apologized for, or become the subject of +mediation; but in such a case as the former, an _eclaircissement_ is as +unlikely to take place as a general engagement between two armies which +have taken up strong defensive positions on both sides. Duty, however, +obliged the two principal persons in the garrison of Douglas Castle to +be often together, when they were so far from seeking an opportunity of +making up matters, that they usually revived ancient subjects of debate. + +It was upon such an occasion that De Walton, in a very formal manner, +asked De Valence in what capacity, and for how long time, it was his +pleasure that the minstrel, called Bertram, should remain at the castle. + +"A week," said the governor, "is certainly long enough, in this time +and place, to express the hospitality due to a minstrel." + +"Certainly," replied the young man, "I have not interest enough in the +subject to form a single wish upon it." + +"In that case," resumed De Walton, "I shall request of this person to +cut short his visit at the Castle of Douglas." + +"I know no particular interest," replied Aymer de Valence, "which I can +possibly have in this man's motions. He is here under pretence of +making some researches after the writings of Thomas of Erceldoun, +called the Rhymer, which he says are infinitely curious, and of which +there is a volume in the old Baron's study, saved somehow from the +flames at the last conflagration. This told, you know as much of his +errand as I do; and if you hold the presence of a wandering old man, +and the neighbourhood of a boy, dangerous to the castle under your +charge, you will no doubt do well to dismiss them--it will cost but a +word of your mouth." + +"Pardon me," said De Walton; "the minstrel came here as one of your +retinue, and I could not, in fitting courtesy, send him away without +your leave." + +"I am sorry, then," answered Sir Aymer, "in my turn, that you did not +mention your purpose sooner. I never entertained a dependent, vassal or +servant, whose residence in the castle I would wish to have prolonged a +moment beyond your honourable pleasure." + +"I am sorry," said Sir John de Walton, "that we two have of late grown +so extremely courteous that it is difficult for us to understand each +other. This minstrel and his son come from we know not where, and are +bound we know not whither. There is a report among some of your escort, +that this fellow Bertram upon the way had the audacity to impugn, even +to your face, the King of England's right to the crown of Scotland, and +that he debated the point with you, while your other attendants were +desired by you to keep behind and out of hearing." + +"Hah!" said Sir Aymer, "do you mean to found on that circumstance any +charge against my loyalty? I pray you to observe, that such an averment +would touch mine honour, which I am ready and willing to defend to the +last gasp." + +"No doubt of it, Sir Knight," answered the governor; "but it is the +strolling minstrel, and not the high-born English knight, against whom +the charge is brought. Well! the minstrel comes to this castle, and he +intimates a wish that his son should be allowed to take up his quarters +at the little old convent of Saint Bride, where two or three Scottish +nuns and friars are still permitted to reside, most of them rather out +of respect to their order, than for any good will which they are +supposed to bear the English or their sovereign. It may also be noticed +that his leave was purchased by a larger sum of money, if my +information be correct, than is usually to be found in the purses of +travelling minstrels, a class of wanderers alike remarkable for their +poverty and for their genius. What do you think of all this?" + +"I?"--replied De Valence; "I am happy that my situation, as a soldier, +under command, altogether dispenses with my thinking of it at all. My +post, as lieutenant of your castle, is such, that if I can manage +matters so as to call my honour and my soul my own, I must think that +quite enough of free-will is left at my command; and I promise you +shall not have again to reprove, or send a bad report of me to my +uncle, on that account." + +"This is beyond sufferance!" said Sir John de Walton half aside, and +then proceeded aloud--"Do not, for Heaven's sake, do yourself and me +the injustice of supposing that I am endeavouring to gain an advantage +over you by these questions. Recollect, young knight, that when you +evade giving your commanding officer your advice when required, you +fail as much in point of duty, as if you declined affording him the +assistance of your sword and lance." + +"Such being the case," answered De Valence, "let me know plainly on +what matter it is that you require my opinion? I will deliver it +plainly, and stand by the result, even if I should have the misfortune +(a crime unpardonable in so young a man, and so inferior an officer) to +differ from that of Sir John de Walton." + +"I would ask you then. Sir Knight of Valence," answered the governor, +"what is your opinion with respect to this minstrel, Bertram, and +whether the suspicions respecting him and his son are not such as to +call upon me, in performance of my duty, to put them to a close +examination, with the question ordinary and extraordinary, as is usual +in such cases, and to expel them not only from the castle, but from the +whole territory of Douglas Dale, under pain of scourging, if they be +again found wandering in these parts?" + +"You ask me my opinion," said De Valence, "and you shall have it, Sir +Knight of Walton, and freely and fairly, as if matters stood betwixt us +on a footing as friendly as they ever did. I agree with you, that most +of those who in this day profess the science of minstrelsy, are +altogether unqualified to support the higher pretensions of that noble +order. Minstrels by right, are men who have dedicated themselves to the +noble occupation of celebrating knightly deeds and generous principles; +it is in their verse that the valiant knight is handed down to fame, +and the poet has a right, nay is bound, to emulate the virtues which he +praises. The looseness of the times has diminished the consequence, and +impaired the morality of this class of wanderers; their satire and +their praise are now too often distributed on no other principle than +love of gain; yet let us hope that there are still among them some who +know, and also willingly perform, their duty. My own opinion is that +this Bertram holds himself as one who has not shared in the degradation +of his brethren, nor bent the knee to the mammon of the times; it must +remain with you, sir, to judge whether such a person, honourably and +morally disposed, can cause any danger to the Castle of Douglas. But +believing, from the sentiments he has manifested to me, that he is +incapable of playing the part of a traitor, I must strongly remonstrate +against his being punished as one, or subjected to the torture within +the walls of an English garrison. I should blush for my country, if it +required of us to inflict such wanton misery upon wanderers, whose sole +fault is poverty; and your own knightly sentiments will suggest more +than would become me to state to Sir John de Walton, unless in so far +as is necessary to apologize for retaining my own opinion." + +Sir John de Walton's dark brow was stricken with red when he heard an +opinion delivered in opposition to his own, which plainly went to +stigmatize his advice as ungenerous, unfeeling, and unknightly. He made +an effort to preserve his temper while he thus replied with a degree of +calmness. "You have given your opinion, Sir Aymer de Valence; and that +you have given it openly and boldly, without regard to my own, I thank +you. It is not quite so clear that I am obliged to defer my own +sentiments to yours, in case the rules on which I hold my office--the +commands of the king--and the observations which I may personally have +made, shall recommend to me a different line of conduct from that which +you think it right to suggest." + +De Walton bowed, in conclusion, with great gravity; and the young +knight returning the reverence with exactly the same degree of stiff +formality, asked whether there were any particular orders respecting +his duty in the castle; and having received an answer in the negative +took his departure. + +Sir John de Walton, after an expression of impatience, as if +disappointed at finding that the advance which he had made towards an +explanation with his young friend had proved unexpectedly abortive, +composed his brow as if to deep thought, and walked several times to +and fro in the apartment, considering what course he was to take in +these circumstances. "It is hard to censure him severely," he said, +"when I recollect that, on first entering upon life, my own thoughts +and feelings would have been the same with those of this giddy and +hot-headed, but generous boy. Now prudence teaches me to suspect +mankind in a thousand instances where perhaps there is not sufficient +ground. If I am disposed to venture my own honour and fortune, rather +than an idle travelling minstrel should suffer a little pain, which at +all events I might make up to him by money, still, have I a right to +run the risk of a conspiracy against the king, and thus advance the +treasonable surrender of the Castle of Douglas, for which I know so +many schemes are formed; for which, too, none can be imagined so +desperate but agents will be found bold enough to undertake the +execution? A man who holds my situation, although the slave of +conscience, ought to learn to set aside those false scruples which +assume the appearance of flowing from our own moral feeling, whereas +they are in fact instilled by the suggestion of affected delicacy. I +will not, I swear by Heaven, be infected by the follies of a boy, such +as Aymer; I will not, that I may defer to his caprices, lose all that +love, honour, and ambition can propose, for the reward of twelve +months' service, of a nature the most watchful and unpleasant. I--will +go straight to my point, and use the ordinary precautions in Scotland +which I should employ in Normandy or Gascoigny.--What ho! page! who +waits there?" + +One of his attendants replied to his summons--"Seek me out Gilbert +Greenleaf the archer, and tell him I would speak with him touching the +two bows and the sheaf of arrows, concerning which I gave him a +commission to Ayr." + +A few minutes intervened after the order was given, when the archer +entered, holding in his hand two bow-staves, not yet fashioned, and a +number of arrows secured together with a thong. He bore the mysterious +looks of one whose apparent business is not of very great consequence, +but is meant as a passport for other affairs which are in themselves of +a secret nature. Accordingly, as the knight was silent, and afforded no +other opening for Greenleaf, that judicious negotiator proceeded to +enter upon such as was open to him. + +"Here are the bow-staves, noble sir, which you desired me to obtain +while I was at Ayr with the Earl of Pembroke's army. They are not so +good as I could have wished, yet are perhaps of better quality than +could have been procured by any other than a fair judge of the weapon. +The Earl of Pembroke's whole camp are frantic mad in order to procure +real Spanish staves from the Groyne, and other ports in Spain; but +though two vessels laden with such came into the port of Ayr, said to +be for the King's army, yet I believe never one half of them have come +into English hands. These two grew in Sherwood, which having been +seasoned since the time of Robin Hood, are not likely to fail either in +strength or in aim, in so strong a hand, and with so just an eye, as +those of the men who wait on your worship." + +"And who has got the rest, since two ships' cargoes of new bow-staves +are arrived at Ayr, and thou with difficulty hast only procured me two +old ones?" said the governor. + +"Faith, I pretend not skill enough to know," answered Greenleaf, +shrugging his shoulders. "Talk there is of plots in that country as +well as here. It is said that their Bruce, and the rest of his kinsmen, +intend a new May-game, and that the outlawed king proposes to land near +Turnberry, early in summer, with a number of stout kernes from Ireland; +and no doubt the men of his mock earldom of Garrick are getting them +ready with bow and spear for so hopeful an undertaking. I reckon that +it will not cost us the expense of more than a few score of sheaves of +arrows to put all that matter to rights." + +"Do you talk then of conspiracies in this part of the country, +Greenleaf?" said De Walton. "I know you are a sagacious fellow, well +bred for many a day to the use of the bent stick and string, and will +not allow such a practice to go on under thy nose, without taking +notice of it." + +"I am old enough, Heaven knows," said Greenleaf, "and have had good +experience of these Scottish wars, and know well whether these native +Scots are a people to be trusted to by knight or yeoman. Say they are a +false generation, and say a good archer told you so, who, with a fair +aim, seldom missed a handsbreadth of the white. Ah! sir, your honour +knows how to deal with them---ride them strongly, and rein them +hard,--you are not like those simple novices who imagine that all is to +be done by gentleness, and wish to parade themselves as courteous and +generous to those faithless mountaineers, who never, in the course of +their lives, knew any tincture either of courteousness or generosity." + +"Thou alludest to some one," said the governor, "and I charge thee, +Gilbert, to be plain and sincere with me. Thou knowest, methinks, that +in trusting me thou wilt come to no harm?" + +"It is true, it is true, sir," said the old remnant of the wars, +carrying his hand to his brow, "but it were imprudent to communicate +all the remarks which float through an old man's brain in the idle +moments of such a garrison as this. One stumbles unawares on fantasies, +as well as realities, and thus one gets, not altogether undeservedly, +the character of a tale-bearer and mischief-maker among his comrades, +and methinks I would not willingly fall under that accusation." + +"Speak frankly to me," answered De Walton, "and have no fear of being +misconstrued, whosoever the conversation may concern." + +"Nay, in plain truth," answered Gilbert, "I fear not the greatness of +this young knight, being, as I am, the oldest soldier in the garrison, +and having drawn a bow-string long and many a day ere he was weaned +from his nurse's breast." + +"It is, then." said De Walton, "my lieutenant and friend, Aymer de +Valence, at whom your suspicions point?" + +"At nothing," replied the archer, "touching the honour of the young +knight himself, who is as brave as the sword he wears, and, his youth +considered, stands high in the roll of English chivalry; but he is +young, as your worship knows, and I own that in the choice of his +company he disturbs and alarms me." + +"Why, you know, Greenleaf," answered the governor, "that in the leisure +of a garrison a knight cannot always confine his sports and pleasures +among those of his own rank, who are not numerous, and may not be so +gamesome or fond of frolic, as he would desire them to be." + +"I know that well," answered the archer, "nor would I say a word +concerning your honour's lieutenant for joining any honest fellows, +however inferior their rank, in the wrestling ring, or at a bout of +quarterstaff. But if Sir Aymer de Valence has a fondness for martial +tales of former days, methinks he had better learn them from the +ancient soldiers who have followed Edward the First, whom God +assoilzie, and who have known before his time the Barons' wars and +Other onslaughts, in which the knights and archers of merry England +transmitted so many gallant actions to be recorded by fame; this truly, +I say, were more beseeming the Earl of Pembroke's nephew, than to see +him closet himself day after day with a strolling minstrel, who gains +his livelihood by reciting nonsense and lies to such young men as are +fond enough to believe him, of whom hardly any one knows whether he be +English or Scottish in his opinions, and still less can any one pretend +to say whether he is of English or Scottish birth, or with what purpose +he lies lounging about this castle, and is left free to communicate +every thing which passes within it to those old mutterers of matins at +St. Bride's, who say with their tongues God save King Edward, but pray +in their hearts God save King Robert the Bruce. Such a communication he +can easily carry on by means of his son, who lies at Saint Bride's +cell, as your worship knows, under pretence of illness." + +"How do you say?" exclaimed the governor, "under pretence?--is he not +then really indisposed?" + +"Nay, he may be sick to the death for aught I know," said the archer; +"but if so, were it not then more natural that the father should attend +his son's sick-bed, than that he should be ranging about this castle, +where one eternally meets him in the old Baron's study, or in some +corner, where you least expect to find him?" + +"If he has no lawful object," replied the knight, "it might be as you +say; but he is said to be in quest of ancient poems or prophecies of +Merlin, of the Rhymer, or some other old bard; and in truth it is +natural for him to wish to enlarge his stock of knowledge and power of +giving amusement, and where should he find the means save in a study +filled with ancient books?" + +"No doubt," replied the Archer, with a sort of dry civil sneer of +incredulity; "I have seldom known an insurrection in Scotland but that +it was prophesied by some old forgotten rhyme, conjured out of dust and +cobwebs, for the sake of giving courage to these North Country rebels, +who durst not otherwise have abidden the whistling of the grey-goose +shaft; but curled heads are hasty, and, with license, even your own +train, Sir Knight, retains too much of the fire of youth for such +uncertain times as the present." + +"Thou hast convinced me, Gilbert Greenleaf, and I will look into this +man's business and occupation more closely than hitherto. This is no +time to peril the safety of a royal castle for the sake of affecting +generosity towards a man of whom we know so little, and to whom, till +we receive a very full explanation, we may, without doing him +injustice, attach grave suspicions. Is he now in the apartment called +the Baron's study?" + +"Your worship will be certain to find him there," replied Greenleaf. + +"Then follow me, with two or three of thy comrades, and keep out of +sight, but within hearing; it may be necessary to arrest this man." + +"My assistance," said the old archer, "shall be at hand when you call, +but"-- + +"But what?" said the knight; "I hope I am not to find doubts and +disobedience on all hands?" + +"Certainly not on mine," replied Greenleaf; "I would only remind your +worship that what I have said was a sincere opinion expressed in answer +to your worship's question; and that, as Sir Aymer de Valence has +avowed himself the patron of this man, I would not willingly be left to +the hazard of his revenge." + +"Pshaw" answered De Walton, "is Aymer de Valence governor of this +castle, or am I? or to whom do you imagine you are responsible for +answering such questions as I may put to you?" + +"Nay," replied the archer, secretly not displeased at seeing De Walton +show some little jealousy of his own authority, "believe me, Sir +Knight, that I know my own station and your worship's, and that I am +not now to be told to whom I owe obedience." + +"To the study, then, and let us find the man," said the governor. + +"A fine matter, indeed," subjoined Greenleaf, following him, "that your +worship should have to go in person to look after the arrest of so mean +an individual. But your honour is right; these minstrels are often +jugglers, and possess the power of making their escape by means which +borrel [Footnote: Unlearned.] folk like myself are disposed to +attribute to necromancy." + +Without attending to these last words, Sir John de Walton set forth +towards the study, walking at a quick pace, as if this conversation had +augmented his desire to find himself in possession of the person of the +suspected minstrel. + +Traversing the ancient passages of the castle, the governor had no +difficulty in reaching the study, which was strongly vaulted with +stone, and furnished with a sort of iron cabinet, intended for the +preservation of articles and papers of value, in case of fire. Here he +found the minstrel seated at a small table, sustaining before him a +manuscript, apparently of great antiquity, from which he seemed engaged +in making extracts. The windows of the room were very small, and still +showed some traces that they had originally been glazed with a painted +history of Saint Bride--another mark of the devotion of the great +family of Douglas to their tutelar saint. + +The minstrel, who had seemed deeply wrapped in the contemplation of his +task, on being disturbed by the unlooked-for entrance of Sir John de +Walton, rose with every mark of respect and humility, and, remaining +standing in the governor's presence, appeared to wait for his +interrogations, as if he had anticipated that the visit concerned +himself particularly. + +"I am to suppose, Sir Minstrel," said Sir John de Walton, "that you +have been successful in your search, and have found the roll of poetry +or prophecies that you proposed to seek after amongst these broken +shelves and tattered volumes?" + +"More successful than I could have expected," replied the minstrel, +"considering the effects of the conflagration. This, Sir Knight, is +apparently the fatal volume for which I sought, and strange it is, +considering the heavy chance of other books contained in this library, +that I have been able to find a few though imperfect fragments of it." + +"Since, therefore, you have been permitted to indulge your curiosity," +said the governor, "I trust, minstrel, you will have no objection to +satisfy mine?" + +The minstrel replied with the same humility, "that if there was any +thing within the poor compass of his skill which could gratify Sir John +de Walton in any degree, he would but reach his lute, and presently +obey his commands." + +"You mistake, Sir," said Sir John, somewhat harshly. "I am none of +those who have hours to spend in listening to tales or music of former +days; my life has hardly given me time enough for learning the duties +of my profession, far less has it allowed me leisure for such twangling +follies. I care not who knows it, but my ear is so incapable judging of +your art, which you doubtless think a noble one, that I can scarcely +tell the modulation of one tune from another." + +"In that case," replied the minstrel composedly, "I can hardly promise +myself the pleasure of affording your worship the amusement which I +might otherwise have done." + +"Nor do I look for any from your hand," said the governor, advancing a +step nearer to him, and speaking in a sterner tone. "I want +information, sir, which I am assured you can give me, if you incline; +and it is my duty to tell you, that if you show unwillingness to speak +the truth, I know means by which it will become my painful duty to +extort it in a more disagreeable manner than I would wish." + +"If your questions, Sir Knight," answered Bertram, "be such as I can or +ought to answer, there shall be no occasion to put them more than once. +If they are such as I cannot, or ought not to reply to, believe me that +no threats of violence will extort an answer from me." + +"You speak boldly," said Sir John de Walton; "but take my word for it, +that your courage will be put to the test. I am as little fond of +proceeding to such extremities as you can be of undergoing them, but +such will be the natural consequence of your own obstinacy. I therefore +ask you, whether Bertram be your real name--whether you have any other +profession than that of a travelling minstrel--and, lastly, whether you +have any acquaintance or connexion with any Englishman or Scottishman +beyond the walls of this Castle of Douglas?" + +"To these questions," replied the minstrel, "I have already answered +the worshipful knight, Sir Aymer de Valence, and having fully satisfied +him, it is not, I conceive, necessary that I should undergo a second +examination; nor is it consistent either with your worship's honour, or +that of the lieutenant-governor, that such a re-examination should take +place." + +"You are very considerate," replied the governor, "of my honour and of +that of Sir Aymer de Valence. Take my word for it, they are both in +perfect safety in our own keeping, and may dispense with your +attention. I ask you, will you answer the enquiries which it is my duty +to make, or am I to enforce obedience by putting you under the +penalties of the question? I have already, it is my duty to say, seen +the answers you have returned to my lieutenant, and they do not satisfy +me." + +He at the same time clapped his hands, and two or three archers showed +themselves stripped of their tunics, and only attired in their shirts +and hose. + +"I understand," said the minstrel, "that you intend to inflict upon me +a punishment which is foreign to the genius of the English laws, in +that no proof is adduced of my guilt. I have already told that I am by +birth an Englishman, by profession a minstrel, and that I am totally +unconnected with any person likely to nourish any design against this +Castle of Douglas, Sir John de Walton, or his garrison. What answers +you may extort from me by bodily agony, I cannot, to speak as a +plain-dealing Christian, hold myself responsible for. I think that I +can endure as much pain as any one; I am sure that I never yet felt a +degree of agony, that I would not willingly prefer to breaking my +plighted word, or becoming a false informer against innocent persons: +but I own I do not know the extent to which the art of torture may be +carried; and though I do not fear you, Sir John de Walton, yet I must +acknowledge that I fear myself, since I know not to what extremity your +cruelty may be capable of subjecting me, or how far I may be enabled to +bear it. I, therefore, in the first place, protest, that I shall in no +manner be liable for any words which I may utter in the course of any +examination enforced from me by torture; and you must therefore, under +such circumstances, proceed to the execution of an office, which, +permit me to say, is hardly that which I expected to have found thus +administered by an accomplished knight like yourself." + +"Hark you, sir," replied the governor, "you and I are at issue, and in +doing my duty, I ought instantly to proceed to the extremities I have +threatened; but perhaps you yourself feel less reluctance to undergo +the examination as proposed, than I shall do in commanding it; I will +therefore consign you for the present to a place of confinement, +suitable to one who is suspected of being a spy upon this fortress. +Until you are pleased to remove such suspicions, your lodgings and +nourishment are those of a prisoner. In the meantime, before subjecting +you to the question, take notice, I will myself ride to the Abbey of +Saint Bride, and satisfy myself whether the young person whom you would +pass as your son, is possessed of the same determination as that which +you yourself seem to assert. It may so happen that his examination and +yours may throw such light upon each other as will decidedly prove +either your guilt or innocence, without its being confirmed by the use +of the extraordinary question. If it be otherwise, tremble for your +son's sake, if not for your own.--Have I shaken you, sir?--or do you +fear, for your boy's young sinews and joints, the engines which, in +your case, you seem willing to defy?" + +"Sir," answered the minstrel, recovering from the momentary emotion he +had shown, "I leave it to yourself, as a man of honour and candour, +whether you ought, in common fairness, to form a worse opinion of any +man, because he is not unwilling to incur, in his own person, +severities which he would not desire to be inflicted upon his child, a +sickly youth, just recovering from a dangerous disease." + +"It is my duty," answered De Walton, after a short pause, "to leave no +stone unturned by which this business may be traced to the source; and +if thou desirest mercy for thy son, thou wilt thyself most easily +attain it, by setting him the example of honesty and plain-dealing." + +The minstrel threw himself back on the seat, as if fully resolved to +bear every extremity that could be inflicted, rather than make any +farther answer than he had already offered. Sir John de Walton himself +seemed in some degree uncertain what might now be his best course. He +felt an invincible repugnance to proceed, without due consideration, in +what most people would have deemed the direct line of his duty, by +inflicting the torture both upon father and son; but deep as was his +sense of devotion towards the King, and numerous as were the hopes and +expectations he had formed upon the strict discharge of his present +high trust, he could not resolve upon having recourse at once to this +cruel method of cutting the knot. Bertram's appearance was venerable, +and his power of words not unworthy of his aspect and bearing. The +governor remembered that Aymer de Valence, whose judgment in general it +was impossible to deny, had described him as one of those rare +individuals, who vindicated the honour of a corrupted profession by +their personal good behaviour; and he acknowledged to himself, that +there was gross cruelty and injustice in refusing to admit the prisoner +to the credit of being a true and honest man, until, by way of proving +his rectitude, he had strained every sinew, and crushed every joint in +his body, as well as those of his son. "I have no touchstone," he said +internally, "which can distinguish truth from falsehood; the Bruce and +his followers are on the alert,-he has certainly equipped the galleys +which lay at Rachrin during winter. This story, too, of Greenleaf, +about arms being procured for a new insurrection, tallies strangely +with the appearance of that savage-looking forester at the hunt; and +all tends to show, that something is upon the anvil which it is my duty +to provide against. I will, therefore, pass over no circumstance by +which I can affect the mind through hope or fear; but, please God to +give me light from any other source, I will not think it lawful to +torment these unfortunate, and, it may yet be, honest men." He +accordingly took his departure from the library, whispering a word to +Greenleaf respecting the prisoner. + +He had reached the outward door of the study, and his satellites had +already taken the minstrel into their grasp, when the voice of the old +man was heard calling upon De Walton to return for a single moment. + +"What hast thou to say, sir?" said the governor; "be speedy, for I have +already lost more time in listening to thee than I am answerable for; +and so I advise thee for thine own sake"-- + +"I advise thee," said the minstrel, "for thine own sake, Sir John de +Walton, to beware how thou dost insist on thy present purpose, by which +thou thyself alone, of all men living,--will most severely suffer. If +thou harmest a hair of that young man's head--nay, if thou permittest +him to undergo any privation which it is in thy power to prevent, thou +wilt, in doing so, prepare for thine own suffering a degree of agony +more acute than anything else in this mortal world could cause thee. I +swear by the most blessed objects of our holy religion; I call to +witness that holy sepulchre, of which I have been an unworthy visitor, +that I speak nothing but the truth, and that thou wilt one day testify +thy gratitude for the part I am now acting. It is my interest, as well +as yours, to secure you in the safe possession of this castle, although +assuredly I know some things respecting it, and respecting your +worship, which I am not at liberty to tell without the consent of that +youth. Bring me but a note under his hand, consenting to my taking you +into our mystery, and believe me, you will soon see those clouds +charmed away; since there was never a doleful uncertainty which more +speedily changed to joy, or a thunder-cloud of adversity which more +instantly gave way to sunshine, than would then the suspicions which +appear now so formidable." + +He spoke with so much earnestness as to make some impression upon Sir +John de Walton, who was once more wholly at a loss to know what line +his duty called upon him to pursue. + +"I would most gladly," said the governor, "follow out my purpose by the +gentlest means in my power; and I shall bring no further distress upon +this poor lad, than thine own obstinacy and his shall appear to +deserve. In the meantime, think, Sir Minstrel, that my duty has limits, +and if I slack it for a day, it will become thee to exert every effort +in thy power to meet my condescension. I will give thee leave to +address thy son by a line under thy hand, and I will await his answer +before I proceed farther in this matter, which seems to be very +mysterious. Meantime, as thou hast a soul to be saved, I conjure thee +to speak the truth, and tell me whether the secrets of which thou +seemest to be a too faithful treasurer, have regard to the practices of +Douglas, of Bruce, or of any in their names, against this Castle of +Douglas?" + +The prisoner thought a moment, and then replied--"I am aware, Sir +Knight, of the severe charge under which this command is intrusted to +your hands, and were it in my power to assist you, as a faithful +minstrel and loyal subject, either with hand or tongue, I should feel +myself called upon so to do; but so far am I from being the character +your suspicions have apprehended, that I should have held it for +certain that the Bruce and Douglas had assembled their followers, for +the purpose of renouncing their rebellious attempts, and taking their +departure for the Holy Land, but for the apparition of the forester, +who, I hear, bearded you at the hunting, which impresses upon me the +belief, that when so resolute a follower and henchman of the Douglas +was sitting fearless among you, his master and comrades could be at no +great distance--how far his intentions could be friendly to you, I must +leave it to yourself to judge; only believe me thus far, that the rack, +pulley, or pincers, would not have compelled me to act the informer, or +adviser, in a quarrel wherein I have little or no share, if I had not +been desirous of fixing the belief upon you, that you are dealing with +a true man, and one who has your welfare at heart.--Meanwhile, permit +me to have writing materials, or let my own be restored, for I possess, +in some degree, the higher arts of my calling; nor do I fear but that I +can procure for you an explanation of these marvels, without much more +loss of time." + +"God grant it prove so," said the governor; "though I see not well how +I can hope for so favourable a termination, and I may sustain great +harm by trusting too much on the present occasion. My duty, however, +requires that, in the meantime, you be removed into strict confinement." + +He handed to the prisoner, as he spoke, the writing materials, which +had been seized upon by the archers on their first entrance, and then +commanded those satellites to unhand the minstrel. + +"I must, then," said Bertram, "remain subjected to all the severities +of a strict captivity; but I deprecate no hardship whatever in my own +person, so I may secure you from acting with a degree of rashness, of +which you will all your life repent, without the means of atoning." + +"No more words, minstrel," said the governor; "but since I have made my +choice, perhaps a very dangerous one for myself, let us carry this +spell into execution, which thou sayest is to serve me, as mariners say +that oil spread upon the raging billows will assuage their fury." + + + + +CHAPTER THE NINTH. + + Beware! beware! of the black Friar, + He still retains his sway, + For he is yet the Church's heir by right, + Whoever may be the lay. + Amundeville is lord by day, + But the monk is lord by night, + Nor wine nor wassel could raise a vassal + To question that friar's right. + Don Juan, CANTO XVII. + + +The minstrel made no vain boast of the skill which he possessed in the +use of pen and ink. In fact, no priest of the time could have produced +his little scroll more speedily, more neatly composed, or more fairly +written, than were the lines addressed "To the youth called Augustine, +son of Bertram the Minstrel." + +"I have not folded this letter," said he, "nor tied it with silk, for +it is not expressed so as to explain the mystery to you; nor, to speak +frankly, do I think that it can convey to you any intelligence; but it +may be satisfactory to show you what the letter does not contain, and +that it is written from and to a person, who both mean kindly towards +you and your garrison." + +"That," said the governor, "is a deception which is easily practised; +it tends, however, to show, though not with certainty, that you are +disposed to act upon good faith; and until the contrary appear, I shall +consider it a point of duty to treat you with as much gentleness as the +matter admits of. Meantime, I will myself ride to the Abbey of Saint +Bride, and in person examine the young prisoner; and as you say he has +the power, so I pray to Heaven he may have the will, to read this +riddle, which seems to throw us all into confusion." So saying, he +ordered his horse, and while it was getting ready, he perused with +great composure the minstrel's letter. Its contents ran thus:-- + +"DEAR AUGUSTINE, + +"Sir John de Walton, the governor of this castle, has conceived those +suspicions which I pointed out as likely to be the consequence of our +coming to this country without an avowed errand. I at least am seized, +and threatened with examination under torture, to force me to tell the +purpose of our journey; but they shall tear the flesh from my bones, +ere they force me to break the oath which I have taken. And the purport +of this letter is to apprize you of the danger in which you stand of +being placed in similar circumstances, unless you are disposed to +authorize me to make the discovery to this knight; but on this subject +you are only to express your own wishes, being assured they shall be in +every respect attended to by your devoted + +"BERTRAM." + +This letter did not throw the smallest light upon the mystery of the +writer. The governor read it more than once, and turned it repeatedly +in his hand, as if he had hoped by that mechanical process to draw +something from the missive, which at a first view the words did not +express; but as no result of this sort appeared, De Walton retired to +the hall, where he informed Sir Aymer de Valence, that he was going +abroad as far as the Abbey of Saint Bride, and that he would be obliged +by his taking upon him the duties of governor during his absence. Sir +Aymer, of course, intimated his acquiescence in the charge; and the +state of disunion in which they stood to each other, permitted no +further explanation. + +Upon the arrival of Sir John de Walton at the dilapidated shrine, the +abbot, with trembling haste, made it his business immediately to attend +the commander of the English garrison, upon whom for the present, their +house depended for every indulgence they experienced, as well as for +the subsistence and protection necessary to them in so perilous a +period. Having interrogated this old man respecting the youth residing +in the Abbey, De Walton was informed that he had been indisposed since +left there by his father, Bertram, a minstrel. It appeared to the +abbot, that his indisposition might be of that contagious kind which, +at that period, ravaged the English Borders, and made some incursions +into Scotland, where it afterwards worked a fearful progress. After +some farther conversation, Sir John de Walton put into the abbot's hand +the letter to the young person under his roof, on delivering which to +Augustine, the reverend father was charged with a message to the +English governor, so bold, that he was afraid to be the bearer of it. +It signified, that the youth could not, and would not, at that moment, +receive the English knight; but that, if he came back on the morrow +after mass, it was probable he might learn something of what was +requested. + +"This is not an answer," said Sir John de Walton, "to be sent by a boy +like this to a person in my charge; and me thinks, Father Abbot, you +consult your own safety but slenderly in delivering such an insolent +message." + +The abbot trembled under the folds of his large coarse habit; and De +Walton, imagining that his discomposure was the consequence of guilty +fear, called upon him to remember the duties which he owed to England, +the benefits which he had received from himself, and the probable +consequence of taking part in a pert boy's insolent defiance of the +power of the governor of the province. + +The abbot vindicated himself from these charges with the utmost +anxiety. He pledged his sacred word, that the inconsiderate character +of the boy's message was owing to the waywardness arising from +indisposition. He reminded the governor that, as a Christian and an +Englishman, he had duties to observe towards the community of Saint +Bride, which had never given the English government the least subject +of complaint. As he spoke, the churchman seemed to gather courage from +the immunities of his order. He said he could not permit a sick boy who +had taken refuge within the sanctuary of the Church, to be seized or +subjected to any species of force, unless he was accused of a specific +crime, capable of being immediately proved. The Douglasses, a +headstrong race, had, in former days, uniformly respected the sanctuary +of Saint Bride, and it was not to be supposed that the king of England, +the dutiful and obedient child of the Church of Rome, would act with +less veneration for her rights, than the followers of a usurper, +homicide, and excommunicated person like Robert Bruce. + +Walton was considerably shaken with this remonstrance. He knew that, in +the circumstances of the times, the Pope had great power in every +controversy in which it was his pleasure to interfere. He knew that +even in the dispute respecting the supremacy of Scotland, his Holiness +had set up a claim to the kingdom which, in the temper of the times, +might perhaps have been deemed superior both to that of Robert Bruce, +and that of Edward of England, and he conceived his monarch would give +him little thanks for any fresh embroilment which might take place with +the Church. Moreover, It was easy to place a watch, so as to prevent +Augustine from escaping during the night; and on the following morning +he would be still as effectually in the power of the English governor +as if he were seized on by open force at the present moment. Sir John +de Walton, however, so far exerted his authority over the abbot, that +he engaged, in consideration of the sanctuary being respected for this +space of time, that, when it expired, he would be aiding and assisting +with his spiritual authority to surrender the youth, should he not +allege a sufficient reason to the contrary. This arrangement, which +appeared still to flatter the governor with the prospect of an easy +termination of this troublesome dispute, induced him to grant the delay +which Augustine rather demanded than petitioned for. + +"At your request, Father Abbot, whom I have hitherto found a true man, +I will indulge this youth with the grace he asks, before taking him +into custody, understanding that he shall not be permitted to leave +this place; and thou art to be responsible to this effect, giving thee, +as is reasonable, power to command our little, garrison at Hazelside, +to which I will send a reinforcement on my return to the Castle, in +case it should be necessary to use the strong hand, or circumstances +impose upon me other measures." + +"Worthy Sir Knight," replied the Abbot, "I have no idea that the +frowardness of this youth will render any course necessary, saving that +of persuasion; and I venture to say, that you yourself will in the +highest degree approve of the method in which I shall acquit myself of +my present trust." + +The abbot went through the duties of hospitality, enumerating what +simple cheer the cloister of the convent permitted him to offer to the +English knight. Sir John de Walton declined the offer of refreshment, +however--took a courteous leave of the churchman, and did not spare his +horse until the noble animal had brought him again before the Castle of +Douglas. Sir Aymer De Valence met him on the drawbridge, and reported +the state of the garrison to be the same in winch he had left it, +excepting that intimation had been received that twelve or fifteen men +were expected on their way to the town of Lanark; and being on march +from the neighbourhood of Ayr, would that night take up their quarters +at the outpost of Hazelside. + +"I am glad of it," replied the governor; "I was about to strengthen +that detachment. This stripling, the son of Bertram the minstrel, or +whoever he is, has engaged to deliver himself up for examination in the +morning. As this party of soldiers are followers of your uncle, Lord +Pembroke, may I request you will ride to meet them, and command them to +remain at Hazelside until you make farther enquiries about this youth, +who has still to clear up the mystery which hangs about him, and reply +to a letter which I delivered with my own hand to the Abbot of Saint +Bride. I have shown too much forbearance in this matter, and I trust to +your looking to the security of this young man, and conveying him +hither, with all due care and attention, as being a prisoner of some +importance." + +"Certainly, Sir John," answered Sir Aymer; "your orders shall be +obeyed, since you have none of greater importance for one who hath the +honour to be second only to yourself in this place." + +"I crave your mercy, Sir Aymer," returned the governor, "if the +commission be in any degree beneath your dignity; but it is our +misfortune to misunderstand each other, when we endeavour to be most +intelligible." + +"But what am I to do," said Sir Aymer--"no way disputing your command, +but only asking for information--what am I to do, if the Abbot of Saint +Bride offers opposition?" + +"How!" answered Sir John de Walton; "with the reinforcement from. my +Lord of Pembroke, you will command at least twenty war-men, with bow +and spear, against five or six timid old monks, with only gown and, +hood." + +"True," said Sir Aymer, "but ban and excommunication are sometimes; In +the present day, too hard for the mail coat, and I would not willingly +be thrown out of the pale of the Christian Church." + +"Well, then, thou very suspicious and scrupulous young man," replied De +Walton, "know that if this youth does not deliver himself up to thee of +his own accord, the abbot has promised to put him into thy hands." + +There was no farther answer to be made, and De Valence, though still +thinking himself unnecessarily harassed with the charge of a petty +commission, took the sort of half arms which were always used when the +knights stirred, beyond the walls of the garrison, and proceeded to +execute the commands of De Walton. A horseman or two, together with his +squire Fabian, accompanied him. + +The evening closed in with one of those Scottish mists which are +commonly said to be equal to the showers of happier climates; the path +became more and more dark, the hills more wreathed in vapours, and more +difficult to traverse; and all the little petty inconveniences which +rendered travelling through the district slow and uncertain, were +augmented by the density of the fog which overhung every thing. + +Sir Aymer, therefore, occasionally mended his pace, and often incurred +the fate of one who is over-late, delaying himself by his efforts to +make greater expedition. The knight bethought himself that he would get +into a straight road by passing through the almost deserted town of +Douglas--the inhabitants of which had been treated so severely by the +English, in the course of those fierce troubles, that most of them who +were capable of bearing arms had left it, and withdrawn themselves to +different parts of the country. This almost deserted place was defended +by a rude palisade, and a ruder drawbridge, which gave entrance into +streets so narrow, as to admit with difficulty three horses abreast, +and evincing with what strictness the ancient lords of the village +adhered to their prejudice against fortifications, and their opinion in +favour of keeping the field, so quaintly expressed in the well-known +proverb of the family,--"It is better to hear the lark sing than the +mouse cheep." The streets, or rather the lanes, were dark, but for a +shifting gleam of moonlight, which, as that planet began to rise, was +now and then visible upon some steep and narrow gable. No sound of +domestic industry, or domestic festivity, was heard, and no ray of +candle or firelight glanced from the windows of the houses; the ancient +ordinance called the curfew, which the Conqueror had introduced into +England, was at this time in full force in such parts of Scotland as +were thought doubtful, and likely to rebel; under which description it +need not be said the ancient possessions of the Douglas were most +especially regarded. The Church, whose Gothic monuments were of a +magnificent character, had been, as far as possible, destroyed by fire; +but the ruins, held together by the weight of the massive stones of +which they were composed, still sufficiently evinced the greatness of +the family at whose cost it had been raised, and whose bones, from +immemorial time, had been entombed in its crypts. + +Paying little attention to these relics of departed splendour, Sir +Aymer de Valence advanced with his small detachment, and had passed the +scattered fragments of the cemetery of the Douglasses, when to his +surprise, the noise of his horse's feet was seemingly replied to by +sounds which rung like those of another knightly steed advancing +heavily up the street, as if it were to meet him. Valence was unable to +conjecture what might be the cause of these warlike sounds; the ring +and the clang of armour was distinct, and the heavy tramp of a +war-horse was not to be mistaken by the ear of a warrior. The +difficulty of keeping soldiers from straying out of quarters by night, +would have sufficiently accounted for the appearance of a straggling +foot-soldier; but it was more difficult to account for a mounted +horseman, in full armour; and such was the apparition which a +peculiarly bright glimpse of moonlight now showed at the bottom of the +causewayed hill. Perhaps the unknown warrior obtained at the same time +a glance of Aymer de Valence and his armed followers--at least each of +them shouted "Who goes there?"--the alarm of the times; and on the +instant the deep answers of "St. George!" on the one side, and "The +Douglas!" on the other, awakened the still echoes of the small and +ruinous street, and the silent arches of the dilapidated church. +Astonished at a war-cry with which so many recollections were +connected, the English knight spurred his horse at full gallop down the +steep and broken descent leading out at the south or south-east gate of +the town; and it was the work of an instant to call out, "Ho! Saint +George! upon the insolent villain all of you!--To the gate, Fabian, and +cut him off from flight! --Saint George! I say, for England! Bows and +bills!--bows and bills!" At the same time Aymer de Valence laid in rest +his own long lance, which he snatched from the squire by whom it was +carried. But the light was seen and gone in an instant, and though De +Valence concluded that the hostile warrior had hardly room to avoid his +career, yet he could take no aim for the encounter, unless by mere +guess, and continued to plunge down the dark declivity, among shattered +stones and other encumbrances, without groping out with his lance the +object of his pursuit. He rode, in short, at a broken gallop, a descent +of about fifty or sixty yards, without having any reason to suppose +that he had met the figure which had appeared to him, although the +narrowness of the street scarcely admitted his having passed him, +unless both horse and horseman could have melted at the moment of +encounter like an air-bubble. The riders of his suite, meanwhile, were +struck with a feeling like supernatural terror, which a number of +singular adventures, had caused most of them to attach to the name of +Douglas; and when he reached the gate by which the broken street was +terminated, there was none close behind him but Fabian, in whose head +no suggestions of a timorous nature could outlive the sound of his dear +master's voice. + +Here there were a post of English, archers, who were turning out in +considerable alarm, when De Valence and his page rode in amongst them. +"Villains!" shouted De Valence, "why were you not upon your duty? Who +was it passed through your post even now, with the traitorous cry of +Douglas?" + +"We know of no such," said the captain of the watch. + +"That is to say, you besotted villains," answered the young knight, +"you have been drinking, and have slept?" + +The men protested the contrary, but in a confused manner, which was far +from overcoming De Valence's suspicions. He called loudly to bring +cressets, torches, and candles; and a few remaining inhabitants began +to make their unwilling appearance, with such various means of giving +light as they chanced to possess. They heard the story of the young +English knight with wonder; nor, although it was confirmed by all his +retinue, did they give credit to the recital, more than that the +Englishmen wished somehow or other to pick a quarrel with the people of +the palace, under the pretence of their having admitted a retainer of +their ancient lord by night into the town. They protested, therefore, +their innocence of the cause of tumult, and endeavoured to seem active +in hastening from house to house, and corner to corner, with their +torches, in order to discover the invisible cavalier. The English +suspected them no less of treachery, than the Scottish imagined the +whole matter a pretext for bringing an accusation, on the part of the +young knight, against the citizens. The women, however, who now began +to issue from the houses, had a key for the solution of the apparition, +which at that time was believed of efficacy sufficient to solve any +mystery. "The devil," they said, "must have appeared visibly amongst +them," an explanation which had already occurred to the followers of +the young knight; for that a living man and horse, both as it seemed, +of a gigantic size, could be conjured in the twinkling of an eye, and +appear in a street secured at one end by the best of the archers, and +at the other by the horsemen under Valence himself, was altogether, it +seemed, a thing impossible. The inhabitants did not venture to put +their thoughts on the subject into language, for fear of giving +offence, and only indicated by a passing word to each other the secret +degree of pleasure which they felt in the confusion and embarrassment +of the English garrison. Still, however, they continued to affect a +great deal of interest in the alarm which De Valence had received, and +the anxiety which he expressed to discover the cause. + +At length a female voice spoke above the Babel of confused sounds, +saying, "Where is the Southern Knight? I am sure that I can tell him +where he can find the only person who can help him out of his present +difficulty." + +"And who is that, good woman?" said Aymer de Valence, who was growing +every moment more impatient at the loss of time, which was flying fast, +in an investigation which had something vexatious in it, and even +ridiculous. At the same time, the sight of an armed partisan of the +Douglasses, in their own native town, seemed to bode too serious +consequences, if it should be suffered to pass without being probed to +the bottom. + +"Come hither to me," said the female voice, "and I will name to you the +only person who can explain all matters of this kind that chance in +this country." On this the knight snatched a torch from some of those +who were present, and holding it up, descried the person who spoke, a +tall woman, who evidently endeavoured to render herself remarkable. +When he approached her, she communicated her intelligence in a grave +and sententious tone of voice. + +"We had once wise men, that could have answered any parables which +might have been put to them for explanation in this country side. +Whether you yourselves, gentlemen, have not had some hand in weeding +them out, good troth, it is not for the like of me to say; at any rate, +good counsel is not so easy come by as it was in this Douglas country, +nor, may be, is it a safe thing to pretend to the power of giving it." + +"Good woman," said De Valence, "if you will give me an explanation of +this mystery, I will owe you a kirtle of the best raploch grey." + +"It is not I," said the old woman, "that pretend to possess the +knowledge which may assist you; but I would fain know that the man whom +I shall name to you shall be skaithless and harmless. Upon your +knighthood and your honour, will you promise to me so much?" + +"Assuredly," said De Valence, "such a person shall even have thanks and +reward, if he is a faithful informer; ay, and pardon, moreover, +although he may have listened to any dangerous practices, or been +concerned in any plots." + +"Oh! not he," replied the female; "it is old Goodman Powheid, who has +the charge of the muniments," (meaning probably monuments,) "that is, +such part of them as you English have left standing; I mean the old +sexton of the kirk of Douglas, who can tell more stories of these old +folk, whom your honour is not very fond of hearing named, than would +last us from this day to Yule." + +"Does anybody," said the knight, "know whom it is that this old woman +means?" + +"I conjecture," replied Fabian, "that she speaks of an old dotard, who +is, I think, the general referee concerning the history and antiquities +of this old town, and of the savage family that lived here perhaps +before the flood." + +"And who, I dare say," said the knight, "knows as much about the matter +as she herself does. But where is this man? a sexton is he? He may be +acquainted with places of concealment, which are often fabricated in +Gothic buildings, and known to those whose business calls them to +frequent them. Come, my good old dame, bring this man to me; or, what +may be better, I will go to him, for we have already spent too much +time." + +"Time!" replied the old woman,--"is time an object with your honour? I +am sure I can hardly get so much for mine as will hold soul and body +together. You are not far from the old man's house." + +She led the way accordingly, blundering over heaps of rubbish, and +encountering all the embarrassments of a ruinous street, in lighting +the way to Sir Aymer, who, giving his horse to one of his attendants, +and desiring Fabian to be ready at a call, scrambled after as well as +the slowness of his guide would permit. + +Both were soon involved in the remains of the old church, much +dilapidated as it had been by wanton damage done to it by the soldiery, +and so much impeded by rubbish, that the knight marvelled how the old +woman could find the way. She kept talking all the while as she +stumbled onward. Sometimes she called out in a screeching tone, +"Powheid! Lazarus Powheid!"--and then muttered---"Ay, ay, the old man +will be busy with some of his duties, as he calls them; I wonder he +fashes wi' them in these times. But never mind, I warrant they will +last for his day and for mine; and the times, Lord help us! for all +that I can see, are well enough for those that are to live in them." + +"Are you sure, good woman," replied the knight, "that there is any +inhabitant in these ruins? For my part, I should rather suppose that +you are taking me to the charnel-house of the dead." + +"Maybe you are right," said the old woman, with a ghastly laugh; +"carles and carlines agree weel with funeral vaults and charnel-houses, +and when an auld bedral dwells near the dead, he is living, ye ken, +among his customers--Halloo! Powheid! Lazarus Powheid! there is a +gentleman would speak with you;" and she added, with some sort of +emphasis, "an. English noble gentleman---one of the honourable +garrison." + +An old man's step was now heard advancing, so slowly that the +glimmering light which he held in his hand was visible on the ruined +walls of the vault some time before it showed the person who bore it. + +The shadow of the old man was also projected upon the illuminated wall +ere his person came in view; his dress was in considerable confusion, +owing to his having been roused from his bed; and since artificial +light was forbidden by the regulations of the garrison, the natives of +Douglas Dale spent in sleep the time that they could not very well get +rid of by any other means. The sexton was a tall thin man, emaciated by +years and by privations; his body was bent habitually by his occupation +of grave-digging, and his eye naturally inclined downward to the scene +of his labours. His hand sustained the cruise or little lamp, which he +held so as to throw light upon his visitant; at the same time it +displayed to the young knight the features of the person with whom he +was now confronted, which, though neither handsome nor pleasing, were +strongly marked, sagacious, and venerable, indicating, at the same +time, a certain air of dignity, which age, even mere poverty, may be +found occasionally to bestow, as conferring that last melancholy +species of independence proper to those whose situation can hardly by +any imaginable means, be rendered much worse than years and fortune +have already made it. The habit of a lay brother added somewhat of +religious importance to his appearance. + +"What would you with me, young man?" said the sexton. "Your youthful +features, and your gay dress, bespeak one who stands in need of my +ministry neither for himself nor for others." + +"I am indeed," replied the knight, "a living man, and therefore need +not either shovel or pick-axe for my own behoof. I am not, as you see, +attired in mourning, and therefore need not your offices in behalf of +any friend; I would only ask you a few questions." + +"What you would have done must needs be done, you being at present one +of our rulers, and, as I think, a man of authority," replied the +sexton; "follow me this way into my poor habitation; I have had a +better in my day; and yet, Heaven knows, it is good enough for me, when +many men of much greater consequence must perforce content themselves +with worse." + +He opened a lowly door, which was fitted, though irregularly, to serve +as the entrance of a vaulted apartment, where it appeared that the old +man held, apart from the living world, his wretched and solitary +dwelling. [Footnote: [This is a most graphic and accurate description +of the present state of the ruin. Its being occupied by the sexton as a +dwelling-place, and the whole scene of the old man's interview with De +Valence, may be classed with our illustrious author's most felicitous +imaginings._--Note by the Rev. Mr. Stewart of Douglas._]] The floor, +composed of paving stones, laid together with some accuracy, and here +and there inscribed with letters and hieroglyphics, as if they had once +upon a time served to distinguish sepulchres, was indifferently well +swept, and a fire at the upper end directed its smoke into a hole which +served for a chimney. The spade and pick-axe, (with other tools,) which +the chamberlain of mortality makes use of, lay scattered about the +apartment, and, with a rude stool or two, and a table, where some +inexperienced hand had unquestionably supplied the labours of the +joiner, were nearly the only furniture, if we include the old man's bed +of straw, lying in a corner, and discomposed, as if he had been just +raised from it. At the lower end of the apartment, the wall was almost +entirely covered by a large escutcheon, such as is usually hung over +the graves of men of very high rank, having the appropriate quarters, +to the number of sixteen, each properly blazoned and distinct, placed +as ornaments around the principal armorial coat itself. + +"Let us sit," said the old man; "the posture will better enable my +failing ears to apprehend your meaning, and the asthma will deal with +me more mercifully in permitting me to make you understand mine." + +A peal of short asthmatic coughs attested the violence of the disorder +which he had last named, and the young knight followed his host's +example, in sitting down on one of the rickety stools by the side of +the fire. The old man brought from one corner of the apartment an +apron, which he occasionally wore, full of broken boards in irregular +pieces, some of which were covered with black cloth, or driven full of +nails, black, as it might happen, or gilded. + +"You will find this fresh fuel necessary," said the old man, "to keep +some degree of heat within this waste apartment; nor are the vapours of +mortality, with which this vault is apt to be filled, if the fire is +permitted to become extinct, indifferent to the lungs of the dainty and +the healthy, like your worship, though to me they are become habitual. +The wood will catch fire, although it is some time ere the damps of the +grave are overcome by the drier air, and the warmth of the chimney." + +Accordingly, the relics of mortality with which the old man had heaped +his fireplace, began by degrees to send forth a thick unctuous vapour, +which at length leaped to light, and blazing up the aperture, gave a +degree of liveliness to the gloomy scene. The blazonry of the huge +escutcheon met and returned the rays with as brilliant a reflection as +that lugubrious object was capable of, and the whole apartment looked +with a fantastic gaiety, strangely mingled with the gloomy ideas which +its ornaments were calculated to impress upon the imagination. + +"You are astonished," said the old man, "and perhaps, Sir Knight, you +have never before seen these relics of the dead applied to the purpose +of rendering the living, in some degree, more comfortable than their +condition would otherwise admit of." + +"Comfortable!" returned the Knight of Valence, shrugging his shoulders; +"I should be sorry, old man, to know that I had a dog that was as +indifferently quartered as thou art, whose grey hairs have certainly +seen better days." + +"It may be," answered the sexton, "and it may be otherwise; but it was +not, I presume, concerning my own history that your worship seemed +disposed to ask me some questions; and I would venture to enquire, +therefore, to whom they have relation?" + +"I will speak plainly to you," replied Sir Aymer, "and you will at once +acknowledge the necessity of giving a short and distinct reply. I have +even now met in the streets of this village a person only shown to me +by a single flash of light, who had the audacity to display the +armorial insignia and utter the war-cry of the Douglasses; nay, if I +could trust a transient glance, this daring cavalier had the features +and the dark complexion proper to the Douglas. I am referred to thee as +to one who possesses means of explaining this extraordinary +circumstance, which, as an English knight, and one holding a charge +under King Edward, I am particularly called upon to make enquiry into." + +"Let me make a distinction," said the old man. "The Douglasses of +former generations are my near neighbours, and, according to my +superstitious townsmen, my acquaintances and visitors; I can take it +upon my conscience to be answerable for their good behaviour, and to +become bound that none of the old barons, to whom the roots of that +mighty tree may, it is said, be traced, will again disturb with their +war-cry the towns or villages of their native country--not one will +parade in moonshine the black armour which has long rusted upon their +tombs. + + 'The knights are dust. + And their good swords are rust; + Their souls are with the saints, we trust.' [Footnote: [The author +has somewhat altered part of a beautiful unpublished fragment of +Coleridge:-- + "Where is the grave of Sir Arthur Orellan,-- + Where may the grave of that good knight be? + By the marge of a brook, on the slope of Helvellyn, + Under the boughs of a young birch tree. + The Oak that in summer was pleasant to hear, + That rustled in Autumn all withered and sear, + That whistled and groan'd thro' the Winter alone, + He hath gone, and a birch in his place is grown. + The knight's bones are dust, + His good sword is rust; + His spirit is with, the saints, we trust." _Edit_.]] + +Look around, Sir Knight, you have above and around you the men of whom +we speak. Beneath us, in a little aisle, (which hath not been opened +since these thin grey locks were thick and brown,) there lies the first +man whom I can name as memorable among those of this mighty line. It is +he whom the Thane of Athol pointed out to the King of Scotland as +Sholto Dhuglass, or the dark iron-coloured man, whose exertions had +gained the battle for his native prince; and who, according to this +legend, bequeathed his name to our dale and town, though others say +that the race assumed the name of Douglass from the stream so called in +unrecorded times, before they had their fastness on its banks. Others, +his descendants, called Eachain, or Hector the first, and Orodh, or +Hugh, William, the first of that name, and Gilmour, the theme of many a +minstrel song, commemorating achievements done under the oriflamme of +Charles the Great, Emperor of France, have all consigned themselves to +their last sleep, nor has their memory been sufficiently preserved from +the waste of time. Something we know concerning their great deeds, +their great power, and, alas! their great crimes. Something we also +know of a Lord of Douglas who sat in a parliament at Forfar, held by +King Malcolm the First, and we are aware that from his attachment to +hunting the wild hart, he built himself a tower called Blackhouse, in +the forest of Ettrick, which perhaps still exists." + +"I crave your forgiveness, old man," said the knight, "but I have no +time at present to bestow upon the recitation of the pedigree of the +House of Douglas. A less matter would hold a well-breathed minstrel in +subject for recitation for a calendar month, Sundays and holidays +included." + +"What other information can you expect from me," said the sexton, "than +that respecting those heroes, some of whom it has been my lot to +consign to that eternal rest, which will for ever divide the dead from +the duties of this world? I have told you where the race sleep, down to +the reign of the royal Malcolm. I can tell you also of another vault, +in which lie Sir John of Douglas-burn, with his son Lord Archibald, and +a third William, known by an indenture with Lord Abernethy. Lastly, I +can tell you of him to whom that escutcheon, with its appurtenances of +splendour and dignity, justly belong. Do you envy that nobleman, whom, +if death were in the sound, I would not hesitate to term my honourable +patron? and have you any design of dishonouring his remains? It will be +a poor victory! nor does it become a knight and nobleman to come in +person to enjoy such a triumph over the dead, against whom, when he +lived, there were few knights dared spur their horses. He fought in +defence of his country, but he had not the good fortune of most of his +ancestors, to die on the field of battle. Captivity, sickness, and +regret for the misfortunes of his native land, brought his head to the +grave in his prison-house, in the land of the stranger." + +The old man's voice here became interrupted by emotion, and the English +knight found it difficult to continue his examination in the stern +fashion which his duty required. + +"Old man," he said, "I do not require from thee this detail, which must +be useless to me, as well as painful to thyself. Thou dost but thy duty +in rendering justice to thy ancient lord; but thou hast not yet +explained to me why I have met in this town, this very night, and not +half an hour since, a person in the arms, and bearing the complexion, +of one of the Black Douglasses, who cried his war-cry as if in contempt +of his conquerors." + +"Surely," replied the sexton, "it is not my business to explain such a +fancy, otherwise than by supposing that the natural fears of the +Southron will raise the spectre of a Douglas at any time, when he is +within sight of their sepulchre. Methinks, in such a night as this, the +fairest cavalier would wear the complexion of this swarthy race, nor +can I hold it wonderful that the war-cry which was once in the throats +of so many thousands in this country, should issue upon occasion from +the mouth of a single champion." + +"You are bold, old man," returned the English knight; "do you consider +that your life is in my power, and that it may, in certain cases, be my +duty to inflict death with that degree of pain at which humanity +shudders?" + +The old man rose up slowly in the light of the blazing fire, displaying +his emaciated features, which resembled those ascribed by artists to +Saint Anthony of the desert; and pointing to the feeble lamp, which he +placed upon the coarse table, thus addressed his interrogator, with an +appearance of perfect firmness, and something even resembling dignity:-- + +"Young knight of England, you see that utensil constructed for the +purpose of dispensing light amid these fatal vaults,--it is as frail as +any thing can well be, whose flame is supplied by living element, +contained in a frame composed of iron. It is doubtless in your power +entirely to end its service, by destroying the frame, or extinguishing +the light. Threaten it with such annihilation, Sir Knight, and see +whether your menace will impress any sense of fear either on the +element or the iron. Know that you have no more power over the frail +mortal whom you threaten with similar annihilation. You may tear from +my body the skin in which it is now swathed, but although my nerves +might glow with agony during the inhuman operation, it would produce no +more impression on me than flaying on the stag which an arrow has +previously pierced through the heart. My age sets me beyond your +cruelty: if you think otherwise, call your agents, and commence your +operations; neither threats nor inflictions will enable you to extort +from me any thing that I am not ready to tell you of my own accord." + +"You trifle with me, old man," said De Valence; "you talk as if you +possessed some secret respecting the motions of these Douglasses, who +are to you as gods, yet you communicate no intelligence to me whatever." + +"You may soon know," replied the old man, "all that a poor sexton has +to communicate; and it will not increase your knowledge respecting the +living, though it may throw some light upon my proper domains, which +are those of the dead. The spirits of the deceased Douglasses do not +rest in their graves during the dishonour of their monuments, and the +downfall of their house. That, upon death, the greater part of any line +are consigned to the regions of eternal bliss, or of never-ending +misery, religion will not suffer us to believe, and amidst a race who +had so great a share of worldly triumph and prosperity, we must suppose +there have existed many who have been justly subjected to the doom of +an intermediate space of punishment. You have destroyed the +temples--which were built by their posterity to propitiate Heaven for +the welfare of their souls; you have silenced the prayers and stopt the +choirs, by the mediation of which the piety of children had sought to +appease the wrath of Heaven in behalf of their ancestors, subjected to +expiatory fires. Can you wonder that the tormented spirits, thus +deprived of the relief which had been proposed to them, should not, +according to the common phrase, rest in their graves? Can you wonder +they should show themselves like discontented loiterers near to the +places which, but for the manner in which you have prosecuted your +remorseless warfare, might have ere now afforded them rest? Or do you +marvel that these fleshless warriors should interrupt your marches, and +do what else their airy nature may permit to disturb your councils, and +meet as far as they may the hostilities which you make it your boast to +carry on, as well against those who are deceased, as against any who +may yet survive your cruelty?" + +"Old man," replied Aymer de Valence, "you cannot expect that I am to +take for answer a story like this, being a fiction too gross to charm +to sleep a schoolboy tormented with the toothache; nevertheless, I +thank God that thy doom does not remain in my hands. My squire and two +archers shall carry thee captive to the worshipful Sir John de Walton, +Governor of the Castle and Valley, that he may deal with thee as seems +meet; nor is he a person to believe in your apparitions and ghosts from +purgatory.--What ho! Fabian! Come hither, and bring with thee two +archers of the guard." + +Fabian accordingly, who had waited at the entrance of the ruined +building, now found his way, by the light of the old sexton's lamp, and +the sound of his master's voice, into the singular apartment of the old +man, the strange decorations of which struck the youth with great +surprise, and some horror. + +"Take the two archers with thee, Fabian," said the Knight of Valence, +"and, with their assistance, convey this old man, on horseback, or in a +litter, to the presence of the worshipful Sir John de Walton. Tell him +what we have seen, which thou didst witness as well as I; and tell him +that this old sexton, whom I send to be examined by his superior +wisdom, seems to know more than he is willing to disclose respecting +our ghostly cavalier, though he will give us no account of him, except +intimating that he is a spirit of the old Douglasses from purgatory, to +which Sir John de Walton will give what faith he pleases. You may say, +that, for my part, my belief is, either that the sexton is crazed by +age, want, and enthusiasm, or that he is connected with some plot which +the country people are hatching. You may also say that I shall not use +much ceremony with the youth under the care of the Abbot of St. Bride; +there is something suspicious in all the occurrences that are now +passing around us." + +Fabian promised obedience; and the knight, pulling him aside, gave him +an additional caution, to behave with attention in this business, +seeing he must recollect that neither the judgment of himself, nor that +of his master, were apparently held in very much esteem by the +governor; and that it would ill become them to make any mistake in a +matter where the safety of the Castle was perhaps concerned. + +"Fear me not, worshipful sir," replied the youth; "I am returning to +pure air in the first place, and a good fire in the second, both +acceptable exchanges for this dungeon of suffocating vapours and +execrable smells. You may trust to my making no delay; a very short +time will carry me back to Castle Douglas, even moving with suitable +attention to this old man's bones." + +"Use him humanely," answered the knight. "And thou, old man, if thou +art insensible to threats of personal danger in this matter, remember, +that if thou art found paltering with us, thy punishment will perhaps +be more severe than any we can inflict upon thy person." + +"Can you administer the torture to the soul?" said the sexton. + +"As to thee," answered the knight, "we have that power;--we will +dissolve every monastery or religious establishment held for the souls +of these Douglasses, and will only allow the religious people to hold +their residence there upon condition of their praying for the soul of +King Edward the First of glorious memory, the _malleus Scotorum_; and +if the Douglasses are deprived of the ghostly benefit of the prayers +and services of such shrines, they may term thy obstinacy the cause." + +"Such a species of vengeance," answered the old man, in the same bold +unsubdued tone which he had hitherto used, "were more worthy of the +infernal fiends than of Christian men." + +The squire raised his hand. The knight interposed: "Forbear him," he +said, "Fabian, he is very old, and perhaps insane.--And you, sexton, +remember that the vengeance threatened is lawfully directed towards a +family which have been the obstinate supporters of the excommunicated +rebel, who murdered the Red Comyn at the High Church in Dumfries." + +So saying, Aymer strode out of the ruins, picking his way with much +difficulty--took his horse, which he found at the entrance--repeated a +caution to Fabian, to conduct himself with prudence--and, passing on to +the south-western gate, gave the strongest injunctions concerning the +necessity of keeping a vigilant watch, both by patrols and by +sentinels, intimating, at the same time, that it must have been +neglected during the preceding part of the evening. The men murmured an +apology, the confusion of which seemed to express that there had +existed some occasion for the reprimand. + +Sir Aymer then proceeded on his journey to Hazelside, his train +diminished by the absence of Fabian and his assistants. After a hasty, +but not a short journey, the knight alighted at Thomas Dickson's, where +he found the detachment from Ayr had arrived before him, and were +snugly housed for the night. He sent one of the archers to announce his +approach to the Abbot of Saint Bride and his young guest, intimating at +the same time, that the archer must keep sight of the latter until he +himself arrived at the chapel, which would be instantly. + + + + +CHAPTER THE TENTH. + + When the nightengale singes, the wodes waxes grene, + Lef, and gras, and blosme, springeth in April I wene, + And love is to myne herte gone with one speare so kene. + Night and day my blood hyt drynkes, mine herte deth me fane. + _MSS. Hail. Quoted by Warton._ + + +Sir Aymer De Valance had no sooner followed his archer to the convent +of Saint Bride, than he summoned the abbot to his presence, who came +with the air of a man who loves his ease, and who is suddenly called +from the couch where he has consigned himself to a comfortable repose, +at the summons of one whom he does not think it safe to disobey, and to +whom he would not disguise his sense of peevishness, if he durst. + +"It is a late ride," he said, "which has brought your worthy honour +hither from the castle. May I be informed of the cause, after the +arrangement so recently gone into with the governor?" + +"It is my hope," replied the knight, "that you, Father Abbot, are not +already conscious of it; suspicions are afloat, and I myself have this +night seen something to confirm them, that some of the obstinate rebels +of this country are again setting afoot dangerous practices, to the +peril of the garrison; and I come, father, to see whether, in requital +of many favours received from the English monarch, you will not merit +his bounty and protection, by contributing to the discovery of the +designs of his enemies." + +"Assuredly so," answered Father Jerome, in an agitated voice. "Most +unquestionably my information should stand at your command; that is, if +I knew any thing the communication of which could be of advantage to +you." + +"Father Abbot," replied the English knight, "although it is rash to +make myself responsible for a North-country man in these times, yet I +own I do consider you as one who has ever been faithfully subject to +the King of England, and I willingly hope that you will still continue +so." + +"And a fine encouragement I have!" said the abbot; "to be called out of +my bed at midnight, in this raw weather, to undergo the examination of +a knight, who is the youngest, perhaps, of his own honourable rank, and +who will not tell me the subject of the interrogatories, but detains me +on this cold pavement, till, according to the opinion of Celsus, the +podagra which lurks in my feet may be driven into my stomach, and then +good-night to abbacy and examinations from henceforward." + +"Good father," said the young man, "the spirit of the times must teach +thee patience; recollect that I can feel no pleasure in this duty, and +that if an insurrection should take place, the rebels, who are +sufficiently displeased with thee for acknowledging the English +monarch, would hang thee from thine own steeple to feed the crows; or +that, if thou hast secured thy peace by some private compact with the +insurgents, the English governor, who will sooner or later gain the +advantage, will not fail to treat thee as a rebel to his sovereign." + +"It may appear to you, my noble son," answered the abbot, obviously +discomposed, "that I am hung up, in this case, on the horns of the +dilemma which you have stated; nevertheless, I protest to you, that if +any one accuses me of conspiring with the rebels against the King of +England, I am ready, provided you give me time to swallow a potion +recommended by Celsus in my perilous case, to answer with the most +perfect sincerity every question which you can put to me upon that +subject." So saying, he called upon a monk who had attended at his +levee, and giving him a large key, whispered something in his ear. The +cup which the monk brought was of such capacity as proved Celsus's +draught required to be administered in considerable quantity, and a +strong smell which it spread through the apartment, accredited the +knight's suspicion that the medicine chiefly consisted of what were +then termed distilled waters, a preparation known in the monasteries +for some time before that comfortable secret had reached the laity in +general. The abbot, neither overawed by the strength nor by the +quantity of the potion, took it off with what he himself would have +called a feeling of solace and pleasance, and his voice became much +more composed; he signified himself as comforted extraordinarily by the +medicine, and willing to proceed to answer any questions which could be +put to him by his gallant young friend. + +"At present," said the knight, "you are aware, father, that strangers +travelling through this country, must be the first objects of our +suspicions and enquiries. What is, for example, your own opinion of the +youth termed Augustine, the son, or calling himself so, of a person +called Bertram the minstrel, who has resided for some days in your +convent?" + +The abbot heard the question with eyes expressive of surprise at the +quarter from which it came. + +"Assuredly," said he, "I think of him as a youth who, from any thing I +have seen, is of that excellent disposition, both with respect to +loyalty and religion, which I should have expected, were I to judge +from the estimable person who committed him to my care." + +With this the abbot bowed to the knight, as if he had conceived that +this repartee gave him a silencing advantage in any question which +could follow upon that subject; and he was probably, therefore, +surprised when Sir Aymer replied as follows: + +"It is very true, Father Abbot, that I myself did recommend this +stripling to you as a youth of a harmless disposition, and with respect +to whom it would be unnecessary to exercise the strict vigilance +extended to others in similar circumstances; but the evidence which +seemed to me to vouch for this young man's innocence, has not appeared +so satisfactory to my superior and commander; and it is by his orders +that I now make farther enquiries of you. You must think they are of +consequence, since we again trouble you, and at so unwonted an hour." + +"I can only protest by my order, and by the veil of Saint Bride," +replied the abbot, the spirit of Celsus appearing to fail his pupil, +"that whatever evil may be in this matter, is totally unknown to +me--nor could it be extorted from me by racks or implements of torture. +Whatever signs of disloyalty may have been evinced by this young man, I +have witnessed none of them, although I have been strictly attentive to +his behaviour." + +"In what respect?" said the knight--"and what is the result of your +observation?" + +"My answer," said the abbot of Saint Bride, "shall be sincere and +downright. The youth condescended upon payment of a certain number of +gold crowns, not by any means to repay the hospitality of the church of +Saint Bride, but merely"-- + +"Nay, father," interrupted the knight, "you may cut that short, since +the governor and I well understand the terms upon which the monks of +Saint Bride exercise their hospitality. In what manner, it is more +necessary to ask, was it received by this boy?" + +"With the utmost gentleness and moderation, noble sir," answered the +abbot; "indeed it appeared to me, at first, that he might be a +troublesome guest, since the amount of his benevolence to the convent +was such as to encourage, and, in some degree, to authorise, his +demanding accommodation of a kind superior to what we had to bestow." + +"In which case," said Sir Aymer, "you would have had the discomfort of +returning some part of the money you have received?" + +"That," replied the abbot, "would have been a mode of settlement +contrary to our vows. What is paid to the treasury of Saint Bridget, +cannot, agreeably to our rule, be on any account restored. But, noble +knight, there was no occasion for this; a crust of white bread and a +draught of milk were diet sufficient to nourish this poor youth for a +day, and it was my own anxiety for his health that dictated the +furnishing of his cell with a softer bed and coverlet than are quite +consistent with the rules of our order." + +"Now hearken to what I say, Sir Abbot, and answer me truly," said the +Knight of Valence--"What communication has this youth held with the +inmates of your convent, or with those beyond your house? Search your +memory concerning this, and let me have a distinct answer, for your +guest's safety and your own depend upon it." + +"As I am a Christian man," said the abbot, "I have observed nothing +which could give ground for your worship's suspicions. The boy +Augustine, unlike those whom I have observed who have been educated in +the world, showed a marked preference to the company of such sisters as +the house of Saint Bride contains, rather than for that of the monks, +my brethren, although there are among them pleasant and conversible +men." + +"Scandal," said the young knight, "might find a reason for that +preference." + +"Not in the case of the sisters of Saint Bridget," said the abbot, +"most of whom have been either sorely misused by time, or their +comeliness destroyed by some mishap previously to their being received +into the seclusion of the house." + +This observation the good father made with some internal movement of +mirth, which was apparently excited at the idea of the sisterhood of +Saint Bridget becoming attractive to any one by dint of their personal +beauty, in which, as it happened, they were all notably, and almost +ludicrously, deficient. The English knight, to whom the sisterhood were +well known, felt also inclined to smile at this conversation. + +"I acquit," he said, "the pious sisterhood of charming, otherwise than +by their kind wishes, and attention to the wants of the suffering +stranger." + +"Sister Beatrice," continued the father, resuming his gravity, "is +indeed blessed with a winning gift of making comfits and syllabubs; +but, on minute enquiry, I do not find that the youth has tasted any of +them. Neither is sister Ursula so hard-favoured by nature, as from the +effects of an accident; but your honour knows that when a woman is +ugly, the men do not trouble themselves about the cause of her hard +favour. I will go, with your leave, and see in what state the youth now +is, and summon him, before you." + +"I request you to do so, father, for the affair is instant: and I +earnestly advise you to watch, in the closest manner, this Augustine's +behaviour: you cannot be too particular. I will wait your return, and +either carry the boy to the castle, or leave him here, as circumstances +may seem to require." + +The abbot bowed, promised his utmost exertions, and hobbled out of the +room to wait on the youth Augustine in his cell, anxious to favour, if +possible, the wishes of De Valence, whom he looked upon as rendered by +circumstances his military patron. + +He remained long absent, and Sir Aymer began to be of opinion that the +delay was suspicious, when the abbot returned with perplexity and +discomposure in his countenance. + +"I crave your pardon for keeping your worship waiting," said Jerome, +with much anxiety; "but I have myself been detained and vexed by +unnecessary formalities and scruples on the part of this peevish boy. +In the first place, hearing my foot approaching his bedroom, my youth, +instead of undoing the door, which would have been but proper respect +to my place, on the contrary draws a strong bolt on the inside; and +this fastening, forsooth, has been placed on his chamber by Ursula's +command, that his slumbers might be suitably respected. I intimated to +him as I best could, that he must attend you without delay, and prepare +to accompany you to the Castle of Douglas; but he would not answer a +single word, save recommending to me patience, to which I was fain to +have recourse, as well as your archer, whom I found standing sentinel +before the door of the cell, and contenting himself with the assurance +of the sisters that there was no other passage by which Augustine could +make his escape. At length the door opens, and my young master presents +himself fully arrayed for his journey. The truth is, I think some fresh +attack of his malady has affected the youth; he may perhaps be +disturbed with some touch of hypochondria, or black choler, a species +of dotage of the mind, which is sometimes found concomitant with and +symptomatic of this disorder; but he is at present composed, and if +your worship chooses to see him, he is at your command." + +"Call him hither," said the knight. And a considerable space of time +again elapsed ere the eloquence of the abbot, half chiding and half +soothing, prevailed on the lady, in her adopted character, to approach, +the parlour, in which at last she made her appearance, with a +countenance on which the marks of tears might still be discovered, and +a pettish sullenness, like that of a boy, or, with reverence, that of a +girl, who is determined upon taking her own way in any matter, and +equally resolved to give no reason for her doing so. Her hurried levee +had not prevented her attending closely to all the mufflings and +disguisings by which her pilgrim's dress was arranged, so as to alter +her appearance, and effectually disguise her sex. But as civility +prevented her wearing her large slouched hat, she necessarily exposed +her countenance more than in the open air; and though the knight beheld +a most lovely set of features, yet they were not such as were +inconsistent with the character she had adopted, and which she had +resolved upon maintaining to the last. She had, accordingly, mustered +up a degree of courage which was not natural to her, and which she +perhaps supported by hopes which her situation hardly admitted. So soon +as she found herself in the same apartment with De Valence, she assumed +a style of manners, bolder and more determined than she had hitherto +displayed. + +"Your worship," she said, addressing him even before he spoke, "is a +knight of England, and possessed, doubtless, of the virtues which +become that noble station. I am an unfortunate lad, obliged, by reasons +which I am under the necessity of keeping secret, to travel in a +dangerous country, where I am suspected, without any just cause, of +becoming accessory to plots and conspiracies which are contrary to my +own interest, and which my very soul abhors; and which I might safely +abjure, by imprecating upon myself all the curses of our religion and +renouncing all its promises, if I were accessory to such designs, in +thought, word, or deed. Nevertheless, you, who will not believe my +solemn protestations, are about to proceed against me as a guilty +person, and in so doing I must warn you, Sir Knight, that you will +commit a great and cruel injustice." + +"I shall endeavour to avoid that," said the knight, "by referring the +duty to Sir John de Walton, the governor, who will decide what is to be +done; in this case, my only duty will be to place you in his hands at +Douglas Castle." + +"Must you do this?" said Augustine. + +"Certainly," replied the knight, "or be answerable for neglecting my +duty." + +"But if I become bound to answer your loss with a large sum of money, a +large tract of land"-- + +"No treasure, no land,--supposing such at your disposal," answered the +knight, "can atone for disgrace; and, besides, boy, how should I trust +to your warrant, were my avarice such as would induce me to listen to +such proposals?" + +"I must then prepare to attend you instantly to the Castle of Douglas +and the presence of Sir John de Walton?" replied Augustine. + +"Young man," answered De Valence, "there is no remedy, since if you +delay me longer, I must carry you thither by force." + +"What will be the consequence to my father?" said the youth. + +"That," replied the knight, "will depend exactly on the nature of your +confession and his; something you both have to say, as is evident from +the terms of the letter Sir John de Walton conveyed to you; and I +assure you, you were better to speak it out at once than to risk the +consequences of more delay. I can admit of no more trifling; and, +believe me, that your fate will be entirely ruled by your own frankness +and candour." + +"I must prepare, then, to travel at your command," said the youth. "But +this cruel disease still hangs around me, and Abbot Jerome, whose +leech-craft is famous, will himself assure you that I cannot travel +without danger of my life; and that while I was residing in this +convent, I declined every opportunity of exercise which was offered me +by the kindness of the garrison at Hazelside, lest I might by mishap +bring the contagion among your men." + +"The youth says right," said the abbot; "the archers and men-at-arms +have more than once sent to invite this lad to join in some of their +military games, or to amuse them, perhaps, with some of his minstrelsy; +but he has uniformly declined doing so; and, according to my belief, it +is the effects of this disorder which have prevented his accepting an +indulgence so natural to his age, and in so dull a place as the convent +of Saint Bride must needs seem to a youth bred up in the world." + +"Do you then hold, reverend father," said Sir Aymer, "that there is +real danger in carrying this youth to the castle to-night, as I +proposed?" + +"I conceive such danger," replied the abbot, "to exist, not only as it +may occasion the relapse of the poor youth himself, but as particularly +likely, no preparations having been made, to introduce the infection +among your honourable garrison; for it is in these relapses, more than +in the first violence of the malady, that it has been found most +contagious." + +"Then," said the knight, "you must be content, my friend, to give a +share of your room to an archer, by way of sentinel." + +"I cannot object," said Augustine, "provided my unfortunate vicinity +does not endanger the health of the poor soldier." + +"He will be as ready to do his duty," said the abbot, "without the door +of the apartment as within it; and if the youth should sleep soundly, +which the presence of a guard in his chamber might prevent, he is the +more likely to answer your purpose on the morrow." + +"Let it be so," said Sir Aymer; "so you are sure that you do not +minister any facility of escape."' + +"The apartment," said the monk, "hath no other entrance than that which +is guarded by the archer; but, to content you, I shall secure the door +in your presence." + +"So be it, then," said the Knight of Valence; "this done, I myself will +lie down without doffing my mail-shirt, and snatch a sleep till the +ruddy dawn calls me again to duty, when you, Augustine, will hold +yourself ready to attend me to our Castle of Douglas." + +The bells of the convent summoned the inhabitants and inmates of Saint +Bride to morning prayers at the first peep of day. When this duty was +over, the knight demanded his prisoner. The abbot marshalled him to the +door of Augustine's chamber. The sentinel who was stationed there, +armed with a brown-bill, or species of partisan, reported that he had +heard no motion in the apartment during the whole night. The abbot +tapped at the door, but received no answer. He knocked again louder, +but the silence was unbroken from within. + +"What means this?" said the reverend ruler of the convent of Saint +Bride; "my young patient has certainly fallen into a syncope or swoon!" + +"I wish, Father Abbot," said the knight, "that he may not have made his +escape instead, an accident which both you and I may be required to +answer, since, according to our strict duty, we ought to have kept +sight of him, and detained him in close custody until daybreak." + +"I trust your worship," said the abbot, "only anticipates a misfortune +which I cannot think possible." + +"We shall speedily see," said the knight; and raising his voice, he +called aloud, so as to be heard within, "Bring crow-bars and levers, +and burst me that door into splinters without an instant's delay." + +The loudness of his voice, and the stern tone in which he spoke, soon +brought around him the brethren of the house, and two or three soldiers +of his own party, who were already busy in caparisoning their horses. +The displeasure of the young knight was manifested by his flushed +features, and the abrupt manner in which he again repeated his commands +for breaking open the door. This was speedily performed, though it +required the application of considerable strength, and as the shattered +remains fell crashing into the apartment, De Valence sprung, and the +abbot hobbled, into the cell of the prisoner, which, to the fulfilment +of their worst suspicions, they found empty. + + + + +CHAPTER THE ELEVENTH. + + Where is he? Has the deep earth swallow'd him? + Or hath he melted like some airy phantom + That shuns the approach of morn and the young sun? + Or hath he wrapt him in Cimmerian darkness, + And pass'd beyond the circuit of the sight + With things of the night's shadows? + ANONYMOUS. + + +The disappearance of the youth, whose disguise and whose fate have, we +hope, inclined our readers to take some interest in him, will require +some explanation ere we proceed with the other personages of the story, +and we shall set about giving it accordingly. + +When Augustine was consigned to his cell for the second time on the +preceding evening, both the monk and the young Knight of Valence had +seen the key turned upon him, and had heard him secure the door in the +inside with the bolt which had been put on at his request by sister +Ursula, in whose affections the youth of Augustine, his extreme +handsomeness, and, above all, his indisposition of body and his +melancholy of mind, had gained him considerable interest. + +So soon, accordingly, as Augustine re-entered his apartment, he was +greeted in a whisper by the sister, who, during the interval of his +absence, had contrived to slip into the cell, and having tappiced +herself behind the little bed, came out with great appearance of joy, +to greet the return of the youth. The number of little attentions, the +disposal of holly boughs, and such other evergreens as the season +permitted, showed the anxiety of the holy sisters to decorate the +chamber of their guest, and the greetings of sister Ursula expressed +the same friendly interest, at the same time intimating that she was +already in some degree in possession of the stranger's mystery. + +As Augustine and the holy sister were busied in exchange of confidence, +the extraordinary difference between, their countenances and their +persons must have struck any one who might have been accidentally a +witness of their interview. The dark pilgrim's robe of the disguised +female was not a stronger contrast to the white woollen garment worn by +the votaress of Saint Bride, than the visage of the nun, seamed with +many a ghastly scar, and the light of one of her eyes extinguished for +ever, causing it to roll a sightless luminary in her head, was to the +beautiful countenance of Augustine, now bent with a confidential, and +even affectionate look, upon the extraordinary features of her +companion. + +"You know," said the supposed Augustine, "the principal part of my +story; can you, or will you, lend me your assistance? If not, my +dearest sister, you must consent to witness my death, rather than my +shame. Yes, sister Ursula, I will not be pointed at by the finger of +scorn, as the thoughtless maiden who sacrificed so much for a young +man, of whose attachment she was not so well assured as she ought to +have been. I will not be dragged before De Walton, for the purpose of +being compelled, by threats of torture, to declare myself the female in +honour of whom he holds the Dangerous Castle. No doubt, he might be +glad to give his hand in wedlock to a damsel whose dowry is so ample; +but who can tell whether he will regard me with that respect which +every woman would wish to command, or pardon that boldness of which I +have been guilty, even though its consequences have been in his own +favour?" + +"Nay, my darling daughter," answered the nun, "comfort yourself; for in +all I can aid you, be assured I will. My means are somewhat more than +my present situation may express, and, be assured, they shall be tried +to the uttermost. Methinks, I still hear that lay which you sung to the +other sisters and myself, although I alone, touched by feelings kindred +to yours, had the address to comprehend that it told your own tale." + +"I am yet surprised," said Augustine, speaking beneath her breath, "how +I had the boldness to sing in your ears the lay, which, in fact, was +the history of my disgrace." + +"Alas! that you will say so," returned the nun; "there was not a word +but what resembled those tales of love and of high-spirited daring +which the best minstrels love to celebrate, and the noblest knights and +maidens weep at once and smile to hear. The Lady Augusta of Berkely, a +great heiress, according to the world, both in land and movable goods, +becomes the King's ward by the death of her parents; and thus is on the +point of being given away in marriage to a minion of the King of +England, whom in these Scottish valleys, we scruple not to call a +peremptory tyrant." + +"I must not say so, my sister," said the pilgrim; "and yet, true it is, +that the cousin of the obscure parasite Gaviston, on whom the king +wished to confer my poor hand, was neither by birth, merit, nor +circumstance, worthy of such an alliance. Meantime, I heard of the fame +of Sir John de Walton; and I heard of it not with the less interest +that his feats of chivalry were said to adorn a knight, who, rich in +everything else, was poor in worldly goods, and in the smiles of +fortune. I saw this Sir John de Walton, and I acknowledge that a +thought, which had already intruded itself on my imagination, became, +after this interview, by frequent recurrence, more familiar, and more +welcome to me. Methought that the daughter of a powerful English +family, if she could give away with her hand such wealth as the world +spoke of, would more justly and honourably bestow it in remedying the +errors of fortune in regard to a gallant knight like De Walton, than in +patching the revenues of a beggarly Frenchman, whose only merit was in +being the kinsman of a man who was very generally detested by the whole +kingdom of England, excepting the infatuated monarch himself." + +"Nobly designed, my daughter," said the nun; "what more worthy of a +noble heart, possessing riches, beauty, birth, and rank, than to confer +them all upon indigent and chivalrous merit?" + +"Such, dearest sister, was my intention," replied Augustine; "but I +have, perhaps, scarce sufficiently explained the manner in which I +meant to proceed. By the advice of a minstrel of our house, the same +who is now prisoner at Douglas, I caused exhibit a large feast upon +Christmas eve, and sent invitations abroad to the young knights of +noble name who were known to spend their leisure in quest of arms and +adventures. When the tables were drawn, and the feast concluded, +Bertram, as had been before devised, was called upon to take his harp. +He sung, receiving from all who were present the attention due to a +minstrel of so much fame. The theme which he chose, was the frequent +capture of this Douglas Castle, or, as the poet termed it, Castle +Dangerous. 'Where are the champions of the renowned Edward the First,' +said the minstrel, 'when the realm of England cannot furnish a man +brave enough, or sufficiently expert in the wars, to defend a miserable +hamlet of the North against the Scottish rebels, who have vowed to +retake it over our soldiers' heads ere the year rolls to an end? Where +are the noble ladies, whose smiles used to give countenance to the +Knights of Saint George's Cross? Alas! the spirit of love and of +chivalry is alike dead amongst us--our knights are limited to petty +enterprises--and our noblest heiresses are given as prizes to +strangers, as if their own country had no one to deserve them.'--Here +stopt the harp; and I shame to say, that I myself, as if moved to +enthusiasm by the song of the minstrel, arose, and taking from my neck +the chain of gold which supported a crucifix of special sanctity, I +made my vow, always under the King's permission, that I would give my +hand, and the inheritance of my fathers, to the good knight, being of +noble birth and lineage, who should keep the Castle of Douglas in the +King of England's name, for a year and a day. I sat down, my dearest +sister, deafened with the jubilee in which my guests expressed their +applause of my supposed patriotism. Yet some degree of pause took place +amidst the young knights, who might reasonably have been supposed ready +to embrace this offer, although at the risk of being encumbered with +Augusta of Berkely." + +"Shame on the man," said sister Ursula, "who should think so! Put your +beauty alone, my dearest, into consideration, and a true knight ought +to have embraced the dangers of twenty Castles of Douglas, rather than +let such an invaluable opportunity of gaining your favour be lost." + +"It may be that some in reality thought so," said the pilgrim; "but it +was supposed that the king's favour might be lost by those who seemed +too anxious to thwart his royal purpose upon his ward's hand. At any +rate, greatly to my joy, the only person who availed himself of the +offer I had made was Sir John de Walton; and as his acceptance of it +was guarded by a clause, saving and reserving the king's approbation, I +hope he has not suffered any diminution of Edward's favour." + +"Assure yourself, noble and high-spirited young lady," replied the nun, +"that there is no fear of thy generous devotion hurting thy lover with +the King of England. Something we hear concerning worldly passages, +even in this remote nook of Saint Bride's cloister; and the report goes +among the English soldiers that their king was indeed offended at your +putting your will in opposition to his own; yet, on the other hand, +this preferred lover, Sir John de Walton, was a man of such extensive +fame, and your offer was so much in the character of better but not +forgotten times, that even a king could not at the beginning of a long +and stubborn war deprive an errant cavalier of his bride, if she should +be duly won by his sword and lance." + +"Ah! dearest sister Ursula!" sighed the disguised pilgrim, "but, on the +other hand, how much time must pass by in the siege, by defeating which +that suit must needs be advanced? While I sat in my lonely castle, +tidings came to astound me with the numerous, or rather the constant +dangers, with which my lover was surrounded, until at length, in a +moment I think of madness, I resolved to set out in this masculine +disguise; and having myself with my own eyes seen in what situation I +had placed my knight, I determined to take such measures in respect to +shortening the term of his trial, or otherwise, as a sight of Douglas +Castle, and--why should I deny it?--of Sir John de Walton, might +suggest. Perhaps you, my dearest sister, may not so well understand my +being tempted into flinching from the resolution which I had laid down +for my own honour, and that of my lover; but consider, that my +resolution was the consequence of a moment of excitation, and that the +course which I adopted was the conclusion of a long, wasting, sickening +state of uncertainty, the effect of which was to weaken the nerves +which were once highly strung with love of my country, as I thought; +but in reality, alas! with fond and anxious feelings of a more selfish +description." + +"Alas!" said sister Ursula, evincing the strongest symptoms of interest +and compassion, "am I the person, dearest child, whom you suspect of +insensibility to the distresses which are the fruit of true love? Do +you suppose that the air which is breathed within these walls has the +property upon the female heart, of such marvellous fountains as they +say change into stone the substances which are immersed into their +waters? Hear my tale, and judge if it can be thus with one who +possesses my causes of grief. And do not fear for loss of time; we must +let our neighbours at Hazelside be settled for the evening, ere I +furnish you with the means of escape; and you must have a trusty guide, +for whose fidelity I will be responsible, to direct your path through +these woods, and protect you in case of any danger, too likely to occur +in these troublesome times. It will thus be nigh an hour ere you +depart; and sure I am that in no manner can you spend the time better +than in listening to distresses too similar to your own, and flowing +from the source of disappointed affection which you must needs +sympathize with." + +The distresses of the Lady Augusta did not prevent her being in some +degree affected, almost ludicrously, with the singular contrast between +the hideous countenance of this victim of the tender passion, and the +cause to which she imputed her sorrows; but it was not a moment for +giving way to a sense of the ridiculous, which would have been in the +highest degree offensive to the sister of Saint Bride, whose good-will +she had so many reasons to conciliate. She readily, therefore, +succeeded in preparing herself to listen to the votary--with an +appearance of sympathy, which might reward that which she had herself +experienced at the hands of sister Ursula; while the unfortunate +recluse, with an agitation which made her ugliness still more +conspicuous, narrated, nearly in a whisper, the following +circumstances:-- + +"My misfortunes commenced long before I was called sister Ursula, or +secluded as a votaress within these walls. My father was a noble +Norman, who, like many of his countrymen, sought and found fortune at +the court of the King of Scotland. He was endowed with the sheriffdom +of this county, and Maurice de Hattely, or Hautlieu, was numbered among +the wealthy and powerful barons of Scotland. Wherefore should I deny +it, that the daughter of this baron, then called Margaret de Hautlieu, +was also distinguished among the great and fair of the land? It can be +no censurable vanity which provokes me to speak the truth, and unless I +tell it myself, you could hardly suspect what a resemblance I once bore +even to the lovely Lady Augusta of Berkely. About this time broke out +those unfortunate feuds of Bruce and Baliol, which have been so long +the curse of this country. My father, determined in his choice of party +by the arguments of his wealthy kinsmen at the court of Edward, +embraced with passion the faction of the English interest, and became +one of the keenest partisans, at first of John Baliol, and afterwards +of the English monarch. None among the Anglocised-Scottish, as his +party was called, were so zealous as he for the red cross, and no one +was more detested by his countrymen who followed the national standard +of Saint Andrew and the patriot Wallace. Among those soldiers of the +soil, Malcolm Fleming of Biggar was one of the most distinguished by +his noble birth, his high acquirements, and his fame in chivalry. I saw +him; and the ghastly spectre who now addresses you must not be ashamed +to say, that she loved, and was beloved by, one of the handsomest +youths in Scotland. Our attachment was discovered to my father almost +ere we had owned it to each other, and he was furious both against my +lover and myself; he placed me under the charge of a religious woman of +this rule, and I was immured within the house of Saint Bride, where my +father shamed not to announce he would cause me to take the veil by +force, unless I agreed to wed a youth bred at the English court, his +nephew; and, as Heaven had granted him no son, the heir, as he had +resolved, of the house of Hautlieu. I was not long in making my +election. I protested that death should be my choice, rather than any +other husband excepting Malcolm Fleming. Neither was my lover less +faithful; he found means to communicate to me a particular night on +which he proposed to attempt to storm the nunnery of Saint Bride, and +carry me from hence to freedom and the greenwood, of which Wallace was +generally called the king. In an evil hour--an hour I think of +infatuation and witchery--I suffered the abbess to wheedle the secret +out of me, which I might have been sensible would appear more horribly +flagitious to her than to any other woman that breathed; but I had not +taken the vows, and I thought Wallace and Fleming had the same charms +for every body as for me, and the artful woman gave me reason to +believe that her loyalty to Bruce was without a flaw of suspicion, and +she took part in a plot of which my freedom was the object. The abbess +engaged to have the English guards removed to a distance, and in +appearance the troops were withdrawn. Accordingly, in the middle of the +night appointed, the window of my cell, which was two stories from the +ground, was opened without noise; and never were my eyes more gladdened +than, as ready disguised and arrayed for flight, even in a horseman's +dress, like yourself, fairest. Lady Augusta, I saw Malcolm Fleming +spring into the apartment. He rushed towards me; but at the same time +my father with ten of his strongest men filled the room, and cried +their war-cry of Baliol. Blows were instantly dealt on every side. A +form like a giant, however, appeared in the midst of the tumult, and +distinguished himself, even to my half-giddy eye, by the ease with +which he bore down and dispersed those who fought against our freedom. +My father alone offered an opposition which threatened to prove fatal +to him; for Wallace, it was said, could foil any two martial champions +that ever drew sword. Brushing from him the armed men, as a lady would +drive away with her fan a swarm of troublesome flies, he secured me in +one arm, used his other for our mutual protection, and I found myself +in the act of being borne in safety down the ladder by which my +deliverers had ascended from without,--but an evil fate awaited this +attempt. + +"My father, whom the Champion of Scotland had spared for my sake, or +rather for Fleming's, gained by his victor's compassion and lenity a +fearful advantage, and made a remorseless use of it. Having only his +left hand to oppose to the maniac attempts of my father, even the +strength of Wallace could not prevent the assailant, with all the +energy of desperation, from throwing down the ladder, on which his +daughter was perched like a dove in the grasp of an eagle. The champion +saw our danger, and exerting his inimitable strength and agility, +cleared himself and me from the ladder, and leaped free of the moat of +the convent, into which we must otherwise have been precipitated. The +Champion of Scotland was saved in the desperate attempt, but I who fell +among a heap of stones and rubbish, I the disobedient daughter, +wellnigh the apostate vestal, waked only from a long bed of sickness, +to find myself the disfigured wretch, which you now see me. I then +learned that Malcolm had escaped from the fray, and shortly after I +heard, with feelings less keen perhaps than they ought to have been, +that my father was slain in one of the endless battles which took place +between the contending factions. If he had lived, I might have +submitted to the completion of my fate; but since he was no more, I +felt that it would be a preferable lot to be a beggar in the streets of +a Scottish village, than, an abbess in this miserable house of Saint +Bride; nor was even that poor object of ambition, on which my father +used to expatiate when desirous of persuading me to enter the monastic +state by milder means than throwing me off the battlements, long open +to me. The old abbess died of a cold caught the evening of the fray; +and the place, which might have been kept open until I was capable of +filling it, was disposed of otherwise, when the English thought fit to +reform, as they termed it, the discipline of the house; and instead of +electing a new abbess, sent hither two or three friendly monks, who +have now the absolute government of the community, and wield it +entirely according to the pleasure of the English. But I, for one, who +have had the honour to be supported by the arms of the Champion of my +country, will not remain here to be commanded by this Abbot Jerome. I +will go forth, nor do I fear to find relations and friends, who will +provide a more fitting place of refuge for Margaret de Hautlieu than +the convent of Saint Bride; you, too, dearest lady, shall obtain your +freedom, and it will be well to leave such information as will make Sir +John de Walton aware of the devotion with which his happy fate has +inspired you." + +"It is not, then, your own intention," said the Lady Augusta, "to +return into the world again, and you are about to renounce the lover, +in a union with whom you and he once saw your joint happiness?" + +"It is a question, my dearest child," said sister Ursula, "which I dare +not ask myself, and to which I am absolutely uncertain what answer I +should return. I have not taken the final and irrevocable vows; I have +done nothing to alter my situation with regard to Malcolm Fleming. He +also, by the vows plighted in the Chancery of Heaven, is my affianced +bridegroom, nor am I conscious that I less deserve his faith, in any +respect now, than at the moment when it was pledged to me; but, I +confess, dearest lady, that rumours have reached me, which sting me to +the quick; the reports of my wounds and scars are said to have +estranged the knight of my choice. I am now, indeed, poor," she added, +with a sigh, "and I am no longer possessed of those personal charms, +which they say attract the love, and fix the fidelity, of the other +sex. I teach myself, therefore, to think, in my moments of settled +resolution, that all betwixt me and Malcolm Fleming is at an end, +saving good wishes on the part of both towards the other; and yet there +is a sensation in my bosom which whispers, in spite of my reason, that +if I absolutely believed that which I now say, there would be no object +on earth worthy my living for in order to attain it. This insinuating +prepossession whispers, to my secret soul, and in very opposition to my +reason and understanding, that Malcolm Fleming, who could pledge his +all upon the service of his country, is incapable of nourishing the +versatile affection of an ordinary, a coarse, or a venal character. +Methinks, were the difference upon his part instead of mine, he would +not lose his interest in my eyes, because he was seamed with honourable +scars, obtained in asserting the freedom of his choice, but that such +wounds would, in my opinion, add to his merit, whatever they took away +from his personal comeliness. Ideas rise on my soul, as if Malcolm and +Margaret might yet be to each other all that their affections once +anticipated with so much security, and that a change, which took +nothing from the honour and virtue of the beloved person, must rather +add to, than diminish, the charms of the union. Look at me, dearest +Lady Augusta!--look me--if you have courage--full in the face, and tell +me whether I do not rave when my fancy is thus converting mere +possibilities into that which is natural and probable." + +The Lady of Berkely, conscious of the necessity, raised her eyes on the +unfortunate nun, afraid of losing her own chance of deliverance by the +mode in which she should conduct herself in this crisis; yet not +willing at the same time to flatter the unfortunate Ursula, with +suggesting ideas for which her own sense told her she could hardly find +any rational grounds. But her imagination, stored with the minstrelsy +of the time, brought back to her recollection the Loathly Lady in "The +marriage of Sir Gawain," and she conducted her reply in the following +manner:-- + +"You ask me, my dear Lady Margaret, a trying question, which it would +be unfriendly to answer otherwise than sincerely, and most cruel to +answer with too much rashness. It is true, that what is called beauty, +is the first quality on which we of the weaker sex learn to set a +value; we are flattered by the imputation of personal charms, whether +we actually possess them or not; and no doubt we learn to place upon +them a great deal more consequence than in reality is found to belong +to them. Women, however, even, such as are held by their own sex, and +perhaps in secret by themselves, as devoid of all pretensions to +beauty, have been known to become, from their understanding, their +talents, or their accomplishments, the undoubted objects of the warmest +attachment. Wherefore then should you, in the mere rashness of your +apprehension, deem it impossible that your Malcolm Fleming should be +made of that porcelain clay of the earth, which despises the passing +captivations of outward form in comparison to the charms of true +affection, and the excellence of talents and virtue?" + +The nun pressed her companion's hand to her bosom, and answered her +with a deep sigh. + +"I fear," she said, "you flatter me; and yet in a crisis like this, it +does one good to be flattered, even as cordials, otherwise dangerous to +the constitution, are wisely given to support a patient through a +paroxysm of agony, and enable him to endure at least what they cannot +cure. Answer only one question, and it will be time to drop this +conversation. Could you, sweet lady--you upon whom fortune has bestowed +so many charms--could any argument make you patient under the +irretrievable loss of your personal advantages, with the concomitant +loss, as in my case is most probable, of that lover for whom you have +already done so much?" + +The English lady cast her eyes again on her friend, and could not help +shuddering a little at the thought of her own beautiful countenance +being exchanged for the seamed and scarred features of the Lady of +Hautlieu, irregularly lighted by the beams of a single eye. + +"Believe me," she said, looking solemnly upwards, "that even in the +case which you suppose, I would not sorrow so much for myself, as I +would for the poor-spirited thoughts of the lover who could leave me +because those transitory charms (which must in any case erelong take +their departure) had fled ere yet the bridal day. It is, however, +concealed by the decrees of Providence, in what manner, or to what +extent, other persons, with whose disposition we are not fully +acquainted, may be affected by such changes. I can only assure you that +my hopes go with yours, and that there is no difficulty which shall +remain in your path in future, if it is in my power to remove +it.--Hark!"-- + +"It is the signal of our freedom," replied Ursula, giving attention to +something resembling the whoop of the night-owl. "We must prepare to +leave the convent in a few minutes. Have you anything to take with you?" + +"Nothing," answered the Lady of Berkely, "except the few valuables, +which I scarce know why I brought with me on my flight hither. This +scroll, which I shall leave behind, gives my faithful minstrel +permission to save himself, by confessing to Sir John de Walton who the +person really is whom he has had within his reach." + +"It is strange," said the novice of Saint Bride, "through what +extraordinary labyrinths this Love, this Will-of-the-Wisp, guides his +votaries, Take heed as you descend; this trap-door, carefully +concealed, curiously jointed and oiled, leads to a secret postern, +where I conceive the horses already wait, which will enable us speedily +to bid adieu to Saint Bride's--Heaven's blessing on her, and on her +convent! We can have no advantage from any light, until we are in the +open air." + +During this time, sister Ursula, to give her for the last time her +conventual name, exchanged her stole, or loose upper garment, for the +more succinct cloak and hood of a horseman. She led the way through +divers passages, studiously complicated, until the Lady of Berkely, +with throbbing heart, stood in the pale and doubtful moonlight, which +was shining with grey uncertainty upon the walls of the ancient +building. The imitation of an owlet's cry directed them to a +neighbouring large elm, and on approaching it, they were aware of three +horses, held by one, concerning whom they could only see that he was +tall, strong, and accoutred in the dress of a man-at-arms. + +"The sooner," he said, "we are gone from this place, Lady Margaret, it +is so much the better. You have only to direct the course which we +shall hold." + +Lady Margaret's answer was given beneath her breath; and replied to +with a caution from the guide to ride slowly and silently for the first +quarter of an hour, by which time inhabited places would be left at a +distance. + + + + +CHAPTER THE TWELFTH. + + +Great was the astonishment of the young Knight of Valence and the +reverend Father Jerome, when, upon breaking into the cell, they +discovered the youthful pilgrim's absence; and, from the garments which +were left, saw every reason to think that the one-eyed novice, sister +Ursula, had accompanied him in his escape from custody. A thousand +thoughts thronged upon Sir Aymer, how shamefully he had suffered +himself to be outwitted by the artifices of a boy and of a novice. His +reverend companion in error felt no less contrition for having +recommended to the knight a mild exercise of his authority. Father +Jerome had obtained his preferment as abbot upon the faith of his zeal +for the cause of the English monarch, with the affected interest in +which he was at a loss to reconcile his proceedings of the last night. +A hurried enquiry took place, from which little could be learned, save +that the young pilgrim had most certainly gone off with the Lady +Margaret de Hautlieu, an incident at which the females of the convent +expressed surprise, mingled with a great deal of horror; while that of +the males, whom the news soon reached, was qualified with a degree of +wonder, which seemed to be founded upon the very different personal +appearance of the two fugitives. + +"Sacred Virgin," said a nun, "who could have conceived the hopeful +votaress, sister Ursula, so lately drowned in tears for her father's +untimely fate, capable of eloping with a boy scarce fourteen years old!" + +"And, holy Saint Bride!" said the Abbot Jerome, "what could have made +so handsome a young man lend his arm to assist such a nightmare as +sister Ursula, in the commission of so great an enormity? Certainly he +can neither plead temptation nor seduction, but must have gone, as the +worldly phrase is,--to the devil with a dish-clout." + +"I must disperse the soldiers to pursue the fugitives," said De +Valence, "unless this letter, which the pilgrim must have left behind +him, shall contain some explanations respecting our mysterious +prisoner." + +After viewing the contents with some surprise, he read aloud,--"The +undersigned, late residing in the house of Saint Bride, do you, father +Jerome, the abbot of said house, to know, that finding you were +disposed to treat me as a prisoner and a spy, in the sanctuary to which +you had received me as a distressed person, I have resolved to use my +natural liberty, with which you have no right to interfere, and +therefore have withdrawn myself from your abbacy. Moreover, finding +that the novice called in your convent sister Ursula (who hath, by +monastic rule and discipline, a fair title to return to the world +unless she is pleased, after a year's novitiate, to profess herself +sister of your order) is determined to use such privilege, I joyfully +take the opportunity of her company in this her lawful resolution, as +being what is in conformity to the law of God, and the precepts of +Saint Bride, which gave you no authority to detain any person in your +convent by force, who hath not taken upon her irrevocably the vows of +the order. + +"To you, Sir John de Walton, and Sir Aymer de Valence, knights of +England, commanding the garrison of Douglas Dale, I have only to say, +that you have acted and are acting against me under a mystery, the +solution of which is comprehended in a secret known only to my faithful +minstrel, Bertram of the many Lays, as whose son I have found it +convenient to pass myself. But as I cannot at this time prevail upon +myself personally to discover a secret which cannot well be unfolded +without feelings of shame, I not only give permission to the said +Bertram the minstrel, but I charge and command him that he tell to you +the purpose with which I came originally to the Castle of Douglas. When +this is discovered, it will only remain to express my feelings towards +the two knights, in return for the pain and agony of mind which their +violence and threats of further severities have occasioned me. + +"And first respecting Sir Aymer de Valence, I freely and willingly +forgive him for having been involved in a mistake to which I myself led +the way, and I shall at all times be happy to meet with him as an +acquaintance, and never to think farther of his part in these few days' +history, saving as matter of mirth and ridicule. + +"But respecting Sir John de Walton, I must request of him to consider +whether his conduct towards me, standing as we at present do towards +each, other, is such as he himself ought to forget or I ought to +forgive; and I trust he will understand me when I tell him, that all +former connexions must henceforth be at an end between him and the +supposed "AUGUSTINE." + +"This is madness," said the abbot, when he had read the letter,--"very +midsummer madness; not unfrequently an accompaniment of this +pestilential disease, and I should do well in requiring of those +soldiers who shall first apprehend this youth Augustine, that they +reduce his victuals immediately to water and bread, taking care that +the diet do not exceed in measure what is necessary to sustain nature; +nay, I should be warranted by the learned, did I recommend a sufficient +intermixture of flagellation with belts, stirrup-leathers, or +surcingles, and failing those, with riding-whips, switches, and the +like." + +"Hush! my reverend father," said De Valence, "a light begins to break +in upon me. John de Walton, if my suspicions be true, would sooner +expose his own flesh to be hewn from his bones, than have this +Augustine's finger stung by a gnat. Instead of treating this youth as a +madman, I for my own part, will be contented to avow that I myself have +been bewitched and fascinated; and by my honour, if I send out my +attendants in quest of the fugitives, it shall be with the strict +charge, that, when apprehended, they treat them with all respect, and +protect them, if they object to return to this house, to any honourable +place of refuge which they may desire." + +"I hope," said the abbot, looking strangely confused, "I shall be first +heard in behalf of the Church concerning this affair of an abducted +nun? You see yourself, Sir Knight, that this scapegrace of a minstrel +avouches neither repentance nor contrition at his share in a matter so +flagitious." + +"You shall be secured an opportunity of being fully heard," replied the +knight, "if you shall find at last that you really desire one. +Meantime, I must back, without a moment's delay, to inform Sir John de +Walton of the turn which affairs have taken. Farewell, reverend father. +By my honour we may wish each other joy that we have escaped from a +troublesome charge, which brought as much terror with it as the +phantoms of a fearful dream, and is yet found capable of being +dispelled by a cure as simple as that of awakening the sleeper. But, by +Saint Bride! both churchmen and laymen are bound to sympathise with the +unfortunate Sir John de Walton. I tell thee, father, that if this +letter"--touching the missive with his finger--"is to be construed +literally, as far as respects him, he is the man most to be pitied +betwixt the brink of Solway and the place where we now stand. Suspend +thy curiosity, most worthy churchman, lest there should be more in this +matter than I myself see; so that, while thinking that I have lighted +on the true explanation, I may not have to acknowledge that I have been +again leading you into error. Sound to horse there! Ho?" he called out +from the window of the apartment; "and let the party I brought hither +prepare to scour the woods on their return." + +"By my faith!" said Father Jerome, "I am right glad that this young +nut-cracker is going to leave me to my own meditation. I hate when a +young person pretends to understand whatever passes, while his betters +are obliged to confess that it is all a mystery to them. Such an +assumption is like that of the conceited fool, sister Ursula, who +pretended to read with a single eye a manuscript which I myself could +not find intelligible with the assistance of my spectacles." + +This might not have quite pleased the young knight, nor was it one of +those truths which the abbot would have chosen to deliver in his +hearing. But the knight had shaken him by the hand, said adieu, and was +already at Hazelside, issuing particular orders to little troops of the +archers and others, and occasionally chiding Thomas Dickson, who, with +a degree of curiosity which the English knight was not very willing to +excuse, had been endeavouring to get some account of the occurrences of +the night. + +"Peace, fellow!" he said, "and mind thine own business, being well +assured that the hour will come in which it will require all the +attention thou canst give, leaving others to take care of their own +affairs." + +"If I am suspected of any thing," answered Dickson, in a tone rather +dogged and surly than otherwise, "methinks it were but fair to let me +know what accusation is brought against me. I need not tell you that +chivalry prescribes that a knight should not attack an enemy undefied." + +"When you are a knight," answered Sir Aymer de Valence, "it will be +time enough for me to reckon with you upon the points of form due to +you by the laws of chivalry. Meanwhile, you had best let me know what +share you have had in playing off the martial phantom which sounded the +rebellious slogan of Douglas in the town of that name?" + +"I know nothing of what you speak," answered the goodman of Hazelside. + +"See then," said the knight, "that you do not engage yourself in the +affairs of other people, even if your conscience warrants that you are +in no danger from your own." + +So saying, he rode off, not waiting any answer. The ideas which filled +his head were to the following purpose. + +"I know not how it is, but one mist seems no sooner to clear away than. +we find ourselves engaged in another. I take it for granted that the +disguised damsel is no other than the goddess of Walton's private +idolatry, who has cost him and me so much trouble, and some certain, +degree of misunderstanding during these last weeks. By my honour! this +fair lady is right lavish in the pardon which she has so frankly +bestowed upon me, and if she is willing to be less complaisant to Sir +John de Walton, why then--And what then?--It surely does not infer that +she would receive me into that place in her affections, from which she +has just expelled De Walton? Nor, if she did, could I avail myself of a +change in favour of myself, at the expense of my friend and companion +in arms. It were a folly even to dream of a thing so improbable. But +with respect to the other business, it is worth serious consideration. +Yon sexton seems to have kept company with dead bodies, until he is +unfit for the society of the living; and as to that Dickson of +Hazelside, as they call him, there is no attempt against the English +during these endless wars, in which that man has not been concerned; +had my life depended upon it, I could not have prevented myself from +intimating my suspicions of him, let him take it as he lists." So +saying, the knight spurred his horse, and arriving at Douglas Castle +without farther adventure, demanded in a tone of greater cordiality +than he had of late used, whether he could be admitted to Sir John de +Walton, having something of consequence to report to him. He was +immediately ushered into an apartment, in which the governor was seated +at his solitary breakfast. Considering the terms upon which they had +lately stood, the governor of Douglas Dale was somewhat surprised at +the easy familiarity with which De Valence now approached him. + +"Some uncommon news," said Sir John, rather gravely, "have brought me +the honour of Sir Aymer de Valence's company." + +"It is," answered Sir Aymer, "what seems of high importance to your +interest, Sir John de Walton, and therefore I were to blame if I lost a +moment in communicating it." + +"I shall be proud to profit by your intelligence," said Sir John de +Walton. + +"And I too," said the young knight, "am both to lose the credit of +having penetrated a mystery which blinded Sir John de Walton. At the +same time, I do not wish to be thought capable of jesting with you, +which might be the case were I, from misapprehension, to give a false +key to this matter. With your permission, then, we will proceed thus: +We go together to the place of Bertram the minstrel's confinement. I +have in my possession a scroll from the young person who was intrusted +to the care of the Abbot Jerome; it is written in a delicate female +hand, and gives authority to the minstrel to declare the purpose which +brought them to this vale of Douglas." + +"It must be as you say," said Sir John de Walton, "although can scarce +see occasion for adding so much form to a mystery which can be +expressed in such small compass." + +Accordingly the two knights, the warder leading the way, proceeded to +the dungeon to which the minstrel had been removed. + + + + +CHAPTER THE THIRTEENTH. + + +The doors of the stronghold being undone, displayed a dungeon such as +in those days held victims hopeless of escape, but in which the +ingenious knave of modern times would scarcely have deigned to remain +many hours. The huge rings by which the fetters were soldered together, +and attached to the human body, were, when examined minutely, found to +be clenched together by riveting so very thin, that when rubbed with +corrosive acid, or patiently ground with a bit of sandstone, the hold +of the fetters upon each other might easily be forced asunder, and the +purpose of them entirely frustrated. The locks also, large, and +apparently very strong, were so coarsely made, that an artist of small +ingenuity could easily contrive to get the better of their fastenings +upon the same principle. The daylight found its way to the subterranean +dungeon only at noon, and through a passage which was purposely made +tortuous, so as to exclude the rays of the sun, while it presented no +obstacle to wind or rain. The doctrine that a prisoner was to be +esteemed innocent until he should be found guilty by his peers, was not +understood in those days of brute force, and he was only accommodated +with a lamp or other alleviation of his misery, if his demeanour was +quiet, and he appeared disposed to give his jailor no trouble by +attempting to make his escape. Such a cell of confinement was that of +Bertram, whose moderation of temper and patience had nevertheless +procured for him such mitigations of his fate as the warder could +grant. He was permitted to carry into his cell the old book, in the +perusal of which he found an amusement of his solitude, together with +writing materials, and such other helps towards spending his time as +were consistent with his abode in the bosom of the rock, and the degree +of information with which his minstrel craft had possessed him. He +raised his head from the table as the knights entered, while the +governor observed to the young knight:-- + +"As you seem to think yourself possessed of the secret of this +prisoner, I leave it to you, Sir Aymer de Valence, to bring it to light +in the manner which you shall judge most expedient. If the man or his +son have suffered unnecessary hardship, it shall be my duty to make +amends--which, I suppose, can be no very important matter." + +Bertram looked up, and fixed his eyes full upon the governor, but read +nothing in his looks which indicated his being better acquainted than +before with the secret of his imprisonment. Yet, upon turning his eye +towards Sir Aymer, his countenance evidently lighted up, and the glance +which passed between them was one of intelligence. + +"You have my secret, then," said he, "and you know who it is that +passes under the name of Augustine?" + +Sir Aymer exchanged with him a look of acquiescence; while the eyes of +the governor glancing wildly from the prisoner to the knight of +Valence, exclaimed,-- + +"Sir Aymer de Valence, as you are belted knight and Christian man, as +you have honour to preserve on earth, and a soul to rescue after death, +I charge you to tell me the meaning of this mystery! It may be that you +conceive, with truth, that you have subject of complaint against +me;--If so, I will satisfy you as a knight may." + +The minstrel spoke at the same moment. + +"I charge this knight," he said, "by his vow of chivalry, that he do +not divulge any secret belonging to a person of honour and of +character, unless he has positive assurance that it is done entirely by +that person's own consent." + +"Let this note remove your scruples," said Sir Aymer, putting the +scroll into the hands of the minstrel; "and for you, Sir John de +Walton, far from retaining the least feeling of any misunderstanding +which may have existed between us, I am disposed entirely to bury it in +forgetfulness, as having arisen out of a series of mistakes which no +mortal could have comprehended. And do not be offended, my dear Sir +John, when I protest, on my knightly faith, that I pity the pain which +I think this scroll is likely to give you, and that if my utmost +efforts can be of the least service to you in unravelling this tangled +skein, I will contribute them with as much earnestness as ever I did +aught in my life. This faithful minstrel will now see that he can have +no difficulty in yielding up a secret, which I doubt not, but for the +writing I have just put into his hands, he would have continued to keep +with unshaken fidelity." + +Sir Aymer now placed in De Walton's hand a note, in which he had, ere +he left Saint Bride's convent, signified his own interpretation, of the +mystery; and the governor had scarcely read the name it contained, +before the same name was pronounced aloud by Bertram, who, at the same +moment, handed to the governor the scroll which he had received from +the Knight of Valence. + +The white plume which floated over the knight's cap of maintenance, +which was worn as a headpiece within doors, was not more pale in +complexion than was the knight himself at the unexpected and surprising +information, that the lady who was, in chivalrous phrase, empress of +hia thoughts, and commander of his actions, and to whom, even in less +fantastic times, he must have owed the deepest gratitude for the +generous election which she had made in his favour, was the same person +whom he had threatened with personal violence, and subjected to +hardships and affronts which he would not willingly have bestowed even +upon the meanest of her sex. + +Yet Sir John de Walton seemed at first scarcely to comprehend the +numerous ill consequences which might probably follow this unhappy +complication of mistakes. He took the paper from the minstrel's hand, +and while his eye, assisted by the lamp, wandered over the characters +without apparently their conveying any distinct impression to his +understanding, De Valence even became alarmed that he was about to lose +his faculties. + +"For Heaven's sake, sir," he said, "be a man, and support with manly +steadiness these unexpected occurrences--I would fain think they will +reach to nothing else--which the wit of man could not have prevented. +This fair lady, I would fain hope, cannot be much hurt or deeply +offended by a train of circumstances, the natural consequence of your +anxiety to discharge perfectly a duty upon which must depend the +accomplishment of all the hopes she had permitted you to entertain. In +God's name, rouse up, sir; let it not be said, that an apprehended +frown of a fair lady hath damped to such a degree the courage of the +boldest knight in England; be what men have called you, 'Walton the +Unwavering;' in Heaven's name, let us at least see that the lady is +indeed offended, before we conclude that she is irreconcilably so. To +whose fault are we to ascribe the source of all these errors? Surely, +with all due respect, to the caprice of the lady herself, which has +engendered such a nest of mistakes. Think of it as a man, and as a +soldier. Suppose that you yourself, or I, desirous of proving the +fidelity of our sentinels, or for any other reason, good or bad, +attempted to enter this Dangerous Castle of Douglas without giving the +password to the warders, would we be entitled to blame those upon duty, +if, not knowing our persons, they manfully refused us entrance, made us +prisoners, and mishandled us while resisting our attempt, in terms of +the orders which we ourselves had imposed upon them? What is there that +makes a difference between such a sentinel and yourself, John de +Walton, in this curious affair, which, by Heaven! would rather form a +gay subject for the minstrelsy of this excellent bard, than the theme +of a tragic lay? Come! look not thus, Sir John de Walton; be angry, if +you will, with the lady who has committed such a piece of folly, or +with me who have rode up and down nearly all night on a fool's errand, +and spoiled my best horse, in absolute uncertainty how I shall get +another till my uncle of Pembroke and I shall be reconciled; or, +lastly, if you desire to be totally absurd in your wrath, direct it +against this worthy minstrel on account of his rare fidelity, and +punish him for that for which he better deserves a chain of gold. Let +passion out, if you will; but chase this desponding gloom from the brow +of a man and a belted knight." + +Sir John de Walton made an effort to speak, and succeeded with some +difficulty. + +"Aymer de Valence," he said, "in irritating a madman you do but sport +with your own life;" and then remained silent. + +"I am glad you can say so much," replied his friend; "for I was not +jesting when I said I would rather that you were at variance with me, +than that you laid the whole blame on yourself. It would be courteous, +I think, to set this minstrel instantly at liberty. Meantime, for his +lady's sake, I will entreat him, in all honour, to be our guest till +the Lady Augusta de Berkely shall do us the same honour, and to assist +us in our search after her place of retirement.--Good minstrel," he +continued, "you hear what I say, and you will not, I suppose, be +surprised, that in all honour and kind usage, you find yourself +detained for a short space in this Castle of Douglas?" + +"You seem, Sir Knight," replied the minstrel, "not so much to keep your +eye upon the right of doing what you should, as to possess the might of +doing what you would. I must necessarily be guided by your advice, +since you have the power to make it a command." + +"And I trust," continued De Valence, "that when your mistress and you +again meet, we shall have the benefit of your intercession for any +thing which we may have done to displeasure her, considering that the +purpose of our action was exactly the reverse." + +"Let me," said Sir John de Walton, "say a single word. I will offer +thee a chain of gold, heavy enough to bear down the weight of these +shackles, as a sign of regret for having condemned thee to suffer so +many indignities." + +"Enough said, Sir John," said De Valence; "let us promise no more till +this good minstrel shall see some sign of performance. Follow me this +way, and I will tell thee in private of other tidings, which it is +important that you should know." + +So saying, he withdrew De Walton from the dungeon, and sending for the +old knight, Sir Philip de Montenay, already mentioned, who acted as +seneschal of the castle, he commanded that the minstrel should be +enlarged from the dungeon, well looked to in other respects, yet +prohibited, though with every mark of civility, from leaving the castle +without a trusty attendant. + +"And now, Sir John de Walton," he said, "methinks you are a little +churlish in not ordering me some breakfast, after I have been all night +engaged in your affairs; and a cup of muscadel would, I think, be no +bad induction to a full consideration of this perplexed matter." + +"Thou knowest," answered De Walton, "that thou mayest call for what +thou wilt, provided always thou tellest me, without loss of time, what +else thou knowest respecting the will of the lady, against whom we have +all sinned so grievously--and I, alas, beyond hope of forgiveness!" + +"Trust me, I hope," said the Knight of Valence, "the good lady bears me +no malice, as indeed she has expressly renounced any ill-will against +me. The words, you see, are as plain as you yourself may read--'The +lady pardons poor Aymer de Valence, and willingly, for having been +involved in a mistake, to which she herself led the way; she herself +will at all times be happy to meet with him as an acquaintance, and +never to think farther of these few days' history, except as matter of +mirth and ridicule.' So it is expressly written and set down." + +"Yes," replied Sir John de Walton, "but see you not that her offending +lover is expressly excluded from the amnesty granted to the lesser +offender? Mark you not the concluding paragraph?" He took the scroll +with a trembling hand, and read with a discomposed voice its closing +words. "It is even so: 'All former connexion must henceforth be at an +end between him and the supposed Augustine.' Explain to me how the +reading of these words is reconcilable to anything but their plain +sense of condemnation and forfeiture of contract, implying destruction +of the hopes of Sir John de Walton?" + +"You are somewhat an older man than I, Sir Knight," answered De +Valence, "and I will grant, by far the wiser and more experienced; yet +I will uphold that there is no adopting the interpretation which you +seem to have affixed in your mind to this letter, without supposing the +preliminary, that the fair writer was distracted in her understanding, +--nay, never start, look wildly, or lay your hand on your sword, I do +not affirm this is the case. I say again, that no woman in her senses +would have pardoned a common acquaintance for his behaving to her with +unintentional disrespect and unkindness, during the currency of a +certain masquerade, and, at the same time, sternly and irrevocably +broke off with the lover to whom her troth was plighted, although his +error in joining in the offence was neither grosser nor more protracted +than that of the person indifferent to her love." + +"Do not blaspheme," said Sir John do Walton; "and forgive me, if, in +justice to truth and to the angel whom I fear I have forfeited for +ever, I point out to you the difference which a maiden of dignity and +of feeling must make between an offence towards her, committed by an +ordinary acquaintance, and one of precisely the same kind offered by a +person who is bound by the most undeserved preference, by the most +generous benefits, and by every thing which can bind human feeling, to +think and reflect ere he becomes an actor in any case in which it is +possible for her to be concerned." + +"Now, by mine honour," said Aymer de Valence, "I am glad to hear thee +make some attempt at reason, although it is but an unreasonable kind of +reason too, since its object is to destroy thine own hopes, and argue +away thine own chance of happiness; but if I have, in the progress of +this affair, borne me sometimes towards thee, as to give not only the +governor, but even the friend, some cause of displeasure, I will make +it up to thee now, John de Walton, by trying to convince thee in spite +of thine own perverse logic. But here comes the muscadel and the +breakfast; wilt thou take some refreshment;--or shall we go on without +the spirit of muscadel?" + +"For Heaven's sake," replied De Walton, "do as thou wilt, so thou make +me clear of thy well-intended babble." + +"Nay, thou shalt not brawl me out of my powers of argument," said De +Valence, laughing, and helping himself to a brimming cup of wine; "if +thou acknowledgest thyself conquered, I am contented to give the +victory to the inspiring strength of the jovial liquor." + +"Do as thou listest," said De Walton, "but make an end of an argument +which thou canst not comprehend." + +"I deny the charge," answered the younger knight, wiping his lips, +after having finished his draught; "and listen, Walton the Warlike, to +a chapter in the history of woman, in which thou art more unskilled +than I would wish thee to be. Thou canst not deny that, be it right or +wrong, the lady Augusta hath ventured more forward with you than is +usual upon the sea of affection; she boldly made thee her choice, while +thou wert as yet known to her only as a flower of English +chivalry,--faith, and I respect her for her frankness--but it was a +choice, which the more cold of her own sex might perhaps claim occasion +to term rash and precipitate.--Nay, be not, I pray thee, offended--I am +far from thinking or saying so; on the contrary, I will uphold with my +lance, her selection of John de Walton against the minions of a court, +to be a wise and generous choice, and her own behaviour as alike candid +and noble. But she herself is not unlikely to dread unjust +misconstruction; a fear of which may not improbably induce her, upon +any occasion, to seize some opportunity of showing an unwonted and +unusual rigour towards her lover, in order to balance her having +extended towards him, in the beginning of their intercourse, somewhat +of an unusual degree of frank encouragement. Nay, it might be easy for +her lover so far to take part against himself, by arguing as thou dost, +when out of thy senses, as to make it difficult for her to withdraw +from an argument which he himself was foolish enough to strengthen; and +thus, like a maiden too soon taken at her first nay-say, she shall +perhaps be allowed no opportunity of bearing herself according to her +real feelings, or retracting a sentence issued with consent of the +party whose hopes it destroys." + +"I have heard thee, De Valence," answered the governor of Douglas Dale; +"nor is it difficult for me to admit, that these thy lessons may serve +as a chart to many a female heart, but not to that of Augusta de +Berkely. By my life, I say I would much sooner be deprived of the merit +of those few deeds of chivalry which thou sayest have procured for me +such enviable distinction, than I would act upon them with the +insolence, as if I said that my place in the lady's bosom was too +firmly fixed to be shaken even by the success of a worthier man, or by +my own gross failure in respect to the object of my attachment. No, +herself alone shall have power to persuade me that even goodness equal +to that of an interceding saint will restore me to the place in her +affections which I have most unworthily forfeited, by a stupidity only +to be compared to that of brutes." + +"If you are so minded," said Aymer De Valence, "I have only one word +more--forgive me if I speak it peremptorily--the lady, as you say, and +say truly, must be the final arbitress in this question. My arguments +do not extend to insisting that you should claim her hand, whether she +herself will or no; but, to learn her determination, it is necessary +that you should find out where she is, of which I am unfortunately not +able to inform you." + +"How! what mean you!" exclaimed the governor, who now only began to +comprehend the extent of his misfortune; "whither hath she fled? or +with whom?" + +"She is fled, for what I know," said De Valence, "in search of a more +enterprising lover than one who is so willing to interpret every air of +frost as a killing blight to his hopes; perhaps she seeks the Black +Douglas, or some such hero of the Thistle, to reward with her lands, +her lordships, and beauty, those virtues of enterprise and courage, of +which John de Walton was at one time thought possessed. But, seriously, +events are passing around us of strange import. I saw enough last +night, on my way to Saint Bride's, to make me suspicious of every one. +I sent to you as a prisoner the old sexton of the church of Douglas. I +found him contumacious as to some enquiries which I thought it proper +to prosecute; but of this more at another time. The escape of this lady +adds greatly to the difficulties which encircle this devoted castle." + +"Aymer de Valence," replied De Walton, in a solemn and animated tone, +"Douglas Castle shall be defended, as we have hitherto been able, with +the aid of heaven, to spread from its battlements the broad banner of +St. George. Come of me what lists during my life, I will die the +faithful lover of Augusta de Berkely, even although I no longer live as +her chosen knight. There are cloisters and hermitages"-- + +"Ay, marry are there," replied Sir Aymer; "and girdles of hemp, +moreover, and beads of oak; but all these we omit in our reckonings, +till we discover where the Lady Augusta is, and what she purposes to do +in this matter." + +"You say well," replied De Walton; "let us hold counsel together by +what means we shall, if possible, discover the lady's too hasty +retreat, by which she has done me great wrong; I mean, if she supposed +her commands would not have been fully obeyed, had she honoured with +them the governor of Douglas Dale, or any who are under his command." + +"Now," replied De Valence, "you again speak like a true son of +chivalry. With your permission I would summon this minstrel to our +presence. His fidelity to his mistress has been remarkable; and, as +matters stand now, we must take instant measures for tracing the place +of her retreat." + + + + +CHAPTER THE FOURTEENTH. + + The way is long, my children, long and rough + The moors are dreary, and the woods are dark; + But he that creeps from cradle on to grave, + Unskill'd save in the velvet course of fortune, + Hath miss'd the discipline of noble hearts. + OLD PLAY. + + +It was yet early in the day, when, after the Governor and De Valence +had again summoned Bertram to their councils, the garrison of Douglas +was mustered, and a number of small parties, in addition to those +already despatched by De Valence from Hazelside, were sent out to scour +the woods in pursuit of the fugitives, with strict injunctions to treat +them, if overtaken, with the utmost respect, and to obey their +commands, keeping an eye, however, on the place where they might take +refuge. To facilitate this result, some who were men of discretion were +intrusted with the secret who the supposed pilgrim and the fugitive nun +really were. The whole ground, whether forest or moorland, within many +miles of Douglas Castle, was covered and traversed by parties, whose +anxiety to detect the fugitives was equal to the reward for their safe +recovery, liberally offered by De Walton and De Valence. They spared +not, meantime, to make such enquiries in all directions as might bring +to light any machinations of the Scottish insurgents which might be on +foot in those wild districts, of which, as we have said before, De +Valence, in particular, entertained strong suspicions. Their +instructions were, in case of finding such, to proceed against the +persons engaged, by arrest and otherwise, in the most rigorous manner, +such as had been commanded by De Walton himself at the time when the +Black Douglas and his accomplices had been the principal objects of his +wakeful suspicions. These various detachments had greatly reduced the +strength of the garrison; yet, although numerous, alert, and despatched +in every direction, they had not the fortune either to fall on the +trace of the Lady of Berkely, or to encounter any party whatever of the +insurgent Scottish. + +Meanwhile, our fugitives had, as we have seen, set out from the convent +of St. Bride under the guidance of a cavalier, of whom the Lady Augusta +knew nothing, save that he was to guide their steps in a direction +where they would not be exposed to the risk of being overtaken. At +length Margaret de Hautlieu herself spoke upon the subject. + +"You have made no enquiry," she said, "Lady Augusta, whither you are +travelling, or under whose charge, although methinks it should much +concern you to know." + +"Is it not enough for me to be aware," answered Lady Augusta, "that I +am travelling, kind sister, under the protection of one to whom you +yourself trust as to a friend; and why need I be anxious for any +farther assurance of my safety?" + +"Simply," said Margaret, de Hautlieu, "because the persons with whom, +from national as well as personal circumstances, I stand connected, are +perhaps not exactly the protectors to whom you, lady, can with such +perfect safety intrust yourself." + +"In what sense," said the Lady Augusta, "do you use these words?" + +"Because," replied Margaret de Hautlieu, "the Bruce, the Douglas, +Malcolm Fleming, and others of that party, although they are incapable +of abusing such an advantage to any dishonourable purpose, might +nevertheless, under a strong temptation, consider you as an hostage +thrown into their hands by Providence, through whom they might meditate +the possibility of gaining some benefit to their dispersed and +dispirited party." + +"They might make me," answered the Lady Augusta, "the subject of such a +treaty, when I was dead, but, believe me, never while I drew vital +breath. Believe me also that, with whatever pain, shame, or agony, I +would again deliver myself up to the power of De Walton, yes, I would +rather put myself in his hands--what do I say? _his_!--I would rather +surrender myself to the meanest archer of my native country, than +combine with its foes to work mischief to merry England---my own +England--that country which is the envy of every other country, and the +pride of all who can term themselves her natives!" + +"I thought that your choice might prove so," said Lady Margaret; "and +since you have honoured me with your confidence, gladly would I provide +for your liberty by placing you as nearly in the situation which you +yourself desire, as my poor means have the power of accomplishing. In +half an hour we shall be in danger of being taken by the English +parties, which will be instantly dispersed in every direction in quest +of us. Now, take notice, lady, I know a place in which I can take +refuge with my friends and countrymen, those gallant Scots, who have +never even in this dishonoured age bent the knee to Baal. For their +honour, their nicety of honour, I could in other days have answered +with my own; but of late, I am bound to tell you, they have been put to +those trials by which the most generous affections may be soured, and +driven to a species of frenzy, the more wild that it is founded +originally on the noblest feelings. A person who feels himself deprived +of his natural birthright, denounced, exposed to confiscation and +death, because he avouches the rights of his king, the cause of his +country, ceases on his part to be nice or precise in estimating the +degree of retaliation which it is lawful for him to exercise in the +requital of such injuries; and, believe me, bitterly should I lament +having guided you into a situation which you might consider afflicting +or degrading." + +"In a word then," said the English lady, "what is it you apprehend I am +like to suffer at the hands of your friends, whom I must be excused for +terming rebels?" + +"If," said the sister Ursula, "_your_ friends, whom I should term +oppressors and tyrants, take our land and our lives, seize our castles, +and confiscate our property, you must confess, that the rough laws of +war indulge _mine_ with the privilege of retaliation. There can be no +fear, that such men, under any circumstances, would ever exercise +cruelty or insult upon a lady of your rank; but it is another thing to +calculate that they will abstain from such means of extorting advantage +from your captivity as are common in warfare. You would not, I think, +wish to be delivered up to the English, on consideration of Sir John de +Walton surrendering the Castle of Douglas to its natural lord; yet, +were you in the hands of the Bruce or Douglas, although I can answer +for your being treated with all the respect which they have the means +of showing, yet I own, their putting you at such a ransom might be by +no means unlikely." + +"I would sooner die," said the Lady Berkely, "than have my name mixed +up in a treaty so disgraceful; and De Walton's reply to it would, I am +certain, be to strike the head from the messenger, and throw it from +the highest tower of Douglas Castle." + +"Where, then, lady, would you now go," said sister Ursula, "were the +choice in your power?" + +"To my own castle," answered Lady Augusta, "where, if necessary, I +could be defended even against the king himself, until I could place at +least my person under the protection of the Church." + +"In that case," replied Margaret de Hautlieu, "my power of rendering +you assistance is only precarious, yet it comprehends a choice which I +will willingly submit to your decision, notwithstanding I thereby +subject the secrets of my friends to some risk of being discovered and +frustrated. But the confidence which you have placed in me, imposes on +me the necessity of committing to you a like trust. It rests with you, +whether you will proceed with me to the secret rendezvous of the +Douglas and his friends, which I may be blamed for making known, and +there take your chance of the reception which you may encounter, since +I cannot warrant you of any thing save honourable treatment, so far as +your person is concerned; or if you should think this too hazardous, +make the best of your way at once for the Border; in which last case I +will proceed as far as I can with you towards the English line, and +then leave you to pursue your journey, and to obtain a guard and a +conductor among your own countrymen. Meantime, it will be well for me +if I escape being taken, since the abbot would not shrink at inflicting +upon me the death due to an apostate nun." + +"Such cruelty, my sister, could hardly be inflicted upon one who had +never taken the religious vows, and who still, according to the laws of +the Church, had a right to make a choice between the world and the +veil." + +"Such choice as they gave their gallant victims," said Lady Margaret, +"who have fallen into English hands during these merciless wars,--such +choice as they gave to Wallace, the Champion of Scotland,--such as they +gave to Hay, the gentle and the free,--to Sommerville, the flower of +chivalry,--and to Athol, the blood relation of King Edward himself--all +of whom were as much traitors, under which name they were executed, as +Margaret de Hautlieu is an apostate nun, and subject to the rule of the +cloister." + +She spoke with some eagerness, for she felt as if the English lady +imputed to her more coldness than she was, in such doubtful +circumstances, conscious of manifesting. + +"And after all," she proceeded, "you, Lady Augusta de Berkely, what do +you venture, if you run the risk of falling into the hands of your +lover? What dreadful risk do you incur? You need not, methinks, fear +being immured between four walls, with a basket of bread and a cruise +of water, which, were I seized, would be the only support allowed to me +for the short space that my life would be prolonged. Nay, even were you +to be betrayed to the rebel Scots, as you call them, a captivity among +the hills, sweetened by the hope of deliverance, and rendered tolerable +by all the alleviations which the circumstances of your captors allowed +them the means of supplying, were not, I think, a lot so very hard to +endure." + +"Nevertheless," answered the Lady of Berkely, "frightful enough it must +have appeared to me, since, to fly from such, I threw myself upon your +guidance." + +"And, whatever you think or suspect," answered the novice, "I am as +true to you as ever was one maiden to another; and as sure as ever +sister Ursula was true to her vows, although they were never completed, +so will I be faithful to your secret, even at the risk of betraying my +own." + +"Hearken, lady!" she said, suddenly pausing, "do you hear that?" + +The sound to which she alluded was the same imitation of the cry of an +owlet, which the lady had before heard under the walls of the convent. + +"These sounds," said Margaret de Hautlieu, "announce that one is near, +more able than I am to direct us in this matter. I must go forward and +speak with him; and this man, our guide, will remain by you for a +little space; nor, when he quits your bridle, need you wait for any +other signal, but ride forward on the woodland path, and obey the +advice and directions which will be given you." + +"Stay! stay! sister Ursula!" cried the Lady de Berkely--"abandon me not +in this moment of uncertainty and distress!" + +"It must be, for the sake of both," returned Margaret de Hautlieu. "I +also am in uncertainty--I also am in distress--and patience and +obedience are the only virtues which can save us both." + +So saying, she struck her horse with the riding rod, and moving briskly +forward, disappeared among the tangled boughs of a thicket. The Lady of +Berkely would have followed her companion, but the cavalier who +attended them laid a strong hand upon the bridle of her palfrey, with a +look which implied that he would not permit her to proceed in that +direction. Terrified, therefore, though she could not exactly state a +reason why, the Lady of Berkely remained with her eyes fixed upon the +thicket, instinctively, as it were, expecting to see a band of English +archers, or rugged Scottish insurgents, issue from its tangled skirts, +and doubtful which she should have most considered as the objects of +her terror. In the distress of her uncertainty, she again attempted to +move forward, but the stern check which her attendant again bestowed +upon her bridle, proved sufficiently that in restraining her wishes, +the stranger was not likely to spare the strength which he certainly +possessed. At length, after some ten minutes had elapsed, the cavalier +withdrew his hand from her bridle, and pointing with his lance towards +the thicket, through which there winded a narrow, scarce visible path, +seemed to intimate to the lady that her road lay in that direction, and +that he would no longer prevent her following it. + +"Do you not go with me?" said the lady, who, having been accustomed to +this man's company since they left the convent, had by degrees come to +look upon him as a sort of protector. He, however, gravely shook his +head, as if to excuse complying with a request, which it was not in his +power to grant; and turning his steed in a different direction, retired +at a pace which soon carried him from her sight. She had then no +alternative but to take the path of the thicket, which had been +followed by Margaret de Hautlieu, nor did she pursue it long before +coming in sight of a singular spectacle. The trees grew wider as the +lady advanced, and when she entered the thicket, she perceived that, +though hedged in as it were by an enclosure of copsewood, it was in the +interior altogether occupied by a few of the magnificent trees, such as +seemed to have been the ancestors of the forest, and which, though few +in number, were sufficient to overshade all the unoccupied ground, by +the great extent of their complicated branches. Beneath one of these +lay stretched something of a grey colour, which, as it drew itself +together, exhibited the figure of a man sheathed in armour, but +strangely accoutred, and in a manner so bizarre, as to indicate some of +the wild fancies peculiar to the knights of that period. His armour was +ingeniously painted, so as to represent a skeleton; the ribs being +constituted by the corselet and its back-piece. The shield represented +an owl with its wings spread, a device which was repeated upon the +helmet, which appeared to be completely covered by an image of the same +bird of ill omen. But that which was particularly calculated to excite +surprise in the spectator, was the great height and thinness of the +figure, which, as it arose from the ground, and placed itself in an +erect posture, seemed rather to resemble an apparition in the act of +extricating itself from the grave, than that of an ordinary man rising +upon his feet. The horse, too, upon which the lady rode, started back +and snorted, either at the sudden change of posture of this ghastly +specimen of chivalry, or disagreeably affected by some odour which +accompanied his presence. The lady herself manifested some alarm, for +although she did not utterly believe she was in the presence of a super +natural being, yet, among all the strange half-frantic disguises of +chivalry this was assuredly the most uncouth which she had ever seen; +and, considering how often the knights of the period pushed their +dreamy fancies to the borders of insanity, it seemed at best no very +safe adventure to meet? one accoutred in the emblems of the King of +Terrors himself, alone, and in the midst of a wild forest. Be the +knight's character and purposes what they might, she resolved, however, +to accost him in the language and manner observed in romances upon such +occasions, in the hope even that if he were a madman he might prove a +peaceable one, and accessible to civility. + +"Sir Knight," she said, in as firm a tone as she could assume, "right +sorry am I, if, by my hasty approach, I have disturbed your solitary +meditations. My horse, sensible I think of the presence of yours, +brought me hither, without my being aware whom or what I was to +encounter." + +"I am one," answered the stranger, in a solemn tone, "whom few men seek +to meet, till the time comes that they can avoid me no longer." + +"You speak, Sir Knight," replied the Lady de Berkely, "according to the +dismal character of which it has pleased you to assume the distinction. +May I appeal to one whose exterior is so formidable, for the purpose of +requesting some directions to guide me through this wild wood; as, for +instance, what is the name of the nearest castle, town, or hostelry, +and by what course I am best likely to reach such?" + +"It is a singular audacity," answered the Knight of the Tomb, "that +would enter into conversation with him who is termed the Inexorable, +the Unsparing, and the Pitiless, whom even the most miserable forbears +to call to his assistance, lest his prayers should be too soon +answered." + +"Sir Knight," replied the Lady Augusta, "the character which you have +assumed, unquestionably for good reasons, dictates to you a peculiar +course of speech; but although your part is a sad one, it does not, I +should suppose, render it necessary for you to refuse those acts of +civility to which you must have bound yourself in taking the high vows +of chivalry." + +"If you will trust to my guidance," replied the ghastly figure, "there +is only one condition upon which I can grant you the information which +you require; and that is, that you follow my footsteps without any +questions asked as to the tendency of our journey." + +"I suppose I must submit to your conditions," she answered, "if you are +indeed pleased to take upon yourself the task of being my guide. In my +heart I conceive you to be one of the unhappy gentlemen of Scotland, +who are now in arms, as they say, for the defence of their liberties. A +rash undertaking has brought me within the sphere of your influence, +and now the only favour I have to request of you, against whom I never +did, nor planned any evil, is the guidance which your knowledge of the +country permits you easily to afford me in my way to the frontiers of +England. Believe that what I may see of your haunts or of your +practices, shall be to me things invisible, as if they were actually +concealed by the sepulchre itself, of the king of which it has pleased +you to assume the attributes; and if a sum of money, enough to be the +ransom of a wealthy earl, will purchase such a favour at need, such a +ransom will be frankly paid, and with as much fidelity as ever it was +rendered by a prisoner to the knight by whom he was taken. Do not +reject me, princely Bruce--noble Douglas--if indeed it is to either of +these that I address myself in this my last extremity--men speak of +both as fearful enemies, but generous knights and faithful friends. Let +me entreat you to remember how much you would wish your own friends and +connexions to meet with compassion under similar circumstances, at the +hands of the knights of England." + +"And have they done so?" replied the Knight, in a voice more gloomy +than before, "or do you act wisely, while imploring the protection of +one whom you believe to be a true Scottish knight, for no other reason +than the extreme and extravagant misery of his appearance?--is it, I +say, well or wise to remind him of the mode in which the lords of +England have treated the lovely maidens and the high-born dames of +Scotland? Have not their prison cages been suspended from the +battlements of castles, that their captivity might be kept in view of +every base burgher, who should desire to look upon the miseries of the +noblest peeresses, yea, even the Queen of Scotland? [Footnote: The +Queen of Robert the Bruce, and the Countess of Buchan, by whom, as one +of Macduff's descent, he was crowned at Scone, were secured in the +manner described.] Is this a recollection which can inspire a Scottish +knight with compassion towards an English lady? or is it a thought +which can do aught but swell the deeply sworn hatred of Edward +Plantagenet, the author of these evils, that boils in every drop of +Scottish blood which still feels the throb of life? No;--it is all you +can expect, if, cold and pitiless as the sepulchre I represent, I leave +you unassisted in the helpless condition in which you describe yourself +to be." + +"You will not be so inhuman," replied the lady; "in doing so you must +surrender every right to honest fame, which you have won either by +sword or lance. You must surrender every pretence to that justice which +affects the merit of supporting the weak against the strong. You must +make it your principle to avenge the wrongs and tyranny of Edward +Plantagenet upon the dames and damosels of England, who have neither +access to his councils, nor perhaps give him their approbation in his +wars against Scotland." + +"It would not then," said the Knight of the Sepulchre, "induce you to +depart from your request, should I tell you the evils to which you +would subject yourself should we fall into the hands of the English +troops, and should they find you under such ill-omened protection as my +own?" + +"Be assured," said the lady, "the consideration of such an event does +not in the least shake my resolution, or desire of confiding in your +protection. You may probably know who I am, and may judge how far even, +Edward would hold himself entitled to extend punishment towards me." + +"How am I to know you," replied the ghastly cavalier, "or your +circumstances? They must be extraordinary indeed, if they could form a +check, either of justice or humanity, upon the revengeful feelings of +Edward. All who know him are well assured that it is no ordinary motive +that will induce him to depart from the indulgence of his evil temper. +But be it as it may, you, lady, if a lady you be, throw yourself as a +burden upon me, and I must discharge myself of my trust as I best may; +for this purpose you must be guided implicitly by my directions, which +will be given after the fashion of those of the spiritual world, being +intimations, rather than detailed instructions for your conduct, and +expressed rather by commands, than, by any reason or argument. In this +way it is possible that I may be of service to you; in any other case, +it is most likely that I may fail you at need, and melt from your side +like a phantom which dreads the approach of day." + +"You cannot be so cruel!" answered the lady. "A gentleman, a knight, +and a nobleman--and I persuade myself I speak to all--hath duties which +he cannot abandon." + +"He has, I grant it, and they are most sacred to me," answered the +Spectral Knight; "but I have also duties whose obligations are doubly +binding, and to which I must sacrifice those which would otherwise lead +me to devote myself to your rescue. The only question is whether you +feel inclined to accept my protection on the limited terms on which +alone I can extend it, or whether you deem it better that each go their +own way, and limit themselves to their own resources, and trust the +rest to Providence?" "Alas!" replied the lady, "beset and hard pressed +as I am, to ask me to form a resolution for myself, is like calling on +the wretch in the act of falling from a precipice, to form a calm +judgment by what twig he may best gain the chance of breaking his fall. +His answer must necessarily be, that he will cling to that which he can +easiest lay hold of, and trust the rest to Providence. I accept +therefore your offer of protection in the modified way you are pleased +to limit it, and I put my faith in Heaven and in you. To aid me +effectually, however, you must know my name and my circumstances." + +"All these," answered the Knight of the Sepulchre, "have already been +told me by your late companion; for deem not, young lady, that either +beauty, rank, extended domains, unlimited wealth, or the highest +accomplishments, can weigh any thing in the consideration of him who +wears the trappings of the tomb, and whose affections and desires are +long buried in the charnel-house." + +"May your faith," said the Lady Augusta de Berkely, "be as steady as +your words appear severe, and I submit to your guidance, without the +least doubt or fear that it will prove otherwise than as I venture to +hope." + + + + +CHAPTER THE FIFTEENTH. + + +Like the dog following its master, when engaged in training him to the +sport in which he desires he should excel, the Lady Augusta felt +herself occasionally treated with a severity, calculated to impress +upon her the most implicit obedience and attention to the Knight of the +Tomb, in whom she had speedily persuaded herself she saw a principal +man among the retainers of Douglas, if not James of Douglas himself. +Still, however, the ideas which the lady had formed of the redoubted +Douglas, were those of a knight highly accomplished in the duties of +chivalry, devoted in particular to the service of the fair sex, and +altogether unlike the personage with whom she found herself so +strangely united, or rather for the present enthralled to. +Nevertheless, when, as if to abridge farther communication, he turned +short into one of the mazes of the wood, and seemed to adopt a pace, +which, from the nature of the ground, the horse on which the Lady +Augusta was mounted had difficulty to keep up with, she followed him +with the alarm and speed of the young spaniel, which from fear rather +than fondness, endeavours to keep up with the track of its severe +master. The simile, it is true, is not a very polite one, nor entirely +becoming an age, when women were worshipped with a certain degree of +devotion; but such circumstances as the present were also rare, and the +Lady Augusta de Berkely could not but persuade herself that the +terrible champion, whose name had been so long the theme of her +anxiety, and the terror indeed of the whole country, might be able, +some way or other, to accomplish her deliverance. She, therefore, +exerted herself to the utmost, so as to keep pace with the phantom-like +apparition, and followed the knight, as the evening shadow keeps watch +upon the belated rustic. + +As the lady obviously suffered under the degree of exertion necessary +to keep her palfrey from stumbling in these steep and broken paths, the +Knight of the Tomb slackened his pace, looked anxiously around him, and +muttered apparently to himself, though probably intended for his +companion's ear, "There is no occasion for so much haste." + +He proceeded at a slower rate, until they seemed to be on the brink of +a ravine, being one of many irregularities on the surface of the +ground, effected by the sudden torrents peculiar to that country, and +which, winding among the trees and copse-wood, formed, as it were, a +net of places of concealment, opening into each other, so that there +was perhaps no place in the world so fit for the purpose of ambuscade. +The spot where the borderer Turnbull had made his escape at the hunting +match, was one specimen of this broken country, and perhaps connected +itself with the various thickets and passes through which the knight +and pilgrim occasionally seemed to take their way, though that ravine +was at a considerable distance from their present route. + +Meanwhile the knight led the way, as if rather with the purpose of +bewildering the Lady Augusta amidst these interminable woods, than +following any exact or fixed path. Here they ascended, and anon +appeared to descend in the same direction, finding only boundless +wildernesses, and varied combinations of tangled woodland scenery. Such +part of the country as seemed arable, the knight appeared carefully to +avoid; yet he could not direct his course with so much certainty but +that he occasionally crossed the path of inhabitants and cultivators, +who showed a consciousness of so singular a presence, but never as the +lady observed evinced any symptoms of recognition. The inference was +obvious, that the spectre knight was known in the country, and that he +possessed adherents or accomplices there, who were at least so far his +friends, as to avoid giving any alarm, which might be the means of his +discovery. The well-imitated cry of the night-owl, too frequent a guest +in the wilderness that its call should be a subject of surprise, seemed +to be a signal generally understood among them; for it was heard in +different parts of the wood, and the Lady Augusta, experienced in such +journeys by her former travels under the guidance of the minstrel +Bertram, was led to observe, that on hearing such wild notes, her guide +changed the direction of his course, and betook himself to paths which +led through deeper wilds, and more impenetrable thickets. This happened +so often, that a new alarm came upon the unfortunate pilgrim, which +suggested other motives of terror. Was she not the confidant, and +almost the tool of some artful design, laid with a view to an extensive +operation, which was destined to terminate, as the efforts of Douglas +had before done, in the surprise of his hereditary castle, the massacre +of the English garrison--and finally in the dishonour and death of that +Sir John de Walton, upon whose fate she had long believed, or taught +herself to believe, that her own was dependent? + +It no sooner flashed across the mind of the Lady Augusta that she was +engaged in some such conspiracy with a Scottish insurgent, than she +shuddered at the consequences of the dark transactions in which she had +now become involved, and which appeared to have a tendency so very +different from what she had at first apprehended. + +The hours of the morning of this remarkable day, being that of Palm +Sunday, were thus drawn out in wandering from place to place; while the +Lady de Berkely occasionally interposed by petitions for liberty, which +she endeavoured to express in the most moving and pathetic manner, and +by offers of wealth and treasures, to which no answer whatever was +returned by her strange guide. + +At length, as if worn out by his captive's importunity, the knight, +coming close up to the bridle-rein of the Lady Augusta, said in a +solemn tone-- + +"I am, as you may well believe, none of those knights who roam through +wood and wild, seeking adventures, by which I may obtain grace in the +eyes of a fair lady: Yet will I to a certain degree grant the request +which thou dost solicit so anxiously, and the arbitration of thy fate +shall depend upon the pleasure of him to whose will thou hast expressed +thyself ready to submit thine own. I will, on our arrival at the place +of our destination, which is now at hand, write to Sir John de Walton, +and send my letter, together with thy fair self, by a special +messenger. He will, no doubt, speedily attend our summons, and thou +shalt thyself be satisfied, that even he who has as yet appeared deaf +to entreaty, and insensible to earthly affections, has still some +sympathy for beauty and for virtue. I will put the choice of safety, +and thy future happiness, into thine own hands, and those of the man +whom thou hast chosen; and thou mayst select which thou wilt betwixt +those and misery." + +While he thus spoke, one of those ravines or clefts in the earth seemed +to yawn before them, and entering it at the upper end, the spectre +knight, with an attention which he had not yet shown, guided the lady's +courser by the rein down the broken and steep path by which alone the +bottom of the tangled dingle was accessible. + +When placed on firm ground after the dangers of a descent, in which her +palfrey seemed to be sustained by the personal strength and address of +the singular being who had hold of the bridle, the lady looked with +some astonishment at a place so well adapted for concealment as that +which she had now reached. It appeared evident that it was used for +this purpose, for more than one stifled answer was given to a very low +bugle-note emitted by the Knight of the Tomb; and when the same note +was repeated, about half a score of armed men, some wearing the dress +of soldiers, others those of shepherds and agriculturists, showed +themselves imperfectly, as if acknowledging the summons. + + + + +CHAPTER THE SIXTEENTH. + + +"Hail to you, my gallant friends!" said the Knight of the Tomb to his +companions, who seemed to welcome him with the eagerness of men engaged +in the same perilous undertaking. "The winter has passed over, the +festival of Palm Sunday is come, and as surely as the ice and snow of +this season shall not remain to chill the earth through the ensuing +summer, so surely we, in a few hours, keep our word to those southern +braggarts, who think their language of boasting and malice has as much +force over our Scottish bosoms, as the blast possesses over the autumn +fruits; but it is not so. While we choose to remain concealed, they may +as vainly seek to descry us, as a housewife would search for the needle +she has dropped among the withered foliage of yon gigantic oak. Yet a +few hours, and the lost needle shall become the exterminating sword of +the Genius of Scotland, avenging ten thousand injuries, and especially +the life of the gallant Lord Douglas, cruelly done to death as an exile +from his native country." + +An exclamation between a yell and a groan burst from the assembled +retainers of Douglas, upon being reminded of the recent death of their +chieftain; while they seemed at the same time sensible of the necessity +of making little noise, lest they should give the alarm to some of the +numerous English parties which were then traversing different parts of +the forest. The acclamation, so cautiously uttered, had scarce died +away in silence, when the Knight of the Tomb, or, to call him by his +proper name, Sir James Douglas, again addressed his handful of faithful +followers. + +"One effort, my friends, may yet be made to end our strife with the +Southron without bloodshed. Fate has within a few hours thrown into my +power the young heiress of Berkely, for whose sake it is said Sir John +de Walton keeps with such obstinacy the castle which is mine by +inheritance. Is there one among you who dare go, as the honourable +escort of Augusta de Berkely, bearing a letter, explaining the terms on +which I am willing to restore her to her lover, to freedom, and to her +English lordships?" + +"If there is none other," said a tall man, dressed in the tattered +attire of a woodsman, and being, in fact, no other than the very +Michael Turnbull, who had already given so extraordinary a proof of his +undaunted manhood, "I will gladly be the person who will be the lady's +henchman on this expedition." + +"Thou art never wanting," said the Douglas, "where a manly deed is to +be done; but remember, this lady must pledge to us her word and oath +that she will hold herself our faithful prisoner, rescue or no rescue; +that she will consider herself as pledged for the life, freedom, and +fair usage of Michael Turnbull; and that if Sir John de Walton refuse +my terms, she must hold herself obliged to return with Turnbull to our +presence, in order to be disposed of at our pleasure." + +There was much in these conditions, which struck the Lady Augusta with +natural doubt and horror; nevertheless, strange as it may seem, the +declaration of the Douglas gave a species of decision to her situation, +which might have otherwise been unattainable; and from the high opinion +which she entertained of the Douglas's chivalry, she could not bring +herself to think, that any part which he might play in the approaching +drama would be other than that which a perfect good knight would, under +all circumstances, maintain towards his enemy. Even with respect to De +Walton, she felt herself relieved of a painful difficulty. The idea of +her being discovered by the knight himself, in a male disguise, had +preyed upon her spirits; and she felt as if guilty of a departure from +the laws of womanhood, in having extended her favour towards him beyond +maidenly limits; a step, too, which might tend to lessen her in the +eyes of the lover for whom she had hazarded so much. + + "The heart, she said, is lightly prized, + That is but lightly won; + And Long shall mourn the heartless man, + That leaves his love too soon." + +On the other hand, to be brought before him as a prisoner, was indeed a +circumstance equally perplexing as unpleasing, but it was one which was +beyond her control, and the Douglas, into whose hands she had fallen, +appeared to her to represent the deity in the play, whose entrance was +almost sufficient to bring its perplexities to a conclusion; she +therefore not unwillingly submitted to take what oaths and promises +were required by the party in whose hands she found herself, and +accordingly engaged to be a true prisoner, whatever might occur. +Meantime she strictly obeyed the directions of those who had her +motions at command, devoutly praying that circumstances, in themselves +so adverse, might nevertheless work together for the safety of her +lover and her own freedom. + +A pause ensued, during which a slight repast was placed before the Lady +Augusta, who was well-nigh exhausted with the fatigues of her journey. + +Douglas and his partisans, meanwhile, whispered together, as if +unwilling she should hear their conference; while, to purchase their +good-will, if possible, she studiously avoided every appearance of +listening. + +After some conversation, Turnbull, who appeared to consider the lady as +peculiarly his charge, said to her in a harsh voice, "Do not fear, +lady; no wrong shall be done you; nevertheless, you must be content for +a space to be blindfolded." + +She submitted to this in silent terror; and the trooper, wrapping part +of a mantle round her head, did not assist her to remount her palfrey, +but lent her his arm to support her in this blinded state. + + + + +CHAPTER THE SEVENTEENTH. + + +The ground which they traversed was, as Lady Augusta could feel, very +broken and uneven, and sometimes, as she thought, encumbered with +ruins, which were difficult to surmount. The strength of her comrade +assisted her forward on such occasions; but his help was so roughly +administered, that the lady once or twice, in fear or suffering, was +compelled to groan or sigh heavily, whatever was her desire to suppress +such evidence of the apprehension which she underwent, or the pain +which she endured. Presently, upon an occasion of this kind, she was +distinctly sensible that the rough woodsman was removed from her side, +and another of the party substituted in his stead, whose voice, more +gentle than that of his companions, she thought she had lately heard. + +"Noble lady," were the words, "fear not the slightest injury at our +hands, and accept of my ministry instead of that of my henchman, who +has gone forward with our letter; do not think me presuming on my +situation if I bear you in my arms through ruins where you could not +easily move alone and blindfold." + +At the same time the Lady Augusta Berkely felt herself raised from the +earth in the strong arms of a man, and borne onward with the utmost +gentleness, without the necessity of making those painful exertions +which had been formerly required. She was ashamed of her situation; +but, however delicate, it was no time to give vent to complaints, which +might have given offence to persons whom it was her interest to +conciliate. She, therefore, submitted to necessity, and heard the +following words whispered in her ear. + +"Fear nothing; there is no evil intended you; nor shall Sir John de +Walton, if he loves you as you deserve at his hand, receive any harm on +our part. We call on him but to do justice to ourselves and to you; and +be assured you will best accomplish your own happiness by aiding our +views, which are equally in favour of your wishes and your freedom." + +The Lady Augusta would have made some answer to this, but her breath, +betwixt fear and the speed with which she was transported, refused to +permit her to use intelligible accents. Meantime she began to be +sensible that she was enclosed within some building, and probably a +ruinous one--for although the mode of her transportation no longer +permitted her to ascertain the nature of her path in any respect +distinctly, yet the absence of the external air--which was, however, +sometimes excluded, and sometimes admitted in furious gusts--intimated +that she was conducted through buildings partly entire, and in other +places admitting the wind through wide rents and gaps. In one place it +seemed to the lady as if she passed through a considerable body of +people, all of whom observed silence, although there was sometimes +heard among them a murmur, to which every one present in some degree +contributed, although the general sound did not exceed a whisper. Her +situation made her attend to every circumstance, and she did not fail +to observe that these persons made way for him who bore her, until at +length she became sensible that he descended by the regular steps of a +stair, and that she was now alone excepting his company. Arrived, as it +appeared to the lady, on more level ground, they proceeded on their +singular road by a course which appeared neither direct nor easy, and +through an atmosphere which was close to a smothering degree, and felt +at the same time damp and disagreeable, as if from the vapours of a +new-made grave. Her guide again spoke. + +"Bear up, Lady Augusta, for a little longer, and continue to endure +that atmosphere which must be one day common to us all. By the +necessity of my situation, I must resign my present office to your +original guide, and can only give you my assurance, that neither he, +nor any one else, shall offer you the least incivility or insult--and +on this you may rely, on the faith of a man of honour." + +He placed her, as he said these words, upon the soft turf, and, to her +infinite refreshment, made her sensible that she was once more in the +open air, and free from the smothering atmosphere which had before +oppressed her like that of a charnel-house. At the same time, she +breathed in a whisper an anxious wish that she might be permitted to +disencumber herself from the folds of the mantle which excluded almost +the power of breathing, though intended only to prevent her seeing by +what road she travelled. She immediately found it unfolded, agreeably +to her request, and hastened, with uncovered eyes, to take note of the +scene around her. + +It was overshadowed by thick oak trees, among which stood some remnants +of buildings, or what might have seemed such, being perhaps the same in +which she had been lately wandering. A clear fountain of living water +bubbled forth from under the twisted roots of one of those trees, and +offered the lady the opportunity of a draught of the pure element, and +in which she also bathed her face, which had received more than one +scratch in the course of her journey, in spite of the care, and almost +the tenderness, with which she had latterly been borne along. The cool +water speedily stopt the bleeding of those trifling injuries, and the +application served at the same time to recall the scattered senses of +the damsel herself. Her first idea was, whether an attempt to escape, +if such should appear possible, was not advisable. A moment's +reflection, however, satisfied her that such a scheme was not to be +thought of; and such second thoughts were confirmed by the approach of +the gigantic form of the huntsman Turnbull, the rough tones of whose +voice were heard before his figure was obvious to her eye. + +"Were you impatient for my return, fair lady? Such as I," he continued +in an ironical tone of voice, "who are foremost in the chase of wild +stags and silvan cattle, are not in use to lag behind, when fair +ladies, like you, are the objects of pursuit; and if I am not so +constant in my attendance as you might expect, believe me, it is +because I was engaged in another matter, to which I must sacrifice for +a little even the duty of attending on you." + +"I offer no resistance," said the lady; "forbear, however, in +discharging thy duty, to augment my uneasiness by thy conversation, for +thy master hath pledged me his word that he will not suffer me to be +alarmed or ill treated." + +"Nay, fair one," replied the huntsman, "I ever thought it was fit to +make interest by soft words with fair ladies; but if you like it not, I +have no such pleasure in hunting for fine holyday terms, but that I can +with equal ease hold myself silent. Come, then, since we must wait upon +this lover of yours ere morning closes, and learn his last resolution +touching a matter which is become so strangely complicated, I will hold +no more intercourse with you as a female, but talk to you as a person +of sense, although an Englishwoman." + +"You will," replied the lady, "best fulfil the intentions of those by +whose orders you act, by holding no society with me whatever, otherwise +than is necessary in the character of guide." + +The man lowered his brows, yet seemed to assent to what the Lady of +Berkely proposed, and remained silent as they for some time pursued +their course, each pondering over their own share of meditation, which +probably turned upon matters essentially different. At length the loud +blast of a bugle was heard at no great distance from the unsocial +fellow-travellers. + +"That is the person we seek," said Turnbull; "I know his blast from any +other who frequents this forest, and my orders are to bring you to +speech of him." + +The blood darted rapidly through the lady's veins at the thought of +being thus unceremoniously presented to the knight, in whose favour she +had confessed a rash preference more agreeable to the manners of those +times, when exaggerated sentiments often inspired actions of +extravagant generosity, than in our days, when every thing is accounted +absurd which does not turn upon a motive connected with the immediate +selfish interests of the actor himself. When Turnbull, therefore, +winded his horn, as if in answer to the blast which they had heard, the +lady was disposed to fly at the first impulse of shame and of fear. +Turnbull perceived her intention, and caught hold of her with no very +gentle grasp, saying--"Nay, lady, it is to be understood that you play +your own part in the drama, which, unless you continue on the stage, +will conclude unsatisfactorily to us all, in a combat at outrance +between your lover and me, when it will appear which of us is most +worthy of your favour." + +"I will be patient," said the lady, bethinking her that even this +strange man's presence, and the compulsion which he appeared to use +towards her, was a sort of excuse to her female scruples, for coming +into the presence of her lover, at least at her first appearance before +him, in a disguise which her feelings confessed was not extremely +decorous, or reconcilable to the dignity of her sex. + +The moment after these thoughts had passed through her mind, the tramp +of a horse was heard approaching; and Sir John de Walton, pressing +through the trees, became aware of the presence of his lady, captive, +as it seemed, in the grasp of a Scottish outlaw, who was only known to +him by his former audacity at the hunting-match. + +His surprise and joy only supplied the knight with those hasty +expressions--"Caitiff, let go thy hold! or die in thy profane attempt +to control the motions of one whom the very sun in heaven should be +proud to obey." At the same time, apprehensive that the huntsman might +hurry the lady from his sight by means of some entangled path--such as +upon a former occasion had served him for escape Sir John de Walton +dropt his cumbrous lance, of which the trees did not permit him the +perfect use, and springing from his horse, approached Turnbull with his +drawn sword. + +The Scotchman, keeping his left hand still upon the lady's mantle, +uplifted with his right his battle-axe, or Jedwood staff, for the +purpose of parrying and returning the blow of his antagonist, but the +lady spoke. + +"Sir John de Walton," she said, "for heaven's sake, forbear all +violence, till you hear upon what pacific object I am brought hither, +and by what peaceful means these wars may be put an end to. This man, +though an enemy of yours, has been to me a civil and respectful +guardian; and I entreat you to forbear him while he speaks the purpose +for which he has brought me hither." + +"To speak of compulsion and the Lady de Berkely in the same breath, +would itself be cause enough for instant death," said the Governor of +Douglas Castle; "but you command, lady, and I spare his insignificant +life, although I have causes of complaint against him, the least of +which were good warrant, had he a thousand lives, for the forfeiture of +them all." + +"John de Walton," replied Turnbull, "this lady well knows that no fear +of thee operates in my mind to render this a peaceful meeting; and were +I not withheld by other circumstances of great consideration to the +Douglas as well as thyself, I should have no more fear in facing the +utmost thou couldst do, than I have now in levelling that sapling to +the earth it grows upon." + +So saying, Michael Turnbull raised his battle-axe, and struck from a +neighbouring oak-tree a branch, wellnigh as thick as a man's arm, which +(with all its twigs and leaves) rushed to the ground between De Walton +and the Scotchman, giving a singular instance of the keenness of his +weapon, and the strength and dexterity with which he used it. + +"Let there be truce, then, between us, good fellow," said Sir John de +Walton, "since it is the lady's pleasure that such should be the case, +and let me know what thou hast to say to me respecting her?" + +"On that subject," said Turnbull, "my words are few, but mark them, Sir +Englishman. The Lady Augusta Berkely, wandering in this country, has +become a prisoner of the noble Lord Douglas, the rightful inheritor of +the Castle and lordship, and he finds himself obliged to attach to the +liberty of this lady the following conditions, being in all respects +such as good and lawful warfare entitles a knight to exact. That is to +say, in all honour and safety the Lady Augusta shall be delivered to +Sir John de Walton, or those whom he shall name, for the purpose of +receiving her. On the other hand, the Castle of Douglas itself, +together with all out-posts or garrisons thereunto belonging, shall be +made over and surrendered by Sir John de Walton, in the same situation, +and containing the same provisions and artillery, as are now within +their walls; and the space of a month of truce shall be permitted to +Sir James Douglas and Sir John de Walton farther to regulate the terms +of surrender on both parts, having first plighted their knightly word +and oath, that in the exchange of the honourable lady for the foresaid +castle, lies the full import of the present agreement, and that every +other subject of dispute shall, at the pleasure of the noble knights +foresaid, be honourably compounded and agreed betwixt them; or at their +pleasure, settled knightly by single combat according to usage, and in +a fair field, before any honourable person, that may possess power +enough to preside." + +It is not easy to conceive the astonishment of Sir John de Walton at +hearing the contents of this extraordinary cartel; he looked towards +the Lady of Berkely with that aspect of despair with which a criminal +may be supposed to see his guardian angel prepare for departure. +Through her mind also similar ideas flowed, as if they contained a +concession of what she had considered as the summit of her wishes, but +under conditions disgraceful to her lover, like the cherub's fiery +sword of yore, which was a barrier between our first parents and the +blessings of Paradise. Sir John de Walton, after a moment's hesitation, +broke silence in these words:-- + +"Noble lady, you may be surprised if a condition be imposed upon me, +having for its object your freedom; and if Sir John de Walton, already +standing under those obligations to you, which he is proud of +acknowledging, should yet hesitate on accepting, with the utmost +eagerness, what must ensure your restoration to freedom and +independence; but so it is, that the words now spoken have thrilled in +mine ear without reaching to my understanding, and I must pray the Lady +of Berkely for pardon if I take time to reconsider them for a short +space." + +"And I," replied Turnbull, "have only power to allow you half an hour +for the consideration of an offer, in accepting which, methinks, you +should jump shoulder-height instead of asking any time for reflection. +What does this cartel exact, save what your duty as a knight implicitly +obliges you to? You have engaged yourself to become the agent of the +tyrant Edward, in holding Douglas Castle, as his commander, to the +prejudice of the Scottish nation, and of the Knight of Douglas Dale, +who never, as a community or as an individual, were guilty of the least +injury towards you; you are therefore prosecuting a false path, +unworthy of a good knight. On the other hand, the freedom and safety of +your lady is now proposed to be pledged to you, with a full assurance +of her liberty and honour, on consideration of your withdrawing from +the unjust line of conduct, in which you have suffered yourself to be +imprudently engaged. If you persevere in it, you place your own honour, +and the lady's happiness, in the hands of men whom you have done +everything in your power to render desperate, and whom, thus irritated, +it is most probable you may find such." + +"It is not from thee at least," said the knight, "that I shall learn to +estimate the manner in which Douglas will explain the laws of war, or +De Walton receive them at his dictating." + +"I am not, then," said Turnbull, "received as a friendly messenger? +Farewell, and think of this lady as being in any hands but those which +are safe, while you make up at leisure your mind upon the message I +have brought you. Come, madam, we must be gone." + +So saying, he seized upon the lady's hand, and pulled her, as if to +force her to withdraw. The lady had stood motionless, and almost +senseless, while these speeches were exchanged between the warriors; +but when she felt the grasp of Michael Turnbull, she exclaimed, like +one almost beside herself with fear--"Help me, De Walton!" + +The knight, stung to instant rage, assaulted the forester with the +utmost fury, and dealt him with his long sword, almost at unawares, two +or three heavy blows, by which he was so wounded that he sunk backwards +in the thicket, and. De Walton was about to despatch him, when he was +prevented by the anxious cry of the lady--"Alas! De Walton, what have +you done? This man was only an ambassador, and should have passed free +from injury, while he confined himself to the delivery of what he was +charged with; and if thou hast slain him, who knows how frightful may +prove the vengeance exacted!" + +The voice of the lady seemed to recover the huntsman from the effects +of the blows he had received: he sprung on his feet, saying--"Never +mind me, nor think of my becoming the means of making mischief. The +knight, in his haste, spoke without giving me warning and defiance, +which gave him an advantage which, I think, he would otherwise have +scorned to have taken, in such a case, I will renew the combat on +fairer terms, or call another champion, as the knight pleases." With +these words he disappeared. + +"Fear not, empress of De Walton's thoughts," answered the knight, "but +believe, that if we regain together the shelter of Douglas Castle, and +the safeguard of Saint George's Cross, thou may'st laugh at all. And if +you can but pardon, what I shall never be able to forgive myself, the +mole-like blindness which did not recognise the sun while under a +temporary eclipse, the task cannot be named too hard for mortal valour +to achieve which I shall not willingly undertake, to wipe out the +memory of my grievous fault." + +"Mention it no more," said the lady; "it is not at such a time +as--this, when our lives are for the moment at stake, that quarrels +upon slighter topics are to be recurred to. I can tell you, if you do +not yet know, that the Scots are in arms in this vicinity, and that +even the earth has yawned to conceal them from the sight of your +garrison." + +"Let it yawn, then," said Sir John de Walton, "and suffer every fiend +in the infernal abyss to escape from his prison-house and reinforce our +enemies--still, fairest, having received in thee a pearl of matchless +price, my spurs shall be hacked from my heels by the basest scullion, +if I turn my horse's head to the rear before the utmost force these +ruffians can assemble, either upon earth or from underneath it. In thy +name I defy them all to instant combat." + +As Sir John de Walton pronounced these last words, in something of an +exalted tone, a tall cavalier, arrayed in black armour of the simplest +form, stepped forth from that part of the thicket where Turnbull had +disappeared. "I am," he said, "James of Douglas, and your challenge is +accepted. I, the challenged, name the arms our knightly weapons as we +now wear them, and our place of combat this field or dingle, called the +Bloody Sykes, the time being instant, and the combatants, like true +knights, foregoing each advantage on either side." [Footnote: The +ominous name of Bloodmire-sink or Syke, marks a narrow hollow to the +north-west of Douglas Castle, from which it is distant about the third +of a mile. Mr. Haddow states, that according to local tradition, the +name was given in consequence of Sir James Douglas having at this spot +intercepted and slain part of the garrison of the castle, while De +Walton was in command.] + +"So be it, in God's name," said the English knight, who, though +surprised at being called upon to so sudden an encounter with so +formidable a warrior as young Douglas, was too proud to dream of +avoiding the combat. Making a sign to the lady to retire behind him, +that he might not lose the advantage which he had gained by setting her +at liberty from the forester, he drew his sword, and with a deliberate +and prepared attitude of offence, moved slowly to the encounter. It was +a dreadful one, for the courage and skill both of the native Lord of +Douglas Dale, and of De Walton, among the most renowned of the times, +and perhaps the world of chivalry could hardly have produced two +knights more famous. Their blows fell as if urged by some mighty +engine, where they were met and parried with equal strength and +dexterity; nor seemed it likely, in the course of ten minutes' +encounter, that an advantage would be gained by either combatant over +the other. An instant they stopped by mutually implied assent, as it +seemed, for the purpose of taking breath, during which Douglas said, "I +beg that this noble lady may understand, that her own freedom is no way +concerned in the present contest, which entirely regards the injustice +done by this Sir John de Walton, and by his nation of England, to the +memory of my father, and to my own natural rights." + +"You are generous, Sir Knight," replied the lady; "but in what +circumstances do you place me, if you deprive me of my protector by +death or captivity, and leave me alone in a foreign land?" + +"If such should be the event of the combat," replied Sir James, "the +Douglas himself, lady, will safely restore thee to thy native land; for +never did his sword do an injury for which he was not willing to make +amends with the same weapon; and if Sir John de Walton will make the +slightest admission that he renounces maintaining the present strife, +were it only by yielding up a feather from the plume of his helmet, +Douglas will renounce every purpose on his part which can touch the +lady's honour or safety, and the combat may be suspended until the +national quarrel again brings us together." + +Sir John de Walton pondered a moment, and the lady, although she did +not speak, looked at him with eyes which plainly expressed how much she +wished that he would choose the less hazardous alternative. But the +knight's own scruples prevented his bringing the case to so favourable +an arbitrement. + +"Never shall it be said of Sir John de Walton," he replied, "that he +compromised, in the slightest degree, his own honour, or that of his +country. This battle may end in my defeat, or rather death, and in that +case my earthly prospects are closed, and I resign to Douglas, with my +last breath, the charge of the Lady Augusta, trusting that he will +defend her with his life, and find the means of replacing her with +safety in the halls of her fathers. But while I survive, she may have a +better, but will not need another protector than he who is honoured by +being her own choice; nor will I yield up, were it a plume from my +helmet, implying that I have maintained an unjust quarrel, either in +the cause of England, or of the fairest of her daughters. Thus far +alone I will concede to Douglas--an instant truce, provided the lady +shall not be interrupted in her retreat to England, and the combat be +fought out upon another day. The castle and territory of Douglas is the +property of Edward of England, the governor in his name is the rightful +governor, and on this point I will fight while my eyelids are unclosed." + +"Time flies," said Douglas, "without waiting for our resolves; nor is +there any part of his motions of such value as that which is passing +with every breath of vital air which we presently draw. Why should we +adjourn till to-morrow that which can be as well finished today? Will +our swords be sharper, or our arms stronger to wield them, than they +are at this moment? Douglas will do all which knight can do to succour +a lady in distress; but he will not grant to her knight the slightest +mark of deference, which Sir John de Walton vainly supposes himself +able to extort by force of arms." + +With these words, the knights engaged once more in mortal combat, and +the lady felt uncertain whether she should attempt her escape through +the devious paths of the wood, or abide the issue of this obstinate +fight. It was rather her desire to see the fate of Sir John de Walton, +than any other consideration, which induced her to remain, as if +fascinated, upon the spot, where one of the fiercest quarrels ever +fought--was disputed by two of the bravest champions that ever drew +sword. At last the lady attempted to put a stop to the combat, by +appealing to the bells which began to ring for the service of the day, +which was Palm Sunday. + +"For Heaven's sake," she said--"for your own sakes, and for that of +lady's love, and the duties of chivalry, hold your hands only for an +hour, and take chance, that where strength is so equal, means will be +found of converting the truce into a solid peace. Think this is Palm +Sunday, and will you defile with blood such a peculiar festival of +Christianity! Intermit your feud at least so far as to pass to the +nearest church, bearing with you branches, not in the ostentatious mode +of earthly conquerors, but as rendering due homage to the rules of the +blessed Church, and the institutions of our holy religion." + +"I was on my road, fair lady, for that purpose, to the holy church of +Douglas," said the Englishman, "when I was so fortunate as to meet you +at this place; nor do I object to proceed thither even, now, holding +truce for an hour, and I fear not to find there friends to whom I can +commit you with assurance of safety, in case I am unfortunate in the +combat which is now broken off, to be resumed after the service of the +day." + +"I also assent," said the Douglas, "to a truce for such short space; +nor do I fear that there may be good Christians enough at the church, +who will not see their master overpowered by odds. Let us go thither, +and each take the chance of what Heaven shall please to send us." + +From these words Sir John de Walton little doubted that Douglas had +assured himself of a party among those who should there assemble; but +he doubted not of so many of the garrison being present as would bridle +every attempt at rising; and the risk, he thought, was worth incurring, +since ha should thereby secure an opportunity to place Lady Augusta de +Berkely in safety, at least so far as to make her liberty depend on the +event of a general conflict, instead of the precarious issue of a +combat between himself and Douglas. + +Both these distinguished knights were inwardly of opinion, that the +proposal of the lady, though it relieved them from their present +conflict, by no means bound them to abstain from the consequences which +an accession of force might add to their general strength, and each +relied upon his superiority, in some degree provided for by their +previous proceedings. Sir John de Walton made almost certain of meeting +with several of his bands of soldiers, who were scouring the country +and traversing the woods by his direction; and Douglas, it may be +supposed, had not ventured himself in person, where a price was set +upon his head, without being attended by a sufficient number of +approved adherents, placed in more or less connexion with each other, +and stationed for mutual support. Each, therefore, entertained +well-grounded hopes, that by adopting the truce proposed, he would +ensure himself an advantage over his antagonist, although neither +exactly knew in what manner or to what extent this success was to be +obtained. + + + + +CHAPTER THE EIGHTEENTH. + + His talk was of another world--his bodiments + Strange, doubtful, and mysterious; those who heard him + Listen'd as to a man in feverish dreams, + Who speaks of other objects than the present, + And mutters like to him who sees a vision. + OLD PLAY. + + +On the same Palm Sunday when De Walton and Douglas measured together +their mighty swords, the minstrel Bertram was busied with the ancient +Book of Prophecies, which we have already mentioned as the supposed +composition of Thomas the Rhymer, but not without many anxieties as to +the fate of his lady, and the events which were passing around him. As +a minstrel he was desirous of an auditor to enter into the discoveries +which he should make in that mystic volume, as well as to assist in +passing away the time; Sir John de Walton had furnished him, in Gilbert +Greenleaf the archer, with one who was well contented to play the +listener "from morn to dewy eve," provided a flask of Gascon wine, or a +stoup of good English ale, remained on the board. It may be remembered +that De Walton, when he dismissed the minstrel from the dungeon, was +sensible that he owed him some compensation for the causeless suspicion +which had dictated his imprisonment, more particularly as he was a +valued servant, and had shown himself the faithful confidant of the +Lady Augusta de Berkely, and the person who was moreover likely to know +all the motives and circumstances of her Scottish journey. To secure +his good wishes was, therefore, politic; and De Walton had intimated to +his faithful archer that he was to lay aside all suspicion of Bertram, +but at the same time keep him in sight, and, if possible, in good +humour with the governor of the castle, and his adherents. Greenleaf +accordingly had no doubt in his own mind, that the only way to please a +minstrel was to listen with patience and commendation to the lays which +he liked best to sing, or the tales which he most loved to tell; and in +order to ensure the execution of his master's commands, he judged it +necessary to demand of the butler such store of good liquor, as could +not fail to enhance the pleasure of his society. + +Having thus fortified himself with the means of bearing a long +interview with the minstrel, Gilbert Greenleaf proposed to confer upon +him the bounty of an early breakfast, which, if it pleased him, they +might wash down with a cup of sack, and, having his master's commands +to show the minstrel any thing about the castle which he might wish to +see, refresh their overwearied spirits by attending a part of the +garrison of Douglas to the service of the day, which, as we have +already seen, was of peculiar sanctity. Against such a proposal the +minstrel, a good Christian by profession, and, by his connexion with +the joyous science, a good fellow, having no objections to offer, the +two comrades, who had formerly little good-will towards each other, +commenced their morning's repast on that fated Palm Sunday, with all +manner of cordiality and good fellowship. + +"Do not believe, worthy minstrel," said the archer, "that my master in +any respect disparages your worth or rank in referring you for company +or conversation to so poor a man as myself. It is true I am no officer +of this garrison; yet for an old archer, who, for these thirty years, +has lived by bow and bowstring, I do not (Our Lady make me thankful!) +hold less share in the grace of Sir John de Walton, the Earl of +Pembroke, and other approved good soldiers, than many of those giddy +young men on whom commissions are conferred, and to whom confidences +are intrusted, not on account of what they have done, but what their +ancestors have done before them. I pray you to notice among them one +youth placed at our head in De Walton's absence, and who bears the +honoured name of Aymer de Valence, being the same with that of the Earl +of Pembroke, of whom I have spoken; this knight has also a brisk young +page, whom men call Fabian Harbothel." + +"Is it to these gentlemen that your censure applies?" answered the +minstrel; "I should have judged differently, having never, in the +course of my experience, seen a young man more courteous and amiable +than the young knight you named." + +"I nothing dispute that it may be so," said the archer, hastening to +amend the false step which he had made; "but in order that it should be +so, it will be necessary that he conform to the usages of his uncle, +taking the advice of experienced old soldiers in the emergencies which +may present themselves; and not believing, that the knowledge which it +takes many years of observation to acquire, can be at once conferred by +the slap of the flat of a sword, and the magic words, 'Rise up, Sir +Arthur'--or however the case may be." + +"Doubt not, Sir Archer," replied Bertram, "that I am fully aware of the +advantage to be derived from conversing with men of experience like +you: it benefiteth men of every persuasion, and I myself am oft reduced +to lament my want of sufficient knowledge of armorial bearings, signs, +and cognizances, and would right fain have thy assistance, where I am a +stranger alike to the names of places, of persons, and description of +banners and emblems by which great families are distinguished from each +other, so absolutely necessary to the accomplishment of my present +task." + +"Pennons and banners," answered the archer, "I have seen right many, +and can assign, as is a soldier's wont, the name of the leader to the +emblem under which he musters his followers; nevertheless, worthy +minstrel, I cannot presume to understand what you call prophecies, with +or under warranted authority of old painted books, expositions of +dreams, oracles, revelations, invocations of damned spirits, judicials, +astrologicals, and other gross and palpable offences, whereby men, +pretending to have the assistance of the devil, do impose upon the +common people, in spite of the warnings of the Privy Council; not +however, that I suspect you, worthy minstrel, of busying yourself with +these attempts to explain futurity, which are dangerous attempts, and +may be truly said to be penal, and part of treason." + +"There is something in what you say," replied the minstrel; "yet it +applieth not to books and manuscripts such as I have been consulting; +part, of which things therein written having already come to pass, +authorize us surely to expect the completion of the rest; nor would I +have much difficulty in showing you from this volume, that enough has +been already proved true, to entitle us to look with certainty to the +accomplishment of that which remains." + +"I should be glad to hear that," answered the archer, who entertained +little more than a soldier's belief respecting prophecies and auguries, +but yet cared not bluntly to contradict the minstrel upon such +subjects, as he had been instructed by Sir John de Walton to comply +with his humour. Accordingly the minstrel began to recite verses, +which, in our time, the ablest interpreter could not make sense out of. + + "When the cook crows, keep well his comb, + For the fox and the fulmart they are false both. + When the raven and the rook have rounded together, + And the kid in his cliff shall accord to the same. + Then shall they be bold, and soon to battle thereafter. + Then the birds of the raven rugs and reives, + And the leal men of Lothian, are louping on their horse; + Then shall the poor people be spoiled full near, + And the Abbeys be burnt truly that stand upon Tweed + They shall burn and slay, and great reif make: + There shall no poor man who say whose man he is: + Then shall the land be lawless, for love there is none. + Then falset shall have foot fully five years; + Then truth surely shall be tint, and none shall lippen to other; + The one cousing shall not trust the other, + Not the son the father, nor the father the son: + For to have his goods he would have him hanged." + &c. &c. &c. + +The archer listened to these mystic prognostications, which were not +the less wearisome that they were, in a considerable degree, +unintelligible; at the same time subduing his Hotspur-like disposition +to tire of the recitation, yet at brief intervals comforting himself +with an application to the wine flagon, and enduring as he might what +he neither understood nor took interest in. Meanwhile the minstrel +proceeded with his explanation of the dubious and imperfect +vaticinations of which we have given a sufficient specimen. + +"Could you wish," said he to Greenleaf, "a more exact description of +the miseries which have passed over Scotland in these latter days? Have +not these the raven and rook, the fox and the fulmart, explained; +either because the nature of the birds or beasts bear an individual +resemblance to those of the knights who display them on their banners, +or otherwise are bodied forth by actual blazonry on their shields, and +come openly into the field to ravage and destroy? Is not the total +disunion of the land plainly indicated by these words, that connexions +of blood shall be broken asunder, that kinsmen shall not trust each +other, and that the father and son, instead, of putting faith in their +natural connexion, shall seek each other's life, in order to enjoy his +inheritance? The _leal men_ of Lothian are distinctly mentioned as +taking arms, and there is plainly allusion to the other events of these +late Scottish troubles. The death of this last William is obscurely +intimated under the type of a hound, which was that good lord's +occasional cognizance. + + 'The hound that was harm'd then muzzled shall be, + Who loved him worst shall weep for his wreck; + Yet shall a whelp rise of the same race, + That rudely shall roar, and rule the whole north, + And quit the whole quarrel of old deeds done, + Though he from his hold be kept back awhile. + True Thomas told me this in a troublesome time, + In a harvest morning at Eldoun hills.'" + +"This hath a meaning, Sir Archer," continued the minstrel, "and which +flies as directly to its mark as one of your own arrows, although there +may be some want of wisdom in making the direct explication. Being, +however, upon assurance with you, I do not hesitate to tell you, that +in my opinion this lion's whelp that awaits its time, means this same +celebrated Scottish prince, Robert the Bruce, who, though repeatedly +defeated, has still, while hunted with bloodhounds, and surrounded by +enemies of every sort, maintained his pretensions to the crown of +Scotland, in despite of King Edward, now reigning." + +"Minstrel," answered the soldier, "you are my guest, and we have sat +down together as friends to this simple meal in good comradeship. I +must tell thee, however, though I am loath to disturb our harmony, that +thou art the first who hast adventured to speak a word before Gilbert +Greenleaf in favour of that outlawed traitor, Robert Bruce, who has by +his seditions so long disturbed the peace of this realm. Take my +advice, and be silent on this topic; for, believe me, the sword of a +true English archer will spring from its scabbard without consent of +its master, should it hear aught said to the disparagement of bonny St. +George and his ruddy cross; nor shall the authority of Thomas the +Rhymer, or any other prophet in Scotland, England, or Wales, be +considered as an apology for such unbecoming predictions." + +"I were loth to give offence at any time," said the minstrel, "much +more to provoke you to anger, when I am in the very act of experiencing +your hospitality. I trust, however, you will remember that I do not +come your uninvited guest, and that if I speak to you of future events, +I do so without having the least intention to add my endeavour to bring +them to pass; for, God knows, it is many years since my sincere prayer +has been for peace and happiness to all men, and particularly honour +and happiness to the land of Bowmen, in which I was born, and which I +am bound to remember in my prayers beyond all other nations in the +world." + +"It is well that you do so," said the archer; "for so you shall best +maintain your bounden duty to the fair land of your birth, which is the +richest that the sun shines upon. Something, however, I would know, if +it suits with your pleasure to tell me, and that is, whether you find +anything in these rude rhymes appearing to affect the safety of the +Castle of Douglas, where we now are?--for, mark me, Sir Minstrel, I +have observed that these mouldering parchments, when or by whomsoever +composed, have so far a certain coincidence with the truth, that when +such predictions which they contain are spread abroad in the country, +and create rumours of plots, conspiracies, and bloody wars, they are +very apt to cause the very mischances which they would be thought only +to predict." + +"It were not very cautious in me," said the minstrel, "to choose a +prophecy for my theme, which had reference to any attack on this +garrison; for in such case I should, according to your ideas, lay +myself under suspicion of endeavouring to forward what no person could +more heartily regret than myself." + +"Take my word for it, good friend," said the archer, "that it shall not +be thus with thee; for I neither will myself conceive ill of thee, nor +report thee to Sir John de Walton as meditating harm against him or his +garrison--nor, to speak truth, would Sir John de Walton be willing to +believe anyone who did. He thinks highly, and no doubt deservedly, of +thy good faith towards thy lady, and would conceive it unjust to +suspect the fidelity of one who has given evidence of his willingness +to meet death rather than betray the least secret of his mistress." + +"In preserving her secret," said Bertram, "I only discharged the duty +of a faithful servant, leaving it to her to judge how long such a +secret ought to be preserved; for a faithful servant ought to think as +little of the issue towards himself of the commission which he bears, +as the band of flock silk concerns itself with the secret of the letter +which it secures. And, touching your question--I have no objections, +although merely to satisfy your curiosity, to unfold to you that these +old prophecies do contain some intimations of wars befalling in Douglas +Dale, between an haggard, or wild hawk, which I take to be the +cognizance of Sir John de Walton, and the three stars, or martlets, +which is the cognizance of the Douglas; and more particulars I could +tell of these onslaughts, did I know whereabouts is a place in these +woods termed Bloody Sykes, the scene also, as I comprehend, of +slaughter and death, between the followers of the three stars and those +who hold the part of the Saxon, or King of England." + +"Such a place," replied Gilbert Greenleaf, "I have heard often +mentioned by that name among the natives of these parts; nevertheless +it is vain to seek to discover the precise spot, as these wily Scots +conceal from us with care every thing respecting the geography of their +country, as it is called by learned men; but we may here mention the +Bloody Sykes, Bottomless Myre, and other places, as portentous names, +to which their traditions attach some signification of war and +slaughter. If it suits your wish, however, we can, on our way to the +church, try to find this place called Bloody Sykes, which I doubt not +we shall trace out long before the traitors who meditate an attack upon +us will find a power sufficient for the attempt." + +Accordingly the minstrel and archer, the latter of whom was by this +time reasonably well refreshed with wine, marched out of the castle of +Douglas, without waiting for others of the garrison, resolving to seek +the dingle bearing the ominous name of Bloody Sykes, concerning which +the archer only knew that by mere accident he had heard of a place +bearing such a name, at the hunting match made under the auspices of +Sir John de Walton, and knew that it lay in the woods somewhere near +the town of Douglas and in the vicinage of the castle. + + + + +CHAPTER THE NINETEENTH. + + _Hotspur_. I cannot choose; sometimes he angers me + With telling me of the moldwarp and the ant, + Of the dreamer Merlin, and his prophecies; + And of a dragon and a finless fish, + A clipt-wing'd griffin and a moulten raven, + A couching lion, and a ramping cat. + And such a deal of skimble-skamble stuff, + As puts me from my faith. + KING HENRY IV. + + +The conversation between the minstrel and the ancient archer naturally +pursued a train somewhat resembling that of Hotspur and Glendower, in +which Gilbert Greenleaf by degrees took a larger share than was +apparently consistent with his habits and education: but the truth was +that as he exerted himself to recall the recognisances of military +chieftains, their war-cries, emblems, and other types by which they +distinguished themselves in battle, and might undoubtedly be indicated +in prophetic rhymes, he began to experience the pleasure which most men +entertain when they find themselves unexpectedly possessed of a faculty +which the moment calls upon them to employ, and renders them important +in the possession of. The minstrel's sound good sense was certainly +somewhat surprised at the inconsistencies sometimes displayed by his +companion, as he was carried off by the willingness to make show of his +newly-discovered faculty on the one hand, and, on the other, to call to +mind the prejudices which he had nourished during his whole life +against minstrels, who, with the train of legends and fables, were the +more likely to be false, as being generally derived from the "North +Countrie." + +As they strolled from one glade of the forest to another, the minstrel +began to be surprised at the number of Scottish votaries whom they met, +and who seemed to be hastening to the church, and, as it appeared by +the boughs which they carried, to assist in the ceremony of the day. To +each of these the archer put a question respecting the existence of a +place called Bloody Sykes, and where it was to be found--but all seemed +either to be ignorant on the subject, or desirous of evading it, for +which they found some pretext in the jolly archer's manner of +interrogation, which savoured a good deal of the genial breakfast. The +general answer was, that they knew no such place, or had other matters +to attend to upon the morn of a holy-tide than answering frivolous +questions. At last, when, in one or two; instances, the answer of the +Scottish almost approached to sullenness, the minstrel remarked it, +observing that there was ever some mischief on foot when the people of +this country could not find a civil answer to their betters, which is +usually so ready among them, and that they appeared to be making a +strong muster for the service of Palm Sunday. + +"You will doubtless, Sir Archer," continued the minstrel, "make your +report to your knight accordingly; for I promise you, that if you do +not, I myself, whose lady's freedom is also concerned, will feel it my +duty to place before Sir John de Walton the circumstances which make me +entertain suspicion of this extraordinary confluence of Scottish men, +and the surliness which has replaced their wonted courtesy of manners." + +"Tush, Sir Minstrel," replied the archer, displeased at Bertram's +interference, "believe me, that armies have ere now depended on my +report to the general, which has always been perspicuous and clear, +according to the duties of war. Your walk, my worthy friend, has been +in a separate department, such as affairs of peace, old songs, +prophecies, and the like, in which it is far from my thoughts to +contend with you; but credit me, it will be most for the reputation, of +both, that we do not attempt to interfere with what concerns each +other." + +"It is far from my wish to do so," replied the minstrel; "but I would. +wish that a speedy return should be made to the castle, in order to ask +Sir John de Walton's opinion of that which we have but just seen." + +"To this," replied Greenleaf, "there can be no objection; but, would +you seek the governor at the hour which now is, you will find him most +readily by going to the church of Douglas, to which he regularly wends +on occasions such as the present, with the principal part of his +officers, to ensure, by his presence, that no tumult arise (of which +there is no little dread) between the English and the Scottish. Let us +therefore hold to our original intention of attending the service of +the day, and we shall rid ourselves of these entangled woods, and gain +the shortest road to the church of Douglas." + +"Let us go, then, with all despatch," said the minstrel; "and with the +greater haste, that it appears to me that something has passed on this +very spot this morning, which argues that the Christian peace due to +the day has not been inviolably observed. What mean these drops of +blood?" alluding to those which had flowed from the wounds of +Turnbull--"Wherefore is the earth impressed with these deep tints, the +footsteps of armed men advancing and retreating, doubtless, according +to the chances of a fierce and heady conflict?" + +"By Our Lady," returned Greenleaf, "I must own that thou seest clear. +What were my eyes made of when they permitted thee to be the first +discoverer of these signs of conflict? Here are feathers of a blue +plume, which I ought to remember, seeing my knight assumed it, or at +least permitted me to place it in his helmet, this morning, in sign of +returning hope, from the liveliness of its colour. But here it lies, +shorn from his head, and, if I may guess, by no friendly hand. Come, +friend, to the church--to the church--and thou shalt have my example of +the manner in which De Walton ought to be supported when in danger." + +He led the way through the town of Douglas, entering at the southern +gate, and up the very street in which Sir Aymer de Valence had charged +the Phantom Knight. + +We can now say more fully, that the church of Douglas had originally +been a stately Gothic building, whose towers, arising high above the +walls of the town, bore witness to the grandeur of its original +construction. It was now partly ruinous, and the small portion of open +space which was retained for public worship was fitted up in the family +aisle where its deceased lords rested from worldly labours and the +strife of war. From the open ground in the front of the building, their +eye could pursue a considerable part of the course of the river +Douglas, which approached the town from the south-west, bordered by a +line of hills fantastically diversified in their appearance, and in +many places covered with copsewood, which descended towards the valley, +and formed a part of the tangled and intricate woodland by which the +town was surrounded. The river itself, sweeping round the west side of +the town, and from thence northward, supplied that large inundation or +artificial piece of water which we have already mentioned. Several of +the Scottish people, bearing willow branches, or those of yew, to +represent the palms which were the symbol of the day, seemed wandering +in the churchyard as if to attend the approach of some person of +peculiar sanctity, or procession, of monks and friars, come to render +the homage due to the solemnity. At the moment almost that Bertram and +his companion entered the churchyard, the Lady of Berkely, who was in +the act of following Sir John de Walton into the church, after having +witnessed his conflict with the young Knight of Douglas, caught a +glimpse of her faithful minstrel, and instantly determined to regain +the company of that old servant of her house and confidant of her +fortunes, and trust to the chance afterwards of being rejoined by Sir +John de Walton, with a sufficient party to provide for her safety, +which she in no respect doubted it would be his care to collect. She +darted away accordingly from the path in which she was advancing, and +reached the place where Bertram, with his new acquaintance Greenleaf, +were making some enquiries of the soldiers of the English garrison, +whom the service of the day had brought there. + +Lady Augusta Berkely, in the meantime, had an opportunity to say +privately to her faithful attendant and guide, "Take no notice of me, +friend Bertram, but take heed, if possible, that we be not again +separated from each other." Having given him this hint, she observed +that it was adopted by the minstrel, and that he presently afterwards +looked round and set his eye upon her, as, muffled in her pilgrim's +cloak, she slowly withdrew to another part of the cemetery, and seemed +to halt, until, detaching himself from Greenleaf, he should find an +opportunity of joining her. + +Nothing, in truth, could have more sensibly affected the faithful +minstrel than the singular mode of communication which acquainted him +that his mistress was safe, and at liberty to choose her own motions, +and, as he might hope, disposed to extricate herself from the dangers +which surrounded her in Scotland, by an immediate retreat to her own +country and domain. He would gladly have approached and joined her, but +she took an opportunity by a sign to caution him against doing so, +while at the same time he remained somewhat apprehensive of the +consequences of bringing her under the notice of his new friend, +Greenleaf, who might perhaps think it proper to busy himself so as to +gain some favour with the knight who was at the head of the garrison. +Meantime the old archer continued his conversation with Bertram, while +the minstrel, like many other men similarly situated, heartily wished +that his well-meaning companion had been a hundred fathoms under +ground, so his evanishment had given him license to join his mistress; +but all he had in his power was to approach her as near as he could, +without creating any suspicion. + +"I would pray you, worthy minstrel," said Greenleaf, after looking +carefully round, "that we may prosecute together the theme which we +were agitating before we came hither; is it not your opinion, that the +Scottish natives have fixed this very morning for some of those +dangerous attempts which they have repeatedly made, and which are so +carefully guarded against by the governors placed in this district of +Douglas by our good King Edward, our rightful sovereign?" + +"I cannot see," replied the minstrel, "on what grounds you found such +an apprehension, or what you see here in the churchyard different from +that you talked of as we approached it, when you held me rather in +scorn, for giving way to some suspicions of the same kind." + +"Do you not see," added the archer, "the numbers of men, with strange +faces, and in various disguisements, who are thronging about these +ancient ruins, which are usually so solitary? Yonder, for example, sits +a boy who seems to shun observation, and whose dress, I will be sworn, +has never been shaped in Scotland." + +"And if he is an English pilgrim," replied the minstrel, observing that +the archer pointed towards the Lady of Berkely, "he surely affords less +matter of suspicion." + +"I know not that," said old Greenleaf, "but I think it will bo my duty +to inform Sir John de Walton, if I can reach him, that there are many +persons here, who in outward appearance neither belong to the garrison, +nor to this part of the country.'" + +"Consider," said Bertram, "before you harass with accusation a poor +young man, and subject him to the consequences which must necessarily +attend upon suspicions of this nature, how many circumstances call +forth men peculiarly to devotion at this period. Not only is this the +time of the triumphal entrance of the founder of the Christian religion +into Jerusalem, but the day itself is called Dominica Confitentium, or +the Sunday of Confessors, and the palm-tree, or the box and yew, which +are used as its substitutes, and which are distributed to the priests, +are burnt solemnly to ashes, and those ashes distributed among the +pious, by the priests, upon the Ash-Wednesday of the succeeding year, +all which rites and ceremonies in our country, are observed, by order +of the Christian Church; nor ought you, gentle archer, nor can you +without a crime, persecute those as guilty of designs upon your +garrison, who can ascribe their presence here to their desire to +discharge the duties of the day; and look ye at yon numerous procession +approaching with banner and cross, and, as it appears, consisting of +some churchman of rank, and his attendants; let us first enquire who he +is, and it is probable we shall find in his name and rank sufficient +security for the peaceable and orderly behaviour of those whom piety +has this day assembled at the church of Douglas." + +Greenleaf accordingly made the investigation recommended by his +companion, and received information that the holy man who headed the +procession, was no other than the diocesan of the district, the Bishop +of Glasgow, who had come to give his countenance to the rites with +which the day was to be sanctified. + +The prelate accordingly entered the walls of the dilapidated +churchyard, preceded by his cross-bearers, and attended by numbers, +with boughs of yew and other evergreens, used on the festivity instead +of palms. Among them the holy father showered his blessing, accompanied +by signs of the cross, which were met with devout exclamations by such +of the worshippers as crowded around him:--"To thee, reverend father, +we apply for pardon for our offences, which we humbly desire to confess +to thee, in order that we may obtain pardon from Heaven." + +In this manner the congregation and the dignified clergyman met +together, exchanging pious greeting, and seemingly intent upon nothing +but the rites of the day. The acclamations of the congregation, mingled +with the deep voice of the officiating priest, dispensing the sacred +ritual; the whole forming a scene which, conducted with the Catholic +skill and ceremonial, was at once imposing and affecting. + +The archer, on seeing the zeal with which the people in the churchyard, +as well as a number who issued from the church, hastened proudly to +salute the bishop of the diocese, was rather ashamed of the suspicions +which he had entertained of the sincerity of the good man's purpose in +coming hither. Taking advantage of a fit of devotion, not perhaps very +common with old Greenleaf, who at this moment thrust himself forward to +share in. those spiritual advantages which the prelate was dispensing, +Bertram. slipped clear of his English friend, and, gliding to the side +of the Lady Augusta, exchanged, by the pressure of the hand, a mutual +congratulation upon having rejoined company. On a sign by the minstrel, +they withdrew to the inside of the church, so as to remain unobserved +amidst the crowd, in which they were favoured by the dark shadows of +some parts of the building. + +The body of the church, broken as it was, and hung round with the +armorial trophies of the last Lords of Douglas, furnished rather the +appearance of a sacrilegiously desecrated ruin, than the inside of a +holy place; yet some care appeared to have been taken to prepare it for +the service of the day. At the lower end hung the great escutcheon of +William Lord of Douglas, who had lately died a prisoner in England; +around that escutcheon were placed the smaller shields of his sixteen +ancestors, and a deep black shadow was diffused by the whole mass, +unless where relieved by the glance of the coronets, or the glimmer of +bearings particularly gay in emblazonry. I need not say that in other +respects the interior of the church was much dismantled, it being the +very same place in which Sir Aymer de Valence held an interview with +the old sexton; and who now, drawing into a separate corner some of the +straggling parties whom he had collected and brought to the church, +kept on the alert, and appeared ready for an attack as well at mid-day +as at the witching hour of midnight. This was the more necessary, as +the eye of Sir John de Walton seemed busied in searching from one place +to another, as if unable to find the object he was in quest of, which +the reader will easily understand to be the Lady Augusta de Berkely, of +whom he had lost sight in the pressure of the multitude. At the eastern +part of the church was fitted up a temporary altar, by the side of +which, arrayed in his robes, the Bishop of Glasgow had taken his place, +with such priests and attendants as composed his episcopal retinue. His +suite was neither numerous nor richly attired, nor did his own +appearance present a splendid specimen of the wealth and dignity of the +episcopal order. When he laid down, however, his golden cross, at the +stern command of the King of England, that of simple wood, which he +assumed instead thereof, did not possess less authority, nor command +less awe among the clergy and people of the diocese. + +The various persons, natives of Scotland, now gathered around, seemed +to watch his motions, as those of a descended saint, and the English +waited in mute astonishment, apprehensive that at some unexpected +signal an attack would be made upon them, either by the powers of earth +or heaven, or perhaps by both in combination. The truth is, that so +great was the devotion of the Scottish clergy of the higher ranks to +the interests of the party of Bruce, that the English had become +jealous of permitting them to interfere even with those ceremonies of +the Church which were placed under their proper management, and thence +the presence of the Bishop of Glasgow, officiating at a high festival +in the church of Douglas, was a circumstance of rare occurrence, and +not unattended both with wonder and suspicion. A council of the Church, +however, had lately called the distinguished prelates of Scotland to +the discharge of their duty on the festivity of Palm Sunday, and +neither English nor Scottish saw the ceremony with indifference. An +unwonted silence which prevailed in the church, filled, as it appeared, +with persons of different views, hopes, wishes, and expectations, +resembled one of those solemn pauses which often take place before a +strife of the elements, and are well understood to be the forerunners +of some dreadful concussion of nature. All animals, according to their +various nature, express their sense of the approaching tempest; the +cattle, the deer, and other inhabitants of the walks of the forest, +withdraw to the inmost recesses of their pastures; the sheep crowd into +their fold; and the dull stupor of universal nature, whether animate or +inanimate, presages its speedily awakening into general convulsion and +disturbance, when the lurid lightning shall hiss at command of the +diapason of the thunder. + +It was thus that, in deep suspense, those who had come to the church in +arms, at the summons, of Douglas, awaited and expected every moment a +signal to attack, while the soldiers of the English garrison, aware of +the evil disposition of the natives towards them, were reckoning every +moment when the well-known shouts of "Bows and bills!" should give +signal for a general conflict, and both parties, gazing fiercely upon +each other, seemed to expect the fatal onset. + +Notwithstanding the tempest, which appeared every moment ready to +burst, the Bishop of Glasgow proceeded with the utmost solemnity to +perform the ceremonies proper to the day; he paused from time to time +to survey the throng, as if to calculate whether the turbulent passions +of those around him would be so long kept under as to admit of his +duties being brought to a close in a manner becoming the time and place. + +The prelate had just concluded the service, when a person advanced +towards him with a solemn and mournful aspect, and asked if the +reverend father could devote a few moments to administer comfort to a +dying man, who was lying wounded close by. + +The churchman signified a ready acquiescence, amidst a stillness which, +when he surveyed the lowering brows of one party at least of those who +were in the church, boded no peaceful termination to this fated day. +The father motioned to the messenger to show him the way, and proceeded +on his mission, attended by some of those who were understood to be +followers of the Douglas. + +There was something peculiarly striking, if not suspicious, in the +interview which followed. In a subterranean vault was deposited the +person of a large tall man, whose blood flowed copiously through two or +three ghastly wounds, and streamed amongst the trusses of straw on +which he lay; while his features exhibited a mixture of sternness and +ferocity, which seemed prompt to kindle into a still more savage +expression. + +The reader will probably conjecture that the person in question was no +other than Michael Turnbull, who, wounded in the rencounter of the +morning, had been left by some of his friends upon the straw, which was +arranged for him by way of couch, to live or die as he best could. The +prelate, on entering the vault, lost no time in calling the attention +of the wounded man to the state of his spiritual affairs, and assisting +him to such comfort as the doctrine of the Church directed should be +administered to departing sinners. The words exchanged between them +were of that grave and severe character which passes between the +ghostly father and his pupil, when one world is rolling away from the +view of the sinner, and another is displaying itself in all its +terrors, and thundering in the ear of the penitent that retribution +which the deeds done in the flesh must needs prepare him to expect. +This is one of the most solemn meetings which can take place between +earthly beings; and the courageous character of the Jedwood forester, +as well as the benevolent and pious expression of the old churchman, +considerably enhanced the pathos of the scene. + +"Turnbull," said the churchman, "I trust you will believe me when I say +that it grieves my heart to see thee brought to this situation by +wounds which it is my duty to tell you, you must consider mortal." + +"Is the chase ended, then?" said the Jedwood man with a sigh. "I care +not, good father, for I think I have borne me as becomes a gallant +quarry, and that the old forest has lost no credit by me, whether in +pursuit, or in bringing to bay; and even in this last matter, methinks +this gay English knight would not have come off with such advantage had +the ground on which we stood been alike indifferent to both, or had I +been aware of his onset; but it will be seen, by any one who takes the +trouble to examine, that poor Michael Turnbull's foot slipped twice in +the _melee_, otherwise it had not been his fate to be lying here in the +dead-thraw; [Footnote: Or death agony.] while yonder southron would +probably have died like a dog, upon this bloody straw, in his place." + +The bishop replied, advising his penitent to turn from vindictive +thoughts respecting the death of others, and endeavour to fix his +attention upon his own departure from existence, which seemed shortly +about to take place. + +"Nay," replied the wounded man, "you, father, undoubtedly know best +what is fit for me to do; yet methinks it would not be very well with +me if I had prolonged to this time of day the task of revising my life, +and I am not the man to deny that mine has been a bloody and a +desperate one. But you will grant me I never bore malice to a brave +enemy for having done me an injury, and show me the man, being a +Scotchman born, and having a natural love for his own country, who hath +not, in these times, rather preferred a steel cap to a hat and feather, +or who hath not been more conversant with drawn blades than with +prayer-book; and you yourself know, father, whether, in our proceedings +against the English interest, we have not uniformly had the countenance +of the sincere fathers of the Scottish Church, and whether we have not +been exhorted to take arms and make use of them, for the honour of the +King of Scotland, and the defence of our own rights." + +"Undoubtedly," said the prelate, "such have been our exhortations +towards our oppressed countrymen, nor do I now teach you a different +doctrine; nevertheless, having now blood around me, and a dying man +before me, I have need to pray that I have not been misled from the +true path, and thus become the means of misdirecting others. May Heaven +forgive me if I have done so, since I have only to plead my sincere and +honest intention in excuse for the erroneous counsel which I may have +given to you and others touching these wars. I am conscious that +encouraging you so to stain your swords in blood, I have departed in +some degree from the character of my profession, which enjoins that we +neither shed blood, nor are the occasion of its being shed. May Heaven +enable us to obey our duties, and to repent of our errors, especially +such as have occasioned the death or distress of our fellow-creatures. +And, above all, may this dying Christian become aware of his errors, +and repent with sincerity of having done to others that which he would +not willingly have suffered at their hand!" + +"For that matter," answered Turnbull, "the time has never been when I +would not exchange a blow with the best man who ever lived; and if I +was not in constant practice of the sword, it was because I have been +brought up to the use of the Jedwood-axe, which the English call a +partisan, and which makes little difference, I understand, from the +sword and poniard." + +"The distinction is not great," said the bishop; "but I fear, my +friend, that life taken with what you call a Jedwood-axe, gives you no +privilege over him who commits the same deed, and inflicts the same +injury, with any other weapon." + +"Nay, worthy father," said the penitent, "I must own that the effect of +the weapons is the same, as far as concerns the man who suffers; but I +would pray of you information, why a Jedwood man ought not to use, as +is the custom of his country, a Jedwood-axe, being, as is implied in +the name, the offensive weapon proper to his country?" + +"The crime of murder," said the bishop, "consists not in the weapon +with which the crime is inflicted, but in the pain which the murderer +inflicts upon his fellow-creature, and the breach of good order which +he introduces into heaven's lovely and peaceable creation; and it is by +turning your repentance upon this crime that you may fairly expect to +propitiate Heaven for your offences, and at the same time to escape the +consequences which are denounced in Holy Writ against those by whom +man's blood shall be shed." + +"But, good father," said the wounded man, "you know as well as any one, +that in this company, and in this very church, there are upon the watch +scores of both Scotchmen and Englishmen, who come here not so much to +discharge the religious duties of the day, as literally to bereave each +other of their lives, and give a new example of the horror of those +feuds which the two extremities of Britain nourish against each other. +What conduct, then, is a poor man like me to hold? Am I not to raise +this hand against the English, which methinks I still can make a +tolerably efficient one--or am I, for the first time in my life, to +hear the war-cry when it is raised, and hold back my sword from the +slaughter? Methinks it will be difficult, perhaps altogether +impossible, for me to do so; but if such is the pleasure of Heaven, and +your advice, most reverend father, unquestionably I must do my best to +be governed by your directions, as of one who has a right and title to +direct us in every dilemma, or case, as they term it, of troubled +conscience." + +"Unquestionably," said the bishop, "it is my duty, as I have already +said, to give no occasion this day for the shedding of blood, or the +breach of peace; and I must charge you, as my penitent, that upon your +soul's safety, you do not minister any occasion to affray or bloodshed, +either by maintaining such in your own person, or inciting others to +the same; for by following a different course of advice, I am certain +that you, as well as myself, would act sinfully and out of character." + +"So I will endeavour to think, reverend father," answered the huntsman; +"nevertheless, I hope it will be remembered in my favour that I am the +first person bearing the surname of Turnbull, together with the proper +name of the Prince of Archangels himself, who has at any time been able +to sustain the affront occasioned by the presence of a southron with a +drawn sword, and was not thereby provoked to pluck forth his own +weapon, and to lay about him." + +"Take care, my son," returned the Prelate of Glasgow, "and observe, +that even now thou art departing from those resolutions which, but a +few minutes since, thou didst adopt upon serious and just +consideration; wherefore do not be, O my son! like the sow that has +wallowed in the mire, and, having been washed, repeats its act of +pollution, and becomes again yet fouler than it was before." + +"Well, reverend father," replied the wounded man, "although it seems +almost unnatural for Scottishmen and English to meet and part without a +buffet, yet I will endeavour most faithfully not to minister any +occasion of strife, nor, if possible, to snatch at any such occasion as +shall be ministered to me." + +"In doing so," returned the bishop, "thou wilt best atone for the +injury which thou hast done to the law of Heaven upon former occasions, +and thou shalt prevent the causes for strife betwixt thee and thy +brethren of the southern land, and shalt eschew the temptation towards +that blood-guiltiness which is so rife in this our day and generation. +And do not think that I am imposing upon thee, by these admonitions, a +duty more difficult than it is in thy covenant to bear, as a man and as +a Christian. I myself am a man and a Scotchman, and, as such, I feel +offended at the unjust conduct of the English towards our country and +sovereign; and thinking as you do yourself, I know what you must suffer +when you are obliged to submit to national insults, unretaliated and +unrevenged. But let us not conceive ourselves the agents of that +retributive vengeance which Heaven has, in a peculiar degree, declared +to be its own attribute. Let us, while we see and feel the injuries +inflicted on our own country, not forget that our own raids, +ambuscades, and surprisals, have been at least equally fatal to the +English as their attacks and forays have been to us; and, in short, let +the mutual injuries of the crosses of Saint Andrew and of Saint George +be no longer considered as hostile to the inhabitants of the opposite +district, at least during the festivals of religion; but as they are +mutually signs of redemption, let them be, in like manner, intimations +of forbearance and peace on both sides." + +"I am contented," answered Turnbull, "to abstain from all offences +towards others, and shall even endeavour to keep myself from resenting +those of others towards me, in the hope of bringing to pass such a +quiet and godly state of things as your words, reverend father, induce +me to expect." Turning his face to the wall, the Borderer lay in stern +expectation of approaching death, which the bishop left him to +contemplate. The peaceful disposition which the prelate had inspired +into Michael Turnbull, had in some degree diffused itself among those +present, who heard with awe the spiritual admonition to suspend the +national antipathy, and remain in truce and amity with each other. +Heaven had, however, decreed that the national quarrel, in which so +much blood had been sacrificed, should that day again be the occasion +of deadly strife. + +A loud flourish of trumpets, seeming to proceed from beneath the earth, +now rung through the church, and roused the attention of the soldiers +and worshippers then assembled. Most of those who heard these warlike +sounds betook themselves to their weapons, as if they considered it +useless to wait any longer for the signal of conflict. Hoarse voices, +rude exclamations, the rattle of swords against their sheaths, or their +clashing against other pieces of armour, gave an awful presage of an +onset, which, however, was for a time averted by the exhortations of +the bishop. A second flourish of trumpets having taken place, the voice +of a herald made proclamation to the following purpose:-- + +"That whereas there were many noble pursuivants of chivalry presently +assembled in the Kirk of Douglas, and whereas there existed among them +the usual causes of quarrel and points of debate for their advancement +in chivalry, therefore the Scottish knights were ready to fight any +number of the English who might be agreed, either upon the superior +beauty of their ladies, or upon the national quarrel in any of its +branches, or upon whatever point might be at issue between them, which +should be deemed satisfactory ground of quarrel by both; and the +knights who should chance to be worsted in such dispute should renounce +the prosecution thereof, or the bearing arms therein thereafter, with +such other conditions to ensue upon their defeat as might be agreed +upon by a council of the knights present at the Kirk of Douglas +aforesaid. But foremost of all, any number of Scottish knights, from +one to twenty, will defend the quarrel which has already drawn blood, +touching the freedom of Lady Augusta de Berkely, and the rendition of +Douglas Castle to the owner here present. Wherefore it is required that +the English knights do intimate their consent that such trial of valour +take place, which, according to the rules of chivalry, they cannot +refuse, without losing utterly the reputation of valour, and incurring +the diminution of such other degree of estimation as a courageous +pursuivant of arms would willingly be held in, both by the good knights +of his own country, and those of others." + +This unexpected gage of battle realized the worst fears of those who +had looked with suspicion on the extraordinary assemblage this day of +the dependents of the House of Douglas. After a short pause, the +trumpets again flourished lustily, when the reply of the English +knights was made in the following terms:-- + +"That God forbid the rights and privileges of England's knights, and +the beauty of her damsels, should not be asserted by her children, or +that such English knights as were here assembled, should show the least +backwardness to accept the combat offered, whether grounded upon the +superior beauty of their ladies, or whether upon the causes of dispute +between the countries, for either or all of which the knights of +England here present were willing to do battle in the terms of the +indenture aforesaid, while sword and lance shall endure. Saving and +excepting the surrender of the Castle of Douglas, which can be rendered +to no one but England's king, or those acting under his orders." + + + + +CHAPTER THE TWENTIETH. + + Cry the wild war-note, let the champions pass, + Do bravely each, and God defend the right; + Upon Saint Andrew thrice can they thus cry, + And thrice they shout on height, + And then marked them on the Englishmen, + As I have told you right. + Saint George the bright, our ladies' knight, + To name they were full fain; + Our Englishmen they cried on height, + And thrice they shout again. + OLD BALLAD. + + +The extraordinary crisis mentioned in the preceding chapter, was the +cause, as may be supposed, of the leaders on both sides now throwing +aside all concealment, and displaying their utmost strength, by +marshalling their respective adherents; the renowned Knight of Douglas, +with Sir Malcolm Fleming and other distinguished cavaliers, were seen +in close consultation. + +Sir John de Walton, startled by the first flourish of trumpets, while +anxiously endeavouring to secure a retreat for the Lady Augusta, was in +a moment seen collecting his followers, in which he was assisted by the +active friendship of the Knight of Valence. + +The Lady of Berkely showed no craven spirit at these warlike +preparations; she advanced, closely followed by the faithful Bertram, +and a female in a riding-hood, whose face, though carefully concealed, +was no other than that of the unfortunate Margaret de Hautlieu, whose +worst fears had been realized as to the faithlessness of her betrothed +knight. + +A pause ensued, which for some time no one present thought himself of +authority sufficient to break. + +At last the Knight of Douglas stepped forward and said, loudly, "I wait +to know whether Sir John de Walton requests leave of James of Douglas +to evacuate his castle without further wasting that daylight which +might show us to judge a fair field, and whether he craves Douglas's +protection in doing so?" + +The Knight of Walton drew his sword. "I hold the Castle of Douglas," he +said, "in spite of all deadly,--and never will I ask the protection +from any one which my own sword is competent to afford me." + +"I stand by you, Sir John," said Aymer de Valence, "as your true +comrade, against whatever odds may oppose themselves to us." + +"Courage, noble English," said the voice of Greenleaf; "take your +weapons in God's name. Bows and bills! bows and bills!--A messenger +brings us notice that Pembroke is in full march hither from the borders +of Ayrshire, and will be with us in half an hour. Fight on, gallant +English! Valence to the rescue! and long life to the gallant Earl of +Pembroke!" + +Those English within and around the church no longer delayed to take +arms, and De Walton, crying out at the height of his voice, "I implore +the Douglas to look nearly to the safety of the ladies," fought his way +to the church door; the Scottish finding themselves unable to resist +the impression of terror which affected them at the sight of this +renowned knight, seconded by his brother-in-arms, both of whom had been +so long the terror of the district. In the meantime, it is possible +that De Walton might altogether have forced his way out of the church, +had he not been met boldly by the young son of Thomas Dickson of +Hazelside, while his father was receiving from Douglas the charge of +preserving the stranger ladies from all harm from the fight, which, so +long suspended, was now on the point of taking place. + +De Walton cast his eye upon the Lady Augusta, with a desire of rushing +to the rescue; but was forced to conclude, that he provided best for +her safety by leaving her under the protection of Douglas's honour. + +Young Dickson, in the meantime, heaped blow on blow, seconding with all +his juvenile courage every effort he could make, in order to attain the +prize due to the conqueror of the renowned De Walton. + +"Silly boy," at length said Sir John, who had for some time forborne +the stripling, "take, then, thy death from a noble hand, since thou +preferrest that to peace and length of days." + +"I care not," said the Scottish youth, with his dying breath; "I have +lived long enough, since I have kept you so long in the place where you +now stand." + +And the youth said truly, for as he fell never again to rise, the +Douglas stood in his place, and without a word spoken, again engaged +with De Walton in the same formidable single combat, by which they had +already been distinguished, but with even additional fury. Aymer de +Valence drew up to his friend De Walton's left hand, and seemed but to +desire the apology of one of Douglas's people attempting to second him, +to join in the fray; but as he saw no person who seemed disposed to +give him such opportunity, he repressed the inclination, and remained +an unwilling spectator. At length it seemed as if Fleming, who stood +foremost among the Scottish knights, was desirous to measure his sword +with De Valence. Aymer himself, burning with the desire of combat, at +last called out, "Faithless Knight of Boghall! step forth and defend +yourself against the imputation of having deserted your lady-love, and +of being a man-sworn disgrace to the rolls of chivalry!" + +"My answer," said Fleming, "even to a less gross taunt, hangs by my +side." In an instant his sword was in his hand, and even the practised +warriors who looked on felt difficulty in discovering the progress of +the strife, which rather resembled a thunder storm in a mountainous +country than the stroke and parry of two swords, offending on the one +side, and keeping the defensive on the other. + +Their blows were exchanged with surprising rapidity; and although the +two combatants did not equal Douglas and De Walton in maintaining a +certain degree of reserve, founded upon a respect which these knights +mutually entertained for each other, yet the want of art was supplied +by a degree of fury, which gave chance at least an equal share in the +issue. + +Seeing their superiors thus desperately engaged, the partisans, as they +were accustomed, stood still on either side, and looked on with the +reverence which they instinctively paid to their commanders and leaders +in arms. One or two of the women were in the meanwhile attracted, +according to the nature of the sex, by compassion for those who had +already experienced the casualties of war. Young Dickson, breathing his +last among the feet of the combatants, [Footnote: [The fall of this, +brave stripling by the hand of the English governor, and the stern +heroism of the father in turning from the spot where he lay, "a model +of beauty and strength," that he might not be withdrawn from the duty +which Douglas had assigned him of protecting the Lady of Berkely, +excites an interest for both, with which it is almost to be regretted +that history interferes. It was the old man, Thomas Dickson, not his +son, who fell. The _slogan_, "a Douglas, a Douglas," having been +prematurely raised, Dickson, who was within the church, thinking that +his young Lord with his armed band was at hand, drew his sword, and +with only one, man to assist him, opposed the English, who now rushed +to the door. Cut across the middle by an English sword, he still +continued his opposition, till he fell lifeless at the threshold. Such +is tradition, and it is supported by a memorial of some authority--a +tombstone, still to be seen in the church-yard of Douglas, on winch is +sculptured a figure of Dickson, supporting with his left arm his +protruding entrails, and raising his sword with the other in the +attitude of combat.]--_Note by the Rev, Mr. Stewart of Douglas_.] was +in some sort rescued from the tumult by the Lady of Berkely, in whom +the action seemed less strange, owing to the pilgrim's dress which she +still retained, and who in vain endeavoured to solicit the attention of +the boy's father to the task in which she was engaged. + +"Cumber yourself not, lady, about that which is bootless," said old +Dickson, "and distract not your own attention and mine from preserving +you, whom it is the Douglas's wish to rescue, and whom, so please God +and St. Bride, I consider as placed by my Chieftain under my charge. +Believe me, this youth's death is in no way forgotten, though this be +not the time to remember it. A time will come for recollection, and an +hour for revenge." + +So said the stern old man, reverting his eyes from the bloody corpse +which lay at his feet, a model of beauty and strength. Having taken one +more anxious look, he turned round, and placed himself where he could +best protect the Lady of Berkely, not again turning his eyes on his +son's body. + +In the interim the combat continued, without the least cessation on +either side, and without a decided advantage. At length, however, fate +seemed disposed to interfere; the Knight of Fleming, pushing fiercely +forward, and brought by chance almost close to the person of the Lady +Margaret de Hautlieu, missed his blow, and his foot sliding in the +blood of the young victim, Dickson, he fell before his antagonist, and +was in imminent danger of being at his mercy, when Margaret de +Hautlieu, who inherited the soul of a warrior, and, besides, was a very +strong, as well as an undaunted person, seeing a mace of no great +weight lying on the floor, where it had been dropped by the fallen +Dickson, it, at the same instant, caught her eye, armed her hand, and +intercepted, or struck down the sword of Sir Aymer de Valence, who +would otherwise have remained the master of the day at that interesting +moment. Fleming had more to do to avail himself of an unexpected chance +of recovery, than to make a commentary upon the manner in which it had +been so singularly brought about; he instantly recovered the advantage +he had lost, and was able in the ensuing close to trip up the feet of +his antagonist, who fell on the pavement, while the voice of his +conqueror, if he could properly be termed such, resounded through the +church with the fatal words, "Yield thee, Aymer de Valence--rescue or +no rescue--yield thee! --yield ye!" he added, as he placed his sword to +the throat of the fallen knight, "not to me, but to this noble +lady--rescue or no rescue." + +With a heavy heart the English knight perceived that he had lost so +favourable an opportunity of acquiring fame, and was obliged to submit +to his destiny, or be slain upon the spot. There was only one +consolation, that no battle was ever more honourably sustained, being +gained as much by accident as by valour. + +The fate of the protracted and desperate combat between Douglas and De +Walton did not much longer remain in suspense; indeed, the number of +conquests in single combat achieved by the Douglas in these wars, was +so great, as to make it doubtful whether he was not, in personal +strength and skill, even a superior knight to Bruce himself, and he was +at least acknowledged nearly his equal in the art of war. + +So however it was, that when three quarters of an hour had passed in +hard contest, Douglas and De Walton, whose nerves were not actually of +iron, began to show some signs that their human bodies were feeling the +effect of the dreadful exertion. Their blows began to be drawn more +slowly, and were parried with less celerity. Douglas, seeing that the +combat must soon come to an end, generously made a signal, intimating +to his antagonist to hold his hand for an instant. + +"Brave De Walton," he said, "there is no mortal quarrel between us, and +you must be sensible that in this passage of arms, Douglas, though he +is only worth his sword and his cloak, has abstained from taking a +decisive advantage when the chance of arms has more than once offered +it. My father's house, the broad domains around it, the dwelling, and +the graves of my ancestors, form a reasonable reward for a knight to +fight for, and call upon me in an imperative voice the prosecute to +strife which has such an object, while you are as welcome to the noble +lady, in all honour and safety, as if you had received her from the +hands of King Edward himself; and I give you my word, that the utmost +honours which can attend a prisoner, and a careful absence of every +thing like injury or insult, shall attend De Walton when he yields up +the castle, as well as his sword to James of Douglas." + +"It is the fate to which I am perhaps doomed," replied Sir John de +Walton; "but never will I voluntarily embrace it, and never shall it be +said that my own tongue, saving in the last extremity, pronounced upon +me the fatal sentence to sink the point of my own sword. Pembroke is +upon the march with his whole army, to rescue the garrison of Douglas. +I hear the tramp of his horse's feet even now; and I will maintain my +ground while I am within reach of support; nor do I fear that the +breath which now begins to fail will not last long enough to uphold the +struggle till the arrival of the expected succour. Come on, then, and +treat me not as a child, but as one who, whether I stand or fall, fears +not to encounter the utmost force of my knightly antagonist." + +"So be it then," said Douglas, a darksome hue, like the lurid colour of +the thunder-cloud, changing his brow as he spoke, intimating that he +meditated a speedy end to the contest, when, just as the noise of +horses' feet drew nigh, a Welsh knight, known as such by the diminutive +size of his steed, his naked limbs, and his bloody spear, called out +loudly to the combatants to hold their hands. + +"Is Pembroke near?" said De Walton. + +"No nearer than Loudon Hill," said the Prestantin; "but I bring his +commands to John de Walton." + +"I stand ready to obey them through every danger," answered the knight. + +"Woe is me," said the Welshman, "that my mouth should bring to the ears +of so brave a man tidings so unwelcome! The Earl of Pembroke yesterday +received information that the castle of Douglas was attacked by the son +of the deceased Earl, and the whole inhabitants of the district. +Pembroke, on hearing this, resolved to march to your support, noble +knight, with all the forces he had at his disposal. He did so, and +accordingly entertained every assurance of relieving the castle, when +unexpectedly he met, on Loudon Hill, a body of men of no very inferior +force to his own, and having at their head that famous Bruce whom the +Scottish rebels acknowledge as their king. He marched instantly to the +attack, swearing he would not even draw a comb through his grey beard +until he had rid England of his recurring plague. But the fate of war +was against us." + +He stopt here for lack of breath. + +"I thought so!" exclaimed Douglas. "Robert Bruce will now sleep at +night, since he has paid home Pembroke for the slaughter of his friends +and the dispersion of his army at Methuen Wood. His men are, indeed, +accustomed to meet with dangers, and to conquer them: those who follow +him have been trained under Wallace, besides being partakers of the +perils of Bruce himself. It was thought that the waves had swallowed +them when they shipped themselves from the west; but know, that the +Bruce was determined with the present reviving spring to awaken his +pretensions, and that he retires not from Scotland again while he +lives, and while a single lord remains to set his foot by his +sovereign, in spite of all the power which has been so feloniously +employed against him." + +"It is even too true," said the Welshman Meredith, "although it is said +by a proud Scotchman.--The Earl of Pembroke, completely defeated, is +unable to stir from Ayr, towards which he has retreated with great +loss: and he sends his instructions to Sir John de Walton, to make the +best terms he can for the surrender of the Castle of Douglas, and trust +nothing to his support." + +The Scottish, who heard this unexpected news, joined in a shout so loud +and energetic, that the ruins of the ancient church seemed actually to +rock and threaten to fall on the heads of those who were crowded within +it. + +The brow of De Walton was overclouded at the news of Pembroke's defeat, +although in some respects it placed him at liberty to take measures for +the safety of the Lady of Berkely. He could not, however, claim the +same honourable terms which had been offered to him by Douglas before +the news of the battle of Loudon Hill had arrived. + +"Noble knight," he said, "it is entirely at your pleasure to dictate +the terms of surrender of your paternal castle; nor have I a right to +claim from you those conditions which, a little while since, your +generosity put in my offer. But I submit to my fate; and upon whatever +terms you think fit to grant me, I must be content to offer to +surrender to you the weapon, of which I now put the point in the earth, +in evidence that I will never more direct it against you until a fair +ransom shall place it once more at my own disposal." + +"God forbid," answered the noble James of Douglas, "that I should take +such advantage of the bravest knight out of not a few who have found me +work in battle! I will take example from the Knight of Fleming, who has +gallantly bestowed his captive in guerdon upon a noble damsel here +present; and in like manner I transfer my claim upon the person of the +redoubted Knight of Walton, to the high and noble Lady Augusta Berkely, +who, I hope, will not scorn to accept from the Douglas a gift which the +chance of war has thrown into his hands." + +Sir John de Walton, on hearing this unexpected decision, looked up like +the traveller who discovers the beams of the sun breaking through and +dispersing the tempest which has accompanied him for a whole morning. +The Lady of Berkely recollected what became her rank, and showed her +sense of the Douglas's chivalry. Hastily wiping off the tears which had +unwillingly flowed to her eyes, while her lover's safety and her own +were resting on the precarious issue of a desperate combat, she assumed +the look proper to a heroine of that age, who did not feel averse to +accept the importance which was conceded to her by the general voice of +the chivalry of the period. Stepping forward, bearing her person +gracefully, yet modestly, in the attitude of a lady accustomed to be +looked to in difficulties like the present, she addressed the audience +in a tone which might not have misbecome the Goddess of Battle +dispersing her influence at the close of a field covered with the dead +and the dying. + +"The noble Douglas," she said, "shall not pass without a prize from the +field which he has so nobly won. This rich string of brilliants, which +my ancestor won from the Sultan of Trebisond, itself a prize of battle, +will be honoured by sustaining, under the Douglas's armour, a lock of +hair of the fortunate lady whom the victorious lord has adopted for his +guide in. chivalry; and if the Douglas, till he shall adorn it with +that lock, will permit the honoured lock of hair which it now bears to +retain its station, she on whose head it grew will hold it as a signal +that poor Augusta de Berkely is pardoned for having gaged any mortal +man in strife with the Knight of Douglas." + +"Woman's love," replied the Douglas, "shall not divorce this locket +from my bosom, which I will keep till the last day of my life, as +emblematic of female worth and female virtue. And, not to encroach upon +the valued and honoured province of Sir John de Walton, be it known to +all men, that whoever shall say that the Lady Augusta of Berkely has, +in this entangled matter, acted otherwise than becomes the noblest of +her sex, he will do well to be ready to maintain such a proposition +with his lance, against James of Douglas, in a fair field." + +This speech was heard with approbation on all sides; and the news +brought by Meredith of the defeat of the Earl of Pembroke, and his +subsequent retreat, reconciled the fiercest of the English soldiers to +the surrender of Douglas Castle. The necessary conditions were speedily +agreed on, which put the Scottish in possession of this stronghold, +together with the stores, both of arms and ammunition, of every kind +which it contained. The garrison had it to boast, that they obtained a +free passage, with their horses and arms, to return by the shortest and +safest route to the marches of England, without either suffering or +inflicting damage. + +Margaret of Hautlieu was not behind in acting a generous part; the +gallant Knight of Valence was allowed to accompany his friend De Walton +and the Lady Augusta to England, and without ransom. + +The venerable prelate of Glasgow, seeing what appeared at one time +likely to end in a general conflict, terminate so auspiciously for his +country, contented himself with bestowing his blessing on the assembled +multitude, and retiring with those who came to assist in the service of +the day. + +This surrender of Douglas Castle upon the Palm Sunday of 19th March, +1306-7, was the beginning of a career of conquest which was +uninterrupted, in which the greater part of the strengths and +fortresses of Scotland were yielded to those who asserted the liberty +of their country, until the crowning mercy was gained in the celebrated +field of Bannockburn, where the English sustained a defeat more +disastrous than is mentioned upon any other occasion in their annals. + +Little need be said of the fate of the persons of this story. King +Edward was greatly enraged at Sir John de Walton for having surrendered +the Castle of Douglas, securing at the same time his own object, the +envied hand of the heiress of Berkely. The knights to whom he referred +the matter as a subject of enquiry, gave it nevertheless as their +opinion that De Walton was void of all censure, having discharged his +duty in its fullest extent, till the commands of his superior officer +obliged him to surrender tho Dangerous Castle. + +A singular renewal of intercourse took place, many months afterwards, +between Margaret of Hautlieu and her lover, Sir Malcolm Fleming. The +use which the lady made of her freedom, and of the doom of the Scottish +Parliament, which put her in possession of her father's inheritance, +was to follow her adventurous spirit through dangers not usually +encountered by those of her sex; and the Lady of Hautlieu was not only +a daring follower of the chase, but it was said that she was even not +daunted in the battlefield. She remained faithful to the political +principles which she had adopted at an early period; and it seemed as +if she had formed the gallant resolution of shaking the god Cupid from +her horse's mane, if not treading him beneath her horse's feet. + +The Fleming, although he had vanished from the neighbourhood of the +counties of Lanark and Ayr, made an attempt to state his apology to the +Lady de Hautlieu herself, who returned his letter unopened, and +remained to all appearance resolved never again to enter upon the topic +of their original engagement. It chanced, however, at a later period of +the war with England, while Fleming was one night travelling upon the +Border, after the ordinary fashion of one who sought adventures, a +waiting-maid, equipped in a fantastic habit, asked the protection of +his arm in the name of her lady, who, late in the evening, had been +made captive, she said, by certain ill-disposed caitiffs, who were +carrying her by force through the forest. The Fleming's lance was, of +course, in its rest, and woe betide the faitour whose lot it was to +encounter its thrust; the first fell, incapable of further combat, and +another of the felons encountered the same fate with little more +resistance. The lady, released from the discourteous cord which +restrained her liberty, did not hesitate to join company with the brave +knight by whom she had been rescued; and although the darkness did not +permit her to recognise her old lover in her liberator, yet she could +not but lend a willing ear to the conversation with which he +entertained her, as they proceeded on the way. He spoke of the fallen +caitiffs as being Englishmen, who found a pleasure in exercising +oppression and barbarities upon the wandering damsels of Scotland, and +whose cause, therefore, the champions of that country were bound to +avenge while the blood throbbed in their veins. He spoke of the +injustice of the national quarrel which had afforded a pretence for +such deliberate oppression; and the lady, who herself had suffered so +much by the interference of the English in the affairs of Scotland, +readily acquiesced in the sentiments which he expressed on a subject +which she had so much reason for regarding as an afflicting one. Her +answer was given in the spirit of a person who would not hesitate, if +the times should call for such an example, to defend even with her hand +the rights which she asserted with her tongue. + +Pleased with the sentiments which she expressed, and recognising in her +voice that secret charm, which, once impressed upon the human heart, is +rarely wrought out of the remembrance by a long train of subsequent +events, he almost persuaded himself that the tones were familiar to +him, and had at one time formed the key to his innermost affections. In +proceeding on their journey, the knight's troubled state of mind was +augmented instead of being diminished. The scenes of his earliest youth +were recalled by circumstances so slight, as would in ordinary cases +have produced no effect whatever; the sentiments appeared similar to +those which his life had been devoted to enforce, and he half persuaded +himself that the dawn of day was to be to him the beginning of a +fortune equally singular and extraordinary. + +In the midst of this anxiety, Sir Malcolm Fleming had no anticipation +that the lady whom he had heretofore rejected was again thrown into his +path, after years of absence; still less, when daylight gave him a +partial view of his fair companion's countenance, was he prepared to +believe that he was once again to term himself the champion of Margaret +de Hautlieu, but it was so. The lady, on that direful morning when she +retired from the church of Douglas, had not resolved (indeed what lady +ever did?) to renounce, without some struggle, the beauties which she +had once possessed. A long process of time, employed under skilful +hands, had succeeded in obliterating the scars which remained as the +marks of her fall. These were now considerably effaced, and the lost +organ of sight no longer appeared so great a blemish, concealed, as it +was, by a black ribbon, and the arts of the tirewoman, who made it her +business to shadow it over by a lock of hair. In a word, he saw the +same Margaret de Hautlieu, with no very different style of expression +from that which her face, partaking of the high and passionate +character of her soul, had always presented. It seemed to both, +therefore, that their fate, by bringing them together after a +separation which appeared so decisive, had intimated its _fiat_ that +their fortunes were inseparable from each other. By the time that the +summer sun had climbed high in the heavens, the two travellers rode +apart from their retinue, conversing together with an eagerness which +marked the important matters of discussion between them; and in a short +time it was made generally known through Scotland, that Sir Malcolm +Fleming and the Lady Margaret de Hautlieu were to be united at the +court of the good King Robert, and the husband invested with the +honours of Biggar and Cumbernauld, an earldom so long known in the +family of Fleming. + +The gentle reader is acquainted, that these are, in all probability, +the last tales which it will be the lot of the Author to submit to the +public. He is now on the eve of visiting foreign parts; a ship of war +is commissioned by its Royal Master to carry the Author of Waverley to +climates in which he may possibly obtain such a restoration of health +as may serve him to spin his thread to an end in his own country. Had +he continued to prosecute his usual literary labours, it seems indeed +probable, that at the term of years he has already attained, the bowl, +to use the pathetic language of Scripture, would have been broken at +the fountain; and little can one, who has enjoyed on the whole an +uncommon share of the most inestimable of worldly blessings, be +entitled to complain, that life, advancing to its period, should be +attended with its usual proportions of shadows and storms. They have +affected him at least in no more painful manner than is inseparable +from the discharge of this part of the debt of humanity. Of those whose +relation to him in the ranks of life might have ensured him their +sympathy under indisposition, many are now no more; and those who may +yet follow in his wake, are entitled to expect, in bearing inevitable +evils, an example of firmness and patience, more especially on the part +of one who has enjoyed no small good fortune during the course of his +pilgrimage. + +The public have claims on his gratitude, for which the Author of +Waverley has no adequate means of expression; but he may be permitted +to hope, that the powers of his mind, such as they are, may not have a +different date from those of his body; and that he may again meet his +patronising friends, if not exactly in his old fashion of literature, +at least in some branch, which may not call forth the remark, that-- + + "Superfluous lags the veteran on the stage." + +ABBOTSFORD, _September_, 1831. + +END OF CASTLE DANGEROUS. + + + + +MY AUNT MARGARET'S MIRROR + +INTRODUCTION.--(1831.) + +The species of publication--which has come to be generally known by the +title of _Annual_, being a miscellany of prose and verse, equipped with +numerous engravings, and put forth every year about Christmas, had +flourished for a long while in Germany, before it was imitated in this +country by an enterprising bookseller, a German by birth, Mr. +Ackermann. The rapid success of his work, as is the custom of the time, +gave birth to a host of rivals, and, among others, to an Annual styled +The Keepsake, the first volume of which appeared in 1828, and attracted +much notice, chiefly in consequence of the very uncommon splendour of +its illustrative accompaniments. The expenditure which the spirited +proprietors lavished on this magnificent volume, is understood to have +been not less than from ten to twelve thousand pounds sterling! + +Various gentlemen, of such literary reputation that any one might think +it an honour to be associated with them, had been announced as +contributors to this Annual, before application was made to me to +assist in it; and I accordingly placed with much pleasure at the +Editor's disposal a few fragments, originally designed to have been +worked into the Chronicles of the Canongate, besides a MS. Drama, the +long-neglected performance of my youthful days,--the House of Aspen. + +The Keepsake for 1828 included, however, only three of these little +prose tales--of which the first in order was that entitled "My Aunt +Margaret's Mirror." By way of _introduction_ to this, when now included +in a general collection of my lucubrations, I have only to say that it +is a mere transcript, or at least with very little embellishment, of a +story that I remembered being struck with in my childhood, when told at +the fireside by a lady of eminent virtues, and no inconsiderable share +of talent, one of the ancient and honourable house of Swinton. She was +a kind relation of my own, and met her death in a manner so shocking, +being killed in a fit of insanity by a female attendant who had been +attached to her person for half a lifetime, that I cannot now recall +her memory, child as I was when the catastrophe occurred, without a +painful reawakening of perhaps the first images of horror that the +scenes of real life stamped on my mind. + +This good spinster had in her composition a strong vein of the +superstitious, and was pleased, among other fancies, to read alone in +her chamber by a taper fixed in a candlestick which she had formed out +of a human skull. One night, this strange piece of furniture acquired +suddenly the power of locomotion, and, after performing some odd +circles on her chimneypiece, fairly leaped on the floor, and continued +to roll about the apartment. Mrs. Swinton calmly proceeded to the +adjoining room for another light, and had the satisfaction to penetrate +the mystery on the spot. Rats abounded in the ancient building she +inhabited, and one of these had managed to ensconce itself within her +favourite _memento mori_. Though thus endowed with a more than feminine +share of nerve, she entertained largely that belief in supernaturals, +which in those times was not considered as sitting ungracefully on the +grave and aged of her condition; and the story of the Magic Mirror was +one for which she vouched with particular confidence, alleging indeed +that one of her own family had been an eye-witness of the incidents +recorded in it. + + "I tell the tale as it was told to me." + +Stories enow of much the same cast will present themselves to the +recollection of such of my readers as have ever dabbled in a species of +lore to which I certainly gave more hours, at one period of my life, +than I should gain any credit by confessing. + +_August_, 1831. + + + + +MY AUNT MARGARET'S MIRROR. + + "There are times + When Fancy plays her gambols, in despite + Even of our watchful senses, when in sooth + Substance seems shadow, shadow substance seems + When the broad, palpabale, and mark'd partition + 'Twixt that which is and is not, seems dissolved + As if the mental eye gain'd power to gaze + Beyond the limits of the existing world. + Such hours of shadowy dreams I better love + Than all the gross realities of life." + ANONYMOUS. + + My Aunt Margaret was one of that respected sisterhood, upon whom +devolve all the trouble and solicitude incidental to the possession of +children, excepting only that which attends their entrance into the +world. We were a large family, of very different dispositions and +constitutions. Some were dull and peevish--they were sent to Aunt +Margaret to be amused; some were rude, romping, and boisterous--they +were sent to Aunt Margaret to be kept quiet, or rather that their noise +might be removed out of hearing: those who were indisposed were sent +with the prospect of being nursed--those who were stubborn, with the +hope of their being subdued by the kindness of Aunt Margaret's +discipline; in short, she had all the various duties of a mother, +without the credit and dignity of the maternal character. The busy +scene of her various cares is now over--of the invalids and the robust, +the kind and the rough, the peevish and pleased children, who thronged +her little parlour from morning to night, not one now remains alive but +myself; who, afflicted by early infirmity, was one of the most delicate +of her nurslings, yet nevertheless, have outlived them all. + +It is still my custom, and shall be so while I have the use of my +limbs, to visit my respected relation at least three times a-week. Her +abode is about half a mile from the suburbs of the town in which I +reside; and is accessible, not only by the high-road, from which it +stands at some distance, but by means of a greensward footpath, leading +through some pretty meadows. I have so little left to torment me in +life, that it is one of my greatest vexations to know that several of +these sequestered fields have been devoted as sites for building. In +that which is nearest the town, wheelbarrows have been at work for +several weeks in such numbers, that, I verily believe, its whole +surface, to the depth of at least eighteen inches, was mounted in these +monotrochs at the same moment, and in the act of being transported from +one place to another. Huge triangular piles of planks are also reared +in different parts of the devoted messuage; and a little group of +trees, that still grace the eastern end, which rises in a gentle +ascent, have just received warning to quit, expressed by a daub of +white paint, and are to give place to a curious grove of chimneys. + +It would, perhaps, hurt others in my situation to reflect that this +little range of pasturage once belonged to my father, (whose family was +of some consideration in the world,) and was sold by patches to remedy +distresses in which he involved himself in an attempt by commercial +adventure to redeem, his diminished fortune. While the building scheme +was in full operation, this circumstance was often pointed out to me by +the class of friends who are anxious that no part of your misfortunes +should escape your observation. "Such pasture-ground!--lying at the +very town's end--in turnips and potatoes, the parks would bring 20_l_. +per acre, and if leased for building--Oh, it was a gold mine!--And all +sold for an old song out of the ancient possessor's hands!" My +comforters cannot bring me to repine much on this subject. If I could +be allowed to look back on the past without interruption, I could +willingly give up the enjoyment of present income, and the hope of +future profit, to those who have purchased what my father sold. I +regret the alteration of the ground only because it destroys +associations, and I would more willingly (I think) see the Earl's +Closes in the hands of strangers, retaining their silvan appearance, +than know them for my own, if torn up by agriculture, or covered with +buildings. Mine are the sensations of poor Logan: + + "The horrid plough has rased the green + Where yet a child I stray'd; + The axe has fell'd the hawthorn screen, + The schoolboy's summer shade." + +I hope, however, the threatened devastation will not be consummated in +my day. Although the adventurous spirit of times short while since +passed gave rise to the undertaking, I have been encouraged to think, +that the subsequent changes have so far damped the spirit of +speculation, that the rest of the woodland footpath leading to Aunt +Margaret's retreat will be left undisturbed for her time and mine. I am +interested in this, for every step of the way, after I have passed +through the green already mentioned, has for me something of early +remembrance :--There is the stile at which I can recollect a cross +child's-maid upbraiding me with my infirmity, as she lifted me coarsely +and carelessly over the flinty steps, which my brothers traversed with +shout and bound. I remember the suppressed bitterness of the mo-ment, +and, conscious of my own inferiority, the feeling of envy with which I +regarded the easy movements and elastic steps of my more happily formed +brethren. Alas! these goodly barks have all perished on life's wide +ocean, and only that which seemed so little seaworthy, as the naval +phrase goes, has reached the port when the tempest is over. Then there +is the pool, where, manoeuvring our little navy, constructed out of the +broad water flags, my elder brother fell in, and was scarce saved from +the watery element to die under Nelson's banner. There is the hazel +copse also, in which my brother Henry used to gather nuts, thinking +little that he was to die in an Indian jungle in quest of rupees. + +There is so much more of remembrance about the little walk, that--as I +stop, rest on my crutch-headed cane, and look round with that species +of comparison between the thing I was and that which I now am--it +almost induces me to doubt my own identity; until I find myself in face +of the honeysuckle porch of Aunt Margaret's dwelling, with its +irregularity of front, and its odd projecting latticed windows; where +the workmen seem to have made a study that no one of them should +resemble another, in form, size, or in the old-fashioned stone +entablature and labels which adorn them. This tenement, once the +manor-house of Earl's Closes, we still retain a slight hold upon; for, +in some family arrangements, it had been settled upon Aunt Margaret +during the term of her life. Upon this frail tenure depends, in a great +measure, the last shadow of the family of Bothwell of Earl's Closes, +and their last slight connection with their paternal inheritance. The +only representative will then be an infirm old man, moving not +unwillingly to the grave, which has devoured all that were dear to his +aifections. + +When I have indulged such thoughts for a minute or two, I enter the +mansion, which is said to have been the gatehouse only of the original +building, and find one being on whom time seems to have made little +impression; for the Aunt Margaret of to-day bears the same proportional +ago to the Aunt Margaret of my early youth, that the boy of ten years +old does to the man of (by'r Lady!) some fifty-six years. The old +lady's invariable costume has doubtless some share in confirming one in +the opinion, that time has stood still with Aunt Margaret. + +The brown or chocolate-coloured silk gown, with ruffles of the same +stuff at the elbow, within which are others of Mechlin lace--the black +silk gloves, or mitts, the white hair combed back upon a roll, and the +cap of spotless cambric, which closes around the venerable countenance, +as they were not the costume of 1780, so neither were they that of +1826; they are altogether a style peculiar to the individual Aunt +Margaret. There she still sits, as she sat thirty years since, with her +wheel or the stocking, which she works by the fire in winter, and by +the window in summer; or, perhaps, venturing as far as the porch in an +unusually fine summer evening. Her frame, like some well-constructed +piece of mechanics, still performs the operations for which it had +seemed destined; going its round with an activity which is gradually +diminished, yet indicating no probability that it will soon come to a +period. + +The solicitude and affection which had made Aunt Margaret the willing +slave to the inflictions of a whole nursery, have now for their object +the health and comfort of one old and infirm man, the last remaining +relative of her family, and the only one who can still find interest in +the traditional stores which she hoards as some miser hides the gold +which he desires that no one should enjoy after his death. + +My conversation with Aunt Margaret generally relates little either to +the present or to the future: for the passing day we possess as much as +we require, and we neither of us wish for more; and for that which is +to follow we have on this side of the grave neither hopes, nor fears, +nor anxiety. We therefore naturally look back to the past; and forget +the present fallen fortunes and declined importance of our family, in +recalling the hours when it was wealthy and prosperous. + +With this slight introduction, the reader will know as much of Aunt +Margaret and her nephew as is necessary to comprehend the following +conversation and narrative. + +Last week, when, late in a summer evening, I went to call on the old +lady to whom my reader is now introduced, I was received by her with +all her usual affection and benignity; while, at the same time, she +seemed abstracted and disposed to silence. I asked her the reason. +"They have been clearing out the old chapel," she said; "John +Clayhudgeons having, it seems, discovered that the stuff within--being, +I suppose, the remains of our ancestors--was excellent for top-dressing +the meadows." + +Here I started up with more alacrity than I have displayed for some +years; but sat down while my aunt added, laying her hand upon my +sleeve, "The chapel has been long considered as common ground, my dear, +and used for a penfold, and what objection can we have to the man for +employing what is his own, to his own profit? Besides, I did speak to +him, and he very readily and civilly promised, that, if he found bones +or monuments, they should be carefully respected and reinstated; and +what more could I ask? So, the first stone they found bore the name of +Margaret Bothwell, 1585, and I have caused it to be laid carefully +aside, as I think it betokens death; and having served my namesake two +hundred years, it has just been cast up in time to do me the same good +turn. My house has been long put in order, as far as the small earthly +concerns require it, but who shall say that their account with Heaven +is sufficiently revised?" + +"After what you have said, aunt," I replied, "perhaps I ought to take +my hat and go away, and so I should, but that there is on this occasion +a little alloy mingled with our devotion. To think of death at all +times is a duty--to suppose it nearer, from the finding of an old +gravestone, is superstition; and you, with your strong useful common +sense, which was so long the prop of a fallen family, are the last +person whom I should have suspected of such weakness." + +"Neither would I have deserved your suspicions, kinsman" answered Aunt +Margaret, "if we were speaking of any incident occurring in the actual +business of human life. But for all this I have a sense of superstition +about me, which I do not wish to part with. It is a feeling which +separates me from this age, and links me with that to which I am +hastening; and even when it seems, as now, to lead me to the brink of +the grave, and bids me gaze on it, I do not love that it should be +dispelled. It soothes my imagination, without influencing my reason or +conduct." + +"I profess, my good lady," replied I, "that had any one but you made +such a declaration, I should have thought it as capricious as that of +the clergyman, who, without vindicating his false reading, preferred, +from habit's sake, his old Mumpsimus to the modern Sumpsimus." + +"Well," answered my aunt, "I must explain my inconsistency in this +particular, by comparing it to another. I am, as you know, a piece of +that old-fashioned thing called a Jacobite; but I am so in sentiment +and feeling only; for a more loyal subject never joined in prayers, for +the health and wealth of George the Fourth, whom God long preserve! But +I dare say that kind-hearted sovereign would not deem that an old woman +did him, much injury if she leaned back in her arm-chair, just in such +a twilight as this, and thought of the high-mettled men, whose sense of +duty called them to arms against his grandfather; and how, in a cause +which they deemed that of their rightful prince and country, + + 'They fought till their hands to the broadsword were glued, + They fought against fortune with hearts unsubdued.' + +do not come at such a moment, when my head is full of plaids, pibrochs, +and claymores, and ask my reason to admit what, I am afraid, it cannot +deny--I mean, that the public advantage peremptorily demanded that +these things should cease to exist. I cannot, indeed, refuse to allow +the justice of your reasoning; but yet, being convinced against my +will, you will gain little by your motion. You might as well read to an +infatuated lover the catalogue of his mistress's imperfections; for, +when he has been compelled to listen to the summary, you will only get +for answer, that, 'he lo'es her a' the better.'" + +I was not sorry to have changed the gloomy train of Aunt Margaret's +thoughts, and replied in the same tone, "Well, I can't help being +persuaded that our good king is the more sure of Mrs. Bothwell's loyal +affection, that he has the Stuart right of birth, as well as the Act of +Succession in his favour." + +"Perhaps my attachment, were its source of consequence, might be foumd +warmer for the union of the rights you mention," said Aunt Margaret? +"but, upon my word, it would be as sincere if the king's right were +founded only on the will of the nation, as declared at the Revolution. +I am none of your _jure divino_ folk." + +"And a Jacobite notwithstanding." + +"And a Jacobite notwithstanding; or rather, I will give you leave to +call me one of the party which, in Queen Anne's time, were called +_Whimsicals_; because they were sometimes operated upon by feelings, +sometimes by principle. After all, it is very hard that you will not +allow an old woman to be as inconsistent in her political sentiments, +as mankind in general show themselves in all the various courses of +life; since you cannot point out one of them, in which the passions and +prejudices of those who pursue it are not perpetually carrying us away +from the path which our reason points out." + +"True, aunt; but you are a wilful wanderer, who should be forced back +into the right path." + +"Spare me, I entreat you," replied Aunt Margaret. "You remember the +Gaelic song, though I dare say I mispronounce the words-- + + 'Hatil mohatil, na dowski mi.' + 'I am asleep, do not waken me.' + +I tell you, kinsman, that the sort of waking dreams which my +imagination spins out, in what your favourite Wordsworth calls 'moods +of my own mind,' are worth all the rest of my more active days. Then, +instead of looking forwards as I did in youth, and forming for myself +fairy palaces, upon the verge of the grave, I turn my eyes backward +upon the days and manners of my better time; and the sad, yet soothing +recollections come so close and interesting, that I almost think it +sacrilege to be wiser, or more rational, or less prejudiced, than those +to whom I looked up in my younger years." + +"I think I now understand what you mean," I answered, "and can +comprehend why you should occasionally prefer the twilight of illusion +to the steady light of reason." + +"Where there is no task," she rejoined, "to be performed, we may sit in +the dark if we like it--if we go to work, we must ring for candles." + +"And amidst such shadowy and doubtful light," continued I, "imagination +frames her enchanted and enchanting visions, and sometimes passes them +upon the senses for reality." + +"Yes," said Aunt Margaret, who is a well-read woman, "to those who +resemble the translator of Tasso, + + 'Prevailing poet, whose undoubting mind + Believed the magic wonders which he sung.' + +It is not required for this purpose, that you should be sensible of the +painful horrors which an actual belief in such prodigies inflicts--such +a belief, now-a-days, belongs only to fools and children. It is not +necessary that your ears should tingle, and your complexion change, +like that of Theodore, at the approach of the spectral huntsman. All +that is indispensable for the enjoyment of the milder feeling of +supernatural awe is, that you should be susceptible of the slight +shuddering which creeps over you when you hear a tale of terror--that +well-vouched tale which the narrator, having first expressed his +general disbelief of all such legendary lore, selects and produces, as +having something in it which he has been always obliged to give up as +inexplicable. Another symptom is, a momentary hesitation to look round +you, when the interest of the narrative is at the highest; and the +third, a desire to avoid looking into a mirror, when you are alone, in +your chamber, for the evening. I mean such are signs which indicate the +crisis, when a female imagination is in due temperature to enjoy a +ghost story. I do not pretend to describe those which express the same +disposition in a gentleman." + +"This last symptom, dear aunt, of shunning the mirror, seems likely to +be a rare occurrence amongst the fair sex." + +"You are a novice in toilet fashions, my dear kinsman. All women +consult the looking-glass with anxiety before they go into company; but +when they return home, the mirror has not the same charm. The die has +been cast-the party has been successful or unsuccessful, in the +impression which she desired to make. But, without going deeper into +the mysteries of the dressing-table, I will tell you that I myself, +like many other honest folk, do not like to see the blank black front +of a large mirror in a room dimly lighted, and where the reflection of +the candle seems rather to lose itself in the deep obscurity of the +glass, than to be reflected back again into the apartment. That space +of inky darkness seems to be a field for Fancy to play her revels in. +She may call up other features to meet us, instead of the reflection of +our own; or, as in the spells of Hallowe'en, which we learned in +childhood some unknown form may be seen peeping over our shoulder. In +short, when I am in a ghost-seeing humour, I make my handmaiden draw +the green curtains over the mirror, before I go into the room, so that +she may have the first shock of the apparition, if there be any to be +seen. But, to tell you the truth, this dislike to look into a mirror in +particular times and places, has, I believe, its original foundation in +a story which came to me by tradition from my grandmother, who was a +party concerned in the scene of which I will now tell you." + + + + +THE MIRROR. + +CHAPTER THE FIRST. + + +You are fond (said my aunt) of sketches of the society which has passed +away. I wish I could describe to you Sir Philip Forester, the +"chartered libertine" of Scottish good company, about the end of the +last century. I never saw him indeed; but my mother's traditions were +full of his wit, gallantry and dissipation. This gay knight flourished +about the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th century. He was the +Sir Charles Easy and the Lovelace of his day and country; renowned for +the number of duels he had fought, and the successful intrigues which +he had carried on. The supremacy which he had attained in the +fashionable world was absolute; and when we combine with it one or two +anecdotes, for which, "if laws were made for every degree," he ought +certainly to have been hanged, the popularity of such a person really +serves to show, either that the present times are much more decent, if +not more virtuous, than they formerly were; or, that high breeding then +was of more difficult attainment than that which is now so called; and, +consequently, entitled the successful professor to a proportionable +degree of plenary indulgences and privileges. No beau of this day could +have borne out so ugly a story as that of Pretty Peggy Grindstone, the +miller's daughter at Sillermills--it had well-nigh made work for the +Lord Advocate. But it hurt Sir Philip Forester no more than the hail +hurts the hearth-stone. He was as well received in society as ever, and +dined with the Duke of A---- the day the poor girl was buried. She died +of heart-break. But that has nothing to do with my story. + +Now, you must listen to a single word upon kith, kin, and ally; I +promise you I will not be prolix. But it is necessary to the +authenticity of my legend, that you should know that Sir Philip +Forester, with his handsome person, elegant accomplishments, and +fashionable manners, married the younger Miss Falconer of King's +Copland. The elder sister of this lady had previously become the wife +of my grandfather, Sir Geoffrey Bothwell, and brought into our family a +good fortune. Miss Jemima, or Miss Jemmie Falconer, as she was usually +called, had also about ten thousand pounds sterling--then thought a +very handsome portion indeed. + +The two sisters were extremely different, though each had their +admirers while they remained single. Lady Bothwell had some touch of +the old King's Copland blood about her. She was bold, though not to the +degree of audacity; ambitious, and desirous to raise her house and +family; and was, as has been said, a considerable spur to my +grandfather, who was otherwise an indolent man; but whom, unless he has +been slandered, his lady's influence involved in some political matters +which had been more wisely let alone. She was a woman of high +principle, however, and masculine good sense, as some of her letters +testify, which are still in my wainscot cabinet. + +Jemmie Falconer was the reverse of her sister in every respect. Her +understanding did not reach above the ordinary pitch, if, indeed, she +could be said to have attained it. Her beauty, while it lasted, +consisted, in a great measure, of delicacy of complexion and regularity +of features, without any peculiar force of expression. Even these +charms faded under the sufferings attendant on an ill-sorted match. She +was passionately attached to her husband, by whom she was treated with +a callous, yet polite indifference, which, to one whose heart was as +tender as her judgment was weak, was more painful perhaps than absolute +ill-usage. Sir Philip was a voluptuary, that is, a completely selfish +egotist, whose disposition and character resembled the rapier he wore, +polished, keen, and brilliant, but inflexible and unpitying. As he +observed carefully all the usual forms towards his lady, he had the art +to deprive her even of the compassion of the world; and useless and +unavailing as that may be while actually possessed by the sufferer, it +is, to a mind like Lady Forester's, most painful to know she has it not. + +The tattle of society did its best to place the peccant husband above +the suffering wife. Some called her a poor spiritless thing, and +declared, that, with a little of her sister's spirit, she might have +brought to reason any Sir Philip whatsoever, were it the termagant +Falconbridge himself. But the greater part of their acquaintance +affected candour, and saw faults on both sides; though, in fact, there +only existed the oppressor and the oppressed. The tone of such critics +was--"To be sure, no one will justify Sir Philip Forester, but then we +all know Sir Philip, and Jemmie Falconer might have known what she had +to expect from the beginning.--What made her set her cap at Sir +Philip?--He would never have looked at her if she had not thrown +herself at his head, with her poor ten thousand pounds. I am sure, if +it is money he wanted, she spoiled his market. I know where Sir Philip +could have done much better.--And then, if she _would_ have the man, +could not she try to make him more comfortable at home, and have his +friends oftener, and not plague him with the squalling children, and +take care all was handsome and in good style about the house? I declare +I think Sir Philip would have made a very domestic man, with a woman +who knew how to manage him." + +Now these fair critics, in raising their profound edifice of domestic +felicity, did not recollect that the corner-stone was wanting; and that +to receive good company with good cheer, the means of the banquet ought +to have been furnished by Sir Philip; whose income (dilapidated as it +was) was not equal to the display of hospitality required, and, at the +same time, to the supply of the good knight's _menus plaisirs_. So, in +spite of all that was so sagely suggested by female friends, Sir Philip +carried his good-humour every where abroad, and left at home a solitary +mansion and a pining spouse. + +At length, inconvenienced in his money affairs, and tired even of the +short time which he spent in his own dull house, Sir Philip Forester +determined to take a trip to the Continent, in the capacity of a +volunteer. It was then common for men of fashion to do so; and our +knight perhaps was of opinion that a touch of the military character, +just enough to exalt, but not render pedantic, his qualities as a _beau +garcon_, was necessary to maintain possession of the elevated situation +which he held in the ranks of fashion. + +Sir Philip's resolution threw his wife into agonies of terror, by which +the worthy baronet was so much annoyed, that, contrary to his wont, he +took some trouble to soothe her apprehensions; and once more brought +her to shed tears, in which sorrow was not altogether unmingled with +pleasure. Lady Bothwell asked, as a favour, Sir Philip's permission to +receive her sister and her family into her own house during his absence +on the Continent. Sir Philip readily assented to a proposition which +saved expense, silenced the foolish people who might have talked of a +deserted wife and family, and gratified Lady Bothwell, for whom he felt +some respect, as for one who often spoke to him, always with freedom, +and sometimes with severity, without being deterred either by his +raillery, or the _prestige_ of his reputation. + +A day or two before Sir Philip's departure, Lady Bothwell took the +liberty of asking him, in her sister's presence, the direct question, +which his timid wife had often desired, but never ventured, to put to +him. + +"Pray, Sir Philip, what route do you take when you reach the Continent?" + +"I go from Leith to Helvoet by a packet with advices." + +"That I comprehend perfectly," said Lady Bothwell dryly; "but you do +not mean to remain long at Helvoet, I presume, and I should like to +know what is your next object?" + +"You ask me, my dear lady," answered Sir Philip, "a question which I +have not dared to ask myself. The answer depends on the fate of war. I +shall, of course, go to headquarters, wherever they may happen to be +for the time; deliver my letters of introduction; learn as much of the +noble art of war as may suffice a poor interloping amateur; and then +take a glance at the sort of thing of which we read so much in the +Gazette." + +"And I trust, Sir Philip," said Lady Bothwell, "that you will remember +that you are a husband and a father; and that though you think fit to +indulge this military fancy, you will not let it hurry you into dangers +which it is certainly unnecessary for any save professional persons to +encounter?" + +"Lady Bothwell does me too much honour," replied the adventurous +knight, "in regarding such a circumstance with the slightest interest. +But to soothe your flattering anxiety, I trust your ladyship will +recollect, that I cannot expose to hazard the venerable and paternal +character which you so obligingly recommend to my protection, without +putting in some peril an honest fellow, called Philip Forester, with +whom I have kept company for thirty years, and with whom, though some +folk consider him a coxcomb, I have not the least desire to part." + +"Well, Sir Philip, you are the best judge of your own affairs; I have +little right to interfere--you are not my husband." + +"God forbid!"--said Sir Philip hastily; instantly adding, however, "God +forbid that I should deprive my friend Sir Geoffrey of so inestimable a +treasure." + +"But you are my sister's husband," replied the lady; "and I suppose you +are aware of her present distress of mind--" + +"If hearing of nothing else from morning to night can make me aware of +it," said Sir Philip, "I should know something of the matter." + +"I do not pretend to reply to your wit, Sir Philip," answered Lady +Bothwell, "but you must be sensible that all this distress is on +account of apprehensions for your personal safety." + +"In that case, I am surprised that Lady Bothwell, at least, should give +herself so much trouble upon so insignificant a subject." + +"My sister's interest may account for my being anxious to learn +something of Sir Philip Forester's motions; about which otherwise, I +know, he would not wish me to concern myself. I have a brother's +safety, too, to be anxious for." + +"You mean Major Falconer, your brother by the mother's side:--What can +he possibly have to do with our present agreeable conversation?" + +"You have had words together, Sir Philip," said Lady Bothwell. + +"Naturally; we are connections," replied Sir Philip, "and as such have +always had the usual intercourse." + +"That is an evasion of the subject," answered the lady. "By words, I +mean angry words, on the subject of your usage of your wife." + +"If," replied Sir Philip Forester, "you suppose Major Falconer simple +enough to intrude his advice upon me, Lady Bothwell, in my domestic +matters, you are indeed warranted in believing that I might possibly be +so far displeased with the interference, as to request him to reserve +his advice till it was asked." + +"And, being on these terms, you are going to join the very army in +which my brother Falconer is now serving?" + +"No man knows the path of honour better than Major Falconer," said Sir +Philip. "An aspirant after fame, like me, cannot choose a better guide +than his footsteps." + +Lady Bothwell rose and went to the window, the tears gushing from her +eyes. + +"And this heartless raillery," she said, "is all the consideration that +is to be given to our apprehensions of a quarrel which may bring on the +most terrible consequences? Good God! of what can men's hearts be made, +who can thus dally with the agony of others?" + +Sir Philip Forester was moved; he laid aside the mocking tone in which +he had hitherto spoken. + +"Dear Lady Bothwell," he said, taking her reluctant hand, "we are both +wrong:--you are too deeply serious; I, perhaps, too little. The dispute +I had with Major Falconer was of no earthly consequence. Had any thing +occurred betwixt us that ought to have been settled _par voie du fait_, +as we say in France, neither of us are persons that are likely to +postpone such a meeting. Permit me to say, that were it generally known +that you or my Lady Forester are apprehensive of such a catastrophe, it +might be the very means of bringing about what would not otherwise be +likely to happen. I know your good sense, Lady Bothwell, and that you +will understand me when I say, that really my affairs require my +absence for some months;--this Jemima cannot understand; it is a +perpetual recurrence of questions, why can you not do this, or that, or +the third thing; and, when you have proved to her that her expedients +are totally ineffectual, you have just to begin the whole round again. +Now, do you tell her, dear Lady Bothwell, that _you_ are satisfied. She +is, you must confess, one of those persons with whom authority goes +farther than reasoning. Do but repose a little confidence in me, and +you shall see how amply I will repay it." + +Lady Bothwell shook her head, as one but half satisfied. "How difficult +it is to extend confidence, when the basis on which it ought to rest +has been so much shaken! But I will do my best to make Jemima easy; and +farther, I can only say, that for keeping your present purpose, I hold +you responsible both to God and man." + +"Do not fear that I will deceive you," said Sir Philip; "the safest +conveyance to me will be through the general post-office, Helvoetsluys, +where I will take care to leave orders for forwarding my letters. As +for Falconer, our only encounter will be over a bottle of Burgundy! so +make yourself perfectly easy on his score." + +Lady Bothwell could not make herself easy; yet she was sensible that +her sister hurt her own cause by _taking on_, as the maid-servants call +it, too vehemently; and by showing before every stranger, by manner, +and sometimes by words also, a dissatisfaction with her husband's +journey, that was sure to come to his ears, and equally certain to +displease him. But there was no help for this domestic dissension, +which ended only with the day of separation. + +I am sorry I cannot tell, with precision, the year in which Sir Philip +Forester went over to Flanders; but it was one of those in which the +campaign opened with extraordinary fury; and many bloody, though +indecisive, skirmishes were fought between the French on the one side, +and the Allies on the other. In all our modern improvements, there are +none, perhaps, greater than in the accuracy and speed with which +intelligence is transmitted from any scene of action to those in this +country whom it may concern. During Marlborough's campaigns, the +sufferings of the many who had relations in, or along with, the army, +were greatly augmented by the suspense in which they were detained for +weeks, after they had heard of bloody battles in which, in all +probability, those for whom their bosoms throbbed with anxiety had been +personally engaged. Amongst those who were most agonized by this state +of uncertainty, was the--I had almost said deserted---wife of the gay +Sir Philip Forester. A single letter had informed her of his arrival on +the Continent--no others were received. One notice occurred in the +newspapers, in which Volunteer Sir Philip Forester was mentioned as +having been entrusted with a dangerous reconnoissance, which he had +executed with the greatest courage, dexterity, and intelligence, and +received the thanks of the commanding officer. The sense of his having +acquired distinction brought a momentary glow into the lady's pale +cheek; but it--was instantly lost in ashen whiteness at the +recollection of his danger. After this, they had no news whatever, +neither from Sir Philip, nor even from their brother Falconer. The case +of Lady Forester was not indeed different from that of hundreds in the +same situation; but a feeble mind is necessarily an irritable one, and +the suspense which some bear with constitutional indifference or +philosophical resignation, and some with a disposition to believe and +hope the best, was intolerable to Lady Forester, at once solitary and +sensitive, low-spirited, and devoid of strength of mind, whether +natural or acquired. + + + + +CHAPTER THE SECOND. + + +As she received no farther news of Sir Philip, whether directly or +indirectly, his unfortunate lady began now to feel a sort of +consolation, even in those careless habits which had so often given her +pain. "He is so thoughtless," she repeated a hundred times a day to her +sister, "he never writes when things are going on smoothly; it is his +way: had any thing happened he would have informed us." + +Lady Bothwell listened to her sister without attempting to console her. +Probably she might be of opinion, that even the worst intelligence +which could be received from Flanders might not be without some touch +of consolation; and that the Dowager Lady Forester, if so she was +doomed to be called, might have a source of happiness unknown to the +wife of the gayest and finest gentleman in Scotland. This conviction +became stronger as they learned from inquiries made at headquarters, +that Sir Philip was no longer with the army; though whether he had been +taken or slain in some of those skirmishes which were perpetually +occurring, and in which he loved to distinguish himself, or whether he +had, for some unknown reason or capricious change of mind, voluntarily +left the service, none of his countrymen in the camp of the Allies +could form even a conjecture. Meantime his creditors at home became +clamorous, entered into possession of big property, and threatened his +person, should he be rash enough to return to Scotland. These +additional disadvantages aggravated Lady Bothwell's displeasure against +the fugitive husband; while her sister saw nothing in any of them, save +what tended to increase her grief for the absence of him whom her +imagination now represented,--as it had before marriage,--gallant, gay, +and affectionate. + +About this period there appeared in Edinburgh a man of singular +appearance and pretensions. He was commonly called the Paduan Doctor, +from having received his education at that famous university. He was +supposed to possess some rare receipts in medicine, with which, it was +affirmed, he had wrought remarkable cures. But though, on the one hand, +the physicians of Edinburgh termed him an empiric, there were many +persons, and among them some of the clergy, who, while they admitted +the truth of the cures and the force of his remedies, alleged that +Doctor Baptisti Damiotti made use of charms and unlawful arts in order +to obtain success in his practice. The resorting to him was even +solemnly preached against, as a seeking of health from idols, and a +trusting to the help which was to come from Egypt. But the protection +which the Paduan Doctor received from some friends of interest and +consequence, enabled him to set these imputations at defiance, and to +assume, even in the city of Edinburgh, famed as it was for abhorrence +of witches and necromancers, the dangerous character of an expounder of +futurity. It was at length rumoured, that for a certain gratification, +which, of course, was not an inconsiderable one, Doctor Baptisti +Damiotti could tell the fate of the absent, and even show his visitors +the personal form of their absent friends, and the action in which they +were engaged at the moment. This rumour came to the ears of Lady +Forester, who had reached that pitch of mental agony in which the +sufferer will do any thing, or endure any thing, that suspense may be +converted into certainty. + +Gentle and timid in most cases, her state of mind made her equally +obstinate and reckless, and it was with no small surprise and alarm +that her sister, Lady Bothwell, heard her express a resolution to visit +this man of art, and learn from him the fate of her husband. Lady +Bothwell remonstrated on the improbability that such pretensions as +those of this foreigner could be founded on any thing but imposture. + +"I care not," said the deserted wife, "what degree of ridicule I may +incur; if there be any one chance out of a hundred that I may obtain +some certainty of my husband's fate, I would not miss that chance for +whatever else the world can offer me." + +Lady Bothwell next urged the unlawfulness of resorting to such sources +of forbidden knowledge. + +"Sister," replied the sufferer, "he who is dying of thirst cannot +refrain from drinking poisoned water. She who suffers under suspense +must seek information, even were the powers which offer it unhallowed +and infernal. I go to learn my fate alone; and this very evening will I +know it: the sun that rises to-morrow shall find me, if not more happy, +at least more resigned." + +"Sister," said Lady Bothwell, "if you are determined upon this wild +step, you shall not go alone. If this man be an impostor, you may be +too much agitated by your feelings to detect his villany. If, which I +cannot believe, there be any truth in what he pretends, you shall not +be exposed alone to a communication of so extraordinary a nature. I +will go with you, if indeed you determine to go. But yet reconsider +your project, and renounce inquiries which cannot be prosecuted without +guilt, and perhaps without danger." + +Lady Forester threw herself into her sister's arms, and, clasping her +to her bosom, thanked her a hundred times for the offer of her company; +while she declined with a melancholy gesture the friendly advice with +which it was accompanied. + +When the hour of twilight arrived,--which was the period when the +Paduan Doctor was understood to receive the visits of those who came to +consult with him,--the two ladies left their apartments in the +Canongate of Edinburgh, having their dress arranged like that of women +of an inferior description, and their plaids disposed around their +faces as they were worn by the same class; for, in those days of +aristocracy, the quality of the wearer was generally indicated by the +manner in which her plaid was disposed, as well as by the fineness of +its texture. It was Lady Bothwell who had suggested this species of +disguise, partly to avoid observation as they should go to the +conjuror's house, and partly in order to make trial of his penetration, +by appearing before him in a feigned character. Lady Forester's +servant, of tried fidelity, had been employed by her to propitiate the +Doctor by a suitable fee, and a story intimating that a soldier's wife +desired to know the fate of her husband; a subject upon which, in all +probability, the sage was very frequently consulted. + +To the last moment, when the palace clock struck eight, Lady Bothwell +earnestly watched her sister, in hopes that she might retreat from, her +rash undertaking; but as mildness, and even timidity, is capable at +times of vehement and fixed purposes, she found Lady Forester +resolutely unmoved and determined when the moment of departure arrived. +Ill satisfied with the expedition, but determined not to leave her +sister at such a crisis, Lady Bothwell accompanied Lady Forester +through more than one obscure street and lane, the servant walking +before, and acting as their guide. At length he suddenly turned into a +narrow court, and knocked at an arched door, which seemed to belong to +a building of some antiquity. It opened, though no one appeared to act +as porter; and the servant, stepping aside from the entrance, motioned +the ladies to enter. They had no sooner done so, than it shut, and +excluded their guide. The two ladies found themselves in a small +vestibule, illuminated by a dim lamp, and having, when the door was +closed, no communication with the external light or air. The door of an +inner apartment, partly open, was at the farther side of the vestibule. + +"We must not hesitate now, Jemima," said Lady Bothwell, and walked +forwards into the inner room, where, surrounded by books, maps, +philosophical utensils, and other implements of peculiar shape and +appearance, they found the man of art. + +There was nothing very peculiar in the Italian's appearance. He had the +dark complexion and marked features of his country, seemed about fifty +years old, and was handsomely, but plainly, dressed in a full suit of +black clothes, which was then the universal costume of the medical +profession. Large wax-lights, in silver sconces, illuminated the +apartment, which was reasonably furnished. He rose as the ladies +entered; and, not-withstanding the inferiority of their dress, received +them with the marked respect due to their quality, and which foreigners +are usually punctilious in rendering to those to whom such honours are +due. + +Lady Bothwell endeavoured to maintain her proposed incognito; and, as +the Doctor ushered them to the upper end of the room, made a motion +declining his courtesy, as unfitted for their condition. "We are poor +people, sir," she said; "only my sister's distress has brought us to +consult your worship whether--" + +He smiled as he interrupted her--"I am aware, madam, of your sister's +distress, and its cause; I am aware, also, that I am honoured with a +visit from two ladies of the highest consideration--Lady Bothwell and +Lady Forester. If I could not distinguish them from the class of +society which their present dress would indicate, there would be small +possibility of my being able to gratify them by giving the information +which they come to seek." + +"I can easily understand," said Lady Bothwell---- + +"Pardon my boldness to interrupt you, milady," cried the Italian; "your +ladyship was about to say, that you could easily understand that I had +got possession of your names by means of your domestic. But in thinking +so, you do injustice to the fidelity of your servant, and, I may add, +to the skill of one who is also not less your humble servant--Baptisti +Damiotti." + +"I have no intention to do either, sir," said Lady Bothwell, +maintaining a tone of composure, though somewhat surprised, "but the +situation is something new to me. If you know who we are, you also +know, sir, what brought us here." + +"Curiosity to know the fate of a Scottish gentleman of rank, now, or +lately upon the Continent," answered the seer; "his name is Il +Cavaliero Philippo Forester; a gentleman who has the honour to be +husband to this lady, and, with your ladyship's permission for using +plain language, the misfortune not to value as it deserves that +inestimable advantage." + +Lady Forester sighed deeply, and Lady Bothwell replied-- + +"Since you know our object without our telling it, the only question +that remains is, whether you have the power to relieve my sister's +anxiety?" + +"I have, madam," answered the Paduan scholar; "but there is still a +previous inquiry. Have you the courage to behold with your own eyes +what the Cavaliero Philippo Forester is now doing? or will you take it +on my report?" + +"That question my sister must answer for herself," said Lady Bothwell. + +"With my own eyes will I endure to see whatever you have power to show +me," said Lady Forester, with the same determined spirit which had +stimulated her since her resolution was taken upon this subject. + +"There may be danger in it." + +"If gold can compensate the risk," said Lady Forester, taking out her +purse. + +"I do not such things for the purpose of gain," answered the foreigner. +"I dare not turn my art to such a purpose. If I take the gold of the +wealthy, it is but to bestow it on the poor; nor do I ever accept more +than the sum I have already received from your servant. Put up your +purse, madam; an adept needs not your gold." + +Lady Bothwell considering this rejection of her sister's offer as a +mere trick of an empiric, to induce her to press a larger sum upon him, +and willing that the scene should be commenced and ended, offered some +gold in turn, observing that it was only to enlarge the sphere of his +charity. + +"Let Lady Bothwell enlarge the sphere of her own charity," said the +Paduan, "not merely in giving of alms, in which I know she is not +deficient, but in judging the character of others; and let her oblige +Baptisti Damiotti by believing him honest, till she shall discover him +to be a knave. Do not be surprised, madam, if I speak in answer to your +thoughts rather than your expressions, and tell me once more whether +you have courage to look on what I am prepared to show?" + +"I own, sir," said Lady Bothwell. "that your words strike me with some +sense of fear; but whatever my sister desires to witness, I will not +shrink from witnessing along with her." + +"Nay, the danger only consists in the risk of your resolution failing +you. The sight can only last for the space of seven minutes; and should +you interrupt the vision by speaking a single word, not only would the +charm be broken, but some danger might result to the spectators. But if +you can remain steadily silent for the seven minutes, your curiosity +will be gratified without the slightest risk; and for this I will +engage my honour." + +Internally Lady Bothwell thought the security was but an indifferent +one; but she suppressed the suspicion, as if she had believed that the +adept, whose dark features wore a half-formed smile, could in reality +read even her most secret reflections. A solemn pause then ensued, +until Lady Forester gathered courage enough to reply to the physician, +as he termed himself, that she would abide with firmness and silence +the sight which he had promised to exhibit to them. Upon this, he made +them a low obeisance, and saying he went to prepare matters to meet +their wish, left the apartment. The two sisters, hand in hand, as if +seeking by that close union to divert any danger which might threaten +them, sat down on two seats in immediate contact with each other: +Jemima seeking support in the manly and habitual courage of Lady +Bothwell; and she, on the other hand, more agitated than she had +expected, endeavouring to fortify herself by the desperate resolution +which circumstances had forced her sister to assume. The one perhaps +said to herself, that her sister never feared anything; and the other +might reflect, that what so feeble a minded woman as Jemima did not +fear, could not properly be a subject of apprehension to a person of +firmness and resolution like herself. + +In a few moments the thoughts of both were diverted from their own +situation, by a strain of music so singularly sweet and solemn, that, +while it seemed calculated to avert or dispel any feeling unconnected +with its harmony, increased, at the same time, the solemn excitation +which the preceding interview was calculated to produce. The music was +that of some instrument with which they were unacquainted; but +circumstances afterwards led my ancestress to believe that it was, that +of the harmonica, which she heard at a much later period in life. + +When these heaven-born sounds had ceased, a door opened in the upper +end of the apartment, and they saw Damiotti, standing at the head of +two or three steps, sign to them to advance. His dress was so different +from that which he had worn a few minutes before, that they could +hardly recognize him; and the deadly paleness of his countenance, and a +certain rigidity of muscles, like that of one whose mind is made up to +some strange and daring action, had totally changed the somewhat +sarcastic expression with which he had previously regarded them both, +and particularly Lady Bothwell. He was barefooted, excepting a species +of sandals in the antique fashion; his legs were naked beneath the +knees; above them he wore hose, and a doublet of dark crimson silk +close to his body; and over that a flowing loose robe, something +resembling a surplice, of snow-white linen; his throat and neck were +uncovered, and his long, straight, black hair was carefully combed down +at full length. + +As the ladies approached at his bidding, he showed no gesture of that +ceremonious courtesy of which he had been formerly lavish. On the +contrary, he made the signal of advance with an air of command; and +when, arm in arm, and with insecure steps, the sisters approached the +spot where he stood, it was with a warning frown that he pressed his +finger to his lips, as if reiterating his condition of absolute +silence, while, stalking before them, he led the way into the next +apartment. + +This was a large room, hung with black, as if for a funeral. At the +upper end was a table, or rather a species of altar, covered with the +same lugubrious colour, on which lay divers objects resembling the +usual implements of sorcery. These objects were not indeed visible as +they advanced into the apartment; for the light which displayed them, +being only that of two expiring lamps, was extremely faint. The master +--to use the Italian phrase for persons of this description--approached +the upper end of the room with a genuflexion like that of a Catholic to +the crucifix, and at the same time crossed himself. The ladies followed +in silence, and arm in arm. Two or three low broad steps led to a +platform in front of the altar, or what resembled such. Here the sage +took his stand, and placed the ladies beside him, once more earnestly +repeating by signs his injunctions of silence. The Italian then, +extending his bare arm from under his linen vestment, pointed with his +forefinger to five large flambeaux, or torches, placed on each side of +the altar. They took fire successively at the approach of his hand, or +rather of his finger, and spread a strong light through the room. By +this the visitors could discern that, on the seeming altar, were +disposed two naked swords laid crosswise; a large open book, which they +conceived to be a copy of the Holy Scriptures, but in a language to +them unknown; and beside this mysterious volume was placed a human +skull. But what struck the sisters most was a very tall and broad +mirror, which occupied all the space behind the altar, and, illuminated +by the lighted torches, reflected the mysterious articles which were +laid upon it. + +The master then placed himself between the two ladies, and, pointing to +the mirror, took each by the hand, but without speaking a syllable. +They gazed intently on the polished and sable space to which he had +directed their attention. Suddenly the surface assumed a new and +singular appearance. It no longer simply reflected the objects placed +before it, but, as if it had self-contained scenery of its own, objects +began to appear within it, at first in a disorderly, indistinct, and +miscellaneous manner, like form arranging itself out of chaos; at +length, in distinct and defined shape and symmetry. It was thus that, +after some shifting of light and darkness over the face of the +wonderful glass, a long perspective of arches and columns began to +arrange itself on its sides, and a vaulted roof on the upper part of +it; till, after many oscillations, the whole vision gained a fixed and +stationary appearance, representing the interior of a foreign church. +The pillars were stately, and hung with scutcheons; the arches were +lofty and magnificent; the floor was lettered with funeral +inscriptions. But there were no separate shrines, no images, no display +of chalice or crucifix on the altar. It was, therefore, a Protestant +church upon the Continent. A clergyman, dressed in the Geneva gown and +band, stood by the communion-table, and, with the Bible opened before +him, and his clerk awaiting in the background, seemed prepared to +perform some service of the church to which he belonged. + +At length there entered the middle aisle of the building a numerous +party, which appeared to be a bridal one, as a lady and gentleman +walked first, hand in hand, followed by a large concourse of persons of +both sexes, gaily, nay richly, attired. The bride, whose features they +could distinctly see, seemed not more than sixteen years old, and +extremely beautiful. The bridegroom, for some seconds, moved rather +with his shoulder towards them, and his face averted; but his elegance +of form and step struck the sisters at once with the same apprehension. +As he turned his face suddenly, he was frightfully realized, and they +saw, in the gay bridegroom before them, Sir Philip Forester. His wife +uttered an imperfect exclamation, at the sound of which the whole scene +stirred and seemed to separate. + +"I could compare it to nothing," said Lady Bothwell, while recounting +the wonderful tale, "but to the dispersion of the reflection offered by +a deep and calm pool, when a stone is suddenly cast into it, and the +shadows become dissipated and broken." The master pressed both the +ladies' hands severely, as if to remind them of their promise, and of +the danger which they incurred. The exclamation died away on Lady +Forester's tongue without attaining perfect utterance, and the scene in +the glass, after the fluctuation of a minute, again resumed to the eye +its former appearance of a real scene, existing within the mirror, as +if represented in a picture, save that the figures were moveable +instead of being stationary. + +The representation of Sir Philip Forester, now distinctly visible in +form and feature, was seen to lead on towards the clergyman that +beautiful girl, who advanced at once with diffidence, and with a +species of affectionate pride. In the meantime, and just as the +clergyman had arranged the bridal company before him, and seemed about +to commence the service, another group of persons, of whom two or three +were officers, entered the church. They moved, at first, forward, as +though they came to witness the bridal ceremony, but suddenly one of +the officers, whose back was towards the spectators, detached himself +from his companions, and rushed hastily towards the marriage party, +when the whole of them, turned towards him, as if attracted by some +exclamation which had accompanied his advance Suddenly the intruder +drew his sword; the bridegroom unsheathed his own, and made towards +him; swords were also drawn by other individuals, both of the marriage +party, and of those who had last entered. They fell into a sort of +confusion, the clergyman, and some elder and graver persons, labouring +apparently to keep the peace, while the hotter spirits on both sides +brandished their weapons. But now the period of brief space during +which the soothsayer, as he pretended, was permitted to exhibit his +art, was arrived. The fumes again mixed together, and dissolved +gradually from observation; the vaults and columns of the church rolled +asunder, and disappeared; and the front of the mirror reflected nothing +save the blazing torches, and the melancholy apparatus placed on the +altar or table before it. + +The doctor led the ladies, who greatly required his support, into the +apartment from whence they came; where wine, essences, and other means +of restoring suspended animation, had been provided during his absence. +He motioned them to chairs, which they occupied in silence; Lady +Forester, in particular, wringing her hands, and casting her eyes up to +heaven, but without speaking a word, as if the spell had been still +before her eyes. + +"And what we have seen is even now acting?" said Lady Bothwell, +collecting herself with difficulty. + +"That," answered Baptisti Damiotti, "I cannot justly, or with +certainty, say. But it is either now acting, or has been acted, during +a short space before this. It is the last remarkable transaction in +which the Cavalier Forester has been engaged." + +Lady Bothwell then expressed anxiety concerning her sister, whose +altered countenance and apparent unconsciousness of what passed around +her, excited her apprehensions how it might be possible to convey her +home. + +"I have prepared for that," answered the adept; "I have directed the +servant to bring your equipage as near to this place as the narrowness +of the street will permit. Fear not for your sister; but give her, when +you return home, this composing draught, and she will be better +to-morrow morning. Few," he added, in a melancholy tone, "leave this +house as well in health as they entered it. Such being the consequence +of seeking knowledge by mysterious means, I leave you to judge the +condition of those who have the power of gratifying such irregular +curiosity. Farewell, and forget not the potion." + +"I will give her nothing that comes from you," said Lady Bothwell; "I +have seen enough of your art already. Perhaps you would poison us both +to conceal your own necromancy. But we are persons who want neither the +means of making our wrongs known, nor the assistance of friends to +right them." + +"You have had no wrongs from me, madam," said the adept. "You sought +one who is little grateful for such honour. He seeks no one, and only +gives responses to those who invite and call upon him. After all, you +have but learned a little sooner the evil which you must still be +doomed to endure. I hear your servant's step at the door, and will +detain your ladyship and Lady Forester no longer. The next packet from +the continent will explain what you have partly witnessed. Let it not, +if I may advise, pass too suddenly into your sister's hands." + +So saying, he bid Lady Bothwell good-night. She went, lighted by the +adept, to the vestibule, where he hastily threw a black cloak over his +singular dress, and opening the door intrusted his visitors to the care +of the servant. It was with difficulty that Lady Bothwell sustained her +sister to the carriage, though it was only twenty steps distant. When +they arrived at home, Lady Forester required medical assistance. The +physician of the family attended, and shook his head on feeling her +pulse. + +"Here has been," he said, "a violent and sudden shock on the nerves. I +must know how it has happened." + +Lady Bothwell admitted they had visited the conjuror, and that Lady +Forester had received some bad news respecting her husband, Sir Philip. + +"That rascally quack would make my fortune were he to stay in +Edinburgh," said the graduate; "this is the seventh nervous case I have +heard of his making for me, and all by effect of terror." He next +examined the composing draught which Lady Bothwell had unconsciously +brought in her hand, tasted it, and pronounced it very germain to the +matter, and what would save an application to the apothecary. He then +paused, and looking at Lady Bothwell very significantly, at length +added, "I suppose I must not ask your ladyship anything about this +Italian warlock's proceedings?" + +"Indeed, Doctor," answered Lady Bothwell, "I consider what passed as +confidential; and though the man may be a rogue, yet, as we were fools +enough to consult him, we should, I think, be honest enough to keep his +counsel." + +"_May_ be a knave--come," said the Doctor, "I am glad to hear your +ladyship allows such a possibility in any thing that comes from Italy." + +"What comes from Italy may be as good as what conies from Hanover, +Doctor. But you and I will remain good friends, and that it may be so, +we will say nothing of Whig and Tory." + +"Not I," said the Doctor, receiving his fee, and taking his hat; "a +Carolus serves my purpose as well as a Willielmus. But I should like to +know why old Lady Saint Ringan's, and all that set, go about wasting +their decayed lungs in puffing this foreign fellow." + +"Ay--you had best set him down a Jesuit, as Scrub says." On these terms +they parted. + +The poor patient--whose nerves, from an extraordinary state of tension, +had at length become relaxed in as extraordinary a degree--continued to +struggle with a sort of imbecility, the growth of superstitious terror, +when the shocking tidings were brought from Holland, which fulfilled +even her worst expectations. + +They were sent by the celebrated Earl of Stair, and contained the +melancholy event of a duel betwixt Sir Philip Forester, and his wife's +half-brother, Captain Falconer, of the Scotch-Dutch, as they were then +called, in which the latter had been killed. The cause of quarrel +rendered the incident still more shocking. It seemed that Sir Philip +had left the army suddenly, in consequence of being unable to pay a +very considerable sum, which he had lost to another volunteer at play. +He had changed his name, and taken up his residence at Rotterdam, where +he had insinuated himself into the good graces of an ancient and rich +burgomaster, and, by his handsome person and graceful manners, +captivated the affections of his only child, a very young person, of +great beauty, and the heiress of much wealth. Delighted with the +specious attractions of his proposed son-in-law, the wealthy +merchant--whose idea of the British character was too high to admit of +his taking any precaution to acquire evidence of his condition and +circumstances--gave his consent to the marriage. It was about to be +celebrated in the principal church of the city, when it was interrupted +by a singular occurrence. + +Captain Falconer having been detached to Rotterdam to bring up a part +of the brigade of Scottish auxiliaries, who were in quarters there, a +person of consideration in the town, to whom he had been formerly +known, proposed to him for amusement to go to the high church, to see a +countryman of his own married to the daughter of a wealthy burgomaster. +Captain Falconer went accordingly, accompanied by his Dutch +acquaintance with a party of his friends, and two or three officers of +the Scotch brigade. His astonishment may be conceived when he saw his +own brother-in-law, a married man, on the point of leading to the altar +the innocent and beautiful creature, upon whom he was about to practise +a base and unmanly deceit. He proclaimed his villany on the spot, and +the marriage was interrupted of course. But against the opinion of more +thinking men, who considered Sir Philip Forester as having thrown +himself out of the rank of men of honour, Captain Falconer admitted him +to the privilege of such, accepted a challenge from him, and in the +rencounter received a mortal wound. Such are the ways of Heaven, +mysterious in our eyes. Lady Forester never recovered the shock of this +dismal intelligence. + + * * * * * + +"And did this tragedy," said I, "take place exactly at the time when +the scene in the mirror was exhibited?" + +"It is hard to be obliged to maim one's story," answered my aunt; "but, +to speak the truth, it happened some days sooner than the apparition +was exhibited." + +"And so there remained a possibility," said I, "that by some secret and +speedy communication the artist might have received early intelligence +of that incident." + +"The incredulous pretended so," replied my aunt. + +"What became of the adept?" demanded I. + +"Why, a warrant came down shortly afterwards to arrest him for +high-treason, as an agent of the Chevalier St. George; and Lady +Bothwell, recollecting the hints which had escaped the Doctor, an +ardent friend of the Protestant succession, did then call to +remembrance, that this man was chiefly _prone_ among the ancient +matrons of her own political persuasion. It certainly seemed probable +that intelligence from the continent, which could easily have been +transmitted by an active and powerful agent, might have enabled him to +prepare such a scene of phantasmagoria as she had herself witnessed. +Yet there were so many difficulties in assigning a natural explanation, +that, to the day of her death, she remained in great doubt on the +subject, and much disposed to cut the Gordian knot, by admitting the +existence of supernatural agency." + +"But, my dear aunt," said I, "what became of the man of skill?" + +"Oh, he was too good a fortune-teller not to be able to foresee that +his own destiny would be tragical if he waited the arrival of the man +with the silver greyhound upon his sleeve. He made, as we say, a +moonlight flitting, and was nowhere to be seen or heard of. Some noise +there was about papers or letters found in the house, but it died away, +and Doctor Baptisti Damiotti was soon as little talked of as Galen or +Hippocrates." + +"And Sir Philip Forester," said I, "did he too vanish for ever from the +public scene?" + +"No," replied my kind informer. "He was heard of once more, and it was +upon a remarkable occasion. It is said that we Scots, when there was +such a nation in existence, have, among our full peck of virtues, one +or two little barleycorns of vice. In particular, it is alleged that we +rarely forgive, and never forget, any injuries received; that we used +to make an idol of our resentment, as poor Lady Constance did of her +grief; and are addicted, as Burns says, to 'nursing our wrath to keep +it warm.' Lady Bothwell was not without this feeling; and, I believe, +nothing whatever, scarce the restoration of the Stuart line, could have +happened so delicious to her feelings as an opportunity of being +revenged on Sir Philip Forester, for the deep and double injury which +had deprived her of a sister and of a brother. But nothing of him was +heard or known till many a year had passed away." + +At length--it was on a Fastern's E'en (Shrovetide) assembly, at which +the whole fashion of Edinburgh attended, full and frequent, and when +Lady Bothwell had a seat amongst the lady patronesses, that one of the +attendants on the company whispered into her ear, that a gentleman +wished to speak with her in private. + +"In private? and in an assembly-room?--he must be mad--Tell him to call +upon me to-morrow morning." + +"I said, so, my lady," answered the man; "but he desired me to give you +this paper." + +She undid the billet, which was curiously folded and sealed. It only +bore the words, "_On business of life and death_," written in a hand +which she had never seen before. Suddenly it occurred to her, that it +might concern the safety of some of her political friends; she +therefore followed the messenger to a small apartment where the +refreshments were prepared, and from which the general company was +excluded. She found an old man, who, at her approach, rose up and bowed +profoundly. His appearance indicated a broken constitution; and his +dress, though sedulously rendered conforming to the etiquette of a +ball-room, was worn and tarnished, and hung in folds about his +emaciated person. Lady Bothwell was about to feel for her purse, +expecting to get rid of the supplicant at the expense of a little +money, but some fear of a mistake arrested her purpose. She therefore +gave the man leisure to explain himself. + +"I have the honour to speak with the Lady Bothwell?" + +"I am Lady Bothwell; allow me to say, that this is no time or place for +long explanations.--What are your commands with me?" + +"Your ladyship," said the old man, "had once a sister." + +"True; whom I loved as my own soul." + +"And a brother." + +"The bravest, the kindest, the most affectionate!" said Lady Bothwell. + +"Both these beloved relatives you lost by the fault of an unfortunate +man," continued the stranger. + +"By the crime of an unnatural, bloody-minded murderer," said the lady. + +"I am answered," replied the old man, bowing, as if to withdraw. + +"Stop, sir, I command you," said Lady Bothwell.--"Who are you, that, at +such a place and time, come to recall these horrible recollections? I +insist upon knowing." + +"I am one who intends Lady Bothwell no injury; but, on the contrary, to +offer her the means of doing a deed of Christian charity, which the +world would wonder at, and which Heaven would reward; but I find her in +no temper for such a sacrifice as I was prepared to ask." + +"Speak out, sir; what is your meaning?" said Lady Bothwell. + +"The wretch that has wronged you so deeply," rejoined the stranger, "is +now on his death-bed. His days have been days of misery, his nights +have been sleepless hours of anguish--yet he cannot die without your +forgiveness. His life has been an unremitting penance--yet he dares not +part from his burden while your curses load his soul." + +"Tell him," said Lady Bothwell, sternly, "to ask pardon of that Being +whom he has so greatly offended; not of an erring mortal like himself. +What could my forgiveness avail him?" + +"Much," answered the old man. "It will be an earnest of that which he +may then venture to ask from his Creator, lady, and from yours. +Remember, Lady Bothwell, you too have a death-bed to look forward to; +your soul may, all human souls must, feel the awe of facing the +judgment seat, with the wounds of an untented conscience, raw, and +rankling--what thought would it be then that should whisper, 'I have +given no mercy, how then shall I ask it?'" + +"Man, whosoever thou mayst be," replied Lady Bothwell, "urge me not so +cruelly. It would be but blasphemous hypocrisy lo utter with my lips +the words which every throb of my heart protests against. They would +open the earth and give to light the wasted form of my sister--the +bloody form of my murdered brother--forgive him?--Never, never!" + +"Great God!" cried the old man, holding up his hands, "is it thus the +worms which thou hast called out of dust obey the commands of their +Maker? Farewell, proud and unforgiving woman. Exult that thou hast +added to a death in want and pain the agonies of religious despair; but +never again mock Heaven by petitioning for the pardon which thou host +refused to grant." + +He was turning from her. + +"Stop," she exclaimed; "I will try; yes, I will try to pardon him." + +"Gracious lady," said the old man, "you will relieve the over-burdened +soul, which dare not sever itself from its sinful companion of earth +without being at peace with you. What do I know--your forgiveness may +perhaps preserve for penitence the dregs of a wretched life." + +"Ha!" said the lady, as a sudden light broke on her, "it is the villain +himself!" And grasping Sir Philip Forester--for it was he, and no +other--by the collar, she raised a cry of "Murder, murder! Seize the +murderer!" + +At an exclamation so singular, in such a place, the company thronged +into the apartment, but Sir Philip Forester was no longer there. He had +forcibly extricated himself from Lady Bothwell's hold, and had run out +of the apartment which opened on the landing-place of the stair. There +seemed no escape in that direction, for there were several persons +coming up the steps, and others descending. But the unfortunate man was +desperate. He threw himself over the balustrade, and alighted safely in +the lobby, though a leap of fifteen feet at least, then dashed into the +street and was lost in darkness. Some of the Bothwell family made +pursuit, and, had they come up with the fugitive, they might have +perhaps slain him; for in those days men's blood ran warm in their +veins. But the police did not interfere; the matter most criminal +having happened long since, and in a foreign land. Indeed, it was +always thought, that this extraordinary scene originated in a +hypocritical experiment, by which Sir Philip desired to ascertain +whether he might return to his native country in safety from the +resentment of a family which he had injured so deeply. As the result +fell out so contrary to his wishes, he is believed to have returned to +the Continent, and there died in exile. + +So closed the tale of the MYSTERIOUS MIRROR. + + + + +THE TAPESTRIED CHAMBER; + +OR, + +THE LADY IN THE SACQUE. + +THIS is another little story, from the Keepsake of 1828. It was told to +me many years ago, by the late Miss Anna Seward, who, among other +accomplishments that rendered her an amusing inmate in a country house, +had that of recounting narratives of this sort with very considerable +effect; much greater, indeed, than any one would be apt to guess from +the style of her written performances. There are hours and moods when +most people are not displeased to listen to such things; and I have +heard some of the greatest and wisest of my contemporaries take their +share in telling them. + +August, 1831. + +THE following narrative is given from the pen, so far as memory +permits, in the same character in which it was presented to the +author's ear; nor has he claim to farther praise, or to be more deeply +censured, than in proportion to the good or bad judgment which he has +employed in selecting his materials, as he has studiously avoided any +attempt at ornament, which might interfere with the simplicity of the +tale. + +At the same time, it must be admitted, that the particular class of +stories which turns on the marvellous, possesses a stronger influence +when told than when committed to print. The volume taken up at noonday, +though rehearsing the same incidents, conveys a much more feeble +impression than, is achieved by the voice of the speaker on a circle of +fireside auditors, who hang upon the narrative as the narrator details +the minute incidents which serve to give it authenticity, and lowers +his voice with an affectation of mystery while he approaches the +fearful and wonderful part. It was with such advantages that the +present writer heard the following events related, more than twenty +years since, by the celebrated Miss Seward, of Litchfield, who, to her +numerous accomplishments, added, in a remarkable degree, the power of +narrative in private conversation. In its present form, the tale must +necessarily lose all the interest which was attached to it, by the +flexible voice and intelligent features of the gifted narrator. Yet +still, read aloud, to an undoubting audience by the doubtful light of +the closing evening, or in silence, by a decaying taper, and amidst the +solitude of a half-lighted apartment, it may redeem its character as a +good ghost story. Miss Seward always affirmed that she had derived her +information from an authentic source, although she suppressed the names +of the two persons chiefly concerned. I will not avail myself of any +particulars I may have since received concerning the localities of the +detail, but suffer them to rest under the same general description in +which they were first related to me; and, for the same reason, I will +not add to, or diminish the narrative, by any circumstances, whether +more or less material, but simply rehearse, as I heard it, a story of +supernatural terror. + +About the end of the American war, when the officers of Lord +Cornwallis's army, which surrendered at York-town, and others, who had +been made prisoners during the impolitic and ill-fated controversy, +were returning to their own country, to relate their adventures, and +repose themselves after their fatigues; there was amongst them a +general officer, to whom Miss S. gave the name of Browne, but merely, +as I understood, to save the inconvenience of introducing a nameless +agent in the narrative. He was an officer of merit, as well as a +gentleman of high consideration for family and attainments. + +Some business had carried General Browne upon a tour through the +western counties, when, in the conclusion of a morning stage, he found +himself in the vicinity of a small country town, which presented a +scene of uncommon beauty, and of a character peculiarly English. + +The little town, with its stately church, whose tower bore testimony to +the devotion of ages long past, lay amidst pasture and corn-fields of +small extent, but bounded and divided with hedge-row timber of great +age and size. There were few marks of modern improvement. The environs +of the place intimated neither the solitude of decay, nor the bustle of +novelty; the houses were old, but in good repair; and the beautiful +little river murmured freely on its way to the left of the town, +neither restrained by a dam, nor bordered by a towing-path. + +Upon a gentle eminence, nearly a mile to the southward of the town, +were seen, amongst many venerable oaks and tangled thickets, the +turrets of a castle, as old as the wars of York and Lancaster, but +which seemed to have received important alterations during the age of +Elizabeth and her successors. It had not been a place of great size; +but whatever accommodation it formerly afforded, was, it must be +supposed, still to be obtained within its walls; at least, such was the +inference which General Browne drew from observing the smoke arise +merrily from several of the ancient wreathed and carved chimney-stalks. +The wall of the park ran alongside of the highway for two or three +hundred yards; and through the different points by which the eye found +glimpses into the woodland scenery, it seemed to be well stocked. Other +points of view opened in succession; now a full one, of the front of +the old castle, and now a side glimpse at its particular towers; the +former rich in all the bizarrerie of the Elizabethan school, while the +simple arid solid strength of other parts of the building seemed to +show that they had been raised more for defence than ostentation. +Delighted with the partial glimpses which he obtained of the castle +through the woods and glades by which this ancient feudal fortress was +surrounded, our military traveller was determined to inquire whether it +might not deserve a nearer view, and whether it contained family +pictures or other objects of curiosity worthy of a stranger's visit; +when, leaving the vicinity of the park, he rolled through a clean and +well-paved street, and stopped at the door of a well-frequented inn. + +Before ordering horses to proceed on his journey, General Browne made +inquiries concerning the proprietor of the chateau which had so +attracted his admiration, and was equally surprised and pleased at +hearing in reply a nobleman named whom we shall call Lord Woodville. +How fortunate! Much of Browne's early recollections, both at school and +at college, had been connected with young Woodville, whom, by a few +questions, he now ascertained to be the same with the owner of this +fair domain. He had been raised to the peerage by the decease of his +father a few months before, and, as the General learned from the +landlord, the term of mourning being ended, was now taking possession +of his paternal estate, in the jovial season of merry autumn, +accompanied by a select party of friends to enjoy the sports of a +country famous for game. + +This was delightful news to our traveller. Frank Woodville had been +Richard Browne's fag at Eton, and his chosen intimate at Christ Church; +their pleasures and their tasks had been the same; and the honest +soldier's heart warmed to find his early friend in possession of so +delightful a residence, and of an estate, as the landlord assured him +with a nod and a wink, fully adequate to maintain and add to his +dignity. Nothing was more natural than that the traveller should +suspend a journey, which there was nothing to render hurried, to pay a +visit to an old friend under such agreeable circumstances. + +The fresh horses, therefore, had only the brief task of conveying the +General's travelling carriage to Woodville Castle. A porter admitted +them at a modern Gothic Lodge, built in that style to correspond with +the Castle itself, and at the same time rang a bell to give warning of +the approach of visitors. Apparently the sound of the bell had +suspended the separation of the company, bent on the various amusements +of the morning; for, on entering the court of the chateau, several +young men were lounging about in their sporting dresses, looking at, +and criticising, the dogs which the keepers held in readiness to attend +their pastime. As General Browne alighted, the young lord came to the +gate of the hall, and for an instant gazed, as at a stranger, upon the +countenance of his friend, on which war, with its fatigues and its +wounds, had made a great alteration. But the uncertainty lasted no +longer than till the visitor had spoken, and the hearty greeting which +followed was such as can only be exchanged betwixt those who have +passed together the merry days of careless boyhood or early youth. + +"If I could have formed a wish, my dear Browne," said Lord Woodville, +"it would have been to have you here, of all men, upon this occasion, +which my friends are good enough to hold as a sort of holyday. Do not +think you have been unwatched during the years you have been absent +from us. I have traced you through your dangers, your triumphs, your +misfortunes, and was delighted to see that, whether in victory or +defeat, the name of my old friend was always distinguished with +applause." + +The General made a suitable reply, and congratulated his friend on his +new dignities, and the possession of a place and domain so beautiful. + +"Nay, you have seen nothing of it as yet," said Lord Woodville, "and I +trust you do not mean to leave us till you are better acquainted with +it. It is true, I confess, that my present party is pretty large, and +the old house, like other places of the kind, does not possess so much +accommodation as the extent of the outward walls appears to promise. +But we can give you a comfortable old-fashioned room; and I venture to +suppose that your campaigns have taught you to be glad of worse +quarters." + +The General shrugged his shoulders, and laughed. "I presume," he said, +"the worst apartment in your chateau is considerably superior to the +old tobacco-cask, in which I was fain to take up my night's lodging +when I was in the Bush, as the Virginians call it, with the light +corps. There I lay, like Diogenes himself, so delighted with my +covering from the elements, that I made a vain attempt to have it +rolled on to my next quarters; but my commander for the time would give +way to no such luxurious provision, and I took farewell of my beloved +cask with tears in my eyes." + +"Well, then, since you do not fear your quarters," said Lord Woodville, +"you will stay with me a week at least. Of guns, dogs, fishing-rods, +flies, and means of sport by sea and land, we have enough and to spare: +you cannot pitch on an amusement, but we will pitch on the means of +pursuing it. But if you prefer the gun and pointers, I will go with you +myself, and see whether you have mended your shooting since you have +been amongst the Indians of the back settlements." + +The General gladly accepted his friendly host's proposal in all its +points. After a morning of manly exercise, the company met at dinner, +where it was the delight of Lord Woodville to conduce to the display of +the high properties of his recovered friend, so as to recommend him to +his guests, most of whom were persons of distinction. He led General +Browne to speak of the scenes he had witnessed; and as every word +marked alike the brave officer and the sensible man, who retained +possession of his cool judgment under the most imminent dangers, the +company looked upon the soldier with general respect, as no one who had +proved himself possessed of an uncommon portion of personal +courage--that attribute, of all others, of which every body desires to +be thought possessed. + +The day at Woodville Castle ended as usual in such mansions. The +hospitality stopped within the limits of good order; music, in which +the young lord was a proficient, succeeded to the circulation of the +bottle: cards and billiards, for those who preferred such amusements, +were in readiness: but the exercise of the morning required early +hours, and not long after eleven o'clock the guests began to retire to +their several apartments. + +The young lord himself conducted his friend, General Browne, to the +chamber destined for him, which answered the description he had given +of it, being comfortable, but old-fashioned. The bed was of the massive +form used in the end of the seventeenth century, and the curtains of +faded silk, heavily trimmed with tarnished gold. But then the sheets, +pillows, and blankets looked delightful to the campaigner, when he +thought of his mansion, the cask. There was an air of gloom in the +tapestry hangings, which, with their worn-out graces, curtained the +walls of the little chamber, and gently undulated as the autumnal +breeze found its way through the ancient lattice-window, which pattered +and whistled as the air gained entrance. The toilet too, with its +mirror, turbaned, after the manner of the beginning of the century, +with a coiffure of murrey-coloured silk, and its hundred strange-shaped +boxes, providing for arrangements which had been obsolete for more than +fifty years, had an antique, and in so far a melancholy, aspect. But +nothing could blaze more brightly and cheerfully than the two large wax +candles; or if aught could rival them, it was the flaming bickering +fagots in the chimney, that sent at once their gleam and their warmth +through the snug apartment; which, notwithstanding the general +antiquity of its appearance, was not wanting in the least convenience +that modern habits rendered either necessary or desirable. + +"This is an old-fashioned sleeping apartment, General," said the young +lord; "but I hope you will find nothing that makes you envy your old +tobacco-cask." + +"I am not particular respecting my lodgings," replied the General; "yet +were I to make any choice, I would prefer this chamber by many degrees, +to the gayer and more modern rooms of your family mansion. Believe me, +that when I unite its modern air of comfort with its venerable +antiquity, and recollect that it is your lordship's property, I shall +feel in better quarters here, than if I were in the best hotel London +could afford." + +"I trust--I have no doubt--that you will find yourself as comfortable +as I wish you, my dear General," said the young nobleman; and once more +bidding his guest good-night, he shook him by the hand, and withdrew. + +The General again looked round him, and internally congratulating +himself on his return to peaceful life, the comforts of which were +endeared by the recollection of the hardships and dangers he had lately +sustained, undressed himself, and prepared himself for a luxurious +night's rest. + +Here, contrary to the custom of this species of tale, we leave the +General in possession of his apartment until the next morning. + +The company assembled for breakfast at an early hour, but without the +appearance of General Browne, who seemed the guest that Lord Woodville +was desirous of honouring above all whom his hospitality had assembled +around him. He more than once expressed surprise at the General's +absence, and at length sent a servant to make inquiry after him. The +man brought back information that General Browne had been walking +abroad since an early hour of the morning, in defiance of the weather, +which was misty and ungenial. + +"The custom of a soldier,"--said the young nobleman to his friends; +"many of them acquire habitual vigilance, and cannot sleep after the +early hour at which their duty usually commands them to be alert." + +Yet the explanation which Lord Woodville thus offered to the company +seemed hardly satisfactory to his own mind, and it was in a fit of +silence and abstraction that he awaited the return of the General. It +took place near an hour after the breakfast bell had rung. He looked +fatigued and feverish. His hair, the powdering and arrangement of which +was at this time one of the most important occupations of a man's whole +day, and marked his fashion as much as, in the present time, the tying +of a cravat, or the want of one, was dishevelled, uncurled, void of +powder, and dank with dew. His clothes were huddled on with a careless +negligence, remarkable in a military man, whose real or supposed duties +are usually held to include some attention to the toilet; and his looks +were haggard and ghastly in a peculiar degree. + +"So you have stolen a march upon us this morning, my dear General," +said Lord Woodville; "or you have not found your bed so much to your +mind as I had hoped and you seemed to expect. How did you rest last +night?" + +"Oh, excellently well! remarkably well! never better in my life"--said +General Browne rapidly, and yet with an air of embarrassment which was +obvious to his friend. He then hastily swallowed a cup of tea, and +neglecting or refusing whatever else was offered, seemed to fall into a +fit of abstraction. + +"You will take the gun to-day, General;" said his friend and host, but +had to repeat the question twice ere he received the abrupt answer, +"No, my lord; I am sorry I cannot have the honour of spending another +day with your lordship; my post horses are ordered, and will be here +directly." + +All who were present showed surprise, and Lord Woodville immediately +replied, "Post horses, my good friend! what can you possibly want with +them, when you promised to stay with me quietly for at least a week?" + +"I believe," said the General, obviously much embarrassed, "that I +might, in the pleasure of my first meeting with your lordship, have +said something about stopping here a few days; but I have since found +it altogether impossible." + +"That is very extraordinary," answered the young nobleman. "You seemed +quite disengaged yesterday, and you cannot have had a summons to-day; +for our post has not come up from the town, and therefore you cannot +have received any letters." + +General Browne, without giving any farther explanation, muttered +something of indispensable business, and insisted on the absolute +necessity of his departure in a manner which silenced all opposition on +the part of his host, who saw that his resolution was taken, and +forbore farther importunity. + +"At least, however," he said, "permit me, my dear Browne, since go you +will or must, to show you the view from the terrace, which the mist, +that is now rising, will soon display." + +He threw open a sash window, and stepped down upon the terrace as he +spoke. The General followed him mechanically, but seemed little to +attend to what his host was saying, as, looking across an extended and +rich prospect, he pointed out the different objects worthy of +observation. Thus they moved on till Lord Woodville had attained his +purpose of drawing his guest entirely apart from the rest of the +company, when, turning round upon him with an air of great solemnity, +he addressed him thus: + +"Richard Browne, my old and very dear friend, we are now alone. Let me +conjure you to answer me upon the word of a friend, and the honour of a +soldier. How did you in reality rest during last night?" + +"Most wretchedly indeed, my lord," answered the General, in the same +tone of solemnity;--"so miserably, that I would not run the risk of +such a second night, not only for all the lands belonging to this +castle, but for all the country which I see from this elevated point of +view." + +"This is most extraordinary," said the young lord, as if speaking to +himself; "then there must be something in the reports concerning that +apartment." Again turning to the General, he said, "For God's sake, my +dear friend, be candid with me, and let me know the disagreeable +particulars, which have befallen you under a roof, where, with consent +of the owner, you should have met nothing save comfort." + +The General seemed distressed by this appeal, and paused a moment +before he replied. "My dear lord," he at length said, "what happened to +me last night is of a nature so peculiar and so unpleasant, that I +could hardly bring myself to detail it even to your lordship, were it +not that, independent of my wish to gratify any request of yours, I +think that sincerity on my part may lead to some explanation about a +circumstance equally painful and mysterious. To others, the +communication I am about to make, might place me in the light of a +weak-minded, superstitious fool who suffered his own imagination to +delude and bewilder him; but you have known me in childhood and youth, +and will not suspect me of having adopted in manhood the feelings and +frailties from which my early years were free." Here he paused, and his +friend replied: + +"Do not doubt my perfect confidence in the truth of your communication, +however strange it may be," replied Lord Woodville; "I know your +firmness of disposition too well, to suspect you could be made the +object of imposition, and am aware that your honour and your friendship +will equally deter you from exaggerating whatever you may have +witnessed." + +"Well then," said the General, "I will proceed with my story as well as +I can, relying upon your candour; and yet distinctly feeling that I +would rather face a battery than recall to my mind the odious +recollection's of last night." + +He paused a second time, and then perceiving that Lord Woodville +remained silent and in an attitude of attention, he commenced, though +not without obvious reluctance, the history of his night's adventures +in the Tapestried Chamber. + +"I undressed and went to bed, so soon as your lordship left me +yesterday evening; but the wood in the chimney, which nearly fronted my +bed, blazed brightly and cheerfully, and, aided by a hundred exciting +recollections of my childhood and youth, which had been recalled by the +unexpected pleasure of meeting your lordship, prevented me from falling +immediately asleep. I ought, however, to say, that these reflections +were all of a pleasant and agreeable kind, grounded on a sense of +having for a time exchanged the labour, fatigues, and dangers of my +profession, for the enjoyments of a peaceful life, and the reunion of +those friendly and affectionate ties, which I had torn asunder at the +rude summons of war. + +"While such pleasing reflections were stealing over my mind, and +gradually lulling me to slumber, I was suddenly aroused by a sound like +that of the rustling of a silken gown, and the tapping of a pair of +high-heeled shoes, as if a woman were walking in the apartment. Ere I +could draw the curtain to see what the matter was, the figure of a +little woman passed between the bed and the fire. The back of this form +was turned to me, and I could observe, from the shoulders and neck, it +was that of an old woman, whose dress was an old-fashioned gown, which, +I think, ladies call a sacque; that is, a sort of robe, completely +loose in the body, but gathered into broad plaits upon the neck and +shoulders, which fall down to the ground, and terminate in a species of +train. + +"I thought the intrusion singular enough, but never harboured for a +moment the idea that what I saw was any thing more than the mortal form +of some old woman about the establishment, who had a fancy to dress +like her grandmother, and who, having perhaps (as your lordship +mentioned that you were rather straitened for room) been dislodged from +her chamber for my accommodation, had forgotten the circumstance, and +returned by twelve to her old haunt. Under this persuasion I moved +myself in bed and coughed a little, to make the intruder sensible of my +being in possession of the premises.--She turned slowly round, but +gracious heaven! my lord, what a countenance did she display to me! +There was no longer any question what she was, or any thought of her +being a living being. Upon a face which wore the fixed features of a +corpse, were imprinted the traces of the vilest and most hideous +passions which had animated her while she lived. The body of some +atrocious criminal seemed to have been given up from the grave, and the +soul restored from the penal fire, in order to form, for a space, a +union with the ancient accomplice of its guilt. I started up in bed, +and sat upright, supporting myself on my palms, as I gazed on this +horrible spectre. The hag made, as it seemed, a single and swift stride +to the bed where I lay, and squatted herself down upon it, in precisely +the same attitude which I had assumed in the extremity of horror, +advancing her diabolical countenance within half a yard of mine, with a +grin which seemed to intimate the malice and the derision of an +incarnate fiend." + +Here General Browne stopped, and wiped from his brow the cold +perspiration with which the recollection of his horrible vision had +covered it. + +"My lord," he said, "I am no coward. I have been in all the mortal +dangers incidental to my profession, and I may truly boast, that no man +ever knew Richard Browne dishonour the sword he wears; but in these +horrible circumstances, under the eyes, and as it seemed, almost in the +grasp of an incarnation of an evil spirit, all firmness forsook me, all +manhood melted from me like wax in the furnace, and I felt my hair +individually bristle. The current of my life-blood ceased to flow, and +I sank back in a swoon, as very a victim to panic terror as ever was a +village girl, or a child of ten years old. How long I lay in this +condition I cannot pretend to guess. + +"But I was roused by the castle clock striking one, so loud that it +seemed as if it were in the very room. It was some time before I dared +open my eyes, lest they should again encounter the horrible spectacle. +When, however, I summoned courage to look up, she was no longer +visible. My first idea was to pull my bell, wake the servants, and +remove to a garret or a hay-loft, to be ensured against a second +visitation. Nay, I will confess the truth, that my resolution was +altered, not by the shame of exposing myself, but by the fear that, as +the bell-cord hung by the chimney, I might, in making my way to it, be +again crossed by the fiendish hag, who, I figured to myself, might be +still lurking about some corner of the apartment. + +"I will not pretend to describe what hot and cold fever-fits tormented +me for the rest of the night, through broken sleep, weary vigils, and +that dubious state which forms the neutral ground between them. A +hundred terrible objects appeared to haunt me; but there was the great +difference betwixt the vision which I have described, and those which +followed, that I knew the last to be deceptions of my own fancy and +over-excited nerves. + +"Day at last appeared, and I rose from my bed ill in health, and +humiliated in mind. I was ashamed of myself as a man and a soldier, and +still more so, at feeling my own extreme desire to escape from the +haunted apartment, which, however, conquered all other considerations; +so that, huddling on my clothes with the most careless haste, I made my +escape from your lordship's mansion, to seek in the open air some +relief to my nervous system, shaken as it was by this horrible +encounter with a visitant, for such I must believe her, from the other +world. Your lordship has now heard the cause of my discomposure, and of +my sudden desire to leave your hospitable castle. In other places I +trust we may often meet; but God protect me from ever spending a second +night under that roof!" + +Strange as the General's tale was, he spoke with such a deep air of +conviction, that it cut short all the usual commentaries which are made +on such stories. Lord Woodville never once asked him if he was sure he +did not dream of the apparition, or suggested any of the possibilities +by which it is fashionable to explain supernatural appearances, as wild +vagaries of the fancy, or deceptions of the optic nerves. On the +contrary, he seemed deeply impressed with the truth and reality of what +he had heard; and, after a considerable pause, regretted, with much +appearance of sincerity, that his early friend should in his house have +suffered so severely. + +"I am the more sorry for your pain, my dear Browne," he continued, +"that it is the unhappy, though most unexpected, result of an +experiment of my own! You must know, that for my father and +grandfather's time, at least, the apartment which was assigned to you +last night, had been shut on account of reports that it was disturbed +by supernatural sights and noises. When I came, a few weeks since, into +possession of the estate, I thought the accommodation, which the castle +afforded for my friends, was not extensive enough to permit the +inhabitants of the invisible world to retain possession of a +comfortable sleeping apartment. I therefore caused the Tapestried +Chamber, as we call it, to be opened; and without destroying its air of +antiquity, I had such new articles of furniture placed in it as became +the modern times. Yet as the opinion that the room was haunted very +strongly prevailed among the domestics, and was also known in the +neighbourhood and to many of my friends, I feared some prejudice might +be entertained by the first occupant of the Tapestried Chamber, which +might tend to revive the evil report which it had laboured under, and +so disappoint my purpose of rendering it a useful part of the house. I +must confess, my dear Browne, that your arrival yesterday, agreeable to +me for a thousand reasons besides, seemed the most favourable +opportunity of removing the unpleasant rumours which attached to the +room, since your courage was indubitable and your mind free of any +pre-occupation on the subject. I could not, therefore, have chosen a +more fitting subject for my experiment." + +"Upon my life," said General Browne, somewhat hastily, "I am infinitely +obliged to your lordship--very particularly indebted indeed. I am +likely to remember for some time the consequences of the experiment, as +your lordship is pleased to call it." + +"Nay, now you are unjust, my dear friend," said Lord Woodville. "You +have only to reflect for a single moment, in order to be convinced that +I could not augur the possibility of the pain to which you have been so +unhappily exposed. I was yesterday morning a complete sceptic on the +subject of supernatural appearances. Nay, I am sure that had I told you +what was said about that room, those very reports would have induced +you, by your own choice, to select it for your accommodation. It was my +misfortune, perhaps my error, but really cannot be termed my fault, +that you have been afflicted so strangely." + +"Strangely indeed!" said the General, resuming his good temper; "and I +acknowledge that I have no right to be offended with your lordship for +treating me like what I used to think myself--a man of some firmness +and courage.--But I see my post horses are arrived, and I must not +detain your lordship from your amusement." + +"Nay, my old friend," said Lord Woodville, "since you cannot stay with +us another day, which, indeed, I can no longer urge, give me at least +half an hour more. You used to love pictures, and I have a gallery of +portraits, some of them by Vandyke, representing ancestry to whom this +property and castle formerly belonged. I think that several of them +will strike you as possessing merit." + +General Browne accepted the invitation, though somewhat unwillingly. It +was evident he was not to breathe freely or at ease till he left +Woodville Castle far behind him. He could not refuse his friend's +invitation, however; and the less so, that he was a little ashamed of +the peevishness which he had displayed towards his well-meaning +entertainer. + +The General, therefore, followed Lord Woodville through several rooms, +into a long gallery hung with pictures, which the latter pointed out to +his guest, telling the names, and giving some account of the personages +whose portraits presented themselves in progression. General Browne was +but little interested in the details which these accounts conveyed to +him. They were, indeed, of the kind which are usually found in an old +family gallery. Here was a cavalier who had ruined the estate in the +royal cause; there a fine lady who had reinstated it by contracting a +match with a wealthy Roundhead. There hung a gallant who had been in +danger for corresponding with the exiled Court at St. Germain's; here +one who had taken arms for William at the Revolution; and there a third +that had thrown his weight alternately into the scale of whig and tory. + +While Lord Woodville was cramming these words into his guest's ear, +"against the stomach of his sense," they gained the middle of the +gallery, when he beheld General Browne suddenly start, and assume an +attitude of the utmost surprise, not unmixed with fear, as his eyes +were caught and suddenly riveted by a portrait of an old lady in a +sacque, the fashionable dress of the end of the seventeenth century. + +"There she is!" he exclaimed; "there she is, in form and features, +though inferior in demoniac expression, to the accursed hag who visited +me last night." + +"If that be the case," said the young nobleman, "there can remain no +longer any doubt of the horrible reality of your apparition. That is +the picture of a wretched ancestress of mine, of whose crimes a black +and fearful catalogue is recorded in a family history in my +charter-chest. The recital of them would be too horrible; it is enough +to say, that in yon fatal apartment incest and unnatural murder were +committed. I will restore it to the solitude, to which the better +judgment of those who preceded me had consigned it; and never shall any +one, so long as I can prevent it, be exposed to a repetition of the +supernatural horrors which could shake such courage as yours." + +Thus the friends, who had met with such glee, parted in a very +different mood; Lord Woodville to command the Tapestried Chamber to be +unmantled, and the door built up; and General Browne to seek in some +less beautiful country, and with some less dignified friend, +forgetfulness of the painful night which he had passed in Woodville +Castle. + + + + +DEATH OF THE LAIRD'S JOCK. + +[The manner in which this trifle was introduced at the time to Mr. F.M. +Reynolds, editor of the Keepsake of 1828, leaves no occasion for a +preface.] _August_, 1831. + +TO THE EDITOR OF THE KEEPSAKE. + +You have asked me, sir, to point out a subject for the pencil, and I +feel the difficulty of complying with your request; although I am not +certainly unaccustomed to literary composition, or a total stranger to +the stores of history and tradition, which afford the best copies for +the painter's art. But although _sicut pictura poesis_ is an ancient +and undisputed axiom--although poetry and painting both address +themselves to the same object of exciting the human imagination, by +presenting to it pleasing or sublime images of ideal scenes; yet the +one conveying itself through the ears to the understanding, and the +other applying itself only to the eyes, the subjects which are best +suited to the bard or tale-teller are often totally unfit for painting, +where the artist must present in a single glance all that his art has +power to tell us. The artist can neither recapitulate the past nor +intimate the future. The single _now_ is all which he can present; and +hence, unquestionably, many subjects which delight us in poetry, or in +narrative, whether real or fictitious, cannot with advantage be +transferred to the canvass. + +Being in some degree aware of these difficulties, though doubtless +unacquainted both with their extent, and the means by which they may be +modified or surmounted, I have, nevertheless, ventured to draw up the +following traditional narrative as a story in which, when the general +details are known, the interest is so much concentrated in one strong +moment of agonizing passion, that it can be understood, and sympathized +with, at a single glance. I therefore presume that it may be acceptable +as a hint to some one among the numerous artists, who have of late +years distinguished themselves as rearing up and supporting the British +school. + +Enough has been said and sung about + + The well-contested ground, + The warlike border-land-- + +to render the habits of the tribes who inhabited them before the union +of England and Scotland familiar to most of your readers. The rougher +and sterner features of their character were softened by their +attachment to the fine arts, from which has arisen the saying that, on +the frontiers every dale had its battle, and every river its song. A +rude species of chivalry was in constant use, and single combats were +practised as the amusement of the few intervals of truce which +suspended the exercise of war. The inveteracy of this custom may be +inferred from the following incident:-- + +Bernard Gilpin, the apostle of the north, the first who undertook to +preach the Protestant doctrines to the Border dalesmen, was surprised, +on entering one of their churches, to see a gauntlet, or mail-glove, +hanging above the altar. Upon inquiring the meaning of a symbol so +indecorous being displayed in that sacred place, he was informed by the +clerk, that the glove was that of a famous swordsman who hung it there +as an emblem of a general challenge and gage of battle, to any who +should dare to take the fatal token down. "Reach it to me," said the +reverend churchman. The clerk and sexton equally declined the perilous +office: and the good Bernard Gilpin was obliged to remove the glove +with his own hands, desiring those who were present to inform the +champion, that he, and no other, had possessed himself of the gage of +defiance. But the champion was as much ashamed to face Bernard Gilpin +as the officials of the church had been to displace his pledge of +combat. + +The date of the following story is about the latter years of Queen +Elizabeth's reign; and the events took place in Liddesdale, a hilly and +pastoral district of Roxburghshire, which, on a part of its boundary, +is divided from England only by a small river; + +During the good old times of _rugging and riving_, (that is, tugging +and tearing,) under which term the disorderly doings of the warlike age +are affectionately remembered, this valley was principally cultivated +by the sept or clan of the Armstrongs. The chief of this warlike race +was the Laird of Mangertown. At the period of which I speak, the estate +of Mangertown, with the power and dignity of chief, was possessed by +John Armstrong, a man of great size, strength and courage. While his +father was alive, he was distinguished from others of his clan who bore +the same name by the epithet of the _Laird's Jock_, that is to say, the +Laird's son Jock, or Jack. This name he distinguished by so many bold +and desperate achievements, that he retained it even after his father's +death, and is mentioned under it both in authentic records and in +tradition. Some of his feats are recorded in the Minstrelsy of the +Scottish Border, and others mentioned in contemporary chronicles. + +At the species of singular combat which we have described, the Laird's +Jock was unrivalled; and no champion of Cumberland, Westmoreland, or +Northumberland, could endure the sway of the huge two-handed sword +which he wielded, and which few others could even lift. This "awful +sword," as the common people term it, was as dear to him as Durindana +or Fushberta to their respective masters, and was nearly as formidable +to his enemies as those renowned falchions proved to the foes of +Christendom. The weapon had been bequeathed to him by a celebrated +English outlaw named Hobbie Noble, who, having committed some deed for +which he was in danger from justice, fled to Liddesdale, and became a +follower, or rather a brother-in-arms, to the renowned Laird's Jock; +till, venturing into England with a small escort, a faithless guide, +and with a light single-handed sword instead of his ponderous brand, +Hobbie Noble, attacked by superior numbers, was made prisoner and +executed. + +With this weapon, and by means of his own strength and address, the +Laird's Jock maintained the reputation of the best swordsman on the +Border side, and defeated or slew many who ventured to dispute with him +the formidable title. + +But years pass on with the strong and the brave as with the feeble and +the timid. In process of time, the Laird's Jock grew incapable of +wielding his weapon, and finally of all active exertion, even of the +most ordinary kind. The disabled champion became at length totally +bed-ridden, and entirely dependent for his comfort on the pious duties +of an only daughter, his perpetual attendant and companion. + +Besides this dutiful child, the Laird's Jock had an only son, upon whom +devolved the perilous task of leading the clan to battle, and +maintaining the warlike renown of his native country, which was now +disputed by the English upon many occasions. The young Armstrong was +active, brave, and strong, and brought home from dangerous adventures +many tokens of decided success. Still the ancient chief conceived, as +it would seem, that his son was scarce yet entitled by age and +experience to be entrusted with the two-handed sword, by the use of +which he had himself been so dreadfully distinguished. + +At length, an English champion, one of the name of Foster, (if I +rightly recollect,) had the audacity to send a challenge to the best +swordsman in, Liddesdale; and young Armstrong, burning for chivalrous +distinction, accepted the challenge. + +The heart of the disabled old man swelled with joy when he heard that +the challenge was passed and accepted, and the meeting fixed at a +neutral spot, used as the place of rencontre upon such occasions, and +which he himself had distinguished by numerous victories. He exulted so +much in the conquest which he anticipated, that, to nerve his son to +still bolder exertions, he conferred upon him, as champion of his clan +and province, the celebrated weapon which he had hitherto retained in +his own custody. + +This was not all. When the day of combat arrived, the Laird's Jock, in +spite of his daughter's affectionate remonstrances, determined, though +he had not left his bed for two years, to be a personal witness of the +duel. His will was still a law to his people, who bore him on their +shoulders, wrapped in plaids and blankets, to the spot where the combat +was to take place, and seated him on a fragment of rock, which is still +called the Laird's Jock's stone. There he remained with eyes fixed on +the lists or barrier, within which the champions were about to meet. +His daughter, having done all she could for his accommodation, stood +motionless beside him, divided between anxiety for his health, and for +the event of the combat to her beloved brother. Ere yet the fight +began, the old men gazed on their chief, now seen for the first time +after several years, and sadly compared his altered features and wasted +frame, with the paragon of strength and manly beauty which they once +remembered. The young men gazed on his large form and powerful make, as +upon some antediluvian giant who had survived the destruction of the +Flood. + +But the sound of the trumpets on both sides recalled the attention of +every one to the lists, surrounded as they were by numbers of both +nations eager to witness the event of the day. The combatants met. It +is needless to describe the struggle: the Scottish champion fell. +Foster, placing his foot on his antagonist, seized on the redoubted +sword, so precious in the eyes of its aged owner, and brandished it +over his head as a trophy of his conquest. The English shouted in +triumph. But the despairing cry of the aged champion, who saw his +country dishonoured, and his sword, long the terror of their race, in +possession of an Englishman, was heard high above the acclamations of +victory. He seemed, for an instant, animated by all his wonted power; +for he started from the rock on which he sat, and while the garments +with which he had been invested fell from his wasted frame, and showed +the ruins of his strength, he tossed his arms wildly to heaven, and +uttered a cry of indignation, horror, and despair, which, tradition +says, was heard to a preternatural distance, and resembled the cry of a +dying lion more than a human sound. + +His friends received him in their arms as he sank utterly exhausted by +the effort, and bore him back to his castle in mute sorrow; while his +daughter at once wept for her brother, and endeavoured to mitigate and +soothe the despair of her father. But this was impossible; the old +man's only tie to life was rent rudely asunder, and his heart had +broken with it. The death of his son had no part in his sorrow. If he +thought of him at all, it was as the degenerate boy, through whom the +honour of his country and clan had been lost; and he died in the course +of three days, never even mentioning his name, but pouring out +uninterrupted lamentations for the loss of his sword. + +I conceive, that the instant when the disabled chief was roused into a +last exertion by the agony of the moment is favourable to the object of +a painter. He might obtain the full advantage of contrasting the form +of the rugged old man, in the extremity of furious despair, with the +softness and beauty of the female form. The fatal field might be thrown +into perspective, so as to give full effect to these two principal +figures, and with the single explanation that the piece represented a +soldier beholding his son slain, and the honour of his country lost, +the picture would be sufficiently intelligible at the first glance. If +it was thought necessary to show more clearly the nature of the +conflict, it might be indicated by the pennon of Saint George being +displayed at one end of the lists, and that of Saint Andrew at the +Other. + +I remain, Sir, + +Your obedient servant, + +THE AUTHOR OF WAVERLEY. + +END OF THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Waverley Volume XII, by Sir Walter Scott + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WAVERLEY VOLUME XII *** + +***** This file should be named 6661.txt or 6661.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/6/6/6/6661/ + +Produced by Karl Hagen, Dan Moynihan, Charles Franks, and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Waverley Volume XII + +Author: Sir Walter Scott + +Release Date: October, 2004 [EBook #6661] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on January 10, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, WAVERLEY VOLUME XII *** + + + + +Produced by Karl Hagen, Dan Moynihan, Charles Franks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + +[Illustration: HEREWARD RESISTING THE GREEK ASSASSIN.] + +WAVERLY NOVELS +ABBOTSFORD EDITION + +THE WAVERLY NOVELS, + +BY SIR WALTER SCOTT. + +COMPLETE +IN TWELVE VOLUMES. + +EMBRACING +THE AUTHOR'S LAST CORRECTIONS, PREFACES, AND NOTES. + +VOL. XII. + +COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS--CASTLE DANGEROUS-- +MY AUNT MARGARET'S MIRROR, &c. &c. + + + + +Tales of my Landlord. + +COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. + + The European with the Asian shore-- + Sophia's cupola with golden gleam + The cypress groves--Olympus high and hoar-- + The twelve isles, and the more than I could dream, + Far less describe, present the very view + That charm'd the charming Mary Montagu. + DON JUAN. + +ADVERTISEMENT.--(1833.) + +Sir Walter Scott transmitted from Naples, in February, 1832, an +Introduction for CASTLE DANGEROUS; but if he ever wrote one for a +second Edition of ROBERT OF PARIS, it has not been discovered among his +papers. Some notes, chiefly extracts from the books which he had been +observed to consult while _dictating_ this novel, are now appended +to its pages; and in addition to what the author had given in the shape +of historical information respecting the principal real persons +introduced, the reader is here presented with what may probably amuse +him, the passage of the Alexiad, in which Anna Comnena describes the +incident which originally, no doubt, determined Sir Walter's choice of +a hero. + +May, A.D. 1097.--"As for the multitude of those who advanced towards +THE GREAT CITY, let it be enough to say that they were as the stars in +the heaven, or as the sand upon the sea-shore. They were, in the words +of Homer, _as many as the leaves and flowers of spring_. But for +the names of the leaders, though they are present in my memory, I will +not relate them. The numbers of these would alone deter me, even if my +language furnished the means of expressing their barbarous sounds; and +for what purpose should I afflict my readers with a long enumeration of +the names of those, whose visible presence gave so much horror to all +that beheld them? + +"As soon, therefore, as they approached the Great City, they occupied +the station appointed for them by the Emperor, near to the monastery of +Cosmidius. But this multitude were not, like the Hellenic one of old, +to be restrained and governed by the loud voices of nine heralds; they +required the constant superintendence of chosen and valiant soldiers, +to keep them from violating the commands of the Emperor. + +"He, meantime, laboured to obtain from the other leaders that +acknowledgment of his supreme authority, which had already been drawn +from Godfrey [Greek: Gontophre] himself. But, notwithstanding the +willingness of some to accede to this proposal, and their assistance in +working on the minds of their associates, the Emperor's endeavours had +little success, as the majority were looking for the arrival of +Bohemund [Greek: Baimontos], in whom they placed their chief confidence, +and resorted to every art with the view of gaining time. The Emperor, +whom it was not easy to deceive, penetrated their motives; and by +granting to one powerful person demands which had been supposed out of +all bounds of expectation, and by resorting to a variety of other +devices, he at length prevailed, and won general assent to the +following of the example of Godfrey, who also was sent for in person to +assist in this business. + +"All, therefore, being assembled, and Godfrey among them, the oath was +taken; but when all was finished, a certain Noble among these Counts +had the audacity to seat himself on the throne of the Emperor. [Greek: +Tolmaesas tis apo panton ton komaeton eugenaes eis ton skimpoda ton +Basileos ekathisen.] The Emperor restrained himself and said nothing, +for he was well acquainted of old with the nature of the Latins. + +"But the Count Baldwin [Greek: Baldoninos] stepping forth, and seizing +him by the hand, dragged him thence, and with many reproaches said, 'It +becomes thee not to do such things here, especially after having taken +the oath of fealty. [Greek: douleian haeposchomeno]. It is not the +custom of the Roman Emperors to permit any of their inferiors to sit +beside them, not even of such as are born subjects of their empire; and +it is necessary to respect the customs of the country.' But he, +answering nothing to Baldwin, stared yet more fixedly upon the Emperor, +and muttered to himself something in his own dialect, which, being +interpreted, was to this effect--'Behold, what rustic fellow [Greek: +choritaes] is this, to be seated alone while such leaders stand around +him!' The movement of his lips did not escape the Emperor, who called +to him one that understood the Latin dialect, and enquired what words +the man had spoken. When he heard them, the Emperor said nothing to the +other Latins, but kept the thing to himself. When, however, the +business was all over, he called near to him by himself that swelling +and shameless Latin [Greek: hypsaelophrona ekeinon kai anaidae], and +asked of him, who he was, of what lineage, and from what region he had +come. 'I am a Frank,' said he, 'of pure blood, of the Nobles. One thing +I know, that where three roads meet in the place from which I came, +there is an ancient church, in which whosoever has the desire to +measure himself against another in single combat, prays God to help him +therein, and afterwards abides the coming of one willing to encounter +him. At that spot long time did I remain, but the man bold enough to +stand against me I found not.' Hearing these words the Emperor said, +'If hitherto thou hast sought battles in vain, the time is at hand +which will furnish thee with abundance of them. And I advise thee to +place thyself neither before the phalanx, nor in its rear, but to stand +fast in the midst of thy fellow-soldiers; for of old time I am well +acquainted with the warfare of the Turks.' With such advice he +dismissed not only this man, but the rest of those who were about to +depart on that expedition."--_Alexiad_, Book x. pp. 237, 238. + +Ducange, as is mentioned in the novel, identifies the church, thus +described by the crusader, with that of _Our Lady of Soissons_, of +which a French poet of the days of Louis VII. says-- + + Veiller y vont encore li Pelerin + Cil qui bataille veulent fere et fournir. + DUCANGE _in Alexiad_, p. 86. + +The Princess Anna Comnena, it may be proper to observe, was born on the +first of December, A.D. 1083, and was consequently in her fifteenth +year when the chiefs of the first crusade made their appearance in her +father's court. Even then, however, it is not improbable that she might +have been the wife of Nicephorus Bryennius, whom, many years after his +death, she speaks of in her history as [Greek: ton emon Kaisara], and +in other terms equally affectionate. The bitterness with which she +uniformly mentions Bohemund, Count of Tarentum, afterwards Prince of +Antioch, has, however, been ascribed to a disappointment in love; and +on one remarkable occasion, the Princess certainly expressed great +contempt of her husband. I am aware of no other authorities for the +liberties taken with this lady's conjugal character in the novel. + +Her husband, Nicephorus Bryennius, was the grandson of the person of +that name, who figures in history as the rival, in a contest for the +imperial throne, of Nicephorus Botoniates. He was, on his marriage with +Anna Comnena, invested with the rank of _Panhypersebastos_, or +_Omnium Augustissimus_; but Alexius deeply offended him, by +afterwards recognising the superior and simpler dignity of a +_Sebastos_. His eminent qualities, both in peace and war, are +acknowledged by Gibbon: and he has left us four books of Memoirs, +detailing the early part of his father-in-law's history, and valuable +as being the work of an eye-witness of the most important events which +he describes. Anna Comnena appears to have considered it her duty to +take up the task which her husband had not lived to complete; and hence +the Alexiad--certainly, with all its defects, the first historical work +that has as yet proceeded from a female pen. + +"The life of the Emperor Alexius," (says Gibbon,) "has been delineated +by the pen of a favourite daughter, who was inspired by tender regard +for his person, and a laudable zeal to perpetuate his virtues. +Conscious of the just suspicion of her readers, the Princess repeatedly +protests, that, besides her personal knowledge, she had searched the +discourses and writings of the most respectable veterans; and that +after an interval of thirty years, forgotten by, and forgetful of the +world, her mournful solitude was inaccessible to hope and fear: that +truth, the naked perfect truth, was more dear than the memory of her +parent. Yet instead of the simplicity of style and narrative which wins +our belief, an elaborate affectation of rhetoric and science betrays in +every page the vanity of a female author. The genuine character of +Alexius is lost in a vague constellation of virtues; and the perpetual +strain of panegyric and apology awakens our jealousy, to question the +veracity of the historian, and the merit of her hero. We cannot, +however, refuse her judicious and important remark, that the disorders +of the times were the misfortune and the glory of Alexius; and that +every calamity which can afflict a declining empire was accumulated on +his reign by the justice of Heaven and the vices of his predecessors. +In the east, the victorious Turks had spread, from Persia to the +Hellespont, the reign of the Koran and the Crescent; the west was +invaded by the adventurous valour of the Normans; and, in the moments +of peace, the Danube poured forth new swarms, who had gained in the +science of war what they had lost in the ferociousness of their manners. +The sea was not less hostile than the land; and, while the frontiers +were assaulted by an open enemy, the palace was distracted with secret +conspiracy and treason. + +"On a sudden, the banner of the Cross was displayed by the Latins; +Europe was precipitated on Asia; and Constantinople had almost been +swept away by this impetuous deluge. In the tempest Alexius steered the +Imperial vessel with dexterity and courage. At the head of his armies, +he was bold in action, skilful in stratagem, patient of fatigue, ready +to improve his advantages, and rising from his defeats with +inexhaustible vigour. The discipline of the camp was reversed, and a +new generation of men and soldiers was created by the precepts and +example of their leader. In his intercourse with the Latins, Alexius +was patient and artful; his discerning eye pervaded the new system of +an unknown world. + +"The increase of the male and female branches of his family adorned the +throne, and secured the succession; but their princely luxury and pride +offended the patricians, exhausted the revenue, and insulted the misery +of the people. Anna is a faithful witness that his happiness was +destroyed and his health broken by the cares of a public life; the +patience of Constantinople was fatigued by the length and severity of +his reign; and before Alexius expired, he had lost the love and +reverence of his subjects. The clergy could not forgive his application +of the sacred riches to the defence of the state; but they applauded +his theological learning, and ardent zeal for the orthodox faith, which +he defended with his tongue, his pen, and his sword. Even the sincerity +of his moral and religious virtues was suspected by the persons who had +passed their lives in his confidence. In his last hours, when he was +pressed by his wife Irene to alter the succession, he raised his head, +and breathed a pious ejaculation on the vanity of the world. The +indignant reply of the Empress may be inscribed as an epitaph on his +tomb,--'You die, as you have lived--a hypocrite.' + +"It was the wish of Irene to supplant the eldest of her sons in favour +of her daughter, the Princess Anna, whose philosophy would not have +refused the weight of a diadem. But the order of male succession was +asserted by the friends of their country; the lawful heir drew the +royal signet from the finger of his insensible or conscious father, and +the empire obeyed the master of the palace. Anna Comnena was stimulated +by ambition and revenge to conspire against the life of her brother; +and when the design was prevented by the fears or scruples of her +husband, she passionately exclaimed that nature had mistaken the two +sexes, and had endowed Bryennius with the soul of a woman. After the +discovery of her treason, the life and fortune of Anna were justly +forfeited to the laws. Her life was spared by the clemency of the +Emperor, but he visited the pomp and treasures of her palace, and +bestowed the rich confiscation on the most deserving of his friends."-- +_History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_, chap. +xlviii. + +The year of Anna's death is nowhere recorded. She appears to have +written the _Alexiad_ in a convent; and to have spent nearly +thirty years in this retirement, before her book was published. + +For accurate particulars of the public events touched on in _Robert +of Paris,_ the reader is referred to the above quoted author, +chapters xlviii. xlix. and l.; and to the first volume of Mills' +History of the Crusades. + +J. G. L. London, _1st March_, 1833. + + + + +INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. + +JEDEDIAH CLEISHBOTHAM, A.M. + +TO THE LOVING READER WISHETH HEALTH AND PROSPERITY. + +It would ill become me, whose name has been spread abroad by those +former collections bearing this title of "Tales of my Landlord," and +who have, by the candid voice of a numerous crowd of readers, been +taught to think that I merit not the empty fame alone, but also the +more substantial rewards, of successful pencraft--it would, I say, ill +become me to suffer this my youngest literary babe, and, probably at +the same time, the last child of mine old age, to pass into the world +without some such modest apology for its defects, as it has been my +custom to put forth on preceding occasions of the like nature. The +world has been sufficiently instructed, of a truth, that I am not +individually the person to whom is to be ascribed the actual inventing +or designing of the scheme upon which these Tales, which men have found +so pleasing, were originally constructed, as also that neither am I the +actual workman, who, furnished by a skilful architect with an accurate +plan, including elevations and directions both general and particular, +has from thence toiled to bring forth and complete the intended shape +and proportion of each division of the edifice. Nevertheless, I have +been indisputably the man, who, in placing my name at the head of the +undertaking, have rendered myself mainly and principally responsible +for its general success. When a ship of war goeth forth to battle with +her crew, consisting of sundry foremast-men and various officers, such +subordinate persons are not said to gain or lose the vessel which they +have manned or attacked, (although each was natheless sufficiently +active in his own department;) but it is forthwith bruited and noised +abroad, without further phrase, that Captain Jedediah Cleishbotham hath +lost such a seventy-four, or won that which, by the united exertions of +all thereto pertaining, is taken from the enemy. In the same manner, +shame and sorrow it were, if I, the voluntary Captain and founder of +these adventures, after having upon three divers occasions assumed to +myself the emolument and reputation thereof, should now withdraw myself +from the risks of failure proper to this fourth and last out-going. No! +I will rather address my associates in this bottom with the constant +spirit of Matthew Prior's heroine: + + "Did I but purpose to embark with thee + On the smooth surface of some summer sea, + But would forsake the waves, and make the shore, + When the winds whistle, and the billows roar!" + +As little, nevertheless, would it become my years and station not to +admit without cavil certain errors which may justly be pointed out in +these concluding "Tales of my Landlord,"--the last, and, it is manifest, +never carefully revised or corrected handiwork, of Mr. Peter Pattison, +now no more; the same worthy young man so repeatedly mentioned in these +Introductory Essays, and never without that tribute to his good sense +and talents, nay, even genius, which his contributions to this my +undertaking fairly entitled him to claim at the hands of his surviving +friend and patron. These pages, I have said, were the _ultimus +labor_ of mine ingenious assistant; but I say not, as the great Dr. +Pitcairn of his hero--_ultimus atque optitmis_. Alas! even the +giddiness attendant on a journey on this Manchester rail-road is not so +perilous to the nerves, as that too frequent exercise in the merry-go- +round of the ideal world, whereof the tendency to render the fancy +confused, and the judgment inert, hath in all ages been noted, not only +by the erudite of the earth, but even by many of the thick-witted +Ofelli themselves; whether the rapid pace at which the fancy moveth in +such exercitations, where the wish of the penman is to him like Prince +Houssain's tapestry, in the Eastern fable, be the chief source of +peril--or whether, without reference to this wearing speed of movement, +and dwelling habitually in those realms of imagination, be as little +suited for a man's intellect, as to breathe for any considerable space +"the difficult air of the mountain top" is to the physical structure of +his outward frame--this question belongeth not to me; but certain it is, +that we often discover in the works of the foremost of this order of +men, marks of bewilderment and confusion, such as do not so frequently +occur in those of persons to whom nature hath conceded fancy weaker of +wing, or less ambitious in flight. + +It is affecting to see the great Miguel Cervantes himself, even like +the sons of meaner men, defending himself against the critics of the +day, who assailed him upon such little discrepancies and inaccuracies +as are apt to cloud the progress even of a mind like his, when the +evening is closing around it. "It is quite a common thing," says Don +Quixote, "for men who have gained a very great reputation by their +writings before they were printed, quite to lose it afterwards, or, at +least, the greater part."--"The reason is plain," answers the Bachelor +Carrasco; "their faults are more easily discovered after the books are +printed, as being then more read, and more narrowly examined, +especially if the author has been much cried up before, for then the +severity of the scrutiny is sure to be the greater. Those who have +raised themselves a name by their own ingenuity, great poets and +celebrated historians, are commonly, if not always, envied by a set of +men who delight in censuring the writings of others, though they could +never produce any of their own."--"That is no wonder," quoth Don +Quixote; "there are many divines that would make but very dull +preachers, and yet are quick enough at finding faults and superfluities +in other men's sermons."--"All this is true," says Carrasco, "and +therefore I could wish such censurers would be more merciful and less +scrupulous, and not dwell ungenerously upon small spots that are in a +manner but so many atoms on the face of the clear sun they murmur at. +If _aliquando dormitat Homerus_, let them consider how many nights +he kept himself awake to bring his noble works to light as little +darkened with defects as might be. But, indeed, it may many times +happen, that what is censured for a fault, is rather an ornament, as +moles often add to the beauty of a face. When all is said, he that +publishes a book, runs a great risk, since nothing can be so unlikely +as that he should have composed one capable of securing the approbation +of every reader."--"Sure," says Don Quixote, "that which treats of me +can have pleased but few?"--"Quite the contrary," says Carrasco; "for +as _infinitus est numerus stultorum_, so an infinite number have +admired your history. Only some there are who have taxed the author +with want of memory or sincerity, because he forgot to give an account +who it was that stole Sancho's Dapple, for that particular is not +mentioned there, only we find, by the story, that it was stolen; and +yet, by and by, we find him riding the same ass again, without any +previous light given us into the matter. Then they say that the author +forgot to tell the reader what Sancho did with the hundred pieces of +gold he found in the portmanteau in the Sierra Morena, for there is not +a word said of them more; and many people have a great mind to know +what he did with them, and how he spent them; which is one of the most +material points in which the work is defective." + +How amusingly Sancho is made to clear up the obscurities thus alluded +to by the Bachelor Carrasco--no reader can have forgotten; but there +remained enough of similar _lacunas_, inadvertencies, and mistakes, +to exercise the ingenuity of those Spanish critics, who were too wise +in their own conceit to profit by the good-natured and modest apology +of this immortal author. + +There can be no doubt, that if Cervantes had deigned to use it, he +might have pleaded also the apology of indifferent health, under which +he certainly laboured while finishing the second part of "Don Quixote." +It must be too obvious that the intervals of such a malady as then +affected Cervantes, could not be the most favourable in the world for +revising lighter compositions, and correcting, at least, those grosser +errors and imperfections which each author should, if it were but for +shame's sake, remove from his work, before bringing it forth into the +broad light of day, where they will never fail to be distinctly seen, +nor lack ingenious persons, who will be too happy in discharging the +office of pointing them out. + +It is more than time to explain with what purpose we have called thus +fully to memory the many venial errors of the inimitable Cervantes, and +those passages in which he has rather defied his adversaries than +pleaded his own justification; for I suppose it will be readily granted, +that the difference is too wide betwixt that great wit of Spain and +ourselves, to permit us to use a buckler which was rendered +sufficiently formidable only by the strenuous hand in which it was +placed. + +The history of my first publications is sufficiently well known. Nor +did I relinquish the purpose of concluding these "Tales of my +Landlord," which had been so remarkably fortunate; but Death, which +steals upon us all with an inaudible foot, cut short the ingenious +young man to whose memory I composed that inscription, and erected, at +my own charge, that monument which protects his remains, by the side of +the river Gander, which he has contributed so much to render immortal, +and in a place of his own selection, not very distant from the school +under my care. [Footnote: See Vol. II. of the present Edition, for some +circumstances attending this erection.] In a word, the ingenious Mr. +Pattison was removed from his place. + +Nor did I confine my care to his posthumous fame alone, but carefully +inventoried and preserved the effects which he left behind him, namely, +the contents of his small wardrobe, and a number of printed books of +somewhat more consequence, together with certain, wofully blurred +manuscripts, discovered in his repository. On looking these over, I +found them to contain two Tales called "Count Robert of Paris," and +"Castle Dangerous;" but was seriously disappointed to perceive that +they were by no means in that state of correctness, which would induce +an experienced person to pronounce any writing, in the technical +language of bookcraft, "prepared for press." There were not only +_hiatus valde deflendi_, but even grievous inconsistencies, and +other mistakes, which the penman's leisurely revision, had he been +spared to bestow it, would doubtless have cleared away. After a +considerate perusal, I no question flattered myself that these +manuscripts, with all their faults, contained here and there passages, +which seemed plainly to intimate that severe indisposition had been +unable to extinguish altogether the brilliancy of that fancy which the +world had been pleased to acknowledge in the creations of Old Mortality, +the Bride of Lammermoor, and others of these narratives. But I, +nevertheless, threw the manuscripts into my drawer, resolving not to +think of committing them to the Ballantynian ordeal, until I could +either obtain the assistance of some capable person to supply +deficiencies, and correct errors, so as they might face the public with +credit, or perhaps numerous and more serious avocations might permit me +to dedicate my own time and labour to that task. + +While I was in this uncertainty, I had a visit from a stranger, who was +announced as a young gentleman desirous of speaking with me on +particular business. I immediately augured the accession of a new +boarder, but was at once checked by observing that the outward man of +the stranger was, in a most remarkable degree, what mine host of the +Sir William Wallace, in his phraseology, calls _seedy_. His black +cloak had seen service; the waistcoat of grey plaid bore yet stronger +marks of having encountered more than one campaign; his third piece of +dress was an absolute veteran compared to the others; his shoes were so +loaded with mud as showed his journey must have been pedestrian; and a +grey _maud_, which fluttered around his wasted limbs, completed +such an equipment as, since Juvenal's days, has been the livery of the +poor scholar. I therefore concluded that I beheld a candidate for the +vacant office of usher, and prepared to listen to his proposals with +the dignity becoming my station; but what was my surprise when I found +I had before me, in this rusty student, no less a man than Paul, the +brother of Peter Pattison, come to gather in his brother's succession, +and possessed, it seemed, with no small idea of the value of that part +of it which consisted in the productions of his pen! + +By the rapid study I made of him, this Paul was a sharp lad, imbued +with some tincture of letters, like his regretted brother, but totally +destitute of those amiable qualities which had often induced me to say +within myself, that Peter was, like the famous John Gay,-- + + "In wit a man, simplicity a child." + +He set little by the legacy of my deceased assistant's wardrobe, nor +did the books hold much greater value in his eyes: but he peremptorily +demanded to be put in possession of the manuscripts, alleging, with +obstinacy, that no definite bargain had been completed between his late +brother and me, and at length produced the opinion to that effect of a +writer, or man of business,--a class of persons with whom I have always +chosen to have as little concern as possible. + +But I had one defence left, which came to my aid, _tanquam deus ex +machina_. This rapacious Paul Pattison could not pretend to wrest +the disputed manuscripts out of my possession, unless upon repayment of +a considerable sum of money, which I had advanced from time to time to +the deceased Peter, and particularly to purchase a small annuity for +his aged mother. These advances, with the charges of the funeral and +other expenses, amounted to a considerable sum, which the poverty- +struck student and his acute legal adviser equally foresaw great +difficulty in liquidating. The said Mr. Paul Pattison, therefore, +listened to a suggestion, which I dropped as if by accident, that if he +thought himself capable of filling his brother's place of carrying the +work through the press, I would make him welcome to bed and board +within my mansion while he was thus engaged, only requiring his +occasional assistance at hearing the more advanced scholars. This +seemed to promise a close of our dispute, alike satisfactory to all +parties, and the first act of Paul was to draw on me for a round sum, +under pretence that his wardrobe must be wholly refitted. To this I +made no objection, though it certainly showed like vanity to purchase +garments in the extremity of the mode, when not only great part of the +defunct's habiliments were very fit for a twelvemonth's use, but as I +myself had been, but yesterday as it were, equipped in a becoming new +stand of black clothes, Mr. Pattison would have been welcome to the use +of such of my quondam raiment as he thought suitable, as indeed had +always been the case with his deceased brother. + +The school, I must needs say, came tolerably on. My youngster was very +smart, and seemed to be so active in his duty of usher, if I may so +speak, that he even overdid his part therein, and I began to feel +myself a cipher in my own school. + +I comforted myself with the belief that the publication was advancing +as fast as I could desire. On this subject, Paul Pattison, like ancient +Pistol, "talked bold words at the bridge," and that not only at our +house, but in the society of our neighbours, amongst whom, instead of +imitating the retired and monastic manner of his brother deceased, he +became a gay visitor, and such a reveller, that in process of time he +was observed to vilipend the modest fare which had at first been +esteemed a banquet by his hungry appetite, and thereby highly +displeased my wife, who, with justice, applauds herself for the +plentiful, cleanly, and healthy victuals, wherewith she maintains her +ushers and boarders. + +Upon the whole, I rather hoped than entertained a sincere confidence +that all was going on well, and was in that unpleasant state of mind +which precedes the open breach between two associates who have been +long jealous of each other, but are as yet deterred by a sense of +mutual interest from coming to an open rupture. + +The first thing which alarmed me was a rumour in the village, that Paul +Pattison intended, in some little space, to undertake a voyage to the +Continent--on account of his health, as was pretended, but, as the same +report averred, much more with the view of gratifying the curiosity +which his perusal of the classics had impressed upon him, than for any +other purpose. I was, I say, rather alarmed at this _susurrus_, +and began to reflect that the retirement of Mr. Pattison, unless his +loss could be supplied in good time, was like to be a blow to the +establishment; for, in truth, this Paul had a winning way with the boys, +especially those who were gentle-tempered; so that I must confess my +doubts whether, in certain respects, I myself could have fully supplied +his place in the school, with all my authority and experience. My wife, +jealous as became her station, of Mr. Pattison's intentions, advised me +to take the matter up immediately, and go to the bottom at once; and, +indeed, I had always found that way answered best with my boys. + +Mrs. Cleishbotham was not long before renewing the subject; for, like +most of the race of Xantippe, (though my help-mate is a well-spoken +woman,) she loves to thrust in her oar where she is not able to pull it +to purpose. "You are a sharp-witted man, Mr. Cleishbotham," would she +observe, "and a learned man, Mr. Cleishbotham--and the schoolmaster of +Gandercleuch, Mr. Cleishbotham, which is saying all in one word; but +many a man almost as great as yourself has lost the saddle by suffering +an inferior to get up behind him' and though, with the world, Mr. +Cleishbotham, you have the name of doing every thing, both in directing +the school and in this new profitable book line which you have taken up, +yet it begins to be the common talk of Gandercleuch, both up the water +and down the water, that the usher both writes the dominie's books and +teaches the dominie's school. Ay, ay, ask maid, wife, or widow, and +she'll tell ye, the least gaitling among them all comes to Paul +Pattison with his lesson as naturally as they come to me for their +four-hours, puir things; and never ane things of applying to you aboot +a kittle turn or a crabbed word, or about ony thing else, unless it +were for _licet exire_, or the mending of an auld pen." + +Now this address assailed me on a summer evening, when I was whiling +away my leisure hours with the end of a cutty pipe and indulging in +such bland imaginations as the Nicotian weed is wont to produce, more +especially in the case of the studious persons, devoted _musis +severioribus_. I was naturally loth to leave my misty sanctuary; and +endeavoured to silence the clamour of Mrs. Cleishbotham's tongue, which +has something in it peculiarly shrill and penetrating. "Woman," said I +with a tone of domestic authority befitting the occasion, "_res tuas +agas_;--mind your washings and your wringings, your stuffings and +your physicking, or whatever concerns the outward persons of the pupils, +and leave the progress of their education to my usher, Paul Pattison, +and myself." + +"I am glad to see," added the accursed woman, (that I should say so!) +"that ye have the grace to name him foremost, for there is little doubt, +that he ranks first of the troop, if ye wad but hear what the +neighbours speak--or whisper." + +"What do they whisper, thou sworn sister of the Eumenides?" cried I,-- +the irritating _aestrum_ of the woman's objurgation totally +counterbalancing the sedative effects both of pipe and pot. + +"Whisper?" resumed she in her shrillest note--"why, they whisper loud +enough for me at least to hear them, that the schoolmaster of +Gandercleuch is turned a doited auld woman, and spends all his time in +tippling strong drink with the keeper of the public-house, and leaves +school and book-making, and a' the rost o't, to the care of his usher; +and, also, the wives in Gandercleuch say, that you have engaged Paul +Pattison to write a new book, which is to beat a' the lave that gaed +afore it; and to show what a sair lift you have o' the job, you didna +sae muckle as ken the name o't--no nor whether it was to be about some +Heathen Greek, or the Black Douglas." + +This was said with such bitterness that it penetrated to the very quick, +and I hurled the poor old pipe, like one of Homer's spears, not in the +face of my provoking helpmate, though the temptation was strong, but +into the river Gander, which as is now well known to tourists from the +uttermost parts of the earth, pursues its quiet meanders beneath the +bank on which the school-house is pleasantly situated; and, starting up, +fixed on my head the cocked hat, (the pride of Messrs. Grieve and +Scott's repository,) and plunging into the valley of the brook, pursued +my way upwards, the voice of Mrs. Cleishbotham accompanying me in my +retreat with something like the angry scream of triumph with which the +brood-goose pursues the flight of some unmannerly cur or idle boy who +has intruded upon her premises, and fled before her. Indeed, so great +was the influence of this clamour of scorn and wrath which hung upon my +rear, that while it rung in my ears I was so moved that I instinctively +tucked the skirts of my black coat under my arm, as if I had been in +actual danger of being seized on by the grasp of the pursuing enemy. +Nor was it till I had almost reached the well-known burial-place, in +which it was Peter Pattison's hap to meet the far-famed personage +called Old Mortality, that I made a halt for the purpose of composing +my perturbed spirits, and considering what was to be done; for as yet +my mind was agitated by a chaos of passions, of which anger was +predominant; and for what reason, or against whom, I entertained such +tumultuous displeasure, it was not easy for me to determine. + +Nevertheless, having settled my cocked hat with becoming accuracy on my +well-powdered wig, and suffered it to remain uplifted for a moment to +cool my flushed brow--having, moreover, re-adjusted and shaken to +rights the skirts of my black coat, I came into case to answer to my +own questions, which, till these manoeuvres had been sedately +accomplished, I might have asked myself in vain. + +In the first place, therefore, to use the phrase of Mr. Docket, the +writer (that is, the attorney) of our village of Gandercleuch, I became +satisfied that my anger was directed against all and sundry, or, in law +Latin, _contre omnes mortales_, and more particularly against the +neighbourhood of Gandercleuch, for circulating reports to the prejudice +of my literary talents, as well as my accomplishments as a pedagogue, +and transferring the fame thereof to mine own usher. Secondly, against +my spouse, Dorothea Cleishbotham, for transferring the sad calumnious +reports to my ears in a prerupt and unseemly manner, and without due +respect either to the language which she made use of, or the person to +whom she spoke,--treating affairs in which I was so intimately +concerned as if they were proper subjects for jest among gossips at a +christening, where the womankind claim the privilege of worshipping the +_Bona Dea_ according to their secret female rites. + +Thirdly, I became clear that I was entitled to respond to any whom it +concerned to enquire, that my wrath was kindled against Paul Pattison, +my usher, for giving occasion both for the neighbours of Gandercleuch +entertaining such opinions, and for Mrs. Cleishbotham disrespectfully +urging them to my face, since neither circumstance could have existed, +without he had put forth sinful misrepresentations of transactions, +private and confidential, and of which I had myself entirely refrained +from dropping any the least hint to any third person. + +This arrangement of my ideas having contributed to soothe the stormy +atmosphere of which they had been the offspring, gave reason a time to +predominate, and to ask me, with her calm but clear voice, whether, +under all the circumstances, I did well to nourish so indiscriminate an +indignation? In fine, on closer examination, the various splenetic +thoughts I had been indulging against other parties, began to be merged +in that resentment against my perfidious usher, which, like the serpent +of Moses, swallowed up all subordinate objects of displeasure. To put +myself at open feud with the whole of my neighbours, unless I had been +certain of some effectual mode of avenging myself upon them, would have +been an undertaking too weighty for my means, and not unlikely, if +rashly grappled withal, to end in my ruin. To make a public quarrel +with my wife, on such an account as her opinion of my literary +accomplishments, would sound ridiculous: and, besides, Mrs. C. was sure +to have all the women on her side, who would represent her as a wife +persecuted by her husband for offering him good advice, and urging it +upon him with only too enthusiastic sincerity. + +There remained Paul Pattison, undoubtedly, the most natural and proper +object of my indignation, since I might be said to have him in my own +power, and might punish him by dismissal, at my pleasure. Yet even +vindictive proceedings against the said Paul, however easy to be +enforced, might be productive of serious consequences to my own purse; +and I began to reflect, with anxiety, that in this world it is not +often that the gratification of our angry passions lies in the same +road with the advancement of our interest, and that the wise man, the +_vere sapiens_, seldom hesitates which of these two he ought to +prefer. + +I recollected also that I was quite uncertain how far the present usher +had really been guilty of the foul acts of assumption charged against +him. + +In a word, I began to perceive that it would be no light matter, at +once, and without maturer perpending of sundry collateral +_punctiuncula_, to break up a joint-stock adventure, or society, +as civilians term it, which, if profitable to him, had at least +promised to be no less so to me, established in years and learning and +reputation so much his superior. Moved by which, and other the like +considerations, I resolved to proceed with becoming caution on the +occasion, and not, by stating my causes of complaint too hastily in the +outset, exasperate into a positive breach what might only prove some +small misunderstanding, easily explained or apologized for, and which, +like a leak in a new vessel, being once discovered and carefully +stopped, renders the vessel but more sea-worthy than it was before. + +About the time that I had adopted this healing resolution, I reached +the spot where the almost perpendicular face of a steep hill seems to +terminate the valley, or at least divides it into two dells, each +serving as a cradle to its own mountain-stream, the Gruff-quack, namely, +and the shallower, but more noisy, Gusedub, on the left hand, which, at +their union, form the Gander, properly so called. Each of these little +valleys has a walk winding up to its recesses, rendered more easy by +the labours of the poor during the late hard season, and one of which +bears the name of Pattison's path, while the other had been kindly +consecrated to my own memory, by the title of the Dominie's Daidling- +bit. Here I made certain to meet my associate, Paul Pattison, for by +one or other of these roads he was wont to return to my house of an +evening, after his lengthened rambles. + +Nor was it long before I espied him descending the Gusedub by that +tortuous path, marking so strongly the character of a Scottish glen. He +was easily distinguished, indeed, at some distance, by his jaunty +swagger, in which he presented to you the flat of his leg, like the +manly knave of clubs, apparently with the most perfect contentment, not +only with his leg and boot, but with every part of his outward man, and +the whole fashion of his garments, and, one would almost have thought, +the contents of his pockets. + +In this, his wonted guise, he approached me, where I was seated near +the meeting of the waters, and I could not but discern, that his first +impulse was to pass me without any prolonged or formal greeting. But as +that would not have been decent, considering the terms on which we +stood, he seemed to adopt, on reflection, a course directly opposite; +bustled up to me with an air of alacrity, and, I may add, impudence; +and hastened at once into the middle of the important affairs which it +had been my purpose to bring under discussion in a manner more becoming +their gravity. "I am glad to see you, Mr. Cleishbotham," said he, with +an inimitable mixture of confusion and effrontery; "the most wonderful +news which has been heard in the literary world in my time--all +Gandercleuch rings with it--they positively speak of nothing else, from +Miss Buskbody's youngest apprentice to the minister himself, and ask +each other in amazement, whether the tidings are true or false--to be +sure they are of an astounding complexion, especially to you and me." + +"Mr. Pattison," said I, "I am quite at a loss to guess at your meaning. +_Davus sum, non Oedipus_--I am Jedediah Cleishbotham, Schoolmaster +of the parish of Gandercleuch; no conjuror, and neither reader of +riddles, nor expounder of enigmata." + +"Well," replied Paul Pattison, "Mr. Jedediah Cleishbotham, Schoolmaster +of the parish of Gandercleuch, and so forth, all I have to inform you +is, that our hopeful scheme is entirely blown up. The tales, on +publishing which we reckoned with so much confidence, have already been +printed; they are abroad, over all America, and the British papers are +clamorous." + +I received this news with the same equanimity with which I should have +accepted a blow addressed to my stomach by a modern gladiator, with the +full energy of his fist. "If this be correct information, Mr. +Pattison," said I, "I must of necessity suspect you to be the person +who have supplied the foreign press with the copy which the printers +have thus made an unscrupulous use of, without respect to the rights of +the undeniable proprietors of the manuscripts; and I request to know +whether this American production embraces the alterations which you as +well as I judged necessary, before the work could be fitted to meet the +public eye?" To this my gentleman saw it necessary to make a direct +answer, for my manner was impressive, and my tone decisive. His native +audacity enabled him, however, to keep his ground, and he answered with +firmness-- + +"Mr. Cleishbotham, in the first place, these manuscripts, over which +you claim a very doubtful right, were never given to any one by me, and +must have been sent to America either by yourself, or by some one of +the various gentlemen to whom, I am well aware, you have afforded +opportunities of perusing my brother's MS. remains." + +"Mr. Pattison," I replied, "I beg to remind you that it never could be +my intention, either by my own hands, or through those of another, to +remit these manuscripts to the press, until, by the alterations which I +meditated, and which you yourself engaged to make, they were rendered +fit for public perusal." + +Mr. Pattison answered me with much heat:--"Sir, I would have you to +know, that if I accepted your paltry offer, it was with less regard to +its amount, than to the honour and literary fame of my late brother. I +foresaw that if I declined it, you would not hesitate to throw the task +into incapable hands, or, perhaps, have taken it upon yourself, the +most unfit of all men to tamper with the works of departed genius, and +that, God willing, I was determined to prevent--but the justice of +Heaven has taken the matter into its own hands. Peter Pattison's last +labours shall now go down to posterity unscathed by the scalping-knife +of alteration, in the hands of a false friend--shame on the thought +that the unnatural weapon could ever be wielded by the hand of a +brother!" + +I heard this speech not without a species of vertigo or dizziness in my +head, which would probably have struck me lifeless at his feet, had not +a thought like that of the old ballad-- + + "Earl Percy sees my fall," + +called to my recollection, that I should only afford an additional +triumph by giving way to my feelings in the presence of Mr. Paul +Pattison, who, I could not doubt, must be more or less directly at the +bottom of the Transatlantic publication, and had in one way or another +found his own interest in that nefarious transaction. + +To get quit of his odious presence I bid him an unceremonious good- +night, and marched down the glen with the air not of one who has parted +with a friend, but who rather has shaken off an intrusive companion. On +the road I pondered the whole matter over with an anxiety which did not +in the smallest degree tend to relieve me. Had I felt adequate to the +exertion, I might, of course, have supplanted this spurious edition (of +which the literary gazettes are already doling out copious specimens) +by introducing into a copy, to be instantly published at Edinburgh, +adequate correction of the various inconsistencies and imperfections +which have already been alluded to. I remember the easy victory of the +real second part of these "Tales of my Landlord" over the performance +sent forth by an interloper under the same title; and why should not +the same triumph be repeated now? There would, in short, have been a +pride of talent in this manner of avenging myself, which would have +been justifiable in the case of an injured man; but the state of my +health has for some time been such as to render any attempt of this +nature in every way imprudent. + +Under such circumstances, the last "Remains" of Peter Pattison must +even be accepted, as they were left in his desk; and I humbly retire in +the hope that, such as they are, they may receive the indulgence of +those who have ever been but too merciful to the productions of his pen, +and in all respects to the courteous reader's obliged servant, J. C. + +GANDERCLEUCH, _15th Oct._ 1831. + + + + +COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. + +CHAPTER THE FIRST. + + _Leontius_.-------- That power that kindly spreads + The clouds, a signal of impending showers, + To warn the wandering linnet to the shade, + Beheld without concern expiring Greece, + And not one prodigy foretold our fate. + + _Demetrius_. A thousand horrid prodigies foretold it: + A feeble government, eluded laws, + A factious populace, luxurious nobles, + And all the maladies of sinking states. + When public villany, too strong for justice, + Shows his bold front, the harbinger of ruin, + Can brave Leontius call for airy wonders, + Which cheats interpret, and which fools regard? + IRENE, _Act I_. + + +The close observers of vegetable nature have remarked, that when a new +graft is taken from an aged tree, it possesses indeed in exterior form +the appearance of a youthful shoot, but has in fact attained to the +same state of maturity, or even decay, which has been reached by the +parent stem. Hence, it is said, arises the general decline and death +that about the same season is often observed to spread itself through +individual trees of some particular species, all of which, deriving +their vital powers from the parent stock, are therefore incapable of +protracting their existence longer than it does. + +In the same manner, efforts have been made by the mighty of the earth +to transplant large cities, states, and communities, by one great and +sudden exertion, expecting to secure to the new capital the wealth, the +dignity, the magnificent decorations and unlimited extent of the +ancient city, which they desire to renovate; while, at the same time, +they hope to begin a new succession of ages from the date of the new +structure, to last, they imagine, as long, and with as much fame, as +its predecessor, which the founder hopes his new metropolis may replace +in all its youthful glories. But nature has her laws, which seem to +apply to the social, as well as the vegetable system. It appears to be +a general rule, that what is to last long should be slowly matured and +gradually improved, while every sudden effort, however gigantic, to +bring about the speedy execution of a plan calculated to endure for +ages, is doomed to exhibit symptoms of premature decay from its very +commencement. Thus, in a beautiful Oriental tale, a dervise explains to +the sultan how he had reared the magnificent trees among which they +walked, by nursing their shoots from the seed; and the prince's pride +is damped when he reflects, that those plantations, so simply raised, +were gathering new vigour from each returning sun, while his own +exhausted cedars, which had been transplanted by one violent effort, +were drooping their majestic heads in the Valley of Orez. [Footnote: +Tale of Mirglip the Persian, in the Tales of the Genii.] + +It has been allowed, I believe, by all men of taste, many of whom have +been late visitants of Constantinople, that if it were possible to +survey the whole globe with a view to fixing a seat of universal empire, +all who are capable of making such a choice, would give their +preference to the city of Constantine, as including the great +recommendations of beauty, wealth, security, and eminence. Yet with all +these advantages of situation and climate, and with all the +architectural splendour of its churches and halls, its quarries of +marble, and its treasure-houses of gold, the imperial founder must +himself have learned, that although he could employ all these rich +materials in obedience to his own wish, it was the mind of man itself, +those intellectual faculties refined by the ancients to the highest +degree, which had produced the specimens of talent at which men paused +and wondered, whether as subjects of art or of moral labour. The power +of the Emperor might indeed strip other cities of their statues and +their shrines, in order to decorate that which he had fixed upon as his +new capital; but the men who had performed great actions, and those, +almost equally esteemed, by whom such deeds were celebrated, in poetry, +in painting, and in music, had ceased to exist. The nation, though +still the most civilised in the world, had passed beyond that period of +society, when the desire of fair fame is of itself the sole or chief +motive for the labour of the historian or the poet, the painter or the +statuary. The slavish and despotic constitution introduced into the +empire, had long since entirely destroyed that public spirit which +animated the free history of Rome, leaving nothing but feeble +recollections, which produced no emulation. + +To speak as of an animated substance, if Constantine could have +regenerated his new metropolis, by transfusing into it the vital and +vivifying principles of old Rome,--that brilliant spark no longer +remained for Constantinople to borrow, or for Rome to lend. + +In one most important circumstance, the state of the capital of +Constantine had been totally changed, and unspeakably to its advantage. +The world was now Christian, and, with the Pagan code, had got rid of +its load of disgraceful superstition. Nor is there the least doubt, +that the better faith produced its natural and desirable fruits in +society, in gradually ameliorating the hearts, and taming the passions, +of the people. But while many of the converts were turning meekly +towards their new creed, some, in the arrogance of their understanding, +were limiting the Scriptures by their own devices, and others failed +not to make religious character or spiritual rank the means of rising +to temporal power. Thus it happened at this critical period, that the +effects of this great change in the religion of the country, although +producing an immediate harvest, as well as sowing much good seed which +was to grow hereafter, did not, in the fourth century, flourish so as +to shed at once that predominating influence which its principles might +have taught men to expect. + +Even the borrowed splendour, in which Constantine decked his city, bore +in it something which seemed to mark premature decay. The imperial +founder, in seizing upon the ancient statues, pictures, obelisks, and +works of art, acknowledged his own incapacity to supply their place +with the productions of later genius; and when the world, and +particularly Rome, was plundered to adorn Constantinople, the Emperor, +under whom the work was carried on, might be compared to a prodigal +youth, who strips an aged parent of her youthful ornaments, in order to +decorate a flaunting paramour, on whose brow all must consider them as +misplaced. + +Constantinople, therefore, when in 324 it first arose in imperial +majesty out of the humble Byzantium, showed, even in its birth, and +amid its adventitious splendour, as we have already said, some +intimations of that speedy decay to which the whole civilised world, +then limited within the Roman empire, was internally and imperceptibly +tending. Nor was it many ages ere these prognostications of declension +were fully verified. + +In the year 1080, Alexius Comnenus [Footnote: See Gibbon, Chap. xlviii, +for the origin and early history of the house of the Comneni.] ascended +the throne of the Empire; that is, he was declared sovereign of +Constantinople, its precincts and dependencies; nor, if he was disposed +to lead a life of relaxation, would the savage incursions of the +Scythians or the Hungarians frequently disturb the imperial slumbers, +if limited to his own capital. It may be supposed that this safety did +not extend much farther; for it is said that the Empress Pulcheria had +built a church to the Virgin Mary, as remote as possible from the gate +of the city, to save her devotions from the risk of being interrupted +by the hostile yell of the barbarians, and the reigning Emperor had +constructed a palace near the same spot, and for the same reason. + +Alexius Comnenus was in the condition of a monarch who rather derives +consequence from the wealth and importance of his predecessors, and the +great extent of their original dominions, than from what remnants of +fortune had descended to the present generation. This Emperor, except +nominally, no more ruled over his dismembered provinces, than a half- +dead horse can exercise power over those limbs, on which the hooded +crow and the vulture have already begun to settle and select their prey. + +In different parts of his territory, different enemies arose, who waged +successful or dubious war against the Emperor; and, of the numerous +nations with whom he was engaged in hostilities, whether the Franks +from the west, the Turks advancing from the east, the Cumans and +Scythians pouring their barbarous numbers and unceasing storm of arrows +from the north, and the Saracens, or the tribes into which they were +divided, pressing from the south, there was not one for whom the +Grecian empire did not spread a tempting repast. Each of these various +enemies had their own particular habits of war, and a way of +manoeuvring in battle peculiar to themselves. But the Roman, as the +unfortunate subject of the Greek empire was still called, was by far +the weakest, the most ignorant, and most timid, who could be dragged +into the field; and the Emperor was happy in his own good luck, when he +found it possible to conduct a defensive war on a counterbalancing +principle, making use of the Scythian to repel the Turk, or of both +these savage people to drive back the fiery-footed Frank, whom Peter +the Hermit had, in the time of Alexius, waked to double fury, by the +powerful influence of the crusades. + +If, therefore, Alexius Comnenus was, during his anxious seat upon the +throne of the East, reduced to use a base and truckling course of +policy--if he was sometimes reluctant to fight when he had a conscious +doubt of the valour of his troops--if he commonly employed cunning and +dissimulation instead of wisdom, and perfidy instead of courage--his +expedients were the disgrace of the age, rather than his own. + +Again, the Emperor Alexius may be blamed for affecting a degree of +state which was closely allied to imbecility. He was proud of assuming +in his own person, and of bestowing upon others, the painted show of +various orders of nobility, even now, when the rank within the prince's +gift was become an additional reason for the free barbarian despising +the imperial noble. That the Greek court was encumbered with unmeaning +ceremonies, in order to make amends for the want of that veneration +which ought to have been called forth by real worth, and the presence +of actual power, was not the particular fault of that prince, but +belonged to the system of the government of Constantinople for ages. +Indeed, in its trumpery etiquette, which provided rules for the most +trivial points of a man's behaviour during the day, the Greek empire +resembled no existing power in its minute follies, except that of +Pekin; both, doubtless, being influenced by the same vain wish, to add +seriousness and an appearance of importance to objects, which, from +their trivial nature, could admit no such distinction. + +Yet thus far we must justify Alexius, that humble as were the +expedients he had recourse to, they were more useful to his empire than +the measures of a more proud and high-spirited prince might have proved +in the same circumstances. He was no champion to break a lance against +the breast-plate of his Frankish rival, the famous Bohemond of +Antioch,[Footnote: Bohemond, son of Robert Guiscard, the Norman +conqueror of Apulia, Calabria, and Sicily, was, at the time when the +first crusade began, Count of Tarentum. Though far advanced in life, he +eagerly joined the expedition of the Latins, and became Prince of +Antioch. For details of his adventures, death, and extraordinary +character, see Gibbon, chap. lix, and Mills' History of the Crusades, +vol. i.] but there were many occasions on which he hazarded his life +freely; and, so far as we can see, from a minute perusal of his +achievements, the Emperor of Greece was never so dangerous "under +shield," as when any foeman desired to stop him while retreating from a +conflict in which he had been worsted. + +But, besides that he did not hesitate, according to the custom of the +time, at least occasionally, to commit his person to the perils of +close combat, Alexius also possessed such knowledge of a general's +profession, as is required in our modern days. He knew how to occupy +military positions to the best advantage, and often covered defeats, or +improved dubious conflicts, in a manner highly to the disappointment of +those who deemed that the work of war was done only on the field of +battle. + +If Alexius Comnenus thus understood the evolutions of war, he was still +better skilled in those of politics, where, soaring far above the +express purpose of his immediate negotiation, the Emperor was sure to +gain some important and permanent advantage; though very often he was +ultimately defeated by the unblushing fickleness, or avowed treachery +of the barbarians, as the Greeks generally termed all other nations, +and particularly those tribes, (they can hardly be termed states,) by +which their own empire was surrounded. + +We may conclude our brief character of Comnenus, by saying, that, had +he not been called on to fill the station of a monarch who was under +the necessity of making himself dreaded, as one who was exposed to all +manner of conspiracies, both in and out of his own family, he might, in +all probability, have been regarded as an honest and humane prince. +Certainly he showed himself a good-natured man, and dealt less in +cutting off heads and extinguishing eyes, than had been the practice of +his predecessors, who generally took this method of shortening the +ambitious views of competitors. + +It remains to be mentioned, that Alexius had his full share of the +superstition of the age, which he covered with a species of hypocrisy. +It is even said, that his wife, Irene, who of course was best +acquainted with the real character of the Emperor, taxed her dying +husband with practising, in his last moments, the dissimulation which +had been his companion during life. [Footnote: See Gibbon, chap. lvi.] +He took also a deep interest in all matters respecting the Church, +where heresy, which the Emperor held, or affected to hold, in great +horror, appeared to him to lurk. Nor do we discover in his treatment of +the Manichaeans, or Paulicians, that pity for their speculative errors, +which modern times might think had been well purchased by the extent of +the temporal services of these unfortunate sectaries. Alexius knew no +indulgence for those who misinterpreted the mysteries of the Church, or +of its doctrines; and the duty of defending religion against +schismatics was, in his opinion, as peremptorily demanded from him, as +that of protecting the empire against the numberless tribes of +barbarians who were encroaching on its boundaries on every side. + +Such a mixture of sense and weakness, of meanness and dignity, of +prudent discretion and poverty of spirit, which last, in the European +mode of viewing things, approached to cowardice, formed the leading +traits of the character of Alexius Comnenus, at a period when the fate +of Greece, and all that was left in that country of art and +civilization, was trembling in the balance, and likely to be saved or +lost, according to the abilities of the Emperor for playing the very +difficult game which was put into his hands. + +These few leading circumstances will recall, to any one who is +tolerably well read in history, the peculiarities of the period at +which we have found a resting-place for the foundation of our story. + + + + +CHAPTER THE SECOND. + + _Othus_. ------------- This superb successor + Of the earth's mistress, as thou vainly speakest, + Stands midst these ages as, on the wide ocean, + The last spared fragment, of a spacious land, + That in some grand and awful ministration + Of mighty nature has engulfed been, + Doth lift aloft its dark and rocky cliffs + O'er the wild waste around, and sadly frowns + In lonely majesty. + CONSTANTINE PALEOLOGUS, _Scene I_. + + +Our scene in the capital of the Eastern Empire opens at what is termed +the Golden Gate of Constantinople; and it may be said in passing, that +this splendid epithet is not so lightly bestowed as may be expected +from the inflated language of the Greeks, which throws such an +appearance of exaggeration about them, their buildings, and monuments. + +The massive, and seemingly impregnable walls with which Constantine +surrounded the city, were greatly improved and added to by Theodosius, +called the Great. A triumphal arch, decorated with the architecture of +a better, though already a degenerate age, and serving, at the same +time, as a useful entrance, introduced the stranger into the city. On +the top, a statue of bronze represented Victory, the goddess who had +inclined the scales of battle in favour of Theodosius; and, as the +artist determined to be wealthy if he could not be tasteful, the gilded +ornaments with which the inscriptions were set off, readily led to the +popular name of the gate. Figures carved in a distant and happier +period of the art, glanced from the walls, without assorting happily +with the taste in which these were built. The more modern ornaments of +the Golden Gate bore, at the period of our story, an aspect very +different from those indicating the "conquest brought back to the +city," and the "eternal peace" which the flattering inscriptions +recorded as having been extorted by the sword of Theodosius. Four or +five military engines, for throwing darts of the largest size, were +placed upon the summit of the arch; and what had been originally +designed as a specimen of architectural embellishment, was now applied +to the purposes of defence. + +It was the hour of evening, and the cool and refreshing breeze from the +sea inclined each passenger, whose business was not of a very urgent +description, to loiter on his way, and cast a glance at the romantic +gateway, and the various interesting objects of nature and art, which +the city of Constantinople presented, as well to the inhabitants as to +strangers. [Footnote: The impression which the imperial city was +calculated to make on such visitors as the Crusaders of the West, is +given by the ancient French chronicler Villehardouin, who was present +at the capture of A. D. 1203. "When we had come," he says, "within +three leagues, to a certain Abbey, then we could plainly survey +Constantinople. There the ships and the galleys came to anchor; and +much did they who had never been in that quarter before, gaze upon the +city. That such a city could be in the world they had never conceived, +and they were never weary of staring at the high walls and towers with +which it was entirely encompassed, the rich palaces and lofty churches, +of which there were so many that no one could have believed it, if he +had not seen with his own eyes that city, the Queen of all cities. And +know that there was not so bold a heart there, that it did not feel +some terror at the strength of Constantinople."--Chap. 66. + +Again,--"And now many of those of the host went to see Constantinople +within, and the rich palaces and stately churches, of which it +possesses so many, and the riches of the place, which are such as no +other city ever equalled. I need not speak of the sanctuaries, which +are as many as are in all the world beside."--Chap. 100.] + +One individual, however, seemed to indulge more wonder and curiosity +than could have been expected from a native of the city, and looked +upon the rarities around with a quick and startled eye, that marked an +imagination awakened by sights that were new and strange. The +appearance of this person bespoke a foreigner of military habits, who +seemed, from his complexion, to have his birthplace far from the +Grecian metropolis, whatever chance had at present brought him to the +Golden Gate, or whatever place he filled in the Emperor's service. + +This young man was about two-and-twenty years old, remarkably finely- +formed and athletic--qualities well understood by the citizens of +Constantinople, whose habits of frequenting the public games had taught +them at least an acquaintance with the human person, and where, in the +select of their own countrymen, they saw the handsomest specimens of +the human race. + +These were, however, not generally so tall as the stranger at the +Golden Gate, while his piercing blue eyes, and the fair hair which +descended from under a light helmet gaily ornamented with silver, +bearing on its summit a crest resembling a dragon in the act of +expanding his terrible jaws, intimated a northern descent, to which the +extreme purity of his complexion also bore witness. His beauty, however, +though he was eminently distinguished both in features and in person, +was not liable to the charge of effeminacy. From this it was rescued, +both by his strength, and by the air of confidence and self-possession +with which the youth seemed to regard the wonders around him, not +indicating the stupid and helpless gaze of a mind equally inexperienced, +and incapable of receiving instruction, but expressing the bold +intellect which at once understands the greater part of the information +which it receives, and commands the spirit to toil in search of the +meaning of that which it has not comprehended, or may fear it has +misinterpreted. This look of awakened attention and intelligence gave +interest to the young barbarian; and while the bystanders were amazed +that a savage from some unknown or remote corner of the universe should +possess a noble countenance bespeaking a mind so elevated, they +respected him for the composure with which he witnessed so many things, +the fashion, the splendour, nay, the very use of which, must have been +recently new to him. + +The young man's personal equipments exhibited a singular mixture of +splendour and effeminacy, and enabled the experienced spectators to +ascertain his nation, and the capacity in which he served. We have +already mentioned the fanciful and crested helmet, which was a +distinction of the foreigner, to which the reader must add in his +imagination a small cuirass, or breastplate of silver, so sparingly +fashioned as obviously to afford little security to the broad chest, on +which it rather hung like an ornament than covered as a buckler; nor, +if a well-thrown dart, or strongly-shod arrow, should alight full on +this rich piece of armour, was there much hope that it could protect +the bosom which it partially shielded. + +From betwixt the shoulders hung down over the back what had the +appearance of a bearskin; but, when more closely examined, it was only +a very skilful imitation, of the spoils of the chase, being in reality +a surcoat composed of strong shaggy silk, so woven as to exhibit, at a +little distance, no inaccurate representation of a bear's hide. A light +crooked sword, or scimitar, sheathed in a scabbard of gold and ivory, +hung by the left side of the stranger, the ornamented hilt of which +appeared much too small for the large-jointed hand of the young +Hercules who was thus gaily attired. A dress, purple in colour, and +setting close to the limbs, covered the body of the soldier to a little +above the knee; from thence the knees and legs were bare to the calf, +to which the reticulated strings of the sandals rose from the instep, +the ligatures being there fixed by a golden coin of the reigning +Emperor, converted into a species of clasp for the purpose. + +But a weapon which seemed more particularly adapted to the young +barbarian's size, and incapable of being used by a man of less +formidable limbs and sinews, was a battle-axe, the firm iron-guarded +staff of which was formed of tough elm, strongly inlaid and defended +with brass, while many a plate and ring were indented in the handle, to +hold the wood and the steel parts together. The axe itself was composed +of two blades, turning different ways, with a sharp steel spike +projecting from between them. The steel part, both spike and blade, was +burnished as bright as a mirror; and though its ponderous size must +have been burdensome to one weaker than himself, yet the young soldier +carried it as carelessly along, as if it were but a feather's weight. +It was, indeed, a skilfully constructed weapon, so well balanced, that +it was much lighter in striking and in recovery, than he who saw it in +the hands of another could easily have believed. + +The carrying arms of itself showed that the military man was a stranger. +The native Greeks had that mark of a civilized people, that they never +bore weapons during the time of peace, unless the wearer chanced to be +numbered among those whose military profession and employment required +them to be always in arms. Such soldiers by profession were easily +distinguished from the peaceful citizens; and it was with some evident +show of fear as well as dislike, that the passengers observed to each +other, that the stranger was a Varangian, an expression which intimated +a barbarian of the imperial body-guard. + +To supply the deficiency of valour among his own subjects, and to +procure soldiers who should be personally dependent on the Emperor, the +Greek sovereigns had been, for a great many years, in the custom of +maintaining in their pay, as near their person as they could, the +steady services of a select number of mercenaries in the capacity of +body-guards, which were numerous enough, when their steady discipline +and inflexible loyalty were taken in conjunction with their personal +strength and indomitable courage, to defeat, not only any traitorous +attempt on the imperial person, but to quell open rebellions, unless +such were supported by a great proportion of the military force. Their +pay was therefore liberal; their rank and established character for +prowess gave them a degree of consideration among the people, whose +reputation for valour had not for some ages stood high; and if, as +foreigners, and the members of a privileged body, the Varangians were +sometimes employed in arbitrary and unpopular services, the natives +were so apt to fear, while they disliked them, that the hardy strangers +disturbed themselves but little about the light in which they were +regarded by the inhabitants of Constantinople. Their dress and +accoutrements, while within the city, partook of the rich, or rather +gaudy costume, which we have described, bearing only a sort of affected +resemblance to that which the Varangians wore in their native forests. +But the individuals of this select corps were, when their services were +required beyond the city, furnished with armour and weapons more +resembling those which they were accustomed to wield in their own +country, possessing much less of the splendour of war, and a far +greater portion of its effective terrors; and thus they were summoned +to take the field. + +This body of Varangians (which term is, according to one interpretation +merely a general expression for barbarians) was, in an early age of the +empire, formed of the roving and piratical inhabitants of the north, +whom a love of adventure, the greatest perhaps that ever was indulged, +and a contempt of danger, which never had a parallel in the history of +human nature, drove forth upon the pathless ocean. "Piracy," says +Gibbon, with his usual spirit, "was the exercise, the trade, the glory, +and the virtue of the Scandinavian youth. Impatient of a bleak climate +and narrow limits, they started from the banquet, grasped their arms, +sounded their horn, ascended their ships, and explored every coast that +promised either spoil or settlement." [Footnote: Decline and Fall of +the Roman Empire. Chap. lv. vol. x. p. 221, 8vo edition.] + +The conquests made in France and Britain by these wild sea-kings, as +they were called, have obscured the remembrance of other northern +champions, who, long before the time of Comnenus, made excursions as +far as Constantinople, and witnessed with their own eyes the wealth and +the weakness of the Grecian empire itself. Numbers found their way +thither through the pathless wastes of Russia; others navigated the +Mediterranean in their sea-serpents, as they termed their piratical +vessels. The Emperors, terrified at the appearance of these daring +inhabitants of the frozen zone, had recourse to the usual policy of a +rich and unwarlike people, bought with gold the service of their swords, +and thus formed a corps of satellites more distinguished for valour +than the famed Praetorian Bands of Rome, and, perhaps because fewer in +number, unalterably loyal to their new princes. + +But, at a later period of the empire, it began to be more difficult for +the Emperors to obtain recruits for their favourite and selected corps, +the northern nations having now in a great measure laid aside the +piratical and roving habits, which had driven their ancestors from the +straits of Elsinore to those of Sestos and Abydos. The corps of the +Varangians must therefore have died out, or have been filled up with +less worthy materials, had not the conquests made by the Normans in the +far distant west, sent to the aid of Comnenus a large body of the +dispossessed inhabitants of the islands of Britain, and particularly of +England, who furnished recruits to his chosen body-guard. These were, +in fact, Anglo-Saxons; but, in the confused idea of geography received +at the court of Constantinople, they were naturally enough called +Anglo-Danes, as their native country was confounded with the Thule of +the ancients, by which expression the archipelago of Zetland and Orkney +is properly to be understood, though, according to the notions of the +Greeks, it comprised either Denmark or Britain. The emigrants, however, +spoke a language not very dissimilar to the original Varangians, and +adopted the name more readily, that it seemed to remind them of their +unhappy fate, the appellation being in one sense capable of being +interpreted as exiles. Excepting one or two chief commanders, whom the +Emperor judged worthy of such high trust, the Varangians were officered +by men of their own nation; and with so many privileges, being joined +by many of their countrymen from time to time, as the crusades, +pilgrimages, or discontent at home, drove fresh supplies of the Anglo- +Saxons, or Anglo-Danes, to the east, the Varangians subsisted in +strength to the last days of the Greek empire, retaining their native +language, along with the unblemished loyalty, and unabated martial +spirit, which characterised their fathers. + +This account of the Varangian Guard is strictly historical, and might +be proved by reference to the Byzantine historians; most of whom, and +also Villehardouin's account of the taking of the city of +Constantinople by the Franks and Venetians, make repeated mention of +this celebrated and singular body of Englishmen, forming a mercenary +guard attendant on the person of the Greek Emperors. [Footnote: Ducange +has poured forth a tide of learning on this curious subject, which will +be found in his Notes on Villehardouin's Constantinople under the +French Emperors.--Paris, 1637, folio, p. 196. Gibbon's History may also +be consulted, vol. x. p. 231. + +Villehardouin, in describing the siege of Constantinople, A. D. 1203, +says, "'Li murs fu mult garnis d'Anglois et de Danois,"--hence the +dissertation of Ducange here quoted, and several articles besides in +his Glossarium, as _Varangi_, Warengangi, &c. The etymology of the +name is left uncertain, though the German _fort-ganger_, _i. +e._ forth-goer, wanderer, _exile_, seems the most probable. The +term occurs in various Italian and Sicilian documents, anterior to the +establishment of the Varangian Guards at Constantinople, and collected +by Muratori: as, for instance, in an edict of one of the Lombard kings, +"Omnes Warengrangi, qui de extens finibus in regni nostri finibus +advenerint seque sub scuto potestatis nostrae subdiderint, legibus +nostris Longobardorum vivere debeant,"--and in another, "De Warengangis, +nobilibus, mediocribus, et rusticis hominibus, qui usque nune in terra +vestra fugiti sunt, habeatis eos."--_Muratori_, vol. ii. p. 261. + +With regard to the origin of the Varangian Guard, the most distinct +testimony is that of Ordericus Vittalis, who says, "When therefore the +English had lost their liberty, they turned themselves with zeal to +discover the means of throwing off the unaccustomed yoke. Some fled to +Sueno, King of the Danes, to excite him to the recovery of the +inheritance of his grandfather, Canute. Not a few fled into exile in +other regions, either from the mere desire of escaping from under the +Norman rule, or in the hope of acquiring wealth, and so being one day +in a condition to renew the struggle at home. Some of these, in the +bloom of youth, penetrated into a far distant land, and offered +themselves to the military service of the Constantinopolitan Emperor-- +that wise prince, against whom Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia, had +then raised all his forces. The English exiles were favourably received, +and opposed in battle to the Normans, for whose encounter the Greeks +themselves were too weak. Alexius began to build a town for the English, +a little above Constantinople, at a place called _Chevelot_, but +the trouble of the Normans from Sicily still increasing, he soon +recalled them to the capital, and intrusted the princial palace with +all its treasures to their keeping. This was the method in which the +Saxon English found their way to Ionia, where they still remain, highly +valued by the Emperor and the people."--Book iv. p. 508.] + +Having said enough to explain why an individual Varangian should be +strolling about the Golden Gate, we may proceed in the story which we +have commenced. + +Let it not be thought extraordinary, that this soldier of the life- +guard should be looked upon with some degree of curiosity by the +passing citizens. It must be supposed, that, from their peculiar duties, +they were not encouraged to hold frequent intercourse or communication +with the inhabitants; and, besides that they had duties of police +occasionally to exercise amongst them, which made them generally more +dreaded than beloved, they were at the same time conscious, that their +high pay, splendid appointments, and immediate dependence on the +Emperor, were subjects of envy to the other forces. They, therefore, +kept much in the neighbourhood of their own barracks, and were seldom +seen straggling remote from them, unless they had a commission of +government intrusted to their charge. + +This being the case, it was natural that a people so curious as the +Greeks should busy themselves in eyeing the stranger as he loitered in +one spot, or wandered to and fro, like a man who either could not find +some place which he was seeking, or had failed to meet some person with +whom he had an appointment, for which the ingenuity of the passengers +found a thousand different and inconsistent reasons. "A Varangian," +said one citizen to another, "and upon duty--ahem! Then I presume to +say in your ear"---- + +"What do you imagine is his object?" enquired the party to whom this +information was addressed. + +"Gods and goddesses! do you think I can tell you? but suppose that he +is lurking here to hear what folk say of the Emperor," answered the +_quid-nunc_ of Constantinople. + +"That is not likely,"' said the querist; "these Varangians do not speak +our language, and are not extremely well fitted for spies, since few of +them pretend to any intelligible notion of the Grecian tongue. It is +not likely, I think, that the Emperor would employ as a spy a man who +did not understand the language of the country." + +"But if there are, as all men fancy," answered the politician, "persons +among these barbarian soldiers who can speak almost all languages, you +will admit that such are excellently qualified for seeing clearly +around them, since they possess the talent of beholding and reporting, +while no one has the slightest idea of suspecting them." + +"It may well be," replied his companion; "but since we see so clearly +the fox's foot and paws protruding from beneath the seeming sheep's +fleece, or rather, by your leave, the _bear's_ hide yonder, had we +not better be jogging homeward, ere it be pretended we have insulted a +Varangian Guard?" + +This surmise of danger insinuated by the last speaker, who was a much +older and more experienced politician than his friend, determined both +on a hasty retreat. They adjusted their cloaks, caught hold of each +other's arm, and, speaking fast and thick as they started new subjects +of suspicion, they sped, close coupled together, towards their +habitations, in a different and distant quarter of the town. + +In the meantime, the sunset was nigh over; and the long shadows of the +walls, bulwarks, and arches, were projecting from the westward in +deeper and blacker shade. The Varangian seemed tired of the short and +lingering circle in which he had now trodden for more than an hour, and +in which he still loitered like an unliberated spirit, which cannot +leave the haunted spot till licensed by the spell which has brought it +hither. Even so the barbarian, casting an impatient glance to the sun, +which was setting in a blaze of light behind a rich grove of cypress- +trees, looked for some accommodation on the benches of stone which were +placed under shadow of the triumphal arch of Theodosius, drew the axe, +which was his principal weapon, close to his side, wrapped his cloak +about him, and, though his dress was not in other respects a fit attire +for slumber, any more than the place well selected for repose, yet in +less than three minutes he was fast asleep. The irresistible impulse +which induced him to seek for repose in a place very indifferently +fitted for the purpose, might be weariness consequent upon the military +vigils, which had proved a part of his duty on the preceding evening. +At the same time, his spirit was so alive within him, even while he +gave way to this transient fit of oblivion, that he remained almost +awake even with shut eyes, and no hound ever seemed to sleep more +lightly than our Anglo-Saxon at the Golden Gate of Constantinople. + +And now the slumberer, as the loiterer had been before, was the subject +of observation to the accidental passengers. Two men entered the porch +in company. One was a somewhat slight made, but alert-looking man, by +name Lysimachus, and by profession a designer. A roll of paper in his +hand, with a little satchel containing a few chalks, or pencils, +completed his stock in trade; and his acquaintance with the remains of +ancient art gave him a power of talking on the subject, which +unfortunately bore more than due proportion to his talents of execution. +His companion, a magnificent-looking man in form, and so far resembling +the young barbarian, but more clownish and peasant-like in the +expression of his features, was Stephanos the wrestler, well known in +the Palestra. + +"Stop here, my friend," said the artist, producing his pencils, "till I +make a sketch for my youthful Hercules." + +"I thought Hercules had been a Greek," said the wrestler. "This +sleeping animal is a barbarian." + +The tone intimated some offence, and the designer hastened to soothe +the displeasure which he had thoughtlessly excited. Stephanos, known by +the surname of Castor, who was highly distinguished for gymnastic +exercises, was a sort of patron to the little artist, and not unlikely +by his own reputation to bring the talents of his friend into notice. + +"Beauty and strength," said the adroit artist, "are of no particular +nation; and may our Muse never deign me her prize, but it is my +greatest pleasure to compare them, as existing in the uncultivated +savage of the north, and when they are found in the darling of an +enlightened people, who has added the height of gymnastic skill to the +most distinguished natural qualities, such as we can now only see in +the works of Phidias and Praxiteles--or in our living model of the +gymnastic champions of antiquity." + +"Nay, I acknowledge that the Varangian is a proper man," said the +athletic hero, softening his tone; "but the poor savage hath not, +perhaps, in his lifetime, had a single drop of oil on his bosom! +Hercules instituted the Isthmian Games"--- + +"But hold! what sleeps he with, wrapt so close in his bear-skin?" said +the artist. "Is it a club?" + +"Away, away, my friend!" cried Stephanos, as they looked closer on the +sleeper. "Do you not know that is the instrument of their barbarous +office? They do not war with swords or lances, as if destined to attack +men of flesh and blood; but with maces and axes, as if they were to +hack limbs formed of stone, and sinews of oak. I will wager my crown +[of withered parsley] that he lies here to arrest some distinguished +commander who has offended the government! He would not have been thus +formidably armed otherwise--Away, away, good Lysimachus; let us respect +the slumbers of the bear." + +So saying, the champion of the Palestra made off with less apparent +confidence than his size and strength might have inspired. + +Others, now thinly straggling, passed onward as the evening closed, and +the shadows of the cypress-trees fell darker around. Two females of the +lower rank cast their eyes on the sleeper. "Holy Maria!" said one, "if +he does not put me in mind of the Eastern tale, how the Genie brought a +gallant young prince from his nuptial chamber in Egypt, and left him +sleeping at the gate of Damascus. I will awake the poor lamb, lest he +catch harm from the night dew." + +"Harm?" answered the older and crosser looking woman. "Ay, such harm as +the cold water of the Cydnus does to the wild-swan. A lamb?--ay, +forsooth! Why he's a wolf or a bear, at least a Varangian, and no +modest matron would exchange a word with such an unmannered barbarian. +I'll tell you what one of, these English Danes did to me"---- + +So saying, she drew on her companion, who followed with some reluctance, +seeming to listen to her gabble, while she looked back upon the sleeper. + +The total disappearance of the sun, and nearly at the same time the +departure of the twilight, which lasts so short time in that tropical +region--one of the few advantages which a more temperate climate +possesses over it, being the longer continuance of that sweet and +placid light--gave signal to the warders of the city to shut the +folding leaves of the Golden Gate, leaving a wicket lightly bolted for +the passage of those whom business might have detained too late without +the walls, and indeed for all who chose to pay a small coin. The +position and apparent insensibility of the Varangian did not escape +those who had charge of the gate, of whom there was a strong guard, +which belonged to the ordinary Greek forces. + +"By Castor and by Pollux," said the centurion--for the Greeks swore by +the ancient deities, although they no longer worshipped them, and +preserved those military distinctions with which "the steady Romans +shook the world," although they were altogether degenerated from their +original manners--"By Castor and Pollux, comrades, we cannot gather +gold in this gate, according as its legend tells us: yet it will be our +fault if we cannot glean a goodly crop of silver; and though the golden +age be the most ancient and honourable, yet in this degenerate time it +is much if we see a glimpse of the inferior metal." + +"Unworthy are we to follow the noble centurion Harpax," answered one of +the soldiers of the watch, who showed the shaven head and the single +tuft [Footnote: One tuft is left on the shaven head of the Moslem, for +the angel to grasp by when conveying him to Paradise.] of a Mussulman, +"if we do not hold silver a sufficient cause to bestir ourselves, when +there has been no gold to be had--as, by the faith of an honest man, I +think we can hardly tell its colour--whether out of the imperial +treasury, or obtained at the expense of individuals, for many long +moons !" + +"But this silver," said the centurion, "thou shalt see with thine own +eye, and hear it ring a knell in the purse which holds our common +stock." "Which _did_ hold it, as thou wouldst say, most valiant +commander," replied the inferior warder; "but what that purse holds now, +save a few miserable oboli for purchasing certain pickled potherbs and +salt fish, to relish our allowance of stummed wine, I cannot tell, but +willingly give my share of the contents to the devil, if either purse +or platter exhibits symptom of any age richer than the age of copper." + +"I will replenish our treasury," said the centurion, "were our stock +yet lower than it is. Stand up close by the wicket, my masters. Bethink +you we are the Imperial Guards, or the guards of the Imperial City, it +is all one, and let us have no man rush past us on a sudden;--and now +that we are on our guard, I will unfold to you--But stop," said the +valiant centurion, "are we all here true brothers? Do all well +understand the ancient and laudable customs of our watch--keeping all +things secret which concern the profit and advantage of this our vigil, +and aiding and abetting the common cause, without information or +treachery?" + +"You are strangely suspicious to-night," answered the sentinel. +"Methinks we have stood by you without tale-telling in matters which +were more weighty. Have you forgot the passage of the jeweller--which +was neither the gold nor silver age; but if there were a diamond one"-- + +"Peace, good Ismail the Infidel," said the centurion,--"for, I thank +Heaven, we are of all religions, so it is to be hoped we must have the +true one amongst us,--Peace, I say; it is unnecessary to prove thou +canst keep new secrets, by ripping up old ones. Come hither--look +through the wicket to the stone bench, on the shady side of the grand +porch--tell me, old lad, what dost thou see there?" + +"A man asleep," said Ismail. "By Heaven, I think from what I can see by +the moonlight, that it is one of those barbarians, one of those island +dogs, whom the Emperor sets such store by!" + +"And can thy fertile brain," said the centurion, "spin nothing out of +his present situation, tending towards our advantage?" + +"Why, ay," said Ismail; "they have large pay, though they are not only +barbarians, but pagan dogs, in comparison with us Moslems and Nazarenes. +That fellow hath besotted himself with liquor, and hath not found his +way home to his barracks in good time. He will be severely punished, +unless we consent to admit him; and to prevail on us to do so, he must +empty the contents of his girdle." + +"That, at least--that, at least," answered the soldiers of the city +watch, but carefully suppressing their voices, though they spoke in an +eager tone. "And is that all that you would make of such an +opportunity?" said Harpax, scornfully. "No, no, comrades. If this +outlandish animal indeed escape us, he must at least leave his fleece +behind. See you not the gleams from his headpiece and his cuirass? I +presume these betoken substantial silver, though it may be of the +thinnest. There lies the silver mine I spoke of, ready to enrich the +dexterous hands who shall labour it." + +"But," said timidly a young Greek, a companion of their watch lately +enlisted in the corps, and unacquainted with their habits, "still this +barbarian, as you call him, is a soldier of the Emperor; and if we are +convicted of depriving him of his arms, we shall be justly punished for +a military crime." + +"Hear to a new Lycurgus come to teach us our duty!" said the centurion. +"Learn first, young man, that the metropolitan cohort never can commit +a crime; and next, of course, that they can never be convicted of one. +Suppose we found a straggling barbarian, a Varangian, like this +slumberer, perhaps a Frank, or some other of these foreigners bearing +unpronounceable names, while they dishonour us by putting on the arms +and apparel of the real Roman soldier, are we, placed to defend an +important post, to admit a man so suspicious within our postern, when +the event may probably be to betray both the Golden Gate and the hearts +of gold who guard it,--to have the one seized, and the throats of the +others handsomely cut?" + +"Keep him without side of the gate, then," replied the novice, "if you +think him so dangerous. For my part, I should not fear him, were he +deprived of that huge double-edged axe, which gleams from under his +cloak, having a more deadly glare than the comet which astrologers +prophesy such strange things of." + +"Nay, then, we agree together," answered Harpax, "and you speak like a +youth of modesty and sense; and I promise you the state will lose +nothing in the despoiling of this same barbarian. Each of these savages +hath a double set of accoutrements, the one wrought with gold, silver, +inlaid work, and ivory, as becomes their duties in the prince's +household; the other fashioned of triple steel, strong, weighty, and +irresistible. Now, in taking from this suspicious character his silver +helmet and cuirass, you reduce him to his proper weapons, and you will +see him start up in arms fit for duty." + +"Yes," said the novice; "but I do not see that this reasoning will do +more than warrant our stripping the Varangian of his armour, to be +afterwards heedfully returned to him on the morrow, if he prove a true +man. How, I know not, but I had adopted some idea that it was to be +confiscated for our joint behoof." + +"Unquestionably," said Harpax; "for such has been the rule of our watch +ever since the days of the excellent centurion Sisyphus, in whose time +it first was determined, that all contraband commodities or suspicious +weapons, or the like, which were brought into the city during the +nightwatch, should be uniformly forfeited to the use of the soldiery of +the guard; and where the Emperor finds the goods or arms unjustly +seized, I hope he is rich enough to make it up to the sufferer." + +"But still--but still," said Sebastes of Mitylene, the young Greek +aforesaid, "were the Emperor to discover"-- + +"Ass!" replied Harpax, "he cannot discover, if he had all the eyes of +Argus's tail.--Here are twelve of us sworn according to the rules of +the watch, to abide in the same story. Here is a barbarian, who, if he +remembers any thing of the matter--which I greatly doubt--his choice of +a lodging arguing his familiarity with the wine-pot--tells but a wild +tale of losing his armour, which we, my masters," (looking round to his +companions,) "deny stoutly--I hope we have courage enough for that--and +which party will be believed? The companions of the watch, surely!" + +"Quite the contrary," said Sebastes. "I was born at a distance from +hence; yet even in the island of Mitylene, the rumour had reached me +that the cavaliers of the city-guard of Constantinople were so +accomplished in falsehood, that the oath of a single barbarian would +outweigh the Christian oath of the whole body, if Christians some of +them are--for example, this dark man with a single tuft on his head." + +"And if it were even so," said the centurion, with a gloomy and +sinister look, "there is another way of making the transaction a safe +one." + +Sebastes, fixing his eye on his commander, moved his hand to the hilt +of an Eastern poniard which he wore, as if to penetrate his exact +meaning. The centurion nodded in acquiescence. + +"Young as I am," said Sebastes, "I have been already a pirate five +years at sea, and a robber three years now in the hills, and it is the +first time I have seen or heard a man hesitate, in such a case, to take +the only part which is worth a brave man's while to resort to in a +pressing affair." + +Harpax struck his hand into that of the soldier, as sharing his +uncompromising sentiments; but when he spoke, it was in a tremulous +voice. + +"How shall we deal with him?" said he to Sebastes, who, from the most +raw recruit in the corps, had now risen to the highest place in his +estimation. + +"Any how," returned the islander; "I see bows here and shafts, and if +no other person can use them"-- + +"They are not," said the centurion, "the regular arms of our corps." + +"The fitter you to guard the gates of a city," said the young soldier, +with a horse-laugh, which had something insulting in it. "Well--be it +so. I can shoot like a Scythian," he proceeded; "nod but with your head, +one shaft shall crash among the splinters of his skull and his brains; +the second shall quiver in his heart." + +"Bravo, my noble comrade!" said Harpax, in a tone of affected rapture, +always lowering his voice, however, as respecting the slumbers of the +Varangian. "Such were the robbers of ancient days, the Diomedes, +Corvnetes, Synnes, Scyrons, Procrustes, whom it required demigods to +bring to what was miscalled justice, and whose compeers and fellows +will remain masters of the continent and isles of Greece, until +Hercules and Theseus shall again appear upon earth. Nevertheless, shoot +not, my valiant Sebastes--draw not the bow, my invaluable Mitylenian; +you may wound and not kill." "I am little wont to do so," said Sebastes, +again repeating the hoarse, chuckling, discordant laugh, which grated +upon the ears of the centurion, though he could hardly tell the reason +why it was so uncommonly unpleasant. "If I look not about me," was his +internal reflection, "we shall have two centurions of the watch, +instead of one. This Mitylenian, or be he who the devil will, is a +bow's length beyond me. I must keep my eye on him." He then spoke aloud, +in a tone of authority. "But, come, young man, it is hard to discourage +a young beginner. If you have been such a rover of wood and river as +you tell us of, you know how to play the Sicarius: there lies your +object, drunk or asleep, we know not which;--you will deal with him in +either case." + +"Will you give me no odds to stab a stupefied or drunken man, most +noble centurion?" answered the Greek. "You would perhaps love the +commission yourself?" he continued, somewhat ironically. + +"Do as you are directed, friend," said Harpax, pointing to the turret +staircase which led down from the battlement to the arched entrance +underneath the porch. + +"He has the true cat-like stealthy pace," half muttered the centurion, +as his sentinel descended to do such a crime as he was posted there to +prevent. "This cockerel's comb must be cut, or he will become king of +the roost. But let us see if his hand be as resolute as his tongue; +then we will consider what turn to give to the conclusion." + +As Harpax spoke between his teeth, and rather to himself than any of +his companions, the Mitylenian emerged from under the archway, treading +on tiptoe, yet swiftly, with an admirable mixture of silence and +celerity. His poniard, drawn as he descended, gleamed in his hand, +which was held a little behind the rest of his person, so as to conceal +it. The assassin hovered less than an instant over the sleeper, as if +to mark the interval between the ill-fated silver corslet, and the body +which it was designed to protect, when, at the instant the blow was +rushing to its descent, the Varangian started up at once, arrested the +armed hand of the assassin, by striking it upwards with the head of his +battle-axe; and while he thus parried the intended stab, struck the +Greek a blow heavier than Sebastes had ever learned at the Pancration, +which left him scarce the power to cry help to his comrades on the +battlements. They saw what had happened, however, and beheld the +barbarian set his foot on their companion, and brandish high his +formidable weapon, the whistling sound of which made the old arch ring +ominously, while he paused an instant, with his weapon upheaved, ere he +gave the finishing blow to his enemy. The warders made a bustle, as if +some of them would descend to the assistance of Sebastes, without, +however, appearing very eager to do so, when Harpax, in a rapid whisper, +commanded them to stand fast. + +"Each man to his place," he said, "happen what may. Yonder comes a +captain of the guard--the secret is our own, if the savage has killed +the Mitylenian, as I well trust, for he stirs neither hand nor foot. +But if he lives, my comrades, make hard your faces as flints--he is but +one man, we are twelve. We know nothing of his purpose, save that he +went to see wherefore the barbarian slept so near the post." + +While the centurion thus bruited his purpose in busy insinuation to the +companions of his watch, the stately figure of a tall soldier, richly +armed, and presenting a lofty crest, which glistened as he stept from +the open moonlight into the shade of the vault, became visible beneath. +A whisper passed among the warders on the top of the gate. + +"Draw bolt, shut gate, come of the Mitylenian what will," said the +centurion; "we are lost men if we own him.--Here comes the chief of the +Varangian axes, the Follower himself." + +"Well, Hereward," said the officer who came last upon the scene, in a +sort of _lingua Franca_, generally used by the barbarians of the +guard, "hast thou caught a night-hawk?" + +"Ay, by Saint George!" answered the soldier; "and yet, in my country, +we would call him but a kite." + +"What is he?" said the leader. + +"He will tell you that himself," replied the Varangian, "when I take my +grasp from his windpipe." + +"Let him go, then," said the officer. + +The Englishman did as he was commanded; but, escaping as soon as he +felt himself at liberty, with an alertness which could scarce have been +anticipated, the Mitylenian rushed out at the arch, and, availing +himself of the complicated ornaments which had originally graced the +exterior of the gateway, he fled around buttress and projection, +closely pursued by the Varangian, who, encumbered with his armour, was +hardly a match in the course for the light-footed Grecian, as he dodged +his pursuer from one skulking place to another. The officer laughed +heartily, as the two figures, like shadows appearing and disappearing +as suddenly, held rapid flight and chase around the arch of Theodosius. + +"By Hercules! it is Hector pursued round the walls of Ilion by +Achilles," said the officer; "but my Pelides will scarce overtake the +son of Priam. What, ho! goddess-born--son of the white-footed Thetis!-- +But the allusion is lost on the poor savage--Hollo, Hereward! I say, +stop--know thine own most barbarous name." These last words were +muttered; then raising his voice, "Do not out-run thy wind, good +Hereward. Thou mayst have more occasion for breath to-night." + +"If it had been my leader's will," answered the Varangian, coming back +in sulky mood, and breathing like one who had been at the top of his +speed, "I would have had him as fast as ever grey-hound held hare, ere +I left off the chase. Were it not for this foolish armour, which +encumbers without defending one, I would not have made two bounds +without taking him by the throat." + +"As well as it is," said the officer, who was, in fact, the Acoulonthos, +or _Follower_, so called because it was the duty of this highly- +trusted officer of the Varangian Guards constantly to attend on the +person of the Emperor. "But let us now see by what means we are to +regain our entrance through the gate; for if, as I suspect, it was one +of those warders who was willing to have played thee a trick, his +companions may not let us enter willingly." "And is it not," said the +Varangian, "your Valour's duty to probe this want of discipline to the +bottom?" + +"Hush thee here, my simple-minded savage! I have often told you, most +ignorant Hereward, that the skulls of those who come from your cold and +muddy Boentia of the North, are fitter to bear out twenty blows with a +sledge-hammer, than turn off one witty or ingenious idea. But follow me, +Hereward, and although I am aware that showing the fine meshes of +Grecian policy to the coarse eye of an unpractised barbarian like thee, +is much like casting pearls before swine, a thing forbidden in the +Blessed Gospel, yet, as thou hast so good a heart, and so trusty, as is +scarce to be met with among my Varangians themselves, I care not if, +while thou art in attendance on my person, I endeavour to indoctrinate +thee in some of that policy by which I myself--the Follower--the chief +of the Varangians, and therefore erected by their axes into the most +valiant of the valiant, am content to guide myself, although every way +qualified to bear me through the cross currents of the court by main +pull of oar and press of sail--a condescension in me, to do that by +policy, which no man in this imperial court, the chosen sphere of +superior wits, could so well accomplish by open force as myself. What +think'st thou, good savage?" + +"I know," answered the Varangian, who walked about a step and a half +behind his leader, like an orderly of the present day behind his +officer's shoulder, "I should be sorry to trouble my head with what I +could do by my hands at once." + +"Did I not say so?" replied the Follower, who had now for some minutes +led the way from the Golden Gate, and was seen gliding along the +outside of the moonlight walls, as if seeking an entrance elsewhere. +"Lo, such is the stuff of what you call your head is made! Your hands +and arms are perfect Ahitophels, compared to it. Hearken to me, thou +most ignorant of all animals,--but, for that very reason, thou stoutest +of confidants, and bravest of soldiers,--I will tell thee the very +riddle of this night-work, and yet, even then I doubt if thou canst +understand me." + +"It is my present duty to try to comprehend your Valour," said the +Varangian--"I would say your policy, since you condescend to expound it +to me. As for your valour," he added, "I should be unlucky if I did not +think I understand its length and breadth already." + +The Greek General coloured a little, but replied, with unaltered voice, +"True, good Hereward. We have seen each other in battle." + +Hereward here could not suppress a short cough, which to those +grammarians of the day who were skilful in applying the use of accents, +would have implied no peculiar eulogium on his officer's military +bravery. Indeed, during their whole intercourse, the conversation of +the General, in spite of his tone of affected importance and +superiority, displayed an obvious respect for his companion, as one who, +in many points of action, might, if brought to the test, prove a more +effective soldier than himself. On the other hand, when the powerful +Northern warrior replied, although it was with all observance of +discipline and duty, yet the discussion might sometimes resemble that +between an ignorant macaroni officer, before the Duke of York's +reformation of the British army, and a steady sergeant of the regiment +in which they both served. There was a consciousness of superiority, +disguised by external respect, and half admitted by the leader. + +"You will grant me, my simple friend," continued the chief, in the same +tone as before, "in order to lead thee by a short passage into the +deepest principle of policy which pervades this same court of +Constantinople, that the favour of the Emperor"--(here the officer +raised his casque, and the soldier made a semblance of doing so also)-- +"who (be the place where he puts his foot sacred!) is the vivifying +principle of the sphere in which we live, as the sun itself is that of +humanity"---- + +"I have heard something like this said by our tribunes," said the +Varangian. + +"It is their duty so to instruct you," answered the leader; "and I +trust that the priests also, in their sphere, forget not to teach my +Varangians their constant service to their Emperor." + +"They do not omit it," replied the soldier, "though we of the exiles +know our duty." + +"God forbid I should doubt it," said the commander of the battle-axes. +"All I mean is to make thee understand, my dear Hereward, that as there +are, though perhaps such do not exist in thy dark and gloomy climate, a +race of insects which are born in the first rays of the morning, and +expire with those of sunset, (thence called by us ephemeras, as +enduring one day only,) such is the case of a favourite at court, while +enjoying the smiles of the most sacred Emperor. And happy is he whose +favour, rising as the person of the sovereign emerges from the level +space which extends around the throne, displays itself in the first +imperial blaze of glory, and who, keeping his post during the meridian +splendour of the crown, has only the fate to disappear and die with the +last beam of imperial brightness." + +"Your Valour," said the islander, "speaks higher language than my +Northern wits are able to comprehend. Only, methinks, rather than part +with life at the sunset, I would, since insect I must needs be, become +a moth for two or three dark hours." + +"Such is the sordid desire of the vulgar, Hereward," answered the +Follower, with assumed superiority, "who are contented to enjoy life, +lacking distinction; whereas we, on the other hand, we of choicer +quality, who form the nearest and innermost circle around the Imperial +Alexius, in which he himself forms the central point, are watchful, to +woman's jealousy, of the distribution of his favours, and omit no +opportunity, whether by leaguing with or against each other, to +recommend ourselves individually to the peliar light of his +countenance." + +"I think I comprehend what you mean," said the guardsman; "although as +for living such a life of intrigue--but that matters not." + +"It does indeed matter not, my good Hereward," said his officer, "and +thou art lucky in having no appetite for the life I have described. Yet +have I seen barbarians rise high in the empire, and if they have not +altogether the flexibility, the malleability, as it is called--that +happy ductility which can give way to circumstances, I have yet known +those of barbaric tribes, especially if bred up at court from their +youth, who joined to a limited portion of this flexile quality enough +of a certain tough durability of temper, which, if it does not excel in +availing itself of opportunity, has no contemptible talent at creating +it. But letting comparisons pass, it follows, from this emulation of +glory, that is, of royal favour, amongst the servants of the imperial +and most sacred court, that each is desirous of distinguishing himself +by showing to the Emperor, not only that he fully understands the +duties of his own employments, but that he is capable, in case of +necessity, of discharging those of others." + +"I understand," said the Saxon; "and thence it happens that the under +ministers, soldiers, and assistants of the great crown-officers, are +perpetually engaged, not in aiding each other, but in acting as spies +on their neighbours' actions?" + +"Even so," answered the commander; "it is but few days since I had a +disagreeable instance of it. Every one, however dull in the intellect, +hath understood thus much, that the great Protospathaire, [Footnote: +Literally, the First Swordsman.] which title thou knowest signifies the +General-in-chief of the forces of the empire, hath me at hatred, +because I am the leader of those redoubtable Varangians, who enjoy and +well deserve, privileges exempting them from the absolute command which +he possesses over all other corps of the army--an authority which +becomes Nicanor, notwithstanding the victorious sound of his name, +nearly as well as a war-saddle would become a bullock." + +"How!" said the Varangian, "does the Protospathaire pretend to any +authority over the noble exiles?--By the red dragon, under which we +will live and die, we will obey no man alive but Alexius Comnenus +himself, and our own officers!" + +"Rightly and bravely resolved," said the leader; "but, my good Hereward, +let not your just indignation hurry you so far as to name the most +sacred Emperor, without raising your hand to your casque, and adding +the epithets of his lofty rank." + +"I will raise my hand often enough and high enough," said the Norseman, +"when the Emperor's service requires it." + +"I dare be sworn thou wilt," said Achilles Tatius, the commander of the +Varangian Imperial Body Guard, who thought the time was unfavourable +for distinguishing himself by insisting on that exact observance of +etiquette, which was one of his great pretensions to the name of a +soldier. "Yet were it not for the constant vigilance of your leader, my +child, the noble Varangians would be trode down, in the common mass of +the army, with the heathen cohorts of Huns, Scythians, or those +turban'd infidels the renegade Turks; and even for this is your +commander here in peril, because he vindicates his axe-men as worthy of +being prized above the paltry shafts of the Eastern tribes and the +javelins of the Moors, which are only fit to be playthings for +children." + +"You are exposed to no danger," said the soldier, closing up to +Achilles in a confidential manner, "from which these axes can protect +you." + +"Do I not know it?" said Achilles. "But it is to your arms alone that +the Follower of his most sacred Majesty now intrusts his safety." + +"In aught that a soldier may do," answered Hereward; "make your own +computation, and then reckon this single arm worth two against any man +the Emperor has, not being of our own corps." + +"Listen, my brave friend," continued Achilles. "This Nicanor was daring +enough to throw a reproach on our noble corps, accusing them--gods and +goddesses!--of plundering in the field, and, yet more sacrilegious, of +drinking the precious wine which was prepared for his most sacred +Majesty's own blessed consumption. I, the sacred person of the Emperor +being present, proceeded, as thou may'st well believe"-- + +"To give him the lie in his audacious throat!" burst in the Varangian-- +"named a place of meeting somewhere in the vicinity, and called the +attendance of your poor follower, Hereward of Hampton, who is your +bond-slave for life long, for such an honour! I wish only you had told +me to get my work-day arms; but, however, I have my battle-axe, and"-- +Here his companion seized a moment to break in, for he was somewhat +abashed at the lively tone of the young soldier. + +"Hush thee, my son," said Achilles Tatius; "speak low, my excellent +Hereward. Thou mistakest this thing. With thee by my side, I would not, +indeed, hesitate to meet five such as Nicanor; but such is not the law +of this most hallowed empire, nor the sentiments of the three times +illustrious Prince who now rules it. Thou art debauched, my soldier, +with the swaggering stories of the Franks, of whom we hear more and +more every day." + +"I would not willingly borrow any thing from those whom you call Franks, +and we Normans," answered the Varangian, in a disappointed, dogged tone. + +"Why, listen, then," said the officer as they proceeded on their walk, +"listen to the reason of the thing, and consider whether such a custom +can obtain, as that which they term the duello, in any country of +civilization and common sense, to say nothing of one which is blessed +with the domination of the most rare Alexius Comnenus. Two great lords, +or high officers, quarrel in the court, and before the reverend person +of the Emperor. They dispute about a point of fact. Now, instead of +each maintaining his own opinion by argument or evidence, suppose they +had adopted the custom of these barbarous Franks,--'Why, thou liest in +thy throat,' says the one; 'and thou liest in thy very lungs,' says +another; and they measure forth the lists of battle in the next meadow. +Each swears to the truth of his quarrel, though probably neither well +knows precisely how the fact stands. One, perhaps the hardier, truer, +and better man of the two, the Follower of the Emperor, and father of +the Varangians, (for death, my faithful follower, spares no man,) lies +dead on the ground, and the other comes back to predominate in the +court, where, had the matter been enquired into by the rules of common +sense and reason, the victor, as he is termed, would have been sent to +the gallows. And yet this is the law of arms, as your fancy pleases to +call it, friend Hereward!" + +"May it please your Valour," answered the barbarian, "there is a show +of sense in what you say; but you will sooner convince me that this +blessed moonlight is the blackness of a wolf's mouth, than that I ought +to hear myself called liar, without cramming the epithet down the +speaker's throat with the spike of my battle-axe. The lie is to a man +the same as a blow, and a blow degrades him into a slave and a beast of +burden, if endured without retaliation." + +"Ay, there it is!" said Achilles; "could I but get you to lay aside +that inborn barbarism, which leads you, otherwise the most disciplined +soldiers who serve the sacred Emperor, into such deadly quarrels and +feuds"-- + +"Sir Captain," said the Varangian, in a sullen tone, "take my advice, +and take the Varangians as you have them; for, believe my word, that if +you could teach them to endure reproaches, bear the lie, or tolerate +stripes, you would hardly find them, when their discipline is completed, +worth the single day's salt which they cost to his holiness, if that be +his title. I must tell you, moreover, valorous sir, that the Varangians +will little thank their leader, who heard them called marauders, +drunkards, and what not, and repelled not the charge on the spot." + +"Now, if I knew not the humours of my barbarians," thought Tatius, in +his own mind, "I should bring on myself a quarrel with these untamed +islanders, who the Emperor thinks can be so easily kept in discipline. +But I will settle this sport presently." Accordingly, he addressed the +Saxon in a soothing tone. + +"My faithful soldier," he proceeded aloud, "we Romans, according to the +custom of our ancestors, set as much glory on actually telling the +truth, as you do in resenting the imputation of falsehood; and I could +not with honour return a charge of falsehood upon Nicanor, since what +he said was substantially true." + +"What! that we Varangians were plunderers, drunkards, and the like?" +said Hereward, more impatient than before. + +"No, surely, not in that broad sense," said Achilles; "but there was +too much foundation for the legend." + +"When and where?" asked the Anglo-Saxon. + +"You remember," replied his leader, "the long march near Laodicea, +where the Varangians beat off a cloud of Turks, and retook a train of +the imperial baggage? You know what was done that day--how you quenched +your thirst, I mean?" + +"I have some reason to remember it," said Hereward of Hampton; "for we +were half choked with dust, fatigue, and, which was worst of all, +constantly fighting with our faces to the rear, when we found some +firkins of wine in certain carriages which were broken down--down our +throats it went, as if it had been the best ale in Southampton." + +"Ah, unhappy!" said the Follower; "saw you not that the firkins were +stamped with the thrice excellent Grand Butler's own inviolable seal, +and set apart for the private use of his Imperial Majesty's most sacred +lips?" + +"By good Saint George of merry England, worth a dozen of your Saint +George of Cappadocia, I neither thought nor cared about the matter," +answered Hereward. "And I know your Valour drank a mighty draught +yourself out of my head-piece; not this silver bauble, but my steel-cap, +which is twice as ample. By the same token, that whereas before you +were giving orders to fall back, you were a changed man when you had +cleared your throat of the dust, and cried, 'Bide the other brunt, my +brave and stout boys of Britain!'" + +"Ay," said Achilles, "I know I am but too apt to be venturous in action. +But you mistake, good Hereward; the wine I tasted in the extremity of +martial fatigue, was not that set apart for his sacred Majesty's own +peculiar mouth, but a secondary sort, preserved for the Grand Butler +himself, of which, as one of the great officers of the household, I +might right lawfully partake--the chance was nevertheless sinfully +unhappy." + +"On my life," replied Hereward, "I cannot see the infelicity of +drinking when we are dying of thirst." + +"But cheer up, my noble comrade," said Achilles, after he had hurried +over his own exculpation, and without noticing the Varangian's light +estimation of the crime, "his Imperial Majesty, in his ineffable +graciousness, imputes these ill-advised draughts as a crime to no one +who partook of them. He rebuked the Protospathaire for fishing up this +accusation, and said, when he had recalled the bustle and confusion of +that toilsome day, 'I thought myself well off amid that seven times +heated furnace, when we obtained a draught of the barley-wine drank by +my poor Varangians; and I drank their health, as well I might, since, +had it not been for their services, I had drunk my last; and well fare +their hearts, though they quaffed my wine in return!' And with that he +turned off, as one who said, 'I have too much of this, being a finding +of matter and ripping up of stories against Achilles Tatius and his +gallant Varangians.'" + +"Now, may God bless his honest heart for it!" said Hereward, with more +downright heartiness than formal respect. "I'll drink to his health in +what I put next to my lips that quenches thirst, whether it may be ale, +wine, or ditch-water." + +"Why, well said, but speak not above thy breath! and remember to put +thy hand to thy forehead, when naming, or even thinking of the +Emperor!--Well, thou knowest, Hereward, that having thus obtained the +advantage, I knew that the moment of a repulsed attack is always that +of a successful charge; and so I brought against the Protospathaire, +Nicanor, the robberies which have been committed at the Golden Gate, +and other entrances of the city, where a merchant was but of late +kidnapped and murdered, having on him certain jewels, the property of +the Patriarch." + +"Ay! indeed?" said the Varangian; "and what said Alex--I mean the most +sacred Emperor, when he heard such things said of the city warders?-- +though he had himself given, as we say in our land, the fox the geese +to keep." + +"It may be he did," replied Achilles; "but he is a sovereign of deep +policy, and was resolved not to proceed against these treacherous +warders, or their general, the Protospathaire, without decisive proof. +His Sacred Majesty, therefore, charged me to obtain specific +circumstantial proof by thy means." + +"And that I would have managed in two minutes, had you not called me +off the chase of yon cut-throat vagabond. But his grace knows the word +of a Varangian, and I can assure him that either lucre of my silver +gaberdine, which they nickname a cuirass, or the hatred of my corps, +would be sufficient to incite any of these knaves to cut the throat of +a Varangian, who appeared to be asleep.--So we go, I suppose, captain, +to bear evidence before the Emperor to this night's work?" + +"No, my active soldier, hadst thou taken the runaway villain, my first +act must have been to set him free again; and my present charge to you +is, to forget that such an adventure has ever taken place." + +"Ha!" said the Varangian; "this is a change of policy indeed!" + +"Why, yes, brave Hereward; ere I left the palace this night, the +Patriarch made overtures of reconciliation betwixt me and the +Protospathaire, which, as our agreement is of much consequence to the +state, I could not very well reject, either as a good soldier or a good +Christian. All offences to my honour are to be in the fullest degree +repaid, for which the Patriarch interposes his warrant. The Emperor, +who will rather wink hard than see disagreements, loves better the +matter should be slurred over thus." + +"And the reproaches upon the Varangians." said Hereward---- + +"Shall be fully retracted and atoned for," answered Achilles; "and a +weighty donative in gold dealt among the corps of the Anglo-Danish +axemen. Thou, my Hereward, mayst be distributor; and thus, if well- +managed, mayst plate thy battle-axe with gold." + +"I love my axe better as it is," said the Varangian. "My father bore it +against the robber Normans at Hastings. Steel instead of gold for my +money." + +"Thou mayst make thy choice, Hereward," answered his officer; "only, if +thou art poor, say the fault was thine own." + +But here, in the course of their circuit round Constantinople, the +officer and his soldier came to a very small wicket or sallyport, +opening on the interior of a large and massive advanced work, which +terminated an entrance to the city itself. Here the officer halted, and +made his obedience, as a devotee who is about to enter a chapel of +peculiar sanctity. + + + + +CHAPTER THE THIRD. + + Here, youth, thy foot unbrace, + Here, youth, thy brow unbraid; + Each tribute that may grace + The threshold here be paid. + Walk with the stealthy pace + Which Nature teaches deer, + When, echoing in the chase, + The hunter's horn they hear. + THE COURT. + + +Before entering, Achilles Tatius made various gesticulations, which +were imitated roughly and awkwardly by the unpractised Varangian, whose +service with his corps had been almost entirely in the field, his +routine of duty not having, till very lately, called him to serve as +one of the garrison of Constantinople. He was not, therefore, +acquainted with the minute observances which the Greeks, who were the +most formal and ceremonious soldiers and courtiers in the world, +rendered not merely to the Greek Emperor in person, but throughout the +sphere which peculiarly partook of his influence. + +Achilles, having gesticulated after his own fashion, at length touched +the door with a rap, distinct at once and modest. This was thrice +repeated, when the captain whispered to his attendant, "The interior!-- +for thy life, do as thou seest me do." At the same moment he started +back, and, stooping his head on his breast, with his hands over his +eyes, as if to save them from being dazzled by an expected burst of +light, awaited the answer to his summons. The Anglo-Dane, desirous to +obey his leader, imitating him as near as he could, stood side by side +in the posture of Oriental humiliation. The little portal opened +inwards, when no burst of light was seen, but four of the Varangians +were made visible in the entrance, holding each his battle-axe, as if +about to strike down the intruders who had disturbed the silence of +their watch. + +"Acoulouthos," said the leader, by way of password. + +"Tatius and Acoulouthos," murmured the warders, as a countersign. + +Each sentinel sunk his weapon. + +Achilles then reared his stately crest, with a conscious dignity at +making this display of court influence in the eyes of his soldiers. +Hereward observed an undisturbed gravity, to the surprise of his +officer, who marvelled in his own mind how he could be such a barbarian +as to regard with apathy a scene, which had in his eyes the most +impressive and peculiar awe. This indifference he imputed to the stupid +insensibility of his companion. + +They passed on between the sentinels, who wheeled backward in file, on +each side of the portal, and gave the strangers entrance to a long +narrow plank, stretched across the city-moat, which was here drawn +within the enclosure of an external rampart, projecting beyond the +principal wall of the city. + +"This," he whispered to Hereward, "is called the Bridge of Peril, and +it is said that it has been occasionally smeared with oil, or strewed +with dried peas, and that the bodies of men, known to have been in +company with the Emperor's most sacred person, have been taken out of +the Golden Horn, [Footnote: The harbour of Constantinople.] into which +the moat empties itself." + +"I would not have thought," said the islander, raising his voice to its +usual rough tone, "that Alexius Comnenus"-- + +"Hush, rash and regardless of your life!" said Achilles Tatius; "to +awaken the daughter of the imperial arch, [Footnote: The daughter of +the arch was a courtly expression for the echo, as we find explained by +the courtly commander himself.] is to incur deep penalty at all times; +but when a rash delinquent has disturbed her with reflections on his +most sacred Highness the Emperor, death is a punishment far too light +for the effrontery which has interrupted her blessed slumber!--Ill hath +been my fate, to have positive commands laid on me, enjoining me to +bring into the sacred precincts a creature who hath no more of the salt +of civilization in him than to keep his mortal frame from corruption, +since of all mental culture he is totally incapable. Consider thyself, +Hereward, and bethink thee what thou art. By nature a poor barbarian-- +thy best boast that thou hast slain certain Mussulmans in thy sacred +master's quarrel; and here art thou admitted into the inviolable +enclosure of the Blaquernal, and in the hearing not only of the royal +daughter of the imperial arch, which means," said the eloquent leader, +"the echo of the sublime vaults; but--Heaven be our guide,--for what I +know, within the natural hearing of the Sacred Ear itself!" + +"Well, my captain," replied the Varangian, "I cannot presume to speak +my mind after the fashion of this place; but I can easily suppose I am +but ill qualified to converse in the presence of the court, nor do I +mean therefore to say a word till I am spoken to, unless when I shall +see no better company than ourselves. To be plain, I find difficulty in +modelling my voice to a smoother tone than nature has given it. So, +henceforth, my brave captain, I will be mute, unless when you give me a +sign to speak." + +"You will act wisely," said the captain. "Here be certain persons of +high rank, nay, some that have been born in the purple itself, that +will, Hereward, (alas, for thee!) prepare to sound with the line of +their courtly understanding the depths of thy barbarous and shallow +conceit. Do not, therefore, then, join their graceful smiles with thy +inhuman bursts of cachinnation, with which thou art wont to thunder +forth when opening in chorus with thy messmates." + +"I tell thee I will be silent," said the Varangian, moved somewhat +beyond his mood. "If you trust my word, so; if you think I am a jackdaw +that must be speaking, whether in or out of place and purpose, I am +contented to go back again, and therein we can end the matter." + +Achilles, conscious perhaps that it was his best policy not to drive +his subaltern to extremity, lowered his tone somewhat in reply to the +uncourtly note of the soldier, as if allowing something for the rude +manners of one whom he considered as not easily matched among the +Varangians themselves, for strength and valour; qualities which, in +despite of Hereward's discourtesy, Achilles suspected in his heart were +fully more valuable than all those nameless graces which a more courtly +and accomplished soldier might possess. + +The expert navigator of the intricacies of the imperial residence, +carried the Varangian through two or three small complicated courts, +forming a part of the extensive Palace of the Blaquernal, [Footnote: +This palace derived its name from the neighbouring Blachernian Gate and +Bridge.] and entered the building itself by a side door--watched in +like manner by a sentinel of the Varangian Guard, whom they passed on +being recognized. In the next apartment was stationed the Court of +Guard, where were certain soldiers of the same corps amusing themselves +at games somewhat resembling the modern draughts and dice, while they +seasoned their pastime with frequent applications to deep flagons of +ale, which were furnished to them while passing away their hours of +duty. Some glances passed between Hereward and his comrades, and he +would have joined them, or at least spoke to them; for, since the +adventure of the Mitylenian, Hereward had rather thought himself +annoyed than distinguished by his moonlight ramble in the company of +his commander, excepting always the short and interesting period during +which he conceived they were on the way to fight a duel. Still, however +negligent in the strict observance of the ceremonies of the sacred +palace, the Varangians had, in their own way, rigid notions of +calculating their military duty; in consequence of which Hereward, +without speaking to his companions, followed his leader through the +guard-room, and one or two antechambers adjacent, the splendid and +luxurious furniture of which convinced him that he could be nowhere +else save in the sacred residence of his master the Emperor. + +At length, having traversed passages and apartments with which the +captain seemed familiar, and which he threaded with a stealthy, silent, +and apparently reverential pace, as if, in his own inflated phrase, +afraid to awaken the sounding echoes of those lofty and monumental +halls, another species of inhabitants began to be visible. In different +entrances, and in different apartments, the northern soldier beheld +those unfortunate slaves, chiefly of African descent, raised +occasionally under the Emperors of Greece to great power and honours, +who, in that respect, imitated one of the most barbarous points of +Oriental despotism. These slaves were differently occupied; some +standing, as if on guard, at gates or in passages, with their drawn +sabres in their hands; some were sitting in the Oriental fashion, on +carpets, reposing themselves, or playing at various games, all of a +character profoundly silent. Not a word passed between the guide of +Hereward, and the withered and deformed beings whom they thus +encountered. The exchange of a glance with the principal soldier seemed +all that was necessary to ensure both an uninterrupted passage. + +After making their way through several apartments, empty or thus +occupied, they, at length entered one of black marble, or some other +dark-coloured stone, much loftier and longer than the rest. Side +passages opened into it, so far as the islander could discern, +descending from several portals in the wall; but as the oils and gums +with which the lamps in these passages were fed diffused a dim vapour +around, it was difficult to ascertain, from the imperfect light, either +the shape of the hall, or the style of its architecture. At the upper +and lower ends of the chamber, there was a stronger and clearer light. +It was when they were in the middle of this huge and long apartment, +that Achilles said to the soldier, in the sort of cautionary whisper +which he appeared to have substituted in place of his natural voice +since he had crossed the Bridge of Peril-- + +"Remain here till I return, and stir from this hall on no account." + +"To hear is to obey," answered the Varangian, an expression of +obedience, which, like many other phrases and fashions, the empire, +which still affected the name of Roman, had borrowed from the +barbarians of the East. Achilles Tatius then hastened up the steps +which led to one of the side-doors of the hall, which being slightly +pressed, its noiseless hinge gave way and admitted him. + +Left alone to amuse himself as he best could, within the limits +permitted to him, the Varangian visited in succession both ends of the +hall, where the objects were more visible than elsewhere. The lower end +had in its centre a small low-browed door of iron. Over it was +displayed the Greek crucifix in bronze, and around and on every side, +the representation of shackles, fetter bolts, and the like, were also +executed in bronze, and disposed as appropriate ornaments over the +entrance. The door of the dark archway was half open, and Hereward +naturally looked in, the orders of his chief not prohibiting his +satisfying his curiosity thus far. A dense red light, more like a +distant spark than a lamp, affixed to the wall of what seemed a very +narrow and winding stair, resembling in shape and size a draw-well, the +verge of which opened on the threshold of the iron door, showed a +descent which seemed to conduct to the infernal regions. The Varangian, +however obtuse he might be considered by the quick-witted Greeks, had +no difficulty in comprehending that a staircase having such a gloomy +appearance, and the access to which was by a portal decorated in such a +melancholy style of architecture, could only lead to the dungeons of +the imperial palace, the size and complicated number of which were +neither the least remarkable, nor the least awe-imposing portion of the +sacred edifice. Listening profoundly, he even thought he caught such +accents as befit those graves of living men, the faint echoing of +groans and sighs, sounding as it were from the deep abyss beneath. But +in this respect his fancy probably filled up the sketch which his +conjectures bodied out. + +"I have done nothing," he thought, "to merit being immured in one of +these subterranean dens. Surely though my captain, Achilles Tatius, is, +under favour, little better than an ass, he cannot be so false of word +as to train me to prison under false pretexts? I trow he shall first +see for the last time how the English axe plays, if such is to be the +sport of the evening. But let us see the upper end of this enormous +vault; it may bear a better omen." + +Thus thinking, and not quite ruling the tramp of his armed footstep +according to the ceremonies of the place, the large-limbed Saxon strode +to the upper end of the black marble hall. The ornament of the portal +here was a small altar, like those in the temples of the heathen +deities, which projected above the centre of the arch. On this altar +smoked incense of some sort, the fumes of which rose curling in a thin +cloud to the roof, and thence extending through the hall, enveloped in +its column of smoke a singular emblem, of which the Varangian could +make nothing. It was the representation of two human arms and hands, +seeming to issue from the wall, having the palms extended and open, as +about to confer some boon on those who approached the altar. These arms +were formed of bronze, and being placed farther back than the altar +with its incense, were seen through the curling smoke by lamps so +disposed as to illuminate the whole archway. "The meaning of this," +thought the simple barbarian, "I should well know how to explain, were +these fists clenched, and were the hall dedicated to the +_pancration_, which we call boxing; but as even these helpless +Greeks use not their hands without their fingers being closed, by St. +George I can make out nothing of their meaning." + +At this instant Achilles entered the black marble hall at the same door +by which he had left it, and came up to his neophyte, as the Varangian +might be termed. + +"Come with me now, Hereward, for here approaches the thick of the onset. +Now, display the utmost courage that thou canst summon up, for believe +me thy credit and name also depend on it." + +"Fear nothing for either," said Hereward, "if the heart or hand of one +man can bear him through the adventure by the help of a toy like this." + +"Keep thy voice low and submissive, I have told thee a score of times," +said the leader, "and lower thine axe, which, as I bethink me, thou +hadst better leave in the outer apartment." + +"With your leave, noble captain," replied Hereward, "I am unwilling to +lay aside my bread-winner. I am one of those awkward clowns who cannot +behave seemly unless I have something to occupy my hands, and my +faithful battle-axe comes most natural to me." + +"Keep it then; but remember thou dash it not about according to thy +custom, nor bellow, nor shout, nor cry as in a battle-field; think of +the sacred character of the place, which exaggerates riot into +blasphemy, and remember the persons whom thou mayst chance to see, an +offence to some of whom, it may be, ranks in the same sense with +blasphemy against Heaven itself." + +This lecture carried the tutor and the pupil so far as to the side-door, +and thence inducted them into a species of anteroom, from which +Achilles led his Varangian forward, until a pair of folding-doors, +opening into what proved to be a principal apartment of the palace, +exhibited to the rough-hewn native of the north a sight equally new and +surprising. + +It was an apartment of the palace of the Blaquernal, dedicated to the +special service of the beloved daughter of the Emperor Alexius, the +Princess Anna Comnena, known to our times by her literary talents, +which record the history of her father's reign. She was seated, the +queen and sovereign of a literary circle, such as an imperial Princess, +porphyrogenita, or born in the sacred purple chamber itself, could +assemble in those days, and a glance around will enable us to form an +idea of her guests or companions. + +The literary Princess herself had the bright eyes, straight features, +and comely and pleasing manners, which all would have allowed to the +Emperor's daughter, even if she could not have been, with severe truth, +said to have possessed them. She was placed upon a small bench, or sofa, +the fair sex here not being permitted to recline, as was the fashion of +the Roman ladies. A table before her was loaded with books, plants, +herbs, and drawings. She sat on a slight elevation, and those who +enjoyed the intimacy of the Princess, or to whom she wished to speak in +particular, were allowed, during such sublime colloquy, to rest their +knees on the little dais, or elevated place where her chair found its +station, in a posture half standing, half kneeling. Three other seats, +of different heights, were placed on the dais, and under the same +canopy of state which overshadowed that of the Princess Anna. + +The first, which strictly resembled her own chair in size and +convenience, was one designed for her husband, Nicephorus Briennius. He +was said to entertain or affect the greatest respect for his wife's +erudition, though the courtiers were of opinion he would have liked to +absent himself from her evening parties more frequently than was +particularly agreeable to the Princess Anna and her imperial parents. +This was partly explained by the private tattle of the court, which +averred, that the Princess Anna Comnena had been more beautiful when +she was less learned; and that, though still a fine woman, she had +somewhat lost the charms of her person as she became enriched in her +mind. + +To atone for the lowly fashion of the seat of Nicephorus Briennius, it +was placed as near to his princess as it could possibly be edged by the +ushers, so that she might not lose one look of her handsome spouse, nor +he the least particle of wisdom which might drop from the lips of his +erudite consort. + +Two other seats of honour, or rather thrones,--for they had footstools +placed for the support of the feet, rests for the arms, and embroidered +pillows for the comfort of the back, not to mention the glories of the +outspreading canopy, were destined for the imperial couple, who +frequently attended their daughter's studies, which she prosecuted in +public in the way we have intimated. On such occasions, the Empress +Irene enjoyed the triumph peculiar to the mother of an accomplished +daughter, while Alexius, as it might happen, sometimes listened with +complacence to the rehearsal of his own exploits in the inflated +language of the Princess, and sometimes mildly nodded over her +dialogues upon the mysteries of philosophy, with the Patriarch Zosimus, +and other sages. + +All these four distinguished seats for the persons of the Imperial +family, were occupied at the moment which we have described, excepting +that which ought to have been filled by Nicephorus Briennius, the +husband of the fair Anna Comnena. To his negligence and absence was +perhaps owing the angry spot on the brow of his fair bride. Beside her +on the platform were two white-robed nymphs of her household; female +slaves, in a word, who reposed themselves on their knees on cushions, +when their assistance was not wanted as a species of living book-desks, +to support and extend the parchment rolls, in which the Princess +recorded her own wisdom, or from which she quoted that of others. One +of these young maidens, called Astarte, was so distinguished as a +calligrapher, or beautiful writer of various alphabets and languages, +that she narrowly escaped being sent as a present to the Caliph, (who +could neither read nor write,) at a time when it was necessary to bribe +him into peace. Violante, usually called the Muse, the other attendant +of the Princess, a mistress of the vocal and instrumental art of music, +was actually sent in a compliment to soothe the temper of Robert +Guiscard, the Archduke of Apulia, who being aged and stone-deaf, and +the girl under ten years old at the time, returned the valued present +to the imperial donor, and, with the selfishness which was one of that +wily Norman's characteristics, desired to have some one sent him who +could contribute to his pleasure, instead of a twangling squalling +infant. + +Beneath these elevated seats there sat, or reposed on the floor of the +hall, such favourites as were admitted. The Patriarch Zosimus, and one +or two old men, were permitted the use of certain lowly stools, which +were the only seats prepared for the learned members of the Princess's +evening parties, as they would have been called in our days. As for the +younger magnates, the honour of being permitted to join the imperial +conversation was expected to render them far superior to the paltry +accommodation of a joint-stool. Five or six courtiers, of different +dress and ages, might compose the party, who either stood, or relieved +their posture by kneeling, along the verge of an adorned fountain, +which shed a mist of such very small rain as to dispel almost +insensibly, cooling the fragrant breeze which breathed from the flowers +and shrubs, that were so disposed as to send a waste of sweets around. +One goodly old man, named Michael Agelastes, big, burly, and dressed +like an ancient Cynic philosopher, was distinguished by assuming, in a +great measure, the ragged garb and mad bearing of that sect, and by his +inflexible practice of the strictest ceremonies exigible by the +Imperial family. He was known by an affectation of cynical principle +and language, and of republican philosophy, strangely contradicted by +his practical deference to the great. It was wonderful how long this +man, now sixty years old and upwards, disdained to avail himself of the +accustomed privilege of leaning, or supporting his limbs, and with what +regularity he maintained either the standing posture or that of +absolute kneeling; but the first was so much his usual attitude, that +he acquired among his court friends the name of Elephas, or the +Elephant, because the ancients had an idea that the half-reasoning +animal, as it is called, has joints incapable of kneeling down. + +"Yet I have seen them kneel when I was in the country of the +Gymnosophists," said a person present on the evening of Hereward's +introduction. + +"To take up their master on their shoulders? so will ours," said the +Patriarch Zosimus, with the slight sneer which was the nearest advance +to a sarcasm that the etiquette of the Greek court permitted; for on +all ordinary occasions, it would not have offended the Presence more +surely, literally, to have drawn a poniard, than to exchange a repartee +in the imperial circle. Even the sarcasm, such as it was, would have +been thought censurable by that ceremonious court in any but the +Patriarch, to whose high rank some license was allowed. + +Just as he had thus far offended decorum, Achilles Tatius, and his +soldier Hereward, entered the apartment. The former bore him with even +more than his usual degree of courtliness, as if to set his own good- +breeding off by a comparison with the inexpert bearing of his follower; +while, nevertheless, he had a secret pride in exhibiting, as one under +his own immediate and distinct command, a man whom he was accustomed to +consider as one of the finest soldiers of the army of Alexius, whether +appearance or reality were to be considered. + +Some astonishment followed the abrupt entrance of the new comers. +Achilles indeed glided into the presence with the easy and quiet +extremity of respect which intimated his habitude in these regions. But +Hereward started on his entrance, and perceiving himself in company of +the court, hastily strove to remedy his disorder. His commander, +throwing round a scarce visible shrug of apology, made then a +confidential and monitory sign to Hereward to mind his conduct. What he +meant was, that he should doff his helmet and fall prostrate on the +ground. But the Anglo-Saxon, unaccustomed to interpret obscure +inferences, naturally thought of his military duties, and advanced in +front of the Emperor, as when he rendered his military homage. He made +reverence with his knee, half touched his cap, and then recovering and +shouldering his axe, stood in advance of the imperial chair, as if on +duty as a sentinel. + +A gentle smile of surprise went round the circle as they gazed on the +manly appearance, and somewhat unceremonious but martial deportment of +the northern soldier. The various spectators around consulted the +Emperor's face, not knowing whether they were to take the intrusive +manner of the Varangian's entrance as matter of ill-breeding, and +manifest their horror, or whether they ought rather to consider the +bearing of the life-guardsman as indicating blunt and manly zeal, and +therefore to be received with applause. + +It was some little time ere the Emperor recovered himself sufficiently +to strike a key-note, as was usual upon such occasions. Alexius +Comnenus had been wrapt for a moment into some species of slumber, or +at least absence of mind. Out of this he had been startled by the +sudden appearance of the Varangian; for though he was accustomed to +commit the outer guards of the palace to this trusty corps, yet the +deformed blacks whom we have mentioned, and who sometimes rose to be +ministers of state and commanders of armies, were, on all ordinary +occasions, intrusted with the guard of the interior of the palace. +Alexius, therefore, awakened from his slumber, and the military phrase +of his daughter still ringing in his ears as she was reading a +description of the great historical work, in which she had detailed the +conflicts of his reign, felt somewhat unprepared for the entrance and +military deportment of one of the Saxon guard, with whom he was +accustomed to associate, in general, scenes of blows, danger, and death. + +After a troubled glance around, his look rested on Achilles Tatius. +"Why here," he said, "trusty Follower? why this soldier here at this +time of night?" Here, of course, was the moment for modelling the +visages _regis ad exemplum;_ but, ere the Patriarch could frame +his countenance into devout apprehension of danger, Achilles Tatius had +spoken a word or two, which reminded Alexius' memory that the soldier +had been brought there by his own special orders. "Oh, ay! true, good +fellow," said he, smoothing his troubled brow; "we had forgot that +passage among the cares of state." He then spoke to the Varangian with +a countenance more frank, and a heartier accent than he used to his +courtiers; for, to a despotic monarch, a faithful life-guardsman is a +person of confidence, while an officer of high rank is always in some +degree a subject of distrust. "Ha!" said he, "our worthy Anglo-Dane, +how fares he?"--This unceremonious salutation surprised all but him to +whom it was addressed. Hereward answered, accompanying his words with a +military obeisance which partook of heartiness rather than reverence, +with a loud unsubdued voice, which startled the presence still more +that the language was Saxon, which these foreigners occasionally used, +"_Waes hael Kaisar mirrig und machtigh!_"--that is, Be of good +health, stout and mighty Emperor. The Emperor, with a smile of +intelligence, to show he could speak to his guards in their own foreign +language, replied, by the well-known counter-signal--"_Drink +hael!_'" + +Immediately a page brought a silver goblet of wine. The Emperor put his +lips to it, though he scarce tasted the liquor, then commanded it to be +handed to Hereward, and bade the soldier drink. The Saxon did not wait +till he was desired a second time, but took off the contents without +hesitation. A gentle smile, decorous as the presence required, passed +over the assembly, at a feat which, though by no means wonderful in a +hyperborean, seemed prodigious in the estimation of the moderate Greeks. +Alexius himself laughed more loudly than his courtiers thought might be +becoming on their part, and mustering what few words of Varangian he +possessed, which he eked out with Greek, demanded of his life- +guardsman--"Well, my bold Briton, or Edward, as men call thee, dost +thou know the flavour of that wine?" + +"Yes," answered the Varangian, without change of countenance, "I tasted +it once before at Laodicea"-- + +Here his officer, Achilles Tatius, became sensible that his soldier +approached delicate ground, and in vain endeavoured to gain his +attention, in order that he might furtively convey to him a hint to be +silent, or at least take heed what he said in such a presence. But the +soldier, who, with proper military observance, continued to have his +eye and attention fixed on the Emperor, as the prince whom he was bound +to answer or to serve, saw none of the hints, which Achilles at length +suffered to become so broad, that Zosimus and the Protospathaire +exchanged expressive glances, as calling on each other to notice the +by-play of the leader of the Varangians. In the meanwhile, the dialogue +between the Emperor and his soldier continued:--"How," said Alexius, +"did this draught relish compared with the former?" + +"There is fairer company here, my liege, than that of the Arabian +archers," answered Hereward, with a look and bow of instinctive good- +breeding; "Nevertheless, there lacks the flavour which the heat of the +sun, the dust of the combat, with the fatigue of wielding such a weapon +as this" (advancing his axe) "for eight hours together, give to a cup +of rare wine." + +"Another deficiency there might be," said Agelastes the Elephant, +"provided I am pardoned hinting at it," he added, with a look to the +throne,--"it might be the smaller size of the cup compared with that at +Laodicea." "By Taranis, you say true," answered the life-guardsman; "at +Laodicea I used my helmet." + +"Let us see the cups compared together, good friend," said Agelastes, +continuing his raillery, "that we may be sure thou hast not swallowed +the present goblet; for I thought, from the manner of the draught, +there was a chance of its going down with its contents." + +"There are some things which I do not easily swallow," answered the +Varangian, in a calm and indifferent tone; "but they must come from a +younger and more active man than you." + +The company again smiled to each other, as if to hint that the +philosopher, though also parcel wit by profession, had the worst of the +encounter. The Emperor at the same time interfered--"Nor did I send for +thee hither, good fellow, to be baited by idle taunts." + +Here Agelastes shrunk back in the circle, as a hound that has been +rebuked by the huntsman for babbling--and the Princess Anna Comnena, +who had indicated by her fair features a certain degree of impatience, +at length spoke--"Will it then please you, my imperial and much-beloved +father, to inform those blessed with admission to the Muses' temple, +for what it is that you have ordered this soldier to be this night +admitted to a place so far above his rank in life? Permit me to say, we +ought not to waste, in frivolous and silly jests, the time which is +sacred to the welfare of the empire, as every moment of your leisure +must be." + +"Our daughter speaks wisely," said the Empress Irene, who, like most +mothers who do not possess much talent themselves, and are not very +capable of estimating it in others, was, nevertheless, a great admirer +of her favourite daughter's accomplishments, and ready to draw them out +on all occasions. "Permit me to remark, that in this divine and +selected palace of the Muses, dedicated to the studies of our well- +beloved and highly-gifted daughter, whose pen will preserve your +reputation, our most imperial husband, till the desolation of the +universe, and which enlivens and delights this society, the very flower +of the wits of our sublime court;--permit me to say, that we have, +merely by admitting a single life-guardsman, given our conversation the +character of that which distinguishes a barrack." + +Now the Emperor Alexius Comnenus had the same feeling with many an +honest man in ordinary life when his wife begins a long oration, +especially as the Empress Irene did not always retain the observance +consistent with his awful rule and right supremacy, although especially +severe in exacting it from all others, in reference to her lord. +Therefore, though, he had felt some pleasure in gaining a short release +from the monotonous recitation of the Princess's history, he now saw +the necessity of resuming it, or of listening to the matrimonial +eloquence of the Empress. He sighed, therefore, as he said, "I crave +your pardon, good our imperial spouse, and our daughter born in the +purple chamber. I remember me, our most amiable and accomplished +daughter, that last night you wished to know the particulars of the +battle of Laodicea, with the heathenish Arabs, whom Heaven confound. +And for certain considerations which moved ourselves to add other +enquiries to our own recollection, Achilles Tatius, our most trusty +Follower, was commissioned to introduce into this place one of those +soldiers under his command, being such a one whose courage and presence +of mind could best enable him to remark what passed around him on that +remarkable and bloody day. And this I suppose to be the man brought to +us for that purpose." + +"If I am permitted to speak, and live," answered the Follower, "your +Imperial Highness, with those divine Princesses, whose name is to us as +those of blessed saints, have in your presence the flower of my Anglo- +Danes, or whatsoever unbaptized name is given to my soldiers. He is, as +I may say, a barbarian of barbarians; for, although in birth and +breeding unfit to soil with his feet the carpet of this precinct of +accomplishment and eloquence, he is so brave--so trusty--so devotedly +attached--and so unhesitatingly zealous, that"-- + +"Enough, good Follower," said the Emperor; "let us only know that he is +cool and observant, not confused and fluttered during close battle, as +we have sometimes observed in you and other great commanders--and, to +speak truth, have even felt in our imperial self on extraordinary +occasions. Which difference in man's constitution is not owing to any +inferiority of courage, but, in us, to a certain consciousness of the +importance of our own safety to the welfare of the whole, and to a +feeling of the number of duties which at once devolve on us. Speak then, +and speak quickly, Tatius; for I discern that our dearest consort, and +our thrice fortunate daughter born in the imperial chamber of purple, +seem to wax somewhat impatient." + +"Hereward," answered Tatius, "is as composed and observant in battle, +as another in a festive dance. The dust of war is the breath of his +nostrils; and he will prove his worth in combat against any four +others, (Varangians excepted,) who shall term themselves your Imperial +Highness's bravest servants." + +"Follower," said the Emperor, with a displeased look and tone, "instead +of instructing these poor, ignorant barbarians in the rules and +civilization of our enlightened empire, you foster, by such boastful +words, the idle pride and fury of their temper, which hurries them into +brawls with the legions of other foreign countries, and even breeds +quarrels among themselves." + +"If my mouth may be opened in the way of most humble excuse," said the +Follower, "I would presume to reply, that I but an hour hence talked +with this poor ignorant Anglo-Dane, on the paternal care with which the +Imperial Majesty of Greece regards the preservation of that concord +which unites the followers of his standard, and how desirous he is to +promote that harmony, more especially amongst the various nations who +have the happiness to serve you, in spite of the bloodthirsty quarrels +of the Franks, and other northern men, who are never free from civil +broil. I think the poor youth's understanding can bear witness to this +much in my behalf." He then looked towards Hereward, who gravely +inclined his head in token of assent to what his captain said. His +excuse thus ratified, Achilles proceeded in his apology more firmly. +"What I have said even now was spoken without consideration; for, +instead of pretending that this Hereward would face four of your +Imperial Highness's servants, I ought to have said, that he was willing +to defy six of your Imperial Majesty's most deadly _enemies_, and +permit them to choose every circumstance of time, arms, and place of +combat." + +"That hath a better sound," said the Emperor; "and in truth, for the +information of my dearest daughter, who piously has undertaken to +record the things which I have been the blessed means of doing for the +Empire, I earnestly wish that she should remember, that though the +sword of Alexius hath not slept in its sheath, yet he hath never sought +his own aggrandizement of fame at the price of bloodshed among his +subjects." + +"I trust," said Anna Comnena, "that in my humble sketch of the life of +the princely sire from whom I derive my existence, I have not forgot to +notice his love of peace, and care for the lives of his soldiery, and +abhorrence of the bloody manners of the heretic Franks, as one of his +most distinguishing characteristics." + +Assuming then an attitude more commanding, as one who was about to +claim the attention of the company, the Princess inclined her head +gently around to the audience, and taking a roll of parchment from the +fair amanuensis, which she had, in a most beautiful handwriting, +engrossed to her mistress's dictation, Anna Comnena prepared to read +its contents. + +At this moment, the eyes of the Princess rested for an instant on the +barbarian Hereward, to whom she deigned this greeting--"Valiant +barbarian, of whom my fancy recalls some memory, as if in a dream, thou +art now to hear a work, which, if the author be put into comparison +with the subject, might be likened to a portrait of Alexander, in +executing which, some inferior dauber has usurped the pencil of +Apelles; but which essay, however it may appear unworthy of the subject +in the eyes of many, must yet command some envy in those who candidly +consider its contents, and the difficulty of portraying the great +personage concerning whom it is written. Still, I pray thee, give thine +attention to what I have now to read, since this account of the battle +of Laodicea, the details thereof being principally derived from his +Imperial Highness, my excellent father, from the altogether valiant +Protospathaire, his invincible general, together with Achilles Tatius, +the faithful Follower of our victorious Emperor, may nevertheless be in +some circumstances inaccurate. For it is to be thought, that the high +offices of those great commanders retained them at a distance from some +particularly active parts of the fray, in order that they might have +more cool and accurate opportunity to form a judgment upon the whole, +and transmit their orders, without being disturbed by any thoughts of +personal safety. Even so, brave barbarian, in the art of embroidery, +(marvel not that we are a proficient in that mechanical process, since +it is patronized by Minerva, whose studies we affect to follow,) we +reserve to ourselves the superintendence of the entire web, and commit +to our maidens and others the execution of particular parts. Thus, in +the same manner, thou, valiant Varangian, being engaged in the very +thickest of the affray before Laodicea, mayst point out to us, the +unworthy historian of so renowned a war, those chances which befell +where men fought hand to hand, and where the fate of war was decided by +the edge of the sword. Therefore, dread not, thou bravest of the axe- +men to whom we owe that victory, and so many others, to correct any +mistake or misapprehension which we may have been led into concerning +the details of that glorious event." + +"Madam," said the Varangian, "I shall attend with diligence to what +your Highness may be pleased to read to me; although, as to presuming +to blame the history of a Princess born in the purple, far be such a +presumption from me; still less would it become a barbaric Varangian to +pass a judgment on the military conduct of the Emperor, by whom he is +liberally paid, or of the commander, by whom he is well treated. Before +an action, if our advice is required, it is ever faithfully tendered; +but according to my rough wit, our censure after the field is fought +would be more invidious than useful. Touching the Protospathaire, if it +be the duty of a general to absent himself from close action, I can +safely say, or swear, were it necessary, that the invincible commander +was never seen by me within a javelin's cast of aught that looked like +danger." + +This speech, boldly and bluntly delivered, had a general effect on the +company present. The Emperor himself, and Achilles Tatius, looked like +men who had got off from a danger better than they expected. The +Protospathaire laboured to conceal a movement of resentment. Agelastes +whispered to the Patriarch, near whom he was placed, "The northern +battle-axe lacks neither point nor edge." + +"Hush!" said Zosimus, "let us hear how this is to end; the Princess is +about to speak." + + + + +CHAPTER THE FOURTH. + + We heard the Tecbir, so these Arabs call + Their shout of onset, when with loud acclaim + They challenged Heaven, as if demanding conquest. + The battle join'd, and through the barb'rous herd, + Fight, fight! and Paradise was all their cry. + THE SIEGE OF DAMASCUS. + + +The voice of the northern soldier, although modified by feelings of +respect to the Emperor, and even attachment to his captain, had more of +a tone of blunt sincerity, nevertheless, than was usually heard by the +sacred echoes of the imperial palace; and though the Princess Anna +Comnena began to think that she had invoked the opinion of a severe +judge, she was sensible, at the same time, by the deference of his +manner, that his respect was of a character more real, and his applause, +should she gain it, would prove more truly flattering, than the gilded +assent of the whole court of her father. She gazed with some surprise +and attention on Hereward, already described as a very handsome young +man, and felt the natural desire to please, which is easily created in +the mind towards a fine person of the other sex. His attitude was easy +and bold, but neither clownish nor uncourtly. His title of a barbarian, +placed him at once free from the forms of civilized life, and the rules +of artificial politeness. But his character for valour, and the noble +self-confidence of his bearing, gave him a deeper interest than would +have been acquired by a more studied and anxious address, or an excess +of reverential awe. + +In short, the Princess Anna Comnena, high in rank as she was, and born +in the imperial purple, which she herself deemed the first of all +attributes, felt herself, nevertheless, in preparing to resume the +recitation of her history, more anxious to obtain the approbation of +this rude soldier, than that of all the rest of the courteous audience. +She knew them well, it is true, and felt nowise solicitous about the +applause which the daughter of the Emperor was sure to receive with +full hands from those of the Grecian court to whom she might choose to +communicate the productions of her father's daughter. But she had now a +judge of a new character, whose applause, if bestowed, must have +something in it intrinsically real, since it could only be obtained by +affecting his head or his heart. + +It was perhaps under the influence of these feelings, that the Princess +was somewhat longer than usual in finding out the passage in the roll +of history at which she purposed to commence. It was also noticed, that +she began her recitation with a diffidence and embarrassment surprising +to the noble hearers, who had often seen her in full possession of her +presence of mind before what they conceived a more distinguished, and +even more critical audience. + +Neither were the circumstances of the Varangian such as rendered the +scene indifferent to him. Anna Comnena had indeed attained her fifth +lustre, and that is a period after which Grecian beauty is understood +to commence its decline. How long she had passed that critical period, +was a secret to all but the trusted ward-women of the purple chamber. +Enough, that it was affirmed by the popular tongue, and seemed to be +attested by that bent towards philosophy and literature, which is not +supposed to be congenial to beauty in its earlier buds, to amount to +one or two years more. She might be seven-and-twenty. + +Still Anna Comnena was, or had very lately been, a beauty of the very +first rank, and must be supposed to have still retained charms to +captivate a barbarian of the north; if, indeed, he himself was not +careful to maintain an heedful recollection of the immeasurable +distance between them. Indeed, even this recollection might hardly have +saved Hereward from the charms of this enchantress, bold, free-born, +and fearless as he was; for, during that time of strange revolutions, +there were many instances of successful generals sharing the couch of +imperial princesses, whom perhaps they had themselves rendered widows, +in order to make way for their own pretensions. But, besides the +influence of other recollections, which the reader may learn hereafter, +Hereward, though flattered by the unusual degree of attention which the +Princess bestowed upon him, saw in her only the daughter of his Emperor +and adopted liege lord, and the wife of a noble prince, whom reason and +duty alike forbade him to think of in any other light. + +It was after one or two preliminary efforts that the Princess Anna +began her reading, with an uncertain voice, which gained strength and +fortitude as she proceeded with the following passage from a well-known +part of her history of Alexius Comnenus, but which unfortunately has +not been republished in the Byzantine historians. The narrative cannot, +therefore, be otherwise than acceptable to the antiquarian reader; and +the author hopes to receive the thanks of the learned world for the +recovery of a curious fragment, which, without his exertions, must +probably have passed to the gulf of total oblivion. + + + + +THE RETREAT OF LAODICEA. + +NOW FIRST PUBLISHED FROM THE GREEK OF THE PRINCESS COMNENA'S HISTORY OF +HER FATHER. + +"The sun had betaken himself to his bed in the ocean, ashamed, it would +seem, to see the immortal army of our most sacred Emperor Alexius +surrounded by those barbarous hordes of unbelieving barbarians, who, as +described in our last chapter, had occupied the various passes both in +front and rear of the Romans, [Footnote: More properly termed the +Greeks; but we follow the phraseology of the fair authoress.] secured +during the preceding night by the wily barbarians. Although, therefore, +a triumphant course of advance had brought us to this point, it now +became a serious and doubtful question whether our victorious eagles +might be able to penetrate any farther into the country of the enemy, +or even to retreat with safety into their own. + +"The extensive acquaintance of the Emperor with military affairs, in +which he exceeds most living princes, had induced him, on the preceding +evening, to ascertain, with marvellous exactitude and foresight, the +precise position of the enemy. In this most necessary service he +employed certain light-armed barbarians, whose habits and discipline +had been originally derived from the wilds of Syria; and, if I am +required to speak according to the dictation of Truth, seeing she ought +always to sit upon the pen of a historian, I must needs say they were +infidels like their enemies; faithfully attached, however, to the Roman +service, and, as I believe, true slaves of the Emperor, to whom they +communicated the information required by him respecting the position of +his dreaded opponent Jezdegerd. These men did not bring in their +information till long after the hour when the Emperor usually betook +himself to rest. + +"Notwithstanding this derangement of his most sacred time, our imperial +father, who had postponed the ceremony of disrobing, so important were +the necessities of the moment, continued, until deep in the night, to +hold a council of his wisest chiefs, men whose depth of judgment might +have saved a sinking world, and who now consulted what was to be done +under the pressure of the circumstances in which they were now placed. +And so great was the urgency, that all ordinary observances of the +household were set aside, since I have heard from those who witnessed +the fact, that the royal bed was displayed in the very room where the +council assembled, and that the sacred lamp, called the Light of the +Council, and which always burns when the Emperor presides in person +over the deliberations of his servants, was for that night--a thing +unknown in our annals--fed with unperfumed oil!!" + +The fair speaker here threw her fine form into an attitude which +expressed holy horror, and the hearers intimated their sympathy in the +exciting cause by corresponding signs of interest; as to which we need +only say, that the sigh of Achilles Tatius was the most pathetic; while +the groan of Agelastes the Elephant was deepest and most tremendously +bestial in its sound. Hereward seemed little moved, except by a slight +motion of surprise at the wonder expressed by the others. The Princess, +having allowed due time for the sympathy of her hearers to exhibit +itself, proceeded as follows:-- + +"In this melancholy situation, when even the best-established and most +sacred rites of the imperial household gave way to the necessity of a +hasty provision for the morrow, the opinions of the counsellors were +different, according to their tempers and habits; a thing, by the way, +which may be remarked as likely to happen among the best and wisest on +such occasions of doubt and danger. + +"I do not in this place put down the names and opinions of those whose +counsels were proposed and rejected, herein paying respect to the +secrecy and freedom of debate justly attached to the imperial cabinet. +Enough it is to say, that some there were who advised a speedy attack +upon the enemy, in the direction of our original advance. Others +thought it was safer, and might be easier, to force our way to the rear, +and retreat by the same course which had brought us hither; nor must it +be concealed, that there were persons of unsuspected fidelity, who +proposed a third course, safer indeed than the others, but totally +alien to the mind of our most magnanimous father. They recommended that +a confidential slave, in company with a minister of the interior of our +imperial palace, should be sent to the tent of Jezdegerd, in order to +ascertain upon what terms the barbarian would permit our triumphant +father to retreat in safety at the head of his victorious army. On +learning such opinion, our imperial father was heard to exclaim, +'Sancta Sophia!' being the nearest approach to an adjuration which he +has been known to permit himself, and was apparently about to say +something violent both concerning the dishonour of the advice, and the +cowardice of those by whom, it was preferred, when, recollecting the +mutability of human things, and the misfortune of several of his +Majesty's gracious predecessors, some of whom had been compelled to +surrender their sacred persons to the infidels in the same region, his +Imperial Majesty repressed his generous feelings, and only suffered his +army counsellors to understand his sentiments by a speech, in which he +declared so desperate and so dishonourable a course would be the last +which he would adopt, even in the last extremity of danger. Thus did +the judgment of this mighty Prince at once reject counsel that seemed +shameful to his arms, and thereby encourage the zeal of his troops, +while privately he kept this postern in reserve, which in utmost need +might serve for a safe, though not altogether, in less urgent +circumstances, an honourable retreat. + +"When the discussion had reached this melancholy crisis, the renowned +Achilles Tatius arrived with the hopeful intelligence, that he himself +and some soldiers of his corps had discovered an opening on the left +flank of our present encampment, by which, making indeed a considerable +circuit, but reaching, if we marched with vigour, the town of Laodicea, +we might, by falling back on our resources, be in some measure in +surety from the enemy. + +"So soon as this ray of hope darted on the troubled mind of our +gracious father, he proceeded to make such arrangements as might secure +the full benefit of the advantage. His Imperial Highness would not +permit the brave Varangians, whose battle-axes he accounted the flower +of his imperial army, to take the advanced posts of assailants on the +present occasion. He repressed the love of battle by which these +generous foreigners have been at all times distinguished, and directed +that the Syrian forces in the army, who have been before mentioned, +should be assembled with as little noise as possible in the vicinity of +the deserted pass, with instructions to occupy it. The good genius of +the empire suggested that, as their speech, arms, and appearance, +resembled those of the enemy, they might be permitted unopposed to take +post in the defile with their light-armed forces, and thus secure it +for the passage of the rest of the army, of which he proposed that the +Varangians, as immediately attached to his own sacred person, should +form the vanguard. The well-known battalions, termed the Immortals, +came next, comprising the gross of the army, and forming the centre and +rear. Achilles Tatius, the faithful Follower of his Royal Master, +although mortified that he was not permitted to assume the charge of +the rear, which he had proposed for himself and his valiant troops, as +the post of danger at the time, cheerfully acquiesced, nevertheless, in +the arrangement proposed by the Emperor, as most fit to effect the +imperial safety, and that of the army. + +"The imperial orders, as they were sent instantly abroad, were in like +manner executed with the readiest punctuality, the rather that they +indicated a course of safety which had been almost despaired of even by +the oldest soldiers. During the dead period of time, when, as the +divine Homer tells us, gods and men are alike asleep, it was found that +the vigilance and prudence of a single individual had provided safety +for the whole Roman army. The pinnacles of the mountain passes were +scarcely touched by the earliest beams of the dawn, when these beams +were also reflected from the steel caps and spears of the Syrians, +under the command of a captain named Monastras, who, with his tribe, +had attached himself to the empire. The Emperor, at the head of his +faithful Varangians, defiled through the passes in order to gain that +degree of advance on the road to the city of Laodicea which was desired, +so as to avoid coming into collision with the barbarians. + +"It was a goodly sight to see the dark mass of northern warriors, who +now led the van of the army, moving slowly and steadily through the +defiles of the mountains, around the insulated rocks and precipices, +and surmounting the gentler acclivities, like the course of a strong +and mighty river; while the loose bands of archers and javelin-men, +armed after the Eastern manner, were dispersed on the steep sides of +the defiles, and might be compared to light foam upon the edge of the +torrent. In the midst of the squadrons of the life-guard might be seen +the proud war-horse of his Imperial Majesty, which pawed the earth +indignantly, as if impatient at the delay which separated, him from his +august burden. The Emperor Alexius himself travelled in a litter, borne +by eight strong African slaves, that he might rise perfectly refreshed +if the army should be overtaken by the enemy. The valiant Achilles +Tatius rode near the couch of his master, that none of those luminous +ideas, by which our august sire so often decided the fate of battle, +might be lost for want of instant communication to those whose duty it +was to execute them. I may also say, that there were close to the +litter of the Emperor, three or four carriages of the same kind; one +prepared for the Moon, as she may be termed, of the universe, the +gracious Empress Irene. Among the others which might be mentioned, was +that which contained the authoress of this history, unworthy as she may +be of distinction, save as the daughter of the eminent and sacred +persons whom the narration chiefly concerns. In this manner the +imperial army pressed on through the dangerous defiles, where their +march was exposed to insults from the barbarians. They were happily +cleared without any opposition. When we came to the descent of the pass +which looks down on the city of Laodicea, the sagacity of the Emperor +commanded the van--which, though the soldiers composing the same were +heavily armed, had hitherto marched extremely fast--to halt, as well +that they themselves might take some repose and refreshment, as to give +the rearward forces time to come up, and close various gaps which the +rapid movement of those in front had occasioned in, the line of march. + +"The place chosen for this purpose was eminently beautiful, from the +small and comparatively insignificant ridge of hills which melt +irregularly down into the plains stretching between the pass which we +occupied and Laodicea. The town was about one hundred stadia distant, +and some of our more sanguine warriors pretended that they could +already discern its towers and pinnacles, glittering in the early beams +of the sun, which had not as yet risen high into the horizon. A +mountain torrent, which found its source at the foot of a huge rock, +that yawned to give it birth, as if struck by the rod of the prophet +Moses, poured its liquid treasure down to the more level country, +nourishing herbage and even large trees, in its descent, until, at the +distance of some four or five miles, the stream, at least in dry +seasons, was lost amid heaps of sand and stones, which in the rainy +season marked the strength and fury of its current. + +"It was pleasant to see the attention of the Emperor to the comforts of +the companions and guardians of his march. The trumpets from time to +time gave license to various parties of the Varangians to lay down +their arms, to eat the food which was distributed to them, and quench +their thirst at the pure stream, which poured its bounties down the +hill, or they might be seen to extend their bulky forms upon the turf +around them. The Emperor, his most serene spouse, arid the princesses +and ladies, were also served with breakfast, at the fountain formed by +the small brook in its very birth, and which the reverent feelings of +the soldiers had left unpolluted by vulgar touch, for the use of that +family, emphatically said to be born in the purple. Our beloved husband +was also present on this occasion, and was among the first to detect +one of the disasters of the day. For, although all the rest of the +repast had been, by the dexterity of the officers of the imperial mouth, +so arranged, even on so awful an occasion, as to exhibit little +difference from the ordinary provisions of the household, yet, when his +Imperial Highness called for wine, behold, not only was the sacred +liquor, dedicated to his own peculiar imperial use, wholly exhausted or +left behind, but, to use the language of Horace, not the vilest Sabine +vintage could be procured; so that his Imperial Highness was glad to +accept the offer of a rude Varangian, who proffered his modicum of +decocted barley, which these barbarians prefer to the juice of the +grape. The Emperor, nevertheless, accepted of this coarse tribute." + +"Insert," said the Emperor, who had been hitherto either plunged in +deep contemplation or in an incipient slumber, "insert, I say, these +very words: 'And with the heat of the morning, and anxiety of so rapid +a march, with a numerous enemy in his rear, the Emperor was so thirsty, +as never in his life to think beverage more delicious.'" + +In obedience to her imperial father's orders, the Princess resigned the +manuscript to the beautiful slave by whom it was written, repeating to +the fair scribe the commanded addition, requiring her to note it, as +made by the express sacred command of the Emperor, and then proceeded +thus:--"More had I said here respecting the favourite liquor of your +Imperial Highnesses faithful Varangians; but your Highness having once +graced it with a word of commendation, this _ail_, as they call it, +doubtless because removing all disorders, which they term 'ailments,' +becomes a theme too lofty for the discussion of any inferior person. +Suffice it to say, that thus were we all pleasantly engaged, the ladies +and slaves trying to find some amusement for the imperial ears; the +soldiers, in a long line down the ravine, seen in different postures, +some straggling to the watercourse, some keeping guard over the arms of +their comrades, in which duty they relieved each other, while body +after body of the remaining troops, under command of the Protospathaire, +and particularly those called Immortals, [Footnote: The [Greek: +Athanatoi], or Immortals, of the army of Constantinople, were a select +body, so named, in imitation of the ancient Persians. They were first +embodied, according to Ducange, by Michael Ducas] joined the main army +as they came up. Those soldiers who were already exhausted, were +allowed to take a short repose, after which they were sent forward, +with directions to advance steadily on the road to Laodicea; while +their leader was instructed, so soon as he should open a free +communication with that city, to send thither a command for +reinforcements and refreshments, not forgetting fitting provision of +the sacred wine for the imperial mouth. Accordingly, the Roman bands of +Immortals and others had resumed their march, and held some way on +their journey, it being the imperial pleasure that the Varangians, +lately the vanguard, should now form the rear of the whole army, so as +to bring off in safety the Syrian light troops, by whom the hilly pass +was still occupied, when we heard upon the other side of this defile, +which he had traversed with so much safety, the awful sound of the +_Lelies_, as the Arabs name their shout of onset, though in what +language it is expressed, it would be hard to say. Perchance some in +this audience may enlighten my ignorance." + +"May I speak and live," said the Acoulouthos Achilles, proud of his +literary knowledge, "the words are, _Alla illa alla, Mohamed resoul +alla_.[Footnote: i. e. "God is god--Mahomet is the prophet of God."] +These, or something like them, contain the Arabs' profession of faith, +which they always call out when they join battle; I have heard them +many times." + +"And so have I," said the Emperor; "and as thou didst, I warrant me, I +have sometimes wished myself anywhere else than within hearing." + +All the circle were alive to hear the answer of Achilles Tatius. He was +too good a courtier, however, to make any imprudent reply. "It was my +duty," he replied, "to desire to be as near your Imperial Highness as +your faithful Follower ought, wherever you might wish yourself for the +time." + +Agelastes and Zosimus exchanged looks, and the Princess Anna Comnena +proceeded in her recitation. + +"The cause of these ominous sounds, which came in wild confusion up the +rocky pass, was soon explained to us by a dozen cavaliers, to whom the +task of bringing intelligence had been assigned. + +"These informed us, that the barbarians, whose host had been dispersed +around the position in which they had encamped the preceding day, had +not been enabled to get their forces together until our light troops +were evacuating the post they had occupied for securing the retreat of +our army. They were then drawing off from the tops of the hills into +the pass itself, when, in despite of the rocky ground, they were +charged furiously by Jezdegerd, at the head of a large body of his +followers, which, after repeated exertions, he had at length brought to +operate on the rear of the Syrians. Notwithstanding that the pass was +unfavourable for cavalry, the personal exertions of the infidel chief +made his followers advance with a degree of resolution unknown to the +Syrians of the Roman army, who, finding themselves at a distance from +their companions, formed the injurious idea that they were left thereto +be sacrificed, and thought of flight in various directions, rather than +of a combined and resolute resistance. The state of affairs, therefore, +at the further end of the pass, was less favourable than we could wish, +and those whose curiosity desired to see something which might be +termed the rout of the rear of an army, beheld the Syrians pursued from +the hill tops, overwhelmed, and individually cut down and made +prisoners by the bands of caitiff Mussulmans. + +"His Imperial Highness looked upon the scene of battle for a few +minutes, and, much commoved at what he saw, was somewhat hasty in his +directions to the Varangians to resume their arms, and precipitate +their march towards Laodicea; whereupon one of those northern soldiers +said boldly, though in opposition to the imperial command, 'If we +attempt to go hastily down this hill, our rear-guard will be confused, +not only by our own hurry, but by these runaway scoundrels of Syrians, +who in their headlong flight will not fail to mix themselves among our +ranks. Let two hundred Varangians, who will live and die for the honour +of England, abide in the very throat of this pass with me, while the +rest escort the Emperor to this Laodicea, or whatever it is called. We +may perish in our defence, but we shall die in our duty; and I have +little doubt but we shall furnish such a meal as will stay the stomach +of these yelping hounds from seeking any farther banquet this day.' + +"My imperial father at once discovered the importance of this advice, +though it made him wellnigh weep to see with what unshrinking fidelity +these poor barbarians pressed to fill up the number of those who were +to undertake this desperate duty--with what kindness they took leave of +their comrades, and with what jovial shouts they followed their +sovereign with their eyes as he proceeded on his march down the hill, +leaving them behind to resist and perish. The Imperial eyes were filled +with tears; and I am not ashamed to confess, that amid the terror of +the moment, the Empress, and I myself, forgot our rank in paying a +similar tribute to these bold and self-devoted men. + +"We left their leader carefully arraying his handful of comrades in +defence of the pass, where the middle path was occupied by their centre, +while their wings on either side were so disposed as to act upon the +flanks of the enemy, should he rashly press upon such as appeared +opposed to him in the road. We had not proceeded half way towards the +plain, when a dreadful shout arose, in which the yells of the Arabs +were mingled with the deep and more regular shouts which these +strangers usually repeat thrice, as well when bidding hail to their +commanders and princes, as when in the act of engaging in battle. Many +a look was turned back by their comrades, and many a form was seen in +the ranks which might have claimed the chisel of a sculptor, while the +soldier hesitated whether to follow the line of his duty, which called +him to march forward with his Emperor, or the impulse of courage, which +prompted him to rush back to join his companions. Discipline, however, +prevailed, and the main body marched on. + +"An hour had elapsed, during which we heard, from time to time, the +noise of battle, when a mounted Varangian presented himself at the side +of the Emperor's litter. The horse was covered with foam, and had +obviously, from his trappings, the fineness of his limbs, and the +smallness of his joints, been the charger of some chief of the desert, +which had fallen by the chance of battle into the possession of the +northern warrior. The broad axe which the Varangian bore was also +stained with blood, and the paleness of death itself was upon his +countenance. These marks of recent battle were held sufficient to +excuse the irregularity of his salutation, while he exclaimed,--'Noble +Prince, the Arabs are defeated, and you may pursue your march at more +leisure.' + +"'Where is Jezdegerd?' said the Emperor, who had many reasons for +dreading this celebrated chief. + +"'Jezdegerd,' continued the Varangian, 'is where brave men are who fall +in their duty.' + +"'And that is'--said the Emperor, impatient to know distinctly the fate +of so formidable an adversary-- + +"'Where I am now going,' answered the faithful soldier, who dropped +from his horse as he spoke, and expired at the feet of the litter- +bearers. The Emperor called to his attendants to see that the body of +this faithful retainer, to whom he destined an honourable sepulchre, +was not left to the jackal or vulture; and some of his brethren, the +Anglo-Saxons, among whom he was a man of no mean repute, raised the +body on their shoulders, and resumed their march with this additional +encumbrance, prepared to fight for their precious burden, like the +valiant Menelaus for the body of Patroclus." + +The Princess Anna Comnena here naturally paused; for, having attained +what she probably considered as the rounding of a period, she was +willing to gather an idea of the feelings of her audience. Indeed, but +that she had been intent upon her own manuscript, the emotions of the +foreign soldier must have more early attracted her attention. In the +beginning of her recitation, he had retained the same attitude which he +had at first assumed, stiff and rigid as a sentinel upon duty, and +apparently remembering nothing save that he was performing that duty in +presence of the imperial court. As the narrative advanced, however, he +appeared to take more interest in what was read. The anxious fears +expressed by the various leaders in the midnight council, he listened +to with a smile of suppressed contempt, and he almost laughed at the +praises bestowed upon the leader of his own corps, Achilles Tatius. Nor +did, even the name of the Emperor, though listened to respectfully, +gain that applause for which his daughter fought so hard, and used so +much exaggeration. + +Hitherto the Varangian's countenance indicated very slightly any +internal emotions; but they appeared to take a deeper hold on his mind +as she came to the description of the halt after the main army had +cleared the pass; the unexpected advance of the Arabs; the retreat of +the column which escorted the Emperor; and the account of the distant +engagement. He lost, on hearing the narration of these events, the +rigid and constrained look of a soldier, who listened to the history of +his Emperor with the same feelings with which he would have mounted +guard at his palace. His colour began to come and go; his eyes to fill +and to sparkle; his limbs to become more agitated than their owner +seemed to assent to; and his whole appearance was changed into that of +a listener, highly interested by the recitation which he hears, and +insensible, or forgetful, of whatever else is passing before him, as +well as of the quality of those who are present. + +As the historian proceeded, Hereward became less able to conceal his +agitation; and at the moment the Princess looked round, his feelings +became so acute, that, forgetting where he was, he dropped his +ponderous axe upon the floor, and, clasping his hands together, +exclaimed,--"My unfortunate brother!" + +All were startled by the clang of the falling weapon, and several +persons at once attempted to interfere, as called upon to explain a +circumstance so unusual. Achilles Tatius made some small progress in a +speech designed to apologize for the rough mode of venting his sorrows +to which Hereward had given way, by assuring the eminent persons +present, that the poor uncultivated barbarian was actually younger +brother to him who had commanded and fallen at the memorable defile. +The Princess said nothing, but was evidently struck, and affected, and +not ill-pleased, perhaps, at having given rise to feelings of interest +so flattering to her as an authoress. The others, each in their +character, uttered incoherent words of what was meant to be +consolation; for distress which flows from a natural cause, generally +attracts sympathy even from the most artificial characters. The voice +of Alexius silenced all these imperfect speakers: "Hah, my brave +soldier, Edward!" said the Emperor, "I must have been blind that I did +not sooner recognise thee, as I think there is a memorandum entered, +respecting five hundred pieces of gold due from us to Edward the +Varangian; we have it in our secret scroll of such liberalities for +which we stand indebted to our servitors, nor shall the payment be +longer deferred." "Not to me, if it may please you, my liege," said the +Anglo-Dane, hastily composing his countenance into its rough gravity of +lineament, "lest it should be to one who can claim no interest in your +imperial munificence. My name is Hereward; that of Edward is borne by +three of my companions, all of them as likely as I to have deserved +your Highness's reward for the faithful performance of their duty." + +Many a sign was made by Tatius in order to guard his soldier against +the folly of declining the liberality of the Emperor. Agelastes spoke +more plainly: "Young man," he said, "rejoice in an honour so unexpected, +and answer henceforth to no other name save that of Edward, by which it +hath pleased the light of the world, as it poured a ray upon thee, to +distinguish thee from other barbarians. What is to thee the font-stone, +or the priest officiating thereat, shouldst thou have derived from +either any epithet different from that by which it hath now pleased the +Emperor to distinguish thee from the common mass of humanity, and by +which proud distinction thou hast now a right to be known ever +afterwards?" + +"Hereward was the name of my father," said the soldier, who had now +altogether recovered his composure. "I cannot abandon it while I honour +his memory in death. Edward is the title of my comrade--I must not run +the risk of usurping his interest." + +"Peace all!" interrupted the Emperor. "If we have made a mistake, we +are rich enough to right it; nor shall Hereward be the poorer, if an +Edward shall be found to merit this gratuity." + +"Your Highness may trust that to your affectionate consort," answered +the Empress Irene. + +"His most sacred Highness," said the Princess Anna Comnena, "is so +avariciously desirous to do whatever is good and gracious, that he +leaves no room even for his nearest connexions to display generosity or +munificence. Nevertheless, I, in my degree, will testify my gratitude +to this brave man; for where his exploits are mentioned in this history, +I will cause to be recorded,--'This feat was done by Hereward the +Anglo-Dane, whom it hath pleased his Imperial Majesty to call Edward.' +Keep this, good youth," she continued, bestowing at the same time a +ring of price, "in token that we will not forget our engagement." + +Hereward accepted the token with a profound obeisance, and a +discomposure which his station rendered not unbecoming. It was obvious +to most persons present, that the gratitude of the beautiful Princess +was expressed in a manner more acceptable to the youthful life- +guardsman, than that of Alexius Comnenus. He took the ring with great +demonstration of thankfulness:--"Precious relic!" he said, as he +saluted this pledge of esteem by pressing it to his lips; "we may not +remain long together, but be assured," bending reverently to the +Princess, "that death alone shall part us." + +"Proceed, our princely daughter," said the Empress Irene; "you have +done enough to show that valour is precious to her who can confer fame, +whether it be found in a Roman or a barbarian." + +The Princess resumed her narrative with some slight appearance of +embarrassment. + +"Our movement upon Laodicea was now resumed, and continued with good +hopes on the part of those engaged in the march. Yet instinctively we +could not help casting our eyes to the rear, which had been so long the +direction in which we feared attack. At length, to our surprise, a +thick cloud of dust was visible on the descent of the hill, half way +betwixt us and the place at which we had halted. Some of the troops who +composed our retreating body, particularly those in the rear, began to +exclaim 'The Arabs! the Arabs!' and their march assumed a more +precipitate character when they believed themselves pursed by the enemy. +But the Varangian guards affirmed with one voice, that the dust was +raised by the remains of their own comrades, who, left in the defence +of the pass, had marched off after having so valiantly maintained the +station intrusted to them. They fortified their opinion by professional +remarks that the cloud of dust was more concentrated than if raised by +the Arab horse, and they even pretended to assert, from their knowledge +of such cases, that the number of their comrades had been much +diminished in the action. Some Syrian horsemen, despatched to +reconnoitre the approaching body, brought intelligence corresponding +with the opinion of the Varangians in every particular. The portion of +the body-guard had beaten back the Arabs, and their gallant leader had +slain their chief Jezdegerd, in which service he was mortally wounded, +as this history hath already mentioned. The survivors of the detachment, +diminished by one half, were now on their march to join the Emperor, as +fast as the encumbrance of bearing their wounded to a place of safety +would permit. + +"The Emperor Alexius, with one of those brilliant and benevolent ideas +which mark his paternal character towards his soldiers, ordered all the +litters, even that for his own most sacred use, to be instantly sent +back to relieve the bold Varangians of the task of bearing the wounded. +The shouts of the Varangians' gratitude may be more easily conceived +than described, when they beheld the Emperor himself descend from his +litter, like an ordinary cavalier, and assume his war-horse, at the +same time that the most sacred Empress, as well as the authoress of +this history, with other princesses born in the purple, mounted upon +mules in order to proceed upon the march, while their litters were +unhesitatingly assigned for the accommodation of the wounded men. This +was indeed a mark, as well of military sagacity as of humanity; for the +relief afforded to the bearers of the wounded, enabled the survivors of +those who had defended the defile at the fountain, to join us sooner +than would otherwise have been possible. + +"It was an awful thing to see those men who had left us in the full +splendour which military equipment gives to youth and strength, again +appearing in diminished numbers--their armour shattered--their shields +full of arrows--their offensive weapons marked with blood, and they +themselves exhibiting all the signs of desperate and recent battle. Nor +was it less interesting to remark the meeting of the soldiers who had +been engaged, with the comrades whom they had rejoined. The Emperor, at +the suggestion of the trusty Acoulouthos, permitted them a few moments +to leave their ranks, and learn from each other the fate of the battle. + +"As the two bands mingled, it seemed a meeting where grief and joy had +a contest together. The most rugged of these barbarians,--and I who saw +it can bear witness to the fact,--as he welcomed with a grasp of his +strong hand some comrade whom he had given up for lost, had his large +blue eyes filled with tears at hearing of the loss of some one whom he +had hoped might have survived. Other veterans reviewed the standards +which had been in the conflict, satisfied themselves that they had all +been brought back in honour and safety, and counted the fresh arrow- +shots with which they had been pierced, in addition to similar marks of +former battles. All were loud in the praises of the brave young leader +they had lost, nor were the acclamations less general in laud of him +who had succeeded to the command, who brought up the party of his +deceased brother--and whom," said the Princess, in a few words which +seemed apparently interpolated for the occasion, "I now assure of the +high honour and estimation in which he is held by the author of this +history--that is, I would say, by every member of the imperial family-- +for his gallant services in such an important crisis." + +Having hurried over her tribute to her friend the Varangian, in which +emotions mingled that are not willingly expressed before so many +hearers, Anna Comnena proceeded with composure in the part of her +history which was less personal. + +"We had not much time to make more observations on what passed among +those brave soldiers; for a few minutes having been allowed to their +feelings, the trumpet sounded the advance towards Laodicea, and we soon +beheld the town, now about four miles from us, in fields which were +chiefly covered with trees. Apparently the garrison had already some +notice of our approach, for carts and wains were seen advancing from +the gates with refreshments, which the heat of the day, the length of +the march, and columns of dust, as well as the want of water, had +rendered of the last necessity to us. The soldiers joyfully mended +their pace in order to meet the sooner with the supplies of which they +stood so much in need. But as the cup doth not carry in all cases the +liquid treasure to the lips for which it was intended, however much it +may be longed for, what was our mortification to behold a cloud of +Arabs issue at full gallop from the wooded plain betwixt the Roman army +and the city, and throw themselves upon the waggons, slaying the +drivers, and making havoc and spoil of the contents! This, we +afterwards learned, was a body of the enemy, headed by Varanes, equal +in military fame, among those infidels, to Jezdegerd, his slain brother. +When this chieftain saw that it was probable that the Varangians would +succeed in their desperate defence of the pass, he put himself at the +head of a large body of the cavalry; and as these infidels are mounted +on horses unmatched either in speed or wind, performed a long circuit, +traversed the stony ridge of hills at a more northerly defile, and +placed himself in ambuscade in the wooded plain I have mentioned, with +the hope of making an unexpected assault upon the Emperor and his army, +at the very time when they might be supposed to reckon upon an +undisputed retreat. This surprise would certainly have taken place, and +it is not easy to say what might have been the consequence, had not the +unexpected appearance of the train of waggons awakened the unbridled +rapacity of the Arabs, in spite of their commander's prudence, and +attempts to restrain them. In this manner the proposed ambuscade was +discovered. + +"But Varanes, willing still to gain some advantage from the rapidity of +his movements, assembled as many of his horsemen as could be collected +from the spoil, and pushed forward towards the Romans, who had stopped +short on their march at so unlooked for an apparition. There was an +uncertainty and wavering in our first ranks which made their hesitation +known even to so poor a judge of military demeanour as myself. On the +contrary, the Varangians joined in a unanimous cry of 'Bills' +[Footnote: Villehardouin says, "Les Anglois et Danois mult bien +rombattoint avec leurs _haches_."] (that is, in their language, +battle-axes,) 'to the front!' and the Emperor's most gracious will +acceding to their valorous desire, they pressed forward from the rear +to the head of the column. I can hardly say how this manoeuvre was +executed, but it was doubtless by the wise directions of my most serene +father, distinguished for his presence of mind upon such difficult +occasions. It was, no doubt, much facilitated by the good will of the +troops themselves; the Roman bands, called the Immortals, showing, as +it seemed to me, no less desire to fall into the rear, than did the +Varangians to occupy the places which the Immortals left vacant in +front. The manoeuvre was so happily executed, that before Varanes and +his Arabs had arrived at the van of our troops, they found it occupied +by the inflexible guard of northern soldiers. I might have seen with my +own eyes, and called upon them as sure evidences of that which chanced +upon the occasion. But, to confess the truth, my eyes were little used +to look upon such sights; for of Varanes's charge I only beheld, as it +were, a thick cloud of dust rapidly driven forward, through which were +seen the glittering points of lances, and the waving plumes of turban'd +cavaliers imperfectly visible. The tecbir was so loudly uttered, that I +was scarcely aware that kettle-drums and brazen cymbals were sounding +in concert with it. But this wild and outrageous storm was met as +effectually as if encountered by a rock. + +"The Varangians, unshaken by the furious charge of the Arabs, received +horse and rider with a shower of blows from their massive battle-axes, +which the bravest of the enemy could not face, nor the strongest endure. +The guards strengthened their ranks also, by the hindmost pressing so +close upon those that went before, after the manner of the ancient +Macedonians, that the fine-limbed, though slight steeds of those +Idumeans could not make the least inroad upon the northern phalanx. The +bravest men, the most gallant horses, fell in the first rank. The +weighty, though short, horse javelins, flung from the rear ranks of the +brave Varangians, with good aim and sturdy arm, completed the confusion +of the assailants, who turned their back in affright, and fled from the +field in total confusion. + +"The enemy thus repulsed, we proceeded on our march, and only halted +when we recovered our half-plundered waggons. Here, also, some +invidious remarks were made by certain officers of the interior of the +household, who had been on duty over the stores, and having fled from +their posts on the assault of the infidels, had only returned upon +their being repulsed. These men, quick in malice, though slow in +perilous service, reported that, on this occasion, the Varangians so +far forgot their duty as to consume a part of the sacred wine reserved +for the imperial lips alone. It would be criminal to deny that this was +a great and culpable oversight; nevertheless, our imperial hero passed +it over as a pardonable offence; remarking, in a jesting manner, that +since he had drunk the _ail_, as they termed it, of his trusty +guard, the Varangians had acquired a right to quench the thirst, and to +relieve the fatigue, which they had undergone that day in his defence, +though they used for these purposes the sacred contents of the imperial +cellar. + +"In the meantime, the cavalry of the army were despatched in pursuit of +the fugitive Arabs; and having succeeded in driving them behind the +chain of hills which had so recently divided them from the Romans, the +imperial arms might justly be considered as having obtained a complete +and glorious victory. + +"We are now to mention the rejoicings of the citizens of Laodicea, who, +having witnessed from their ramparts, with alternate fear and hope, the +fluctuations of the battle, now descended to congratulate the imperial +conqueror." + +Here the fair narrator was interrupted. The principal entrance of the +apartment flew open, noiselessly indeed, but with both folding leaves +at once, not as if to accommodate the entrance of an ordinary courtier, +studying to create as little disturbance as possible, but as if there +was entering a person, who ranked so high as to make it indifferent how +much attention was drawn to his motions. It could only be one born in +the purple, or nearly allied to it, to whom such freedom was lawful; +and most of the guests, knowing who were likely to appear in that +Temple of the Muses, anticipated, from the degree of bustle, the +arrival of Nicephorus Briennius, the son-in-law of Alexius Comnenus, +the husband to the fair historian, and in the rank of Caesar, which, +however, did not at that period imply, as in early ages, the dignity of +second person in the empire. The policy of Alexius had interposed more +than one person of condition between the Caesar and his original rights +and rank, which had once been second to those only of the Emperor +himself. + + + + +CHAPTER THE FIFTH. + + The storm increases--'tis no sunny shower, + Foster'd in the moist breast of March or April, + Or such as parched Summer cools his lip with: + Heaven's windows are flung wide; the inmost deeps + Call in hoarse greeting one upon another; + On comes the flood in all its foaming horrors, + And where's the dike shall stop it! + THE DELUGE, _a Poem_. + + +The distinguished individual who entered was a noble Grecian, of +stately presence, whose habit was adorned with every mark of dignity, +saving those which Alexius had declared sacred to the Emperor's own +person and that of the Sebastocrator, whom he had established as next +in rank to the head of the empire. Nicephorus Briennius, who was in the +bloom of youth, retained all the marks of that manly beauty which had +made the match acceptable to Anna Comnena; while political +considerations, and the desire of attaching a powerful house as +friendly adherents of the throne, recommended the union to the Emperor. + +We have already hinted that the royal bride had, though in no great +degree, the very doubtful advantage of years. Of her literary talents +we have seen tokens. Yet it was not believed by those who best knew, +that, with the aid of those claims to respect, Anna Comnena was +successful in possessing the unlimited attachment of her handsome +husband. To treat her with apparent neglect, her connexion with the +crown rendered impossible; while, on the other hand, the power of +Nicephorus's family was too great to permit his being dictated to even +by the Emperor himself. He was possessed of talents, as it was believed, +calculated both for war and peace. His advice was, therefore, listened +to, and his assistance required, so that he claimed complete liberty +with respect to his own time, which he sometimes used with less regular +attendance upon the Temple of the Muses, than the goddess of the place +thought herself entitled to, or than the Empress Irene was disposed to +exact on the part of her daughter. The good-humoured Alexius observed a +sort of neutrality in this matter, and kept it as much as possible from +becoming visible to the public, conscious that it required the whole +united strength of his family to maintain his place in so agitated an +empire. + +He pressed his son-in-law's hand, as Nicephorus, passing his father-in- +law's seat, bent his knee in token of homage. The constrained manner of +the Empress indicated a more cold reception of her son-in-law, while +the fair muse herself scarcely deigned to signify her attention to his +arrival, when her handsome mate assumed the vacant seat by her side, +which we have already made mention of. + +There was an awkward pause, during which the imperial son-in-law, +coldly received when he expected to be welcomed, attempted to enter +into some light conversation with the fair slave Astarte, who knelt +behind her mistress. This was interrupted by the Princess commanding +her attendant to enclose the manuscript within its appropriate casket, +and convey it with her own hands to the cabinet of Apollo, the usual +scene of the Princess's studies, as the Temple of the Muses was that +commonly dedicated to her recitations. + +The Emperor himself was the first to break an unpleasant silence. "Fair +son-in-law," he said, "though it now wears something late in the night, +you will do yourself wrong if you permit our Anna to send away that +volume, with which this company have been so delectably entertained +that they may well say, that the desert hath produced roses, and the +barren rocks have poured forth milk and honey, so agreeable is the +narrative of a toilsome and dangerous campaign, in the language of our +daughter." + +"The Caesar," said the Empress, "seems to have little taste for such +dainties as this family can produce. He hath of late repeatedly +absented himself from this Temple of the Muses, and found doubtless +more agreeable conversation and amusement elsewhere." + +"I trust, madam," said Nicephorus, "that my taste may vindicate me from +the charge implied. But it is natural that our sacred father should be +most delighted with the milk and honey which is produced for his own +special use." + +The Princess spoke in the tone of a handsome woman offended by her +lover, and feeling the offence, yet not indisposed to a reconciliation. + +"If," she said, "the deeds of Nicephorus Briennius are less frequently +celebrated in that poor roll of parchment than those of my illustrious +father, he must do me the justice to remember that such was his own +special request; either proceeding from that modesty which is justly +ascribed to him as serving to soften and adorn his other attributes, or +because he with justice distrusts his wife's power to compose their +eulogium." + +"We will then summon back Astarte," said the Empress, "who cannot yet +have carried her offering to the cabinet of Apollo." + +"With your imperial pleasure," said Nicephorus, "it might incense the +Pythian god were a deposit to be recalled of which he alone can fitly +estimate the value. I came hither to speak with the Emperor upon +pressing affairs of state, and not to hold a literary conversation with +a company which I must needs say is something of a miscellaneous +description, since I behold an ordinary life-guardsman in the imperial +circle." + +"By the rood, son-in-law," said Alexius, "you do this gallant man wrong. +He is the brother of that brave Anglo-Dane who secured the victory at +Laodicea by his valiant conduct and death; he himself is that Edmund-- +or Edward---or Hereward---to whom we are ever bound for securing the +success of that victorious day. He was called into our presence, son- +in-law, since it imports that you should know so much, to refresh the +memory of any Follower, Achilles Tatius, as well as mine own, +concerning some transactions of the day of which we had become in some +degree oblivious." + +"Truly, imperial sir," answered Briennius, "I grieve that, by having +intruded on some such important researches, I may have, in some degree, +intercepted a portion of that light which is to illuminate future ages. +Methinks that in a battle-field, fought under your imperial guidance, +and that of your great captains, your evidence might well supersede the +testimony of such a man as this.--Let me know," he added, turning +haughtily to the Varangian, "what particular thou canst add, that is +unnoticed in the Princess's narrative?" + +The Varangian replied instantly, "Only that when we made a halt at the +fountain, the music that was there made by the ladies of the Emperor's +household, and particularly by those two whom I now behold, was the +most exquisite that ever reached my ears." + +"Hah! darest thou to speak so audacious an opinion?" exclaimed +Nicephorus; "is it for such as thou to suppose for a moment that the +music which the wife and daughter of the Emperor might condescend to +make, was intended to afford either matter of pleasure or of criticism +to every plebeian barbarian who might hear them? Begone from this +place! nor dare, on any pretext, again to appear before mine eyes-- +under allowance always of our imperial father's pleasure." + +The Varangian bent his looks upon Achilles Tatius, as the person from +whom he was to take his orders to stay or withdraw. But the Emperor +himself took up the subject with considerable dignity. + +"Son," he said, "we cannot permit this. On account of some love quarrel, +as it would seem, betwixt you and our daughter, you allow yourself +strangely to forget our imperial rank, and to order from our presence +those whom we have pleased to call to attend us. This is neither right +nor seemly, nor is it our pleasure that this same Hereward--or Edward-- +or whatever be his name--either leave us at this present moment, or do +at any time hereafter regulate himself by any commands save our own, or +those of our Follower, Achilles Tatius. And now, allowing this foolish +affair, which I think was blown among us by the wind, to pass as it +came, without farther notice, we crave to know the grave matters of +state which brought you to our presence at so late an hour.--You look +again at this Varangian.--Withhold not your words, I pray you, on +account of his presence; for he stands as high in our trust, and we are +convinced with as good reason, as any counsellor who has been sworn our +domestic servant." + +"To hear is to obey," returned the Emperor's son-in-law, who saw that +Alexius was somewhat moved, and knew that in such cases it was neither +safe nor expedient to drive him to extremity. "What I have to say," +continued he, "must so soon be public news, that it little matters who +hears it; and yet the West, so full of strange changes, never sent to +the Eastern half of the globe tidings so alarming as those I now come +to tell your Imperial Highness. Europe, to borrow an expression from +this lady, who honours me by calling me husband, seems loosened from +its foundations and about to precipitate itself upon Asia"---- + +"So I did express myself," said the Princess Anna Comnena, "and, as I +trust, not altogether unforcibly, when we first heard that the wild +impulse of those restless barbarians of Europe had driven a tempest as +of a thousand nations upon our western frontier, with the extravagant +purpose, as they pretended, of possessing themselves of Syria, and the +holy places there marked as the sepulchres of prophets, the martyrdom +of saints, and the great events detailed in the blessed gospel. But +that storm, by all accounts, hath burst and passed away, and we well +hoped that the danger had gone with it. Devoutly shall we sorrow to +find it otherwise." + +"And otherwise we must expect to find it," said her husband. "It is very +true, as reported to us, that a huge body of men, of low rank and +little understanding, assumed arms at the instigation of a mad hermit, +and took the road from Germany to Hungary, expecting miracles to be +wrought in their favour, as when Israel was guided through the +wilderness by a pillar of flame and a cloud. But no showers of manna or +of quails relieved their necessities, or proclaimed them the chosen +people of God. No waters gushed from the rock for their refreshment. +They were enraged at their sufferings, and endeavoured to obtain +supplies by pillaging the country. The Hungarians, and other nations on +our western frontiers, Christians, like themselves, did not hesitate to +fall upon this disorderly rabble; and immense piles of bones, in wild +passes and unfrequented deserts, attest the calamitous defeats which +extirpated these unholy pilgrims." + +"All this," said the Emperor, "we knew before;--but what new evil now +threatens, since we have already escaped so important a one?" + +"Knew before?" said the Prince Nicephorus. "We knew nothing of our real +danger before, save that a wild herd of animals, as brutal and as +furious as wild bulls, threatened to bend their way to a pasture for +which they had formed a fancy, and deluged the Grecian empire, and its +vicinity, in their passage, expecting that Palestine, with its streams +of milk and honey, once more awaited them, as God's predestined people. +But so wild and disorderly an invasion had no terrors for a civilized +nation like the Romans. The brute herd was terrified by our Greek fire; +it was snared and shot down by the wild nations who, while they pretend +to independence, cover our frontier as with a protecting fortification. +The vile multitude has been consumed even by the very quality of the +provisions thrown in their way,--those wise means of resistance which +were at once suggested by the paternal care of the Emperor, and by his +unfailing policy. Thus wisdom has played its part, and the bark over +which the tempest had poured its thunder, has escaped, notwithstanding +all its violence. But the second storm, by which the former is so +closely followed, is of a new descent of these Western nations, more +formidable than any which we or our fathers have yet seen. This +consists not of the ignorant or of the fanatical--not of the base, the +needy, and the improvident. Now,--all that wide Europe possesses of +what is wise and worthy, brave and noble, are united by the most +religious vows, in the same purpose." + +"And what is that purpose? Speak plainly," said Alexius. "The +destruction of our whole Roman empire, and the blotting out the very +name of its chief from among the princes of the earth, among which it +has long been predominant, can alone be an adequate motive for a +confederacy such as thy speech infers." + +"No such design is avowed," said Nicephorus; "and so many princes, wise +men, and statesmen of eminence, aim, it is pretended, at nothing else +than the same extravagant purpose announced by the brute multitude who +first appeared in these regions. Here, most gracious Emperor, is a +scroll, in which you will find marked down a list of the various armies +which, by different routes, are approaching the vicinity of the empire. +Behold, Hugh of Vermandois, called from his dignity Hugh the Great, has +set sail from the shores of Italy. Twenty knights have already +announced their coming, sheathed in armour of steel, inlaid with gold, +bearing this proud greeting:--'Let the Emperor of Greece, and his +lieutenants, understand that Hugo, Earl of Vermandois, is approaching +his territories. He is brother to the king of kings--The King of +France,[Footnote: Ducange pours out a whole ocean of authorities to +show that the King of France was in those days styled _Rex_, by +way of eminence. See his notes on the Alexiad. Anna Comnena in her +history makes Hugh, of Vermandois assume to himself the titles which +could only, in the most enthusiastic Frenchman's opinion, have been +claimed by his older brother, the reigning monarch.] namely--and is +attended by the flower of the French nobility. He bears the blessed +banner of St. Peter, intrusted to his victorious care by the holy +successor of the apostle, and warns thee of all this, that thou mayst +provide a reception suitable to his rank.'" + +"Here are sounding words," said the Emperor; "but the wind which +whistles loudest is not always most dangerous to the vessel. We know +something of this nation of France, and have heard more. They are as +petulant at least as they are valiant; we will flatter their vanity +till we get time and opportunity for more effectual defence. Tush! if +words can pay debt, there is no fear of our exchequer becoming +insolvent.--What follows here, Nicephorus? A list, I suppose, of the +followers of this great count?" + +"My liege, no!" answered Nicephorus Briennius; "so many independent +chiefs, as your Imperial Highness sees in that memorial, so many +independent European armies are advancing by different routes towards +the East, and announce the conquest of Palestine from the infidels as +their common object." + +"A dreadful enumeration," said the Emperor, as he perused the list; +"yet so far happy, that its very length assures us of the impossibility +that so many princes can be seriously and consistently united in so +wild a project. Thus already my eyes catch the well-known name of an +old friend, our enemy--for such are the alternate chances of peace and +war--Bohemond of Antioch. Is not he the son of the celebrated Robert of +Apulia, so renowned among his countrymen, who raised himself to the +rank of grand duke from a simple cavalier, and became sovereign of +those of his warlike nation, both in Sicily and Italy? Did not the +standards of the German Emperor, of the Roman Pontiff, nay, our own +imperial banners, give way before him; until, equally a wily statesman +and a brave warrior, he became the terror of Europe, from being a +knight whose Norman castle would have been easily garrisoned by six +cross-bows, and as many lances? It is a dreadful family, a race of +craft as well as power. But Bohemond, the son of old Robert, will +follow his father's politics. He may talk of Palestine and of the +interests of Christendom, but if I can make his interests the same with +mine, he is not likely to be guided by any other object. So then, with +the knowledge I already possess of his wishes and projects, it may +chance that Heaven sends us an ally in the guise of an enemy.--Whom +have we next? Godfrey [Footnote: Godfrey of Bouillon, Duke of Lower +Lorraine--the great Captain of the first Crusade, afterwards King of +Jerusalem. See Gibbon,--or Mills, _passim_.] Duke of Bouillon-- +leading, I see, a most formidable band from the banks of a huge river +called the Rhine. What is this person's character?" + +"As we hear," replied Nicephorus, "this Godfrey is one of the wisest, +noblest, and bravest of the leaders who have thus strangely put +themselves in motion; and among a list of independent princes, as many +in number as those who assembled for the siege of Troy, and followed, +most of them, by subjects ten times more numerous, this Godfrey may be +regarded as the Agamemnon. The princes and counts esteem him, because +he is the foremost in the ranks of those whom they fantastically call +Knights, and also on account of the good faith and generosity which he +practises in all his transactions. The clergy give him credit for the +highest zeal for the doctrines of religion, and a corresponding respect +for the Church and its dignitaries. Justice, liberality, and frankness, +have equally attached to this Godfrey the lower class of the people. +His general attention to moral obligations is a pledge to them that his +religion is real; and, gifted with so much that is excellent, he is +already, although inferior in rank, birth, and power to many chiefs of +the crusade, justly regarded as one of its principal leaders." + +"Pity," said the Emperor, "that a character such as you describe this +Prince to be, should be under the dominion of a fanaticism scarce +worthy of Peter the Hermit, or the clownish multitude which he led, or +of the very ass which he rode upon! which I am apt to think the wisest +of the first multitude whom we beheld, seeing that it ran away towards +Europe as soon as water and barley became scarce." + +"Might I be permitted here to speak, and yet live," said Agelastes, "I +would remark that the Patriarch himself made a similar retreat so soon +as blows became plenty and food scarce." + +"Thou hast hit it, Agelastes," said the Emperor; "but the question now +is, whether an honorable and important principality could not be formed +out of part of the provinces of the Lesser Asia, now laid waste by the +Turks. Such a principality, methinks, with its various advantages of +soil, climate, industrious inhabitants, and a healthy atmosphere, were +well worth the morasses of Bouillon. It might be held as a dependence +upon the sacred Roman empire, and garrisoned, as it were, by Godfrey +and his victorious Franks, would be a bulwark on that point to our just +and sacred person. Ha! most holy patriarch, would not such a prospect +shake the most devout Crusader's attachment to the burning sands of +Palestine?" + +"Especially," answered the Patriarch, "if the prince for whom such a +rich _theme_ [Footnote: These provinces were called _Themes_.] was +changed into a feudal appanage, should be previously converted to the +only true faith, as your Imperial Highness undoubtedly means." + +"Certainly--most unquestionably," answered the Emperor, with a due +affectation of gravity, notwithstanding he was internally conscious how +often he had been compelled, by state necessities, to admit, not only +Latin Christians, but Manicheans, and other heretics, nay, Mahomedan +barbarians, into the number of his subjects, and that without +experiencing opposition from the scruples of the Patriarch. "Here I +find," continued the Emperor, "such a numerous list of princes and +principalities in the act of approaching our boundaries, as might well +rival the armies of old, who were said to have drunk up rivers, +exhausted realms, and trode down forests, in their wasteful advance." +As he pronounced these words, a shade of paleness came over the +Imperial brow, similar to that which had already clothed in sadness +most of his counsellors. + +"This war of nations," said Nicephorus, "has also circumstances +distinguishing it from every other, save that which his Imperial +Highness hath waged in former times against those whom we are +accustomed to call Franks. We must go forth against a people to whom +the strife of combat is as the breath of their nostrils; who, rather +than not be engaged in war, will do battle with their nearest +neighbours, and challenge each other to mortal fight, as much in sport +as we would defy a comrade to a chariot-race. They are covered with an +impenetrable armour of steel, defending them from blows of the lance +and sword, and which the uncommon strength of their horses renders them +able to support, though one of ours could as well bear Mount Olympus +upon his loins. Their foot-ranks carry a missile weapon unknown to us, +termed an arblast, or cross-bow. It is not drawn with the right hand, +like the bow of other nations, but by placing the feet upon the weapon +itself, and pulling with the whole force of the body; and it despatches +arrows called bolts, of hard wood pointed with iron, which the strength +of the bow can send through the strongest breastplates, and even +through stone walls, where not of uncommon thickness." + +"Enough," said the Emperor; "we have seen with our own eyes the lances +of Frankish knights, and the cross-bows of their infantry. If Heaven +has allotted them a degree of bravery, which to other nations seems +wellnigh preternatural, the Divine will has given to the Greek councils +that wisdom which it hath refused to barbarians; the art of achieving +conquest by wisdom rather than brute force--obtaining by our skill in +treaty advantages which victory itself could not have procured. If we +have not the use of that dreadful weapon, which our son-in-law terms +the cross-bow, Heaven, in its favour, has concealed from these western +barbarians the composition and use of the Greek fire--well so called, +since by Grecian hands alone it is prepared, and by such only can its +lightnings be darted upon the astonished foe." The Emperor paused, and +looked around him; and although the faces of his counsellors still +looked blank, he boldly proceeded:--"But to return yet again to this +black scroll, containing the names of those nations who approach our +frontier, here occur more than one with which, methinks, old memory +should make us familiar, though our recollections are distant and +confused. It becomes us to know who these men are, that we may avail +ourselves of those feuds and quarrels among them, which, being blown +into life, may happily divert them from the prosecution of this +extraordinary attempt in which they are now united. Here is, for +example, one Robert, styled Duke of Normandy, who commands a goodly +band of counts, with which title we are but too well acquainted; of +_earls_, a word totally strange to us, but apparently some +barbaric title of honour; and of knights whose names are compounded, as +we think, chiefly of the French language, but also of another jargon, +which we are not ourselves competent to understand. To you, most +reverend and most learned Patriarch, we may fittest apply for +information on this subject." + +"The duties of my station," replied the patriarch Zosimus, "have +withheld my riper years from studying the history of distant realms; +but the wise Agelastes, who hath read as many volumes as would fill the +shelves of the famous Alexandrian library, can no doubt satisfy your +Imperial Majesty's enquiries." + +Agelastes erected himself on those enduring legs which had procured him +the surname of Elephant, and began a reply to the enquiries of the +Emperor, rather remarkable for readiness than accuracy. "I have read," +said he, "in that brilliant mirror which reflects the time of our +fathers, the volumes of the learned Procopius, that the people +separately called Normans and Angles are in truth the same race, and +that Normandy, sometimes so called, is in fact a part of a district of +Gaul. Beyond, and nearly opposite to it, but separated by an arm of the +sea, lies a ghastly region, on which clouds and tempests for ever rest, +and which is well known to its continental neighbours as the abode to +which departed spirits are sent after this life. On one side of the +strait dwell a few fishermen, men possessed of a strange charter, and +enjoying singular privileges, in consideration of their being the +living ferrymen who, performing the office of the heathen Charon, carry +the spirits of the departed to the island which is their residence +after death. At the dead of night, these fishermen are, in rotation, +summoned to perform the duty by which they seem to hold the permission +to reside on this strange coast. A knock is heard at the door of his +cottage who holds the turn of this singular service, sounded by no +mortal hand. A whispering, as of a decaying breeze, summons the +ferryman to his duty. He hastens to his bark on the sea-shore, and has +no sooner launched it than he perceives its hull sink sensibly in the +water, so as to express the weight of the dead with whom it is filled. +No form is seen, and though voices are heard, yet the accents are +undistinguishable, as of one who speaks in his sleep. Thus he traverses +the strait between the continent and the island, impressed with the +mysterious awe which affects the living when they are conscious of the +presence of the dead. They arrive upon the opposite coast, where the +cliffs of white chalk form a strange contrast with the eternal darkness +of the atmosphere. They stop at a landing-place appointed, but +disembark not, for the land is never trodden by earthly feet. Here the +passage-boat is gradually lightened of its unearthly inmates, who +wander forth in the way appointed to them, while the mariners slowly +return to their own side of the strait, having performed for the time +this singular service, by which they hold their fishing-huts and their +possessions on that strange coast." Here he ceased, and the Emperor +replied,-- + +"If this legend be actually told us by Procopius, most learned +Agelastes, it shows that that celebrated historian came more near the +heathen than the Christian belief respecting the future state. In truth, +this is little more than the old fable of the infernal Styx. Procopius, +we believe, lived before the decay of heathenism, and, as we would +gladly disbelieve much which he hath told us respecting our ancestor +and predecessor Justinian, so we will not pay him much credit in future +in point of geographical knowledge.--Meanwhile, what ails thee, +Achilles Tatius, and why dost thou whisper with that soldier?" + +"My head," answered Achilles Tatius, "is at your imperial command, +prompt to pay for the unbecoming trespass of my tongue. I did but ask +of this Hereward here what he knew of this matter; for I have heard my +Varangians repeatedly call themselves Anglo-Danes, Normans, Britons, or +some other barbaric epithet, and I am sure that one or other, or it may +be all, of these barbarous sounds, at different times serve to +designate the birth-place of these exiles, too happy in being banished +from the darkness of barbarism, to the luminous vicinity of your +imperial presence." + +"Speak, then, Varangian, in the name of Heaven," said the Emperor, "and +let us know whether we are to look for friends or enemies in those men +of Normandy who are now approaching our frontier. Speak with courage, +man; and if thou apprehendest danger, remember thou servest a prince +well qualified to protect thee." + +"Since I am at liberty to speak," answered the life-guardian, "although +my knowledge of the Greek language, which you term the Roman, is but +slight, I trust it is enough to demand of his Imperial Highness, in +place of all pay, donative, or gift whatsoever, since he has been +pleased to talk of designing such for me, that he would place me in the +first line of battle which shall be formed against these same Normans, +and their Duke Robert; and if he pleases to allow me the aid of such +Varangians as, for love of me, or hatred of their ancient tyrants, may +be disposed to join their arms to mine, I have little doubt so to +settle our long accounts with these men, that the Grecian eagles and +wolves shall do them the last office, by tearing the flesh from their +bones." + +"What dreadful feud is this, my soldier," said the Emperor, "that after +so many years still drives thee to such extremities when the very name +of Normandy is mentioned?" + +"Your Imperial Highness shall be judge!" said the Varangian. "My +fathers, and those of most, though not all of the corps to whom I +belong, are descended from a valiant race who dwelt in the North of +Germany, called Anglo-Saxons. Nobody, save a priest possessed of the +art of consulting ancient chronicles, can even guess how long it is +since they came to the island of Britain, then distracted with civil +war. They came, however, on the petition of the natives of the island, +for the aid of the Angles was requested by the southern inhabitants. +Provinces were granted in recompense of the aid thus liberally afforded, +and the greater proportion of the island became, by degrees, the +property of the Anglo-Saxons, who occupied it at first as several +principalities, and latterly as one kingdom, speaking the language, and +observing the laws, of most of those who now form your imperial body- +guard of Varangians, or exiles. In process of time, the Northmen became +known to the people of the more southern climates. They were so called +from their coming from the distant regions of the Baltic Sea--an +immense ocean, sometimes frozen with ice as hard as the cliffs of Mount +Caucasus. They came seeking milder regions than nature had assigned +them at home; and the climate of France being delightful, and its +people slow in battle, they extorted from them the grant of a large +province which was, from the name of the new settlers, called Normandy, +though I have heard my father say that was not its proper appellation. +They settled there under a Duke, who acknowledged the superior +authority of the King of France, that is to say, obeying him when it +suited his convenience so to do. + +"Now, it chanced many years since, while these two nations of Normans +and Anglo-Saxons were quietly residing upon different sides of the +salt-water channel which divides France from England, that William, +Duke of Normandy, suddenly levied a large army, came over to Kent, +which is on the opposite side of the channel, and there defeated in a +great battle, Harold, who was at that time King of the Anglo-Saxons. It +is but grief to tell what followed. Battles have been fought in old +time, that have had dreadful results, which years, nevertheless, could +wash away; but at Hastings--O woe's me!--the banner of my country fell, +never again to be raised up. Oppression has driven her wheel over us. +All that was valiant amongst us have left the land; and of Englishmen-- +for such is our proper designation--no one remains in England save as +the thrall of the invaders. Many men of Danish descent, who had found +their way on different occasions to England, were blended in the common +calamity. All was laid desolate by the command of the victors. My +father's home lies now an undistinguished ruin, amid an extensive +forest, composed out of what were formerly fair fields and domestic +pastures, where a manly race derived nourishment by cultivating a +friendly soil. The fire has destroyed the church where sleep the +fathers of my race; and I, the last of their line, am a wanderer in +other climates--a fighter of the battles of others--the servant of a +foreign, though a kind master; in a word, one of the banished--a +Varangian." + +"Happier in that station" said Achilles Tatius, "than in all the +barbaric simplicity which your forefathers prized so highly, since you +are now under the cheering influence of that smile which is the life of +the world." + +"It avails not talking of this," said the Varangian, with a cold +gesture. + +"These Normans" said the Emperor, "are then the people by whom the +celebrated island of Britain is now conquered and governed?" + +"It is but too true" answered the Varangian. + +"They are, then, a brave and warlike people?"--said Alexius. + +"It would be base and false to say otherwise of an enemy" said Hereward. +"Wrong have they done me, and a wrong never to be atoned; but to speak +falsehood of them were but a woman's vengeance. Mortal enemies as they +are to me, and mingling with all my recollections as that which is +hateful and odious, yet were the troops of Europe mustered, as it seems +they are likely to be, no nation or tribe dared in gallantry claim the +advance of the haughty Norman." + +"And this Duke Robert, who is he?" + +"That," answered the Varangian, "I cannot so well explain. He is the +son--the eldest son, as men say, of the tyrant William, who subdued +England when I hardly existed, or was a child in the cradle. That +William, the victor of Hastings, is now dead, we are assured by +concurring testimony; but while it seems his eldest son Duke Robert has +become his heir to the Duchy of Normandy, some other of his children +have been so fortunate as to acquire the throne of England,--unless, +indeed, like the petty farm of some obscure yeoman, the fair kingdom +has been divided among the tyrant's issue." + +"Concerning this," said the Emperor, "we have heard something, which we +shall try to reconcile with the soldier's narrative at leisure, holding +the words of this honest Varangian as positive proof, in whatsoever he +avers from his own knowledge.--And now, my grave and worthy counsellors, +we must close this evening's service in the Temple of the Muses, this +distressing news, brought us by our dearest son-in-law the Caesar, +having induced us to prolong our worship of these learned goddesses, +deeper into the night than is consistent with the health of our beloved +wife and daughter; while to ourselves, this intelligence brings subject +for grave deliberation." + +The courtiers exhausted their ingenuity in forming the most ingenious +prayers, that all evil consequences should be averted which could +attend this excessive vigilance. + +Nicephorus and his fair bride spoke together as a pair equally desirous +to close an accidental breach between them. "Some things thou hast said, +my Caesar," observed the lady, "in detailing this dreadful intelligence, +as elegantly turned as if the nine goddesses, to whom this temple is +dedicated, had lent each her aid to the sense and expression." + +"I need none of their assistance," answered Nicephorus, "since I +possess a muse of my own, in whose genius are included all those +attributes which the heathens vainly ascribed to the nine deities of +Parnassus!" + +"It is well," said the fair historian, retiring by the assistance of +her husband's arm; "but if you will load your wife with praises far +beyond her merits, you must lend her your arm to support her under the +weighty burden you have been pleased to impose." The council parted +when the imperial persons had retired, and most of them sought to +indemnify themselves in more free though less dignified circles, for +the constraint which they had practised in the Temple of the Muses. + + + + +CHAPTER THE SIXTH. + + Vain man! thou mayst, esteem thy love as fair + As fond hyperboles suffice to raise. + She may be all that's matchless in her person, + And all-divine in soul to match her body; + But take this from me--thou shalt never call her + Superior to her sex, while _one_ survives, + And I am her true votary. + OLD PLAY. + + +Achilles Tatius, with his faithful Varangian close by his shoulder, +melted from the dispersing assembly silently and almost invisibly, as +snow is dissolved from its Alpine abodes as the days become more genial. +No lordly step, nor clash of armour, betokened the retreat of the +military persons. The very idea of the necessity of guards was not +ostentatiously brought forward, because, so near the presence of the +Emperor, the emanation supposed to flit around that divinity of earthly +sovereigns, had credit for rendering it impassive and unassailable. +Thus the oldest and most skilful courtiers, among whom our friend +Agelastes was not to be forgotten, were of opinion, that, although the +Emperor employed the ministry of the Varangians and other guards, it +was rather for form's sake, than from any danger of the commission of a +crime of a kind so heinous, that it was the fashion to account it +almost impossible. And this doctrine, of the rare occurrence of such a +crime, was repeated from month to month in those very chambers, where +it had oftener than once been perpetrated, and sometimes by the very +persons who monthly laid schemes for carrying some dark conspiracy +against the reigning Emperor into positive execution. + +At length the captain of the life-guardsmen, and his faithful attendant, +found themselves on the outside of the Blacquernal Palace. The passage +which Achilles found for their exit, was closed by a postern which a +single Varangian shut behind, them, drawing, at the same time, bolt and +bar with an ill-omened and jarring sound. Looking back at the mass of +turrets, battlements, and spires, out of which they had at length +emerged, Hereward could not but feel his heart lighten to find "himself +once more under the deep blue of a Grecian heaven, where the planets +were burning with unusual lustre. He sighed and rubbed his hands with +pleasure, like a man newly restored to liberty. He even spoke to his +leader, contrary to his custom unless addressed:--"Methinks the air of +yonder halls, valorous Captain, carries with it a perfume, which, +though it may be well termed sweet, is so suffocating, as to be more +suitable to sepulchrous chambers, than to the dwellings of men. Happy I +am that I am free, as I trust, from its influences." + +"Be happy, then," said Achilles Tatius, "since thy vile, cloddish +spirit feels suffocation rather than refreshment in gales, which, +instead of causing death, might recall the dead themselves to life. Yet +this I will say for thee, Hereward, that, born a barbarian, within the +narrow circle of a savage's desires and pleasures, and having no idea +of life, save what thou derivest from such vile and base connexions, +thou art, nevertheless, designed by nature for better things, and hast +this day sustained a trial, in which, I fear me, not even one of mine +own noble corps, frozen as they are into lumps of unfashioned barbarity, +could have equalled thy bearing. And speak now in true faith, hast not +thou been rewarded?" + +"That will I never deny," said the Varangian. "The pleasure of knowing, +twenty-four hours perhaps before my comrades, that the Normans are +coming hither to afford us a full revenge of the bloody day of Hastings, +is a lordly recompense, for the task of spending some hours in hearing +the lengthened chat of a lady, who has written about she knows not what, +and the flattering commentaries of the bystanders, who pretended to +give her an account of what they did not themselves stop to witness." + +"Hereward, my good youth," said Achilles Tatius, "thou ravest, and I +think I should do well to place thee under the custody of some person +of skill. Too much hardihood, my valiant soldier, is in soberness +allied to over-daring. It was only natural that thou shouldst feel a +becoming pride in thy late position; yet, let it but taint thee with +vanity, and the effect will be little short of madness. Why, thou hast +looked boldly in the face of a Princess born in the purple, before whom +my own eyes, though well used to such spectacles, are never raised +beyond the foldings of her veil." + +"So be it in the name of Heaven!" replied Hereward. "Nevertheless, +handsome faces were made to look upon, and the eyes of young men to see +withal." + +"If such be their final end," said Achilles, "never did thine, I will +freely suppose, find a richer apology for the somewhat overbold license +which thou tookest in thy gaze upon the Princess this evening." + +"Good leader, or Follower, whichever is your favourite title," said the +Anglo-Briton, "drive not to extremity a plain man, who desires to hold +his duty in all honour to the imperial family. The Princess, wife of +the Caesar, and born, you tell me, of a purple colour, has now +inherited, notwithstanding, the features of a most lovely woman. She +hath composed a history, of which I presume not to form a judgment, +since I cannot understand it; she sings like an angel; and to conclude, +after the fashion of the knights of this day--though I deal not +ordinarily with their language--I would say cheerfully, that I am ready +to place myself in lists against any one whomsoever, who dares detract +from the beauty of the imperial Anna Comnena's person, or from the +virtues of her mind. Having said this, my noble captain, we have said +all that it is competent for you to inquire into, or for me to answer. +That there are hansomer women than the Princess, is unquestionable; and +I question it the less, that I have myself seen a person whom I think +far her superior; and with that let us close the dialogue." + +"Thy beauty, thou unparalleled fool," said Achilles, "must, I ween, be +the daughter of the large-bodied northern boor, living next door to him +upon whose farm was brought up the person of an ass, curst with such +intolerable want of judgment." + +"You may say your pleasure, captain," replied Hereward: "because it is +the safer for us both that thou canst not on such a topic either offend +me, who hold thy judgment as light as thou canst esteem mine, or speak +any derogation of a person whom you never saw, but whom, if you had +seen, perchance I might not so patiently have brooked any reflections +upon, even at the hands of a military superior." + +Achilles Tatius had a good deal of the penetration necessary for one in +his situation. He never provoked to extremity the daring spirits whom +he commanded, and never used any freedom with them beyond the extent +that he knew their patience could bear. Hereward was a favourite +soldier, and had, in that respect at least, a sincere liking and regard +for his commander: when, therefore, the Follower, instead of resenting +his petulance, good-humouredly apologized for having hurt his feelings, +the momentary displeasure between them was at an end; the officer at +once reassumed his superiority, and the soldier sunk back with a deep +sigh, given to some period which was long past, into his wonted silence +and reserve. Indeed the Follower had another and further design upon +Hereward, of which he was as yet unwilling to do more than give a +distant hint. + +After a long pause, during which they approached the barracks, a gloomy +fortified building constructed for the residence of their corps, the +captain motioned his soldier to draw close up to his side, and +proceeded to ask him, in a confidential tone--"Hereward, my friend, +although it is scarce to be supposed that in the presence of the +imperial family thou shouldst mark any one who did not partake of their +blood, or rather, as Homer has it, who did not participate of the +divine _ichor_, which, in their sacred persons, supplies the place +of that vulgar fluid; yet, during so long an audience, thou mightst +possibly, from his uncourtly person and attire, have distinguished +Agelastes, whom we courtiers call the Elephant, from his strict +observation of the rule which forbids any one to sit down or rest in +the Imperial presence?" + +"I think," replied the soldier, "I marked the man you mean; his age was +some seventy and upwards,--a big burly person;--and the baldness which +reached to the top of his head was well atoned for by a white beard of +prodigious size, which descended in waving curls over his breast, and +reached to the towel with which his loins were girded, instead of the +silken sash used by other persons of rank." + +"Most accurately marked, my Varangian," said the officer. "What else +didst thou note about this person?" + +"His cloak was in its texture as coarse as that of the meanest of the +people, but it was strictly clean, as if it had been the intention of +the wearer to exhibit poverty, or carelessness and contempt of dress, +avoiding, at the same time, every particular which implied anything +negligent, sordid, or disgusting." + +"By St. Sophia!" said the officer, "thou astonishest me! The Prophet +Baalam was not more surprised when his ass turned round her head and +spoke to him!--And what else didst thou note concerning this man? I see +those who meet thee must beware of thy observation, as well as of thy +battle-axe." + +"If it please your Valour" answered the soldier, "we English have eyes +as well as hands; but it is only when discharging our duty that we +permit our tongues to dwell on what we have observed. I noted but +little of this man's conversation, but from what I heard, it seemed he +was not unwilling to play what we call the jester, or jack-pudding, in +the conversation, a character which, considering the man's age and +physiognomy, is not, I should be tempted to say, natural, but assumed +for some purpose of deeper import." + +"Hereward," answered his officer, "thou hast spoken like an angel sent +down to examine men's bosoms: that man, Agelastes, is a contradiction, +such as earth has seldom witnessed. Possessing all that wisdom which in +former times united the sages of this nation with the gods themselves, +Agelastes has the same cunning as the elder Brutus, who disguised his +talents under the semblance of an idle jester. He appears to seek no +office--he desires no consideration--he pays suit at court only when +positively required to do so; yet what shall I say, my soldier, +concerning the cause of an influence gained without apparent effort, +and extending almost into the very thoughts of men, who appear to act +as he would desire, without his soliciting them to that purpose? Men +say strange things concerning the extent of his communications with +other beings, whom our fathers worshipped with prayer and sacrifice. I +am determined, however, to know the road by which he climbs so high and +so easily towards the point to which all men aspire at court, and it +will go hard but he shall either share his ladder with me, or I will +strike its support from under him. Thee, Hereward, I have chosen to +assist me in this matter, as the knights among these Frankish infidels +select, when going upon an adventure, a sturdy squire, or inferior +attendant, to share the dangers and the recompense; and this I am moved +to, as much by the shrewdness thou hast this night manifested, as by +the courage which thou mayst boast, in common with, or rather beyond, +thy companions." + +"I am obliged, and I thank your Valour," replied the Varangian, more +coldly perhaps than his officer expected; "I am ready, as is my duty, +to serve you in anything consistent with God and the Emperor's claims +upon my service. I would only say, that, as a sworn inferior soldier, I +will do nothing contrary to the laws of the empire, and, as a sincere +though ignorant Christian, I will have nothing to do with the gods of +the heathens, save to defy them in the name and strength of the holy +saints." + +"Idiot!" said Achilles Tatius, "dost thou think that I, already +possessed of one of the first dignities of the empire, could meditate +anything contrary to the interests of Alexius Comnenus? or, what would +be scarce more atrocious, that I, the chosen friend and ally of the +reverend Patriarch Zosimus, should meddle with anything bearing a +relation, however remote, to heresy or idolatry?" + +"Truly," answered the Varangian, "no one would be more surprised or +grieved than I should; but when we walk in a labyrinth, we must assume +and announce that we have a steady and forward purpose, which is one +mode at least of keeping a straight path. The people of this country +have so many ways of saying the same thing, that one can hardly know at +last what is their real meaning. We English, on the other hand, can +only express ourselves in one set of words, but it is one out of which +all the ingenuity of the world could not extract a double meaning." + +"'Tis well," said his officer, "to-morrow we will talk more of this, +for which purpose thou wilt come to my quarters a little after sunset. +And, hark thee, to-morrow, while the sun is in heaven, shall be thine +own, either to sport thyself or to repose. Employ thy time in the +latter, by my advice, since to-morrow night, like the present, may find +us both watchers." + +So saying, they entered the barracks, where they parted company--the +commander of the life-guards taking his way to a splendid set of +apartments which belonged to him in that capacity, and the Anglo-Saxon +seeking his humble accommodations as a subaltern officer of the same +corps. + + + + +CHAPTER THE SEVENTH. + + Such forces met not, nor so vast a camp, + When Agrican, with all his northern powers, + Besieged Albraeca, as romances tell. + The city of Gallaphron, from thence to win + The fairest of her sex, Angelica, + His daughter, sought by many prowess'd knights, + Both Paynim, and the Peers of Charlemagne. + PARADISE REGAINED. + + +Early on the morning of the day following that which we have +commemorated, the Imperial Council was assembled, where the number of +general officers with sounding titles, disguised under a thin veil the +real weakness of the Grecian empire. The commanders were numerous and +the distinctions of their rank minute, but the soldiers were very few +in comparison. The offices formerly filled by prefects, praetors, and +questors, were now held by persons who had gradually risen into the +authority of those officers, and who, though designated from their +domestic duties about the Emperor, yet, from that very circumstance, +possessed what, in that despotic court, was the most effectual source +of power. A long train of officers entered the great hall of the Castle +of Blacquernal, and proceeded so far together as their different grades +admitted, while in each chamber through which they passed in succession, +a certain number of the train whose rank permitted them to advance no +farther, remained behind the others. Thus, when the interior cabinet +of audience was gained, which was not until their passage through ten +anterooms, five persons only found themselves in the presence of the +Emperor in this innermost and most sacred recess of royalty, decorated +by all the splendour of the period. + +The Emperor Alexius sat upon a stately throne, rich with barbaric gems +and gold, and flanked on either hand, in imitation probably of +Solomon's magnificence, with the form of a couchant lion in the same +precious metal. Not to dwell upon other marks of splendour, a tree +whose trunk seemed also of gold, shot up behind the throne, which it +over-canopied with its branches. Amid the boughs were birds of various +kinds curiously wrought and enamelled, and fruit composed of precious +stones seemed to glisten among the leaves. Five officers alone, the +highest in the state, had the privilege of entering this sacred recess +when the Emperor held council. These were--the Grand Domestic, who +might be termed of rank with a modern prime minister--the Logothete, or +chancellor--the Protospathaire, or commander of the guards, already +mentioned--the Acolyte, or Follower, and leader of the Varangians--and +the Patriarch. + +The doors of this secret apartment, and the adjacent antechamber, were +guarded by six deformed Nubian slaves, whose writhen and withered +countenances formed a hideous contrast with their snow-white dresses +and splendid equipment. They were mutes, a species of wretches borrowed +from the despotism of the East, that they might be unable to proclaim +the deeds of tyranny of which they were the unscrupulous agents. They +were generally held in a kind of horror, rather than compassion, for +men considered that slaves of this sort had a malignant pleasure in +avenging upon others the irreparable wrongs which had severed +themselves from humanity. It was a general custom, though, like many +other usages of the Greeks, it would be held childish in modern times, +that by means of machinery easily conceived, the lions, at the entrance +of a stranger, were made, as it were, to rouse themselves and roar, +after which a wind seemed to rustle the foliage of the tree, the birds +hopped from branch to branch, pecked the fruit, and appeared to fill +the chamber with their carolling. This display had alarmed many an +ignorant foreign ambassador, and even the Grecian counsellors +themselves were expected to display the same sensations of fear, +succeeded by surprise, when they heard the roar of the lions, followed +by the concert of the birds, although perhaps it was for the fiftieth +time. On this occasion, as a proof of the urgency of the present +meeting of the council, these ceremonies were entirely omitted. + +The speech of the Emperor himself seemed to supply by its commencement +the bellowing of the lions, while it ended in a strain more resembling +the warbling of the birds. + +In his first sentences, he treated of the audacity and unheard-of +boldness of the millions of Franks, who, under the pretence of wresting +Palestine from the infidels, had ventured to invade the sacred +territories of the empire. He threatened them with such chastisement as +his innumerable forces and officers would, he affirmed, find it easy to +inflict. To all this the audience, and especially the military officers, +gave symptoms of ready assent. Alexius, however, did not long persist +in the warlike intentions which he at first avowed. The Franks, he at +length seemed to reflect, were, in profession, Christians. They might +possibly be serious in their pretext of the crusade, in which case +their motives claimed a degree of indulgence, and, although erring, a +certain portion of respect. Their numbers also were great, and their +valour could not be despised by those who had seen them fight at +Durazzo, [Footnote: For the battle of Durazzo, Oct. 1081, in which +Alexius was defeated with great slaughter by Robert Guiscard, and +escaped only by the swiftness of his horse, see Gibbon, ch. 56.] and +elsewhere. They might also, by the permission of Supreme Providence, be, +in the long run, the instruments of advantage to the most sacred empire, +though they approached it with so little ceremony. He had, therefore, +mingling the virtues of prudence, humanity, and generosity, with that +valour which must always burn in the heart of an Emperor, formed a plan, +which he was about to submit to their consideration, for present +execution; and, in the first place, he requested of the Grand Domestic, +to let him know what forces he might count upon on the western side of +the Bosphorus. + +"Innumerable are the forces of the empire as the stars in heaven, or +the sand on the sea-shore," answered the Grand Domestic. + +"That is a goodly answer," said the Emperor, "provided there were +strangers present at this conference; but since we hold consultation in +private, it is necessary that I know precisely to what number that army +amounts which I have to rely upon. Reserve your eloquence till some +fitter time, and let me know what you, at this present moment, mean by +the word _innumerable?_" + +The Grand Domestic paused, and hesitated for a short space; but as he +became aware that the moment was one in which the Emperor could not be +trifled with, (for Alexius Comnenus was at times dangerous,) he +answered thus, but not without hesitation. "Imperial master and lord, +none better knows that such an answer cannot be hastily made, if it is +at the same time to be correct in its results. The number of the +imperial host betwixt this city and the western frontier of the empire, +deducting those absent on furlough, cannot be counted upon as amounting +to more than twenty-five thousand men, or thirty thousand at most." + +Alexius struck his forehead with his hand; and the counsellors, seeing +him give way to such violent expressions of grief and surprise, began +to enter into discussions, which they would otherwise have reserved for +a fitter place and time. + +"By the trust your Highness reposes in me," said the Logothete, "there +has been drawn from your Highness's coffers during the last year, gold +enough to pay double the number of the armed warriors whom the Grand +Domestic now mentions." + +"Your Imperial Highness," retorted the impeached minister, with no +small animation, "will at once remember the stationary garrisons, in +addition to the movable troops, for which this figure-caster makes no +allowance." + +"Peace, both of you!" said Alexius, composing himself hastily; "our +actual numbers are in truth less than we counted on, but let us not by +wrangling augment the difficulties of the time. Let those troops be +dispersed in valleys, in passes, behind ridges of hills, and in +difficult ground, where a little art being used in the position, can +make few men supply the appearance of numbers, between this city and +the western frontier of the empire. While this disposal is made, we +will continue to adjust with these crusaders, as they call themselves, +the terms on which we will consent to let them pass through our +dominions; nor are we without hope of negotiating with them, so as to +gain great advantage to our kingdom. We will insist that they pass +through our country only by armies of perhaps fifty thousand at once, +whom we will successively transport into Asia, so that no greater +number shall, by assembling beneath our walls, ever endanger the safety +of the metropolis of the world. + +"On their way towards the banks of the Bosphorus, we will supply them +with provisions, if they march peaceably, and in order; and if any +straggle from their standards, or insult the country by marauding, we +suppose our valiant peasants will not hesitate to repress their +excesses, and that without our giving positive orders, since we would +not willingly be charged with any thing like a breach of engagement. We +suppose, also, that the Scythians, Arabs, Syrians, and other +mercenaries in our service, will not suffer our subjects to be +overpowered in their own just defence; as, besides that there is no +justice in stripping our own country of provisions, in order to feed +strangers, we will not be surprised nor unpardonably displeased to +learn, that of the ostensible quantity of flour, some sacks should be +found filled with chalk, or lime, or some such substance. It is, indeed, +truly wonderful, what the stomach of a Frank will digest comfortably. +Their guides, also, whom you shall choose with reference to such duty, +will take care to conduct the crusaders by difficult and circuitous +routes; which will be doing them a real service, by inuring them to the +hardships of the country and climate, which they would otherwise have +to face without seasoning. + +"In the meantime, in your intercourse with their chiefs, whom they call +counts, each of whom thinks himself as great as an Emperor, you will +take care to give no offence to their natural presumption, and omit no +opportunity of informing them of the wealth and bounty of our +government. Sums of money may be even given to persons of note, and +largesses of less avail to those under them. You, our Logothete, will +take good order for this, and you, our Grand Domestic, will take care +that such soldiers as may cut off detached parties of the Franks shall +be presented, if possible, in savage dress, and under the show of +infidels. In commending these injunctions to your care, I purpose that, +the crusaders having found the value of our friendship, and also in +some sort the danger of our enmity, those whom we shall safely +transport to Asia, shall be, however unwieldy, still a smaller and more +compact body, whom we may deal with in all Christian prudence. Thus, by +using fair words to one, threats to another, gold to the avaricious, +power to the ambitious, and reasons to those that are capable of +listening to them, we doubt not but to prevail upon those Franks, met +as they are from a thousand points, and enemies of each other, to +acknowledge us as their common superior, rather than choose a leader +among themselves, when they are made aware of the great fact, that +every village in Palestine, from Dan to Beersheba, is the original +property of the sacred Roman empire, and that whatever Christian goes +to war for their recovery, must go as our subject, and hold any +conquest which he may make, as our vassal. Vice and virtue, sense and +folly, ambition and disinterested devotion, will alike recommend to the +survivors of these singular-minded men, to become the feudatories of +the empire, not its foe, and the shield, not the enemy, of your +paternal Emperor." + +There was a general inclination of the head among the courtiers, with +the Eastern acclamation of,--"Long live the Emperor!" + +When the murmur of this applausive exclamation had subsided, Alexius +proceeded:--"Once more, I say, that my faithful Grand Domestic, and +those who act under him, will take care to commit the execution of such +part of these orders as may seem aggressive, to troops of foreign +appearance and language, which, I grieve to say, are more numerous in +our imperial army than our natural-born and orthodox subjects." + +The Patriarch here interposed his opinion.--"There is a consolation," +he said,"in the thought, that the genuine Romans in the imperial army +are but few, since a trade so bloody as war, is most fitly prosecuted +by those whose doctrines, as well as their doings, on earth, merit +eternal condemnation in the next world." + +"Reverend Patriarch," said the Emperor, "we would not willingly hold +with the wild infidels, that Paradise is to be gained by the sabre; +nevertheless, we would hope that a Roman dying in battle for his +religion and his Emperor, may find as good hope of acceptation, after +the mortal pang is over, as a man who dies in peace, and with unblooded +hand." + +"It is enough for me to say," resumed the Patriarch, "that the Church's +doctrine is not so indulgent: she is herself peaceful, and her promises +of favour are for those who have been men of peace. Yet think not I bar +the gates of Heaven against a soldier, as such, if believing all the +doctrines of our Church, and complying with all our observances; far +less would I condemn your Imperial Majesty's wise precautions, both for +diminishing the power and thinning the ranks of those Latin heretics, +who come hither to despoil us, and plunder perhaps both church and +temple, under the vain pretext that Heaven would permit them, stained +with so many heresies, to reconquer that Holy Land, which true orthodox +Christians, your Majesty's sacred predecessors, have not been enabled +to retain from the infidel. And well I trust that no settlement made +under the Latins will be permitted by your Majesty to establish itself, +in which the Cross shall not be elevated with limbs of the same length, +instead of that irregular and most damnable error which prolongs, in +western churches, the nether limb of that most holy emblem." + +"Reverend Patriarch," answered the Emperor, "do not deem that we think +lightly of your weighty scruples; but the question is now, not in what +manner we may convert these Latin heretics to the true faith, but how +we may avoid being overrun by their myriads, which resemble those of +the locusts by which their approach was preceded and intimated." + +"Your Majesty," said the Patriarch, "will act with your usual wisdom; +for my part, I have only stated my doubts, that I may save my own soul +alive." + +"Our construction," said the Emperor, "does your sentiments no wrong, +most reverend Patriarch; and you," addressing himself to the other +counsellors, "will attend to these separate charges given out for +directing the execution of the commands which have been generally +intimated to you. They are written out in the sacred ink, and our +sacred subscription is duly marked with the fitting tinge of green and +purple. Let them, therefore, be strictly obeyed. Ourselves will assume +the command of such of the Immortal Bands as remain in the city, and +join to them the cohorts of our faithful Varangians. At the head of +these troops, we will await the arrival of these strangers under the +walls of the city, and, avoiding combat while our policy can postpone +it, we will be ready, in case of the worst, to take whatsoever chance +it shall please the Almighty to send us." + +Here the council broke up, and the different chiefs began to exert +themselves in the execution of their various instructions, civil and +military, secret or public, favourable or hostile to the crusaders. The +peculiar genius of the Grecian people was seen upon this occasion. +Their loud and boastful talking corresponded with the ideas which the +Emperor wished to enforce upon the crusaders concerning the extent of +his power and resources. Nor is it to be disguised, that the wily +selfishness of most of those in the service of Alexius, endeavoured to +find some indirect way of applying the imperial instruction, so as +might best suit their own private ends. + +Meantime, the news had gone abroad in Constantinople of the arrival of +the huge miscellaneous army of the west upon the limits of the Grecian +empire, arid of their purpose to pass to Palestine. A thousand reports +magnified, if that was possible, an event so wonderful. Some said, that +their ultimate view was the conquest of Arabia, the destruction of the +Prophet's tomb, and the conversion of his green banner into a horse- +cloth for the King of France's brother. Others supposed that the ruin +and sack of Constantinople was the real object of the war. A third +class thought it was in order to compel the Patriarch to submit himself +to the Pope, adopt the Latin form of the cross, and put an end to the +schism. + +The Varangians enjoyed an addition to this wonderful news, seasoned as +it everywhere was with something peculiarly suited to the prejudices of +the hearers. It was gathered originally from what our friend Hereward, +who was one of their inferior officers, called sergeants or constables, +had suffered to transpire of what he had heard the preceding evening. +Considering that the fact must be soon matter of notoriety, he had no +hesitation to give his comrades to understand that a Norman army was +coming hither under Duke Robert, the son of the far-famed William the +Conqueror, and with hostile intentions, he concluded, against them in +particular. Like all other men in peculiar circumstances, the +Varangians adopted an explanation applicable to their own condition. +These Normans, who hated the Saxon nation, and had done so much to +dishonour and oppress them, were now following them, they supposed, to +the foreign capital where they had found refuge, with the purpose of +making war on the bountiful prince who protected their sad remnant. +Under this belief, many a deep oath was sworn in Norse and Anglo-Saxon, +that their keen battle-axes should avenge the slaughter of Hastings, +and many a pledge, both in wine and ale, was quaffed who should most +deeply resent, and most effectually revenge, the wrongs which the +Anglo-Saxons of England had received at the hand of their oppressors. + +Hereward, the author of this intelligence, began soon to be sorry that +he had ever suffered it to escape him, so closely was he cross-examined +concerning its precise import, by the enquiries of his comrades, from +whom he thought himself obliged to keep concealed the adventures of the +preceding evening, and the place in which he had gained his information. + +About noon, when he was effectually tired with returning the same +answer to the same questions, and evading similar others which were +repeatedly put to him, the sound of trumpets announced the presence of +the Acolyte, Achilles Tatius, who came immediately, it was +industriously whispered, from the sacred Interior, with news of the +immediate approach of war. + +The Varangians, and the Roman bands called Immortal, it was said, were +to form a camp under the city, in order to be prompt to defend it at +the shortest notice. This put the whole barracks into commotion, each +man making the necessary provision for the approaching campaign. The +noise was chiefly that of joyful bustle and acclamation; and it was so +general, that Hereward, whose rank permitted him to commit to a page or +esquire the task of preparing his equipments, took the opportunity to +leave the barracks, in order to seek some distant place apart from his +comrades, and enjoy his solitary reflections upon the singular +connexion into which he had been drawn, and his direct communication +with the Imperial family. + +Passing through the narrow streets, then deserted, on account of the +heat of the sun, he reached at length one of those broad terraces, +which, descending as it were by steps, upon the margin of the Bosphorus, +formed one of the most splendid walks in the universe, and still, it is +believed, preserved as a public promenade for the pleasure of the Turks, +as formerly for that of the Christians. These graduated terraces were +planted with many trees, among which the cypress, as usual, was most +generally cultivated. Here bands of the inhabitants were to be seen: +some passing to and fro, with business and anxiety in their faces; some +standing still in groups, as if discussing the strange and weighty +tidings of the day, and some, with the indolent carelessness of an +eastern climate, eating their noontide refreshment in the shade, and +spending their time as if their sole object was to make much of the day +as it passed, and let the cares of to-morrow answer for themselves. + +While the Varangian, afraid of meeting some acquaintance in this +concourse, which would have been inconsistent with the desire of +seclusion which had brought him thither, descended or passed from one +terrace to another, all marked him with looks of curiosity and enquiry, +considering him to be one, who, from his arms and connexion with the +court, must necessarily know more than others concerning the singular +invasion by numerous enemies, and from various quarters, which was the +news of the day. + +None, however, had the hardihood to address the soldier of the guard, +though all looked at him with uncommon interest. He walked from the +lighter to the darker alleys, from the more closed to the more open +terraces, without interruption from any one, yet not without a feeling +that he must not consider himself as alone. + +The desire that he felt to be solitary rendered him at last somewhat +watchful, so that he became sensible that he was dogged by a black +slave, a personage not so unfrequent in the streets of Constantinople +as to excite any particular notice. His attention, however, being at +length fixed on this individual, he began to be desirous to escape his +observation; and the change of place which he had at first adopted to +avoid society in general, he had now recourse to, in order to rid +himself of this distant, though apparently watchful attendant. Still, +however, though he by change of place had lost sight of the negro for a +few minutes, it was not long ere he again discovered him at a distance +too far for a companion, but near enough to serve all the purposes of a +spy. Displeased at this, the Varangian turned short in his walk, and +choosing a spot where none was in sight but the object of his +resentment, walked suddenly up to him, and demanded wherefore, and by +whose orders, he presumed to dog his footsteps. The negro answered in a +jargon as bad as that in which he was addressed though of a different +kind, "that he had orders to remark whither he went." + +"Orders from whom?" said the Varangian. + +"From my master and yours," answered the negro, boldly. + +"Thou infidel villain!" exclaimed the angry soldier, "when was it that +we became fellow-servants, and who is it that thou darest to call my +master?" + +"One who is master of the world," said the slave, "since he commands +his own passions." + +"I shall scarce command mine," said the Varangian, "if thou repliest to +my earnest questions with thine affected quirks of philosophy. Once +more, what dost thou want with me? and why hast thou the boldness to +watch me?" + +"I have told thee already," said the slave, "that I do my master's +commands." + +"But I must know who thy master is," said Hereward. + +"He must tell thee that himself," replied the negro; "he trusts not a +poor slave like me with the purpose of the errands on which he sends +me." + +"He has left thee a tongue, however," said the Varangian, "which some +of thy countrymen would. I think, be glad to possess. Do not provoke me +to abridge it by refusing me the information which I have a right to +demand." + +The black meditated, as it seemed from the grin on his face, further +evasions, when Hereward cut them short by raising the staff of his +battle-axe. "Put me not" he said, "to dishonour myself by striking thee +with this weapon, calculated for a use so much more noble." + +"I may not do so, valiant sir," said the negro, laying aside an +impudent, half-gibing tone which he had hitherto made use of, and +betraying personal fear in his manner. "If you beat the poor slave to +death, you cannot learn what his master hath forbid him to tell. A +short walk will save your honour the stain, and yourself the trouble, +of beating what cannot resist, and me the pain of enduring what I can +neither retaliate nor avoid." + +"Lead on then," said the Varangian. "Be assured thou shalt not fool me +by thy fair words, and I will know the person who is impudent enough to +assume the right of watching my motions." + +The black walked on with a species of leer peculiar to his physiognomy, +which might be construed as expressive either of malice or of mere +humour. The Varangian followed him with some suspicion, for it happened +that he had had little intercourse with the unhappy race of Africa, and +had not totally overcome the feeling of surprise with which he had at +first regarded them, when he arrived a stranger from the north. So +often did this man look back upon him during their walk, and with so +penetrating and observing a cast of countenance, that Hereward felt +irresistibly renewed in his mind the English prejudices, which assigned +to the demons the sable colour and distorted cast of visage of his +conductor. The scene into which he was guided, strengthened an +association which was not of itself unlikely to occur to the ignorant +and martial islander. + +The negro led the way from the splendid terraced walks which we have +described, to a path descending to the sea-shore, when a place appeared, +which, far from being trimmed, like other parts of the coast, into +walks of embankments, seemed, on the contrary, abandoned to neglect, +and was covered with the mouldering ruins of antiquity, where these had +not been overgrown by the luxuriant vegetation of the climate. These +fragments of building, occupying a sort of recess of the bay, were +hidden by steep banks on each side, and although in fact they formed +part of the city, yet they were not seen from any part of it, and, +embosomed in the manner we have described, did not in turn command any +view of the churches, palaces, towers, and fortifications, amongst +which they lay. The sight of this solitary, and apparently deserted +spot, encumbered with ruins, and overgrown with cypress and other trees, +situated as it was in the midst of a populous city, had something in it +impressive and awful to the imagination. The ruins were of an ancient +date, and in the style of a foreign people. The gigantic remains of a +portico, the mutilated fragments of statues of great size, but executed +in a taste and attitude so narrow and barbaric as to seem perfectly the +reverse of the Grecian, and the half-defaced hieroglyphics which could +be traced on some part of the decayed sculpture, corroborated the +popular account of their origin, which we shall briefly detail. + +According to tradition, this had been a temple dedicated to the +Egyptian goddess Cybele, built while the Roman Empire was yet heathen, +and while Constantinople was still called by the name of Byzantium. It +is well known that the superstition of the Egyptians--vulgarly gross in +its literal meaning as well as in its mystical interpretation, and +peculiarly the foundation of many wild doctrines,--was disowned by the +principles of general toleration, and the system of polytheism received +by Rome, and was excluded by repeated laws from the respect paid by the +empire to almost every other religion, however extravagant or absurd. +Nevertheless, these Egyptian rites had charms for the curious and the +superstitious, and had, after long opposition, obtained a footing in +the empire. + +Still, although tolerated, the Egyptian priests were rather considered +as sorcerers than as pontiffs, and their whole ritual had a nearer +relation, to magic in popular estimation, than to any regular system of +devotion. + +Stained with these accusations, even among the heathen themselves, the +worship of Egypt was held in more mortal abhorrence by the Christians, +than the other and more rational kinds of heathen devotion; that is, if +any at all had a right to be termed so. The brutal worship of Apis and +Cybele was regarded, not only as a pretext for obscene and profligate +pleasures, but as having a direct tendency to open and encourage a +dangerous commerce with evil spirits, who were supposed to take upon +themselves, at these unhallowed altars, the names and characters of +these foul deities. Not only, therefore, the temple of Cybele, with its +gigantic portico, its huge and inelegant statues, and its fantastic +hieroglyphics, was thrown down and defaced when the empire was +converted to the Christian faith, but the very ground on which it stood +was considered as polluted and unhallowed; and no Emperor having yet +occupied the site with a Christian church, the place still remained +neglected and deserted as we have described it. + +The Varangian Hereward was perfectly acquainted with the evil +reputation of the place; and when the negro seemed disposed to advance +into the interior of the ruins, he hesitated, and addressed his guide +thus:--"Hark thee, my black friend, these huge fantastic images, some +having dogs' heads, some cows' heads, and some no heads at all, are not +held reverently in popular estimation. Your own colour, also, my +comrade, is greatly too like that of Satan himself, to render you an +unsuspicious companion amid ruins, in which the false spirit, it is +said, daily walks his rounds. Midnight and Noon are the times, it is +rumoured, of his appearance. I will go no farther with you, unless you +assign me a fit reason for so doing." + +"In making so childish a proposal" said the negro, "you take from me, +in effect, all desire to guide you to my master. I thought I spoke to a +man of invincible courage, and of that good sense upon which courage +is best founded. But your valour only emboldens you to beat a black +slave, who has neither strength nor title to resist you; and your +courage is not enough to enable you to look without trembling on the +dark side of a wall, even when the sun is in the heavens." + +"Thou art insolent," said Hereward, raising his axe. + +"And thou art foolish," said the negro, "to attempt to prove thy +manhood and thy wisdom by the very mode which gives reason for calling +them both in question. I have already said there can be little valour +in beating a wretch like me; and no man, surely, who wishes to discover +his way, would begin by chasing away his guide." + +"I follow thee" said Hereward, stung with the insinuation of cowardice; +"but if thou leadest me into a snare, thy free talk shall not save thy +bones, if a thousand of thy complexion, from earth or hell, were +standing ready to back thee." + +"Thou objectest sorely to my complexion," said the negro; "how knowest +thou that it is, in fact, a thing to be counted and acted upon as +matter of reality? Thine own eyes daily apprize thee, that the colour +of the sky nightly changes from bright to black, yet thou knowest that +this is by no means owing to any habitual colour of the heavens +themselves. The same change that takes place in the hue of the heavens, +has existence in the tinge of the deep sea--How canst thou tell, but +what the difference of my colour from thine own may be owing to some +deceptions change of a similar nature--not real in itself, but only +creating an apparent reality?" + +"Thou mayst have painted thyself, no doubt," answered the Varangian, +upon reflection, "and thy blackness, therefore, may be only apparent; +but I think thy old friend himself could hardly have presented these +grinning lips, with the white teeth and flattened nose, so much to the +life, unless that peculiarity of Nubian physiognomy, as they call it, +had accurately and really an existence; and to save thee some trouble, +my dark friend, I will tell thee, that though thou speakest to an +uneducated Varangian, I am not entirely unskilled in the Grecian art of +making subtle words pass upon the hearers instead of reason." + +"Ay?" said the negro, doubtfully, and somewhat surprised; "and may the +slave Diogenes--for so my master has christened me--enquire into the +means by which you reached knowledge so unusual?" + +"It is soon told," replied Hereward. "My countryman, Witikind, being a +constable of our bands, retired from active service, and spent the end +of a long life in this city of Constantinople. Being past all toils of +battle, either those of reality, as you word it, or the pomp and +fatigue of the exercising ground, the poor old man, in despair of +something to pass his time, attended the lectures of the philosophers." + +"And what did he learn there?" said the negro; "for a barbarian, grown +grey under the helmet, was not, as I think, a very hopeful student in +our schools." + +"As much though, I should think, as a menial slave, which I understand +to be thy condition," replied the soldier. "But I have understood from +him, that the masters of this idle science make it their business to +substitute, in their argumentations, mere words instead of ideas; and +as they never agree upon the precise meaning of the former, their +disputes can never arrive at a fair or settled conclusion, since they +do not agree in the language in which they express them. Their theories, +as they call them, are built on the sand, and the wind and tide shall +prevail against them." + +"Say so to my master," answered the black, in a serious tone. + +"I will," said the Varangian; "and he shall know me as an ignorant +soldier, having but few ideas, and those only concerning my religion +and my military duty. But out of these opinions I will neither be +beaten by a battery of sophisms, nor cheated by the arts or the terrors +of the friends of heathenism, either in this world or the next." + +"You may speak your mind to him then yourself," said Diogenes. He +stepped aside as if to make way for the Varangian, to whom he motioned +to go forward. + +Hereward advanced accordingly, by a half-worn and almost imperceptible +path leading through the long rough grass, and, turning round a half- +demolished shrine, which exhibited the remains of Apis, the bovine +deity, he came immediately in front of the philosopher, Agelastes, who, +sitting among the ruins, reposed his limbs on the grass. + + + + +CHAPTER THE EIGHTH. + + Through the vain webs which puzzle sophists' skill, + Plain sense and honest meaning work their way; + So sink the varying clouds upon the hill, + When the clear dawning--brightens into day. + DR. WATTS. + + +The old man rose from the ground with alacrity, as Hereward approached. +"My bold Varangian" he said, "thou who valuest men and things not +according to the false estimate ascribed to them in this world, but to +their real importance and actual value, thou art welcome, whatever has +brought thee hither--thou art welcome to a place, where it is held the +best business of philosophy to strip man of his borrowed ornaments, and +reduce him to the just value of his own attributes of body and mind, +singly considered." + +"You are a courtier, sir," said the Saxon, "and as a permitted +companion of the Emperor's Highness, you must be aware, that there are +twenty times more ceremonies than such a man as I can be acquainted +with, for regulating the different ranks in society; while a plain man +like myself may be well excused from pushing himself into the company +of those above him, where he does not exactly know how he should +comport himself." + +"True," said the philosopher; "but a man like yourself, noble Hereward, +merits more consideration in the eyes of a real philosopher, than a +thousand of those mere insects, whom the smiles of a court call into +life, and whom its frowns reduce to annihilation." + +"You are yourself, grave sir, a follower of the court," said Hereward. + +"And a most punctilious one," said Agelastes. "There is not, I trust, a +subject in the empire who knows better the ten thousand punctilios +exigible from those of different ranks, and clue to different +authorities. The man is yet to be born who has seen me take advantage +of any more commodious posture than that of standing in presence of the +royal family. But though I use those false scales in society, and so +far conform to its errors, my real judgment is of a more grave +character, and more worthy of man, as said to be formed in the image of +his Creator." + +"There can be small occasion," said the Varangian, "to exercise your +judgment in any respect upon me, nor am I desirous that any one should +think of me otherwise than I am; a poor exile, namely, who endeavours +to fix his faith upon Heaven, and to perform his duty to the world he +lives in, and to the prince in whose service he is engaged. And now, +grave sir, permit me to ask, whether this meeting is by your desire, +and for what is its purpose? An African slave, whom I met in the public +walks, and who calls himself Diogenes, tells me that you desired to +speak with me; he hath somewhat the humour of the old scoffer, and so +he may have lied. If so, I will even forgive him the beating which I +owe his assurance, and make my excuse at the same time for having +broken in upon your retirement, which I am totally unfit to share." + +"Diogenes has not played you false," answered Agelastes; "he has his +humours, as you remarked even now, and with these some qualities also +that put him upon a level with those of fairer complexion and better +features." + +"And for what," said the Varangian, "have you so employed him? Can your +wisdom possibly entertain a wish to converse with me?" + +"I am an observer of nature and of humanity," answered the philosopher; +"is it not natural that I should tire of those beings who are formed +entirely upon artifice, and long to see something more fresh from the +hand of nature?" + +"You see not that in me," said the Varangian; "the rigour of military +discipline, the camp--the centurion--the armour--frame a man's +sentiments and limbs to them, as the sea-crab is framed to its shell. +See one of us, and you see us all." + +"Permit me to doubt that," said Agelastes; "and to suppose that in +Hereward, the son of Waltheoff, I see an extraordinary man, although he +himself may be ignorant, owing to his modesty, of the rarity of his own +good qualities." + +"The son of Waltheoff!" answered the Varangian, somewhat startled.--"Do +you know my father's name?" + +"Be not surprised," answered the philosopher, "at my possessing so +simple a piece of information. It has cost me but little trouble to +attain it, yet I would gladly hope that the labour I have taken in that +matter may convince you of my real desire to call you friend." + +"It was indeed an unusual compliment," said Hereward, "that a man of +your knowledge and station should be at the trouble to enquire, among +the Varangian cohorts, concerning the descent of one of their +constables. I scarcely think that my commander, the Acolyte himself, +would think such knowledge worthy of being collected or preserved." + +"Greater men than he," said Agelastes, "certainly would not-----You +know one in high office, who thinks the names of his most faithful +soldiers of less moment than those of his hunting dogs or his hawks, +and would willingly save himself the trouble of calling them otherwise +than by a whistle." + +"I may not hear this," answered the Varangian. + +"I would not offend you," said the philosopher, "I would not even shake +your good opinion of the person I allude to; yet it surprises me that +such should be entertained by one of your great qualities." + +"A truce with this, grave sir, which is in fact trifling in a person of +your character and appearance," answered the Anglo-Saxon. "I am like +the rocks of my country; the fierce winds cannot shake me, the soft +rains cannot melt me; flattery and loud words are alike lost upon me." + +"And it is even for that inflexibility of mind," replied Agelastes, +"that steady contempt of every thing that approaches thee, save in the +light of a duty, that I demand, almost like a beggar, that personal +acquaintance, which thou refusest like a churl." + +"Pardon me," said Hereward, "if I doubt this. Whatever stories you may +have picked up concerning me, not unexaggerated probably--since the +Greeks do not keep the privilege of boasting so entirely to themselves +but the Varangians have learned a little of it--you can have heard +nothing of me which can authorise your using your present language, +excepting in jest." + +"You mistake, my son," said Agelastes; "believe me not a person to mix +in the idle talk respecting you, with your comrades at the ale-cup. +Such as I am, I can strike on this broken image of Anubis"--(here he +touched a gigantic fragment of a statue by his side)--"and bid the +spirit who long prompted the oracle, descend, and once more reanimate +the trembling mass. We that are initiated enjoy high privileges--we +stamp upon those ruined vaults, and the echo which dwells there answers +to our demand. Do not think, that although I crave thy friendship, I +Heed therefore supplicate thee for information either respecting +thyself or others." + +"Your words are wonderful," said the Anglo-Saxon; "but by such +promising words I have heard that many souls have been seduced from the +path of heaven. My grandsire, Kenelm, was wont to say, that the fair +words of the heathen philosophy were more hurtful to the Christian +faith than the menaces of the heathen tyrants." + +"I know him," said Agelastes. "What avails it whether it was in the +body or in the spirit?--He was converted from the faith of Woden by a +noble monk, and died a priest at the shrine of saint Augustin." +[Footnote: At Canterbury.] + +"True"--said Hereward; "all this is certain--and I am the rather bound +to remember his words now that he is dead and gone. When I hardly knew +his meaning, he bid me beware of the doctrine which causeth to err, +which is taught by false prophets, who attest their doctrine by unreal +miracles." + +"This," said Agelastes, "is mere superstition. Thy grandsire was a good +and excellent man, but narrow-minded, like other priests; and, deceived +by their example, he wished but to open a small wicket in the gate of +truth, and admit the world only on that limited scale. Seest thou, +Hereward, thy grandsire and most men of religion would fain narrow our +intellect to the consideration of such parts of the Immaterial world as +are essential to our moral guidance here, and our final salvation +hereafter; but it is not the less true, that man has liberty, provided +he has wisdom and courage, to form intimacies with beings more powerful +than himself, who can defy the bounds of space by which he is +circumscribed, and overcome, by their metaphysical powers, difficulties +which, to the timid and unlearned, may appear wild and impossible." + +"You talk of a folly," answered Hereward, "at which childhood gapes and +manhood smiles." + +"On the contrary," said the sage, "I talk of a longing wish which every +man feels at the bottom of his heart, to hold communication with beings +more powerful than himself, and who are not naturally accessible to our +organs. Believe me, Hereward, so ardent and universal an aspiration had +not existed in our bosoms, had there not also been means, if steadily +and wisely sought, of attaining its accomplishment. I will appeal to +thine own heart, and prove to thee even by a single word, that what I +say is truth. Thy thoughts are even now upon a being long absent or +dead, and with the name of BERTHA, a thousand emotions rush to thy +heart, which in thy ignorance thou hadst esteemed furled up for ever, +like spoils of the dead hung above a tombstone!--Thou startest and +changest thy colour--I joy to see by these signs, that the firmness and +indomitable courage which men ascribe to thee, have left the avenues of +the heart as free as ever to kindly and to generous affections, while +they have barred them against those of fear, uncertainty, and all the +caitiff tribe of meatier sensations. I have proffered to esteem thee, +and I have no hesitation in proving it. I will tell thee, If thou +desirest to know it, the fate of that very Bertha, whose memory thou +hast cherished in thy breast in spite of thee, amidst the toil of the +day and the repose of the night, in the battle and in the truce, when +sporting with thy companions in fields of exercise, or attempting to +prosecute the study of Greek learning, in which if thou wouldst advance, +I can teach it by a short road." + +While Agelastes thus spoke, the Varangian in some degree recovered his +composure, and made answer, though his voice was somewhat tremulous,-- +"Who thou art, I know not--what thou wouldst with me, I cannot tell--by +what means thou hast gathered intelligence of such consequence to me, +and of so little to another, I have no conception--But this I know, +that by intention or accident, thou hast pronounced a name which +agitates my heart to its deepest recesses; yet am I a Christian and +Varangian, and neither to my God nor to my adopted prince will I +willingly stagger in my faith. What is to be wrought by idols or by +false deities, must be a treason to the real divinity. Nor is it less +certain that thou hast let glance some arrows, though the rules of thy +allegiance strictly forbid it, at the Emperor himself. Henceforward, +therefore, I refuse to communicate with thee, be it for weal or woe. I +am the Emperor's waged soldier, and although I affect not the nice +precisions of respect and obedience, which are exacted in so many +various cases, and by so many various rules, yet I am his defence, and +my battle-axe is his body-guard." + +"No one doubts it," said the philosopher. "But art not thou also bound +to a nearer dependence upon' the great Acolyte, Achilles Tatius?" + +"No. He is my general, according to the rules of our service," answered +the Varangian; "to me he has always shown himself a kind and good- +natured man, and, his dues of rank apart, I may say has deported +himself as a friend rather than a commander. He is, however, my +master's servant as well as I am; nor do I hold the difference of great +amount, which the word of a man can give or take away at pleasure." + +"It is nobly spoken," said Agelastes; "and you yourself are surely +entitled to stand erect before one whom you supersede in courage and in +the art of war." + +"Pardon me," returned the Briton, "if I decline the attributed +compliment, as what in no respect belongs to me. The Emperor chooses +his own officers, in respect of their power of serving him as he +desires to be served. In this it is likely I might fail; I have said +already, I owe my Emperor my obedience, my duty, and my service, nor +does it seem to me necessary to carry our explanation farther." + +"Singular man!" said Agelastes; "is there nothing than can move thee +but things that are foreign to thyself? The name of thy Emperor and thy +commander are no spell upon thee, and even that of the object thou has +loved"-- + +Here the Varangian interrupted him. + +"I have thought," he said, "upon the words thou hast spoken--thou hast +found the means to shake my heart-strings, but not to unsettle my +principles. I will hold no converse with thee on a matter in which thou +canst not have interest.--Necromancers, it is said, perform their +spells by means of the epithets of the Holiest; no marvel, then, should +they use the names of the purest of his creation to serve their +unhallowed purposes. I will none of such truckling, disgraceful to the +dead perhaps as to the living. Whatever has been thy purpose, old man-- +for, think not thy strange words have passed unnoticed--be thou assured +I bear that in my heart which defies alike the seduction of men and of +fiends." + +With this the soldier turned, and left the ruined temple, after a +slight inclination of his head to the philosopher. + +Agelastes, after the departure of the soldier, remained alone, +apparently absorbed in meditation, until he was suddenly disturbed by +the entrance, into the ruins, of Achilles Tatius. The leader of the +Varangians spoke not until he had time to form some result from the +philosopher's features. He then said, "Thou remainest, sage Agelastes, +confident in the purpose of which we have lately spoke together?" + +"I do," said Agelastes, with gravity and firmness. + +"But," replied Achilles Tatius, "thou hast not gained to our side that +proselyte, whose coolness and courage would serve us better in our hour +of need than the service of a thousand cold-hearted slaves?" + +"I have not succeeded," answered the philosopher. + +"And thou dost not blush to own it?" said the imperial officer in reply. + +"Thou, the wisest of those who yet pretend to Grecian wisdom, the most +powerful of those who still assert the skill by words, signs, names, +periapts, and spells, to exceed the sphere to which thy faculties +belong, hast been foiled in thy trade of persuasion, like an infant +worsted in debate with its domestic tutor? Out upon thee, that thou +canst not sustain in argument the character which thou wouldst so fain, +assume to thyself!" + +"Peace!" said the Grecian. "I have as yet gained nothing, it is true, +over this obstinate and inflexible man; but, Achilles Tatius, neither +have I lost. We both stand where yesterday we did, with this advantage +on my side, that I have suggested to him such an object of interest as +he shall never be able to expel from his mind, until he hath had +recourse to me to obtain farther knowledge concerning it.--And now let +this singular person remain for a time unmentioned; yet, trust me, +though flattery, avarice, and ambition may fail to gain him, a bait +nevertheless remains, that shall make him as completely our own as any +that is bound within our mystic and inviolable contract. Tell me then, +how go on the affairs of the empire? Does this tide of Xiatin warriors, +so strangely set aflowing, still rush on to the banks of the Bosphorus? +and does Alexius still entertain hopes to diminish and divide the +strength of numbers, which he could in vain hope to defy?" + +"Something further of intelligence has been gained, even within a very +few hours," answered Achilles Tatius. "Bohemond came to the city with +some six or eight light horse, and in a species of disguise. +Considering how often he had been the Emperor's enemy, his project was +a perilous one. But when is it that these Franks draw back on account +of danger? The Emperor perceived at once that the Count was come to see +what he might obtain, by presenting himself as the very first object of +his liberality, and by offering his assistance as mediator with Godfrey +of Bouillon and the other princes of the crusade." + +"It is a species of policy," answered the sage, "for which he would +receive full credit from the Emperor." + +Achilles Tatius proceeded:--"Count Bohemond was discovered to the +imperial court as if it were by mere accident, and he was welcomed with +marks of favour and splendour which had never been even mentioned as +being fit for any one of the Frankish race. There was no word of +ancient enmity or of former wars, no mention of Bohemond as the ancient +usurper of Antioch, and the encroacher upon the empire. But thanks to +Heaven were returned on all sides, which had sent a faithful ally to +the imperial assistance at a moment of such imminent peril." + +"And what said Bohemond?" enquired the philosopher. + +"Little or nothing," said the captain of the Varangians, "until, as I +learned from the domestic slave Narses, a large sum of gold had been +abandoned to him. Considerable districts were afterwards agreed to be +ceded to him, and other advantages granted, on condition he should +stand on this occasion the steady friend of the empire and its master. +Such was the Emperor's munificence towards the greedy barbarian, that a +chamber in the palace was, by chance, as it were, left exposed to his +view, containing large quantities of manufactured silks, of jewellers' +work, of gold and silver, and other articles of great value. When the +rapacious Frank could not forbear some expressions of admiration, he +was assured, that the contents of the treasure-chamber were his own, +provided he valued them as showing forth the warmth and sincerity of +his imperial ally towards his friends; and these precious articles were +accordingly conveyed to the tent of the Norman leader. By such measures, +the Emperor must make himself master of Bohemond, both body and soul, +for the Franks themselves say it is strange to see a man of undaunted +bravery, and towering ambition, so infected, nevertheless, with avarice, +which they term a mean and unnatural vice." + +"Bohemond," said Agelastes, "is then the Emperor's for life and death-- +always, that is, till the recollection of the royal munificence be +effaced by a greater gratuity. Alexius, proud as he naturally is of his +management with this important chieftain, will no doubt expect to +prevail by his counsels, on most of the other crusaders, and even on +Godfrey of Bouillon himself, to take an oath of submission and fidelity +to the Emperor, which, were it not for the sacred nature of their +warfare, the meanest gentleman among them would not submit to, were it +to be lord of a province. There, then, we rest. A few days must +determine what we have to do. An earlier discovery would be +destruction." + +"We meet not then to-night?" said the Acolyte. + +"No," replied the sage; "unless we are summoned to that foolish stage- +play or recitation; and then we meet as playthings in the hand of a +silly woman, the spoiled child of a weak-minded parent." + +Tatius then took his leave of the philosopher, and, as if fearful of +being seen in each other's company, they left their solitary place of +meeting by different routes. The Varangian, Hereward, received, shortly +after, a summons from his superior, who acquainted him, that he should +not, as formerly intimated, require his attendance that evening. + +Achilles then paused, and added,--"Thou hast something on thy lips thou +wouldst say to me, which, nevertheless hesitates to break forth." + +"It is only this," answered the soldier: "I have had an interview with +the man called Agelastes, and he seems something so different from what +he appeared when we last spoke of him, that I cannot forbear mentioning +to you what I have seen. He is not an insignificant trifler, whose +object it is to raise a laugh at his own expense, or that of any other. +He is a deep-thinking and far-reaching man, who, for some reason or +other, is desirous of forming friends, and drawing a party to himself. +Your own wisdom will teach you to beware of him." + +"Thou art an honest fellow, my poor Hereward," said Achilles Tatius, +with an affectation of good-natured contempt. "Such men as Agelastes do +often frame their severest jests in the shape of formal gravity--they +will pretend to possess the most unbounded power over elements and +elemental spirits--they will make themselves masters of the names and +anecdotes best known to those whom they make their sport; and any one +who shall listen to them, shall, in the words of the Divine Homer, only +expose himself to a flood of inextinguishable laughter. I have often +known him select one of the rawest and most ignorant persons in +presence, and to him for the amusement of the rest, he has pretended to +cause the absent to appear, the distant to draw near, and the dead +themselves to burst the cerements of the grave. Take care, Hereward, +that his arts make not a stain on the credit of one of my bravest +Varangians." + +"There is no danger," answered Hereward. "I shall not be fond of being +often with this man. If he jests upon one subject which he hath +mentioned to me, I shall be but too likely to teach him seriousness +after a rough manner. And if he is serious in his pretensions in such +mystical matters, we should, according to the faith of my grandfather, +Kenelm, do insult to the deceased, whose name is taken in the mouth of +a soothsayer, or impious enchanter. I will not, therefore, again go +near this Agelastes, be he wizard, or be he impostor." + +"You apprehend me not," said the Acolyte, hastily; "you mistake my +meaning. He is a man from whom, if he pleases to converse with such as +you, you may derive much knowledge; keeping out of the reach of those +pretended secret arts, which he will only use to turn thee into +ridicule." With these words, which he himself would perhaps have felt +it difficult to reconcile, the leader and his follower parted. + + + + +CHAPTER THE NINTH. + + Between the foaming jaws of the white torrent, + The skilful artist draws a sudden mound; + By level long he subdivides their strength, + Stealing the waters from their rocky bed, + First to diminish what he means to conquer; + Then, for the residue he forms a road, + Easy to keep, and painful to desert, + And guiding to the end the planner aim'd at. + THE ENGINEER + + +It would have been easy for Alexius, by a course of avowed suspicion, +or any false step in the manner of receiving this tumultuary invasion +of the European nations, to have blown into a flame the numerous but +smothered grievances under which they laboured; and a similar +catastrophe would not have been less certain, had he at once abandoned +all thoughts of resistance, and placed his hope of safety in +surrendering to the multitudes of the west whatsoever they accounted +worth taking. The Emperor chose a middle course; and, unquestionably, +in the weakness of the Greek empire, it was the only one which would +have given him at once safety, and a great degree of consequence in the +eyes of the Frank invaders and those of his own subjects. The means +with, which he acted were of various kinds, and, rather from policy +than inclination, were often stained with falsehood or meanness; +therefore it follows that the measures of the Emperor resembled those +of the snake, who twines himself through the grass, with the purpose of +stinging insidiously those whom he fears to approach with the step of +the bold and generous lion. We are not, however, writing the History of +the Crusades, and what we have already said of the Emperor's +precautions on the first appearance of Godfrey of Bouillon, and his +associates, may suffice for the elucidation of our story. + +About four weeks had now passed over, marked by quarrels and +reconcilements between the crusaders and the Grecians of the empire. +The former were, as Alexius's policy dictated, occasionally and +individually, received with extreme honour, and their leaders loaded +with respect and favour; while, from time to time, such bodies of them +as sought distant or circuitous routes to the capital, were intercepted +and cut to pieces by light-armed troops, who easily passed upon their +ignorant opponents for Turks, Scythians, or other infidels, and +sometimes were actually such, but in the service of the Grecian monarch. +Often, too, it happened, that while the more powerful chiefs of the +crusade were feasted by the Emperor and his ministers with the richest +delicacies, and their thirst slaked with iced wines, their followers +were left at a distance, where, intentionally supplied with adulterated +flour, tainted provisions, and bad water, they contracted diseases, and +died in great numbers, without having once seen a foot of the Holy Land, +for the recovery of which they had abandoned their peace, their +competence, and their native country. These aggressions did not pass +without complaint. Many of the crusading chiefs impugned the fidelity +of their allies, exposed the losses sustained by their armies as evils +voluntarily inflicted on them by the Greeks, and on more than one +occasion, the two nations stood opposed to each other on such terms +that a general war seemed to be inevitable. + +Alexius, however, though obliged to have recourse to every finesse, +still kept his ground, and made peace with the most powerful chiefs, +under one pretence or other. The actual losses of the crusaders by the +sword he imputed to their own aggressions--their misguidance, to +accident and to wilfulness--the effects produced on them by the +adulterated provisions, to the vehemence of their own appetite for raw +fruits and unripened wines. In short, there was no disaster of any kind +whatsoever which could possibly befall the unhappy pilgrims, but the +Emperor stood prepared to prove that it was the natural consequence of +their own violence, wilfulness of conduct, or hostile precipitancy. + +The chiefs, who were not ignorant of their strength, would not, it was +likely, have tamely suffered injuries from a power so inferior to their +own, were it not that they had formed extravagant ideas of the wealth +of the Eastern empire, which Alexius seemed willing to share with them +with an excess of bounty as new to the leaders as the rich productions +of the East were tempting to their followers. + +The French nobles would perhaps have been the most difficult to be +brought into order when differences arose; but an accident, which the +Emperor might have termed providential, reduced the high-spirited Count +of Vermandois to the situation, of a suppliant, when he expected to +hold that of a dictator. A fierce tempest surprised his fleet after he +set sail from Italy, and he was finally driven on the coast of Greece. +Many ships were destroyed, and those troops who got ashore were so much +distressed, that they were obliged to surrender themselves to the +lieutenants of Alexius. So that the Count of Vermandois, so haughty in +his bearing when he first embarked, was sent to the court of +Constantinople, not as a prince, but as a prisoner. In this case, the +Emperor instantly set the soldiers at liberty, and loaded them with +presents. [Footnote: See Mills' History of the Crusades, vol. i, p. 96] + +Grateful, therefore, for attentions in which Alexius was unremitting, +Count Hugh was by gratitude as well as interest, inclined to join the +opinion of those who, for other reasons, desired the subsistence of +peace betwixt the crusaders and the empire of Greece. A better +principle determined the celebrated Godfrey, Raymond of Thoulouse, and +some others, in whom devotion was something more than a mere burst of +fanaticism. These princes considered with what scandal their whole +journey must be stained, if the first of their exploits should be a war +upon the Grecian empire, which might justly be called the barrier of +Christendom. If it was weak, and at the same time rich--if at the same +time it invited rapine, and was unable to protect itself against it--it +was the more their interest and duty, as Christian soldiers, to protect +a Christian state, whose existence was of so much consequence to the +common cause, even when it could not defend itself. It was the wish of +these frank-hearted men to receive the Emperor's professions of +friendship with such sincere returns of amity--to return his kindness +with so much usury, as to convince him that their purpose towards him +was in every respect fair and honourable, and that it would be his +interest to abstain from every injurious treatment which might induce +or compel them to alter their measures towards him. + +It was with this accommodating spirit towards Alexius, which, for many +different and complicated reasons, had now animated most of the +crusaders, that the chiefs consented to a measure which, in other +circumstances, they would probably have refused, as undue to the Greeks, +and dishonourable to themselves. This was the famous resolution, that, +before crossing the Bosphorus to go in quest of that Palestine which +they had vowed to regain, each chief of crusaders would acknowledge +individually the Grecian Emperor, originally lord paramount of all +these regions, as their liege lord and suzerain. + +The Emperor Alexius, with trembling joy, beheld the crusaders approach +a conclusion to which he had hoped to bribe them rather by interested +means than by reasoning, although much might be said why provinces +reconquered from the Turks or Saracens should, if recovered from the +infidel, become again a part of the Grecian empire, from which they had +been rent without any pretence, save that of violence. + +Though fearful, and almost despairing of being able to manage the rude +and discordant army of haughty chiefs, who were wholly independent of +each other, Alexius failed not, with eagerness and dexterity, to seize +upon the admission of Godfrey and his compeers, that the Emperor was +entitled to the allegiance of all who should war on Palestine, and +natural lord paramount of all the conquests which should be made in the +course of the expedition. He was resolved to make this ceremony so +public, and to interest men's minds in it by such a display of the +imperial pomp and munificence, that it should not either pass unknown, +or be readily forgotten. + +An extensive terrace, one of the numerous spaces which extend along the +coast of the Propontis, was chosen for the site of the magnificent +ceremony. Here was placed an elevated and august throne, calculated for +the use of the Emperor alone. On this occasion, by suffering no other +seats within view of the pageant, the Greeks endeavoured to secure a +point of ceremony peculiarly dear to their vanity, namely, that none of +that presence, save the Emperor himself, should be seated. Around the +throne of Alexius Comnenus were placed in order, but standing, the +various dignitaries of his splendid court, in their different ranks, +from the Protosebastos and the Caesar, to the Patriarch, splendid in +his ecclesiastical robes, and to Agelastes, who, in his simple habit, +gave also the necessary attendance. Behind and around the splendid +display of the Emperor's court, were drawn many dark circles of the +exiled Anglo-Saxons. These, by their own desire, were not, on that +memorable day, accoutred in the silver corslets which were the fashion +of an idle court, but sheathed in mail and plate. They desired, they +said, to be known as warriors to warriors. This was the more readily +granted, as there was no knowing what trifle might infringe a truce +between parties so inflammable as were now assembled. + +Beyond the Varangians, in much greater numbers, were drawn up the bands +of Grecians, or Romans, then known by the title of Immortals, which had +been borrowed by the Romans originally from the empire of Persia. The +stately forms, lofty crests, and splendid apparel of these guards, +would have given the foreign princes present a higher idea of their +military prowess, had there not occurred in their ranks a frequent +indication of loquacity and of motion, forming a strong contrast to the +steady composure and death-like silence with which the well-trained +Varangians stood in the parade, like statues made of iron. + +The reader must then conceive this throne in all the pomp of Oriental +greatness, surrounded by the foreign and Roman troops of the empire, +and closed on the rear by clouds of light-horse, who shifted their +places repeatedly, so as to convey an idea of their multitude, without +affording the exact means of estimating it. Through the dust which they +raised by these evolutions, might be seen banners and standards, among +which could be discovered by glances, the celebrated LABARUM, +[Footnote: Ducange fills half a column of his huge page with the mere +names of the authors who have written at length on the _Labarum_, +or principal standard of the empire for the time of Constantine. It +consisted of a spear of silver, or plated with that metal, having +suspended from, a cross beam below the spoke a small square silken +banner, adorned with portraits of the reigning family, and over these +the famous Monogram which expresses at once the figure of the cross and +the initial letters of the name of Christ. The bearer of the +_Labarum_ was an officer of high rank down to the last days of the +Byzantine government.--See Gibbon, chap. 20. + +Ducange seems to have proved, from the evidence of coins and triumphial +monuments, that a standard of the form of the _Labarum_ was used +by various barbarous nations long before it was adopted by their Roman +conquerors, and he is of opinion that its name also was borrowed from +either Teutonic Germany, or Celtic Gaul, or Sclavonic Illyria. It is +certain that either the German language or the Welsh may afford at this +day a perfectly satisfactory etymon: _Lap-heer_ in the former and +_Lab-hair_ in the latter, having precisely the same meaning-- +_the cloth of the host_. + +The form of the _Labarum_ may still be recognised in the banners +carried in ecclesiastical processions in all Roman Catholic countries.] +the pledge of conquest to the imperial banners, but whose sacred +efficacy had somewhat failed of late days. The rude soldiers of the +West, who viewed the Grecian army, maintained that the standards which +were exhibited in front of their line, were at least sufficient for the +array of ten times the number of soldiers. + +Far on the right, the appearance of a very large body of European +cavalry drawn up on the sea-shore, intimated the presence of the +crusaders. So great was the desire to follow the example of the chief +Princes, Dukes, and Counts, in making the proposed fealty, that the +number of independent knights and nobles who were to perform this +service, seemed very great when collected together for that purpose; +for every crusader who possessed a tower, and led six lances, would +have thought himself abridged of his dignity if he had not been called +to acknowledge the Grecian Emperor, and hold the lands he should +conquer of his throne, as well as Godfrey of Bouillon, or Hugh the +Great, Count of Vermandois. And yet, with strange inconsistency, though +they pressed to fulfil the homage, as that which was paid by greater +persons than themselves, they seemed, at the very same time, desirous +to find some mode of intimating that the homage which they rendered +they felt as an idle degradation, and in fact held the whole show as a +mere piece of mockery. + +The order of the procession had been thus settled:--The Crusaders, or, +as the Grecians called them, the _Counts_,--that being the most +common title among them,--were to advance from the left of their body, +and passing the Emperor one by one, were apprized, that, in passing, +each was to render to him, in as few words as possible, the homage +which had been previously agreed on. Godfrey of Bouillon, his brother +Baldwin, Bohemond of Antioch, and several other crusaders of eminence, +were the first to perform the ceremony, alighting when their own part +was performed, and remaining in attendance by the Emperor's chair, to +prevent, by the awe of their presence, any of their numerous associates +from being guilty of petulance or presumption during the solemnity. +Other crusaders of less degree retained their station near the Emperor, +when they had once gained it, out of mere curiosity, or to show that +they were as much at liberty to do so as the greater commanders who +assumed that privilege. + +Thus two great bodies of troops, Grecian and European, paused at some +distance from each other on the banks of the Bosphorus canal, differing +in language, arms, and appearance. The small troops of horse which from +time to time issued forth from these bodies, resembled the flashes of +lightning passing from one thunder-cloud to another, which communicate +to each other by such emissaries their overcharged contents. After some +halt on the margin of the Bosphorus, the Franks who had performed +homage, straggled irregularly forward to a quay on the shore, where +innumerable galleys and smaller vessels, provided for the purpose, lay +with sails and oars prepared to waft the warlike pilgrims across the +passage, and place them on that Asia which they longed so passionately +to visit, and from which but few of them were likely to return. The gay +appearance of the vessels which were to receive them, the readiness +with which they were supplied with refreshments, the narrowness of the +strait they had to cross, the near approach of that active service +which they had vowed and longed to discharge, put the warriors into gay +spirits, and songs and music bore chorus to the departing oars. + +While such was the temper of the crusaders, the Grecian Emperor did his +best through the whole ceremonial to impress on the armed multitude the +highest ideas of his own grandeur, and the importance of the occasion +which had brought them together. This was readily admitted by the +higher chiefs; some because their vanity had been propitiated,--some +because their avarice had been gratified,--some because their ambition +had been inflamed,--and a few, a very few, because to remain friends +with Alexius was the most probable means of advancing the purposes of +their expedition. Accordingly the great lords, from these various +motives, practised a humility which perhaps they were far from feeling, +and carefully abstained from all which might seem like irreverence at +the solemn festival of the Grecians. But there were very many of a +different temper. + +Of the great number of counts, lords, and knights, under whose variety +of banners the crusaders were led to the walls of Constantinople, many +were too insignificant to be bribed to this distasteful measure of +homage; and these, though they felt it dangerous to oppose resistance, +yet mixed their submission with taunts, ridicule, and such +contraventions of decorum, as plainly intimated that they entertained +resentment and scorn at the step they were about to take, and esteemed +it as proclaiming themselves vassals to a prince, heretic in his faith, +limited in the exercise of his boasted power, their enemy when he dared +to show himself such, and the friend of those only among their number, +who were able to compel him to be so; and who, though to them an +obsequious ally, was to the others, when occasion offered, an insidious +and murderous enemy. + +The nobles of Frankish origin and descent were chiefly remarkable for +their presumptuous contempt of every other nation engaged in the +crusade, as well as for their dauntless bravery, and for the scorn with +which they regarded the power and authority of the Greek empire. It was +a common saying among them, that if the skies should fall, the French +crusaders alone were able to hold them up with their lances. The same +bold and arrogant disposition showed itself in occasional quarrels with +their unwilling hosts, in which the Greeks, notwithstanding all their +art, were often worsted; so that Alexius was determined, at all events, +to get rid of these intractable and fiery allies, by ferrying them over +the Bosphorus with all manner of diligence. To do this with safety, he +availed himself of the presence of the Count of Vermandois, Godfrey of +Bouillon, and other chiefs of great influence, to keep in order the +lesser Frankish knights, who were so numerous and unruly. [Footnote: +See Mills, vol. i. chap. 3.] + +Struggling with his feelings of offended pride, tempered by a prudent +degree of apprehension, the Emperor endeavoured to receive with +complacence a homage tendered in mockery. An incident shortly took +place of a character highly descriptive of the nations brought together +in so extraordinary a manner, and with such different feelings and +sentiments. Several bands of French had passed, in a sort of procession, +the throne of the Emperor, and rendered, with some appearance of +gravity, the usual homage. On this occasion they bent their knees to +Alexius, placed their hands within his, and in that posture paid the +ceremonies of feudal fealty. But when it came to the turn of Bohemond +of Antioch, already mentioned, to render this fealty, the Emperor, +desirous to show every species of honour to this wily person, his +former enemy, and now apparently his ally, advanced two or three paces +towards the sea-side, where the boats lay as if in readiness for his +use. + +The distance to which the Emperor moved was very small, and it was +assumed as a piece of deference to Bohemond; but it became the means of +exposing Alexius himself to a cutting affront, which his guards and +subjects felt deeply, as an intentional humiliation. A half score of +horsemen, attendants of the Frankish Count who was next to perform the +homage, with their lord at their head, set off at full gallop from the +right flank of the French squadrons, and arriving before the throne, +which was yet empty, they at once halted. The rider at the head of the +band was a strong herculean figure, with a decided and stern +countenance, though extremely handsome, looking out from thick black +curls. His head was surmounted with a barret cap, while his hands, +limbs, and feet were covered with garments of chamois leather, over +which he in general wore the ponderous and complete armour of his +country. This, however, he had laid aside for personal convenience, +though in doing so he evinced a total neglect of the ceremonial which +marked so important a meeting. He waited not a moment for the Emperor's +return, nor regarded the impropriety of obliging Alexius to hurry his +steps back to his throne, but sprung from his gigantic horse, and threw +the reins loose, which were instantly seized by one of the attendant +pages. Without a moment's hesitation the Frank seated himself in the +vacant throne of the Emperor, and extending his half-armed and robust +figure on the golden cushions which were destined for Alexius, he +indolently began to caress a large wolf-hound which had followed him, +and which, feeling itself as much at ease as its master, reposed its +grim form on the carpets of silk and gold damask, which tapestried the +imperial foot-stool. The very hound stretched itself with a bold, +ferocious insolence, and seemed to regard no one with respect, save the +stern knight whom it called master. + +The Emperor, turning back from the short space which, as a special mark +of favour, he had accompanied Bohemond, beheld with astonishment his +seat occupied by this insolent Frank. The bands of the half-savage +Varangians who were stationed around, would not have hesitated an +instant in avenging the insult, by prostrating the violator of their +master's throne even in this act of his contempt, had they not been +restrained by Achilles Tatius and other officers, who were uncertain +what the Emperor would do, and somewhat timorous of taking a resolution +for themselves. + +Meanwhile, the unceremonious knight spoke aloud, in a speech which, +though provincial, might be understood by all to whom the French +language was known, while even those who understood it not, gathered +its interpretation from his tone and manner. "What churl is this," he +said, "who has remained sitting stationary like a block of wood, or the +fragment of a rock, when so many noble knights, the flower of chivalry +and muster of gallantry, stand uncovered around, among the thrice +conquered Varangians?" + +A deep, clear accent replied, as if from the bottom of the earth, so +like it was to the accents of some being from the other world,--"If the +Normans desire battle of the Varangians, they will meet them in the +lists man to man, without the poor boast of insulting the Emperor of +Greece, who is well known to fight only by the battle-axes of his +guard." + +The astonishment was so great when this answer was heard, as to affect +even the knight, whose insult upon the Emperor had occasioned it; and +amid the efforts of Achilles to retain his soldiers within the bounds +of subordination and silence, a loud murmur seemed to intimate that +they would not long remain so. Bohemond returned through the press with +a celerity which did not so well suit the dignity of Alexius, and +catching the crusader by the arm, he, something between fair means and +a gentle degree of force, obliged him to leave the chair of the Emperor, +in which he had placed himself so boldly. + +"How is it," said Bohemond, "noble Count of Paris? Is there one of this +great assembly who can see with patience, that your name, so widely +renowned for valour, is now to be quoted in an idle brawl with +hirelings, whose utmost boast it is to bear a mercenary battle-axe in +the ranks of the Emperor's guards? For shame--for shame--do not, for +the discredit of Norman chivalry, let it be so!" + +"I know not," said the crusader, rising reluctantly--"I am not nice in +choosing the degree of my adversary, when he bears himself like one who +is willing and forward in battle. I am good-natured, I tell thee, Count +Bohemond; and Turk or Tartar, or wandering Anglo-Saxon, who only +escapes from the chain of the Normans to become the slave of the Greek, +is equally welcome to whet his blade clean against my armour, if he +desires to achieve such an honourable office." + +The Emperor had heard what passed--had heard it with indignation, mixed +with fear; for he imagined the whole scheme of his policy was about to +be overturned at once by a premeditated plan of personal affront, and +probably an assault upon his person. He was about to call to arms, when, +casting his eyes on the right flank of the crusaders, he saw that all +remained quiet after the Frank Baron had transferred himself from +thence. He therefore instantly resolved to let the insult pass, as one +of the rough pleasantries of the Franks, since the advance of more +troops did not give any symptom of an actual onset. + +Resolving on his line of conduct with the quickness of thought, he +glided back to his canopy, and stood beside his throne, of which, +however, he chose not instantly to take possession, lest he should give +the insolent stranger some ground for renewing and persisting in a +competition for it. + +"What bold Vavasour is this," said he to Count Baldwin, "whom, as is +apparent from his dignity, I ought to have received seated upon my +throne, and who thinks proper thus to vindicate his rank?" + +"He is reckoned one of the bravest men in our host," answered Baldwin, +"though the brave are as numerous there as the sands of the sea. He +will himself tell you his name and rank." + +Alexius looked at the Vavasour. He saw nothing in his large, well- +formed features, lighted by a wild touch of enthusiasm which spoke in +his quick eye, that intimated premeditated insult, and was induced to +suppose that what had occurred, so contrary to the form and ceremonial +of the Grecian court, was neither an intentional affront, nor designed +as the means of introducing a quarrel. He therefore spoke with +comparative ease, when he addressed the stranger thus:--"We know not by +what dignified name to salute you: but we are aware, from Count +Baldwin's information, that we are honoured in having in our presence +one of the bravest knights whom a sense of the wrongs done to the Holy +Land has brought thus far on his way to Palestine, to free it from its +bondage." + +"If you mean to ask my name," answered the European knight, "any one of +these pilgrims can readily satisfy you, and more gracefully than I can +myself; since we use to say in our country, that many a fierce quarrel +is prevented from being fought out by an untimely disclosure of names, +when men, who might have fought with the fear of God before their eyes, +must, when their names are manifested, recognise each other as +spiritual allies, by baptism, gossipred, or some such irresistible bond +of friendship; whereas, had they fought first and told their names +afterwards, they could have had some assurance of each other's valour, +and have been able to view their relationship as an honour to both." + +"Still," said the Emperor, "methinks I would know if you, who, in this +extraordinary press of knights, seem to assert a precedence to yourself, +claim the dignity due to a king or prince?" + +"How speak you that?" said the Frank, with a brow somewhat over- +clouded; "do you feel that I have not left you unjostled by my advance +to these squadrons of yours?" + +Alexius hastened to answer, that he felt no particular desire to +connect the Count with an affront or offence; observing, that in the +extreme necessity of the Empire, it was no time for him, who was at the +helm, to engage in idle or unnecessary quarrels. + +The Frankish knight heard him, and answered drily--"Since such are your +sentiments, I wonder that you have ever resided long enough within the +hearing of the French language to learn to speak it as you do. I would +have thought some of the sentiments of the chivalry of the nation, +since you are neither a monk nor a woman, would, at the same time with +the words of the dialect, have found their way into your heart." "Hush, +Sir Count," said Bohemond, who remained by the Emperor to avert the +threatening quarrel. "It is surely requisite to answer the Emperor with +civility; and those who are impatient for warfare, will have infidels +enough to wage it with. He only demanded your name and lineage, which +you of all men can have the least objection to disclose." + +"I know not if it will interest this prince, or Emperor as you term +him," answered the Frank Count; "but all the account I can give of +myself is this:--In the midst of one of the vast forests which, occupy +the centre of France, my native country, there stands a chapel, sunk so +low into the ground, that it seems as if it were become decrepid by its +own great age. The image of the Holy Virgin who presides over its altar, +is called by all men our Lady of the Broken Lances, and is accounted +through the whole kingdom the most celebrated for military adventures. +Four beaten roads, each leading from an opposite point in the compass, +meet before the principal door of the chapel; and ever and anon, as a +good knight arrives at this place, he passes in to the performance of +his devotions in the chapel, having first sounded his horn three times, +till ash and oak-tree quiver and ring. Having then kneeled down to his +devotions, he seldom arises from the mass of Her of the Broken Lances, +but there is attending on his leisure some adventurous knight ready to +satisfy the new comer's desire of battle. This station have I held for +a month and more against all comers, and all gave me fair thanks for +the knightly manner of quitting myself towards them, except one, who +had the evil hap to fall from his horse, and did break his neck; and +another, who was struck through the body, so that the lance came out +behind his back about a cloth-yard, all dripping with blood. Allowing +for such accidents, which cannot easily be avoided, my opponents parted +with me with fair acknowledgment of the grace I had done them." + +"I conceive, Sir Knight," said the Emperor, "that a form like yours, +animated by the courage you display, is likely to find few equals even +among your adventurous countrymen; far less among men who are taught +that to cast away their lives in a senseless quarrel among themselves, +is to throw away, like a boy, the gift of Providence." + +"You are welcome to your opinion," said the Frank, somewhat +contemptuously; "yet I assure you, if you doubt that our gallant strife +was unmixed with sullenness and anger, and that we hunt not the hart or +the boar with merrier hearts in the evening, than we discharge our task +of chivalry by the morn had arisen, before the portal of the old chapel, +you do us foul injustice." + +"With the Turks you will not enjoy this amiable exchange of +courtesies," answered Alexius. "Wherefore I would advise you neither to +stray far into the van nor into the rear, but to abide by the standard +where the best infidels make their efforts, and the best knights are +required to repel them." + +"By our Lady of the Broken Lances," said the Crusader, "I would not +that the Turks were more courteous than they are Christian, and am well +pleased that unbeliever and heathen hound are a proper description for +the best of them, as being traitor alike to their God and to the laws +of chivalry; and devoutly do I trust that I shall meet with them in the +front rank of our army, beside our standard, or elsewhere, and have an +open field to my devoir against them, both as the enemies of our Lady +and the holy saints, and as, by their evil customs, more expressly my +own. Meanwhile you have time to seat yourself and receive my homage, +and I will be bound to you for despatching this foolish ceremony with +as little waste and delay of time as the occasion will permit." + +The Emperor hastily seated himself, and received into his the sinewy +hands of the Crusader, who made the acknowledgment of his homage, and +was then guided off by Count Baldwin, who walked with the stranger to +the ships, and then, apparently well pleased at seeing him in the +course of going on board, returned back to the side of the Emperor. + +"What is the name," said the Emperor, "of that singular and assuming +man?" + +"It is Robert, Count of Paris," answered Baldwin, "accounted one of the +bravest peers who stand around the throne of France." + +After a moment's recollection, Alexius Comnenus issued orders, that the +ceremonial of the day should be discontinued, afraid, perhaps, lest the +rough and careless humour of the strangers should produce some new +quarrel. The crusaders were led, nothing loth, back to palaces in which +they had been hospitably received, and readily resumed the interrupted +feast, from which they had been called to pay their homage. The +trumpets of the various leaders blew the recall of the few troops of an +ordinary character who were attendant, together with the host of +knights and leaders, who, pleased with the indulgences provided for +them, and obscurely foreseeing that the passage of the Bosphorus would +be the commencement of their actual suffering, rejoiced in being called +to the hither side. + +It was not probably intended; but the hero, as he might be styled, of +the tumultuous day, Count Robert of Paris, who was already on his road +to embarkation on the strait, was disturbed in his purpose by the sound +of recall which was echoed around; nor could Bohemond, Godfrey, or any +one who took upon him to explain the signal, alter his resolution of +returning to Constantinople. He laughed to scorn the threatened +displeasure of the Emperor, and seemed to think there would be a +peculiar pleasure in braving Alexius at his own board, or, at least, +that nothing could be more indifferent than whether he gave offence or +not. + +To Godfrey of Bouillon, to whom he showed some respect, he was still +far from paying deference; and that sagacious prince, having used every +argument which might shake his purpose of returning to the imperial +city, to the very point of making it a quarrel with him in person, at +length abandoned him to his own discretion, and pointed him out to the +Count of Thoulouse, as he passed, as a wild knight-errant, incapable of +being influenced by any thing save his own wayward fancy. "He brings +not five hundred men to the crusade," said Godfrey; "and I dare be +sworn, that even in this, the very outset of the undertaking, he knows +not where these five hundred men are, and how their wants are provided +for. There is an eternal trumpet in his ear sounding to assault, nor +has he room or time to hear a milder or more rational signal. See how +he strolls along yonder, the very emblem of an idle schoolboy, broke +out of the school-bounds upon a holyday, half animated by curiosity and +half by love of mischief." + +"And," said Raymond, Count of Thoulouse, "with resolution sufficient to +support the desperate purpose of the whole army of devoted crusaders. +And yet so passionate a Rodomont is Count Robert, that he would rather +risk the success of the whole expedition, that omit an opportunity of +meeting a worthy antagonist _en champ-clos_, or lose, as he terms +it, a chance of worshipping our Lady of the Broken Lances. Who are yon +with whom he has now met, and who are apparently walking, or rather +strolling in the same way with him, back to Constantinople?" + +"An armed knight, brilliantly equipped--yet of something less than +knightly stature," answered Godfrey. "It is, I suppose, the celebrated +lady who won Robert's heart in the lists of battle, by bravery and +valour equal to his own; and the pilgrim form in the long vestments may +be their daughter or niece." + +"A singular spectacle, worthy Knight," said the Count of Thoulouse, "do +our days present to us, to which we have had nothing similar, since +Gaita, [Footnote: This Amazon makes a conspicuous figure in Anna +Comnena's account of her father's campaigns against Robert Guiscard. On +one occasion (Alexiad, lib. iv. p. 93) she represents her as thus +recalling the fugitive soldiery of her husband to their duty,--[Greek: +Hae de ge Taita Aeallas allae, kan mae Athaenae kat auton megisaen +apheisa phonaen, monon ou to Homaerikon epos tae idia dialektio legein +eokei. Mechri posou pheuxesthou; ataete aneres ese. Hos de eti +pheugontas toutous eora, dory makron enagkalisamenae, holous rhytaeras +endousa kata ton pheugonton ietai].--That is, exhorting them, in all +but Homeric language, at the top of her voice; and when this failed, +brandishing a long spear, and rushing upon the fugitives at the utmost +speed of her horse. + +This heroic lady, according to the _Chronigue Scandaleuse_, of +those days, was afterwards deluded by some cunning overtures of the +Greek Emperor, and poisoned her husband in expectation of gaining a +place on the throne of Constantinople. Ducange, however, rejects the +story, and so does Gibbon.] wife of Robert Guiscard, first took upon +her to distinguish herself by manly deeds of emprise, and rival her +husband, as well in the front of battle as at the dancing-room or +banquet." + +"Such is the custom of this pair, most noble knight," answered another +Crusader, who had joined them, "and Heaven pity the poor man who has no +power to keep domestic peace by an appeal to the stronger hand!" + +"Well!" replied Raymond, "if it be rather a mortifying reflection, that +the lady of our love is far past the bloom of youth, it is a +consolation that she is too old-fashioned to beat us, when we return +back with no more of youth or manhood than a long crusade has left. But +come, follow on the road to Constantinople, and in the rear of this +most doughty knight." + + + + +CHAPTER THE TENTH. + + Those were wild times--the antipodes of ours: + Ladies were there, who oftener saw themselves + In the broad lustre of a foeman's shield + Than in a mirror, and who rather sought + To match themselves in battle, than in dalliance + To meet a lover's onset.--But though Nature + Was outraged thus, she was not overcome. + FEUDAL TIMES. + + +Brenhilda, Countess of Paris, was one of those stalwart dames who +willingly hazarded themselves in the front of battle, which, during the +first crusade, was as common as it was possible for a very unnatural +custom to be, and, in fact, gave the real instances of the Marphisas +and Bradamantes, whom the writers of romance delighted to paint, +assigning them sometimes the advantage of invulnerable armour, or a +spear whose thrust did not admit of being resisted, in order to soften +the improbability of the weaker sex being frequently victorious over +the male part of the creation. + +But the spell of Brenhilda was of a more simple nature, and rested +chiefly in her great beauty. + +From a girl she despised the pursuits of her sex; and they who ventured +to become suitors for the hand of the young Lady of Aspramonte, to +which warlike fief she had succeeded, and which perhaps encouraged her +in her fancy, received for answer, that they must first merit it by +their good behaviour in the lists. The father of Brenhilda was dead; +her mother was of a gentle temper, and easily kept under management by +the young lady herself. + +Brenhilda's numerous suitors readily agreed to terms which were too +much according to the manners of the age to be disputed. A tournament +was held at the Castle of Aspramonte, in which one half of the gallant +assembly rolled headlong before their successful rivals, and withdrew +from the lists mortified and disappointed. The successful party among +the suitors were expected to be summoned to joust among themselves. But +they were surprised at being made acquainted with the lady's further +will. She aspired to wear armour herself, to wield a lance, and back a +steed, and prayed the knights that they would permit a lady, whom they +professed to honour so highly, to mingle in their games of chivalry. +The young knights courteously received their young mistress in the +lists, and smiled at the idea of her holding them triumphantly against +so many gallant champions of the other sex. But the vassals and old +servants of the Count, her father, smiled to each other, and intimated +a different result than the gallants anticipated. The knights who +encountered the fair Brenhilda were one by one stretched on the sand; +nor was it to be denied, that the situation of tilting with one of the +handsomest women of the time was an extremely embarrassing one. Each +youth was bent to withhold his charge in full volley, to cause his +steed to swerve at the full shock, or in some other way to flinch from +doing the utmost which was necessary to gain the victory, lest, in so +gaining it, he might cause irreparable injury to the beautiful opponent +he tilted with. But the Lady of Aspramonte was not one who could be +conquered by less than the exertion of the whole strength and talents +of the victor. The defeated suitors departed from the lists the more +mortified at their discomfiture, because Robert of Paris arrived at +sunset, and, understanding what was going forward, sent his name to the +barriers, as that of a knight who would willingly forego the reward of +the tournament, in case he had the fortune to gain it, declaring, that +neither lauds nor ladies' charms were what he came thither to seek. +Brenhilda, piqued and mortified, chose a new lance, mounted her best +steed, and advanced into the lists as one determined to avenge upon the +new assailant's brow the slight of her charms which he seemed to +express. But whether her displeasure had somewhat interfered with her +usual skill, or whether she had, like others of her sex, felt a +partiality towards one whose heart was not particularly set upon +gaining hers--or whether, as is often said on such occasions, her fated +hour was come, so it was that Count Robert tilted with his usual +address and good fortune. Brenhilda of Aspramonte was unhorsed and +unhelmed, and stretched on the earth, and the beautiful face, which +faded from very red to deadly pale before the eyes of the victor, +produced its natural effect in raising the value of his conquest. He +would, in conformity with his resolution, have left the castle after +having mortified the vanity of the lady; but her mother opportunely +interposed; and when she had satisfied herself that no serious injury +had been sustained by the young heiress, she returned her thanks to the +stranger knight who had taught her daughter a lesson, which, she +trusted, she would not easily forget. Thus tempted to do what he +secretly wished, Count Robert gave ear to those sentiments, which +naturally whispered to him to be in no hurry to withdraw. + +He was of the blood of Charlemagne, and, what was still of more +consequence in the young lady's eyes, one of the most renowned of +Norman knights in that jousting day. After a residence of ten days in +the castle of Aspramonte, the bride and bridegroom set out, for such +was Count Robert's will, with a competent train, to our Lady of the +Broken Lances, where it pleased him to be wedded. Two knights who were +waiting to do battle, as was the custom of the place, were rather +disappointed at the nature of the cavalcade, which seemed to interrupt +their purpose. But greatly were they surprised when they received a +cartel from the betrothed couple, offering to substitute their own +persons in the room of other antagonists, and congratulating themselves +in commencing their married life in a manner so consistent with that +which they had hitherto led. They were victorious as usual; and the +only persons having occasion to rue the complaisance of the Count and +his bride, were the two strangers, one of whom broke an arm in the +rencontre, and the other dislocated a collar-bone. + +Count Robert's course of knight-errantry did not seem to be in the +least intermitted by his marriage; on the contrary, when he was called +upon to support his renown, his wife was often known also in military +exploits, nor was she inferior to him in thirst after fame. They both +assumed the cross at the same time, that being then the predominating +folly in Europe. + +The Countess Brenhilda was now above six-and-twenty years old, with as +much beauty as can well fall to the share of an Amazon. A figure, of +the largest feminine size, was surmounted by a noble countenance, to +which even repeated warlike toils had not given more than a sunny hue, +relieved by the dazzling whiteness of such parts of her face as were +not usually displayed. + +As Alexius gave orders that his retinue should return to Constantinople, +he spoke in private to the Follower, Achilles Tatius. The Satrap +answered with a submissive bend of the head, and separated with a few +attendants from the main body of the Emperor's train. The principal +road to the city was, of course, filled with the troops, and with the +numerous crowds of spectators, all of whom were inconvenienced in some +degree by the dust and heat of the weather. + +Count Robert of Paris had embarked his horses on board of ship, and all +his retinue, except an old squire or valet of his own, and an attendant +of his wife. He felt himself more incommoded in this crowd than he +desired, especially as his wife shared it with him, and began to look +among the scattered trees which fringed the shores, down almost to the +tide-mark, to see if he could discern any by-path which might carry +them more circuitously, but more pleasantly, to the city, and afford +them at the same time, what was their principal object in the East, +strange sights, or adventures of chivalry. A broad and beaten path +seemed to promise them all the enjoyment which shade could give in a +warm climate. The ground through which it wound its way was beautifully +broken by the appearance of temples, churches, and kiosks, and here and +there a fountain distributed its silver produce, like a benevolent +individual, who, self-denying to himself, is liberal to all others who +are in necessity. The distant sound of the martial music still regaled +their way; and, at the same time, as it detained the populace on the +high-road, prevented the strangers from becoming incommoded with +fellow-travellers. + +Rejoicing in the abated heat of the day-wondering, at the same time, at +the various kinds of architecture, the strange features of the +landscape, or accidental touches of manners, exhibited by those who met +or passed them upon their journey, they strolled easily onwards. One +figure particularly caught the attention of the Countess Brenhilda. +This was an old man of great stature, engaged, apparently, so deeply +with the roll of parchment which he held in his hand, that he paid no +attention to the objects which were passing around him. Deep thought +appeared to reign on his brow, and his eye was of that piercing kind +which seems designed to search and winnow the frivolous from the +edifying part of human discussion, and limit its inquiry to the last. +Raising his eyes slowly from the parchment on which he had been gazing, +the look of Agelastes--for it was the sage himself--encountered those +of Count Robert and his lady, and addressing them, with the kindly +epithet of "my children," he asked if they had missed their road, or +whether there was any thing in which he could do them any pleasure. + +"We are strangers, father," was the answer, "from a distant country, +and belonging to the army which has passed hither upon pilgrimage; one +object brings us here in common, we hope, with all that host. We desire +to pay our devotions where the great ransom was paid for us, and to +free, by our good swords, enslaved Palestine, from the usurpation and +tyranny of the infidel. When we have said this, we have announced our +highest human motive. Yet Robert of Paris and his Countess would not +willingly set their foot on a land, save what should resound its echo. +They have not been accustomed to move in silence upon the face of the +earth, and they would purchase an eternal life of fame, though it were +at the price of mortal existence." + +"You seek, then, to barter safety for fame," said Agelastes, "though +you may, perchance, throw death into the scale by which you hope to +gain it?" + +"Assuredly," said Count Robert; "nor is there one wearing such a belt +as this, to whom such a thought is stranger." + +"And as I understand," said Agelastes, "your lady shares with your +honourable self in these valorous resolutions?--Can this be?" + +"You may undervalue my female courage, father, if such is your will," +said the Countess; "but I speak in presence of a witness who can attest +the truth, when I say that a man of half your years had not doubted the +truth with impunity." + +"Nay, Heaven protect me from the lightning of your eyes," said +Agelastes, "whether in anger or in scorn. I bear an aegis about myself +against what I should else have feared. But age, with its incapacities, +brings also its apologies. Perhaps, indeed, it is one like me whom you +seek to find, and in that case I should be happy to render to you such +services as it is my duty to offer to all worthy knights." + +"I have already said," replied Count Robert, "that after the +accomplishment of my vow,"--he looked upwards and crossed himself,-- +"there is nothing on earth to which I am more bound than to celebrate +my name in arms as becomes a valiant cavalier. When men die obscurely, +they die for ever. Had my ancestor Charles never left the paltry banks +of the Saale, he had not now been much better known than any vine- +dresser who wielded his pruning-hook in the same territories. But he +bore him like a brave man, and his name is deathless in the memory of +the worthy." + +"Young man," said the old Grecian, "although it is but seldom that such +as you, whom I was made to serve and to value, visit this country, it +is not the less true that I am well qualified to serve you in the +matter which you have so much at heart. My acquaintance with nature has +been so perfect and so long, that, during its continuance, she has +disappeared, and another world has been spread before me, in which she +has but little to do. Thus the curious stores which I have assembled +are beyond the researches of other men, and not to be laid before those +whose deeds of valour are to be bounded by the ordinary probabilities +of everyday nature. No romancer of your romantic country ever devised +such extraordinary adventures out of his own imagination, and to feed +the idle wonder of those who sat listening around, as those which I +know, not of idle invention, but of real positive existence, with the +means of achieving and accomplishing the conditions of each adventure." + +"If such be your real profession," said the French Count, "you have met +one of those whom you chiefly search for; nor will my Countess and I +stir farther upon our road until you have pointed out to us some one of +those adventures which, it is the business of errant-knights to be +industrious in seeking out." + +So saying, he sat down by the side of the old man; and his lady, with a +degree of reverence which had something in it almost diverting, +followed his example. + +"We have fallen right, Brenhilda," said Count Robert; "our guardian. +angel has watched his charge carefully. Here have we come among an, +ignorant set of pedants, chattering their absurd language, and holding +more important the least look that a cowardly Emperor can give, than +the best blow that a good knight can deal. Believe me, I was wellnigh +thinking that we had done ill to take the cross--God forgive such an +impious doubt! Yet here, when we were even despairing to find the road +to fame, we have met with one of those excellent men whom the knights +of yore were wont to find sitting by springs, by crosses, and by altars, +ready to direct the wandering knight where fame was to be found. +Disturb him not, my Brenhilda," said the Count, "but let him recall to +himself his stories of the ancient time, and thou shalt see he will +enrich us with the treasures of his information." + +"If," replied Agelastes, after some pause, "I have waited for a longer +term than human life is granted to most men, I shall still be overpaid +by dedicating what remains of existence to the service of a pair so +devoted to chivalry. What first occurs to me is a story of our Greek +country, so famous in adventures, and which I shall briefly detail to +you:-- + +"Afar hence, in our renowned Grecian Archipelago, amid storms and +whirlpools, rocks which, changing their character, appear to +precipitate themselves against each other, and billows that are never +in a pacific state, lies the rich island of Zulichium, inhabited, +notwithstanding its wealth, by a very few natives, who live only upon +the sea-coast. The inland part of the island is one immense mountain, +or pile of mountains, amongst which, those who dare approach near +enough, may, we are assured, discern the moss-grown and antiquated +towers and pinnacles of a stately, but ruinous castle, the habitation +of the sovereign of the island, in which she has been, enchanted for a +great many years. + +"A bold knight, who came upon, a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, made a vow to +deliver this unhappy victim of pain and sorcery; feeling, with justice, +vehemently offended, that the fiends of darkness should exercise any +authority near the Holy Land, which might be termed the very fountain +of light. Two of the oldest inhabitants of the island undertook to +guide him as near to the main gate as they durst, nor did they approach +it more closely than the length of a bow-shot. Here, then, abandoned to +himself, the brave Frank set forth upon his enterprise, with a stout +heart, and Heaven alone to friend. The fabric which he approached +showed, by its gigantic size, and splendour of outline, the power and +wealth of the potentate who had erected it. The brazen gates unfolded +themselves as if with hope and pleasure; and aerial voices swept around +the spires and turrets, congratulating the genius of the place, it +might be, upon the expected approach of its deliverer. + +"The knight passed on, not unmoved with wonder, though untainted by +fear; and the Gothic splendours which he saw were of a kind highly to +exalt his idea of the beauty of the mistress for whom a prison-house +had been so richly decorated. Guards there were in Eastern dress and +arms, upon bulwark and buttress, in readiness, it appeared, to bend +their bows; but the warriors were motionless and silent, and took no +more notice of the armed step of the knight than if a monk or hermit +had approached their guarded post. They were living, and yet, as to all +power and sense, they might be considered among the dead. If there was +truth in the old tradition, the sun had shone and the rain had fallen +upon them for more than four hundred changing seasons, without their +being sensible of the genial warmth of the one or the coldness of the +other. Like the Israelites in the desert, their shoes had not decayed, +nor their vestments waxed old. As Time left them, so and without +alteration was he again to find them." The philosopher began now to +recall what he had heard of the cause of their enchantment. + +"The sage to whom this potent charm is imputed, was one of the Magi who +followed the tenets of Zoroaster. He had come to the court of this +youthful Princess, who received him with every attention which +gratified vanity could dictate, so that in a short time her awe of this +grave personage was lost in the sense of ascendency which her beauty +gave her over him. It was no difficult matter--in fact it happens every +day--for the beautiful woman to lull the wise man into what is not +inaptly called a fool's paradise. The sage was induced to attempt feats +of youth which his years rendered ridiculous; he could command the +elements, but the common course of nature was beyond his power. When, +therefore, he exerted his magic strength, the mountains bent and the +seas receded; but when the philosopher attempted to lead forth the +Princess of Zulichium in the youthful dance, youths and maidens turned +their heads aside lest they should make too manifest the ludicrous +ideas with which they were impressed. + +"Unhappily, as the aged, even the wisest of them, will forget +themselves, so the young naturally enter into an alliance to spy out, +ridicule, and enjoy their foibles. Many were the glances which the +Princess sent among her retinue, intimating the nature of the amusement +which she received from the attentions of her formidable lover. In +process of time she lost her caution, and a glance was detected, +expressing to the old man the ridicule and contempt in which he had +been all along held by the object of his affections. Earth has no +passion so bitter as love converted to hatred; and while the sage +bitterly regretted what he had done, he did not the less resent the +light-hearted folly of the Princess by whom he had been duped. + +"If, however, he was angry, he possessed the art to conceal it. Not a +word, not a look expressed the bitter disappointment which he had +received. A shade of melancholy, or rather gloom, upon his brow, alone +intimated the coming storm. The Princess became somewhat alarmed; she +was besides extremely good-natured, nor had her intentions of leading +the old man into what would render him ridiculous, been so accurately +planned with malice prepense, as they were the effect of accident and +chance. She saw the pain which he suffered, and thought to end it by +going up to him, when about to retire, and kindly wishing him good- +night. + +"'You say well, daughter,' said the sage, 'good-night--but who, of the +numbers who hear me, shall say good-morning?' + +"The speech drew little attention, although two or three persons to +whom the character of the sage was known, fled from the island that +very night, and by their report made known the circumstances attending +the first infliction of this extraordinary spell on those who remained +within the Castle. A sleep like that of death fell upon them, and was +not removed. Most of the inhabitants left the island; the few who +remained were cautious how they approached the Castle, and watched +until some bold adventurer should bring that happy awakening which the +speech of the sorcerer seemed in some degree to intimate. + +"Never seemed there a fairer opportunity for that awakening to take +place than when the proud step of Artavan de Hautlieu was placed upon +those enchanted courts. On the left, lay the palace and donjon-keep; +but the right, more attractive, seemed to invite to the apartment of +the women. At a side door, reclined on a couch, two guards of the haram, +with their naked swords grasped in their hands, and features fiendishly +contorted between sleep and dissolution, seemed to menace death to any +who should venture to approach. This threat deterred not Artavan de +Hautlieu. He approached the entrance, when the doors, like those of the +great entrance to the Castle, made themselves instantly accessible to +him. A guard-room of the same effeminate soldiers received him, nor +could the strictest examination have discovered to him whether it was +sleep or death which arrested the eyes that seemed to look upon and +prohibit his advance. Unheeding the presence of these ghastly sentinels, +Artavan pressed forward into an inner apartment, where female slaves of +the most distinguished beauty were visible in the attitude of those who +had already assumed their dress for the night. There was much in this +scene which might have arrested so young a pilgrim as Artavan of +Hautlieu; but his heart was fixed on achieving the freedom of the +beautiful Princess, nor did he suffer himself to be withdrawn from that +object by any inferior consideration. He passed on, therefore, to a +little ivory door, which, after a moment's pause, as if in maidenly +hesitation, gave way like the rest, and yielded access to the sleeping +apartment of the Princess herself. A soft light, resembling that of +evening, penetrated into a chamber where every thing seemed contrived +to exalt the luxury of slumber. The heaps of cushions, which formed a +stately bed, seemed rather to be touched than impressed by the form of +a nymph of fifteen, the renowned Princess of Zulichium." + +"Without interrupting you, good father," said the Countess Brenhilda, +"it seems to me that we can comprehend the picture of a woman asleep +without much dilating upon it, and that such a subject is little +recommended either by our age or by yours." + +"Pardon me, noble lady," answered Agelastes, "the most approved part of +my story has ever been this passage, and while I now suppress it in +obedience to your command, bear notice, I pray you, that I sacrifice +the most beautiful part of the tale." + +"Brenhilda," added the Count, "I am surprised you think of interrupting +a story which has hitherto proceeded with so much fire; the telling of +a few words more or less will surely have a much greater influence upon, +the sense of the narrative, than such an addition can possibly possess +over our sentiments of action." + +"As you will," said his lady, throwing herself carelessly back upon the +seat; "but methinks the worthy father protracts this discourse, till it +becomes of a nature more trifling than interesting." + +"Brenhilda," said the Count, "this is the first time I have remarked in +you a woman's weakness." + +"I may as well say, Count Robert, that it is the first time," answered +Brenhilda, "that you have shown to me the inconstancy of your sex." + +"Gods and goddesses," said the philosopher, "was ever known a quarrel +more absurdly founded! The Countess is jealous of one whom her husband +probably never will see, nor is there any prospect that the Princess of +Zulichium will be hereafter better known, to the modern world, than if +the curtain hung before her tomb." + +"Proceed," said Count Robert of Paris; "if Sir Artavan of Hautlieu has +not accomplished the enfranchisement of the Princess of Zulichium, I +make a vow to our Lady of the Broken Lances,"-- + +"Remember," said his lady interfering, "that you are already under a +vow to free the Sepulchre of God; and to that, methinks, all lighter +engagements might give place." + +"Well, lady--well," said Count Robert, but half satisfied with this +interference, "I will not engage myself, you may be assured, on any +adventure which may claim precedence of the enterprise of the Holy +Sepulchre, to which we are all bound." + +"Alas!" said Agelastes, "the distance of Zulichium from the speediest +route to the sepulchre is so small that"-- + +"Worthy father," said the Countess, "we will, if it pleases you, hear +your tale to an end, and then determine what we will do. We Norman +ladies, descendants of the old Germans, claim a voice with our lords in +the council which precedes the battle; nor has our assistance in the +conflict been deemed altogether useless." + +The tone in which this was spoken conveyed an awkward innuendo to the +philosopher, who began to foresee that the guidance of the Norman +knight would be more difficult than he had foreseen, while his consort +remained by his side. He took up, therefore, his oratory on somewhat a +lower key than before, and avoided those warm descriptions which had +given such offence to the Countess Brenhilda. + +"Sir Artavan de Hautlieu, says the story, considered in what way he +should accost the sleeping damsel, when it occurred to him in what +manner the charm would be most likely to be reversed. I am in your +judgment, fair lady, if he judged wrong in resolving that the method of +his address should be a kiss upon the lips." The colour of Brenhilda +was somewhat heightened, but she did not deem the observation worthy of +notice. + +"Never had so innocent an action," continued the philosopher, "an +effect more horrible. The delightful light of a summer evening was +instantly changed into a strange lurid hue, which, infected with +sulphur, seemed to breathe suffocation through the apartment. The rich +hangings, and splendid furniture of the chamber, the very walls +themselves, were changed into huge stones tossed together at random, +like the inside of a wild beast's den, nor was the den without an +inhabitant. The beautiful and innocent lips to which Artavan de +Hautlieu had approached his own, were now changed into the hideous and +bizarre form, and bestial aspect of a fiery dragon. A moment she +hovered upon the wing, and it is said, had Sir Artavan found courage to +repeat his salute three times, he would then have remained master of +all the wealth, and of the disenchanted princess. But the opportunity +was lost, and the dragon, or the creature who seemed such, sailed out +at a side window upon its broad pennons, uttering loud wails of +disappointment." + +Here ended the story of Agelastes. "The Princess," he said, "is still +supposed to abide her doom in the Island of Zulichium, and several +knights have undertaken the adventure; but I know not whether it was +the fear of saluting the sleeping maiden, or that of approaching the +dragon into which she was transformed, but so it is, the spell remains +unachieved. I know the way, and if you say the word, you may be to- +morrow on the road to the castle of enchantment." + +The Countess heard this proposal with the deepest anxiety, for she knew +that she might, by opposition, determine her husband irrevocably upon +following out the enterprise. She stood therefore with a timid and +bashful look, strange in a person whose bearing was generally so +dauntless, and prudently left it to the uninfluenced mind of Count +Robert to form the resolution which should best please him. + +"Brenhilda," he said, taking her hand, "fame and honour are dear to thy +husband as ever they were to knight who buckled a brand upon his side. +Thou hast done, perhaps, I may say, for me, what I might in vain have +looked for from ladies of thy condition; and therefore thou mayst well +expect a casting voice in such points of deliberation.--Why dost thou +wander by the side of a foreign and unhealthy shore, instead of the +banks of the lovely Seine?--Why dost thou wear a dress unusual to thy +sex?--Why dost thou seek death, and think it little in comparison of +shame?--Why? but that the Count of Paris may have a bride worthy of +him.--Dost thou think that this affection is thrown away? No, by the +saints! Thy knight repays it as he best ought, and sacrifices to thee +every thought which thy affection may less than entirely approve." + +Poor Brenhilda, confused as she was by the various emotions with which +she was agitated, now in vain endeavoured to maintain the heroic +deportment which her character as an Amazon required from her. She +attempted to assume the proud and lofty look which was properly her own, +but failing in the effort, she threw herself into the Count's arms, +hung round his neck, and wept like a, village maiden, whose true love +is pressed for the wars. Her husband, a little ashamed, while he was +much moved by this burst of affection in one to whose character it +seemed an unusual attribute, was, at the same time, pleased and proud +that he could have awakened an affection so genuine and so gentle in a +soul so high-spirited and so unbending. + +"Not thus," he said, "my Brenhilda! I would not have it thus, either +for thine own sake or for mine. Do not let this wise old man suppose +that thy heart is made of the malleable stuff which forms that of other +maidens; and apologize to him, as may well become thee, for having +prevented my undertaking the adventure of Zulichium, which he +recommends." + +It was not easy for Brenhilda to recover herself, after having afforded +so notable an instance how nature can vindicate her rights, with +whatever rigour she may have been disciplined and tyrannized over. With +a look of ineffable affection, she disjoined herself from her husband, +still keeping hold of his hand, and turning to the old man with a +countenance in which the half-effaced tears were succeeded by smiles of +pleasure and of modesty, she spoke to Agelastes as she would to a +person whom she respected, and towards whom she had some offence to +atone. "Father," she said, respectfully, "be not angry with me that I +should have been an obstacle to one of the best knights that ever +spurred steed, undertaking the enterprise of thine enchanted Princess; +but the truth is, that in our land, where knighthood and religion agree +in permitting only one lady love, and one lady wife, we do not quite so +willingly see our husbands run into danger--especially of that kind +where lonely ladies are the parties relieved--and--and kisses are the +ransom paid. I have as much confidence in my Robert's fidelity, as a +lady can have in a loving knight, but still"-- + +"Lovely lady," said Agelastes, who, notwithstanding his highly +artificial character, could not help being moved by the simple and +sincere affection of the handsome young pair, "you have done no evil. +The state of the Princess is no worse than it was, and there cannot be +a doubt that the knight fated to relieve her, will appear at the +destined period." The Countess smiled sadly, and shook her head. "You +do not know," she said, "how powerful is the aid of which I have +unhappily deprived this unfortunate lady, by a jealousy which I now +feel to have been alike paltry and unworthy; and, such is my regret, +that I could find in my heart to retract my opposition to Count +Robert's undertaking this adventure." She looked at her husband with +some anxiety, as one that had made an offer she would not willingly see +accepted, and did not recover her courage until he said, decidedly, +"Brenhilda, that may not be." + +"And why, then, may not Brenhilda herself take the adventure," +continued the Countess, "since she can neither fear the charms of the +Princess nor the terrors of the dragon?" + +"Lady," said Agelastes, "the Princess must be awakened by the kiss of +love, and not by that of friendship." + +"A sufficient reason," said the Countess, smiling, "why a lady may not +wish her lord to go forth upon an adventure of which the conditions are +so regulated." + +"Noble minstrel, or herald, or by whatever name this country calls +you," said Count Robert, "accept a small remuneration for an hour +pleasantly spent, though spent, unhappily, in vain. I should make some +apology for the meanness of my offering, but French knights, you may +have occasion to know, are more full of fame than of wealth." + +"Not for that, noble sir," replied Agelastes, "would I refuse your +munificence; a besant from your worthy hand, or that of your noble- +minded lady, were centupled in its value, by the eminence of the +persons from whom it came. I would hang it round my neck by a string of +pearls, and when I came into the presence of knights and of ladies, I +would proclaim that this addition to my achievement of armorial +distinction, was bestowed by the renowned Count Robert of Paris, and +his unequalled lady." The Knight and the Countess looked on each other, +and the lady, taking from her finger a ring of pure gold, prayed the +old man to accept of it, as a mark of her esteem and her husband's. +"With one other condition," said the philosopher, "which I trust you +will not find altogether unsatisfactory. I have, on the way to the city +by the most pleasant road, a small kiosk, or hermitage, where I +sometimes receive my friends, who, I venture to say, are among the most +respectable personages of this empire. Two or three of these will +probably honour my residence today, and partake of the provision it +affords. Could I add to these the company of the noble Count and +Countess of Paris, I should deem my poor habitation honoured for ever." + +"How say you, my noble wife?" said the Count. "The company of a +minstrel befits the highest birth, honours the highest rank, and adds +to the greatest achievements; and the invitation does us too much +credit to be rejected." + +"It grows somewhat late," said the Countess: "but we came not here to +shun a sinking sun or a darkening sky, and I feel it my duty, as well +as my satisfaction, to place at the command of the good father every +pleasure which it is in my power to offer to him, for having been the +means of your neglecting his advice." + +"The path is so short," said Agelastes, "that we had better keep our +present mode of travelling, if the lady should not want the assistance +of horses." + +"No horses on my account," said the Lady Brenhilda. "My waiting-woman, +Agatha, has what necessaries I may require; and, for the rest, no +knight ever travelled so little embarrassed with baggage as my +husband." + +Agelastes, therefore, led the way through the deepening wood, which was +freshened by the cooler breath of evening, and his guests accompanied +him. + + + + +CHAPTER THE ELEVENTH. + + Without, a ruin, broken, tangled, cumbrous, + Within, it was a little paradise, + Where Taste had made her dwelling. Statuary, + First-born of human art, moulded her images, + And bade men. mark and worship. + ANONYMOUS. + + +The Count of Paris and his lady attended the old man, whose advanced +age, his excellence in the use of the French language, which he spoke +to admiration,--above all, his skill in applying it to poetical and +romantic subjects, which was essential to what was then termed history +and belles lettres,--drew from the noble hearers a degree of applause, +which, as Agelastes had seldom been vain enough to consider as his due, +so, on the part of the Knight of Paris and his lady, had it been but +rarely conferred. They had walked for some time by a path which +sometimes seemed to hide itself among the woods that came down to the +shore of the Propontis, sometimes emerged from concealment, and skirted +the open margin of the strait, while, at every turn, it seemed guided +by the desire to select a choice and contrast of beauty. Variety of +scenes and manners enlivened, from their novelty, the landscape to the +pilgrims. By the sea-shore, nymphs were seen dancing, and shepherds +piping, or beating the tambourine to their steps, as represented in +some groups of ancient statuary. The very faces had a singular +resemblance to the antique. If old, their long robes, their attitudes, +and magnificent heads, presented the ideas which distinguish prophets +and saints; while, on the other hand, the features of the young +recalled the expressive countenances of the heroes of antiquity, and +the charms of those lovely females by whom their deeds were inspired. +But the race of the Greeks was no longer to be seen, even in its native +country, unmixed, or in absolute purity; on the contrary, they saw +groups of persons with features which argued a different descent. + +In a retiring bosom of the shore, which was traversed by the path, the +rocks, receding from the beach, rounded off a spacious portion of level +sand, and, in some degree, enclosed it. A party of heathen Scythians +whom they beheld, presented the deformed features of the demons they +were said to worship--flat noses with expanded nostrils, which seemed +to admit the sight to their very brain; faces which extended rather in +breadth than length, with strange unintellectual eyes placed in the +extremity; figures short and dwarfish, yet garnished with legs and arms +of astonishing sinewy strength, disproportioned to their bodies. As the +travellers passed, the savages held a species of tournament, as the +Count termed it. In this they exercised themselves by darting at each +other long reeds, or canes, balanced for the purpose, which, in this +rude sport, they threw with such force, as not unfrequently to strike +each other from their steeds, and otherwise to cause serious damage. +Some of the combatants being, for the time, out of the play, devoured +with greedy looks the beauty of the Countess, and eyed her in such a +manner, that she said to Count Robert,--"I have never known fear, my +husband, nor is it for me to acknowledge it now; but if disgust be an +ingredient of it, these misformed brutes are qualified to inspire it." +"What, ho, Sir Knight!" exclaimed one of the infidels, "your wife, or +your lady love, has committed a fault against the privileges of the +Imperial Scythians, and not small will be the penalty she has incurred. +You may go your way as fast as you will out of this place, which is, +for the present; our hippodrome, or atmeidan, call it which you will, +as you prize the Roman or the Saracen language; but for your wife, if +the sacrament has united you, believe my word, that she parts not so +soon or so easy." + +"Scoundrel heathen," said the Christian Knight, "dost thou hold that +language to a Peer of France?" + +Agelastes here interposed, and using the sounding language of a Grecian +courtier, reminded the Scythians, (mercenary soldiers, as they seemed, +of the empire,) that all violence against the European pilgrims was, by +the Imperial orders, strictly prohibited under pain of death. + +"I know better," said the exulting savage, shaking one or two javelins +with broad steel heads, and wings of the eagle's feather, which last +were dabbled in blood. "Ask the wings of my javelin," he said, "in +whose heart's blood these feathers have been dyed. They shall reply to +you, that if Alexius Comnenus be the friend of the European pilgrims, +it is only while he looks upon them; and we are too exemplary soldiers +to serve our Emperor otherwise than he wishes to be served." + +"Peace, Toxartis," said the philosopher, "thou beliest thine Emperor." + +"Peace thou!" said Toxartis, "or I will do a deed that misbecomes a +soldier, and rid the world of a prating old man." + +So saying, he put forth his hand to take hold of the Countess's veil. +With the readiness which frequent use had given to the warlike lady, +she withdrew herself from the heathen's grasp, and with her trenchant +sword dealt him so sufficient a blow, that Toxartis lay lifeless on the +plain. The Count leapt on the fallen leader's steed, and crying his +war-cry, "Son of Charlemagne, to the rescue!" he rode amid the rout of +heathen cavaliers with a battle-axe, which he found at the saddlebow of +the deceased chieftain, and wielding it with remorseless dexterity, he +soon slew or wounded, or compelled to flight, the objects of his +resentment; nor was there any of them who abode an instant to support +the boast which they had made. "The despicable churls!" said the +Countess to Agelastes; "it irks me that a drop of such coward blood +should stain the hands of a noble knight. They call their exercise a +tournament, although in their whole exertions every blow is aimed +behind the back, and not one has the courage to throw his windlestraw +while he perceives that of another pointed against himself." + +"Such is their custom," said Agelastes; "not perhaps so much from +cowardice as from habit, in exercising before his Imperial Majesty. I +have seen that Toxartis literally turn his back upon the mark when he +bent his bow in full career, and when in the act of galloping the +farthest from his object, he pierced it through the very centre with a +broad arrow." + +"A force of such soldiers," said Count Robert, who had now rejoined his +friends, "could not, methinks, be very formidable, where there was but +an ounce of genuine courage in the assailants." + +"Mean time, let us pass on to my kiosk," said Agelastes, "lest the +fugitives find friends to encourage them in thoughts of revenge." + +"Such friends," said Count Robert, "methinks the insolent heathens +ought not to find in any land which calls itself Christian; and if I +survive the conquest of the Holy Sepulchre, I shall make it my first +business to enquire by what right your Emperor retains in his service a +band of Paynim and unmannerly cut-throats, who dare offer injury upon +the highway, which ought to be sacred to the peace of God and the king, +and to noble ladies and inoffensive pilgrims. It is one of a list of +many questions which, my vow accomplished, I will not fail to put to +him; ay, and expecting an answer, as they say, prompt and categorical." + +"You shall gain no answer from me though," said Agelastes to himself. +"Your demands, Sir Knight, are over-peremptory, and imposed under too +rigid conditions, to be replied to by those who can evade them." He +changed the conversation, accordingly, with easy dexterity; and they +had not proceeded much farther, before they reached a spot, the natural +beauties of which called forth the admiration of his foreign companions. +A copious brook, gushing out of the woodland, descended to the sea with +no small noise and tumult; and, as if disdaining a quieter course, +which it might have gained by a little circuit to the right, it took +the readiest road to the ocean, plunging over the face of a lofty and +barren precipice which overhung the sea-shore, and from thence led its +little tribute, with as much noise as if it had the stream of a full +river to boast of, to the waters of the Hellespont. + +The rock, we have said, was bare, unless in so far as it was clothed +with the foaming waters of the cataract; but the banks on each side +were covered with plane-trees, walnut-trees, cypresses, and other kinds +of large timber proper to the East. The fall of water, always agreeable +in a warm climate, and generally produced by artificial means, was here +natural, and had been chosen, something like the Sibyl's temple at +Tivoli, for the seat of a goddess to whom the invention of Polytheism +had assigned a sovereignty over the department around. The shrine was +small and circular, like many of the lesser temples of the rustic +deities, and enclosed by the wall of an outer court. After its +desecration, it had probably been converted into a luxurious summer +retreat by Agelastes, or some Epicurean philosopher. As the building, +itself of a light, airy, and fantastic character, was dimly seen +through the branches and foliage on the edge of the rock, so the mode +by which it was accessible was not at first apparent amongst the mist +of the cascade. A pathway, a good deal hidden, by vegetation, ascended +by a gentle acclivity, and prolonged by the architect by means of a few +broad and easy marble steps, making part of the original approach, +conducted the passenger to a small, but exquisitely lovely velvet lawn, +in front of the turret or temple we have described, the back part of +which building overhung the cataract. + + + + +CHAPTER THE TWELFTH. + + The parties met. The wily, wordy Greek, + Weighing each word, and canvassing each syllable; + Evading, arguing, equivocating. + And the stern Frank came with his two-hand sword, + Watching to see which way the balance sways, + That he may throw it in, and turn the scales. + PALESTINE. + + +At a signal made by Agelastes, the door of this romantic retreat was +opened by Diogenes, the negro slave, to whom our readers have been +already introduced; nor did it escape the wily old man, that the Count +and his lady testified some wonder at his form and lineaments, being +the first African perhaps whom they had ever seen so closely. The +philosopher lost not the opportunity of making an impression on their +minds, by a display of the superiority of his knowledge. + +"This poor being," he observed, "is of the race of Ham, the undutiful +son of Noah; for his transgressions against his parent, he was banished +to the sands of Africa, and was condemned to be the father of a race +doomed to be the slaves of the issue of his more dutiful brethren." + +The knight and his lady gazed on the wonderful appearance before them, +and did not, it may be believed, think of doubting the information +which was so much of a piece with their prejudices, while their opinion +of their host was greatly augmented by the supposed extent of his +knowledge. + +"It gives pleasure to a man of humanity," continued Agelastes, "when, +in old age, or sickness, we must employ the services of others, which +is at other times scarce lawful, to choose his assistants out of a race +of beings, hewers of wood and drawers of water--from their birth +upwards destined to slavery; and to whom, therefore, by employing them +as slaves, we render no injury, but carry into effect, in a slight +degree, the intentions of the Great Being who made us all." + +"Are there many of a race," said the Countess, "so singularly unhappy +in their destination? I have hitherto thought the stories of black men +as idle as those which minstrels tell of fairies and ghosts." + +"Do not believe so," said the philosopher; "the race is numerous as the +sands of the sea, neither are they altogether unhappy in discharging +the duties which their fate has allotted them. Those who are of worse +character suffer even in this life the penance due to their guilt; they +become the slaves of the cruel and tyrannical, are beaten, starved, and +mutilated. To those whose moral characters are better, better masters +are provided, who share with their slaves, as with their children, food +and raiment, and the other good things which they themselves enjoy. To +some, Heaven allots the favour of kings and of conquerors, and to a few, +but those the chief favourites of the species, hath been assigned a +place in the mansions of philosophy, where, by availing themselves of +the lights which their masters can afford, they gain a prospect into +that world which is the residence of true happiness." + +"Methinks I understand you," replied the Countess, "and if so, I ought +rather to envy our sable friend here than to pity him, for having been +allotted in the partition of his kind to the possession of his present +master, from whom, doubtless, he has acquired the desirable knowledge +which you mention." + +"He learns, at least," said Agelastes, modestly, "what I can teach, and, +above all, to be contented with his situation.--Diogenes, my good +child," said he, changing his address to the slave, "thou seest I have +company--What does the poor hermit's larder afford, with which he may +regale his honoured guests?" + +Hitherto they had advanced no farther than a sort of outer room, or +hall of entrance, fitted up with no more expense than might have suited +one who desired at some outlay, and more taste, to avail himself of the +ancient building for a sequestered and private retirement. The chairs +and couches were covered with Eastern wove mats, and were of the +simplest and most primitive form. But on touching a spring, an interior +apartment was displayed, which had considerable pretension to splendour +and magnificence. The furniture and hangings of this apartment were of +straw-coloured silk, wrought on the looms of Persia, and crossed with +embroidery, which produced a rich, yet simple effect. The ceiling was +carved in Arabesque, and the four corners of the apartment were formed +into recesses for statuary, which had been produced in a better age of +the art than that which existed at the period of our story. In one nook, +a shepherd seemed to withdraw himself, as if ashamed to produce his +scantily-covered person, while he was willing to afford the audience +the music of the reed which he held in his hand. Three damsels, +resembling the Graces in the beautiful proportions of their limbs, and +the slender clothing which they wore, lurked in different attitudes, +each in her own niche, and seemed but to await the first sound of the +music, to bound forth from thence and join in the frolic dance. The +subject was beautiful, yet somewhat light, to ornament the study of +such a sage as Agelastes represented himself to be. + +He seemed to be sensible that this might attract observation.--"These +figures," he said, "executed at the period of the highest excellence of +Grecian art, were considered of old as the choral nymphs assembled to +adore the goddess of the place, waiting but the music to join in the +worship of the temple. And, in truth, the wisest may be interested in +seeing how near to animation the genius of these wonderful men could +bring the inflexible marble. Allow but for the absence of the divine +afflatus, or breath of animation, and an unenlightened heathen might +suppose the miracle of Prometheus was about to be realized. But we," +said he, looking upwards, "are taught to form a better judgment between +what man can do and the productions of the Deity." + +Some subjects of natural history were painted on the walls, and the +philosopher fixed the attention of his guests upon the half-reasoning +elephant, of which he mentioned several anecdotes, which they listened +to with great eagerness. + +A distant strain was here heard, as if of music in the woods, +penetrating by fits through the hoarse roar of the cascade, which, as +it sunk immediately below the windows, filled the apartment with its +deep voice. + +"Apparently," said Agelastes, "the friends whom I expected are +approaching, and bring with them the means of enchanting another sense. +It is well they do so, since wisdom tells us that we best honour the +Deity by enjoying the gifts he has provided us." + +These words called the attention of the philosopher's Frankish guests +to the preparations exhibited in this tasteful saloon. These were made +for an entertainment in the manner of the ancient Romans, and couches, +which were laid beside a table ready decked, announced that the male +guests, at least, were to assist at the banquet in the usual recumbent +posture of the ancients; while seats, placed among the couches, seemed +to say that females were expected, who would observe the Grecian +customs, in eating seated. The preparations for good cheer were such as, +though limited in extent, could scarce be excelled in quality, either +by the splendid dishes which decked Trimalchio's banquet of former days, +or the lighter delicacies of Grecian cookery, or the succulent and +highly-spiced messes indulged in by the nations of the East, to +whichever they happened to give the preference; and it was with an air +of some vanity that Agelastes asked his guests to share a poor +pilgrim's meal. + +"We care little for dainties," said the Count; "nor does our present +course of life as pilgrims, bound by a vow, allow us much choice on +such subjects. Whatever is food for soldiers, suffices the Countess and +myself; for, with our will, we would at every hour be ready for battle, +and the less time we use in preparing for the field, it is even so much +the better. Sit then, Brenhilda, since the good man will have it so, +and let us lose no time in refreshment, lest we waste that which should +be otherwise employed." "A moment's forgiveness," said Agelastes, +"until the arrival of my other friends, whose music you may now hear is +close at hand, and who will not long, I may safely promise, divide you +from your meal." + +"For that," said the Count, "there is no haste; and since you seem to +account it a part of civil manners, Brenhilda and I can with ease +postpone our repast, unless you will permit us, what I own would be +more pleasing, to take a morsel of bread and a cup of water presently; +and, thus refreshed, to leave the space clear for your more curious and +more familiar guests." + +"The saints above forbid!" said Agelastes; "guests so honoured never +before pressed these cushions, nor could do so, if the sacred family of +the imperial Alexius himself even now stood at the gate." + +He had hardly uttered these words, when the full-blown peal of a +trumpet, louder in a tenfold degree than the strains of music they had +before heard, was now sounded in the front of the temple, piercing +through the murmur of the waterfall, as a Damascus blade penetrates the +armour, and assailing the ears of the hearers, as the sword pierces the +flesh of him who wears the harness. + +"You seem surprised or alarmed, father," said Count Robert. "Is there +danger near, and do you distrust our protection?" + +"No," said Agelastes, "that would give me confidence in any extremity; +but these sounds excite awe, not fear. They tell me that some of the +Imperial family are about to be my guests. Yet fear nothing, my noble +friends--they, whose look is life, are ready to shower their favours +with profusion upon strangers so worthy of honour as they will see here. +Meantime, my brow must touch my threshold, in order duly to welcome +them." So saying, he hurried to the outer door of the building. + +"Each land has its customs," said the Count, as he followed his host, +with his wife hanging on his arm; "but, Brenhilda, as they are so +various, it is little wonder that they appear unseemly to each other. +Here, however, in deference to my entertainer, I stoop my crest, in the +manner which seems to be required." So saying, he followed Agelastes +into the anteroom, where a new scene awaited them. + + + + +CHAPTER THE THIRTEENTH. + + +Agelastes gained his threshold before Count Robert of Paris and his +lady. He had, therefore, time to make his prostrations before a huge +animal, then unknown to the western world, but now universally +distinguished as the elephant. On its back was a pavilion or palanquin, +within which were enclosed the august persons of the Empress Irene, and +her daughter Anna Comnena. Nicephorus Briennius attended the Princesses +in the command of a gallant body of light horse, whose splendid armour +would have given more pleasure to the crusader, if it had possessed +less an air of useless wealth and effeminate magnificence. But the +effect which it produced in its appearance was as brilliant as could +well be conceived. The officers alone of this _corps de garde_ +followed Nicephorus to the platform, prostrated themselves while the +ladies of the Imperial house descended, and rose up again under a cloud +of waving plumes and flashing lances, when they stood secure upon the +platform in front of the building. Here the somewhat aged, but +commanding form of the Empress, and the still juvenile beauties of the +fair historian, were seen to great advantage. In the front of a deep +back-ground of spears and waving crests, stood the sounder of the +sacred trumpet, conspicuous by his size and the richness of his +apparel; he kept his post on a rock above the stone staircase, and, by +an occasional note of his instrument, intimated to the squadrons +beneath that they should stay their progress, and attend the motions of +the Empress and the wife of the Caesar. + +The fair form of the Countess Brenhilda, and the fantastic appearance +of her half masculine garb, attracted the attention of the ladies of +Alexius' family, but was too extraordinary to command their admiration. +Agelastes became sensible there was a necessity that he should +introduce his guests to each other, if he desired they should meet on +satisfactory terms. "May I speak," he said, "and live? The armed +strangers whom you find now with me are worthy companions of those +myriads, whom zeal for the suffering inhabitants of Palestine has +brought from the western extremity of Europe, at once to enjoy the +countenance of Alexius Comnenus, and to aid him, since it pleases him +to accept their assistance, in expelling the Paynims from the bounds of +the sacred empire, and garrison those regions in their stead, as +vassals of his Imperial Majesty." + +"We are pleased," said the Empress, "worthy Agelastes, that you should +be kind to those who are disposed to be so reverent to the Emperor. And +We are rather disposed to talk with them ourselves, that our daughter +(whom Apollo hath gifted with the choice talent of recording what she +sees) may become acquainted with one of those female warriors of the +West, of whom we have heard so much by common fame, and yet know so +little with certainty." + +"Madam," said the Count, "I can but rudely express to you what I have +to find fault with in the explanation which this old man hath given of +our purpose in coming hither. Certain it is, we neither owe Alexius +fealty, nor had we the purpose of paying him any, when we took the vow +upon ourselves which brought us against Asia. We came, because we +understood that the Holy Land had been torn from the Greek Emperor by +the Pagans, Saracens, Turks, and other infidels, from whom we are come +to win it back. The wisest and most prudent among us have judged it +necessary to acknowledge the Emperor's authority, since there was no +such safe way of passing to the discharge of our vow, as that of +acknowledging fealty to him, as the best mode of preventing quarrels +among Christian States. We, though independent of any earthly king, do +not pretend to be greater men than they, and therefore have +condescended to pay the same homage." + +The Empress coloured several times with indignation in the course of +this speech, which, in more passages than one, was at variance with +those imperial maxims of the Grecian court, which held its dignity so +high, and plainly intimated a tone of opinion which was depreciating to +the Emperor's power. But the Empress Irene had received instructions +from her imperial spouse to beware how she gave, or even took, any +ground of quarrel with the crusaders, who, though coming in the +appearance of subjects, were, nevertheless, too punctilious and ready +to take fire, to render them safe discussers of delicate differences. +She made a graceful reverence accordingly, as if she had scarce +understood what the Count of Paris had explained so bluntly. + +At this moment the appearance of the principal persons on either hand +attracted, in a wonderful degree, the attention of the other party, and +there seemed to exist among them a general desire of further +acquaintance, and, at the same time, a manifest difficulty in +expressing such a wish. + +Agelastes--to begin with the master of the house--had risen from the +ground indeed, but without venturing to assume an upright posture; he +remained before the Imperial ladies with his body and head still bent, +his hand interposed between his eyes and their faces, like a man that +would shade his eyesight from the level sun, and awaited in silence the +commands of those to whom he seemed to think it disrespectful to +propose the slightest action, save by testifying in general, that his +house and his slaves were at their unlimited command. The Countess of +Paris, on the other hand, and her warlike husband, were the peculiar +objects of curiosity to Irene, and her accomplished daughter, Anna +Comnena; and it occurred to both these Imperial ladies, that they had +never seen finer specimens of human strength and beauty; but by a +natural instinct, they preferred the manly bearing of the husband to +that of the wife, which seemed to her own sex rather too haughty and +too masculine to be altogether pleasing. + +Count Robert and his lady had also their own object of attention in the +newly arrived group, and, to speak truth, it was nothing else than the +peculiarities of the monstrous animal which they now saw, for the first +time, employed as a beast of burden in the service of the fair Irene +and her daughter. The dignity and splendour of the elder Princess, the +grace and vivacity of the younger, were alike lost in Brenhilda's +earnest inquiries into the history of the elephant, and the use which +it made of its trunk, tusks, and huge ears, upon different occasions. + +Another person, who took a less direct opportunity to gaze on Brenhilda +with a deep degree of interest, was the Caesar, Nicephorus. This Prince +kept his eye as steadily upon the Frankish Countess as he could well do, +without attracting the attention, and exciting perhaps the suspicions, +of his wife and mother-in-law; he therefore endeavoured to restore +speech to an interview which would have been awkward without it. "It is +possible," he said, "beautiful Countess, that this being your first +visit to the Queen, of the world, you have never hitherto seen the +singularly curious animal called the elephant." + +"Pardon me," said the Countess, "I have been treated by this learned +gentleman to a sight, and some account of that wonderful creature." + +By all who heard this observation, the Lady Brenhilda was supposed to +have made a satirical thrust at the philosopher himself, who, in the +imperial court, usually went by the name of the elephant. + +"No one could describe the beast more accurately than Agelastes," said +the Princess, with a smile of intelligence, which went round her +attendants. + +"He knows its docility, its sensibility, and its fidelity," said the +philosopher, in a subdued tone. + +"True, good Agelastes," said the Princess; "we should not criticise the +animal which kneels to take us up.--Come, lady of a foreign land," she +continued, turning to the Frank Count, and especially his Countess-- +"and you her gallant lord! When you return to your native country, you +shall say you have seen the imperial family partake of their food, and +in so far acknowledge themselves to be of the same clay with other +mortals, sharing their poorest wants, and relieving them in the same +manner." + +"That, gentle lady, I can well believe," said Count Robert; "my +curiosity would be more indulged by seeing this strange animal at his +food." + +"You will see the elephant more conveniently at his mess within doors," +answered the Princess, looking at Agelastes. + +"Lady," said Brenhilda, "I would not willingly refuse an invitation +given in courtesy, but the sun has waxed low unnoticed, and we must +return to the city." + +"Be not afraid," said the fair historian; "you shall have the advantage +of our Imperial escort to protect you in your return." + +"Fear?---afraid?--escort?--protect?--These are words I know not. Know, +lady, that my husband, the noble Count of Paris, is my sufficient +escort; and even were he not with me, Brenhilda de Aspramonte fears +nothing, and can defend herself." + +"Fair daughter," said Agelastes, "if I may be permitted to speak, you +mistake the gracious intentions of the Princess, who expresses herself +as to a lady of her own land. What she desires is to learn from you +some of the most marked habits and manners of the Franks, of which you +are so beautiful an example; and in return for such information the +illustrious Princess would be glad to procure your entrance to those +spacious collections, where animals from all corners of the habitable +world have been assembled at the command of our Emperor Alexius, as if +to satisfy the wisdom of those sages to whom all creation is known, +from the deer so small in size that it is exceeded by an ordinary rat, +to that huge and singular inhabitant of Africa that can browse on the +tops of trees that are forty feet high, while the length of its hind- +legs does not exceed the half of that wondrous height." + +"It is enough," said the Countess, with some eagerness; but Agelastes +had got a point of discussion after his own mind. + +"There is also," he said, "that huge lizard, which, resembling in shape +the harmless inhabitant of the moors of other countries, is in Egypt a +monster thirty feet in length, clothed in impenetrable scales, and +moaning over his prey when he catches it, with the hope and purpose of +drawing others within his danger, by mimicking the lamentations of +humanity." + +"Say no more, father!" exclaimed the lady. "My Robert, we will go--will +we not, where such objects are to be seen?" + +"There is also," said Agelastes, who saw that he would gain his point +by addressing himself to the curiosity of the strangers, "the huge +animal, wearing on its back an invulnerable vestment, having on its +nose a horn, and sometimes two, the folds of whose hide are of the most +immense thickness, and which never knight was able to wound." + +"We will go, Robert--will we not?" reiterated the Countess. + +"Ay," replied the Count, "and teach, these Easterns how to judge of a +knight's sword, by a single blow of my trusty Tranchefer." + +"And who knows," said Brenhilda, "since this is a land of enchantment, +but what some person, who is languishing in a foreign shape, may have +their enchantment unexpectedly dissolved by a stroke of the good +weapon?" + +"Say no more, father!" exclaimed the Count. "We will attend this +Princess, since such she is, were her whole escort bent to oppose our +passage, instead of being by her command to be our guard. For know, all +who hear me, thus much of the nature of the Franks, that when you tell +us of danger and difficulties, you give us the same desire to travel +the road where they lie, as other men have in seeking either pleasure +or profit in the paths in which such are to be found." + +As the Count pronounced these words, he struck his hand upon his +Tranchefer, as an illustration of the manner in which he purposed upon +occasion to make good his way. The courtly circle startled somewhat at +the clash of steel, and the fiery look of the chivalrous Count Robert. +The Empress indulged her alarm by retreating into the inner apartment +of the pavilion. + +With a grace, which was rarely deigned to any but those in close +alliance with the Imperial family, Anna Comnena took the arm of the +noble Count. "I see," she said, "that the Imperial Mother has honoured +the house of the learned Agelastes, by leading the way; therefore, to +teach you Grecian breeding must fall to my share." Saying this she +conducted him to the inner apartment. + +"Fear not for your wife," she said, as she noticed the Frank look +round; "our husband, like ourselves, has pleasure in showing attention +to the stranger, and will lead the Countess to our board. It is not the +custom of the Imperial family to eat in company with strangers; but we +thank Heaven for having instructed us in that civility, which can know +no degradation in dispensing with ordinary rules to do honour to +strangers of such merit as yours. I know it will be my mother's request, +that you will take your places without ceremony; and also, although the +grace be somewhat particular, I am sure that it will have my Imperial +father's approbation. + +"Be it as your ladyship lists," said Count Robert. "There are few men +to whom I would yield place at the board, if they had not gone before +me in the battle-field. To a lady, especially so fair a one, I +willingly yield my place, and bend my knee, whenever I have the good +hap to meet her." + +The Princess Anna, instead of feeling herself awkward in the discharge +of the extraordinary, and, as she might have thought it, degrading +office of ushering a barbarian chief to the banquet, felt, on the +contrary, flattered, at having bent to her purpose a heart so obstinate +as that of Count Robert, and elated, perhaps, with a certain degree of +satisfied pride while under his momentary protection. + +The Empress Irene had already seated herself at the head of the table. +She looked with some astonishment, when her daughter and son-in-law, +taking their seats at her right and left hand, invited the Count and +Countess of Paris, the former to recline, the latter to sit at the +board, in the places next to themselves; but she had received the +strictest orders from her husband to be deferential in every respect to +the strangers, and did not think it right, therefore, to interpose any +ceremonious scruples. + +The Countess took her seat, as indicated, beside the Caesar; and the +Count, instead of reclining in the mode of the Grecian men, also seated +himself in the European fashion by the Princess. + +"I will not lie prostrate," said he, laughing, "except in consideration +of a blow weighty enough to compel me to do so; nor then either, if I +am able to start up and return it." + +The service of the table then began, and, to say truth, it appeared to +be an important part of the business of the day. The officers who +attended to perform their several duties of deckers of the table, +sewers of the banquet, removers and tasters to the Imperial family, +thronged into the banqueting room, and seemed to vie with each other in +calling upon Agelastes for spices, condiments, sauces, and wines of +various kinds, the variety and multiplicity of their demands being +apparently devised _ex preposito_, for stirring the patience of +the philosopher. But Agelastes, who had anticipated most of their +requests, however unusual, supplied them completely, or in the greatest +part, by the ready agency of his active slave Diogenes, to whom, at the +same time, he contrived to transfer all blame for the absence of such +articles as he was unable to provide. + +"Be Homer my witness, the accomplished Virgil, and the curious felicity +of Horace, that, trifling and unworthy as this banquet was, my note of +directions to this thrice unhappy slave gave the instructions to +procure every ingredient necessary to convey to each dish its proper +gusto.--Ill-omened carrion that thou art, wherefore placedst thou the +pickled cucumber so far apart from the boar's head? and why are these +superb congers unprovided with a requisite quantity of fennel? The +divorce betwixt the shell-fish and the Chian wine, in a presence like +this, is worthy of the divorce of thine own soul from thy body; or, to +say the least, of a lifelong residence in the Pistrinum." While thus +the philosopher proceeded with threats, curses, and menaces against his +slave, the stranger might have an opportunity of comparing the little +torrent of his domestic eloquence, which the manners of the times did +not consider as ill-bred, with the louder and deeper share of adulation +towards his guests. They mingled like the oil with the vinegar and +pickles which Diogenes mixed for the sauce. Thus the Count and Countess +had an opportunity to estimate the happiness and the felicity reserved +for those slaves, whom the Omnipotent Jupiter, in the plenitude of +compassion for their state, and in guerdon of their good morals, had +dedicated to the service of a philosopher. The share they themselves +took in the banquet, was finished with a degree of speed which gave +surprise not only to their host, but also to the Imperial guests. + +The Count helped himself carelessly out of a dish which stood near him, +and partaking of a draught of wine, without enquiring whether it was of +the vintage which the Greeks held it matter of conscience to mingle +with that species of food, he declared himself satisfied; nor could the +obliging entreaties of his neighbour, Anna Comnena, induce him to +partake of other messes represented as being either delicacies or +curiosities. His spouse ate still more moderately of the food which +seemed most simply cooked, and stood nearest her at the board, and +partook of a cup of crystal water, which she slightly tinged with wine, +at the persevering entreaty of the Caesar. They then relinquished the +farther business of the banquet, and leaning back upon their seats, +occupied themselves in watching the liberal credit done to the feast by +the rest of the guests present. + +A modern synod of gourmands would hardly have equalled the Imperial +family of Greece seated, at a philosophical banquet, whether in the +critical knowledge displayed of the science of eating in all its +branches, or in the practical cost and patience with which they +exercised it. The ladies, indeed, did not eat much of any one dish, but +they tasted of almost all that were presented to them, and their name +was Legion. Yet, after a short time, in Homeric phrase, the rage of +thirst and hunger was assuaged, or, more probably, the Princess Anna +Comnena was tired of being an object of some inattention to the guest +who sat next her, and who, joining his high military character to his +very handsome presence, was a person by whom few ladies would willingly +be neglected. There is no new guise, says our father Chaucer, but what +resembles an old one; and the address of Anna Comnena to the Frankish +Count might resemble that of a modern lady of fashion, in her attempts +to engage in conversation the _exquisite_, who sits by her side in +an apparently absent fit. "We have piped unto you," said the Princess, +"and you have not danced! We have sung to you the jovial chorus of +_Evoe, evoe,_ and you will neither worship Comus nor Bacchus! Are +we then to judge you a follower of the Muses, in whose service, as well +as in that of Phoebus, we ourselves pretend to be enlisted?" + +"Fair lady," replied the Frank, "be not offended at my stating once for +all, in plain terms, that I am a Christian man, spitting at, and +bidding defiance to Apollo, Bacchus, Comus, and all other heathen +deities whatsoever." + +"O! cruel interpretation of my unwary words!" said the Princess; "I did +but mention the gods of music, poetry, and eloquence, worshipped by our +divine philosophers, and whose names are still used to distinguish the +arts and sciences over which they presided--and the Count interprets it +seriously into a breach of the second commandment! Our Lady preserve me, +we must take care how we speak, when our words are so sharply +interpreted." + +The Count laughed as the Princess spoke. "I had no offensive meaning, +madam," he said, "nor would I wish to interpret your words otherwise +than as being most innocent and praiseworthy. I shall suppose that your +speech contained all that was fair and blameless. You are, I have +understood, one of those who, like our worthy host, express in +composition the history and feats of the warlike time in which you live, +and give to the posterity which shall succeed us, the knowledge of the +brave deeds which have been achieved in our day. I respect the task to +which you have dedicated yourself, and know not how a lady could lay +after ages under an obligation to her in the same degree, unless, like +my wife, Brenhilda, she were herself to be the actress of deeds which +she recorded. And, by the way, she now looks towards her neighbour at +the table, as if she were about to rise and leave him; her inclinations +are towards Constantinople, and, with your ladyship's permission, I +cannot allow her to go thither alone." + +"That you shall neither of you do," said Anna Comnena; "since we all go +to the capital directly, and for the purpose of seeing those wonders of +nature, of which numerous examples have been collected by the splendour +of my Imperial father.--If my husband seems to have given offence to +the Countess, do not suppose that it was intentionally dealt to her; on +the contrary, you will find the good man, when you are better +acquainted with him, to be one of those simple persons who manage so +unhappily what they mean for civilties, that those to whom they are +addressed receive them frequently in another sense." + +The Countess of Paris, however, refused again to sit down to the table +from which she had risen, so that Agelastes and his Imperial guests saw +themselves under the necessity either to permit the strangers to depart, +which they seemed unwilling to do, or to detain them by force, to +attempt which might not perhaps have been either safe or pleasant; or, +lastly, to have waived the etiquette of rank and set out along with +them, at the same time managing their dignity, so as to take the +initiatory step, though the departure took place upon the motion of +their wilful guests. Much tumult there was--bustling, disputing, and +shouting--among the troops and officers who were thus moved from their +repast, two hours at least sooner than had been experienced upon +similar occasions in the memory of the oldest among them. A different +arrangement of the Imperial party likewise seemed to take place by +mutual consent. + +Nicephorus Briennius ascended the seat upon the elephant, and remained +there placed beside his august mother-in-law. Agelastes, on a sober- +minded palfrey, which permitted him to prolong his philosophical +harangues at his own pleasure, rode beside the Countess Brenhilda, whom +he made the principal object of his oratory. The fair historian, though +she usually travelled in a litter, preferred upon this occasion a +spirited horse, which enabled her to keep pace with Count Robert of +Paris, on whose imagination, if not his feelings, she seemed to have it +in view to work a marked impression. The conversation of the Empress +with her son-in-law requires no special detail. It was a tissue of +criticisms upon the manners and behaviour of the Franks, and a hearty +wish that they might be soon transported from the realms of Greece, +never more to return. Such was at least the tone of the Empress, nor +did the Caesar find it convenient to express any more tolerant opinion +of the strangers. On the other hand, Agelastes made a long circuit ere +he ventured to approach the subject which he wished to introduce. He +spoke of the menagerie of the Emperor as a most superb collection of +natural history; he extolled different persons at court for having +encouraged Alexius Comnenus in this wise and philosophical amusement. +But, finally, the praise of all others was abandoned that the +philosopher might dwell upon that of Nicephorus Briennius, to whom the +cabinet or collection of Constantinople was indebted, he said, for the +principal treasures it contained. + +"I am glad it is so," said the haughty Countess, without lowering her +voice or affecting any change of manner; "I am glad that he understands +some things better worth understanding than whispering with stranger +young women. Credit me, if he gives much license to his tongue among +such women of nay country as these stirring times may bring hither, +some one or other of them will fling him into the cataract which dashes +below." + +"Pardon me, fair lady," said Agelastes; "no female heart could meditate +an action so atrocious against so fine a form as that of the Caesar +Nicephorus Briennius." + +"Put it not on that issue, father," said the offended Countess; "for, +by my patroness Saint, our Lady of the Broken Lances, had it not been +for regard to these two ladies, who seemed to intend some respect to my +husband and myself, that same Nicephorus should have been as perfectly +a Lord of the Broken Bones as any Caesar who has borne the title since +the great Julius!" + +The philosopher, upon this explicit information, began to entertain +some personal fear for himself, and hastened, by diverting the +conversation, which he did with great dexterity, to the story of Hero +and Leander, to put the affront received out of the head of this +unscrupulous Amazon. + +Meantime, Count Robert of Paris was engrossed, as it may be termed, by +the fair Anna Comnena. She spoke on all subjects, on some better, +doubtless, others worse, but on none did she suspect herself of any +deficiency; while the good Count wished heartily within himself that +his companion had been safely in bed with the enchanted Princess of +Zulichium. She performed, right or wrong, the part of a panegyrist of +the Normans, until at length the Count, tired of hearing her prate of +she knew not exactly what, broke in as follows:-- + +"Lady," he said, "notwithstanding I and my followers are sometimes so +named, yet we are not Normans, who come hither as a numerous and +separate body of pilgrims, under the command of their Duke Robert, a +valiant, though extravagant, thoughtless, and weak man. I say nothing +against the fame of these Normans. They conquered, in our fathers' days, +a kingdom far stronger than their own, which men call England; I see +that you entertain some of the natives of which country in your pay, +under the name of Varangians. Although defeated, as I said, by the +Normans, they are, nevertheless, a brave race; nor would we think +ourselves much dishonoured by mixing in battle with them. Still we are +the valiant Franks, who had their dwelling on the eastern banks of the +Rhine and of the Saale, who were converted to the Christian faith by +the celebrated Clovis, and are sufficient, by our numbers and courage, +to re-conquer the Holy Land, should all Europe besides stand neutral in +the contest." + +There are few things more painful to the vanity of a person like the +Princess, than the being detected in an egregious error, at the moment +she is taking credit to herself for being peculiarly accurately +informed. + +"A false slave, who knew not what he was saying, I suppose," said the +Princess, "imposed upon me the belief that the Varangians were the +natural enemies of the Normans. I see him marching there by the side of +Achilles Tatius, the leader of his corps.--Call him hither, you +officers!--Yonder tall man, I mean, with the battle-axe upon his +shoulder." + +Hereward, distinguished by his post at the head of the squadron, was +summoned from thence to the presence of the Princess, where he made his +military obeisance with a cast of sternness in his aspect, as his +glance lighted upon the proud look of the Frenchman who rode beside +Anna Comnena. + +"Did I not understand thee, fellow," said Anna Comnena, "to have +informed me, nearly a month ago, that the Normans and the Franks were +the same people, and enemies to the race from which you spring?" + +"The Normans are our mortal enemies, Lady," answered Hereward, "by whom +we were driven from our native land. The Franks are subjects of the +same Lord-Paramount with the Normans, and therefore they neither love +the Varangians, nor are beloved by them." + +"Good fellow," said the French Count, "you do the Franks wrong, and +ascribe to the Varangians, although not unnaturally, an undue degree of +importance, when you suppose that a race which has ceased to exist as +an independent nation for more than a generation, can be either an +object of interest or resentment to such as we are." + +"I am no stranger," said the Varangian, "to the pride of your heart, or +the precedence which you assume over those who have been less fortunate +in war than yourselves. It is God who casteth down and who buildeth up, +nor is there in the world a prospect to which the Varangians would look +forward with more pleasure than that a hundred of their number should +meet in a fair field, either with the oppressive Normans, or their +modern compatriots, the vain Frenchmen, and let God be the judge which +is most worthy of victory." + +"You take an insolent advantage of the chance," said the Count of Paris, +"which gives you an unlooked-for opportunity to brave a nobleman." + +"It is my sorrow and shame," said the Varangian, "that that opportunity +is not complete; and that there is a chain around me which forbids me +to say, Slay me, or I'll kill thee before we part from this spot!" + +"Why, thou foolish and hot-brained churl," replied the Count, "what +right hast thou to the honour of dying by my blade? Thou art mad, or +hast drained the ale-cup so deeply that thou knowest not what thou +thinkest or sayest." + +"Thou liest," said the Varangian; "though such a reproach be the utmost +scandal of thy race." + +The Frenchman motioned his hand quicker than light to his sword, but +instantly withdrew it, and said with dignity, "thou canst not offend +me." + +"But thou," said the exile, "hast offended me in a matter which can +only be atoned by thy manhood." + +"Where and how?" answered the Count; "although it is needless to ask +the question, which thou canst not answer rationally." + +"Thou hast this day," answered the Varangian, "put a mortal affront +upon a great prince, whom thy master calls his ally, and by whom thou +hast been received with every rite of hospitality. Him thou hast +affronted as one peasant at a merry-making would do shame to another, +and this dishonour thou hast done to him in the very face of his own +chiefs and princes, and the nobles from every court of Europe." + +"It was thy master's part to resent my conduct," said the Frenchman, +"if in reality he so much felt it as an affront." + +"But that," said Hereward, "did not consist with the manners of his +country to do. Besides that, we trusty Varangians esteem ourselves +bound by our oath as much to defend our Emperor, while the service +lasts, on every inch of his honour as on every foot of his territory; I +therefore tell thee, Sir Knight, Sir Count, or whatever thou callest +thyself, there is mortal quarrel between thee and the Varangian guard, +ever and until thou hast fought it out in fair and manly battle, body +to body, with one of the said Imperial Varangians, when duty and +opportunity shall permit:--and so God schaw the right!" + +As this passed in the French language, the meaning escaped the +understanding of such Imperialists as were within hearing at the time; +and the Princess, who waited with some astonishment till the Crusader +and the Varangian had finished their conference, when it was over, said +to him with interest, "I trust you feel that poor man's situation to be +too much at a distance from your own, to admit of your meeting him in +what is termed knightly battle?" + +"On such a question," said the knight, "I have but one answer to any +lady who does not, like my Brenhilda, cover herself with a shield, and +bear a sword by her side, and the heart of a knight in her bosom." + +"And suppose for once," said the Princess Anna Comnena, "that I +possessed such titles to your confidence, what would your answer be to +me?" + +"There can be little reason for concealing it," said the Count. "The +Varangian is a brave man, and a strong one; it is contrary to my vow to +shun his challenge, and perhaps I shall derogate from my rank by +accepting it; but the world is wide, and he is yet to be born who has +seen Robert of Paris shun the face of mortal man. By means of some +gallant officer among the Emperor's guards, this poor fellow, who +nourishes so strange an ambition, shall learn that he shall have his +wish gratified." + +"And then?"--said Anna Comnena. + +"Why, then," said the Count, "in the poor man's own language, God schaw +the right!" + +"Which is to say," said the Princess, "that if my father has an officer +of his guards honourable enough to forward so pious and reasonable a +purpose, the Emperor must lose an ally, in whose faith he puts +confidence, or a most trusty and faithful soldier of his personal guard, +who has distinguished himself upon many occasions?" + +"I am happy to hear," said the Count, "that the man bears such a +character. In truth, his ambition ought to have some foundation. The +more I think of it, the rather am I of opinion that there is something +generous, rather than derogatory, in giving to the poor exile, whose +thoughts are so high and noble, those privileges of a man of rank, +which some who were born in such lofty station are too cowardly to +avail themselves of. Yet despond not, noble Princess; the challenge is +not yet accepted of, and if it was, the issue is in the hand of God. As +for me, whose trade is war, the sense that I have something so serious +to transact with this resolute man, will keep me from other less +honourable quarrels, in which a lack of occupation might be apt to +involve me." + +The Princess made no farther observation, being resolved, by private +remonstrance to Achilles Tatius, to engage him to prevent a meeting +which might be fatal to the one or the other of two brave men. The town +now darkened before them, sparkling, at the same time, through its +obscurity, by the many lights which illuminated the houses of the +citizens. The royal cavalcade held their way to the Golden Gate, where +the trusty centurion put his guard under arms to receive them. + +"We must now break off, fair ladies," said the Count, as the party, +having now dismounted, were standing together at the private gate of +the Blacquernal Palace, "and find as we can, the lodgings which we +occupied last night." + +"Under your favour, no," said the Empress. "You must be content to take +your supper and repose in quarters more fitting your rank; and," added +Irene, "with no worse quartermaster than one of the Imperial family who +hag been your travelling companion." + +This the Count heard, with considerable inclination to accept the +hospitality which was so readily offered. Although as devoted as a man +could well be to the charms of his Brenhilda, the very idea never +having entered his head of preferring another's beauty to hers, yet, +nevertheless, he had naturally felt himself flattered by the attentions +of a woman of eminent beauty and very high rank; and the praises with +which the Princess had loaded him, had not entirely fallen to the +ground. He was no longer in the humour in which the morning had found +him, disposed to outrage the feelings of the Emperor, and to insult his +dignity; but, flattered by the adroit sycophancy which the old +philosopher had learned from the schools, and the beautiful Princess +had been gifted with by nature, he assented to the Empress's proposal; +the more readily, perhaps, that the darkness did not permit him to see +that there was distinctly a shade of displeasure on the brow of +Brenhilda. Whatever the cause, she cared not to express it, and the +married pair had just entered that labyrinth of passages through which +Hereward had formerly wandered, when a chamberlain, and a female +attendant, richly dressed, bent the knee before them, and offered them +the means and place to adjust their attire, ere they entered the +Imperial presence. Brenhilda looked upon her apparel and arms, spotted +with the blood of the insolent Scythian, and, Amazon as she was, felt +the shame of being carelessly and improperly dressed. The arms of the +knight were also bloody, and in disarrangement. + +"Tell my female squire, Agatha, to give her attendance," said the +Countess. "She alone is in the habit of assisting to unarm and to +attire me." + +"Now, God be praised," thought the Grecian lady of the bed-chamber, +"that I am not called to a toilet where smiths' hammers and tongs are +like to be the instruments most in request!" + +"Tell Marcian, my armourer," said the Count, "to attend with the silver +and blue suit of plate and mail which I won in a wager from the Count +of Thoulouse." [Footnote: Raymond Count of Thoulouse, and St. Giles, +Duke of Carboune, and Marquis of Provence, an aged warrior who had won +high distinction in the contests against the Saracens in Spain, was the +chief leader of the Crusaders from the south of France. His title of St. +Giles is corrupted by Anna Comnena into _Sangles_, by which name +she constantly mentions him in the Alexiad.] + +"Might I not have the honour of adjusting your armour," said a +splendidly drest courtier, with some marks of the armourer's profession, +"since I have put on that of the Emperor himself?--may his name be +sacred!" + +"And how many rivets hast thou clenched upon the occasion with this +hand," said the Count, catching hold of it, "which looks as if it had +never been washed, save with milk of roses,--and with this childish +toy?" pointing to a hammer with ivory haft and silver head, which, +stuck into a milk-white kidskin apron, the official wore as badges of +his duty. The armourer fell back in some confusion. "His grasp," he +said to another domestic, "is like the seizure of a vice!" + +While this little scene passed apart, the Empress Irene, her daughter, +and her son-in-law, left the company, under pretence of making a +necessary change in their apparel. Immediately after, Agelastes was +required to attend the Emperor, and the strangers were conducted to two +adjacent chambers of retirement, splendidly fitted up, and placed for +the present at their disposal, and that of their attendants. There we +shall for a time leave them, assuming, with the assistance of their own +attendants, a dress which their ideas regarded as most fit for a great +occasion; those of the Grecian court willingly keeping apart from a +task which they held nearly as formidable as assisting at the lair of a +royal tiger or his bride. + +Agelastes found the Emperor sedulously arranging his most splendid +court-dress; for, as in the court of Pekin, the change of ceremonial +attire was a great part of the ritual observed at Constantinople. + +"Thou hast done well, wise Agelastes," said Alexius to the philosopher, +as he approached with abundance of prostrations and genuflexions--"Thou +hast done well, and we are content with thee. Less than thy wit and +address must have failed in separating from their company this tameless +bull, and unyoked heifer, over whom, if we obtain influence, we shall +command, by every account, no small interest among those who esteem +them the bravest in the host." + +"My humble understanding," said Agelastes, "had been infinitely +inferior to the management of so prudent and sagacious a scheme, had it +not been shaped forth and suggested by the inimitable wisdom of your +most sacred Imperial Highness." + +"We are aware," said Alexius, "that we had the merit of blocking forth +the scheme of detaining these persons, either by their choice as allies, +or by main force as hostages. Their friends, ere yet they have missed +them, will be engaged in war with the Turks, and at no liberty, if the +devil should suggest such an undertaking, to take arms against the +sacred empire. Thus, Agelastes, we shall obtain hostages at least as +important and as valuable as that Count of Vermandois, whose liberty +the tremendous Godfrey of Bouillon extorted from us by threats of +instant war." + +"Pardon," said Agelastes, "if I add another reason to those which of +themselves so heavily support your august resolution. It is possible +that we may, by observing the greatest caution and courtesy towards +these strangers, win them in good earnest to our side." + +"I conceive you, I conceive you,"--said the Emperor; "and this very +night I will exhibit myself to this Count and his lady in the royal +presence chamber, in the richest robes which our wardrobe can furnish. +The lions of Solomon shall roar, the golden tree of Comnenus shall +display its wonders, and the feeble eyes of these Franks shall be +altogether dazzled by the splendour of the empire. These spectacles +cannot but sink into their minds, and dispose them to become the allies +and servants of a nation so much more powerful, skilful, and wealthy +than their own--Thou hast something to say, Agelastes. Years and long +study have made thee wise; though we have given our opinion, thou mayst +speak thine own, and live." + +Thrice three times did Agelastes press his brow against the hem of the +Emperor's garment, and great seemed his anxiety to find such words as +might intimate his dissent from his sovereign, yet save him from the +informality of contradicting him expressly. + +"These sacred words, in which your sacred Highness has uttered your +most just and accurate opinions, are undeniable, and incapable of +contradiction, were any vain enough to attempt to impugn them. +Nevertheless, be it lawful to say, that men show the wisest arguments +in vain to those who do not understand reason, just as you would in +vain exhibit a curious piece of limning to the blind, or endeavour to +bribe, as scripture saith, a sow by the offer of a precious stone. The +fault is not, in such case, in the accuracy of your sacred reasoning, +but in the obtuseness and perverseness of the barbarians to whom it is +applied." + +"Speak more plainly," said the Emperor; "how often must we tell thee, +that in cases in which we really want counsel, we know we must be +contented to sacrifice ceremony?" + +"Then in plain words," said Agelastes, "these European barbarians are +like no others under the cope of the universe, either on the things on +which they look with desire, or on those which they consider as +discouraging. The treasures of this noble empire, so far as they +affected their wishes, would merely inspire them with the desire to go +to war with a nation possessed of so much wealth, and who, in their +self-conceited estimation, were less able to defend, than they +themselves are powerful to assail. Of such a description, for instance, +is Bohemond of Tarentum,--and such, a one is many a crusader less able +and sagacious than he;--for I think I need not tell your Imperial +Divinity, that he holds his own self-interest to be the devoted guide +of his whole conduct through this extraordinary war; and that, +therefore, you can justly calculate his course, when once you are aware +from which point of the compass the wind of avarice and self-interest +breathes with respect to him. But there are spirits among the Franks of +a very different nature, and who must be acted upon by very different +motives, if we would make ourselves masters of their actions, and the +principles by which they are governed. If it were lawful to do so, I +would request your Majesty to look at the manner by which an artful +juggler of your court achieves his imposition upon the eyes of +spectators, yet needfully disguises the means by which he attains his +object. This people--I mean the more lofty-minded of these crusaders, +who act up to the pretences of the doctrines which they call chivalry-- +despise the thirst of gold, and gold itself, unless to hilt their +swords, or to furnish forth some necessary expenses, as alike useless +and contemptible. The man who can be moved by the thirst of gain, they +contemn, scorn, and despise, and liken him, in the meanness of his +objects, to the most paltry serf that ever followed the plough, or +wielded the spade. On the other hand, if it happens that they actually +need gold, they are sufficiently unceremonious in taking it where they +can most easily find it. Thus, they are neither easily to be bribed by +giving them sums of gold, nor to be starved into compliance by +withholding what chance may render necessary for them. In the one case, +they set no value upon the gift of a little paltry yellow dross; in the +other, they are accustomed to take what they want." + +"Yellow dross," interrupted Alexius. "Do they call that noble metal, +equally respected by Roman and barbarian, by rich and poor, by great +and mean, by churchmen and laymen, which all mankind are fighting for, +plotting for, planning for, intriguing for, and damning themselves for, +both soul and body--by the opprobrious name of yellow dross? They are +mad, Agelastes, utterly mad. Perils and dangers, penalties and scourges, +are the arguments to which men who are above the universal influence +which moves all others, can possibly be accessible." + +"Nor are they," said Agelastes, "more accessible to fear than they are +to self-interest. They are indeed, from their boyhood, brought up to +scorn those passions which influence ordinary minds, whether by means +of avarice to impel, or of fear to hold back. So much is this the case, +that what is enticing to other men, must, to interest them, have the +piquant sauce of extreme danger. I told, for instance, to this very +hero, a legend of a Princess of Zulichium, who lay on an enchanted +couch, beautiful as an angel, awaiting the chosen knight who should, by +dispelling her enchanted slumbers, become master of her person, of her +kingdom of Zulichium, and of her countless treasures; and, would your +Imperial Majesty believe me, I could scarce get the gallant to attend +to my legend or take any interest in the adventure, till I assured him +he would have to encounter a winged dragon, compared to which the +largest of those in the Frank romances was but like a mere dragon-fly?" + +"And did this move the gallant?" said the Emperor. + +"So much so," replied the philosopher, "that had I not unfortunately, +by the earnestness of my description, awakened the jealousy of his +Penthesilea of a Countess, he had forgotten the crusade and all +belonging to it, to go in quest of Zulichium and its slumbering +sovereign." + +"Nay, then," said the Emperor, "we have in our empire (make us sensible +of the advantage!) innumerable tale-tellers who are not possessed in +the slightest degree of that noble scorn of gold which is proper to the +Franks, but shall, for a brace of besants, lie with the devil, and beat +him to boot, if in that manner we can gain, as mariners say, the +weathergage of the Franks." + +"Discretion," said Agelastes, "is in the highest degree necessary. +Simply to lie is no very great matter; it is merely a departure from +the truth, which is little different from missing a mark at archery, +where the whole horizon, one point alone excepted, will alike serve the +shooter's purpose; but to move the Frank as is desired, requires a +perfect knowledge of his temper and disposition, great caution and +presence of mind, and the most versatile readiness in changing from one +subject to another. Had I not myself been, somewhat alert, I might have +paid the penalty of a false step in your Majesty's service, by being +flung into my own cascade by the virago whom I offended." + +"A perfect Thalestris!" said the Emperor; "I shall take care what +offence I give her." + +"If I might speak and live," said Agelastes, "the Caesar Nicephorus +Briennius had best adopt the same precaution." + +"Nicephorus," said the Emperor, "must settle that with our daughter. I +have ever told her that she gives him too much of that history, of +which a page or two is sufficiently refreshing; but by our own self we +must swear it, Agelastes, that, night after night, hearing nothing else, +would subdue the patience of a saint!--Forget, good Agelastes, that +them hast heard me say such a thing--more especially, remember it not +when thou art in presence of our Imperial wife and daughter." + +"Nor were the freedoms taken by the Caesar beyond the bounds of an +innocent gallantry," said Agelastes; "but the Countess, I must needs +say, is dangerous. She killed this day the Scythian Toxartis, by what +seemed a mere fillip on the head." + +"Hah!" said the Emperor; "I knew that Toxartis, and he was like enough +to deserve his death, being a bold unscrupulous marauder. Take notes, +however, how it happened, the names of witnesses, &c., that, if +necessary, we may exhibit the fact as a deed of aggression on the part +of the Count and Countess of Paris, to the assembly of the crusaders." + +"I trust," said Agelastes, "your Imperial Majesty will not easily +resign the golden opportunity of gaining to your standard persons whose +character stands so very high in chivalry. It would cost you but little +to bestow upon them a Grecian island, worth a hundred of their own +paltry lordship of Paris; and if it were given under the condition of +their expelling the infidels or the disaffected who may have obtained +the temporary possession, it would be so much the more likely to be an +acceptable offer. I need not say that the whole knowledge, wisdom, and +skill of the poor Agelastes is at your Imperial Majesty's disposal." + +The Emperor paused for a moment, and then said, as if on full +consideration, "Worthy Agelastes, I dare trust thee in this difficult +and somewhat dangerous matter; but I will keep my purpose of exhibiting +to them the lions of Solomon, and the golden tree of our Imperial +house." + +"To that there can be no objection," returned the philosopher; "only +remember to exhibit few guards, for these Franks are like a fiery +horse; when in temper he may be ridden with a silk thread, but when he +has taken umbrage or suspicion, as they would likely do if they saw +many armed men, a steel bridle would not restrain him." + +"I will be cautious," said the Emperor, "in that particular, as well as +others.--Sound the silver bell, Agelastes, that the officers of our +wardrobe may attend." + +"One single word, while your Highness is alone," said Agelastes. "Will +your Imperial Majesty transfer to me the direction of your menagerie, +or collection of extraordinary creatures?" + +"You make me wonder," said the Emperor, taking a signet, bearing upon +it a lion, with the legend, _Vicit Leo ex tribu Judae_. "This," he +said, "will give thee the command of our dens. And now, be candid for +once with thy master--for deception is thy nature even with me--By what +charm wilt thou subdue these untamed savages?" + +"By the power of falsehood," replied Agelastes, with deep reverence. + +"I believe thee an adept in it," said the Emperor. "And to which of +their foibles wilt thou address it?" + +"To their love of fame," said the philosopher; and retreated backwards +out of the royal apartment, as the officers of the wardrobe entered to +complete the investment of the Emperor in his Imperial habiliments. + + + + +CHAPTER THE FOURTEENTH. + + I will converse with iron-witted fools, + And unrespective boys; none are for me, + That look into me with considerate eyes;-- + High-reaching Buckingham grows circumspect. + RICHARD III. + + +As they parted from each other, the Emperor and philosopher had each +their own anxious thoughts on the interview which had passed between +them; thoughts which they expressed in broken sentences and +ejaculations, though for the better understanding of the degree of +estimation in which they held each other, we will give them a more +regular and intelligible form. + +"Thus, then," half muttered half said Alexius, but so low as to hide +his meaning from the officers of the wardrobe, who entered to do their +office,--"thus, then, this bookworm--this remnant of old heathen +philosophy, who hardly believes, so God save me, the truth of the +Christian creed, has topp'd his part so well that he forces his Emperor +to dissemble in his presence. Beginning by being the buffoon of the +court, he has wormed himself into all its secrets, made himself master +of all its intrigues, conspired with my own son-in-law against me, +debauched my guards,--indeed so woven his web of deceit, that my life +is safe no longer, than he believes me the imperial dolt which I have +affected to seem, in order to deceive him; fortunate that even so can I +escape his cautionary anticipation of my displeasure, by avoiding to +precipitate his measures of violence. But were this sudden storm of the +crusade fairly passed over, the ungrateful Caesar, the boastful coward +Achilles Tatius, and the bosom serpent Agelastes, shall know whether +Alexius Comnenus has been born their dupe. When Greek meets Greek, +comes the strife of subtlety, as well as the tug of war." Thus saying, +he resigned himself to the officers of his wardrobe, who proceeded to +ornament him as the solemnity required, + +"I trust him not," said Agelastes, the meaning of whose gestures and +exclamations, we, in like manner, render into a connected meaning. "I +cannot, and do not trust him--he somewhat overacts his part. He has +borne himself upon other occasions with the shrewd wit of his family +the Comneni; yet he now trusts to the effect of his trumpery lions upon +such a shrewd people as the Franks and Normans, and seems to rely upon +me for the character of men with whom he has been engaged in peace and +war for many years. This can be but to gain my confidence; for there +were imperfect looks, and broken sentences, which seemed to say, +'Agelastes, the Emperor knows thee and confides not in thee.' Yet the +plot is successful and undiscovered, as far as can be judged; and were +I to attempt to recede now, I were lost for ever. A little time to +carry on this intrigue with the Frank, when possibly, by the assistance +of this gallant, Alexius shall exchange the crown for a cloister, or a +still narrower abode; and then, Agelastes, thou deservest to be blotted +from the roll of philosophers, if thou canst not push out of the throne +the conceited and luxurious Caesar, and reign in his stead, a second +Marcus Antoninus, when the wisdom of thy rule, long unfelt in a world +which has been guided by tyrants and voluptuaries, shall soon +obliterate recollection of the manner in which thy power was acquired. +To work then--be active, and be cautious. The time requires it, and the +prize deserves it." + +While these thoughts passed through his mind, he arrayed himself, by +the assistance of Diogenes, in a clean suit of that simple apparel in +which he always frequented the court; a garb as unlike that of a +candidate for royalty, as it was a contrast to the magnificent robes +with which Alexius was now investing himself, + +In their separate apartments, or dressing-rooms, the Count of Paris and +his lady put on the best apparel which they had prepared to meet such a +chance upon their journey. Even in France, Robert was seldom seen in +the peaceful cap and sweeping mantle, whose high plumes and flowing +folds were the garb of knights in times of peace. He was now arrayed in +a splendid suit of armour, all except the head, which was bare +otherwise than as covered by his curled locks. The rest of his person +was sheathed in the complete mail of the time, richly inlaid with +silver, which contrasted with the azure in which the steel was damasked. +His spurs were upon his heels--his sword was by his side, and his +triangular shield was suspended round his neck, bearing, painted upon +it, a number of _fleures-de-lis semees_, as it is called, upon the +field, being the origin of those lily flowers which after times reduced +to three only; and which were the terror of Europe, until they suffered +so many reverses in our own time. + +The extreme height of Count Robert's person adapted him for a garb, +which had a tendency to make persons of a lower stature appear rather +dwarfish and thick when arrayed _cap-a-pie_. The features, with +their self-collected composure, and noble contempt of whatever could +have astounded or shaken an ordinary mind, formed a well-fitted capital +to the excellently proportioned and vigorous frame which they +terminated. The Countess was in more peaceful attire; but her robes +were short and succinct, like those of one who might be called to hasty +exercise. The upper part of her dress consisted of more than one tunic, +sitting close to the body, while a skirt, descending from the girdle, +and reaching to the ankles, embroidered elegantly but richly, completed +an attire which a lady might have worn in much more modern times. Her +tresses were covered with a light steel head-piece, though some of them, +escaping, played round her face, and gave relief to those handsome +features which might otherwise have seemed too formal, if closed +entirely within the verge of steel. Over these undergarments was flung +a rich velvet cloak of a deep green colour, descending from the head, +where a species of hood was loosely adjusted over the helmet, deeply +laced upon its verges and seams, and so long as to sweep the ground +behind. A dagger of rich materials ornamented a girdle of curious +goldsmith's work, and was the only offensive weapon which, +notwithstanding her military occupation, she bore upon this occasion. + +The toilet--as modern times would say--of the Countess, was not nearly +so soon ended as that of Count Robert, who occupied his time, as +husbands of every period are apt to do, in little sub-acid complaints +between jest and earnest, upon the dilatory nature of ladies, and the +time which they lose in doffing and donning their garments. But when +the Countess Brenhilda came forth in the pride of loveliness, from the +inner chamber where she had attired herself, her husband, who was still +her lover, clasped her to his breast and expressed his privilege by the +kiss which he took as of right from a creature so beautiful. Chiding +him for his folly, yet almost returning the kiss which she received, +Brenhilda began now to wonder how they were to find their way to the +presence of the Emperor. + +The query was soon solved, for a gentle knock at the door announced +Agelastes, to whom, as best acquainted with the Frankish manners, had +been committed, by the Emperor, the charge of introducing the noble +strangers. A distant sound, like that of the roaring of a lion, or not +unsimilar to a large and deep gong of modern times, intimated the +commencement of the ceremonial. The black slaves upon guard, who, as +hath been observed, were in small numbers, stood ranged in their state +dresses of white and gold, bearing in one hand a naked sabre, and in +the other a torch of white wax, which served to guide the Count and +Countess through the passages that led to the interior of the palace, +and to the most secret hall of audience. + +The door of this _sanctum sanctorum_ was lower than usual, a +simple stratagem devised by some superstitious officer of the Imperial +household, to compel the lofty-crested Frank to lower his body, as he +presented himself in the Imperial presence. Robert, when the door flew +open, and he discovered in the background the Emperor seated upon his +throne amidst a glare of light, which was broken and reflected in ten +thousand folds by the jewels with which his vestments were covered, +stopt short, and demanded the meaning of introducing him through so low +an arch? Agelastes pointed to the Emperor by way of shifting from +himself a question which he could not have answered. The mute, to +apologize for his silence, yawned, and showed the loss of his tongue. + +"Holy Virgin!" said the Countess, "what can these unhappy Africans have +done, to have deserved a condemnation which involves so cruel a fate?" + +"The hour of retribution is perhaps come," said the Count, in a +displeased tone, while Agelastes, with such hurry as time and place +permitted, entered, making his prostrations and genuflexions, little +doubting that the Frank must follow him, and to do so must lower his +body to the Emperor. The Count, however, in the height of displeasure +at the trick which he conceived had been, intended him, turned himself +round, and entered the presence-chamber with his back purposely turned +to the sovereign, and did not face Alexius until he reached the middle +of the apartment, when he was joined by the Countess, who had made her +approach in a more seemly manner. The Emperor, who had prepared to +acknowledge the Count's expected homage in the most gracious manner, +found himself now even more unpleasantly circumstanced than when this +uncompromising Frank had usurped the royal throne in the course of the +day. + +The officers and nobles who stood around, though a very select number, +were more numerous than usual, as the meeting was not held for counsel, +but merely for state. These assumed such an appearance of mingled +displeasure and confusion as might best suit with the perplexity of +Alexius, while the wily features of the Norman-Italian, Bohemond of +Tarentum, who was also present, had a singular mixture of fantastical +glee and derision. It is the misfortune of the weaker on such occasions, +or at least the more timid, to be obliged to take the petty part of +winking hard, as if not able to see what they cannot avenge. + +Alexius made the signal that the ceremonial of the grand reception +should immediately commence. Instantly the lions of Solomon, which had +been newly furbished, raised their heads, erected their manes, +brandished their tails, until they excited the imagination of Count +Robert, who, being already on fire at the circumstances of his +reception, conceived the bellowing of these automata to be the actual +annunciation of immediate assault. Whether the lions, whose forms he +beheld, were actually lords of the forest,--whether they were mortals +who had suffered transformation,--whether they were productions of the +skill of an artful juggler or profound naturalist, the Count neither +knew nor cared. All that he thought of the danger was, it was worthy of +his courage; nor did his heart permit him a moment's irresolution. He +strode to the nearest lion, which seemed in the act of springing up, +and said, in a tone loud and formidable as its own, "How now, dog!" At +the same time he struck the figure with his clenched fist and steel +gauntlet with so much force, that its head burst, and the steps and +carpet of the throne were covered with wheels, springs, and other +machinery, which had been the means of producing its mimic terrors. + +On this display of the real nature of the cause of his anger, Count +Robert could not but feel a little ashamed of having given way to +passion on such an occasion. He was still more confused when Bohemond, +descending from his station near the Emperor, addressed him in the +Frank language;--"You have done a gallant deed, truly, Count Robert, in +freeing the court of Byzantium from an object of fear which has long +been used to frighten peevish children and unruly barbarians!" + +Enthusiasm has no greater enemy than ridicule. "Why, then," said Count +Robert, blushing deeply at the same time, "did they exhibit its +fantastic terrors to me? I am neither child nor barbarian." + +"Address yourself to the Emperor, then, as an intelligent man," +answered Bohemond. "Say something to him in excuse of your conduct, and +show that our bravery has not entirely run away with our common sense. +And hark you also, while I have a moment's speech of you,--do you and +your wife heedfully follow my example at supper!" These words were +spoken with a significant tone and corresponding look. + +The opinion of Bohemond, from his long intercourse, both in peace and +war, with the Grecian Emperor, gave him great influence with the other +crusaders, and Count Robert yielded to his advice. He turned towards +the Emperor with something liker an obeisance than he had hitherto paid. +"I crave your pardon," he said, "for breaking that gilded piece of +pageantry; but, in sooth, the wonders of sorcery, and the portents of +accomplished and skilful jugglers, are so numerous in this country, +that one does not clearly distinguish what is true from what is false, +or what is real from what is illusory." + +The Emperor, notwithstanding the presence of mind for which he was +remarkable, and the courage in which he was not held by his countrymen +to be deficient, received this apology somewhat awkwardly. Perhaps the +rueful complaisance with which he accepted the Count's apology, might +be best compared to that of a lady of the present day when an awkward +guest has broken a valuable piece of china. He muttered something about +the machines having been long preserved in the Imperial family, as +being made on the model of those which guarded the throne of the wise +King of Israel; to which the blunt plain-spoken Count expressed his +doubt in reply, whether the wisest prince in the world ever +condescended to frighten his subjects or guests by the mimic roarings +of a wooden lion. "If," said he, "I too hastily took it for a living +creature, I have had the worst, by damaging my excellent gauntlet in +dashing to pieces its timber skull." + +The Emperor, after a little more had been said, chiefly on the same +subject, proposed that they should pass to the banquet-room. Marshalled, +accordingly, by the grand sewer of the Imperial table, and attended by +all present, excepting the Emperor and the immediate members of his +family, the Frankish guests were guided through a labyrinth of +apartments, each of which was filled with wonders of nature and art, +calculated to enhance their opinion of the wealth and grandeur which +had assembled together so much that was wonderful. Their passage being +necessarily slow and interrupted, gave the Emperor time to change his +dress, according to the ritual of his court, which did not permit his +appearing twice in the same vesture before the same spectators. He took +the opportunity to summon Agelastes into his presence, and, that their +conference might be secret, he used, in assisting his toilet, the +agency of some of the mutes destined for the service of the interior. + +The temper of Alexius Comnenus was considerably moved, although it was +one of the peculiarities of his situation to be ever under the +necessity of disguising the emotions of his mind, and of affecting, in +presence of his subjects, a superiority to human passion, which he was +far from feeling. It was therefore with gravity, and even reprehension, +that he asked, "By whose error it was that the wily Bohemond, half- +Italian, and half-Norman, was present at this interview? Surely, if +there be one in the crusading army likely to conduct that foolish youth +and his wife behind the scenes of the exhibition by which we hoped to +impose upon them, the Count of Tarentum, as he entitles himself, is +that person." + +"It was that old man," said Agelastes, "(if I may reply and live,) +Michael Cantacuzene, who deemed that his presence was peculiarly +desired; but he returns to the camp this very night." + +"Yes," said Alexius, "to inform Godfrey, and the rest of the crusaders, +that one of the boldest and most highly esteemed of their number is +left, with his wife, a hostage in our Imperial city, and to bring back, +perhaps, an alternative of instant war, unless they are delivered up!" + +"If it is your Imperial Highness's will to think so," said Agelastes, +"you can suffer Count Robert and his wife to return to the camp with +the Italian-Norman." + +"What?" answered the Emperor, "and so lose all the fruits of an +enterprise, the preparations for which have already cost us so much in +actual expense; and, were our heart made of the same stuff with that of +ordinary mortals, would have cost us so much more in vexation and +anxiety? No, no; issue warning to the crusaders, who are still on the +hither side, that farther rendering of homage is dispensed with, and +that they repair to the quays on the banks of the Bosphorus, by peep of +light to-morrow. Let our admiral, as he values his head, pass every man +of them over to the farther side before noon. Let there be largesses, a +princely banquet on the farther bank--all that may increase their +anxiety to pass. Then, Agelastes, we will trust to ourselves to meet +this additional danger, either by bribing the venality of Bohemond, or +by bidding defiance to the crusaders. Their forces are scattered, and +the chief of them, with the leaders themselves, are all now--or by far +the greater part--on the east side of the Bosphorus.--And now to the +banquet! seeing that the change of dress has been made sufficient to +answer the statutes of the household; since our ancestors chose to make +rules for exhibiting us to our subjects, as priests exhibit their +images at their shrines!" + +"Under grant of life," said Agelastes, "it was not done inconsiderately, +but in order that the Emperor, ruled ever by the same laws from father +to son, might ever be regarded as something beyond the common laws of +humanity--the divine image of a saint, therefore, rather than a human +being." + +"We know it, good Agelastes," answered the Emperor, with a smile, "and +we are also aware, that many of our subjects, like the worshippers of +Bel in holy writ, treat us so far as an image, as to assist us in +devouring the revenues of our provinces, which are gathered in our name, +and for our use. These things we now only touch lightly, the time not +suiting them." + +Alexius left the secret council accordingly, after the order for the +passage of the crusaders had been written out and subscribed in due +form, and in the sacred ink of the Imperial chancery. + +Meantime, the rest of the company had arrived in a hall, which, like +the other apartments in the palace, was most tastefully as well as +gorgeously fitted up, except that a table, which presented a princely +banquet, might have been deemed faulty in this respect, that the dishes, +which were most splendid, both in the materials of which they were +composed, and in the viands which they held, were elevated by means of +feet, so as to be upon a level with female guests as they sat, and with +men as they lay recumbent at the banquet which it offered. + +Around stood a number of black slaves richly attired, while the grand +sewer, Michael Cantazucene, arranged the strangers with his golden wand, +and conveyed orders to them, by signs, that all should remain standing +around the table, until a signal should be given. + +The upper end of the board, thus furnished, and thus surrounded, was +hidden by a curtain of muslin and silver, which fell from the top of +the arch under which the upper part seemed to pass. On this curtain the +sewer kept a wary eye; and when he observed it slightly shake, he waved +his wand of office, and all expected the result. + +As if self-moved, the mystic curtain arose, and discovered behind it a +throne eight steps higher than the end of the table, decorated in the +most magnificent manner, and having placed before it a small table of +ivory inlaid with silver, behind which was seated Alexius Comnenus, in +a dress entirely different from what he had worn in the course of the +day, and so much more gorgeous than his former vestments, that it +seemed not unnatural that his subjects should prostrate themselves +before a figure so splendid. His wife, his daughter, and his son-in-law +the Caesar, stood behind him with faces bent to the ground, and it was +with deep humility, that, descending from the throne at the Emperor's +command, they mingled with the guests of the lower table, and, exalted +as they were, proceeded to the festive board at the signal of the grand +sewer. So that they could not be said to partake of the repast with the +Emperor, nor to be placed at the Imperial table, although they supped +in his presence, and were encouraged by his repeated request to them to +make good cheer. No dishes presented at the lower table were offered at +the higher; but wines, and more delicate sorts of food, which arose +before the Emperor as if by magic, and seemed designed for his own +proper use, were repeatedly sent, by his special directions, to one or +other of the guests whom Alexius delighted to honour--among these the +Franks being particularly distinguished. + +The behaviour of Bohemond was on this occasion particularly remarkable. + +Count Robert, who kept an eye upon him, both from his recent words, and +owing to an expressive look which he once or twice darted towards him, +observed, that in no liquors or food, not even those sent from the +Emperor's own table, did this astucious prince choose to indulge. A +piece of bread, taken from the canister at random, and a glass of pure +water, was the only refreshment of which he was pleased to partake. His +alleged excuse was, the veneration due to the Holy Festival of the +Advent, which chanced to occur that very night, and which both the +Greek and Latin rule agree to hold sacred. + +"I had not expected this of you, Sir Bohemond," said the Emperor, "that +you should have refused my personal hospitality at my own board, on the +very day on which you honoured me by entering into my service as vassal +for the principality of Antioch." + +"Antioch is not yet conquered," said Sir Bohemond; "and conscience, +dread sovereign, must always have its exceptions, in whatever temporal +contracts we may engage." + +"Come, gentle Count," said the Emperor, who obviously regarded +Bohemond's inhospitable humour as something arising more from suspicion +than devotion, "we invite, though it is not our custom, our children, +our noble guests, and our principal officers here present, to a general +carouse. Fill the cups called the Nine Muses! let them be brimful of +the wine which is said to be sacred to the Imperial lips!" + +At the Emperor's command the cups were filled; they were of pure gold, +and there was richly engraved upon each the effigy of the Muse to whom +it was dedicated. + +"You at least," said the Emperor, "my gentle Count Robert, you and your +lovely lady, will not have any scruple to pledge your Imperial host?" + +"If that scruple is to imply suspicion of the provisions with which we +are here served, I disdain to nourish such," said Count Robert. "If it +is a sin which I commit by tasting wine to-night, it is a venial one; +nor shall I greatly augment my load by carrying it, with the rest of my +trespasses, to the next confessional." + +"Will you then, Prince Bohemond, not be ruled by the conduct of your +friend?" said the Emperor. + +"Methinks," replied the Norman-Italian, "my friend might have done +better to have been, ruled by mine; but be it as his wisdom pleases. +The flavour of such exquisite wine is sufficient for me." + +"So saying, he emptied the wine into another goblet, and seemed +alternately to admire the carving of the cup, and the flavour of what +it had lately contained. + +"You are right, Sir Bohemond," said the Emperor; "the fabric of that +cup is beautiful; it was done by one of the ancient gravers of Greece. +The boasted cup of Nestor, which Homer has handed down to us, was a +good deal larger perhaps, but neither equalled these in the value of +the material, nor the exquisite beauty of the workmanship. Let each one, +therefore, of my stranger guests, accept of the cup which he either has +or might have drunk out of, as a recollection of me; and may the +expedition against the infidels be as propitious as their confidence +and courage deserve!" + +"If I accept your gift, mighty Emperor," said Bohemond, "it is only to +atone for the apparent discourtesy, when my devotion, compels me to +decline your Imperial pledge, and to show you that we part on the most +intimate terms of friendship." + +So saying, he bowed deeply to the Emperor, who answered him with a +smile, into which was thrown, a considerable portion of sarcastic +expression. + +"And I," said the Count of Paris, "having taken upon my conscience the +fault of meeting your Imperial pledge, may stand excused from incurring +the blame of aiding to dismantle your table of these curious drinking +cups. We empty them to your health, and we cannot in any other respect +profit by them." + +"But Prince Bohemond can," said the Emperor; "to whose quarters they +shall be carried, sanctioned by your generous use. And we have still a +set for you, and for your lovely Countess, equal to that of the Graces, +though no longer matching in number the nymphs of Parnassus.--The +evening bell rings, and calls us to remember the hour of rest, that we +may be ready to meet the labours of to-morrow." + +The party then broke up for the evening. Bohemond left the palace that +night, not forgetting the Muses, of whom he was not in general a +devotee. The result was, as the wily Greek had intended, that he had +established between Bohemond and the Count, not indeed a quarrel, but a +kind of difference of opinion; Bohemond feeling that the fiery Count of +Paris must think his conduct sordid and avaricious, while Count Robert +was far less inclined than before to rely on him as a counsellor. + + + + +CHAPTER THE FIFTEENTH. + + +The Count of Paris and his lady were that night lodged in the Imperial +Palace of the Blacquernal. Their apartments were contiguous, but the +communication between them was cut off for the night by the mutual door +being locked and barred. They marvelled somewhat at this precaution. +The observance, however, of the festival of the Church, was pleaded as +an admissible, and not unnatural excuse for this extraordinary +circumstance. Neither the Count nor his lady entertained, it may be +believed, the slightest personal fear for any thing which could happen +to them. Their attendants, Marcian and Agatha, having assisted their +master and mistress in the performance of their usual offices, left +them, in order to seek the places of repose assigned to them among +persons of their degree. + +The preceding day had been one of excitation, and of much bustle and +interest; perhaps, also, the wine, sacred to the Imperial lips, of +which Count Robert had taken a single, indeed, but a deep draught, was +more potent than the delicate and high-flavoured juice of the Gascogne +grape, to which he was accustomed; at any rate, it seemed to him that, +from the time he felt that he had slept, daylight ought to have been +broad in his chamber when he awaked, and yet it was still darkness +almost palpable. Somewhat surprised, he gazed eagerly around, but could +discern nothing, except two balls of red light which shone from among +the darkness with a self-emitted brilliancy, like the eyes of a wild +animal while it glares upon its prey. The Count started from bed to put +on his armour, a necessary precaution if what he saw should really be a +wild creature and at liberty; but the instant he stirred, a deep growl +was uttered, such as the Count had never heard, but which might be +compared to the sound of a thousand monsters at once; and, as the +symphony, was heard the clash of iron chains, and the springing of a +monstrous creature towards the bedside, which appeared, however, to be +withheld by some fastening from attaining the end of its bound. The +roars which it uttered now ran thick on each other. They were most +tremendous, and must have been heard throughout the whole palace. The +creature seemed to gather itself many yards nearer to the bed than by +its glaring eyeballs it appeared at first to be stationed, and how much +nearer, or what degree of motion, might place him within the monster's +reach, the Count was totally uncertain. Its breathing was even heard, +and Count Robert thought he felt the heat of its respiration, while his +defenceless limbs might not be two yards distant from the fangs which +he heard grinding against each other, and the claws which tore up +fragments of wood from the oaken floor. The Count of Paris was one of +the bravest men who lived in a time when bravery was the universal +property of all who claimed a drop of noble blood, and the knight was a +descendant of Charlemagne. He was, however, a man, and therefore cannot +be said to have endured unappalled a sense of danger so unexpected and +so extraordinary. But his was not a sudden alarm or panic, it was a +calm sense of extreme peril, qualified by a resolution to exert his +faculties to the uttermost, to save his life if it were possible. He +withdrew himself within the bed, no longer a place of rest, being thus +a few feet further from the two glaring eyeballs which remained so +closely fixed upon him, that, in spite of his courage, nature painfully +suggested the bitter imagination of his limbs being mangled, torn, and +churned with their life-blood, in the jaws of some monstrous beast of +prey. One saving thought alone presented itself--this might be a trial, +an experiment of the philosopher Agelastes, or of the Emperor his +master, for the purpose of proving the courage of which the Christians +vaunted so highly, and punishing the thoughtless insult which the Count +had been misadvised enough to put upon the Emperor the preceding day. + +"Well is it said," he reflected in his agony, "beard not the lion in +his den! Perhaps even, now some base slave deliberates whether I have +yet tasted enough of the preliminary agonies of death, and whether he +shall yet slip the chain which keeps the savage from doing his work. +But come death when it will, it shall never be said that Count Robert +was heard to receive it with prayers for compassion, or with cries of +pain or terror." He turned his face to the wall, and waited, with a +strong mental exertion, the death which he conceived to be fast +approaching. + +His first feelings had been unavoidably of a selfish nature. The danger +was too instant, and of a description too horrible, to admit of any +which involved a more comprehensive view of his calamity; and other +reflections of a more distant kind, were at first swallowed up in the +all-engrossing thought of immediate death. But as his ideas became +clearer, the safety of his Countess rushed upon his mind--what might +she now be suffering! and, while he was subjected to a trial so +extraordinary, for what were her weaker frame and female courage +reserved? Was she still within a few yards of him, as when he lay down +the last night? or had the barbarians, who had devised for him a scene +so cruel, availed themselves of his and his lady's incautious +confidence to inflict upon her some villany of the same kind, or even +yet more perfidious? Did she sleep or wake, or could she sleep within +the close hearing of that horrible cry, which shook all around? He +resolved to utter her name, warning her, if possible, to be upon her +guard, and to answer without venturing rashly into the apartment which +contained a guest so horribly perilous. + +He uttered, therefore, his wife's name, but in trembling accents, as if +he had been afraid of the savage beast overhearing him. + +"Brenhilda! Brenhilda!--there is danger-awake, and speak to me, but do +not arise." There was no answer.--"What am I become," he said to +himself, "that I call upon Brenhilda of Aspramonte, like a child on its +sleeping nurse, and all because there is a wild-cat in the same room +with me? Shame on thee, Count of Paris! Let thy arms be rent, and thy +spurs be hacked from thy heels!--What ho!" he cried aloud, but still +with a tremulous voice, "Brenhilda, we are beset, the foe are upon us! +--Answer me, but stir not." + +A deep growl from the monster which garrisoned his apartment was the +only answer. The sound seemed to say, "Thou hast no hope!" and it ran +to the knight's bosom as the genuine expression of despair. + +"Perhaps, however, I am still too cold in making my misery known. What +ho! my love! Brenhilda!" + +A voice, hollow and disconsolate as that which might have served an +inhabitant of the grave, answered as if from a distance. "What +disconsolate wretch art thou, who expectest that the living can answer +thee from the habitations of the dead?" + +"I am a Christian man, a free noble of the kingdom of France," answered +the Count. "Yesterday the captain of five hundred men, the bravest in +France--the bravest, that is, who breathe mortal air--and I am here +without a glimpse of light, to direct me how to avoid the corner in +which lies a wild tiger-cat, prompt to spring upon and to devour me." + +"Thou art an example," replied the voice, "and wilt not long be the +last, of the changes of fortune. I, who am now suffering in my third +year, was that mighty Ursel, who rivalled Alexius Comnenus for the +Crown of Greece, was betrayed by my confederates, and being deprived of +that eyesight which is the chief blessing of humanity, I inhabit these +vaults, no distant neighbour of the wild animals by whom they are +sometimes occupied, and whose cries of joy I hear when unfortunate +victims like thyself are delivered up to their fury." + +"Didst thou not then hear," said Count Robert, in return, "a warlike +guest and his bride conducted hither last night, with sounds as it +might seem, of bridal music?--O, Brenhilda! hast thou, so young--so +beautiful--been so treacherously done to death by means so unutterably +horrible!" + +"Think not," answered Ursel, as the voice had called its owner, "that +the Greeks pamper their wild beasts on such lordly fare. For their +enemies, which term includes not only all that are really such, but all +those whom they fear or hate, they have dungeons whose locks never +revolve; hot instruments of steel, to sear the eyeballs in the head; +lions and tigers, when it pleases them to make a speedy end of their +captives--but these are only for the male prisoners. While for the +women--if they be young and beautiful, the princes of the land have +places in their bed and bower; nor are they employed like the captives +of Agamemnon's host, to draw water from an Argive spring, but are +admired and adored by those whom fate has made the lords of their +destiny." + +"Such shall never be the doom of Brenhilda!" exclaimed Count Robert; +"her husband still lives to assist her, and should he die, she knows +well how to follow him without leaving a blot in the epitaph of +either." + +The captive did not immediately reply, and a short pause ensued, which +was broken by Ursel's voice. "Stranger," he said, "what noise is that I +hear?" + +"Nay, I hear nothing," said Count Robert. + +"But I do," said Ursel. "The cruel deprivation of my eyesight renders +my other senses more acute." + +"Disquiet not thyself about the matter, fellow-prisoner," answered the +Count, "but wait the event in silence." + +Suddenly a light arose in the apartment, lurid, red, and smoky. The +knight had bethought him of a flint and match which he usually carried +about him, and with as little noise as possible had lighted the torch +by the bedside; this he instantly applied to the curtains of the bed, +which, being of thin muslin, were in a moment in flames. The knight +sprung, at the same instant, from his bed. The tiger, for such it was, +terrified at the flame, leaped backwards as far as his chain would +permit, heedless of any thing save this new object of terror. Count +Robert upon this seized on a massive wooden stool, which was the only +offensive weapon on which he could lay his hand, and, marking at those +eyes which now reflected the blaze of fire, and which had recently +seemed so appalling, he discharged against them this fragment of +ponderous oak, with a force which less resembled human strength than +the impetus with which an engine hurls a stone. He had employed his +instant of time so well, and his aim was so true, that the missile went +right to the mark and with incredible force. The skull of the tiger, +which might be, perhaps, somewhat exaggerated if described as being of +the very largest size, was fractured by the blow, and with the +assistance of his dagger, which had fortunately been left with him, the +French Count despatched the monster, and had the satisfaction to see +him grin his last, and roll, in the agony of death, those eyes which +were lately so formidable. + +Looking around him, he discovered, by the light of the fire which he +had raised, that the apartment in which he now lay was different from +that in which he had gone to bed overnight; nor could there be a +stronger contrast between the furniture of both, than the flickering +half-burnt remains of the thin muslin curtains, and the strong, bare, +dungeon-looking walls of the room itself, or the very serviceable +wooden stool, of which he had made such good use. + +The knight had no leisure to form conclusions upon such a subject. He +hastily extinguished the fire, which had, indeed, nothing that it could +lay hold of, and proceeded, by the light of the flambeau, to examine +the apartment, and its means of entrance. It is scarce necessary to say, +that he saw no communication with the room of Brenhilda, which +convinced him that they had been separated the evening before under +pretence of devotional scruples, in order to accomplish some most +villanous design upon one or both of them. His own part of the night's +adventure we have already seen, and success, so far, over so formidable +a danger, gave him a trembling hope that Brenhilda, by her own worth +and valour, would be able to defend herself against all attacks of +fraud or force, until he could find his way to her rescue. "I should +have paid more regard," he said, "to Bohemond's caution last night, who, +I think, intimated to me as plainly as if he had spoke it in direct +terms, that that same cup of wine was a drugged potion. But then, fie +upon him for an avaricious hound! How was it possible I should think he +suspected any such thing, when he spoke not out like a man, but, for +sheer coldness of heart, or base self-interest, suffered me to run the +risk of being poisoned by the wily despot?" + +Here he heard a voice from the same quarter as before. "Ho, there! Ho, +stranger! Do you live, or have you been murdered? What means this +stifling smell of smoke? For God's sake, answer him who can receive no +information from eyes, closed, alas, for ever!" + +"I am at liberty," said the Count, "and the monster destined to devour +me has groaned its last. I would, my friend Ursel, since such is thy +name, thou hadst the advantage of thine eyes, to have borne witness to +yonder combat; it had been worth thy while, though thou shouldst have +lost them a minute afterwards, and it would have greatly advantaged +whoever shall have the task of compiling my history." + +While he gave a thought to that vanity which strongly ruled him, he +lost no time in seeking some mode of escape from the dungeon, for by +that means only might he hope to recover his Countess. At last he found +an entrance in the wall, but it was strongly locked and bolted. "I have +found the passage,"--he called out; "and its direction is the same in +which thy voice is heard--But how shall I undo the door?" + +"I'll teach thee that secret," said Ursel. "I would I could as easily +unlock each bolt that withholds us from the open air; but, as for thy +seclusion within the dungeon, heave up the door by main strength, and +thou shalt lift the locks to a place where, pushing then the door from +thee, the fastenings will find a grooved passage in the wall, and the +door itself will open. Would that I could indeed see thee, not only +because, being a gallant man, thou must be a goodly sight, but also +because I should thereby know that I was not caverned in darkness for +ever." + +While he spoke thus, the Count made a bundle of his armour, from which +he missed nothing except his sword, Tranchefer, and then proceeded to +try what efforts he could make, according to the blind man's +instructions, to open the door of his prison-house. Pushing in a direct +line was, he soon found, attended with no effect; but when he applied +his gigantic strength, and raised the door as high as it would go, he +had the satisfaction to find that the bolts yielded, though reluctantly. +A space had been cut so as to allow them to move out of the socket into +which they had been forced; and without the turn of a key, but by a +powerful thrust forwards, a small passage was left open. The knight +entered, bearing his armour in his hand. + +"I hear thee," said Ursel, "O stranger! and am aware thou art come into +my place of captivity. For three years have I been employed in cutting +these grooves, corresponding to the sockets which hold these iron bolts, +and preserving the knowledge of the secret from the prison-keepers. +Twenty such bolts, perhaps, must be sawn through, ere my steps shall +approach the upper air. What prospect is there that I shall have +strength of mind sufficient to continue the task? Yet, credit me, noble +stranger, I rejoice in having been thus far aiding to thy deliverance; +for if Heaven blesses not, in any farther degree, our aspirations after +freedom, we may still be a comfort to each other, while tyranny permits +our mutual life." + +Count Robert looked around, and shuddered that a human being should +talk of any thing approaching to comfort, connected with his residence +in what seemed a living tomb. Ursel's dungeon was not above twelve feet +square, vaulted in the roof, and strongly built in the walls by stones +which the chisel had morticed closely together. A bed, a coarse +footstool, like that which Robert had just launched at the head of the +tiger, and a table of equally massive materials, were its only articles +of furniture. On a long stone, above the bed, were these few, but +terrible words:--Zedekias Ursel, imprisoned here on the Ides of March, +A.D.----. Died and interred on the spot"--A blank was left for filling +up the period. The figure of the captive could hardly be discerned amid +the wildness of his dress and dishabille. The hair of his head, uncut +and uncombed, descended in elf-locks, and mingled with a beard of +extravagant length. + +"Look on me," said the captive, "and rejoice that thou canst yet see +the wretched condition to which iron-hearted tyranny can reduce a +fellow-creature, both in mortal existence and in future hope." + +"Was it thou," said Count Robert, whose blood ran cold in his veins, +"that hadst the heart to spend thy time in sawing through the blocks of +stone by which these bolts are secured?" + +"Alas!" said Ursel, "what could a blind man do? Busy I must be, if I +would preserve my senses. Great as the labour was, it was to me the +task of three years; nor can you wonder that I should have devoted to +it my whole time, when I had no other means of occupying it. Perhaps, +and most likely, my dungeon does not admit the distinction of day and +night; but a distant cathedral clock told me how hour after hour fled +away, and found me expending them in rubbing one stone against another. +But when the door gave way, I found I had only cut an access into a +prison more strong than that which held me. I rejoice, nevertheless, +since it has brought us together, given thee an entrance to my dungeon, +and me a companion in my misery." + +"Think better than that," said Count Robert, "think of liberty--think +of revenge! I cannot believe such unjust treachery will end +successfully, else needs must I say, the heavens are less just than +priests tell us of. How art thou supplied with food in this dungeon of +thine?" + +"A warder," said Ursel, "and who, I think, understands not the Greek +language--at least he never either answers or addresses me--brings a +loaf and a pitcher of water, enough to supply my miserable life till +two days are past. I must, therefore, pray that you will retire for a +space into the next prison, so that the warder may have no means of +knowing that we can hold correspondence together." + +"I see not," said Count Robert, "by what access the barbarian, if he is +one, can enter my dungeon without passing through yours; but no matter, +I will retire into the inner or outer room, whichever it happens to be, +and be thou then well aware that the warder will have some one to +grapple with ere he leaves his prison-work to-day. Meanwhile, think +thyself dumb as thou art blind, and be assured that the offer of +freedom itself would not induce me to desert the cause of a companion +in adversity." + +"Alas," said the old man, "I listen to thy promises as I should to +those of the morning gale, which tells me that the sun is about to rise, +although I know that I at least shall never behold it. Thou art one of +those wild and undespairing knights, whom for so many years the west of +Europe hath sent forth to attempt impossibilities, and from thee, +therefore, I can only hope for such a fabric of relief as an idle boy +would blow out of soap bubbles." + +"Think better of us, old man," said Count Robert, retiring; "at least +let me die with my blood warm, and believing it possible for me to be +once more united to my beloved Brenhilda." + +So saying, he retired into his own cell, and replaced the door, so that +the operations of Ursel, which indeed were only such as three years' +solitude could have achieved, should escape observation when again +visited by the Warder. "It is ill luck," said he, when once more +within his own prison--for that in which the tiger had been secured, he +instinctively concluded to be destined for him--"It is ill luck that I +had not found a young and able fellow-captive, instead of one decrepit +by imprisonment, blind, and broken down past exertion. But God's will +be done! I will not leave behind me the poor wretch whom I have found +in such a condition, though he is perfectly unable to assist me in +accomplishing my escape, and is rather more likely to retard it. +Meantime, before we put out the torch, let us see, if, by close +examination, we can discover any door in the wall save that to the +blind man's dungeon. If not, I much suspect that my descent has been +made through the roof. That cup of wine--that Muse, as they called it, +had a taste more like medicine than merry companions' pledge." + +He began accordingly a strict survey of the walls, which he resolved to +conclude by extinguishing the torch, that he might take the person who +should enter his dungeon darkling and by surprise, For a similar reason, +he dragged into the darkest corner the carcass of the tiger, and +covered it with the remains of the bed-clothes, swearing at the same +time, that a half tiger should be his crest in future, if he had the +fortune, which his bold heart would not suffer him to doubt, of getting +through the present danger. "But," he added, "if these necromantic +vassals of hell shall raise the devil upon, me, what shall I do then? +And so great is the chance, that methinks I would fain dispense with +extinguishing the flambeau. Yet it is childish for one dubbed in the +chapel of Our Lady of the Broken Lances, to make much difference +between a light room and a dark one. Let them come, as many fiends as +the cell can hold, and we shall see if we receive them not as becomes a +Christian knight; and surely, Our Lady, to whom I was ever a true +votary, will hold it an acceptable sacrifice that I tore myself from my +Brenhilda, even for a single moment, in honour of her advent, and thus +led the way for our woful separation. Fiends! I defy ye in the body as +in the spirit, and I retain the remains of this flambeau until some +more convenient opportunity." He dashed it against the wall as he spoke, +and then quietly sat down in a corner, to watch what should next happen. + +Thought after thought chased each other through his mind. His +confidence in his wife's fidelity, and his trust in her uncommon +strength and activity, were the greatest comforts which he had; nor +could her danger present itself to him in any shape so terrible, but +that he found consolation in these reflections: "She is pure," he said, +"as the dew of heaven, and heaven will not abandon its own." + + + + +CHAPTER THE SIXTEENTH. + + Strange ape of man! who loathes thee while he scorns thee. + Half a reproach to us and half a jest. + What fancies can be ours ere we have pleasure + In viewing our own form, our pride and passions, + Reflected in a shape grotesque as thine! + ANONYMOUS. + + +Count Robert of Paris having ensconced himself behind the ruins of the +bed, so that he could not well be observed, unless a strong light was +at once flung upon the place of his retreat, waited with anxiety how +and in what manner the warder of the dungeon, charged with the task of +bringing food to the prisoners, should make himself visible; nor was it +long ere symptoms of his approach began to be heard and observed. + +A light was partially seen, as from a trap-door opening in the roof, +and a voice was heard to utter these words in Anglo-Saxon, "Leap, +sirrah; come, no delay; leap, my good Sylvan, show your honour's +activity." A strange chuckling hoarse voice, in a language totally +unintelligible to Count Robert, was heard to respond, as if disputing +the orders which were received. + +"What, sir," said his companion, "you must contest the point, must you? +Nay, if thou art so lazy, I must give your honour a ladder, and perhaps +a kick to hasten your journey." Something then, of very great size, in +the form of a human being, jumped down from the trap-door, though the +height might be above fourteen feet. This figure was gigantic, being +upwards of seven feet high. In its left hand it held a torch, and in +its right a skein of fine silk, which unwinding itself as it descended, +remained unbroken, though it was easy to conceive it could not have +afforded a creature so large any support in his descent from the roof. +He alighted with perfect safety and activity upon his feet, and, as if +rebounding from the floor, he sprung upwards again, so as almost to +touch the roof. In this last gambaud the torch which he bore was +extinguished; but this extraordinary warder whirled it round his head +with infinite velocity, so that it again ignited. The bearer, who +appeared to intend the accomplishment of this object, endeavoured to +satisfy himself that it was really attained by approaching, as if +cautiously, its left hand to the flame of the torch. This practical +experiment seemed attended with consequences which the creature had not +expected, for it howled with pain, shaking the burnt hand, and +chattering as if bemoaning itself. + +"Take heed there, Sylvanus!" said the same voice in Anglo-Saxon, and in +a tone of rebuke. "Ho, there! mind thy duty, Sylvan! Carry food to the +blind man, and stand not there to play thyself, lest I trust thee not +again alone on such an errand!" + +The creature--for it would have been rash to have termed it a man-- +turning its eye upwards to the place from whence the voice came, +answered with a dreadful grin and shaking of its fist, yet presently +began to undo a parcel, and rummage in the pockets of a sort of jerkin +and pantaloons which it wore, seeking, it appeared, a bunch of keys, +which at length it produced, while it took from the pocket a loaf of +bread. Heating the stone of the wall, it affixed the torch to it by a +piece of wax, and then cautiously looked out for the entrance to the +old man's dungeon, which it opened with a key selected from the bunch. +Within the passage it seemed to look for and discover the handle of a +pump, at which it filled a pitcher that it bore, and bringing back the +fragments of the former loaf, and remains of the pitcher of water, it +ate a little, as if it were in sport, and very soon making a frightful +grimace, flung the fragments away. The Count of Paris, in the meanwhile, +watched anxiously the proceedings of this unknown animal. His first +thought was, that the creature, whose limbs were so much larger than +humanity, whose grimaces were so frightful, and whose activity seemed +supernatural, could be no other than the Devil himself, or some of his +imps, whose situation and office in those gloomy regions seemed by no +means hard to conjecture. The human voice, however, which he had heard, +was less that of a necromancer conjuring a fiend than that of a person +giving commands to a wild animal, over whom he had, by training, +obtained a great superiority. + +"A shame on it," said the Count, "if I suffer a common jackanapes,--for +such I take this devil-seeming beast to be, although twice as large as +any of its fellows whom I have ever seen,--to throw an obstacle in the +way of my obtaining daylight and freedom! Let us but watch, and the +chance is that we make that furry gentleman our guide to the upper +regions." + +Meantime the creature, which rummaged about everywhere, at length. +discovered the body of the tiger,--touched it, stirred it, with many +strange motions, and seemed to lament and wonder at its death. At once +it seemed struck with the idea that some one must have slain it, and +Count Robert had the mortification to see it once more select the key, +and spring towards the door of Ursel's prison with such alacrity, that +had its intention been to strangle him, it would have accomplished its +purpose before the interference of Count Robert could have prevented +its revenge taking place. Apparently, however, it reflected, that for +reasons which seemed satisfactory, the death of the tiger could not be +caused by the unfortunate Ursel, but had been accomplished by some one +concealed within the outer prison. + +Slowly grumbling, therefore, and chattering to itself, and peeping +anxiously into every corner, the tremendous creature, so like yet so +very unlike to the human form, came stealing along the walls, moving +whatever he thought could seclude a man from his observation. Its +extended legs and arms were protruded forward with great strides, and +its sharp eyes, on the watch to discover the object of its search, kept +prying, with the assistance of the torch, into every corner. + +Considering the vicinity of Alexius's collection of animals, the reader, +by this time, can have little doubt that the creature in question, +whose appearance seemed to the Count of Paris so very problematical, +was a specimen of that gigantic species of ape--if it is not indeed +some animal more nearly allied to ourselves--to which, I believe, +naturalists have given the name of the Ourang Outang. This creature +differs from the rest of its fraternity, in being comparatively more +docile and serviceable: and though possessing the power of imitation +which is common to the whole race, yet making use of it less in mere +mockery, than in the desire of improvement and instruction perfectly +unknown to his brethren. The aptitude which it possesses of acquiring +information, is surprisingly great, and probably, if placed in a +favourable situation, it might admit of being domesticated in a +considerable degree; but such advantages the ardour of scientific +curiosity has never afforded this creature. The last we have heard of +was seen, we believe, in the Island of Sumatra--it was of great size +and strength, and upwards of seven feet high. It died defending +desperately its innocent life against a party of Europeans, who, we +cannot help thinking, might have better employed the superiority which +their knowledge gave them over the poor native of the forest. It was +probably this creature, seldom seen, but when once seen never forgotten, +which occasioned the ancient belief in the god Pan, with his sylvans +and satyrs. Nay, but for the gift of speech, which we cannot suppose +any of the family to have attained, we should have believed the satyr +seen by St. Anthony in the desert to have belonged to this tribe. + +We can, therefore, the more easily credit the annals which attest that +the collection of natural history belonging to Alexius Comnenus, +preserved an animal of this kind, which had been domesticated and +reclaimed to a surprising extent, and showed a degree of intelligence +never perhaps to be attained in any other case. These explanations +being premised, we return to the thread of our story. + +The animal advanced with long noiseless steps; its shadow on the wall, +when it held the torch so as to make it visible to the Frank, forming +another fiend-resembling mimicry of its own large figure and +extravagant-looking members. Count Robert remained in his lurking hole, +in no hurry to begin a strife, of which it was impossible to foretell +the end. In the meantime, the man of the woods came nigh, and every +step by which he approached, caused the Count's heart to vibrate almost +audibly, at the idea of meeting danger of a nature so strange and new. +At length the creature approached the bed--his hideous eyes were fixed +on those of the Count; and, as much surprised at seeing him as Robert +was at the meeting, he skipped about fifteen paces backwards at one +spring, with a cry of instinctive terror, and then advanced on tiptoe, +holding his torch as far forward as he could, between him and the +object of his fears, as if to examine him at the safest possible +distance. Count Robert caught up a fragment of the bedstead, large +enough to form a sort of club, with which he menaced the native of the +wilds. + +Apparently this poor creature's education, like education of most kinds, +had not been acquired without blows, of which the recollection was as +fresh as that of the lessons which they enforced. Sir Robert of Paris +was a man at once to discover and to avail himself of the advantage +obtained by finding that he possessed a degree of ascendancy over his +enemy, which he had not suspected. He erected his warlike figure, +assumed a step as if triumphant in the lists, and advanced threatening +his enemy with his club, as he would have menaced his antagonist with +the redoutable Tranchefer. The man of the woods, on the other hand, +obviously gave way, and converted his cautious advance into a retreat +no less cautious. Yet apparently the creature had not renounced some +plan of resistance; he chattered in an angry and hostile tone, held out +his torch in opposition, and seemed about to strike the crusader with +it. Count Robert, however, determined to take his opponent at advantage, +while his fears influenced him, and for this purpose resolved, if +possible, to deprive him of his natural superiority in strength and +agility, which his singular form showed he could not but possess over +the human species. A master of his weapon, therefore, the Count menaced +his savage antagonist with a stroke on the right side of his head, but +suddenly averting the blow, struck him with his whole force on the left +temple, and in an instant was kneeling above him, when, drawing his +dagger, he was about to deprive him of life. + +The Ourang Outang, ignorant of the nature of this new weapon with which +he was threatened, attempted at one and the same moment, to rise from +the ground, overthrow his antagonist, and wrench the dagger from his +grasp. In the first attempt, he would probably have succeeded; and as +it was, he gained his knees, and seemed likely to prevail in the +struggle, when he became sensible that the knight, drawing his poniard +sharply through his grasp, had cut his paw severely, and seeing him aim +the trenchant weapon at his throat, became probably aware that his +enemy had his life at command. He suffered himself to be borne +backwards without further resistance, with a deep wailing and +melancholy cry, having in it something human, which excited compassion. +He covered his eyes with the unwounded hand, as if he would have hid +from his own sight the death which seemed approaching him. + +Count Robert, notwithstanding his military frenzy, was, in ordinary +matters, a calm-tempered and mild man, and particularly benevolent to +the lower classes of creation. The thought rushed through his mind, +"Why take from this unfortunate monster the breath which is in its +nostrils, after which it cannot know another existence? And then, may +it not be some prince or knight changed to this grotesque shape, that +it may help to guard these vaults, and the wonderful adventures that +attach to them? Should I not, then, be guilty of a crime by slaying him, +when he has rendered himself, rescue or no rescue, which he has done as +completely as his transformed figure permits; and if he be actually a +bestial creature, may he not have some touch of gratitude? I have heard +the minstrels sing the lay of Androcles and the Lion. I will be on my +guard with him."' + +So saying, he rose from above the man of the woods, and permitted him. +also to arise. The creature seemed sensible of the clemency, for he +muttered in a low and supplicating tone, which seemed at once to crave +for mercy, and to return thanks for what he had already experienced. He +wept too, as he saw the blood dropping from his wound, and with an +anxious countenance, which had more of the human now that it was +composed into an expression of pain and melancholy, seemed to await in +terror the doom of a being more powerful than himself. + +The pocket which the knight wore under his armour, capable of +containing but few things, had, however, some vulnerary balsam, for +which its owner had often occasion, a little lint, and a small roll of +linen; these the knight took out, and motioned to the animal to hold +forth his wounded hand. The man of the woods obeyed with hesitation and +reluctance, and Count Robert applied the balsam and the dressings, +acquainting his patient, at the same time, in a severe tone of voice, +that perhaps he did wrong in putting to his use a balsam compounded for +the service of the noblest knights; but that, if he saw the least sign +of his making an ungrateful use of the benefit he had conferred, he +would bury the dagger, of which he had felt the efficacy, to the very +handle, in his body. + +The Sylvan looked fixedly upon Count Robert, almost as if he understood +the language used to him, and, making one of its native murmurs, it +stooped to the earth, kissed the feet of the knight, and embracing his +knees, seemed to swear to him eternal gratitude and fidelity. +Accordingly, when the Count retired to the bed and assumed his armour, +to await the re-opening of the trap-door, the animal sat down by his +side, directing its eyes in the line with his, and seemed quietly to +wait till the door should open. After waiting about an hour, a slight +noise was heard in the upper chamber, and the wild man plucked the +Frank by the cloak, as if to call his attention to what was about to +happen. The same voice which had before spoken, was, after a whistle or +two, heard to call, "Sylvan, Sylvan! where loiterest thou? Come +instantly, or, by the rood, thou shalt abye thy sloth!" + +The poor monster, as Trinculo might have called him, seemed perfectly +aware of the meaning of this threat, and showed his sense of it by +pressing close to the side of Count Robert, making at the same time a +kind of whining, entreating, it would seem, the knight's protection. +Forgetting the great improbability there was, even in his own opinion, +that the creature could understand him, Count Robert said, "Why, my +friend, thou hast already learned the principal court prayer of this +country, by which men. entreat permission, to speak and live. Fear +nothing, poor creature--I am thy protector." + +"Sylvan! what, ho!" said the voice again; "whom hast thou got for a +companion?--some of the fiends, or ghosts of murdered men, who they say +are frequent in these dungeons? or dost thou converse with the old +blind rebel Grecian?--or, finally, is it true what men say of thee, +that thou canst talk intelligibly when thou wilt, and only gibberest +and chatterest for fear thou art sent to work? Come, thou lazy rascal! +thou shalt have the advantage of the ladder to ascend by, though thou +needest it no more than a daw to ascend the steeple of the Cathedral of +St. Sophia. [Footnote: Now the chief mosque of the Ottoman capital.] +Come along then," he said, putting a ladder down the trap-door, "and +put me not to the trouble of descending to fetch thee, else, by St. +Swithin, it shall be the worse for thee. Come along, therefore, like a +good fellow, and for once I shall spare the whip." + +The animal, apparently, was moved by this rhetoric, for, with a doleful +look, which Count Robert saw by means of the nearly extinguished torch, +he seemed to bid him farewell, and to creep away towards the ladder +with the same excellent good-will wherewith a condemned criminal +performs the like evolution. But no sooner did the Count look angry, +and shake the formidable dagger, than the intelligent animal seemed at +once to take his resolution, and clenching his hands firmly together in +the fashion of one who has made up his mind, he returned from the +ladder's foot, and drew up behind Count Robert,--with the air, however, +of a deserter, who feels himself but little at home when called into +the field against his ancient commander. + +In a short time the warder's patience was exhausted, and despairing of +the Sylvan's voluntary return, he resolved to descend in quest of him. +Down the ladder he came, a bundle of keys in one hand, the other +assisting his descent, and a sort of dark lantern, whose bottom was so +fashioned that he could wear it upon his head like a hat. He had scarce +stept on the floor, when he was surrounded by the nervous arms of the +Count of Paris. At first the warder's idea was, that he was seized by +the recusant Sylvan. + +"How now, villain!" he said; "let me go, or thou shalt die the death." + +"Thou diest thyself," said the Count, who, between the surprise and his +own skill in wrestling, felt fully his advantage in the struggle. + +"Treason! treason!" cried the warder, hearing by the voice that a +stranger had mingled in the contest; "help, ho! above there! help, +Hereward--Varangian!--Anglo-Saxon, or whatever accursed name thou +callest thyself!" + +While he spoke thus, the irresistible grasp of Count Robert seized his +throat, and choked his utterance. They fell heavily, the jailor +undermost, upon the floor of the dungeon, and Robert of Paris, the +necessity of whose case excused the action, plunged his dagger in the +throat of the unfortunate. Just as he did so, a noise of armour was +heard, and, rattling down the ladder, our acquaintance Hereward stood +on the floor of the dungeon. The light, which had rolled from the head +of the warder, continued to show him streaming with blood, and in the +death-grasp of a stranger. Hereward hesitated not to fly to his +assistance, and, seizing upon the Count of Paris at the same advantage +which that knight had gained over his own adversary a moment before, +held him forcibly down with his face to the earth. Count Robert was one +of the strongest men of that military age; but then so was the +Varangian; and save that the latter had obtained a decided advantage by +having his antagonist beneath him, it could not certainly have been +conjectured which way the combat was to go. + +"Yield, as your own jargon goes, rescue or no rescue," said the +Varangian, "or die on the point of my dagger!" + +"A French Count never yields," answered Robert, who began to conjecture +with what sort of person he was engaged, "above all to a vagabond slave +like thee!" With this he made an effort to rise, so sudden, so strong, +so powerful, that he had almost freed himself from the Varangian's +grasp, had not Hereward, by a violent exertion of his great strength, +preserved the advantage he had gained, and raised his poniard to end +the strife for ever; but a loud chuckling laugh of an unearthly sound +was at this instant heard. The Varangian's extended arm was seized with +vigour, while a rough arm embracing his throat, turned him over on his +back, and gave the French Count an opportunity of springing up. + +"Death to thee, wretch!" said the Varangian, scarce knowing whom he +threatened; but the man of the woods apparently had an awful +recollection of the prowess of human beings. He fled, therefore, +swiftly up the ladder, and left Hereward and his deliverer to fight it +out with what success chance might determine between them. + +The circumstances seemed to argue a desperate combat; both were tall, +strong, and courageous, both had defensive armour, and the fatal and +desperate poniard was their only offensive weapon. They paused facing +each other, and examined eagerly into their respective means of defence +before hazarding a blow, which, if it missed, its attaint would +certainly be fatally requited. During this deadly pause, a gleam shone +from the trapdoor above, as the wild and alarmed visage of the man of +the woods was seen peering down by the light of a newly kindled torch +which he held as low into the dungeon as he well could. + +"Fight bravely, comrade," said Count Robert of Paris, "for we no longer +battle in private; this respectable person, having chosen to constitute +himself judge of the field." + +Hazardous as his situation was, the Varangian looked up, and was so +struck with the wild and terrified expression which the creature had +assumed, and the strife between curiosity and terror which its +grotesque features exhibited, that he could not help bursting into a +fit of laughter. + +"Sylvan is among those," said Hereward, "who would rather hold the +candle to a dance so formidable than join in it himself." + +"Is there then," said Count Robert, "any absolute necessity that thou +and I perform this dance at all?" + +"None but our own pleasure," answered Hereward; "for I suspect there is +not between us any legitimate cause of quarrel demanding to be fought +out in such a place, and before such a spectator. Thou art, if I +mistake not, the bold Frank, who was yesternight imprisoned in this +place with, a tiger, chained within no distant spring of his bed?" + +"I am," answered the Count. + +"And where is the animal who was opposed to thee?" + +"He lies yonder," answered the Count, "never again to be the object of +more terror than the deer whom he may have preyed on in his day." He +pointed to the body of the tiger, which Hereward examined by the light +of the dark lantern already mentioned. + +"And this, then, was thy handiwork?" said the wondering Anglo-Saxon. + +"Sooth to say it was," answered the Count, with indifference. + +"And thou hast slain my comrade of this strange watch?" said the +Varangian. + +"Mortally wounded him at the least," said Count Robert. + +"With your patience, I will be beholden to you for a moment's truce, +while I examine his wound," said Hereward. + +"Assuredly," answered the Count; "blighted be the arm which strikes a +foul blow at an open antagonist!" + +Without demanding further security, the Varangian quitted his posture +of defence and precaution, and set himself, by the assistance of the +dark lantern, to examine the wound of the first warder who appeared on +the field, who seemed, by his Roman military dress, to be a soldier of +the bands called Immortals. Pie found him in the death-agony, but still +able to speak. + +"So, Varangian, thou art come at last,--and is it to thy sloth or +treachery that I am to impute my fate?--Nay, answer me not!--The +stranger struck me over the collar-bone--had we lived long together, or +met often, I had done the like by thee, to wipe out the memory of +certain transactions at the Golden Gate.--I know the use of the knife +too well to doubt the effect of a blow aimed over the collar-bone by so +strong a hand--I feel it coming. The Immortal, so called, becomes now, +if priests say true, an immortal indeed, and Sebastes of Mytilene's bow +is broken ere his quiver is half emptied." + +The robber Greek sunk back in Hereward's arms, and closed his life with +a groan, which was the last sound he uttered. The Varangian laid the +body at length on the dungeon floor. + +"This is a perplexed matter," he said; "I am certainly not called upon +to put to death a brave man, although my national enemy, because he +hath killed a miscreant who was privately meditating my own murder. +Neither is this a place or a light by which to fight as becomes the +champions of two nations. Let that quarrel be still for the present.-- +How say you then, noble sir, if we adjourn the present dispute till we +effect your deliverance from the dungeons of the Blacquernal, and your +restoration to your own friends and followers? If a poor Varangian +should be of service to you in this matter, would you, when it was +settled, refuse to meet him in fair fight, with your national weapons +or his own?" + +"If," said Count Robert, "whether friend or enemy, thou wilt extend thy +assistance to my wife, who is also imprisoned somewhere in this +inhospitable palace, be assured, that whatever be thy rank, whatever be +thy country, whatever be thy condition, Robert of Paris will, at thy +choice, proffer thee his right hand in friendship, or raise it against +thee in fair and manly battle--a strife not of hatred, but of honour +and esteem; and this I vow by the soul of Charlemagne, my ancestor, and +by the shrine of my patroness, Our Lady of the Broken Lances." + +"Enough said," replied Hereward. "I am as much bound to the assistance +of your Lady Countess, being a poor exile, as if I were the first in +the ranks of chivalry; for if any thing can make the cause of worth and +bravery yet more obligatory, it must be its being united with that of a +helpless and suffering female." + +"I ought," said Count Robert, "to be here silent, without loading thy +generosity with farther requests; yet thou art a man, whom, if fortune +has not smiled at thy birth, by ordaining thee to be born within the +ranks of noblesse and knighthood, yet Providence hath done thee more +justice by giving thee a more gallant heart than is always possessed, I +fear, by those who are inwoven in the gayest wreath of chivalry. There +lingers here in these dungeons, for I cannot say he lives--a blind old +man, to whom for three years every thing beyond his prison has been a +universal blot. His food is bread and water, his intercourse limited to +the conversation of a sullen warder, and if death can ever come as a +deliverer, it must be to this dark old man. What sayst thou? Shall he, +so unutterably miserable, not profit by perhaps the only opportunity of +freedom that may ever occur to him?" + +"By St. Dunstan," answered the Varangian, "thou keepest over truly the +oath thou hast taken as a redresser of wrongs! Thine own case is well- +nigh desperate, and thou art willing to make it utterly so by uniting +with it that of every unhappy person whom fate throws in thy way!" + +"The more of human misery we attempt to relieve," said Robert of Paris, +"the more we shall carry with us the blessing of our merciful saints, +and Our Lady of the Broken Lances, who views with so much pain every +species of human suffering or misfortune, save that which occurs within +the enclosure of the lists. But come, valiant Anglo-Saxon, resolve me +on my request as speedily as thou canst. There is something in thy face +of candour as well as sense, and it is with no small confidence that I +desire to see us set forth in quest of my beloved Countess, who, when +her deliverance is once achieved, will be a powerful aid to us in +recovering that of others." + +"So be it, then," said the Varangian; "we will proceed in quest of the +Countess Brenhilda; and if, on recovering her, we find ourselves strong +enough to procure the freedom of the dark old man, my cowardice, or +want of compassion, shall never stop the attempt." + + + + +CHAPTER THE SEVENTEENTH. + + 'Tis strange that, in the dark sulphureous mine, + Where wild ambition piles its ripening stores + Of slumbering thunder, Love will interpose + His tiny torch, and cause the stern explosion + To burst, when the deviser's least aware. + ANONYMOUS. + + +About noon of the same day, Agelastes met with Achilles Tatius, the +commander of the Varangian guard, in those ruins of the Egyptian temple +in which we formerly mentioned Hereward having had an interview with +the philosopher. They met, as it seemed, in a very different humour. +Tatius was gloomy, melancholy, and downcast; while the philosopher +maintained the calm indifference which procured for him, and in some +sort deserved, the title of the Elephant. "Thou blenchest, Achilles +Tatius," said the philosopher, "now that thou hast frankly opposed +thyself to all the dangers which stood between thee and greatness. Thou +art like the idle boy who turned the mill-stream upon the machine, and +that done, instead of making a proper use of it, was terrified at +seeing it in motion." + +"Thou dost me wrong, Agelastes," answered the Acolyte, "foul wrong; I +am but like the mariner, who although determined upon his voyage, yet +cannot forbear a sorrowing glance at the shore, before he parts with it, +it may be, for ever." + +"It may have been right to think of this, but pardon me, valiant Tatius, +when I tell you the account should have been made up before; and the +grandson of Alguric the Hun ought to have computed chances and +consequences ere he stretched his hand to his master's diadem." + +"Hush! for Heaven's sake," said Tatius, looking round; "that, thou +knowest, is a secret between our two selves; for if Nicephorus, the +Caesar, should learn it, where were we and our conspiracy?" + +"Our bodies on the gibbet, probably," answered Agelastes, "and our +souls divorced from them, and in the way of discovering the secrets +which thou hast hitherto taken upon trust." + +"Well," said Achilles, "and should not the consciousness of the +possibility of this fate render us cautious?" + +"Cautious _men_, if you will," answered Agelastes, "but not timid +children." + +"Stone walls can hear,"--said the Follower, lowering his voice. +"Dionysius the tyrant, I have read, had an ear which conveyed to him +the secrets spoken within his state-prison at Syracuse." + +"And that Ear is still stationary at Syracuse," said the philosopher. +"Tell me, my most simple friend, art thou afraid it has been +transported hither in one night, as the Latins believe of Our Lady's +house of Loretto?" + +"No," answered Achilles, "but in an affair so important too much +caution cannot be used." + +"Well, thou most cautious of candidates for empire, and most cold of +military leaders, know that the Caesar, deeming, I think, that there is +no chance of the empire falling to any one but himself, hath taken in +his head to consider his succession to Alexius as a matter of course, +whenever the election takes place. In consequence, as matters of course +are usually matters of indifference, he has left all thoughts of +securing his interest upon, this material occasion to thee and to me, +while the foolish voluptuary hath himself run mad--for what think you? +Something between man and woman,--female in her lineaments, her limbs, +and a part at least of her garments; but, so help me St. George, most +masculine in the rest of her attire, in her propensities, and in her +exercises." + +"The Amazonian wife, thou meanest," said Achilles, "of that iron-handed +Frank, who dashed to pieces last night the golden lion of Solomon with +a blow of his fist? By St. George, the least which can come of such an +amour is broken bones." + +"That," said Agelastes, "is not quite so improbable as that Dionysius's +Ear should fly hither from Syracuse in a single night; but he is +presumptuous in respect of the influence which his supposed good looks +have gained him among the Grecian dames." + +"He was too presumptuous, I suppose," said Achilles Tatius, "to make a +proper allowance for his situation as Caesar, and the prospect of his +being Emperor." + +"Meantime," said Agelastes, "I have promised him an interview with his +Bradamante, who may perhaps reward his tender epithets of _Zoe kai +psyche_, [Footnote: "Life and Soul."] by divorcing his amorous soul +from his unrivalled person." + +"Meantime," said the Follower, "thou obtainest, I conclude, such orders +and warrants as the Caesar can give for the furtherance of our plot?" + +"Assuredly," said Agelastes, "it is an opportunity not to be lost. This +love fit, or mad fit, has blinded him; and without exciting too much +attention to the progress of the plot, we can thus in safety conduct +matters our own way, without causing malevolent remarks; and though I +am conscious that, in doing so, I act somewhat at variance with my age +and character, yet the end being to convert a worthy Follower into an +Imperial Leader, I shame me not in procuring that interview with the +lady, of which the Caesar, as they term him, is so desirous.--What +progress, meanwhile, hast thou made with the Varangians, who are, in +respect of execution, the very arm of our design?" + +"Scarce so good as I could wish," said Achilles Tatius; "yet I have +made sure of some two or three score of those whom I found most +accessible; nor have I any doubt, that when the Caesar is set aside, +their cry will be for Achilles Tatius." + +"And what of the gallant who assisted at our prelections?" said +Agelastes; "your Edward, as Alexius termed him?" + +"I have made no impression upon him," said the Follower; "and I am +sorry for it, for he is one whom his comrades think well of, and would +gladly follow. Meantime I have placed him as an additional sentinel +upon the iron-witted Count of Paris, whom, both having an inveterate +love of battle, he is very likely to put to death; and if it is +afterwards challenged by the crusaders as a cause of war, it is only +delivering up the Varangian, whose personal hatred will needs be +represented as having occasioned the catastrophe. All this being +prepared beforehand, how and when shall we deal with the Emperor?" + +"For that," said Agelastes, "we must consult the Caesar, who, although +his expected happiness of to-day is not more certain than the state +preferment that he expects to-morrow, and although his ideas are much +more anxiously fixed upon his success with this said Countess than his +succession to the empire, will, nevertheless, expect to be treated as +the head of the enterprise for accelerating the latter. But, to speak +my opinion, valiant Tatius, to-morrow will be the last day that Alexius +shall hold the reins of empire." + +"Let me know for certain," said the Follower, "as soon as thou canst, +that I may warn our brethren, who are to have in readiness the +insurgent citizens, and those of the Immortals who are combined with us, +in the neighbourhood of the court, and in readiness to act--And, above +all, that I may disperse upon distant guards such Varangians as I +cannot trust." + +"Rely upon me," said Agelastes, "for the most accurate information and +instructions, so soon as I have seen Nicephorus Briennius. One word +permit me to ask--in what manner is the wife of the Caesar to be +disposed of?" + +"Somewhere," said the Follower, "where I can never be compelled to hear +more of her history. Were it not for that nightly pest of her lectures, +I could be good-natured enough to take care of her destiny myself, and +teach her the difference betwixt a real emperor and this Briennius, who +thinks so much of himself." So saying, they separated; the Follower +elated in look and manner considerably above what he had been when they +met. + +Agelastes looked after his companion with a scornful laugh. "There," he +said, "goes a fool, whose lack of sense prevents his eyes from being +dazzled by the torch which cannot fail to consume them. A half-bred, +half-acting, half-thinking, half-daring caitiff, whose poorest +thoughts--and those which deserve that name must be poor indeed--are +not the produce of his own understanding. He expects to circumvent the +fiery, haughty, and proud Nicephorus Briennius! If he does so, it will +not be by his own policy, and still less by his valour. Nor shall Anna +Comnena, the soul of wit and genius, be chained to such an +unimaginative log as yonder half-barbarian. No--she shall have a +husband of pure Grecian extraction, and well stored with that learning +which was studied when Rome was great, and Greece illustrious. Nor will +it be the least charm of the Imperial throne, that it is partaken by a +partner whose personal studies have taught her to esteem and value +those of the Emperor." He took a step or two with conscious elevation, +and then, as conscience-checked, he added, in a suppressed voice, "But +then, if Anna were destined for Empress, it follows of course that +Alexius must die--no consent could be trusted.--And what then?--the +death of an ordinary man is indifferent, when it plants on the throne a +philosopher and a historian; and at what time were possessors of the +empire curious to enquire when or by whose agency their predecessors +died?--Diogenes! Ho, Diogenes!" The slave did not immediately come, so +that Agelastes, wrapt in the anticipation of his greatness, had time to +add a few more words "Tush--I must reckon with Heaven, say the priests, +for many things, so I will throw this also into the account. The death +of the Emperor may be twenty ways achieved without my having the blame +of it. The blood which we have shed may spot our hand, if closely +regarded, but it shall scarce stain our forehead." Diogenes here +entered--"Has the Frank lady been removed?" said the philosopher. + +The slave signified his assent. + +"How did she bear her removal?" + +"As authorised by your lordship, indifferently well. She had resented +her separation from her husband, and her being detained in the palace, +and committed some violence upon the slaves of the Household, several +of whom were said to be slain, although we perhaps ought only to read +sorely frightened. She recognised me at once, and when I told her that +I came to offer her a day's retirement in your own lodgings, until it +should be in your power to achieve the liberation of her husband, she +at once consented, and I deposited her in the secret Cytherean garden- +house." + +"Admirably done, my faithful Diogenes," said the philosopher; "thou art +like the genii who attended on the Eastern talisman; I have but to +intimate my will to thee, and it is accomplished." + +Diogenes bowed deeply, and withdrew. + +"Yet remember, slave!" said Agelastes, speaking to himself; "there is +danger in knowing too much---and should my character ever become +questioned, too many of my secrets are in the power of Diogenes." + +At this moment a blow thrice repeated, and struck upon one of the +images without, which had been so framed as to return a tingling sound, +and in so far deserved the praise of being vocal, interrupted his +soliloquy. + +"There knocks," said he, "one of our allies; who can it be that comes +so late?" He touched the figure of Iris with his staff, and the Caesar +Nicephorus Briennius entered in the full Grecian habit, and that +graceful dress anxiously arranged to the best advantage. "Let me hope, +my Lord," said Agelastes, receiving the Caesar with an apparently grave +and reserved face, "your Highness comes to tell me that your sentiments +are changed on reflection, and that whatever you had to confer about +with this Frankish lady, may be at least deferred until the principal +part of our conspiracy has been successfully executed." + +"Philosopher," answered the Caesar, "no. My resolution, once taken, is +not the sport of circumstances. Believe me, that I have not finished so +many labours without being ready to undertake others. The favour of +Venus is the reward of the labours of Mars, nor would I think it worth +while to worship the god armipotent with the toil and risk attending +his service, unless I had previously attained some decided proofs that +I was wreathed with the myrtle, intimating the favour of his beautiful +mistress." + +"I beg pardon for my boldness," said Agelastes; "but has your Imperial +Highness reflected, that you were wagering, with the wildest rashness, +an empire, including thine own life, mine, and all who are joined with +us, in a hardy scheme? And against what were they waged? Against the +very precarious favour of a woman, who is altogether divided betwixt +fiend and female, and in either capacity is most likely to be fatal to +our present scheme, either by her good will, or by the offence which +she may take. If she prove such as you wish, she will desire to keep +her lover by her side, and to spare him the danger of engaging in a +perilous conspiracy; and if she remains, as the world believe her, +constant to her husband, and to the sentiments she vowed to him at the +altar, you may guess what cause of offence you are likely to give, by +urging a suit which she has already received so very ill." + +"Pshaw, old man! Thou turnest a dotard, and in the great knowledge thou +possessest of other things, hast forgotten the knowledge best worth +knowing---that of the beautiful part of the creation. Think of the +impression likely to be made by a gallant neither ignoble in situation, +nor unacceptable in presence, upon a lady who must fear the +consequences of refusal! Come, Agelastes, let me have no more of thy +croaking, auguring bad fortune like the raven from the blasted oak on +the left hand; but declaim, as well thou canst, how faint heart never +won fair lady, and how those best deserve empire who can wreathe the +myrtles of Venus with the laurels of Mars. Come, man, undo me the +secret entrance which combines these magical ruins with groves that are +fashioned rather like those of Cytheros or Naxos." + +"It must be as you will!" said the philosopher, with a deep and +somewhat affected sigh. + +"Here, Diogenes!" called aloud the Caesar; "when thou art summoned, +mischief is not far distant. Come, undo the secret entrance. Mischief, +my trusty negro, is not so distant but she will answer the first +clatter of the stones." + +The negro looked at his master, who returned him a glance acquiescing +in the Caesar's proposal. Diogenes then went to a part of the ruined +wall which was covered by some climbing shrubs, all of which he +carefully removed. This showed a little postern door, closed +irregularly, and filled up, from the threshold to the top, with large +square stones, all of which the slave took out and piled aside, as if +for the purpose of replacing them. "I leave thee," said Agelastes to +the negro, "to guard this door, and let no one enter, except he has the +sign, upon the peril of thy life. It were dangerous it should be left +open at this period of the day." + +The obsequious Diogenes put his hand to his sabre and to his head, as +if to signify the usual promise of fidelity or death, by which those in +his condition generally expressed their answer to their master's +commands. Diogenes then lighted a small lantern, and pulling out a key, +opened an inner door of wood, and prepared to step forward. + +"Hold, friend Diogenes," said the Caesar; "thou wantest not my lantern, +to discern an honest man, whom, if thou didst seek, I must needs say +thou hast come to the wrong place to find one. Nail thou up these +creeping shrubs before the entrance of the place, and abide thou there +as already directed, till our return, to parry the curiosity of any who +may be attracted by the sight of the private passage." + +The black slave drew back as he gave the lamp to the Caesar, and +Agelastes followed the light through a long, but narrow, arched passage, +well supplied with air from space to space, and not neglected in the +inside to the degree which its exterior would have implied. + +"I will not enter with you into the Gardens," said Agelastes, "or to +the bower of Cytherea, where I am too old to be a worshipper. Thou +thyself, I think, Imperial Caesar, art well aware of the road, having +travelled it divers times! and, if I mistake not, for the fairest +reasons." + +"The more thanks," said the Caesar, "are due to mine excellent friend +Agelastes, who forgets his own age to accommodate the youth of his +friends." + + + + +CHAPTER THE EIGHTEENTH. + + +We must now return to the dungeon of the Blacquernal, where +circumstances had formed at least a temporary union between the stout +Varangian and Count Robert of Paris, who had a stronger resemblance to +each other in their dispositions than probably either of them would +have been willing to admit. The virtues of the Varangian were all of +that natural and unrefined kind which Nature herself dictates to a +gallant man, to whom a total want of fear, and the most prompt alacrity +to meet danger, had been attributes of a life-long standing. The Count, +on the other hand, had all that bravery, generosity, and love of +adventure, which was possessed by the rude soldier, with the virtues, +partly real, partly fantastic, which those of his rank and country +acquired from the spirit of chivalry. The one might be compared to the +diamond as it came from the mine, before it had yet received the +advantages of cutting and setting; the other was the ornamented gem, +which, cut into facets and richly set, had lost perhaps a little of its +original substance, yet still, at the same time, to the eye of an +inspector, had something more showy and splendid than when it was, +according to the phrase of lapidaries, _en brut_. In the one case, +the value was more artificial; in the other, it was the more natural +and real of the two. Chance, therefore, had made a temporary alliance +between two men, the foundation of whose characters bore such strong +resemblance to each other, that they were only separated by a course of +education, which had left rigid prejudices on both sides, and which +prejudices were not unlikely to run counter to each other. The +Varangian commenced his conversation with the Count in a tone of +familiarity, approaching nearer to rudeness than the speaker was aware +of, and much of which, though most innocently intended by Hereward, +might be taken amiss by his new brother in arms. The most offensive +part of his deportment, however, was a blunt, bold disregard to the +title of those whom he addressed, adhering thereby to the manners of +the Saxons, from whom he drew his descent, and which was likely to be +at least unpleasing to the Franks as well as Normans, who had already +received and become very tenacious of the privileges of the feudal +system, the mummery of heraldry, and the warlike claims assumed by +knights, as belonging only to their own order. + +Hereward was apt, it must be owned, to think too little of these +distinctions; while he had at least a sufficient tendency to think +enough of the power and wealth of the Greek empire which he served,--of +the dignity inherent in Alexius Comnenus, and which he was also +disposed to grant to the Grecian officers, who, under the Emperor, +commanded his own corps, and particularly to Achilles Tatius. This man +Hereward knew to be a coward, and half-suspected to be a villain. Still, +however, the Follower was always the direct channel through which the +Imperial graces were conferred on the Varangians in general, as well as +upon Hereward himself; and he had always the policy to represent such +favours as being more or less indirectly the consequence of his own +intercession. He was supposed vigorously to espouse the quarrel of the +Varangians, in all the disputes between them and the other corps; he +was liberal and open-handed; gave every soldier his due; and, bating +the trifling circumstance of valour, which was not particularly his +forte, it would have been difficult for these strangers to have +demanded a leader more to their wishes. Besides this, our friend +Hereward was admitted by him into his society, attended him, as we have +seen, upon secret expeditions, and shared, therefore, deeply, in what +may be termed by an expressive, though vulgar phrase, the sneaking +kindness entertained for this new Achilles by the greater part of his +myrmidons. Their attachment might be explained, perhaps, as a liking to +their commander, as strong as could well exist with a marvellous lack +of honour and esteem. The scheme, therefore, formed by Hereward to +effect the deliverance of the Count of Paris, comprehended as much +faith to the Emperor, and his representative, the Acolyte or Follower, +as was consistent with rendering justice to the injured Frank. + +In furtherance of this plan, he conducted Count Robert from the +subterranean vaults of the Blacquernal, of the intricacies of which he +was master, having been repeatedly, of late, stationed sentinel there, +for the purpose of acquiring that knowledge of which Tatius promised +himself the advantage in the ensuing conspiracy. When they were in the +open air, and at some distance from the gloomy towers of the Palace, he +bluntly asked the Count of Paris whether he knew Agelastes the +Philosopher. The other answered in the negative. + +"Look you now, Sir Knight, you hurt yourself in attempting to impose +upon me," said Hereward. "You must know him; for I saw you dined with +him yesterday." + +"O! with that learned old man?" said the Count. "I know nothing of him +worth owning or disguising to thee or any one. A wily person he is, +half herald and half minstrel." + +"Half procurer and whole knave," subjoined the Varangian. "With the +mask of apparent good-humour he conceals his pandering to the vices of +others; with the specious jargon of philosophy, he has argued himself +out of religious belief and moral principle; and, with the appearance +of the most devoted loyalty, he will, if he is not checked in time, +either argue his too confiding master out of life and empire, or, if he +fails in this, reason his simple associates into death and misery." + +"And do you know all this," said Count Robert, "and permit this man to +go unimpeached?" + +"O, content you, sir," replied the Varangian; "I cannot yet form any +plot which Agelastes may not countermine; but the time will come, nay +it is already approaching, when the Emperor's attention shall be +irresistibly turned to the conduct of this man, and then let the +philosopher sit fast, or by St. Dunstan the barbarian overthrows him! +I would only fain, methinks, save from his clutches a foolish friend, +who has listed to his delusions." + +"But what have I to do," said the Count, "with this man, or with his +plots?" + +"Much," said Hereward, "although you know it not. The main supporter of +this plot is no other than the Caesar, who ought to be the most +faithful of men; but ever since Alexius has named a Sebastocrator, an +officer that is higher in rank, and nearer to the throne than the +Caesar himself, so long has Nicephorus Briennius been displeased and +dissatisfied, though for what length of time he has joined the schemes +of the astucious Agelastes it is more difficult to say. This I know, +that for many months he has fed liberally, as his riches enable him to +do, the vices and prodigality of the Caesar. He has encouraged him to +show disrespect to his wife, although the Emperor's daughter; has put +ill-will between him and the royal family. And if Briennius bears no +longer the fame of a rational man, and the renown of a good leader, he +is deprived of both by following the advice of this artful sycophant." + +"And what is all this to me?" said, the Frank. "Agelastes may be a true +man or a time-serving slave; his master, Alexius Comnenus, is not so +much allied to me or mine that I should meddle in the intrigues of his +court." + +"You may be mistaken in that," said the blunt Varangian; "if these +intrigues involve the happiness and virtue"'-- + +"Death of a thousand martyrs!" said the Frank, "doth paltry intrigues +and quarrels of slaves involve a single thought of suspicion of the +noble Countess of Paris? The oaths of thy whole generation were +ineffectual to prove but that one of her hairs had changed its colour +to silver!" + +"Well imagined, gallant knight," said the Anglo-Saxon; "thou art a +husband fitted for the atmosphere of Constantinople, which calls for +little vigilance and a strong belief. Thou wilt find many followers and +fellows in this court of ours." + +"Hark thee, friend," replied the Frank, "let us have no more words, nor +walk farther together than just to the most solitary nook of this +bewildered city, and let us there set to that work which we left even +now unfinished." + +"If thou wert a Duke, Sir Count," replied the Varangian, "thou couldst +not invite to a combat one who is more ready for it. Yet consider the +odds on which we fight. If I fall, my moan is soon made; but will my +death set thy wife at liberty if she is under restraint, or restore her +honour if it is tarnished?--Will it do any thing more than remove from +the world the only person who is willing to give thee aid, at his own +risk and danger, and who hopes to unite thee to thy wife, and replace +thee at the head of thy forces?" + +"I was wrong," said the Count of Paris; "I was entirely wrong; but +beware, my good friend, how thou couplest the name of Brenhilda of +Aspramonte with the word of dishonour, and tell me, instead of this +irritating discourse, whither go we now?" + +"To the Cytherean gardens of Agelastes, from which we are not far +distant," said the Anglo-Saxon; "yet he hath a nearer way to it than +that by which we now travel, else I should be at a loss to account for +the short space in which he could exchange the charms of his garden for +the gloomy ruins of the Temple of Isis, and the Imperial palace of the +Blacquernal." + +"And wherefore, and how long," said Count Robert, "dost thou conclude +that my Countess is detained in these gardens?" + +"Ever since yesterday," replied Hereward. "When both I, and several of +my companions, at my request, kept close watch upon the Caesar and your +lady, we did plainly perceive passages of fiery admiration on his part, +and anger as it seemed on hers, which Agelastes, being Nicephorus's +friend, was likely, as usual, to bring to an end, by a separation of +you both from the army of the crusaders, that your wife, like many a +matron before, might have the pleasure of taking up her residence in +the gardens of that worthy sage; while you, my Lord, might take up your +own permanently in the castle of Blacquernal." + +"Villain! why didst thou not apprize me of this yesterday?" + +"A likely thing," said Hereward, "that I should feel myself at liberty +to leave the ranks, and make such a communication to a man, whom, far +from a friend, I then considered in the light of a personal enemy! +Methinks, that instead of such language as this, you should be thankful +that so many chance circumstances have at length brought me to befriend +and assist you." + +Count Robert felt the truth of what was said, though at the same time +his fiery temper longed to avenge itself, according to its wont, upon +the party which was nearest at hand. + +But now they arrived at what the citizens of Constantinople called the +Philosopher's Gardens. Here Hereward hoped to obtain entrance, for he +had gained a knowledge of some part, at least, of the private signals +of Achilles and Agelastes, since he had been introduced to the last at +the ruins of the Temple of Isis. They had not indeed admitted him to +their entire secret; yet, confident in his connexion with the Follower, +they had no hesitation in communicating to him snatches of knowledge, +such as, committed to a man of shrewd natural sense like the Anglo- +Saxon, could scarce fail, in time and by degrees, to make him master of +the whole. Count Robert and his companion stood before an arched door, +the only opening in a high wall, and the Anglo-Saxon was about to knock, +when, as if the idea had suddenly struck him,-- + +"What if the wretch Diogenes opens the gate? We must kill him, ere he +can fly back and betray us. Well, it is a matter of necessity, and the +villain has deserved his death by a hundred horrid crimes." + +"Kill him then, thyself," retorted Count Robert; "he is nearer thy +degree, and assuredly I will not defile the name of Charlemagne with +the blood of a black slave." + +"Nay, God-a-mercy!" answered the Anglo-Saxon, "but you must bestir +yourself in the action, supposing there come rescue, and that I be +over-borne by odds." + +"Such odds," said the knight, "will render the action more like a +_melee_, or general battle; and assure yourself, I will not be +slack when I may, with my honour, be active." + +"I doubt it not," said the Varangian; "but the distinction seems a +strange one, that before permitting a man to defend himself, or annoy +his enemy, requires him to demand the pedigree of his ancestor." + +"Fear you not, sir," said Count Robert. "The strict rule of chivalry +indeed bears what I tell thee, but when the question is, Fight or not? +there is great allowance to be made for a decision in the affirmative." + +"Let me give then the exorciser's rap," replied Hereward, "and see what +fiend will appear." + +So saying, he knocked in a particular manner, and the door opened +inwards; a dwarfish negress stood in the gap--her white hair contrasted +singularly with her dark complexion, and with the broad laughing look +peculiar to those slaves. She had something in her physiognomy which, +severely construed, might argue malice, and a delight in human misery. + +"Is Agelastes"---said the Varangian; but he had not completed the +sentence, when she answered him, by pointing down a shadowed walk. + +The Anglo-Saxon and Frank turned in that direction, when the hag rather +muttered, than said distinctly, "You are one of the initiated, +Varangian; take heed whom you take with you, when you may hardly, +peradventure, be welcomed even going alone." + +Hereward made a sign that he understood her, and they were instantly +out of her sight. The path winded beautifully through the shades of an +Eastern garden, where clumps of flowers and labyrinths of flowering +shrubs, and the tall boughs of the forest trees, rendered even the +breath of noon cool and acceptable. + +"Here we must use our utmost caution," said Hereward, speaking in a low +tone of voice; "for here it is most likely the deer that we seek has +found its refuge. Better allow me to pass before, since you are too +deeply agitated to possess the coolness necessary for a scout. Keep +concealed beneath yon oak, and let no vain scruples of honour deter you +from creeping beneath the underwood, or beneath the earth itself, if +you should hear a footfall. If the lovers have agreed, Agelastes, it is +probable, walks his round, to prevent intrusion." + +"Death and furies! it cannot be!" exclaimed the fiery Frank.--"Lady of +the Broken Lances, take thy votary's life, ere thou torment him with +this agony!" + +He saw, however, the necessity of keeping a strong force upon himself, +and permitted, without further remonstrance, the Varangian to pursue +his way, looking, however, earnestly after him. + +By advancing forward a little, he could observe Hereward draw near to a +pavilion which arose at no great distance from the place where they had +parted. Here he observed him apply, first his eye, and then his ear, to +one of the casements, which were in a great measure grown over, and +excluded from the light, by various flowering shrubs. He almost thought +he saw a grave interest take place in the countenance of the Varangian, +and he longed to have his share of the information which he had +doubtless obtained. + +He crept, therefore, with noiseless steps, through the same labyrinth +of foliage which had covered the approaches of Hereward; and so silent +were his movements, that he touched the Anglo-Saxon, in order to make +him aware of his presence, before he observed his approach. + +Hereward, not aware at first by whom he was approached, turned on the +intruder with a countenance like a burning coal. Seeing, however, that +it was the Frank, he shrugged his shoulders, as if pitying the +impatience which could not be kept under prudent restraint, and drawing +himself back allowed the Count the privilege of a peeping place through +plinths of the casement, which could not be discerned by the sharpest +eye from the inner side. The sombre character of the light which +penetrated into this abode of pleasure, was suited to that species of +thought to which a Temple of Cytherea was supposed to be dedicated. +Portraits and groups of statuary were also to be seen, in the taste of +those which they had beheld at the Kiosk of the waterfall, yet +something more free in the ideas which they conveyed than were to be +found at their first resting-place. Shortly after, the door of the +pavilion opened, and the Countess entered, followed by her attendant +Agatha. The lady threw herself on a couch as she came in, while her +attendant, who was a young and very handsome woman, kept herself +modestly in the background, so much so as hardly to be distinguished. + +"What dost thou think," said the Countess, "of so suspicious a friend +as Agelastes? so gallant an enemy as the Caesar, as he is called?" + +"What should I think," returned the damsel, "except that what the old +man calls friendship is hatred, and what the Caesar terms a patriotic +love for his country, which will not permit him to set its enemies at +liberty, is in fact too strong an affection for his fair captive?" + +"For such an affection," said the Countess, "he shall have the same +requital as if it were indeed the hostility of which he would give it +the colour.--My true and noble lord; hadst thou an idea of the +calamities to which they have subjected me, how soon wouldst thou break +through every restraint to hasten to my relief!" + +"Art thou a man," said Count Robert to his companion; "and canst thou +advise me to remain still and hear this?" + +"I am one man," said the Anglo-Saxon; "you, sir, are another; but all +our arithmetic will not make us more than two; and in this place, it is +probable that a whistle from the Caesar, or a scream from Agelastes, +would bring a thousand to match us, if we were as bold as Bevis of +Hampton.--Stand still and keep quiet. I counsel this, less as +respecting my own life, which, by embarking upon a wild-goose chase +with so strange a partner, I have shown I put at little value, than for +thy safety, and that of the lady thy Countess, who shows herself as +virtuous as beautiful." + +"I was imposed on at first," said the Lady Brenhilda to her attendant. +"Affectation of severe morals, of deep learning, and of rigid rectitude, +assumed by this wicked old man, made me believe in part the character +which he pretended; but the gloss is rubbed off since he let me see +into his alliance with the unworthy Caesar, and the ugly picture +remains in its native loathsomeness. Nevertheless, if I can, by address +or subtlety, deceive this arch-deceiver,--as he has taken from me, in a +great measure, every other kind of assistance,--I will not refuse that +of craft, which he may find perhaps equal to his own?" + +"Hear you that?" said the Varangian to the Count of Paris. "Do not let +your impatience mar the web of your lady's prudence. I will weigh a +woman's wit against a man's valour where there is aught to do! Let us +not come in with our assistance until time shall show us that it is +necessary for her safety and our success." + +"Amen," said the Count of Paris; "but hope not, Sir Saxon, that thy +prudence shall persuade me to leave this garden without taking full +vengeance on that unworthy Caesar, and the pretended philosopher, if +indeed he turns out to have assumed a character"---The Count was here +beginning to raise his voice, when the Saxon, without ceremony, placed +his hand on his mouth. "Thou takest a liberty," said Count Robert, +lowering however his tones. + +"Ay, truly," said Hereward; "when the house is on fire, I do not stop +to ask whether the water which I pour on it be perfumed or no." + +This recalled the Frank to a sense of his situation; and if not +contented with the Saxon's mode of making an apology, he was at least +silenced. A distant noise was now heard--the Countess listened, and +changed colour. "Agatha," she said, "we are like champions in the lists, +and here comes the adversary. Let us retreat into this side apartment, +and so for a while put off an encounter thus alarming." So saying, the +two females withdrew into a sort of anteroom, which opened from the +principal apartment behind the seat which Brenhilda had occupied. + +They had scarcely disappeared, when, as the stage direction has it, +enter from the other side the Caesar and Agelastes. They had perhaps +heard the last words of Brenhilda, for the Caesar repeated in a low +tone-- + + "Militat omnis amans, habet et sua castra Cupido. + +"What, has our fair opponent withdrawn her forces? No matter, it shows +she thinks of the warfare, though the enemy be not in sight. Well, thou +shalt not have to upbraid me this time, Agelastes, with precipitating +my amours, and depriving myself of the pleasure of pursuit. By Heavens, +I will be as regular in my progress as if in reality I bore on my +shoulders the whole load of years which make the difference between us; +for I shrewdly suspect that with thee, old man, it is that envious +churl Time that hath plucked the wings of Cupid." + +"Say not so, mighty Caesar," said the old man; "it is the hand of +Prudence, which, depriving Cupid's wing of some wild feathers, leaves +him still enough to fly with an equal and steady flight." + +"Thy flight, however, was less measured, Agelastes, when thou didst +collect that armoury--that magazine of Cupid's panoply, out of which +thy kindness permitted me but now to arm myself, or rather to repair my +accoutrements." + +So saying, he glanced his eye over his own person, blazing with gems, +and adorned with a chain of gold, bracelets, rings, and other ornaments, +which, with a new and splendid habit, assumed since his arrival at +these Cytherean gardens, tended to set off his very handsome figure. + +"I am glad," said Agelastes, "if you have found among toys, which I now +never wear, and seldom made use of even when life was young with me, +anything which may set off your natural advantages. Remember only this +slight condition, that such of these trifles as have made part of your +wearing apparel on this distinguished day, cannot return to a meaner +owner, but must of necessity remain the property of that greatness of +which they had once formed the ornament." + +"I cannot consent to this, my worthy friend," said the Caesar; "I know +thou valuest these jewels only in so far as a philosopher may value +them; that is, for nothing save the remembrances which attach to them. +This large seal-ring, for instance, was--I have heard you say--the +property of Socrates; if so, you cannot view it save with devout +thankfulness, that your own philosophy has never been tried with the +exercise of a Xantippe. These clasps released, in older times, the +lovely bosom of Phryne; and they now belong to one who could do better +homage to the beauties they concealed or discovered than could the +cynic Diogenes. These buckles, too"--- + +"I will spare thy ingenuity, good youth," said Agelastes, somewhat +nettled; "or rather, noble Caesar. Keep thy wit--thou wilt have ample +occasion for it." + +"Fear not me," said the Caesar. "Let us proceed, since you will, to +exercise the gifts which we possess, such as they are, either natural +or bequeathed to us by our dear and respected friend. Hah!" he said, +the door opening suddenly, and the Countess almost meeting him, "our +wishes are here anticipated." + +He bowed accordingly with the deepest deference to the Lady Brenhilda, +who, having made some alterations to enhance the splendour of her +attire, now moved forward from the withdrawing-room into which she had +retreated. + +"Hail, noble lady," said the Caesar, "whom I have visited with the +intention of apologizing for detaining you, in some degree against your +will, in those strange regions in which yon unexpectedly find +yourself." + +"Not in some degree," answered the lady, "but entirely contrary to my +inclinations, which are, to be with my husband, the Count of Paris, and +the followers who have taken the cross under his banner." + +"Such, doubtless, were your thoughts when you left the land of the +west," said Agelastes; "but, fair Countess, have they experienced no +change? You have left a shore streaming with human blood when the +slightest provocation occurred, and thou hast come to one whose +principal maxim is to increase the sum of human happiness by every mode +which can be invented. In the west yonder, he or she is respected most +who can best exercise their tyrannical strength in making others +miserable, while, in these more placid realms, we reserve our garlands +for the ingenious youth, or lovely lady, who can best make happy the +person whose affection is fixed upon her." + +"But, reverend philosopher," said the Countess, "who labourest so +artificially in recommending the yoke of pleasure, know that you +contradict every notion which I have been taught from my infancy. In +the land where my nurture lay, so far are we from acknowledging your +doctrines, that we match not, except like the lion and the lioness, +when the male has compelled the female to acknowledge his superior +worth and valour. Such is our rule, that a damsel, even of mean degree, +would think herself heinously undermatched, if wedded to a gallant +whose fame in arms was yet unknown." + +"But, noble lady," said the Caesar, "a dying man may then find room for +some faint hope. Were there but a chance that distinction in arms could +gain those affections which have been stolen, rather than fairly +conferred, how many are there who would willingly enter into the +competition where the prize is so fair! What is the enterprise too bold +to be under-taken on such a condition! And where is the individual +whose heart would not feel, that in baring his sword for the prize, he +made vow never to return it to the scabbard, without the proud boast, +What I have not yet won, I have deserved!" + +"You see, lady," said Agelastes, who, apprehending that the last speech +of the Caesar had made some impression, hastened to follow it up with a +suitable observation---"You see that the fire of chivalry burns as +gallantly in the bosom of the Grecians as in that of the western +nations." + +"Yes," answered Brenhilda, "and I have heard of the celebrated siege of +Troy, on which occasion a dastardly coward carried off the wife of a +brave man, shunned every proffer of encounter with the husband whom he +had wronged, and finally caused the death of his numerous brothers, the +destruction of his native city, with all the wealth which it contained, +and died himself the death of a pitiful poltroon, lamented only by his +worthless leman, to show how well the rules of chivalry were understood +by your predecessors." + +"Lady, you mistake," said the Caesar; "the offences of Paris were those +of a dissolute Asiatic; the courage which avenged them was that of the +Greek Empire." + +"You are learned, sir," said the lady; "but think not that I will trust +your words until you produce before me a Grecian knight, gallant enough +to look upon the armed crest of my husband without quaking." + +"That, methinks, were not extremely difficult," returned the Caesar; +"if they have not flattered me, I have myself been thought equal in +battle to more dangerous men than him who has been strangely mated with +the Lady Brenhilda." + +"That is soon tried," answered the Countess. "You will hardly, I think, +deny, that my husband, separated from me by some unworthy trick, is +still at thy command, and could be produced at thy pleasure. I will ask +no armour for him save what he wears, no weapon but his good sword +Tranchefer; then place him in this chamber, or any other lists equally +narrow, and if he flinch, or cry craven, or remain dead under shield, +let Brenhilda be the prize of the conqueror.--Merciful Heaven!" she +concluded, as she sunk back upon her seat, "forgive me for the crime of +even imagining such a termination, which is equal almost to doubting +thine unerring judgment!" + +"Let me, however," said the Caesar, "catch up these precious words +before they fall to the ground,--Let me hope that he, to whom the +heavens shall give power and strength to conquer this highly-esteemed +Count of Paris, shall succeed him in the affections of Brenhilda; and +believe me, the sun plunges not through the sky to his resting-place, +with the same celerity that I shall hasten to the encounter." + +"Now, by Heaven!" said Count Robert, in an anxious whisper to Hereward, +"it is too much to expect me to stand by and hear a contemptible Greek, +who durst not stand even the rattling farewell which Tranchefer takes +of his scabbard, brave me in my absence, and affect to make love to my +lady _par amours!_ And she, too--methinks Brenhilda allows more +license than she is wont to do to yonder chattering popinjay. By the +rood! I will spring into the apartment, front them with my personal +appearance, and confute yonder braggart in a manner he is like to +remember." + +"Under favour," said the Varangian, who was the only auditor of this +violent speech, "you shall be ruled by calm reason while I am with you. +When we are separated, let the devil of knight-errantry, which has such +possession of thee, take thee upon his shoulders, and carry thee full +tilt wheresoever he lists." + +"Thou art a brute," said the Count, looking at him with a contempt +corresponding to the expression he made use of; "not only without +humanity, but without the sense of natural honour or natural shame. The +most despicable of animals stands not by tamely and sees another assail +his mate. The bull offers his horns to a rival--the mastiff uses his +jaws--and even the timid stag becomes furious, and gores." + +"Because they are beasts," said the Varangian, "and their mistresses +also creatures without shame or reason, who are not aware of the +sanctity of a choice. But thou, too, Count, canst thou not see the +obvious purpose of this poor lady, forsaken by all the world, to keep +her faith towards thee, by eluding the snares with which wicked men +have beset her? By the souls of my fathers! my heart is so much moved +by her ingenuity, mingled as I see it is with the most perfect candour +and faith, that I myself, in fault of a better champion, would +willingly raise the axe in her behalf!" + +"I thank thee, my good friend," said the Count; "I thank thee as +heartily as if it were possible thou shouldst be left to do that good +office for Brenhilda, the beloved of many a noble lord, the mistress of +many a powerful vassal; and, what is more, much more than thanks, I +crave thy pardon for the wrong I did thee but now." + +"My pardon you cannot need" said the Varangian; "for I take no offence +that is not seriously meant.--Stay, they speak again." + +"It is strange it should be so," said the Caesar, as he paced the +apartment; "but methinks, nay, I am almost certain, Agelastes, that I +hear voices in the vicinity of this apartment of thy privacy." "It is +impossible," said Agelastes; "but I will go and see." Perceiving him to +leave the pavilion, the Varangian made the Frank sensible that they +must crouch down among a little thicket of evergreens, where they lay +completely obscured. The philosopher made his rounds with a heavy step, +but a watchful eye; and the two listeners were obliged to observe the +strictest silence, without motion of any kind, until he had completed +an ineffectual search, and returned into the pavilion. "By my faith, +brave man," said the Count, "ere we return to our skulking-place, I +must tell thee in thine ear, that never, in my life, was temptation so +strong upon me, as that which prompted me to beat out that old +hypocrite's brains, provided I could have reconciled it with my honour; +and heartily do I wish that thou, whose honour no way withheld thee, +had experienced and given way to some impulse of a similar nature." + +"Such fancies have passed through my head," said the Varangian; "but I +will not follow them till they are consistent both with our own safety, +and more particularly with that of the Countess." + +"I thank thee again for thy good-will to her," said Count Robert; "and, +by Heaven! if fight we must at length, as it seems likely, I will +neither grudge thee an honourable antagonist, nor fair quarter if the +combat goes against thee." + +"Thou hast my thanks," was the reply of Hereward; "only, for Heaven's +sake, be silent in this conjecture, and do what thou wilt afterwards." +Before the Varangian and the Count had again resumed their posture of +listeners, the parties within the pavilion, conceiving themselves +unwatched, had resumed their conversation, speaking low, yet with +considerable animation. + +"It is in vain you would persuade me," said the Countess, "that you +know not where my husband is, or that you have not the most absolute +influence over his captivity. Who else could have an interest in +banishing or putting to death the husband, but he that affects to +admire the wife?" "You do me wrong, beautiful lady," answered the +Caesar, "and forget that I can in no shape be termed the moving-spring +of this empire; that my father-in-law, Alexius, is the Emperor; and +that the woman who terms herself my wife, is jealous as a fiend can be +of my slightest motion.-What possibility was there that I should work +the captivity of your husband and your own? The open affront which the +Count of Paris put upon the Emperor, was one which he was likely to +avenge, either by secret guile or by open force. Me it no way touched, +save as the humble vassal of thy charms; and it was by the wisdom and +the art of the sage Agelastes, that I was able to extricate thee from +the gulf in which thou hadst else certainly perished. Nay, weep not, +lady, for as yet we know not the fate of Count Robert; but, credit me, +it is wisdom to choose a better protector, and consider him as no +more." + +"A better than him," said Brenhilda, "I can never have, were I to +choose out of the knighthood of all the world!" + +"This hand," said the Caesar, drawing himself into a martial attitude, +"should decide that question, were the man of whom thou thinkest so +much yet moving on the face of this earth and at liberty." + +"Thou art," said Brenhilda, looking fixedly at him with the fire of +indignation flashing from every feature--"thou art--but it avails not +telling thee what is thy real name; believe me, the world shall one day +ring with it, and be justly sensible of its value. Observe what I am +about to say--Robert of Paris is gone--or captive, I know not where. He +cannot fight the match of which thou seemest so desirous--but here +stands Brenhilda, born heiress of Aspramonte, by marriage the wedded +wife of the good Count of Paris. She was never matched in the lists by +mortal man, except the valiant Count, and since thou art so grieved +that thou canst not meet her husband in battle, thou canst not surely +object, if she is willing to meet thee in his stead!" + +"How, madam?" said the Caesar, astonished; "do you propose yourself to +hold the lists against me?" + +"Against you!" said the Countess; "against all the Grecian Empire, if +they shall affirm that Robert of Paris is justly used and lawfully +confined." + +"And are the conditions," said the Caesar, "the same as if Count Robert +himself held the lists? The vanquished must then be at the pleasure of +the conqueror for good or evil." + +"It would seem so," said the Countess, "nor do I refuse the hazard; +only, that if the other champion shall bite the dust, the noble Count +Robert shall be set at liberty, and permitted to depart with all +suitable honours." + +"This I refuse not," said the Caesar, "provided it is in my power." + +A deep growling sound, like that of a modern gong, here interrupted the +conference. + + + + +CHAPTER THE NINETEENTH. + + +The Varangian and Count Robert, at every risk of discovery, had +remained so near as fully to conjecture, though they could not +expressly overhear, the purport of the conversation. + +"He has accepted her challenge!" said the Count of Paris. + +"And with apparent willingness," said Hereward. + +"O, doubtless, doubtless,"--answered the Crusader; "but he knows not +the skill in war which a woman may attain; for my part, God knows I +have enough depending upon the issue of this contest, yet such is my +confidence, that I would to God I had more. I vow to our Lady of the +Broken Lances, that I desire every furrow of land I possess--every +honour which I can call my own, from the Countship of Paris, down to +the leather that binds my spur, were dependent and at issue upon this +fair field, between your Caesar, as men term him, and Brenhilda of +Aspramonte." + +"It is a noble confidence," said the Varangian, "nor durst I say it is +a rash one; only I cannot but remember that the Caesar is a strong man, +as well as a handsome, expert in the use of arms, and, above all, less +strictly bound than you esteem yourself by the rules of honour. There +are many ways in which advantage may be given and taken, which will not, +in the Caesar's estimation, alter the character of the field from an +equal one, although it might do so in the opinion of the chivalrous +Count of Paris, or even in that of the poor Varangian. But first let me +conduct you to some place of safety, for your escape must be soon, if +it is not already, detected. The sounds which we heard intimate that +some of his confederate plotters have visited the garden on other than +love affairs. I will guide thee to another avenue than that by which we +entered. But you would hardly, I suppose, be pleased to adopt the +wisest alternative?" + +"And what may that be?" said the Count. + +"To give thy purse, though it were thine all, to some poor ferryman to +waft thee over the Hellespont, then hasten to carry thy complaint to +Godfrey of Bouillon, and what friends thou mayst have among thy +brethren crusaders, and determine, as thou easily canst, on a +sufficient number of them to come back and menace the city with instant +war, unless the Emperor should deliver up thy lady, most unfairly made +prisoner, and prevent, by his authority, this absurd and unnatural +combat." + +"And would you have me, then," said Count Robert, "move the crusaders +to break a fairly appointed field of battle? Do you think that Godfrey +of Bouillon would turn back upon his pilgrimage for such an unworthy +purpose; or that the Countess of Paris would accept as a service, means +of safety which would stain her honour for ever, by breaking an +appointment solemnly made on her own challenge?--Never!" + +"My judgment is then at fault," said the Varangian, "for I see I can +hammer out no expedient which is not, in some extravagant manner or +another, controlled by your foolish notions. Here is a man who has been +trapped into the power of his enemy, that he might not interfere to +prevent a base stratagem upon his lady, involving both her life and +honour; yet he thinks it a matter of necessity that he keeps faith as +precisely with these midnight poisoners, as he would had it been +pledged to the most honourable men!" + +"Thou say'st a painful truth," said Count Robert; "but my word is the +emblem of my faith; and if it pass to a dishonourable or faithless foe, +it is imprudently done on my part; but if I break it, being once +pledged, it is a dishonourable action, and the disgrace can never be +washed from my shield." + +"Do you mean, then," said the Varangian, "to suffer your wife's honour +to remain pledged as it at present is, on the event of an unequal +combat?" + +"God and the saints pardon thee such a thought!" said the Count of +Paris. "I will go to see this combat with a heart as firm, if not as +light, as any time I ever saw spears splintered. If by the influence of +any accident or treachery,--for fairly, and with such an antagonist, +Brenhilda of Aspramonte cannot be overthrown,--I step into the lists, +proclaim the Caesar as he is--a villain--show the falsehood of his +conduct from beginning to end,--appeal to every noble heart that hears +me, and then--God show the right!" + +Hereward paused, and shook his head. "All this," he said, "might be +feasible enough provided the combat were to be fought in the presence +of your own countrymen, or even, by the mass! if the Varangians were to +be guards of the lists. But treachery of every kind is so familiar to +the Greeks, that I question if they would view the conduct of their +Caesar as any thing else than a pardonable and natural stratagem of Dan +Cupid, to be smiled at, rather than subjected to disgrace or +punishment." + +"A nation," said Count Robert, "who could smile at such a jest, may +heaven refuse them sympathy at their utmost need, when their sword is +broken in their hand, and their wives and daughters shrieking in the +relentless grasp of a barbarous enemy!" + +Hereward looked upon his companion, whose flushed cheeks and sparkling +eyes bore witness to his enthusiasm. + +"I see," he said, "you are resolved, and I know that your resolution +can in justice be called by no other name than an act of heroic folly: +--What then? it is long since life has been bitter to the Varangian +exile. Morn has raised him from a joyless bed, which night has seen him +lie down upon, wearied with wielding a mercenary weapon in the wars of +strangers. He has longed to lay down his life in an honourable cause, +and this is one in which the extremity and very essence of honour is +implicated. It tallies also with my scheme of saving the Emperor, which +will be greatly facilitated by the downfall of his ungrateful son-in- +law." Then addressing himself to the Count, he continued, "Well, Sir +Count, as thou art the person principally concerned, I am willing to +yield to thy reasoning in this affair; but I hope you will permit me to +mingle with your resolution some advices of a more everyday and less +fantastic nature. For example, thy escape from the dungeons of the +Blacquernal must soon be generally known. In prudence, indeed, I myself +must be the first to communicate it, since otherwise the suspicion will +fall on me--Where do you think of concealing yourself? for assuredly +the search will be close and general." + +"For that," said the Count of Paris, "I must be indebted to thy +suggestion, with thanks for every lie which thou findest thyself +obliged to make, to contrive, and produce in my behalf, entreating thee +only to render them as few as possible, they being a coin which I +myself never fabricate." + +"Sir knight," answered Hereward, "let me begin first by saying, that no +knight that ever belted sword is more a slave to truth, when truth is +observed towards him, than the poor soldier who talks to thee; but when +the game depends not upon fair play, but upon lulling men's +cautiousness asleep by falsehood, and drugging their senses by opiate +draughts, they who would scruple at no means of deceiving me, can +hardly expect that I, who am paid in such base money, should pass +nothing on my part but what is lawful and genuine. For the present thou +must remain concealed within my poor apartment, in the barracks of the +Varangians, which is the last place where they will think of seeking +for thee. Take this, my upper cloak, and follow me; and now that we are +about to leave these gardens, thou mayst follow me unsuspected as a +sentinel attending his officer; for, take it along with you, noble +Count, that we Varangians are a sort of persons upon whom the Greeks +care not to look very long or fixedly." + +They now reached the gate where they had been admitted by the negress, +and Hereward, who was intrusted with the power, it seems, of letting +himself out of the philosopher's premises, though not of entering +without assistance from the portress, took out a key which turned the +lock on the garden side, so that they soon found themselves at liberty. +They then proceeded by by-paths through the city, Hereward leading the +way, and the Count following, without speech or remonstrance, until +they stood before the portal of the barracks of the Varangians. + +"Make haste," said the sentinel who was on duty, "dinner is already +begun." The communication sounded joyfully in the ears of Hereward, who +was much afraid that his companion might have been stopt and examined. +By a side passage he reached his own quarters, and introduced the Count +into a small room, the sleeping chamber of his squire, where he +apologized for leaving him for some time; and, going out, locked the +door, for fear, as he said, of intrusion. + +The demon of suspicion was not very likely to molest a mind so frankly +constituted as that of Count Robert, and yet the last action of +Hereward did not fail to occasion some painful reflections. + +"This man," he said, "had needs be true, for I have reposed in him a +mighty trust, which few hirelings in his situation would honourably +discharge. What is to prevent him to report to the principal officer of +his watch, that the Frank prisoner, Robert, Count of Paris, whose wife +stands engaged for so desperate a combat with the Caesar, has escaped, +indeed, this morning, from the prisons of the Blacquernal, but has +suffered himself to be trepanned at noon, and is again a captive in the +barracks of the Varangian Guard?---what means of defence are mine, were +I discovered to these mercenaries?--What man could do, by the favour of +our Lady of the Broken Lances, I have not failed to achieve. I have +slain a tiger in single combat--I have killed one warder, and conquered +the desperate and gigantic creature by whom he was supported. I have +had terms enough at command to bring over this Varangian to my side, in +appearance at least; yet all this does not encourage me to hope that I +could long keep at bay ten or a dozen such men as these beef-fed knaves +appear to be, led in upon me by a fellow of thewes and sinews such as +those of my late companion.--Yet for shame, Robert! such thoughts are +unworthy a descendant of Charlemagne. When wert thou wont so curiously +to count thine enemies, and when wert thou wont to be suspicious, since +he, whose bosom may truly boast itself incapable of fraud, ought in +honesty to be the last to expect it in another? The Varangian's look is +open, his coolness in danger is striking, his speech is more frank and +ready than ever was that of a traitor. If he is false, there is no +faith in the hand of nature, for truth, sincerity, and courage are +written upon his forehead." + +While Count Robert was thus reflecting upon his condition, and +combating the thick-coming doubts and suspicions which its +uncertainties gave rise to, he began to be sensible that he had not +eaten for many hours; and amidst many doubts and fears of a more heroic +nature, he half entertained a lurking suspicion, that they meant to let +hunger undermine his strength before they adventured into the apartment +to deal with him. + +We shall best see how far these doubts were deserved by Hereward, or +how far they were unjust, by following his course after he left his +barrack-room. Snatching a morsel of dinner, which he ate with an +affectation of great hunger, but, in fact, that his attention to his +food might be a pretence for dispensing with disagreeable questions, or +with conversation of any kind, he pleaded duty, and immediately leaving +his comrades, directed his course to the lodgings of Achilles Tatius, +which were a part of the same building. A Syrian slave, who opened the +door, after a deep reverence to Hereward, whom he knew as a favourite +attendant of the Acolyte, said to him that his master was gone forth, +but had desired him to say, that if he wished to see him, he would find +him at the Philosopher's Gardens, so called, as belonging to the sage +Agelastes. + +Hereward turned about instantly, and availing himself of his knowledge +of Constantinople to thread its streets in the shortest time possible, +at length stood alone before the door in the garden-wall, at which he +and the Count of Paris had previously been admitted in the earlier part +of the day. The same negress appeared at the same private signal, and +when he asked for Achilles Tatius, she replied, with some sharpness, +"Since you were here this morning, I marvel you did not meet him, or +that, having business with him, you did not stay till he arrived. Sure +I am, that not long after you entered the garden the Acolyte was +enquiring for you." + +"It skills not, old woman" said the Varangian; "I communicate the +reason of my motions to my commander, but not to thee." He entered the +garden accordingly, and avoiding the twilight path that led to the +Bower of Love,--so was the pavilion named in which he had overheard the +dialogue between the Caesar and the Countess of Paris,--he arrived +before a simple garden-house, whose humble and modest front seemed to +announce that it was the abode of philosophy and learning. Here, +passing before the windows, he made some little noise, expecting to +attract the attention either of Achilles Tatius, or his accomplice +Agelastes, as chance should determine. It was the first who heard, and +who replied. The door opened; a lofty plume stooped itself, that its +owner might cross the threshold, and the stately form of Achilles +Tatius entered the gardens. "What now," he said, "our trusty sentinel? +what hast thou, at this time of day, come to report to us? Thou art our +good friend, and highly esteemed soldier, and well we wot thine errand +must be of importance, since thou hast brought it thyself, and at an +hour so unusual." + +"Pray Heaven," said Hereward, "that the news I have brought deserve a +welcome." + +"Speak them instantly," said the Acolyte, "good or bad; thou speakest +to a man to whom fear is unknown." But his eye, which quailed as he +looked on the soldier--his colour, which went and came--his hands, +which busied themselves in an uncertain manner in adjusting the belt of +his sword,--all argued a state of mind very different from that which +his tone of defiance would fain have implied. "Courage," he said, "my +trusty soldier! speak the news to me. I can bear the worst thou hast to +tell." + +"In a word, then," said the Varangian, "your Valour directed me this +morning to play the office of master of the rounds upon those dungeons +of the Blacquernal palace, where last night the boisterous Count Robert +of Paris was incarcerated"-- + +"I remember well," said Achilles Tatius.--"What then?" + +"As I reposed me," said Hereward, "in an apartment above the vaults, I +heard cries from beneath, of a kind which attracted my attention. I +hastened to examine, and my surprise was extreme, when looking down +into the dungeon, though I could see nothing distinctly, yet, by the +wailing and whimpering sounds, I conceived that the Man of the Forest, +the animal called Sylvan, whom our soldiers have so far indoctrinated +in our Saxon tongue as to make him useful in the wards of the prison, +was bemoaning himself on account of some violent injury. Descending +with a torch, I found the bed on which the prisoner had been let down +burnt to cinders; the tiger which had been chained within a spring of +it, with its skull broken to pieces; the creature called Sylvan, +prostrate, and writhing under great pain and terror, and no prisoner +whatever in the dungeon. There were marks that all the fastenings had +been withdrawn by a Mytilenian soldier, companion of my watch, when he +visited the dungeon at the usual hour; and as, in my anxious search, I +at length found his dead body, slain apparently by a stab in the throat, +I was obliged to believe that while I was examining the cell, he, this +Count Robert, with whose daring life the adventure is well consistent, +had escaped into the upper air, by means, doubtless, of the ladder and +trap-door by which I had descended." + +"And wherefore didst thou not instantly call treason, and raise the hue +and cry?" demanded the Acolyte. + +"I dared not venture to do so," replied the Varangian, "till I had +instructions from your Valour. The alarming cry of treason, and the +various rumours likely at this moment to ensue, might have involved a +search so close, as perchance would have discovered matters in which +the Acolyte himself would have been rendered subject to suspicion." + +"Thou art right," said Achilles Tatius, in a whisper: "and yet it will +be necessary that we do not pretend any longer to conceal the flight of +this important prisoner, if we would not pass for being his accomplices. +Where thinkest thou this unhappy fugitive can have taken refuge?" + +"That I was in hopes of learning from your Valour's greater wisdom," +said Hereward. + +"Thinkest thou not," said Achilles, "that he may have crossed the +Hellespont, in order to rejoin his own countrymen and adherents?" + +"It is much to be dreaded," said Hereward. "Undoubtedly, if the Count +listened to the advice of any one who knew the face of the country, +such would be the very counsel he would receive." + +"The danger, then, of his return at the head of a vengeful body of +Franks," said the Acolyte, "is not so immediate as I apprehended at +first, for the Emperor gave positive orders that the boats and galleys +which yesterday transported the crusaders to the shores of Asia should +recross the strait, and bring back no single one of them from the step +upon their journey on which he had so far furthered them.--Besides, +they all,--their leaders, that is to say,--made their vows before +crossing, that they would not turn back so much as a foot's pace, now +that they had set actually forth on the road to Palestine." + +"So, therefore," said Hereward, "one of the two propositions is +unquestionable; either Count Robert is on the eastern side of the +strait, having no means of returning with his brethren to avenge the +usage he has received, and may therefore be securely set, at +defiance,--or else he lurks somewhere in Constantinople, without a +friend or ally to take his part, or encourage him openly to state his +supposed wrongs; in either case, there can, I think, be no tact in +conveying to the palace the news that he has freed himself, since it +would only alarm the court, and afford the Emperor ground for many +suspicions.--But it is not for an ignorant barbarian like me to +prescribe a course of conduct to your valour and wisdom, and methinks +the sage Agelastes were a fitter counsellor than such as I am." + +"No, no, no," said the Acolyte, in a hurried whisper; "the philosopher +and I are right good friends, sworn good friends, very especially bound +together; but should it come to this, that one of us must needs throw +before the footstool of the Emperor the head of the other, I think thou +wouldst not advise that I, whose hairs have not a trace of silver, +should be the last in making the offering; therefore we will say +nothing of this mishap, but give thee full power, and the highest +charge to seek for Count Robert of Paris, be he dead or alive, to +secure him within the dungeons set apart for the discipline of our own +corps, and when thou hast done so, to bring me notice. I may make him +my friend in many ways, by extricating his wife from danger by the axes +of my Varangians. What is there in this metropolis that they have to +oppose them?" + +"When raised in a just cause," answered Hereward, "nothing." + +"Hah!--say'st thou?" said the Acolyte; "how meanest thou by that?--but +I know--Thou art scrupulous about having the just and lawful command of +thy officer in every action in which thou art engaged, and, thinking in +that dutiful and soldierlike manner, it is my duty as thine Acolyte to +see thy scruples satisfied. A warrant shalt thou have, with full powers, +to seek for and imprison this foreign Count of whom we have been +speaking--And, hark thee, my excellent friend," he continued, with some +hesitation, "I think thou hadst better begone, and begin, or rather +continue thy search. It is unnecessary to inform our friend Agelastes +of what has happened, until his advice be more needful than as yet it +is on the occasion. Home--home to the barracks; I will account to him +for thy appearance here, if he be curious on the subject, which, as a +suspicious old man, he is likely to be. Go to the barracks, and act as +if thou hadst a warrant in every respect full and ample. I will provide +thee with one when I come back to my quarters." + +The Varangian turned hastily homewards. + +"Now, is it not," he said, "a strange thing, and enough to make a man a +rogue for life--to observe how the devil encourages young beginners in +falsehood! I have told a greater lie--at least I have suppressed more +truth--than on any occasion before in my whole life--and what is the +consequence? Why, my commander throws almost at my head a warrant +sufficient to guarantee and protect me in all I have done, or propose +to do! If the foul fiend were thus regular in protecting his votaries, +methinks they would have little reason to complain of him, or better +men to be astonished at their number. But a time comes, they say, when +he seldom fails to desert them. Therefore, get thee behind me, Satan! +If I have seemed to be thy servant for a short time, it is but with an +honest and Christian purpose." + +As he entertained these thoughts, he looked back upon the path, and was +startled at an apparition of a creature of a much greater size, and a +stranger shape than human, covered, all but the face, with a reddish +dun fur; his expression an ugly, and yet a sad melancholy; a cloth was +wrapped round one hand, and an air of pain and languor bespoke +suffering from a wound. So much was Hereward pre-occupied with his own +reflections, that at first he thought his imagination had actually +raised the devil; but after a sudden start of surprise, he recognised +his acquaintance Sylvan. "Hah! old friend," he said, "I am happy thou +hast made thy escape to a place where them wilt find plenty of fruit to +support thee. Take my advice--keep out of the way of discovery--Keep +thy friend's counsel." + +The Man of the Wood uttered a chattering noise in return to this +address. + +"I understand thee," said Hereward, "thou wilt tell no tales, thou +sayest; and faith, I will trust thee rather than the better part of my +own two-legged race, who are eternally circumventing or murdering each +other." + +A minute after the creature was out of sight, Hereward heard the shriek +of a female, and a voice which cried for help. The accents must have +been uncommonly interesting to the Varangian, since, forgetting his own +dangerous situation, he immediately turned and flew to the suppliant's +assistance. + + + + +CHAPTER THE TWENTIETH. + + She comes! she comes! in all the charms of youth, + Unequall'd love, and unsuspected truth! + + +Hereward was not long in tracing the cry through the wooded walks, when +a female rushed into his arms; alarmed, as it appeared, by Sylvan, who +was pursuing her closely. The figure of Hereward, with his axe uplifted, +put an instant stop to his career, and with a terrified note of his +native cries, he withdrew into the thickest of the adjoining foliage. + +Relieved from his presence, Hereward had time to look at the female +whom he had succoured: She was arrayed in a dress which consisted of +several colours, that which predominated being a pale yellow; her tunic +was of this colour, and, like a modern gown, was closely fitted to the +body, which, in the present case, was that of a tall, but very well- +formed person. The mantle, or upper garment, in which the whole figure +was wrapped, was of fine cloth; and the kind of hood which was attached +to it having flown back with the rapidity of her motion, gave to view +the hair beautifully adorned and twisted into a natural head-dress. +Beneath this natural head-gear appeared a face pale as death, from a +sense of the supposed danger, but which preserved, even amidst its +terrors, an exquisite degree of beauty. + +Hereward was thunderstruck at this apparition. The dress was neither +Grecian, Italian, nor of the costume of the Franks;--it was +_Saxon!_--connected by a thousand tender remembrances with +Hereward's childhood and youth. The circumstance was most extraordinary. +Saxon women, indeed, there were in Constantinople, who had united their +fortunes with those of the Varangians; and those often chose to wear +their national dress in the city, because the character and conduct of +their husbands secured them a degree of respect, which they might not +have met with either as Grecian or as stranger females of a similar +rank. But almost all these were personally known to Hereward. It was no +time, however, for reverie--he was himself in danger---the situation of +the young female might be no safe one. In every case, it was judicious +to quit the more public part of the gardens; he therefore lost not a +moment in conveying the fainting Saxon to a retreat he fortunately was +acquainted with. A covered path, obscured by vegetation, led through a +species of labyrinth to an artificial cave, at the bottom of which, +half-paved with shells, moss, and spar, lay the gigantic and half- +recumbent statue of a river deity, with its usual attributes--that is, +its front crowned with water-lilies and sedges, and its ample hand +half-resting upon an empty urn. The attitude of the whole figure +corresponded with the motto,--"I SLEEP--AWAKE ME NOT." + +"Accursed relic of paganism," said Hereward, who was, in proportion to +his light, a zealous Christian--"brutish stock or stone that thou art! +I will wake thee with a vengeance." So saying, he struck the head of +the slumbering deity with his battle-axe, and deranged the play of the +fountain so much that the water began to pour into the basin. + +"Thou art a good block, nevertheless," said the Varangian, "to send +succour so needful to the aid of my poor countrywoman. Thou shalt give +her also, with thy leave, a portion of thy couch." So saying he +arranged his fair burden, who was as yet insensible, upon the pedestal +where the figure of the River God reclined. In doing this, his +attention was recalled to her face, and again and again he was thrilled +with an emotion of hope, but so excessively like fear, that it could +only be compared to the flickering of a torch, uncertain whether it is +to light up or be instantly extinguished. With a sort of mechanical +attention, he continued to make such efforts as he could to recall the +intellect of the beautiful creature before him. His feelings were those +of the astronomical sage, to whom the rise of the moon slowly restores +the contemplation of that heaven, which is at once, as a Christian, his +hope of felicity, and, as a philosopher, the source of his knowledge. +The blood returned to her cheek, and reanimation, and even recollection, +took place in her earlier than in the astonished Varangian. + +"Blessed Mary!" she said, "have I indeed tasted the last bitter cup, +and is it here where thou reunitest thy votaries after death!--Speak, +Hereward! if thou art aught but an empty creature of the imagination!-- +speak, and tell me, if I have but dreamed of that monstrous ogre!" + +"Collect thyself, my beloved Bertha," said the Anglo-Saxon, recalled by +the sound of her voice, "and prepare to endure what thou livest to +witness, and thy Hereward survives to tell. That hideous thing exists-- +nay, do not start, and look for a hiding-place--thy own gentle hand +with a riding rod is sufficient to tame its courage. And am I not here, +Bertha? Wouldst thou wish another safeguard?" + +"No--no," exclaimed she, seizing on the arm of her recovered lover. "Do +I not know you now?" + +"And is it but now you know me, Bertha?" said Hereward. + +"I suspected before," she said, casting down her eyes; "but I know with +certainty that mark of the boar's tusk." + +Hereward suffered her imagination to clear itself from the shock it had +received so suddenly, before he ventured to enter upon present events, +in which there was so much both to doubt and to fear. He permitted her, +therefore, to recall to her memory all the circumstances of the rousing +the hideous animal, assisted by the tribes of both their fathers. She +mentioned in broken words the flight of arrows discharged against the +boar by young and old, male and female, and how her own well aimed, but +feeble shaft, wounded him sharply; she forgot not how, incensed at the +pain, the creature rushed upon her as the cause, laid her palfrey dead +upon the spot, and would soon have slain her, had not Hereward, when +every attempt failed to bring his horse up to the monster, thrown +himself from his seat, and interposed personally between the boar and +Bertha. The battle was not decided without a desperate struggle; the +boar was slain, but Hereward received the deep gash upon his brow which +she whom he had saved how recalled to her memory. "Alas!" she said, +"what have we been to each other since that period? and what are we now, +in this foreign land?" + +"Answer for thyself, my Bertha," said the Varangian, "if thou canst;-- +and if thou canst with truth say that thou art the same Bertha who +vowed affection to Hereward, believe me, it were sinful to suppose that +the saints have brought us together with a view of our being afterwards +separated." + +"Hereward," said Bertha, "you have not preserved the bird in your bosom +safer than I have; at home or abroad, in servitude or in freedom, +amidst sorrow or joy, plenty or want, my thought was always on the +troth I had plighted to Hereward at the stone of Odin." + +"Say no more of that," said Hereward; "it was an impious rite, and good +could not come of it." + +"Was it then so impious?" she said, the unbidden tear rushing into her +large blue eyes.--"Alas! it was a pleasure to reflect that Hereward was +mine by that solemn engagement!" + +"Listen to me, my Bertha," said Hereward, taking her hand: "We were +then almost children; and though our vow was in itself innocent, yet it +was so far wrong, as being sworn in the presence of a dumb idol, +representing one who was, while alive, a bloody and cruel magician. But +we will, the instant an opportunity offers itself, renew our vow before +a shrine of real sanctity, and promise suitable penance for our +ignorant acknowledgment of Odin, to propitiate the real Deity, who can +bear us through those storms of adversity which are like to surround +us." + +Leaving them for the time to their love-discourse, of a nature pure, +simple, and interesting, we shall give, in a few words, all that the +reader needs to know of their separate history between the boar's hunt +and the time of their meeting in the gardens of Agelastes. + +In that doubtful state experienced by outlaws, Waltheoff, the father of +Hereward, and Engelred, the parent of Bertha, used to assemble their +unsubdued tribes, sometimes in the fertile regions of Devonshire, +sometimes in the dark wooded solitudes of Hampshire, but as much as +possible within the call of the bugle of the famous Edric the Forester, +so long leader of the insurgent Saxons. The chiefs we have mentioned +were among the last bold men who asserted the independence of the Saxon +race of England; and like their captain Edric, they were generally +known by the name of Foresters, as men who lived by hunting, when their +power of making excursions was checked and repelled. Hence they made a +step backwards in civilization, and became more like to their remote +ancestors of German descent, than they were to their more immediate and +civilized predecessors, who before the battle of Hastings, had advanced +considerably in the arts of civilized life. + +Old superstitions had begun to revive among them, and hence the +practice of youths and maidens plighting their troth at the stone +circles dedicated, as it was supposed, to Odin, in whom, however, they +had long ceased to nourish any of the sincere belief which was +entertained by their heathen ancestors. + +In another respect these outlaws were fast resuming a striking +peculiarity of the ancient Germans. Their circumstances naturally +brought the youth of both sexes much together, and by early marriage, +or less permanent connexions, the population would have increased far +beyond the means which the outlaws had to maintain, or even to protect +themselves. The laws of the Foresters, therefore, strictly enjoined +that marriages should be prohibited until the bridegroom was twenty-one +years complete. Future alliances were indeed often formed by the young +people, nor was this discountenanced by their parents, provided that +the lovers waited until the period when the majority of the bridegroom +should permit them to marry. Such youths as infringed this rule, +incurred the dishonourable epithet of _niddering_, or worthless,-- +an epithet of a nature so insulting, that men were known to have slain +themselves, rather than endure life under such opprobrium. But the +offenders were very few amidst a race trained in moderation and self- +denial; and hence it was that woman, worshipped for so many years like +something sacred, was received, when she became the head of a family, +into the arms and heart of a husband who had so long expected her, was +treated as something more elevated than the mere idol of the moment; +and feeling the rate at which she was valued, endeavoured by her +actions to make her life correspond with it. + +It was by the whole population of these tribes, as well as their +parents, that after the adventure of the boar hunt, Hereward and Bertha +were considered as lovers whose alliance was pointed out by Heaven, and +they were encouraged to approximate as much as their mutual +inclinations prompted them. The youths of the tribe avoided asking +Martha's hand at the dance, and the maidens used no maidenly entreaty +or artifice to detain Hereward beside them, if Bertha was present at +the feast. They clasped each other's hands through the perforated stone, +which they called the altar of Odin, though later ages have ascribed it +to the Druids, and they implored that if they broke their faith to each +other, their fault might be avenged by the twelve swords which were now +drawn around them during the ceremony by as many youths, and that their +misfortunes might be so many as twelve maidens, who stood around with +their hair loosened, should be unable to recount, either in prose or +verse. + +The torch of the Saxon Cupid shone for some years as brilliant as when +it was first lighted. The time, however, came when they were to be +tried by adversity, though undeserved by the perfidy of either. Years +had gone past, and Hereward had to count with anxiety how many months +and weeks were to separate him from the bride, who was beginning +already by degrees to shrink less shyly from the expressions and +caresses of one who was soon to term her all his own. William Rufus, +however, had formed a plan of totally extirpating the Foresters, whose +implacable hatred, and restless love of freedom, had so often disturbed +the quiet of his kingdom, and despised his forest laws. He assembled +his Norman forces, and united to them a body of Saxons who had +submitted to his rule. He thus brought an overpowering force upon the +bands of Waltheoff and Engelred, who found no resource but to throw the +females of their tribe, and such as could, not bear arms, into a +convent dedicated to St. Augustin, of which Kenelm their relation was +prior, and then turning to the battle, vindicated their ancient valour +by fighting it to the last. Both the unfortunate chiefs remained dead +on the field, and Hereward and his brother had wellnigh shared their +fate; but some Saxon inhabitants of the neighbourhood, who adventured +on the field of battle, which the victors had left bare of every thing +save the booty of the kites and the ravens, found the bodies of the +youths still retaining life. As they were generally well known and much +beloved by these people, Hereward and his brother were taken care of +till their wounds began to close, and their strength returned. Hereward +then heard the doleful news of the death of his father and Engelred. +His next enquiry was concerning his betrothed bride and her mother. The +poor inhabitants could give him little information. Some of the females +who had taken refuge in the convent, the Norman knights and nobles had +seized upon as their slaves, and the rest, with the monks who had +harboured them, were turned adrift, and their place of retreat was +completely sacked and burnt to the ground. + +Half-dead himself at hearing these tidings, Hereward sallied out, and +at every risk of death, for the Saxon Foresters were treated as outlaws, +commenced enquiries after those so dear to him. He asked concerning the +particular fate of Bertha and her mother, among the miserable creatures +who yet hovered about the neighbourhood of the convent, like a few +half-scorched bees about their smothered hive. But, in the magnitude of +their own terrors, none had retained eyes for their neighbours, and all +that they could say was, that the wife and daughter of Engelred were +certainly lost; and their imaginations suggested so many heart-rending +details to this conclusion, that Hereward gave up all thoughts of +further researches, likely to terminate so uselessly and so horribly. + +The young Saxon had been all his life bred up in a patriotic hatred to +the Normans, who did not, it was likely, become dearer to his thoughts +in consequence of this victory. He dreamed at first of crossing the +strait, to make war against the hated enemy in their own country; but +an idea so extravagant did not long retain possession of his mind. His +fate was decided by his encountering an aged palmer, who knew or +pretended to have known, his father, and to be a native of England. +This man was a disguised Varangian, selected for the purpose, possessed +of art and dexterity, and well provided with money. He had little +difficulty in persuading Hereward, in the hopeless desolation of his +condition, to join the Varangian Guard, at this moment at war with the +Normans, under which name it suited Hereward's prepossessions to +represent the Emperor's wars with Robert Guiscard, his son Bohemond, +and other adventurers, in Italy, Greece, or Sicily. A journey to the +East also inferred a pilgrimage, and gave the unfortunate Hereward the +chance of purchasing pardon for his sins by visiting the Holy Land. In +gaining Hereward, the recruiter also secured the services of his elder +brother, who had vowed not to separate from him. + +The high character of both brothers for courage, induced this wily +agent to consider them as a great prize, and it was from the memoranda +respecting the history and character of those whom he recruited, in +which the elder had been unreservedly communicative, that Agelastes +picked up the information respecting Hereward's family and +circumstances, which, at their first secret interview, he made use of +to impress upon the Varangian the idea of his supernatural knowledge. +Several of his companions in arms were thus gained over; for it will +easily be guessed, that these memorials were intrusted to the keeping +of Achilles Tatius, and he, to further their joint purposes, imparted +them to Agelastes, who thus obtained a general credit for supernatural +knowledge among these ignorant men. But Hereward's blunt faith and +honesty enabled him to shun the snare. + +Such being the fortunes of Hereward, those of Bertha formed the subject +of a broken and passionate communication between the lovers, broken +like an April day, and mingled with many a tender caress, such as +modesty permits to lovers when they meet again unexpectedly after a +separation, which threatened to be eternal. But the story may be +comprehended in few words. Amid the general sack of the monastery, an +old Norman knight seized upon Bertha as his prize. Struck with her +beauty, he designed her as an attendant upon his daughter, just then +come out of the years of childhood, and the very apple of her father's +eye, being the only child of his beloved Countess, and sent late in +life to bless their marriage-bed. It was in the order of things that +the lady of Aspramonte, who was considerably younger than the knight, +should govern her husband, and that Brenhilda, their daughter, should +govern both her parents. + +The Knight of Aspramonte, however, it may be observed, entertained some +desire to direct his young offspring to more feminine amusements than +those which began already to put her life frequently in danger. +Contradiction was not to be thought of, as the good old knight knew by +experience. The influence and example of a companion a little older +than herself might be of some avail, and it was with this view that, in +the confusion of the sack, Aspramonte seized upon the youthful Bertha. +Terrified to the utmost degree, she clung to her mother, and the Knight +of Aspramonte, who had a softer heart than was then usually found under +a steel cuirass, moved by the affliction of the mother and daughter, +and recollecting that the former might also be a useful attendant upon +his lady, extended his protection to both, and conveying them out of +the press, paid the soldiers who ventured to dispute the spoil with him, +partly in some small pieces of money, and partly in dry blows with the +reverse of his lance. + +The well-natured knight soon after returned to his own castle, and +being a man of an orderly life and virtuous habits, the charming +beauties of the Saxon virgin, and the more ripened charms of her mother, +did not prevent their travelling in all honour as well as safety to his +family fortress, the castle of Aspramonte. Here such masters as could +be procured were got together to teach the young Bertha every sort of +female accomplishment, In the hope that her mistress, Brenhilda, might +be inspired with a desire to partake in her education; but although +this so far succeeded, that the Saxon captive became highly skilled in +such music, needle-work, and other female accomplishments as were known +to the time, yet her young mistress, Brenhilda, retained the taste for +those martial amusements which had so sensibly grieved her father, but +to which her mother, who herself had nourished such fancies in her +youth, readily gave sanction. + +The captives, however, were kindly treated. Brenhilda became infinitely +attached to the young Anglo-Saxon, whom she loved less for her +ingenuity in arts, than for her activity in field sports, to which her +early state of independence had trained her. + +The Lady of Aspramonte was also kind to both the captives; but, in one +particular, she exercised a piece of petty tyranny over them. She had +imbibed an idea, strengthened by an old doting father-confessor, that +the Saxons were heathens at that time, or at least heretics, and made a +positive point with her husband that the bondswoman and girl who were +to attend on her person and that of her daughter, should be qualified +for the office by being anew admitted into the Christian Church by +baptism. + +Though feeling the falsehood and injustice of the accusation, the +mother had sense enough to submit to necessity, and received the name +of Martha in all form at the altar, to which she answered during the +rest of her life. + +But Bertha showed a character upon this occasion inconsistent with the +general docility and gentleness of her temper. She boldly refused to be +admitted anew into the pale of the Church, of which her conscience told +her she was already a member, or to exchange for another the name +originally given her at the font. It was in vain that the old knight +commanded, that the lady threatened, and that her mother advised and +entreated. More closely pressed in private by her mother, she let her +motive be known, which had not before been suspected. "I know," she +said, with a flood of tears, "that my father would have died ere I was +subjected to this insult; and then--who shall assure me that vows which +were made to the Saxon Bertha, will be binding if a French Agatha be +substituted in her stead? They may banish me," she said, "or kill me if +they will, but if the son of Waltheoff should again meet with the +daughter of Engelred, he shall meet that Bertha whom he knew in the +forests of Hampton." + +All argument was in vain; the Saxon maiden remained obstinate, and to +try to break her resolution, the Lady of Aspramonte at length spoke of +dismissing her from the service of her young mistress, and banishing +her from the castle. To this also she had made up her mind, and she +answered firmly though respectfully, that she would sorrow bitterly at +parting with her young lady; but as to the rest, she would rather beg +under her own name, than be recreant to the faith of her fathers and +condemn it as heresy, by assigning one of Frank origin. The Lady +Brenhilda, in the meantime, entered the chamber, where her mother was +just about to pass the threatened doom of banishment.--"Do not stop for +my entrance, madam," said the dauntless young lady; "I am as much +concerned in the doom which you are about to pass as is Bertha; If she +crosses the drawbridge of Aspramonte as an exile, so will I, when she +has dried her tears, of which even my petulance could never wring one +from her eyes. She shall be my squire and body attendant, and Launcelot, +the bard, shall follow with my spear and shield." + +"And you will return, mistress," said her mother, "from so foolish an +expedition, before the sun sets?" + +"So heaven further me in my purpose, lady," answered the young heiress, +"the sun shall neither rise nor set that sees us return, till this name +of Bertha, and of her mistress, Brenhilda, are wafted as far as the +trumpet of fame can sound them.--Cheer up, my sweetest Bertha!" she +said, taking her attendant by the hand, "If heaven hath torn thee from +thy country and thy plighted troth, it hath given thee a sister and a +friend, with whom thy fame shall be forever blended." + +The Lady of Aspramonte was confounded: She knew that her daughter was +perfectly capable of the wild course which she had announced, and that +she herself, even with her husband's assistance, would be unable to +prevent her following it. She passively listened, therefore, while the +Saxon matron, formerly Urica, but now Martha, addressed her daughter. +"My child," she said, "as you value honour, virtue, safety, and +gratitude, soften your heart towards your master and mistress, and +follow the advice of a parent, who has more years and more judgment +than you. And you, my dearest young lady, let not your lady-mother +think that an attachment to the exercises you excel in, has destroyed +in your bosom filial affection, and a regard to the delicacy of your +sex!--As they seem both obstinate, madam," continued the matron, after +watching the influence of this advice upon the young woman, "perhaps, +if it may be permitted me. I could state an alternative, which might, +in the meanwhile, satisfy your ladyship's wishes, accommodate itself to +the wilfulness of my obstinate daughter, and answer the kind purpose of +her generous mistress." The Lady of Aspramonte signed to the Saxon +matron to proceed. She went on accordingly: "The Saxons, dearest lady, +of the present day, are neither pagans nor heretics; they are, in the +time of keeping Easter, as well as in all other disputable doctrine, +humbly obedient to the Pope of Rome; and this our good Bishop well +knows, since he upbraided some of the domestics for calling me an old +heathen. Yet our names are uncouth in the ears of the Franks, and bear, +perhaps, a heathenish sound. If it be not exacted that my daughter +submit to a new rite of baptism, she will lay aside her Saxon name of +Bertha upon all occasions while in your honourable household. This will +cut short a debate which, with forgiveness, I think is scarce of +importance enough to break the peace of this castle. I will engage that, +in gratitude for this indulgence of a trifling scruple, my daughter, if +possible, shall double the zeal and assiduity of her service to her +young lady." + +The Lady of Aspramonte was glad to embrace the means which this offer +presented, of extricating herself from the dispute with as little +compromise of dignity as could well be. "If the good Lord Bishop +approved of such a compromise," she said, "she would for herself +withdraw her opposition." The prelate approved accordingly, the more +readily that he was informed that the young heiress desired earnestly +such an agreement. The peace of the castle was restored, and Bertha +recognized her new name of Agatha as a name of service, but not a name +of baptism. + +One effect the dispute certainly produced, and that was, increasing in +an enthusiastic degree the love of Bertha for her young mistress. With +that amiable failing of attached domestics and humble friends, she +endeavoured to serve her as she knew she loved to be served; and +therefore indulged, her mistress in those chivalrous fancies which +distinguished her even in her own age, and in ours would have rendered +her a female Quixote. Bertha, indeed, never caught the frenzy of her +mistress; but, strong, willing, and able-bodied, she readily qualified +herself to act upon occasion as a squire of the body to a Lady +Adventuress; and, accustomed from her childhood to see blows dealt, +blood flowing, and men dying, she could look with an undazzled eye upon +the dangers which her mistress encountered, and seldom teased her with +remonstrances, unless when those were unusually great. This compliance +on most occasions, gave Bertha a right of advice upon some, which, +always given with the best intentions and at fitting times, +strengthened her influence with her mistress, which a course of conduct +savouring of diametrical opposition would certainly have destroyed. + +A few more words serve to announce the death of the Knight of +Aspramonte--the romantic marriage of the young lady with the Count of +Paris--their engagement in the crusade--and the detail of events with +which the reader is acquainted. + +Hereward did not exactly comprehend some of the later incidents of the +story, owing to a slight strife which arose between Bertha and him +during the course of her narrative. When she avowed the girlish +simplicity with which she obstinately refused to change her name, +because, in her apprehension, the troth-plight betwixt her and her +lover might be thereby prejudiced, it was impossible for Hereward not +to acknowledge her tenderness, by snatching her to his bosom, and +impressing his grateful thanks upon her lips. She extricated herself +immediately from his grasp, however, with cheeks more crimsoned in +modesty than in anger, and gravely addressed her lover thus: "Enough, +enough, Hereward! this may be pardoned to so unexpected a meeting; but +we must in future remember, that we are probably the last of our race; +and let it not be said, that the manners of their ancestors were +forgotten by Hereward and by Bertha; think, that though we are alone, +the shades of our fathers are not far off, and watch to see what use we +make of the meeting, which, perhaps, their intercession has procured +us." + +"You wrong me, Bertha," said Hereward, "if you think me capable of +forgetting my own duty and yours, at a moment when our thanks are due +to Heaven, to be testified very differently than by infringing on its +behests, or the commands of our parents. The question is now, How we +shall rejoin each other when we separate? since separate, I fear, we +must." + +"O! do not say so!" exclaimed the unfortunate Bertha. + +"It must be so," said Hereward, "for a time; but I swear to thee by the +hilt of my sword, and the handle of my battle-axe, that blade was never +so true to shaft as I will be to thee!" + +"But wherefore, then, leave me, Hereward?" said the maiden; "and oh! +wherefore not assist me in the release of my mistress?" + +"Of thy mistress!" said Hereward. "Shame! that thou canst give that +name to mortal woman!" + +"But she _is_ my mistress," answered Bertha, "and by a thousand +kind ties which cannot be separated so long as gratitude is the reward +of kindness." + +"And what is her danger," said Hereward; "what is it she wants, this +accomplished lady whom thou callest mistress?" + +"Her honour, her life, are alike in danger," said Bertha. "She has +agreed to meet the Caesar in the field, and he will not hesitate, like +a baseborn miscreant, to take every advantage in the encounter, which, +I grieve to say, may in all likelihood be fatal to my mistress." + +"Why dost thou think so?" answered Hereward. "This lady has won many +single combats, unless she is belied, against adversaries more +formidable than the Caesar." + +"True," said the Saxon maiden; "but you speak of things that passed in +a far different land, where faith and honour are not empty sounds; as, +alas! they seem but too surely to be here. Trust me, it is no girlish +terror which sends me out in this disguise of my country dress, which, +they say, finds respect at Constantinople: I go to let the chiefs of +the Crusade know the peril in which the noble lady stands, and trust to +their humanity, to their religion, to their love of honour, and fear of +disgrace, for assistance in this hour of need; and now that I have had +the blessing of meeting with thee, all besides will go well--all will +go well--and I will back to my mistress and report whom I have seen." + +"Tarry yet another moment, my recovered treasure!" said Hereward, "and +let me balance this matter carefully. This Frankish lady holds the +Saxons like the very dust that thou brushest from the hem of her +garment. She treats--she regards--the Saxons as pagans and heretics. +She has dared to impose slavish tasks upon thee, born in freedom. Her +father's sword has been embrued to the hilt with Anglo-Saxon blood-- +perhaps that of Waltheoff and Engelred has added death to the stain! +She has been, besides, a presumptuous fool, usurping for herself the +trophies and warlike character which belong to the other sex. Lastly, +it will be hard to find a champion to fight in her stead, since all the +crusaders have passed over to Asia, which is the land, they say, in +which they have come to war; and by orders of the Emperor, no means of +return to the hither shore will be permitted to any of them." + +"Alas! alas!" said Bertha, "how does this world change us! The son of +Waltheoff I once knew brave, ready to assist distress, bold and +generous. Such was what I pictured him to myself during his absence. I +have met him again, and he is calculating, cold, and selfish!" + +"Hush, damsel," said the Varangian, "and know him of whom thou speakest, +ere thou judgest him. The Countess of Paris is such as I have said; yet +let her appear boldly in the lists, and when the trumpet shall sound +thrice, another shall reply, which shall announce the arrival of her +own noble lord to do battle in her stead; or should he fail to appear-- +I will requite her kindness to thee, Bertha, and be ready in his +place." + +"Wilt thou? wilt thou indeed?" said the damsel; "that was spoken like +the son of Waltheoff--like the genuine stock! I will home, and comfort +my mistress; for surely if the judgment of God ever directed the issue +of a judicial combat, its influence will descend upon this. But you +hint that the Count is here--that he is at liberty--she will enquire +about that." + +"She must be satisfied," replied Hereward, "to know that her husband is +under the guidance of a friend, who will endeavour to protect him from +his own extravagances and follies; or, at all events, of one who, if he +cannot properly be called a friend, has certainly not acted, and will +not act, towards him the part of an enemy.--And now, farewell, long +lost--long loved!"--Before he could say more, the Saxon maiden, after +two or three vain attempts to express her gratitude, threw herself into +her lover's arms, and despite the coyness which she had recently shown, +impressed upon his lips the thanks which she could not speak. + +They parted, Bertha returning to her mistress at the lodge, which she +had left both with trouble and danger, and Hereward by the portal kept +by the negro-portress, who, complimenting the handsome Varangian on his +success among the fair, intimated, that she had been in some sort a +witness of his meeting with the Saxon damsel. A piece of gold, part of +a late largesse, amply served to bribe her tongue; and the soldier, +clear of the gardens of the philosopher, sped back as he might to the +barrack--judging that it was full time to carry some supply to Count +Robert, who had been left without food the whole day. + +It is a common popular saying, that as the sensation of hunger is not +connected with any pleasing or gentle emotion, so it is particularly +remarkable for irritating those of anger and spleen. It is not, +therefore, very surprising that Count Robert, who had been so unusually +long without sustenance, should receive Hereward with a degree of +impatience beyond what the occasion merited, and injurious certainly to +the honest Varangian, who had repeatedly exposed his life that day for +the interest of the Countess and the Count himself. + +"Soh, sir!" he said, in that accent of affected restraint by which a +superior modifies his displeasure against his inferior into a cold and +scornful expression--"You have played a liberal host to us!--Not that +it is of consequence; but methinks a Count of the most Christian +kingdom dines not every day with a mercenary soldier, and might expect, +if not the ostentatious, at least the needful part of hospitality." + +"And methinks," replied the Varangian, "O most Christian Count, that +such of your high rank as, by choice or fate, become the guests of such +as I, may think themselves pleased, and blame not their host's +niggardliness, but the difficulty of his circumstances, if dinner +should not present itself oftener than once in four-and-twenty hours." +So saying, he clapt his hands together, and his domestic Edric entered. +His guest looked astonished at the entrance of this third party into +their retirement. "I will answer for this man," said Hereward, and +addressed him in the following words:--"What food hast thou, Edric, to +place before the honourable Count?" + +"Nothing but the cold pasty," replied the attendant, "marvellously +damaged by your honour's encounter at breakfast." + +The military domestic, as intimated, brought forward a large pasty, but +which had already that morning sustained a furious attack, insomuch, +that Count Robert of Paris, who, like all noble Normans, was somewhat +nice and delicate in his eating, was in some doubt whether his +scrupulousness should not prevail over his hunger; but on looking more +closely, sight, smell, and a fast of twenty hours, joined to convince +him that the pasty was an excellent one, and that the charger on which +it was presented possessed corners yet untouched. At length, having +suppressed his scruples, and made bold inroad upon the remains of the +dish, he paused to partake of a flask of strong red wine which stood +invitingly beside him, and a lusty draught increased the good-humour +which had begun to take place towards Hereward, in exchange for the +displeasure with which he had received him. + +"Now, by heaven!" he said, "I myself ought to be ashamed to lack the +courtesy which I recommend to others! Here have I, with the manners of +a Flemish boor, been devouring the provisions of my gallant host, +without even asking him to sit down at his own table, and to partake of +his own good cheer!" + +"I will not strain courtesies with you for that," said Hereward; and +thrusting his hand into the pasty, he proceeded with great speed and +dexterity to devour the miscellaneous contents, a handful of which was +enclosed in his grasp. The Count now withdrew from the table, partly in +disgust at the rustic proceedings of Hereward, who, however, by now +calling Edric to join him in his attack upon the pasty, showed that he +had, in fact, according to his manners, subjected himself previously to +some observance of respect towards his guest; while the assistance of +his attendant enabled him to make a clear cacaabulum of what was left. +Count Robert at length summoned up courage sufficient to put a question, +which had been trembling upon his lips ever since Hereward had returned. + +"Have thine enquiries, my gallant friend, learned more concerning my +unfortunate wife, my faithful Brenhilda?" + +"Tidings I have," said the Anglo-Saxon, "but whether pleasing or not, +yourself must be the judge. This much I have learned;--she hath, as you +know, come under an engagement to meet the Caesar in arms in the lists, +but under conditions which you may perhaps think strange; these, +however, she hath entertained without scruple." + +"Let me know these terms,", said the Count of Paris; "they will, I +think, appear less strange in my eyes than in thine." + +But while he affected to speak with the utmost coolness, the husband's +sparkling eye and crimsoned cheek betrayed the alteration which had +taken place in his feelings. "The lady and the Caesar," said Hereward, +"as you partly heard yourself, are to meet in fight; if the Countess +wins, of course she remains the wife of the noble Count of Paris; if +she loses, she becomes the paramour of the Caesar Nicephorus +Briennius." + +"Saints and angels forbid!" said Count Robert; "were they to permit +such treason to triumph, we might be pardoned for doubting their +divinity!" + +"Yet methinks," said the Anglo-Saxon, "it were no disgraceful +precaution that both you and I, with other friends, if we can obtain +such, should be seen under shield in the lists on the morning of the +conflict. To triumph, or to be defeated, is in the hand of fate; but +what we cannot fail to witness is, whether or not the lady receives +that fair play which is the due of an honourable combatant, and which, +as you have yourself seen, can be sometimes basely transgressed in this +Grecian empire." + +"On that condition," said the Count, "and protesting, that not even the +extreme danger of my lady shall make me break through the rule of a +fair fight, I will surely attend the lists, if thou, brave Saxon, canst +find me any means of doing so.--Yet stay," he continued, after +reflecting for a moment, "thou shalt promise not to let her know that +her Count is on the field, far less to point him out to her eye among +the press of warriors. O, thou dost not know that the sight of the +beloved will sometimes steal from us our courage, even when it has most +to achieve!" + +"We will endeavour," said the Varangian, "to arrange matters according +to thy pleasure, so that thou findest out no more fantastical +difficulties; for, by my word, an affair so complicated in itself, +requires not to be confused by the fine-spun whims of thy national +gallantry. Meantime, much must be done this night; and while I go about +it, thou, Sir Knight, hadst best remain here, with such disguise of +garments, and such food, as Edric may be able to procure for thee. Fear +nothing from intrusion on the part of thy neighbours. We Varangians +respect each other's secrets, of whatever nature they may chance to +be." + + + + +CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FIRST. + + But for our trusty brother-in-law-and the Abbot, + With all the rest of that consorted crew,-- + Destruction straight shall dog them at the heels:-- + Good uncle, help to order several powers + To Oxford, or where'er these traitors are: + They shall not live within this world, I swear. + RICHARD II. + + +As Hereward spoke the last words narrated in the foregoing chapter, he +left the count in his apartment, and proceeded to the Blacquernal +Palace. We traced his first entrance into the court, but since then he +had frequently been summoned, not only by order of the Princess Anna +Comnena, who delighted in asking him questions concerning the customs +of his native country, and marking down the replies in her own inflated +language; but also by the direct command of the Emperor himself, who +had the humour of many princes, that of desiring to obtain direct +information from persons in a very inferior station in their Court. The +ring which the Princess had given to the Varangian, served as a pass- +token more than once, and was now so generally known by the slaves of +the palace, that Hereward had only to slip it into the hand of a +principal person among them, and was introduced into a small chamber, +not distant from the saloon already mentioned, dedicated to the Muses. +In this small apartment, the Emperor, his spouse Irene, and their +accomplished daughter Anna Comnena, were seated together, clad in very +ordinary apparel, as indeed the furniture of the room itself was of the +kind used by respectable citizens, saving that mattrasses, composed of +eiderdown, hung before each door to prevent the risk of eavesdropping. + +"Our trusty Varangian," said the Empress. + +"My guide and tutor respecting the manners of those steel-clad men," +said the Princess Anna Comnena, "of whom it is so necessary that I +should form an accurate idea." + +"Your Imperial Majesty," said the Empress, "will not, I trust, think +your consort and your muse-inspired daughter, are too many to share +with you the intelligence brought by this brave and loyal man?" + +"Dearest wife and daughter," returned the Emperor, "I have hitherto +spared you the burden of a painful secret, which I have locked in my +own bosom, at whatever expense of solitary sorrow and unimparted +anxiety. Noble daughter, you in particular will feel this calamity, +learning, as you must learn, to think odiously of one, of whom it has +hitherto been your duty to hold a very different opinion." + +"Holy Mary!" exclaimed the Princess. + +"Rally yourself," said the Emperor; "remember you are a child of the +purple chamber, born, not to weep for your father's wrongs, but to +avenge them,--not to regard even him who has lain by your side as half +so important as the sacred Imperial grandeur, of which you are yourself +a partaker." + +"What can such words preface?" said Anna Comnena, in great agitation. + +"They say," answered the Emperor, "that the Caesar is an ungrateful man +to all my bounties, and even to that which annexed him to my own. house, +and made him by adoption my own son. He hath consorted himself with a +knot of traitors, whose very names are enough to raise the foul fiend, +as if to snatch his assured prey!" + +"Could Nicephorus do this?" said the astonished and forlorn Princess; +"Nicephorus, who has so often called my eyes the lights by which he +steered his path? Could he do this to my father, to whose exploits he +has listened hour after hour, protesting that he knew not whether it +was the beauty of the language, or the heroism of the action, which +most enchanted him? Thinking with the same thought, seeing with the +same eye, loving with the same heart,--O, my father! it is impossible +that he could be so false. Think of the neighbouring Temple of the +Muses!" + +"And if I did," murmured Alexius in his heart, "I should think of the +only apology which could be proposed for the traitor. A little is well +enough, but the full soul loatheth the honey-comb." Then speaking aloud, +"My daughter," he said, "be comforted; we ourselves were unwilling to +believe the shameful truth; but our guards have been debauched; their +commander, that ungrateful Achilles Tatius, with the equal traitor, +Agelastes, have been seduced to favour our imprisonment or murder; and, +alas for Greece in the very moment when she required the fostering care +of a parent, she was to be deprived of him by a sudden and merciless +blow!" + +Here the Emperor wept, whether for the loss to be sustained by his +subjects, or of his own life, it is hard to say. + +"Methinks," said Irene, "your Imperial Highness is slow in taking +measures against the danger." + +"Under your gracious permission, mother," answered the Princess, "I +would rather say he was hasty in giving belief to it. Methinks the +evidence of a Varangian, granting him to be ever so stout a man-at-arms, +is but a frail guarantee against the honour of your son-in-law--the +approved bravery and fidelity of the captain of your guards--the deep +sense, virtue, and profound wisdom, of the greatest of your +philosophers"-- + +"And the conceit of an over-educated daughter," said the Emperor, "who +will not allow her parent to judge in what most concerns him. I will +tell thee, Anna, I know every one of them, and the trust which may be +reposed in them; the honour of your Nicephorus--the bravery and +fidelity of the Acolyte--and the virtue and wisdom of Agelastes--have I +not had them all in my purse? And had my purse continued well filled, +and my arm strong as it was of late, there they would have still +remained. But the butterflies went off as the weather became cold, and +I must meet the tempest without their assistance. You talk of want of +proof? I have proof sufficient when I see danger; this honest soldier +brought me indications which corresponded with my own private remarks, +made on purpose. Varangian he shall be of Varangians; Acolyte he shall +be named, in place of the present traitor; and who knows what may come +thereafter?" + +"May it please your Highness," said the Varangian, who had been +hitherto silent, "many men in this empire rise to dignity by the fall +of their original patrons, but it is a road to greatness to which I +cannot reconcile my conscience; moreover, having recovered a friend, +from whom I was long ago separated, I shall require, in short space, +your Imperial license for going hence, where I shall leave thousands of +enemies behind me, and spending my life, like many of my countrymen, +under the banner of King William of Scotland"-- + +"Part with _thee_, most inimitable man!" cried the Emperor, with +emphasis; "where shall I get a soldier--a champion--a friend--so +faithful?" + +"Noble sir," replied the Anglo-Saxon, "I am every way sensible to your +goodness and munificence; but let me entreat you to call me by my own +name, and to promise me nothing but your forgiveness, for my having +been the agent of such confusion among your Imperial servants. Not only +is the threatened fate of Achilles Tatius, my benefactor; of the Caesar, +whom I think my well-wisher; and even of Agelastes himself, painful, so +far as it is of my bringing round; but also I have known it somehow +happen, that those on whom your Imperial Majesty has lavished the most +valuable expressions of your favour one day, were the next day food to +fatten the chough and crow. And this, I acknowledge, is a purpose, for +which I would not willingly have it said I had brought my English limbs +to these Grecian shores." + +"Call thee by thine own name, my Edward," said the Emperor, (while he +muttered aside--"by Heaven, I have again forgot the name of the +barbarian!")--"by thine own name certainly for the present, but only +until we shall devise one more fitted for the trust we repose in thee. +Meantime, look at this scroll, which contains, I think, all the +particulars which we have been able to learn of this plot, and give it +to these unbelieving women, who will not credit that an Emperor is in +danger, till the blades of the conspirators' poniards are clashing +within his ribs." + +Hereward did as he was commanded, and having looked at the scroll, and +signified, by bending his head, his acquiescence in its contents, he +presented it to Irene, who had not read long, ere, with a countenance +so embittered that she had difficulty in pointing out the cause of her +displeasure to her daughter, she bade her, with animation, "Read that-- +read that, and judge of the gratitude and affection of thy Caesar!" + +The Princess Anna Comnena awoke from a state of profound and +overpowering melancholy, and looked at the passage pointed out to her, +at first with an air of languid curiosity, which presently deepened +into the most intense interest. She clutched the scroll as a falcon +does his prey, her eye lightened with indignation; and it was with the +cry of the bird when in fury that she exclaimed, "Bloody-minded, +double-hearted traitor! what wouldst thou have? Yes, father," she said, +rising in fury, "it is no longer the voice of a deceived princess that +shall intercede to avert from the traitor Nicephorus the doom he has +deserved! Did he think that one born in the purple chamber could be +divorced--murdered, perhaps--with the petty formula of the Romans, +'Restore the keys---be no longer my domestic drudge?'[Footnote: The +laconic form of the Roman divorce.] Was a daughter of the blood of +Comnenus liable to such insults as the meanest of Quirites might bestow +on a family housekeeper!" + +So saying, she dashed the tears from her eyes, and her countenance, +naturally that of beauty and gentleness, became animated with the +expression of a fury. Hereward looked at her with a mixture of fear, +dislike and compassion. She again burst forth, for nature having given +her considerable abilities, had lent her at the same time an energy of +passion, far superior in power to the cold ambition of Irene, or the +wily, ambidexter, shuffling policy of the Emperor. + +"He shall abye it," said the Princess; "he shall dearly abye it! False, +smiling, cozening traitor!--and for that unfeminine barbarian! +Something of this I guessed, even at that old fool's banqueting-house; +and yet if this unworthy Caesar submits his body to the chance of arms, +he is less prudent than I have some reason to believe. Think you he +will have the madness to brand us with such open neglect, my father? +and will you not invent some mode of ensuring our revenge?" + +"Soh!" thought the Emperor, "this difficulty is over; she will run down +hill to her revenge, and will need the snaffle and curb more than the +lash. If every jealous dame in Constantinople were to pursue her fury +as unrelentingly, our laws should be written, like Draco's, not in ink, +but in blood.--Attend to me now," he said aloud, "my wife, my daughter, +and thou, dear Edward, and you shall learn, and you three only, my mode +of navigating the vessel of the state through these shoals." + +"Let us see distinctly," continued Alexius, "the means by which they +propose to act, and these shall instruct us how to meet them. A certain +number of the Varangians are unhappily seduced, under pretence of +wrongs, artfully stirred up by their villanous general. A part of them +are studiously to be arranged nigh our person--the traitor Ursel, some +of them suppose, is dead, but if it were so, his name is sufficient to +draw together his old factionaries--I have a means of satisfying them +on that point, on which I shall remain silent for the present.--A +considerable body of the Immortal Guards have also given way to +seduction; they are to be placed to support the handful of treacherous +Varangians, who are in the plot to attack our person.--Now. a slight +change in the stations of the soldiery, which thou, my faithful Edward +--or--a--a--whatever thou art named,--for which thou, I say, shalt have +full authority, will derange the plans of the traitors, and place the +true men in such position around them as to cut them to pieces with +little trouble." + +"And the combat, my lord?" said the Saxon. + +"Thou hadst been no true Varangian hadst thou not enquired after that," +said the Emperor, nodding good-humouredly towards him. "As to the +combat, the Caesar has devised it, and it shall be my care that he +shall not retreat from the dangerous part of it. He cannot in honour +avoid fighting with this woman, strange as the combat is; and however +it ends, the conspiracy will break forth, and as assuredly as it comes +against persons prepared, and in arms, shall it be stifled in the blood +of the conspirators!" + +"My revenge does not require this," said the Princess; "and your +Imperial honour is also interested that this Countess shall be +protected." + +"It is little business of mine," said the Emperor. "She comes here with +her husband altogether uninvited. He behaves with insolence in my +presence, and deserves whatever may be the issue to himself or his lady +of their mad adventure. In sooth, I desired little more than to give +him a fright with those animals whom their ignorance judged enchanted, +and to give his wife a slight alarm about the impetuosity of a Grecian +lover, and there my vengeance should have ended. But it may be that his +wife may be taken under my protection, now that little revenge is +over." + +"And a paltry revenge it was," said the Empress, "that you, a man past +middle life, and with a wife who might command some attention, should +constitute yourself the object of alarm to such a handsome man as Count +Robert, and the Amazon his wife." + +"By your favour, dame Irene, no," said the Emperor. "I left that part +of the proposed comedy to my son-in-law the Caesar." + +But when the poor Emperor had in some measure stopt one floodgate, he +effectually opened another, and one which was more formidable. "The +more shame to your Imperial wisdom, my father!" exclaimed the Princess +Anna Comnena; "it is a shame, that with wisdom and a beard like yours, +you should be meddling in such indecent follies as admit disturbance +into private families, and that family your own daughter's! Who can say +that the Caesar Nicephorus Briennius ever looked astray towards another +woman than his wife, till the Emperor taught him to do so, and involved +him in a web of intrigue and treachery, in which he has endangered the +life of his father-in-law?" + +"Daughter! daughter! daughter!"--said the Empress; "daughter of a she- +wolf, I think, to goad her parent at such an unhappy time, when all the +leisure he has is too little to defend his life!" + +"Peace, I pray you, women both, with your senseless clamours," answered +Alexius, "and let me at least swim for my life undisturbed with your +folly. God knows if I am a man to encourage, I will not say the reality +of wrong, but even its mere appearance!" + +These words he uttered, crossing himself, with a devout groan. His wife +Irene, in the meantime, stept before him, and said, with a bitterness +in her looks and accent, which only long-concealed nuptial hatred +breaking forth at once could convey,--"Alexius, terminate this affair +how it will, you have lived a hypocrite, and thou wilt not fail to die +one." So saying, with an air of noble indignation, and carrying her +daughter along with her, she swept out of the apartment. + +The Emperor looked after her in some confusion. He soon, however, +recovered his self-possession, and turning to Hereward, with a look of +injured majesty, said, "Ah! my dear Edward,"---for the word had become +rooted in his mind, instead of the less euphonic name of Hereward,-- +"thou seest how it is even with the greatest, and that the Emperor, in +moments of difficulty, is a subject of misconstruction, as well as the +meanest burgess of Constantinople; nevertheless, my trust is so great +in thee, Edward, that I would have thee believe, that my daughter, Anna +Comnena, is not of the temper of her mother, but rather of my own; +honouring, thou mayst see, with religious fidelity, the unworthy ties +which I hope soon to break, and assort her with other fetters of Cupid, +which shall be borne more lightly. Edward, my main trust is in thee. +Accident presents us with an opportunity, happy of the happiest, so it +be rightly improved, of having all the traitors before us assembled on +one fair field. Think, _then_, on that day, as the Franks say at +their tournaments, that fair eyes behold thee. Thou canst not devise a +gift within my power, but I will gladly load thee with it." + +"It needs not," said the Varangian, somewhat coldly; "my highest +ambition is to merit the epitaph upon my tomb, 'Hereward was faithful.' +I am about, however, to demand a proof of your imperial confidence, +which, perhaps, you may think a startling one." + +"Indeed!" said the Emperor. "What, in one word, is thy demand?" + +"Permission," replied Hereward, "to go to the Duke of Bouillon's +encampment, and entreat his presence in the lists, to witness this +extraordinary combat." + +"That he may return with his crusading madmen," said the Emperor, "and +sack Constantinople, under pretence of doing justice to his +Confederates? This, Varangian, is at least speaking thy mind openly." + +"No, by Heavens!" said Hereward suddenly; "the Duke of Bouillon shall +come with no more knights than may be a reasonable guard, should +treachery be offered to the Countess of Paris." + +"Well, even in this," said the Emperor, "will I be conformable; and if +thou, Edward, betrayest my trust, think that thou forfeitest all that +my friendship has promised, and dost incur, besides, the damnation that +is due to the traitor who betrays with a kiss." + +"For thy reward, noble sir," answered the Varangian, "I hereby renounce +all claim to it. When the diadem is once more firmly fixed upon thy +brow, and the sceptre in thy hand, if I am then alive, if my poor +services should deserve so much, I will petition thee for the means of +leaving this court, and returning to the distant island in which I was +born. Meanwhile, think me not unfaithful, because I have for a time the +means of being so with effect. Your Imperial Highness shall learn that +Hereward is as true as is your right hand to your left."--So saying, he +took his leave with a profound obeisance. + +The Emperor gazed after him with a countenance in which doubt was +mingled with admiration. + +"I have trusted him," he said, "with all he asked, and with the power +of ruining me entirely, if such be his purpose. He has but to breathe a +whisper, and the whole mad crew of crusaders, kept in humour at the +expense of so much current falsehood, and so much more gold, will +return with fire and sword to burn down Constantinople, and sow with +salt the place where it stood. I have done what I had resolved never to +do,--I have ventured kingdom and life on the faith of a man born of +woman. How often have I said, nay, sworn, that I would not hazard +myself on such peril, and yet, step by step, I have done so! I cannot +tell--there is in that man's looks and words a good faith which +overwhelms me; and, what is almost incredible, my belief in him has +increased in proportion to his showing me how slight my power was over +him. I threw, like the wily angler, every bait I could devise, and some +of them such as a king would scarcely have disdained; to none of these +would he rise; but yet he gorges, I may say, the bare hook, and enters +upon my service without a shadow of self-interest.--Can this be double- +distilled treachery?--or can it be what men call disinterestedness?--If +I thought him false, the moment is not yet past--he has not yet crossed +the bridge--he has not passed the guards of the palace, who have no +hesitation, and know no disobedience--But no--I were then alone in the +land, and without a friend or confidant.--I hear the sound of the outer +gate unclose, the sense of danger certainly renders my ears more acute +than usual.--It shuts again--the die is cast. He is at liberty--and +Alexius Comnenus must stand or fall, according to the uncertain faith +of a mercenary Varangian." He clapt his hands; a slave appeared, of +whom he demanded wine. He drank, and his heart was cheered within him. +"I am decided," he said, "and will abide with resolution the cast of +the throw, for good or for evil." + +So saying, he retired to his apartment, and was not again seen during +that night. + + + + +CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SECOND. + + And aye, as if for death, some lonely trumpet peal'd. + CAMPBELL. + + +The Varangian, his head agitated with the weighty matters which imposed +on him, stopt from time to time as he journeyed through the moonlight +streets, to arrest passing ideas as they shot through his mind, and +consider them with accuracy in all their bearings. His thoughts were +such as animated or alarmed him alternately, each followed by a +confused throng of accompaniments which it suggested, and banished +again in its turn by reflections of another description. It was one of +those conjunctures when the minds of ordinary men feel themselves +unable to support a burden which is suddenly flung upon them, and when, +on the contrary, those of uncommon fortitude, and that best of Heaven's +gifts, good sense, founded on presence of mind, feel their talents +awakened and regulated for the occasion, like a good steed under the +management of a rider of courage and experience. + +As he stood in one of those fits of reverie, which repeatedly during +that night arrested his stern military march, Hereward thought that his +ear caught the note of a distant trumpet. This surprised him; a trumpet +blown at that late hour, and in the streets of Constantinople, argued +something extraordinary; for as all military movements were the subject +of special ordinance, the etiquette of the night could hardly have been +transgressed without some great cause. The question was, what that +cause could be? + +Had the insurrection broken out unexpectedly, and in a different manner +from what the conspirators proposed to themselves?--If so, his meeting +with his plighted bride, after so many years' absence, was but a +delusive preface to their separating for ever. Or had the crusaders, a +race of men upon whose motions it was difficult to calculate, suddenly +taken arms and returned from the opposite shore to surprise the city? +This might very possibly be the case; so numerous had been the +different causes of complaint afforded to the crusaders, that, when +they were now for the first time assembled into one body, and had heard +the stories which they could reciprocally tell concerning the perfidy +of the Greeks, nothing was so likely, so natural, even perhaps so +justifiable, as that they should study revenge. + +But the sound rather resembled a point of war regularly blown, than the +tumultuous blare of bugle-horns and trumpets, the accompaniments at +once, and the annunciation, of a taken town, in which the horrid +circumstances of storm had not yet given place to such stern peace as +the victors' weariness of slaughter and rapine allows at length to the +wretched inhabitants. Whatever it was, it was necessary that Hereward +should learn its purport, and therefore he made his way into a broad +street near the barracks, from, which the sound seemed to come, to +which point, indeed, his way was directed for other reasons. + +The inhabitants of that quarter of the town did not appear violently +startled by this military signal. The moonlight slept on the street, +crossed by the gigantic shadowy towers of Sancta Sophia. No human being +appeared in the streets, and such as for an instant looked from their +doors or from their lattices, seemed to have their curiosity quickly +satisfied, for they withdrew their heads, and secured the opening +through which they had peeped. + +Hereward could not help remembering the traditions which were recounted +by the fathers of his tribe, in the deep woods, of Hampshire, and which +spoke of invisible huntsmen, who were heard to follow with viewless +horses and hounds the unseen chase through the depths of the forests of +Germany. Such it seemed were the sounds with which these haunted woods +were wont to ring while the wild chase was up; and with such apparent +terror did the hearers listen to their clamour. + +"Fie!" he said, as he suppressed within him a tendency to the same +superstitious fears; "do such childish fancies belong to a man trusted +with so much, and from whom so much is expected?" He paced down the +street, therefore, with his battle-axe over his shoulder, and the first +person whom he saw venturing to look out of his door, he questioned +concerning the cause of this military music at such an unaccustomed +hour. + +"I cannot tell, so please you, my lord," said the citizen, unwilling, +it appeared, to remain in the open air, or to enter into conversation, +and greatly disposed to decline further questioning. This was the +political citizen of Constantinople whom we met with at the beginning +of this history, and who, hastily stepping into his habitation, +eschewed all further conversation. + +The wrestler Stephanos showed himself at the next door, which was +garlanded with oak and ivy leaves, in honour of some recent victory. He +stood unshrinking, partly encouraged by the consciousness of personal +strength, and partly by a rugged surliness of temper, which is often +mistaken among persons of this kind for real courage. His admirer and +flatterer, Lysimachus, kept himself ensconced behind his ample +shoulders. + +As Hereward passed, he put the same question as he did to the former +citizen,--"Know you the meaning of these trumpets sounding so late?" + +"You should know best yourself," answered Stephanos, doggedly; "for, to +judge by your axe and helmet, they are your trumpets, and not ours, +which disturb honest men in their first sleep." + +"Varlet!" answered the Varangian, with an emphasis which made the +prizer start,--"but--when that trumpet sounds, it is no time for a +soldier to punish insolence as it deserves." + +The Greek started back and bolted into his house, nearly overthrowing +in the speed of his retreat the artist Lysimachus, who was listening to +what passed. + +Hereward passed on to the barracks, where the military music had seemed +to halt; but on the Varangian crossing the threshold of the ample +courtyard, it broke forth again with a tremendous burst, whose clangour +almost stunned him, though well accustomed to the sounds. "What is the +meaning of this, Engelbrecht?" he said to the Varangian sentinel, who +paced axe in hand before the entrance. + +"The proclamation of a challenge and combat," answered Engelbrecht. +"Strange things towards, comrade; the frantic crusaders have bit the +Grecians, and infected them with their humour of tilting, as they say +dogs do each other with madness." + +Hereward made no reply to the sentinel's speech, but pressed forward +into a knot of his fellow-soldiers who were assembled in the court, +half-armed, or, more properly, in total disarray, as just arisen from +their beds, and huddled around the trumpets of their corps, which were +drawn out in full pomp. He of the gigantic instrument, whose duty it +was to intimate the express commands of the Emperor, was not wanting in +his place, and the musicians were supported by a band of the Varangians +in arms, headed by Achilles Tatius himself. Hereward could also notice, +on approaching nearer, as his comrades made way for him, that six of +the Imperial heralds were on duty on this occasion; four of these (two +acting at the same time) had already made proclamation, which was to be +repeated for the third time by the two last, as was the usual fashion +in Constantinople with Imperial mandates of great consequence. Achilles +Tatius, the moment he saw his confidant, made him a sign, which +Hereward understood as conveying a desire to speak with him after the +proclamation was over. The herald, after the flourish of trumpets was +finished, commenced in. these words: + +"By the authority of the resplendent and divine Prince Alexius Comnenus, +Emperor of the most holy Roman Empire, his Imperial Majesty desires it +to be made known to all and sundry the subjects of his empire, whatever +their race of blood may be, or at whatever shrine of divinity they +happen, to bend--Know ye, therefore, that upon the second day after +this is dated, our beloved son-in-law, the much esteemed Caesar, hath +taken upon, him to do battle with our sworn enemy, Robert, Count of +Paris, on account of his insolent conduct, by presuming publicly to +occupy our royal seat, and no less by breaking, in our Imperial +presence, those curious specimens of art, ornamenting our throne, +called by tradition the Lions of Solomon. And that there may not remain +a man in Europe who shall dare to say that the Grecians are behind +other parts of the world in any of the manly exercises which Christian +nations use, the said noble enemies, renouncing all assistance from +falsehood, from spells, or from magic, shall debate this quarrel in +three courses with grinded spears, and three passages of arms with +sharpened swords; the field to be at the judgment of the honourable +Emperor, and to be decided at his most gracious and unerring pleasure. +And so God show the right!" + +Another formidable flourish of the trumpets concluded the ceremony. +Achilles then dismissed the attendant troops, as well as the heralds +and musicians, to their respective quarters; and having got Hereward +close to his side, enquired of him whether he had learned any thing of +the prisoner, Robert, Count of Paris. + +"Nothing," said the Varangian, "save the tidings your proclamation +contains." + +"You think, then," said Achilles, "that the Count has been a party to +it." + +"He ought to have been so," answered the Varangian. "I know no one but +himself entitled to take burden for his appearance in the lists." + +"Why, look you," said the Acolyte, "my most excellent, though blunt- +witted Hereward, this Caesar of ours hath had the extravagance to +venture his tender wit in comparison to that of Achilles Tatius. He +stands upon his honour, too, this ineffable fool, and is displeased +with the idea of being supposed either to challenge a woman, or to +receive a challenge at her hand. He has substituted, therefore, the +name of the lord instead of the lady. If the Count fail to appear, the +Caesar walks forward challenger and successful combatant at a cheap +rate, since no one has encountered him, and claims that the lady should +be delivered up to him as a captive of his dreaded bow and spear. This +will be the signal for a general tumult, in which, if the Emperor be +not slain on the spot, he will be conveyed to the dungeon of his own +Blacquernal, there to endure the doom which his cruelty has inflicted +upon so many others." + +"But"---said the Varangian. + +"But---but--but," said his officer; "but thou art a fool. Canst thou +not see that this gallant Caesar is willing to avoid the risk of +encountering with this lady, while he earnestly desires to be supposed +willing to meet her husband? It is our business to fix the combat in +such a shape as to bring all who are prepared for insurrection together +in arms to play their parts. Do thou only see that our trusty friends +are placed near to the Emperor's person, and in such a manner as to +keep from him the officious and meddling portion of guards, who may be +disposed to assist him; and whether the Caesar fights a combat with +lord or lady, or whether there be any combat at all or not, the +revolution shall be accomplished, and the Tatii shall replace the +Comneni upon the Imperial throne of Constantinople. Go, my trusty +Hereward. Thou wilt not forget that the signal word of the insurrection +is Ursel, who lives in the affections of the people, although his body, +it is said, has long lain a corpse in the dungeons of the Blacquernal." + +"What was this Ursel," said Hereward, "of whom I hear men talk so +variously?" + +"A competitor for the crown with Alexius Comnenus--good, brave, and +honest; but overpowered by the cunning, rather than the skill or +bravery of his foe. He died, as I believe, in the Blacquernal; though +when, or how, there are few that can say. But, up and be doing, my +Hereward! Speak encouragement to the Varangians--Interest whomsoever +thou canst to join us. Of the Immortals, as they are called, and of the +discontented citizens, enough are prepared to fill up the cry, and +follow in the wake of those on whom we must rely as the beginners of +the enterprise. No longer shall Alexius's cunning, in avoiding popular +assemblies, avail to protect him; he cannot, with regard to his honour, +avoid being present at a combat to be fought beneath his own eye; and +Mercury be praised for the eloquence which inspired him, after some +hesitation, to determine for the proclamation!" + +"You have seen him, then, this evening?" said the Varangian. + +"Seen him! Unquestionably," answered the Acolyte. "Had I ordered these +trumpets to be sounded without his knowledge, the blast had blown the +head from my shoulders." + +"I had wellnigh met you at the palace," said Hereward; while his heart +throbbed almost as high as if he had actually had such a dangerous +encounter. + +"I heard something of it," said Achilles; "that you came to take the +parting orders of him who now acts the sovereign. Surely, had I seen +you there, with that steadfast, open, seemingly honest countenance, +cheating the wily Greek by very dint of bluntness, I had not forborne +laughing at the contrast between that and the thoughts of thy heart." + +"God alone," said Hereward, "knows the thoughts of our hearts; but I +take him to witness, that I am faithful to my promise, and will +discharge the task intrusted to me." + +"Bravo! mine honest Anglo-Saxon," said Achilles. "I pray thee to call +my slaves to unarm me; and when thou thyself doffest those weapons of +an ordinary life-guardsman, tell them they never shall above twice +more enclose the limbs of one for whom fate has much more fitting +garments in store." + +Hereward dared not intrust his voice with an answer to so critical a +speech; he bowed profoundly, and retired to his own quarters in the +building. + +Upon entering the apartment, he was immediately saluted by the voice of +Count Robert, in joyful accents, not suppressed by the fear of making +himself heard, though prudence should have made that uppermost in his +mind. + +"Hast thou heard it, my dear Hereward," he said--"hast thou heard the +proclamation, by which this Greek antelope hath defied me to tilting +with grinded spears, and fighting three passages of arms with sharpened +swords? Yet there is something strange, too, that he should not think +it safer to hold my lady to the encounter! He may think, perhaps, that +the crusaders would not permit such a battle to be fought. But, by our +Lady of the Broken Lances! he little knows that the men of the West +hold their ladies' character for courage as jealously as they do their +own. This whole night have I been considering in what armour I shall +clothe me; what shift I shall make for a steed; and whether I shall not +honour him sufficiently by using Tranchefer, as my only weapon, against +his whole armour, offensive and defensive." + +"I shall take care, however," said Hereward, "that, thou art better +provided in case of need.--Thou knowest not the Greeks." + + + + +CHAPTER THE TWENTY-THIRD. + + +The Varangian did not leave the Count of Paris until the latter had in +his hands his signet-ring, _semee_, (as the heralds express it,) +_with lances splintered_, and bearing the proud motto, "Mine yet +unscathed." Provided with this symbol of confidence, it was now his +business to take order for communicating the approaching solemnity to +the leader of the crusading army, and demanding from him, in the name +of Robert of Paris, and the Lady Brenhilda, such a detachment of +western cavaliers as might ensure strict observance of honour and +honesty in the arrangement of the lists, and during the progress of the +combat. The duties imposed on Hereward were such as to render it +impossible for him to proceed personally to the camp of Godfrey: and +though there were many of the Varangians in whose fidelity he could +have trusted, he knew of none among those under his immediate command +whose intelligence, on so novel an occasion, might be entirely depended +on. In this perplexity, he strolled, perhaps without well knowing why, +to the gardens of Agelastes, where fortune once more produced him an +interview with Bertha. + +No sooner had Hereward made her aware of his difficulty, than the +faithful bower-maiden's resolution was taken. + +"I see," said she, "that the peril of this part of the adventure must +rest with me; and wherefore should it not? My mistress, in the bosom of +prosperity, offered herself to go forth into the wide world for my +sake; I will for hers go to the camp of this Frankish lord. He is an +honourable man, and a pious Christian, and his followers are faithful +pilgrims. A woman can have nothing to fear who goes to such men upon +such an errand." + +The Varangian, however, was too well acquainted with the manners of +camps to permit the fair Bertha to go alone. He provided, therefore, +for her safe-guard a trusty old soldier, bound to his person by long +kindness and confidence, and having thoroughly possessed her of the +particulars of the message she was to deliver, and desired her to be in +readiness without the enclosure at peep of dawn, returned once more to +his barracks. + +With the earliest light, Hereward was again at the spot where he had +parted overnight with Bertha, accompanied by the honest soldier to +whose care he meant to confide her. In a short time, he had seen them +safely on board of a ferry-boat lying in the harbour; the master of +which readily admitted them, after some examination of their license, +to pass to Scutari, which was forged in the name of the Acolyte, as +authorised by that foul conspirator, and which agreed with the +appearance of old Osmund and his young charge. + +The morning was lovely; and erelong the town of Scutari opened on the +view of the travellers, glittering, as now, with a variety of +architecture, which, though it might be termed fantastical, could not +be denied the praise of beauty. These buildings rose boldly out of a +thick grove of cypresses, and other huge trees, the larger, probably, +as they were respected for filling the cemeteries, and being the +guardians of the dead. + +At the period we mention, another circumstance, no less striking than +beautiful, rendered doubly interesting a scene which must have been at +all times greatly so. A large portion of that miscellaneous army which +came to regain the holy places of Palestine, and the blessed Sepulchre +itself, from the infidels, had established themselves in a camp within +a mile, or thereabouts, of Scutari. Although, therefore, the crusaders +were destitute in a great measure of the use of tents, the army +(excepting the pavilions of some leaders of high rank) had constructed +for themselves temporary huts, not unpleasing to the eye, being +decorated with leaves and flowers, while the tall pennons and banners +that floated over them with various devices, showed that the flower of +Europe were assembled at that place. A loud and varied murmur, +resembling that of a thronged hive, floated from the camp of the +crusaders to the neighbouring town of Scutari, and every now and then +the deep tone was broken by some shriller sound, the note of some +musical instrument, or the treble scream of some child or female, in +fear or in gaiety. + +The party at length landed in safety; and as they approached one of the +gates of the camp, there sallied forth a brisk array of gallant +cavaliers, pages, and squires, exercising their masters' horses or +their own. From the noise they made, conversing at the very top of +their voices, galloping, curvetting, and prancing their palfreys, it +seemed as if their early discipline had called them to exercise ere the +fumes of last night's revel were thoroughly dissipated by repose. So +soon as they saw Bertha and her party, they approached them with cries +which marked their country was Italy--"Al'erta! al'erta!--Roba de +guadagno, cameradi!" [Footnote: That is--"Take heed! take heed! there +is booty, comrades!"] + +They gathered round the Anglo-Saxon maiden and her companions, +repeating their cries in a manner which made Bertha tremble. Their +general demand was, "What was her business in their camp?" + +"I would to the general-in-chief, cavaliers," answered Bertha, "having +a secret message to his ear." + +"For whose ear?" said a leader of the party, a handsome youth of about +eighteen years of age, who seemed either to have a sounder brain than +his fellows, or to have overflowed it with less wine. "Which of our +leaders do you come hither to see?" he demanded. + +"Godfrey of Bouillon." + +"Indeed!" said the page who had spoken first; "can nothing of less +consequence serve thy turn? Take a look amongst us; young are we all, +and reasonably wealthy. My Lord of Bouillon is old, and if he has any +sequins, he is not like to lavish them in this way." + +"Still I have a token to Godfrey of Bouillon," answered Bertha, "an +assured one; and he will little thank any who obstructs my free passage +to him;" and therewithal showing a little case, in which the signet of +the Count of Paris was enclosed, "I will trust it in your hands," she +said, "if you promise not to open it, but to give me free access to the +noble leader of the crusaders." + +"I will," said the youth, "and if such be the Duke's pleasure, thou +shalt be admitted to him." + +"Ernest the Apulian, thy dainty Italian wit is caught in a trap," said +one of his companions. + +"Thou art an ultramontane fool, Polydore," returned Ernest; "there may +be more in this than either thy wit or mine is able to fathom. This +maiden and one of her attendants wear a dress belonging to the +Varangian Imperial guard. They have perhaps been intrusted with a +message from the Emperor, and it is not irreconcilable with Alexius's +politics to send it through such messengers as these. Let us, therefore, +convey them in all honour to the General's tent." + +"With all my heart," said Polydore. "A blue-eyed wench is a pretty +thing, but I like not the sauce of the camp-marshal, nor his taste in +attiring men who gave way to temptation. [Footnote: Persons among the +Crusaders found guilty of certain offences, did penance in a dress of +tar and feathers though it is supposed a punishment of modern +invention.] Yet, ere I prove a fool like my companion, I would ask who +or what this pretty maiden is, who comes to put noble princes and holy +pilgrims in mind that they have in their time had the follies of men?" + +Bertha advanced and whispered in the ear of Ernest. Meantime joke +followed jest, among Polydore and the rest of the gay youths, in +riotous and ribald succession, which, however characteristic of the +rude speakers, may as well be omitted here. Their effect was to shake +in some degree the fortitude of the Saxon maiden, who had some +difficulty in mustering courage to address them. "As you have mothers, +gentlemen," she said, "as you have fair sisters, whom you would protect +from dishonour with your best blood--as you love and honour those holy +places which you are sworn to free from the infidel enemy, have +compassion on me, that you may merit success in your undertaking!" + +"Fear nothing, maiden," said Ernest, "I will be your protector; and you, +my comrades, be ruled by me. I have, during your brawling, taken a view, +though somewhat against my promise, of the pledge which she bears, and +if she who presents it is affronted or maltreated, be assured Godfrey +of Bouillon will severely avenge the wrong done her." + +"Nay, comrade, if thou canst warrant us so much," said Polydore, "I +will myself be most anxious to conduct the young woman in honour and +safety to Sir Godfrey's tent." + +"The Princes," said Ernest, "must be nigh meeting there in council. +What I have said I will warrant and uphold with hand and life. More I +might guess, but I conclude this sensible young maiden can speak for +herself." + +"Now, Heaven bless thee, gallant squire," said Bertha, "and make thee +alike brave and fortunate! Embarrass yourself no farther about me, than +to deliver me safe to your leader, Godfrey." + +"We spend time," said Ernest, springing from his horse. "You are no +soft Eastern, fair maid, and I presume you will find yourself under no +difficulty in managing a quiet horse?" + +"Not the least," said Bertha, as, wrapping herself in her cassock, she +sprung from the ground, and alighted upon the spirited palfrey, as a +linnet stoops upon a rose-bush. "And now, sir, as my business really +brooks no delay, I will be indebted to you to show me instantly to the +tent of Duke Godfrey of Bouillon." + +By availing herself of this courtesy of the young Apulian, Bertha +imprudently separated herself from the old Varangian; but the +intentions of the youth were honourable, and he conducted her through +the tents and huts to the pavilion of the celebrated General-in-chief +of the Crusade. + +"Here," he said, "you must tarry for a space, under the guardianship of +my companions," (for two or three of the pages had accompanied them, +out of curiosity to see the issue,) "and I will take the commands of +the Duke of Bouillon upon the subject." + +To this nothing could be objected, and Bertha had nothing better to do, +than to admire the outside of the tent, which, in one of Alexius's fits +of generosity and munificence, had been presented by the Greek Emperor +to the Chief of the Franks. It was raised upon tall spear-shaped poles, +which had the semblance of gold; its curtains were of thick stuff, +manufactured of silk, cotton, and gold thread. The warders who stood +round, were (at least during the time that the council was held) old +grave men, the personal squires of the body, most of them, of the +sovereigns who had taken the Cross, and who could, therefore, be +trusted as a guard over the assembly, without danger of their blabbing +what they might overhear. Their appearance was serious and considerate, +and they looked like men who had taken upon them the Cross, not as an +idle adventure of arms, but as a purpose of the most solemn and serious +nature. One of these stopt the Italian, and demanded what business +authorized him to press forward into the council of the crusaders, who +were already taking their seats. The page answered by giving his name, +"Ernest of Otranto, page of Prince Tancred;" and stated that he +announced a young woman, who bore a token to the Duke of Bouillon, +adding that it was accompanied by a message for his own ear. + +Bertha, meantime, laid aside her mantle, or upper garment, and disposed +the rest of her dress according to the Anglo-Saxon costume. She had +hardly completed this task, before the page of Prince Tancred returned, +to conduct her into the presence of the council of the Crusade. She +followed his signal; while the other young men who had accompanied her, +wondering at the apparent ease with which she gained admittance, drew +back to a respectful distance from the tent, and there canvassed the +singularity of their morning's adventure. + +In the meanwhile, the ambassadress herself entered the council chamber, +exhibiting an agreeable mixture of shamefacedness and reserve, together +with a bold determination to do her duty at all events. There were +about fifteen of the principal crusaders assembled in council, with +their chieftain Godfrey. He himself was a tall strong man, arrived at +that period of life in--which men are supposed to have lost none of +their resolution, while they have acquired a wisdom and circumspection +unknown to their earlier years. The countenance of Godfrey bespoke both +prudence and boldness, and resembled his hair, where a few threads of +silver were already mingled with his raven locks. + +Tancred, the noblest knight of the Christian chivalry, sat at no great +distance from him, with Hugh, Earl of Vermandois, generally called the +Great Count, the selfish and wily Bohemond, the powerful Raymond of +Provence, and others of the principal crusaders, all more or less +completely sheathed in armour. + +Bertha did not allow her courage to be broken down, but advancing with +a timid grace towards Godfrey, she placed in his hands the signet which +had been restored to her by the young page, and after a deep obeisance, +spoke these words: "Godfrey, Count of Bouillon, Duke of Lorraine the +Lower, Chief of the Holy Enterprise called the Crusade, and you, his +gallant comrades, peers, and companions, by whatever titles you may be +honoured, I, an humble maiden of England, daughter of Engelred, +originally a franklin of Hampshire, and since Chieftain of the +Foresters, or free Anglo-Saxons, under the command of the celebrated +Edric, do claim what credence is due to the bearer of the true pledge +which I put into your hand, on the part of one not the least +considerable of your own body, Count Robert of Paris"--- + +"Our most honourable confederate," said Godfrey, looking at the ring. +"Most of you, my lords, must, I think, know this signet--a field sown +with the fragments of many splintered lances." The signet was handed +from one of the Assembly to another, and generally recognised. + +When Godfrey had signified so much, the maiden resumed her message. "To +all true crusaders, therefore, comrades of Godfrey of Bouillon, and +especially to the Duke himself,--to all, I say, excepting Bohemond of +Tarentum, whom he counts unworthy of his notice"-- + +"Hah! me unworthy of his notice," said Bohemond. "What mean you by that, +damsel?--But the Count of Paris shall answer it to me." + +"Under your favour, Sir Bohemond," said Godfrey, "no. Our articles +renounce the sending of challenges among ourselves, and the matter, if +not dropt betwixt the parties, must be referred to the voice of this +honourable council." + +"I think I guess the business now, my lord," said Bohemond. "The Count +of Paris is disposed to turn and tear me, because I offered him good +counsel on the evening before we left Constantinople, when he neglected +to accept or be guided by it"-- + +"It will be the more easily explained when we have heard his message," +said Godfrey.--"Speak forth Lord Robert of Paris's charge, damsel, that +we may take some order with that which now seems a perplexed business." + +Bertha resumed her message; and, having briefly narrated the recent +events, thus concluded:--"The battle is to be done to-morrow, about two +hours after daybreak, and the Count entreats of the noble Duke of +Lorraine that he will permit some fifty of the lances of France to +attend the deed of arms, and secure that fair and honourable conduct +which he has otherwise some doubts of receiving at the hands of his +adversary. Or if any young and gallant knight should, of his own free +will, wish to view the said combat, the Count will feel his presence as +an honour; always he desires that the name of such knight be numbered +carefully with the armed crusaders who shall attend in the lists, and +that the whole shall be limited, by Duke Godfrey's own inspection, to +fifty lances only, which are enough to obtain the protection required, +while more would be considered as a preparation for aggression upon the +Grecians, and occasion the revival of disputes which are now happily at +rest." + +Bertha had no sooner finished delivering her manifesto, and made with +great grace her obeisance to the council, than a sort of whisper took +place in the assembly, which soon assumed a more lively tone. + +Their solemn vow not to turn their back upon Palestine, now that they +had set their hands to the plough, was strongly urged by some of the +elder knights of the council, and two or three high prelates, who had +by this time entered to take share in the deliberations. The young +knights, on the other hand, were fired with indignation on hearing the +manner in which their comrade had been trepanned; and few of them could +think of missing a combat in the lists in a country in which such +sights were so rare, and where one was to be fought so near them. + +Godfrey rested his brow on his hand, and seemed in great perplexity. To +break with the Greeks, after having suffered so many injuries in order +to maintain the advantage of keeping the peace with them, seemed very +impolitic, and a sacrifice of all he had obtained by a long course of +painful forbearance towards Alexius Comnenus. On the other hand, he +was bound as a man of honour to resent the injury offered to Count +Robert of Paris, whose reckless spirit of chivalry made him the darling +of the army. It was the cause, too, of a beautiful lady, and a brave +one: every knight in the host would think himself bound, by his vow, to +hasten to her defence. When Godfrey spoke, it was to complain of the +difficulty of the determination, and the short time there was to +consider the case. + +"With submission to my Lord Duke of Lorraine," said Tancred, "I was a +knight ere I was a crusader, and took on me the vows of chivalry, ere I +placed this blessed, sign upon my shoulder: the vow first made must be +first discharged. I will therefore do penance for neglecting, for a +space, the obligations of the second vow, while I observe that which +recalls me to the first duty of knighthood,--the relief of a distressed +lady in the hands of men whose conduct towards her, and towards this +host, in every respect entitles me to call them treacherous faitours." + +"If my kinsman Tancred," said Bohemond, "will check his impetuosity, +and you, my lords, will listen, as you have sometimes deigned to do, to +my advice, I think I can direct you how to keep clear of any breach of +your oath, and yet fully to relieve our distressed fellow-pilgrims.--I +see some suspicious looks are cast towards me, which are caused perhaps +by the churlish manner in which this violent, and, in this case, almost +insane young warrior, has protested against receiving my assistance. My +great offence is the having given him warning, by precept and example, +of the treachery which was about to be practised against him, and +instructed him to use forbearance and temperance. My warning he +altogether contemned--my example he neglected to follow, and fell into +the snare which was spread, as it were, before his very eyes. Yet the +Count of Paris, in rashly contemning me, has acted only from a temper +which misfortune and disappointment have rendered irrational and +frantic. I am so far from bearing him ill-will, that, with your +lordship's permission, and that of the present council, I will haste to +the place of rendezvous with fifty lances, making up the retinue which +attends upon each to at least ten men, which will make the stipulated +auxiliary force equal to five hundred; and with these I can have little +doubt of rescuing the Count and his lady." + +"Nobly proposed," said the Duke of Bouillon; "and with a charitable +forgiveness of injuries which becomes our Christian expedition. But +thou hast forgot the main difficulty, brother Bohemond, that we are +sworn never to turn back upon the sacred journey." + +"If we can elude that oath upon the present occasion," said Bohemond, +"it becomes our duty to do so. Are we such bad horsemen, or are our +steeds so awkward, that we cannot rein them back from this to the +landing-place at Scutari? We can get them on shipboard in the same +retrograde manner, and when we arrive in Europe, where our vow binds us +no longer, the Count and Countess of Paris are rescued, and our vow +remains entire in the Chancery of Heaven." + +A general shout arose--"Long life to the gallant Bohemond!--Shame to us +if we do not fly to the assistance of so valiant a knight, and a lady +so lovely, since we can do so without breach of our vow." + +"The question," said Godfrey, "appears to me to be eluded rather than +solved; yet such evasions have been admitted by the most learned and +scrupulous clerks; nor do I hesitate to admit of Bohemond's expedient, +any more than if the enemy had attacked our rear, which might have +occasioned our countermarching to be a case of absolute necessity." + +Some there were in the assembly, particularly the churchmen, inclined +to think that the oath by which the crusaders had solemnly bound +themselves, ought to be as literally obeyed. But Peter the Hermit, who +had a place in the council, and possessed great weight, declared it as +his opinion, "That since the precise observance of their vow would tend +to diminish the forces of the crusade, it was in fact unlawful, and +should not be kept according to the literal meaning, if, by a fair +construction, it could be eluded." + +He offered himself to back the animal which he bestrode--that is, his +ass; and though he was diverted from showing this example by the +remonstrances of Godfrey of Bouillon, who was afraid of his becoming a +scandal in the eyes of the heathen, yet he so prevailed by his +arguments, that the knights, far from scrupling to countermarch, +eagerly contended which should have the honour of making one of the +party which should retrograde to Constantinople, see the combat, and +bring back to the host in safety the valorous Count of Paris, of whose +victory no one doubted, and his Amazonian Countess. + +This emulation was also put an end to by the authority of Godfrey, who +himself selected the fifty knights who were to compose the party. They +were chosen from different nations, and the command of the whole was +given to young Tancred of Otranto. Notwithstanding the claim of +Bohemond, Godfrey detained the latter, under the pretext that his +knowledge of the country and people was absolutely necessary to enable +the council to form the plan of the campaign in Syria; but in reality +he dreaded the selfishness of a man of great ingenuity as well as +military skill, who, finding himself in a separate command, might be +tempted, should opportunities arise, to enlarge his own power and +dominion, at the expense of the pious purposes of the crusade in +general. The younger men of the expedition were chiefly anxious to +procure such horses as had been thoroughly trained, and could go +through with ease and temper the manoeuvre of equitation, by which it +was designed to render legitimate the movement which they had recourse +to. The selection was at length made, and the detachment ordered to +draw up in the rear, or upon the eastward line of the Christian +encampment. In the meanwhile, Godfrey charged Bertha with a message for +the Count of Paris, in which, slightly censuring him for not observing +more caution in his intercourse with the Greeks, he informed him that +he had sent a detachment of fifty lances, with the corresponding +squires, pages, men-at-arms, and cross-bows, five hundred in number, +commanded by the valiant Tancred, to his assistance. The Duke also +informed him, that he had added a suit of armour of the best temper +Milan could afford, together with a trusty war-horse, which he +entreated him to use upon the field of battle; for Bertha had not +omitted to intimate Count Robert's want of the means of knightly +equipment. The horse was brought before the pavilion accordingly, +completely barbed or armed in steel, and laden with armour for the +knight's body. Godfrey himself put the bridle into Bertha's hand. + +"Thou need'st not fear to trust thyself with this steed, he is as +gentle and docile as he is fleet and brave. Place thyself on his back, +and take heed thou stir not from the side of the noble Prince Tancred +of Otranto, who will be the faithful defender of a maiden that has this +day shown dexterity, courage, and fidelity." + +Bertha bowed low, as her cheeks glowed at praise from one whose talents +and worth were in such general esteem, as to have raised him to the +distinguished situation of leader of a host which numbered in it the +bravest and most distinguished captains of Christendom. + +"Who are yon two persons?" continued Godfrey, speaking of the +companions of Bertha, whom he saw in the distance before the tent. + +"The one," answered the damsel, "is the master of the ferry-boat which +brought me over; and the other an old Varangian who came hither as my +protector." + +"As they may come to employ their eyes here, and their tongues on the +opposite side," returned the general of the crusaders, "I do not think +it prudent to let them accompany you. They shall remain here for some +short time. The citizens of Scutari will not comprehend for some space +what our intention is, and I could wish Prince Tancred and his +attendants to be the first to announce their own arrival." + +Bertha accordingly intimated the pleasure of the French general to the +parties, without naming his motives; when the ferryman began to exclaim +on the hardship of intercepting him in his trade; and Osmund to +complain of being detained from his duties. But Bertha, by the orders +of Godfrey, left them, with the assurance that they would be soon at +liberty. Finding themselves thus abandoned, each applied himself to his +favourite amusement. The ferryman occupied himself in staring about at +all that was new; and Osmund, having in the meantime accepted an offer +of breakfast from some of the domestics, was presently engaged with a +flask of such red wine as would have reconciled him to a worse lot than +that which he at present experienced. + +The detachment of Tancred, fifty spears and their armed retinue, which +amounted fully to five hundred men, after having taken a short and +hasty refreshment, were in arms and mounted before the sultry hour of +noon. After some manoeuvres, of which the Greeks of Scutari, whose +curiosity was awakened by the preparations of the detachment, were at a +loss to comprehend the purpose, they formed into a single column, +having four men in front. When the horses were in this position, the +whole riders at once began to rein back. The action was one to which +both the cavaliers and their horses were well accustomed, nor did it at +first afford much surprise to the spectators; but when the same +retrograde evolution was continued, and the body of crusaders seemed +about to enter the town of Scutari in so extraordinary a fashion, some +idea of the truth began to occupy the citizens. The cry at length was +general, when Tancred and a few others, whose horses were unusually +well-trained, arrived at the port, and possessed themselves of a galley, +into which they led their horses, and, disregarding all opposition from +the Imperial officers of the haven, pushed the vessel off from the +shore. + +Other cavaliers did not accomplish their purpose so easily; the riders, +or the horses, were less accustomed to continue in the constrained pace +for such a considerable length of time, so that many of the knights, +having retrograded for one or two hundred yards, thought their vow was +sufficiently observed by having so far deferred to it, and riding in +the ordinary manner into the town, seized without farther ceremony on +some vessels, which, notwithstanding the orders of the Greek Emperor, +had been allowed to remain on the Asiatic side of the strait. Some less +able horsemen met with various accidents; for though it was a proverb +of the time, that nothing was so bold as a blind horse, yet from this +mode of equitation, where neither horse nor rider saw the way he was +going, some steeds were overthrown, others backed upon dangerous +obstacles; and the bones of the cavaliers themselves suffered much more +than would have been the case in an ordinary march. + +Those horsemen, also, who met with falls, incurred the danger of being +slain by the Greeks, had not Godfrey, surmounting his religious +scruples, despatched a squadron to extricate them--a task which they +performed with great ease. The greater part of Tancred's followers +succeeded in embarking, as was intended, nor was there more than a +score or two finally amissing. To accomplish their voyage, however, +even the Prince of Otranto himself, and most of his followers, were +obliged to betake themselves to the unknightly labours of the oar. This +they found extremely difficult, as well from the state both of the tide +and the wind, as from the want of practice at the exercise. Godfrey in +person viewed their progress anxiously, from a neighbouring height, and +perceived with regret the difficulty which they found in making their +way, which was still more increased by the necessity for their keeping +in a body, and waiting for the slowest and worst manned vessels, which +considerably detained those that were more expeditious. They made some +progress, however; nor had the commander-in-chief the least doubt, that +before sunset they would safely reach the opposite side of the strait. + +He retired at length from his post of observation, having placed a +careful sentinel in his stead, with directions to bring him word the +instant that the detachment reached the opposite shore. This the +soldier could easily discern by the eye, if it was daylight at the +time; if, on the contrary, it was night before they could arrive, the +Prince of Otranto had orders to show certain lights, which, in case of +their meeting resistance from the Greeks, should be arranged in a +peculiar manner, so as to indicate danger. + +Godfrey then explained to the Greek authorities of Scutari, whom he +summoned before him, the necessity there was that he should keep in +readiness such vessels as could be procured, with which, in case of +need, he was determined to transport a strong division from his army to +support those who had gone before. He then rode back to his camp, the +confused murmurs of which, rendered more noisy by the various +discussions concerning the events of the day, rolled off from the +numerous host of the crusaders, and mingled with the hoarse sound of +the many-billowed Hellespont. + + + + +CHAPTER THE TWENTH-FOURTH. + + All is prepared--the chambers of the mine + Are cramm'd with the combustible, which, harmless + While yet unkindled, as the sable sand, + Needs but a spark to change its nature so, + That he who wakes it from its slumbrous mood, + Dreads scarce the explosion less than he who knows + That 'tis his towers which meet its fury. + ANONYMOUS. + + +When the sky is darkened suddenly, and the atmosphere grows thick and +stifling, the lower ranks of creation entertain the ominous sense of a +coming tempest. The birds fly to the thickets, the wild creatures +retreat to the closest covers which their instinct gives them the habit +of frequenting, and domestic animals show their apprehension of the +approaching thunderstorm by singular actions and movements inferring +fear and disturbance. + +It seems that human nature, when its original habits are cultivated and +attended to, possesses, on similar occasions, something of that +prescient foreboding, which announces the approaching tempest to the +inferior ranks of creation. The cultivation of our intellectual powers +goes perhaps too far, when it teaches us entirely to suppress and +disregard those natural feelings, which were originally designed as +sentinels by which nature warned us of impending danger. + +Something of the kind, however, still remains, and that species of +feeling which announces to us sorrowful or alarming tidings, may be +said, like the prophecies of the weird sisters, to come over us like a +sudden cloud. + +During the fatal day which was to precede the combat of the Caesar with +the Count of Paris, there were current through the city of +Constantinople the most contradictory, and at the same time the most +terrific reports. Privy conspiracy, it was alleged, was on the very eve +of breaking out; open war, it was reported by others, was about to +shake her banners over the devoted city; the precise cause was not +agreed upon, any more than the nature of the enemy. Some said that the +barbarians from the borders of Thracia, the Hungarians, as they were +termed, and the Comani, were on their march from the frontiers to +surprise the city; another report stated that the Turks, who, during +this period, were established in Asia, had resolved to prevent the +threatened attack of the crusaders upon Palestine, by surprising not +only the Western Pilgrims, but the Christians of the East, by one of +their innumerable invasions, executed with their characteristic +rapidity. + +Another report, approaching more near to the truth, declared that the +crusaders themselves, having discovered their various causes of +complaint against Alexius Comnenus, had resolved to march back their +united forces to the capital, with a view of dethroning or chastising +him; and the citizens were dreadfully alarmed for the consequences of +the resentment of men so fierce in their habits and so strange in their +manners. In short, although they did not all agree on the precise cause +of danger, it was yet generally allowed that something of a dreadful +kind was impending, which appeared to be in a certain degree confirmed +by the motions that were taking place among the troops. The Varangians, +as well as the Immortals, were gradually assembled, and placed in +occupation of the strongest parts of the city, until at length the +fleet of galleys, row-boats, and transports, occupied by Tancred and +his party, were observed to put themselves in motion from Scutari, and +attempt to gain such a height in the narrow sea, as upon the turn of +the tide should transport them to the port of the capital. + +Alexius Comnenus was himself struck at this unexpected movement on the +part of the crusaders. Yet, after some conversation with Hereward, on +whom he had determined to repose his confidence, and had now gone too +far to retreat, he became reassured, the more especially by the limited +size of the detachment which seemed to meditate so bold a measure as an +attack upon his capital. To those around him he said with carelessness, +that it was hardly to be supposed that a trumpet could blow to the +charge, within hearing of the crusaders' camp, without some out of so +many knights coming forth to see the cause and the issue of the +conflict. + +The conspirators also had their secret fears when the little armament +of Tancred had been seen on the straits. Agelastes mounted a mule, and +went to the shore of the sea, at the place now called Galata. He met +Bertha's old ferryman, whom Godfrey had set at liberty, partly in +contempt, and partly that the report he was likely to make, might serve +to amuse the conspirators in the city. Closely examined by Agelastes, +he confessed that the present detachment, so far as he understood, was +despatched at the instance of Bohemond, and was under the command of +his kinsman Tancred, whose well-known banner was floating from the +headmost vessel. This gave courage to Agelastes, who, in the course of +his intrigues, had opened a private communication with the wily and +ever mercenary Prince of Antioch. The object of the philosopher had +been to obtain from Bohemond a body of his followers to co-operate in +the intended conspiracy, and fortify the party of insurgents. It is +true, that Bohemond had returned no answer, but the account now given +by the ferryman, and the sight of Tancred the kinsman of Bohemond's +banner displayed on the straits, satisfied the philosopher that his +offers, his presents, and his promises, had gained to his side the +avaricious Italian, and that this band had been selected by Bohemond, +and were coming to act in his favour. + +As Agelastes turned to go off, he almost jostled a person, as much +muffled up, and apparently as unwilling to be known, as the philosopher +himself. Alexius Comnenus, however--for it was the Emperor himself-- +knew Agelastes, though rather from his stature and gestures, than his +countenance; and could not forbear whispering in his ear, as he passed, +the well-known lines, to which the pretended sage's various +acquisitions gave some degree of point:-- + + "Grammaticus, rhetor, geometres, pictor, aliptes, + Augur, schoenobates, medicus, magus; omnia novit. + Graeculus esuriens in caelum, jusseris, ibit." [Footnote: The +lines of Juvenal imitated by Johnson in his _London_-- + "All sciences a fasting Monsieur knows, + And bid him go to hell--to hell he goes."] + +Agelastes first started at the unexpected sound of the Emperor's voice, +yet immediately recovered presence of mind, the want of which had made +him suspect himself betrayed; and without taking notice of the rank of +the person to whom he spoke, he answered by a quotation which should +return the alarm he had received. The speech that suggested itself was +said to be that which the Phantom of Cleonice dinned into the ears of +the tyrant who murdered her:-- + + "Tu cole justitiam; toque atque alios manet ultor." [Footnote: "Do +thou cultivate justice: for thee and for others there remains an +avenger."--_Ovid. Met._] + +The sentence, and the recollections which accompanied it, thrilled +through the heart of the Emperor, who walked on, however, without any +notice or reply. + +"The vile conspirator," he said, "had his associates around him, +otherwise he had not hazarded that threat. Or it may have been worse-- +Agelastes himself, on the very brink of this world, may have obtained +that singular glance into futurity proper to that situation, and +perhaps speaks less from his own reflection than from a strange spirit +of prescience, which dictates his words. Have I then in earnest sinned +so far in my imperial duty, as to make it just to apply to me the +warning used by the injured Cleonice to her ravisher and murderer? +Methinks I have not. Methinks that at less expense than that of a just +severity, I could ill have kept my seat in the high place where Heaven +has been pleased to seat me, and where, as a ruler, I am bound to +maintain my station. Methinks the sum of those who have experienced my +clemency may be well numbered with that of such as have sustained the +deserved punishments of their guilt--But has that vengeance, however +deserved in itself, been always taken in a legal or justifiable manner? +My conscience, I doubt, will hardly answer so home a question; and +where is the man, had he the virtues of Antoninus himself, that can +hold so high and responsible a place, yet sustain such an interrogation +as is implied in that sort of warning which I have received from this +traitor? _Tu cole justitiam_--we all need to use justice to +others--_Teque atque alios manet ultor_--we are all amenable to an +avenging being--I will see the Patriarch--instantly will I see him; and +by confessing my transgressions to the Church, I will, by her plenary +indulgence, acquire the right of spending the last day of my reign in a +consciousness of innocence, or at least of pardon--a state of mind +rarely the lot of those whose lines have fallen in lofty places." + +So saying, he passed to the palace of Zosimus the Patriarch, to whom he +could unbosom himself with more safety, because he had long considered +Agelastes as a private enemy to the Church, and a man attached to the +ancient doctrines of heathenism. In the councils of the state they were +also opposed to each other, nor did the Emperor doubt, that in +communicating the secret of the conspiracy to the Patriarch, he was +sure to attain a loyal and firm supporter in the defence which he +proposed to himself. He therefore gave a signal by a low whistle, and a +confidential officer, well mounted, approached him, who attended him in +his ride, though unostentatiously, and at some distance. + +In this manner, therefore, Alexius Comnenus proceeded to the palace of +the Patriarch, with as much speed as was consistent with his purpose of +avoiding to attract any particular notice as he passed through the +street. During the whole ride, the warning of Agelastes repeatedly +occurred to him, and his conscience reminded him of too many actions of +his reign which could only be justified by necessity, emphatically said +to be the tyrant's plea, and which were of themselves deserving the +dire vengeance so long delayed. + +When he came in sight of the splendid towers which adorned the front of +the patriarchal palace, he turned aside from the lofty gates, repaired +to a narrow court, and again giving his mule to his attendant, he stopt +before a postern, whose low arch and humble architrave seemed to +exclude the possibility of its leading to any place of importance. On +knocking, however, a priest of an inferior order opened the door, who, +with a deep reverence, received the Emperor so soon as he had made +himself known, and conducted him into the interior of the palace. +Demanding a secret interview with the Patriarch, Alexius was then +ushered into his private library, where he was received by the aged +priest with the deepest respect, which the nature of his communication +soon changed into horror and astonishment. + +Although Alexius was supposed by many of his own court, and +particularly by some members of his own family, to be little better +than a hypocrite in his religious professions, yet such severe +observers were unjust in branding him with a name so odious. He was +indeed aware of the great support which he received from the good +opinion of the clergy, and to them he was willing to make sacrifices +for the advantage of the Church, or of individual prelates who +manifested fidelity to the crown; but though, on the one hand, such +sacrifices were rarely made by Alexius, without a view to temporal +policy, yet, on the other, he regarded them as recommended by his +devotional feelings, and took credit to himself for various grants and +actions, as dictated by sincere piety, which, in another aspect, were +the fruits of temporal policy. His mode of looking on these measures +was that of a person with oblique vision, who sees an object in a +different manner, according to the point from which he chances to +contemplate it. + +The Emperor placed his own errors of government before the Patriarch in +his confession, giving due weight to every branch of morality as it +occurred, and stripping from them the lineaments and palliative +circumstances which had in his own imagination lessened their guilt. +The Patriarch heard, to his astonishment, the real thread of many a +court intrigue, which had borne a very different appearance, till the +Emperor's narrative either justified his conduct upon the occasion, or +left it totally unjustifiable. Upon the whole, the balance was +certainly more in favour of Alexius than the Patriarch had supposed +likely in that more distant view he had taken of the intrigues of the +court, when, as usual, the ministers and the courtiers endeavoured to +make up for the applause which they had given in council in the most +blameable actions of the absolute monarch, by elsewhere imputing to his +motives greater guilt than really belonged to them. Many men who had +fallen sacrifices, it was supposed to the personal spleen or jealousy +of the Emperor, appeared to have been in fact removed from life, or +from liberty, because their enjoying either was inconsistent with the +quiet of the state and the safety of the monarch. + +Zosimus also learned, what he perhaps already suspected, that amidst +the profound silence of despotism which seemed to pervade the Grecian +empire, it heaved frequently with convulsive throes, which ever and +anon made obvious the existence of a volcano under the surface. Thus, +while smaller delinquencies, or avowed discontent with the Imperial +government, seldom occurred, and were severely punished when they did, +the deepest and most mortal conspiracies against the life and the +authority of the Emperor were cherished by those nearest to his person; +and he was often himself aware of them, though it was not until they +approached an explosion that he dared act upon his knowledge, and +punish the conspirators. + +The whole treason of the Caesar, with his associates, Agelastes and +Achilles Tatius, was heard by the Patriarch with wonder and +astonishment, and he was particularly surprised at the dexterity with +which the Emperor, knowing the existence of so dangerous a conspiracy +at home, had been able to parry the danger from the crusaders occurring +at the same moment. + +"In that respect," said the Emperor, to whom indeed the churchman +hinted his surprise, "I have been singularly unfortunate. Had I been +secure of the forces of my own empire, I might have taken one out of +two manly and open courses with these frantic warriors of the west--I +might, my reverend father, have devoted the sums paid to Bohemond and +other of the more selfish among the crusaders, to the honest and open +support of the army of western Christians, and safely transported them +to Palestine, without exposing them to the great loss which they are +likely to sustain by the opposition of the Infidels; their success +would have been in fact my own, and a Latin kingdom in Palestine, +defended by its steel-clad warriors, would have been a safe and +unexpugnable barrier of the empire against the Saracens, Or, if it was +thought more expedient for the protection of the empire and the holy +Church, over which you are ruler, we might at once, and by open force, +have defended the frontiers of our states, against a host commanded by +so many different and discording chiefs, and advancing upon us with +such equivocal intentions. If the first swarm of these locusts, under +him whom they called Walter the Penniless, was thinned by the +Hungarians, and totally destroyed by the Turks, as the pyramids of +bones on the frontiers of the country still keep in memory, surely the +united forces of the Grecian empire would have had little difficulty in +scattering this second flight, though commanded by these Godfreys, +Bohemonds, and Tancreds." + +The Patriarch was silent, for though he disliked, or rather detested +the crusaders, as members of the Latin Church, he yet thought it highly +doubtful that in feats of battle they could have been met and overcome +by the Grecian forces. + +"At any rate," said Alexius, rightly interpreting his silence, "if +vanquished, I had fallen under my shield as a Greek emperor should, nor +had I been forced into these mean measures of attacking men by stealth, +and with forces disguised as infidels; while the lives of the faithful +soldiers of the empire, who have fallen in obscure skirmishes, had +better, both for them and me, been lost bravely in their ranks, +avowedly fighting for their native emperor and their native country. +Now, and as the matter stands, I shall be handed down to posterity as a +wily tyrant, who engaged his subjects in fatal feuds for the safety of +his own obscure life. Patriarch! these crimes rest not with me, but +with the rebels whose intrigues compelled me into such courses--What, +reverend father, will be my fate hereafter?--and in what light shall I +descend to posterity, the author of so many disasters?" + +"For futurity," said the Patriarch, "your grace hath referred yourself +to the holy Church, which hath power to bind and loose; your means of +propitiating her are ample, and I have already indicated such as she +may reasonably expect, in consequence of your repentance and +forgiveness." + +"They shall be granted," replied the Emperor, "in their fullest extent; +nor will I injure you in doubting their effect in the next world. In +this present state of existence, however, the favourable opinion of the +Church may do much for me during this important crisis. If we +understand each other, good Zosimus, her doctors and bishops are to +thunder in my behalf, nor is my benefit from her pardon, to be deferred +till the funeral monument closes upon me?" + +"Certainly not," said Zosimus; "the conditions which I have already +stipulated being strictly attended to." + +"And my memory in history," said Alexius, "in what manner is that to be +preserved?" + +"For that," answered the Patriarch, "your Imperial Majesty must trust +to the filial piety and literary talents of your accomplished daughter, +Anna Comnena." + +The Emperor shook his head. "This unhappy Caesar," he said, "is like to +make a quarrel between us; for I shall scarce pardon so ungrateful a +rebel as he is, because my daughter clings to him with a woman's +fondness. Besides, good Zosimus, it is not, I believe, the page of a +historian such as my daughter that is most likely to be received +without challenge by posterity. Some Procopius, some philosophical +slave, starving in a garret, aspires to write the life of an Emperor +whom he durst not approach; and although the principal merit of his +production be, that it contains particulars upon the subject which no +man durst have promulgated while the prince was living, yet no man +hesitates to admit such as true when he has passed from the scene." + +"On that subject," said Zosimus, "I can neither afford your Imperial +Majesty relief or protection. If, however, your memory is unjustly +slandered upon earth, it will be a matter of indifference to your +Highness, who will be then, I trust, enjoying a state of beatitude +which idle slander cannot assail. The only way, indeed, to avoid it +while on this side of time, would be to write your Majesty's own +memoirs while you are yet in the body; so convinced am I that it is in +your power to assign legitimate excuses for those actions of your life, +which, without your doing so, would seem most worthy of censure." + +"Change we the subject," said the Emperor; "and since the danger is +imminent, let us take care for the present, and leave future ages to +judge for themselves.--What circumstance is it, reverend father, in +your opinion, which encourages these conspirators to make so audacious +an appeal to the populace and the Grecian soldiers?" + +"Certainly," answered the Patriarch, "the most irritating incident of +your highness's reign was the fate of Ursel, who, submitting, it is +said, upon capitulation, for life, limb, and liberty, was starved to +death by your orders, in the dungeons of the Blacquernal, and whose +courage, liberality, and other popular virtues, are still fondly +remembered by the citizens of this metropolis, and by the soldiers of +the guard, called Immortal." + +"And this," said the Emperor, fixing his eye upon his confessor, "your +reverence esteems actually the most dangerous point of the popular +tumult?" + +"I cannot doubt," said the Patriarch, "that his very name, boldly +pronounced, and artfully repeated, will be the watchword, as has been +plotted, of a horrible tumult." + +"I thank Heaven!" said the Emperor; "on that particular I will be on my +guard. Good-night to your reverence! and, believe me, that all in this +scroll, to which I have set my hand, shall be with the utmost fidelity +accomplished. Be not, however, over-impatient in this business;--such a +shower of benefits falling at once upon the Church, would make men +suspicious that the prelates and ministers proceeded rather as acting +upon a bargain between the Emperor and Patriarch, than as paying or +receiving an atonement offered by a sinner in excuse of his crimes. +This would be injurious, father, both to yourself and me." + +"All regular delay," said the Patriarch, "shall be interposed at your +highness's pleasure; and we shall trust to you for recollection that +the bargain, if it could be termed one, was of your own seeking, and +that the benefit to the Church was contingent upon the pardon and the +support which she has afforded to your majesty." + +"True," said the Emperor--"most true--nor shall I forget it. Once more +adieu, and forget not what I have told thee. This is a night, Zosimus, +in which the Emperor must toil like a slave, if he means not to return +to the humble Alexius Comnenus, and even then there were no resting- +place." + +So saying, he took leave of the Patriarch, who was highly gratified +with the advantages he had obtained for the Church, which many of his +predecessors had struggled for in vain. He resolved, therefore, to +support the staggering Alexius. + + + + +CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FIFTH. + + Heaven knows its time; the bullet has its billet, + Arrow and javelin each its destined purpose; + The fated beasts of Nature's lower strain + Have each their separate task. + OLD PLAY. + + +Agelastes, after crossing the Emperor in the manner we have already +described, and after having taken such measures as occurred to him to +ensure the success of the conspiracy, returned to the lodge of his +garden, where the lady of the Count of Paris still remained, her only +companion being an old woman named Vexhelia, the wife of the soldier +who accompanied Bertha to the camp of the Crusaders; the kind-hearted +maiden having stipulated that, during her absence, her mistress was not +to be left without an attendant, and that attendant connected with the +Varangian guard. He had been all day playing the part of the ambitious +politician, the selfish time-server, the dark and subtle conspirator; +and now it seemed, as if to exhaust the catalogue of his various parts +in the human drama, he chose to exhibit himself in the character of the +wily sophist, and justify, or seem to justify, the arts by which he had +risen to wealth and eminence, and hoped even now to arise to royalty +itself. + +"Fair Countess," he said, "what occasion is there for your wearing this +veil of sadness over a countenance so lovely?" + +"Do you suppose me," said Brenhilda, "a stock, or stone, or a creature +without the feelings of a sensitive being, that I should endure +mortification, imprisonment, danger and distress, without expressing +the natural feelings of humanity? Do you imagine that to a lady like me, +as free as the unreclaimed falcon, you can offer the insult of +captivity, without my being sensible to the disgrace, or incensed +against the authors of it? And dost thou think that I will receive +consolation at thy hands--at thine--one of the most active artificers +in this web of treachery in which I am so basely entangled?" + +"Not entangled certainly by my means"--answered Agelastes; "clap your +hands, call for what you wish, and the slave who refuses instant +obedience had better been unborn. Had I not, with reference to your +safety and your honour, agreed for a short time to be your keeper, that +office would have been usurped by the Caesar, whose object you know, +and may partly guess the modes by which it would be pursued. Why then +dost thou childishly weep at being held for a short space in an +honourable restraint, which the renowned arms of your husband will +probably put an end to long ere to-morrow at noon?" + +"Canst thou not comprehend," said the Countess, "thou man of many words, +but of few honourable thoughts, that a heart like mine, which has been +trained in the feelings of reliance upon my own worth and valour, must +be necessarily affected with shame at being obliged to accept, even +from the sword of a husband, that safety which I would gladly have owed +only to my own?" + +"Thou art misled, Countess," answered the philosopher, "by thy pride, a +failing predominant in woman. Thinkest thou there has been no offensive +assumption in laving aside the character of a mother and a wife, and +adopting that of one of those brain-sick female fools, who, like the +bravoes of the other sex, sacrifice every thing that is honourable or +useful to a frantic and insane affectation of courage? Believe me, fair +lady, that the true system of virtue consists in filling thine own +place gracefully in society, breeding up thy children, and delighting +those of the other sex, and any thing beyond this, may well render thee +hateful or terrible, but can add nothing to thy amiable qualities." + +"Thou pretendest," said the Countess, "to be a philosopher; methinks +thou shouldst know, that the fame which hangs its chaplet on the tomb +of a brave hero or heroine, is worth all the petty engagements in which +ordinary persons spend the current of their time. One hour of life, +crowded to the full with glorious action, and filled with noble risks, +is worth whole years of those mean observances of paltry decorum, in +which men steal through existence, like sluggish waters through a marsh, +without either honour or observation." + +"Daughter," said Agelastes, approaching near to the lady, "it is with +pain I see you bewildered in errors which a little calm reflection +might remove. We may flatter ourselves, and human vanity usually does +so, that beings infinitely more powerful than those belonging to mere +humanity, are employed daily in measuring out the good and evil of this +world, the termination of combats, or the fate of empires, according to +their own ideas of what is right or wrong, or, more properly, according +to what we ourselves conceive to be such. The Greek heathens, renowned +for their wisdom, and glorious for their actions, explained to men of +ordinary minds the supposed existence of Jupiter and his Pantheon, +where various deities presided over various virtues and vices, and +regulated the temporal fortune and future happiness of such as +practised them. The more learned and wise of the ancients rejected such +the vulgar interpretation, and wisely, although affecting a deference +to the public faith, denied before their disciples in private, the +gross fallacies of Tartarus and Olympus, the vain doctrines concerning +the gods themselves, and the extravagant expectations which the vulgar +entertained of an immortality, supposed to be possessed by creatures +who were in every respect mortal, both in the conformation of their +bodies, and in the internal belief of their souls. Of these wrise and +good men some granted the existence of the supposed deities, but denied +that they cared about the actions of mankind any more than those of the +inferior animals. A merry, jovial, careless life, such as the followers +of Epicurus would choose for themselves, was what they assigned for +those gods whose being they admitted. Others, more bold or more +consistent, entirely denied the existence of deities who apparently had +no proper object or purpose, and believed that such of them, whose +being and attributes were proved to us by no supernatural appearances, +had in reality no existence whatever." + +"Stop, wretch!" said the Countess, "and know that thou speakest not to +one of those blinded heathens, of whose abominable doctrines you are +detailing the result. Know, that if an erring, I am nevertheless a +sincere daughter of the Church, and this cross displayed on my shoulder, +is a sufficient emblem of the vows I have undertaken in its cause. Bo +therefore wary, as thou art wily; for, believe me, if thou scoffest or +utterest reproach against my holy religion, what I am unable to answer +in language, I will reply to, without hesitation, with the point of my +dagger." + +"To that argument" said Agelastes, drawing back from the neighbourhood +of Brenhilda, "believe me, fair lady, I am very willing to urge your +gentleness. But although I shall not venture to say any thing of those +superior and benevolent powers to whom you ascribe the management of +the world, you will surely not take offence at my noticing those base +superstitions which have been adopted in explanation of what is called +by the Magi, the Evil Principle. Was there ever received into a human +creed, a being so mean--almost so ridiculous--as the Christian Satan? A +goatish figure and limbs, with grotesque features, formed to express +the most execrable passions; a degree of power scarce inferior to that +of the Deity; and a talent at the same time scarce equal to that of the +stupidest of the lowest order! What is he, this being, who is at least +the second arbiter of the human race, save an immortal spirit, with the +petty spleen and spite of a vindictive old man or old woman?" + +Agelastes made a singular pause in this part of his discourse. A mirror +of considerable size hung in the apartment, so that the philosopher +could see in its reflection the figure of Brenhilda, and remark the +change of her countenance, though she had averted her face from him in +hatred of the doctrines which he promulgated. On this glass the +philosopher had his eyes naturally fixed, and he was confounded at +perceiving a figure glide from behind the shadow of a curtain, and +glare at him with the supposed mien and expression of the Satan of +monkish mythology, or a satyr of the heathen age. + +"Man!" said Brenhilda, whose attention was attracted by this +extraordinary apparition, as it seemed, of the fiend, "have thy wicked +words, and still more wicked thoughts, brought the devil amongst us? If +so, dismiss him instantly, else, by Our Lady of the Broken Lances! thou +shalt know better than at present, what is the temper of a Frankish +maiden, when in presence of the fiend himself, and those who pretend +skill to raise him! I wish not to enter into a contest unless +compelled; but if I am obliged to join battle with an enemy so horrible, +believe me, no one shall say that Brenildha feared him." + +Agelastes, after looking with surprise and horror at the figure as +reflected in the glass, turned back his head to examine the substance, +of which the reflection was so strange. The object, however, had +disappeared behind the curtain, under which it probably lay hid, and it +was after a minute or two that the half-gibing, half-scowling +countenance showed itself again in the same position in the mirror. + +"By the gods!" said Agelastes-- + +"In whom but now," said the Countess, "you professed unbelief." + +"By the gods!" repeated Agelastes, in part recovering himself, "it is +Sylvan! that singular mockery of humanity, who was said to have been +brought from Taprobana. I warrant he also believes in his jolly god Pan, +or the veteran Sylvanus. He is to the uninitiated a creature whose +appearance is full of terrors, but he shrinks before the philosopher +like ignorance before knowledge." So saying, he with one hand pulled +down the curtain, under which the animal had nestled itself when it +entered from the garden-window of the pavilion, and with the other, in +which he had a staff uplifted, threatened to chastise the creature, +with the words,--"How now, Sylvanus! what insolence is this?--To your +place!" + +As, in uttering these words, he struck the animal, the blow unluckily +lighted upon his wounded hand, and recalled its bitter smart. The wild +temper of the creature returned, unsubdued for the moment by any awe of +man; uttering a fierce, and, at the same time, stifled cry, it flew on +the philosopher, and clasped its strong and sinewy arms about his +throat with the utmost fury. The old man twisted and struggled to +deliver himself from the creature's grasp, but in vain. Sylvan kept +hold of his prize, compressed his sinewy arms, and abode by his purpose +of not quitting his hold of the philosopher's throat till he had +breathed his last. Two more bitter yells, accompanied each with a +desperate contortion of the countenance, and squeeze of the hands, +concluded, in less than five minutes, the dreadful strife. Agelastes +lay dead upon the ground, and his assassin Sylvan, springing from the +body as if terrified and alarmed at what he had done, made his escape +by the window. The Countess stood in astonishment, not knowing exactly +whether she had witnessed a supernatural display of the judgment of +Heaven, or an instance of its vengeance by mere mortal means. Her new +attendant Vexhelia was no less astonished, though her acquaintance with +the animal was considerably more intimate. + +"Lady," she said, "that gigantic creature is an animal of great +strength, resembling mankind in form, but huge in its size, and, +encouraged by its immense power, sometimes malevolent in its +intercourse with mortals. I have heard the Varangians often talk of it +as belonging to the Imperial museum. It is fitting we remove the body +of this unhappy man, and hide it in a plot of shrubbery in the garden. +It is not likely that he will be missed to-night, and to-morrow there +will be other matter astir, which will probably prevent much enquiry +about him." The Countess Brenhilda assented, for she was not one of +those timorous females to whom the countenances of the dead are objects +of terror. + +Trusting to the parole which she had given, Agelastes had permitted the +Countess and her attendant the freedom of his gardens, of that part at +least adjacent to the pavilion. They therefore were in little risk of +interruption as they bore forth the dead body between them, and without +much trouble disposed of it in the thickest part of one of the bosquets +with which the garden was studded. + +As they returned to their place of abode or confinement, the Countess, +half speaking to herself, half addressing Vexhelia, said, "I am sorry +for this; not that the infamous wretch did not deserve the full +punishment of Heaven coming upon him in the very moment of blasphemy +and infidelity, but because the courage and truth of the unfortunate +Brenhilda may be brought into suspicion, as his slaughter took place +when he was alone with her and her attendant, and as no one was witness +of the singular manner in which the old blasphemer met his end.--Thou +knowest," she added, addressing herself to Heaven--"thou! blessed Lady +of the Broken Lances, the protectress both of Brenhilda and her husband, +well knowest, that whatever faults may be mine, I am free from the +slightest suspicion of treachery; and into thy hands I put my cause, +with a perfect reliance upon thy wisdom and bounty to bear evidence in +my favour." So saying, they returned to the lodge unseen, and with +pious and submissive prayers, the Countess closed that eventful evening. + + + + +CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SIXTH. + + Will you hear of a Spanish lady, + How she wooed an Englishman? + Garments gay, as rich as may be, + Deck'd with jewels she had on. + Of a comely countenance and grace was she, + And by birth and parentage of high degree. + OLD BALLAD. + + +We left Alexius Comnenus after he had unloaded his conscience in the +ears of the Patriarch, and received from him a faithful assurance of +the pardon and patronage of the national Church. He took leave of the +dignitary with some exulting exclamations, so unexplicitly expressed, +however, that it was by no means easy to conceive the meaning of what +he said. His first enquiry, when he reached the Blacquernal, being for +his daughter, he was directed to the room encrusted with beautifully +carved marble, from which she herself, and many of her race, derived +the proud appellation of _Porphyrogenita_, or born in the purple. +Her countenance was clouded with anxiety, which, at the sight of her +father, broke out into open and uncontrollable grief. + +"Daughter," said the Emperor, with a harshness little common to his +manner, and a seriousness which he sternly maintained, instead of +sympathizing with his daughter's affliction, "as you would prevent the +silly fool with whom you are connected, from displaying himself to the +public both as an ungrateful monster and a traitor, you will not fail +to exhort him, by due submission, to make his petition for pardon, +accompanied with a full confession of his crimes, or, by my sceptre and +my crown, he shall die the death! Nor will I pardon any who rushes upon +his doom in an open tone of defiance, under such a standard of +rebellion as my ungrateful son-in-law has hoisted. + +"What can you require of me, father?" said the Princess. "Can you +expect that I am to dip my own hands in the blood of this unfortunate +man; or wilt thou seek a revenge yet more bloody than that which was +exacted by the deities of antiquity, upon those criminals who offended +against their divine power?" + +"Think not so, my daughter!" said the Emperor; "but rather believe that +thou hast the last opportunity afforded by my filial affection, of +rescuing, perhaps from death, that silly fool thy husband, who has so +richly deserved it." + +"My father," said the Princess, "God knows it is not at your risk that +I would wish to purchase the life of Nicephorus; but he has been the +father of my children, though they are now no more, and women cannot +forget that such a tie has existed, even though it has been broken by +fate. Permit me only to hope that the unfortunate culprit shall have an +opportunity of retrieving his errors; nor shall it, believe me, be my +fault, if he resumes those practices, treasonable at once, and +unnatural, by which his life is at present endangered." + +"Follow me, then, daughter," said the Emperor, "and know, that to thee +alone I am about to intrust a secret, upon which the safety of my life +and crown, as well as the pardon of my son-in-law's life, will be found +eventually to depend." + +He then assumed in haste the garment of a slave of the Seraglio, and +commanded his daughter to arrange her dress in a more succinct form, +and to take in her hand a lighted lamp. + +"Whither are we going, my father?" said Anna Comnena. + +"It matters not," replied her father, "since my destiny calls me, and +since thine ordains thee to be my torch-bearer. Believe it, and record +it, if thou darest, in thy book, that Alexius Comnenus does not, +without alarm, descend into those awful dungeons--which his +predecessors built for men, even when his intentions are innocent, and +free from harm.--Be silent, and should we meet any inhabitant of those +inferior regions, speak not a word nor make any observation upon his +appearance." + +Passing through the intricate apartments of the palace, they now came +to that large hall through which Hereward had passed on the first night +of his introduction to the place of Anna's recitation called the Temple +of the Muses. It was constructed, as we have said, of black marble, +dimly illuminated. At the upper end of the apartment was a small altar, +on which was laid some incense, while over the smoke was suspended, as +if projecting from the wall, two imitations of human hands and arms, +which were but imperfectly seen. + +At the bottom of this hall, a small iron door led to a narrow and +winding staircase, resembling a draw-well in shape and size, the steps +of which were excessively steep, and which the Emperor, after a solemn +gesture to his daughter commanding her attendance, began to descend +with the imperfect light, and by the narrow and difficult steps by +which those who visited the under regions of the Blacquernal seemed to +bid adieu to the light of day. Door after door they passed in their +descent, leading, it was probable, to different ranges of dungeons, +from which was obscurely heard the stifled voice of groans and sighs, +such as attracted Hereward's attention on a former occasion. The +Emperor took no notice of these signs of human misery, and three +stories or ranges of dungeons had been already passed, ere the father +and daughter arrived at the lowest story of the building, the base of +which was the solid rock, roughly carved, upon which were erected the +side-walls and arches of solid but unpolished marble. + +"Here," said Alexius Comnenus, "all hope, all expectation takes +farewell, at the turn of a hinge or the grating of a lock. Yet shall +not this be always the case--the dead shall revive and resume their +right, and the disinherited of these regions shall again prefer their +claim to inhabit the upper world. If I cannot entreat Heaven to my +assistance, be assured, my daughter, that rather than be the poor +animal which I have stooped to be thought, and even to be painted in +thy history, I would sooner brave every danger of the multitude which +now erect themselves betwixt me and safety. Nothing is resolved save +that I will live and die an Emperor; and thou, Anna, be assured, that +if there is power in the beauty or in the talents, of which so much has +been boasted, that power shall be this evening exercised to the +advantage of thy parent, from whom it is derived." + +"What is it that you mean, Imperial father?--Holy Virgin! is this the +promise you made me to save the life of the unfortunate Nicephorus?" + +"And so I will," said the Emperor; "and I am now about that action of +benevolence. But think not I will once more warm in my bosom the +household snake which had so nearly stung me to death. No, daughter, I +have provided for thee a fitting husband, in one who is able to +maintain and defend the rights of the Emperor thy father;--and beware +how thou opposest an obstacle to what is my pleasure! for behold these +walls of marble, though unpolished, and recollect it is as possible to +die within the marble as to be born there." + +The Princess Anna Comnena was frightened at seeing her father in a +state of mind entirely different from any which she had before +witnessed. "O, heaven! that my mother were here!" she ejaculated, in +the terror of something she hardly knew what. + +"Anna," said the Emperor, "your fears and your screams are alike in +vain. I am one of those, who, on ordinary occasions, hardly nourish a +wish of my own, and account myself obliged to those who, like my wife +and daughter, take care to save me all the trouble of free judgment. +But when the vessel is among the breakers, and the master is called to +the helm, believe that no meaner hand shall be permitted to interfere +with him, nor will the wife and daughter, whom he indulged in +prosperity, be allowed to thwart his will while he can yet call it his +own. Thou couldst scarcely fail to understand that I was almost +prepared to have given thee, as a mark of my sincerity, to yonder +obscure Varangian, without asking question of either birth or blood. +Thou mayst hear when I next promise thee to a three years' inhabitant +of these vaults, who shall be Caesar in Briennius's stead, if I can +move him to accept a princess for his bride, and an imperial crown for +his inheritance, in place of a starving dungeon." + +"I tremble at your words, father," said Anna Comnena; "how canst thou +trust a man who has felt thy cruelty?--How canst thou dream that aught +can ever in sincerity reconcile thee to one whom thou hast deprived of +his eyesight?" + +"Care not for that," said Alexius; "he becomes mine, or he shall never +know what it is to be again his own.--And thou, girl, mayst rest +assured that, if I will it, thou art next day the bride of my present +captive, or thou retirest to the most severe nunnery, never again to +mix with society. Be silent, therefore, and await thy doom, as it shall +come, and hope not that thy utmost endeavours can avert the current of +thy destiny." + +As he concluded this singular dialogue, in which he had assumed a tone +to which his daughter was a stranger, and before which she trembled, he +passed on through more than one strictly fastened door, while his +daughter, with a faltering step, illuminated him on the obscure road. +At length he found admittance by another passage into the cell in which +Ursel was confined, and found him reclining in hopeless misery,--all +those expectations having faded from his heart which the Count of Paris +had by his indomitable gallantry for a time excited. He turned his +sightless eyes towards the place where he heard the moving of bolts and +the approach of steps. + +"A new feature," he said, "in my imprisonment--a man comes with a heavy +and determined step, and a woman or a child with one that scarcely +presses the floor!--is it my death that you bring?--Believe me, that I +have lived long enough in these dungeons to bid my doom welcome." + +"It is not thy death, noble Ursel," said the Emperor, in a voice +somewhat disguised. Life, liberty, whatever the world has to give, is +placed by the Emperor Alexius at the feet of his noble enemy, and he +trusts that many years of happiness and power, together with the +command of a large share of the empire, will soon obliterate the +recollection of the dungeons of the Blacquernal." + +"It cannot be," said Ursel, with a sigh. "He upon whose eyes the sun +has set even at middle day, can have nothing left to hope from the most +advantageous change of circumstances." + +"You are not entirely assured of that," said the Emperor; "allow us to +convince you that what is intended towards you is truly favourable and +liberal, and I hope you will be rewarded by finding that there is more +possibility of amendment in your case, than your first apprehensions +are willing to receive. Make an effort, and try whether your eyes are +not sensible of the light of the lamp." + +"Do with, me," said Ursel, "according to your pleasure; I have neither +strength to remonstrate, nor the force of mind equal to make me set +your cruelty at defiance. Of something like light I am sensible; but +whether it is reality or illusion, I cannot determine. If you are come +to deliver me from this living sepulchre, I pray God to requite you; +and if, under such deceitful pretence, you mean to take my life, I can +only commend my soul to Heaven, and the vengeance due to my death to +Him who can behold the darkest places in which injustice can shroud +itself." + +So saying, and the revulsion of his spirits rendering him unable to +give almost any other signs of existence, Ursel sunk back upon his seat +of captivity, and spoke not another word during the time that Alexius +disembarrassed him of those chains which had so long hung about him, +that they almost seemed to make a part of his person. + +"This is an affair in which thy aid can scarce be sufficient, Anna," +said the Emperor; "it would have been well if you and I could have +borne him into the open air by our joint strength, for there is little +wisdom in showing the secrets of this prison-house to those to whom +they are not yet known; nevertheless, go, my child, and at a short +distance from the head of the staircase which we descended, thou wilt +find Edward, the bold and trusty Varangian, who on your communicating +to him my orders, will come hither and render his assistance; and see +that you send also the experienced leech, Douban." Terrified, half- +stifled, and half struck with horror, the lady yet felt a degree of +relief from the somewhat milder tone in which her father addressed her. +With tottering steps, yet in some measure encouraged by the tenor of +her instructions, she ascended the staircase which yawned upon these +infernal dungeons. As she approached the top, a large and strong figure +threw its broad shadow between the lamp and the opening of the hall. +Frightened nearly to death at the thoughts of becoming the wife of a +squalid wretch like Ursel, a moment of weakness seized upon the +Princess's mind, and, when she considered the melancholy option which +her father had placed before her, she could not but think that the +handsome and gallant Varangian, who had already rescued the royal +family from such imminent danger, was a fitter person with whom to +unite herself, if she must needs make a second choice, than the +singular and disgusting being whom her father's policy had raked from +the bottom of the Blacquernal dungeons. + +I will not say of poor Anna Comnena, who was a timid but not an +unfeeling woman, that she would have embraced such a proposal, had not +the life of her present husband Nicephorus Briennius been in extreme +danger; and it was obviously the determination of the Emperor, that if +he spared him, it should be on the sole condition of unloosing his +daughter's hand, and binding her to some one of better faith, and +possessed of a greater desire to prove an affectionate son-in-law. +Neither did the plan of adopting the Varangian as a second husband, +enter decidedly into the mind of the Princess. The present was a moment +of danger, in which her rescue to be successful must be sudden, and +perhaps, if once achieved, the lady might have had an opportunity of +freeing herself both from Ursel and the Varangian, without disjoining +either of them from her father's assistance, or of herself losing it. +At any rate, the surest means of safety were to secure, if possible, +the young soldier, whose features and appearance were of a kind which +rendered the task no way disagreeable to a beautiful woman. The schemes +of conquest are so natural to the fair sex, and the whole idea passed +so quickly through Anna Comnena's mind, that having first entered while +the soldier's shadow was interposed between her and the lamp, it had +fully occupied her quick imagination, when, with deep reverence and +great surprise at her sudden appearance on the ladder of Acheron, the +Varangian advancing, knelt down, and lent his arm to the assistance of +the fair lady, in order to help her out of the dreary staircase. + +"Dearest Hereward," said the lady, with a degree of intimacy which +seemed unusual, "how much do I rejoice, in this dreadful night, to have +fallen under your protection! I have been in places which the spirit of +hell appears to have contrived for the human race." The alarm of the +Princess, the familiarity of a beautiful woman, who, while in mortal +fear, seeks refuge, like a frightened dove, in the bosom of the strong +and the brave, must be the excuse of Anna Comnena for the tender +epithet with which she greeted Hereward; nor, if he had chosen to +answer in the same tone, which, faithful as he was, might have proved +the case if the meeting had chanced before he saw Bertha, would the +daughter of Alexius have been, to say the truth, irreconcilably +offended. Exhausted as she was, she suffered herself to repose upon, +the broad breast and shoulder of the Anglo-Saxon; nor did she make an +attempt to recover herself, although the decorum of her sex and station +seemed to recommend such an exertion. Hereward was obliged himself to +ask her, with the unimpassioned and reverential demeanour of a private +soldier to a princess, whether he ought to summon her female +attendants? to which she faintly uttered a negative. "No, no," said she, +"I have a duty to execute for my father, and I must not summon eye- +witnesses;--he knows me to be in safety, Hereward, since he knows I am +with thee; and if I am a burden to you in my present state of weakness, +I shall soon recover, if you will set me down upon the marble steps." + +"Heaven forbid, lady," said Hereward, "that I were thus neglectful of +your Highness's gracious health! I see your two young ladies, Astarte +and Violante, are in quest of you--Permit me to summon them hither, and +I will keep watch upon you, if you are unable to retire to your chamber, +where, methinks, the present disorder of your nerves will be most +properly treated." + +"Do as thou wilt, barbarian," said the Princess, rallying herself, with +a certain degree of pique, arising perhaps from her not thinking more +_dramatis personae_ were appropriate to the scene, than the two +who were already upon the stage. Then, as if for the first time, +appearing to recollect the message with which she had been commissioned, +she exhorted the Varangian to repair instantly to her father. + +On such occasions, the slightest circumstances have their effect on the +actors. The Anglo-Saxon was sensible that the Princess was somewhat +offended, though whether she was so, on account of her being actually +in Hereward's arms, or whether the cause of her anger was the being +nearly discovered there by the two young maidens, the sentinel did not +presume to guess, but departed for the gloomy vaults to join Alexius, +with the never-failing double-edged axe, the bane of many a Turk, +glittering upon his shoulder. + +Astarte and her companion had been despatched by the Empress Irene in +search of Anna Comnena, through those apartments of the palace which +she was wont to inhabit. The daughter of Alexius could nowhere be found, +although the business on which they were seeking her was described by +the Empress as of the most pressing nature. Nothing, however, in a +palace, passes altogether unespied, so that the Empress's messengers at +length received information that their mistress and the Emperor had +been seen to descend that gloomy access to the dungeons, which, by +allusion to the classical infernal regions, was termed the Pit of +Acheron. They came thither, accordingly, and we have related the +consequences. Hereward thought it necessary to say that her Imperial +Highness had swooned upon being suddenly brought into the upper air. +The Princess, on the other part, briskly shook off her juvenile +attendants, and declared herself ready to proceed to the chamber of her +mother. The obeisance which she made Hereward at parting, had something +in it of haughtiness, yet evidently qualified by a look of friendship +and regard. As she passed an apartment in which some of the royal +slaves were in waiting, she addressed to one of them, an old +respectable man, of medical skill, a private and hurried order, +desiring him to go to the assistance of her father, whom he would find +at the bottom of the staircase called the Pit of Acheron, and to take +his scimitar along with him. To hear, as usual, was to obey, and Douban, +for that was his name, only replied by that significant sign which +indicates immediate acquiescence. In the meantime, Anna Comnena herself +hastened onward to her mother's apartments, in which she found the +Empress alone. + +"Go hence, maidens," said Irene, "and do not let any one have access to +these apartments, even if the Emperor himself should command it. Shut +the door," she said, "Anna Comnena; and if the jealousy of the stronger +sex do not allow us the masculine privileges of bolts and bars, to +secure the insides of our apartments, let us avail ourselves, as +quickly as may be, of such opportunities as are permitted us; and +remember, Princess, that however implicit your duty to your father, it +is yet more so to me, who am of the same sex with thyself, and may +truly call thee, even according to the letter, blood of my blood, and +bone of my bone. Be assured thy father knows not, at this moment, the +feelings of a woman. Neither he nor any man alive can justly conceive +the pangs of the heart which beats under a woman's robe. These men, +Anna, would tear asunder without scruple the tenderest ties of +affection, the whole structure of domestic felicity, in which lie a +woman's cares, her joy, her pain, her love, and her despair. Trust, +therefore, to me, my daughter, and believe me, I will at once save thy +father's crown and thy happiness. The conduct of thy husband has been +wrong, most cruelly wrong; but, Anna, he is a man--and in calling him +such, I lay to his charge, as natural frailties, thoughtless treachery, +wanton infidelity, every species of folly and inconsistency, to which +his race is subject. You ought not, therefore, to think of his faults, +unless it be to forgive them." + +"Madam," said Anna Comnena, "forgive me if I remind you that you +recommend to a princess, born in the purple itself, a line of conduct +which would hardly become the female who carries the pitcher for the +needful supply of water to the village well. All who are around me have +been taught to pay me the obeisance due to my birth, and while this +Nicephorus Briennius crept on his knees to your daughter's hand, which +you extended towards him, he was rather receiving the yoke of a +mistress than accepting a household alliance with a wife. He has +incurred his doom, without a touch even of that temptation which may be +pled by lesser culprits in his condition; and if it is the will of my +father that he should die, or suffer banishment, or imprisonment, for +the crime he has committed, it is not the business of Anna Comnena to +interfere, she being the most injured among the imperial family, who +have in so many, and such gross respects, the right to complain of his +falsehood." + +"Daughter," replied the Empress, "so far I agree with you, that the +treason of Nicephorus towards your father and myself has been in a +great degree unpardonable; nor do I easily see on what footing, save +that of generosity, his life could be saved. But still you are yourself +in different circumstances from me, and may, as an affectionate and +fond wife, compare the intimacies of your former habits with the bloody +change which is so soon to be the consequence and the conclusion of his +crimes. He is possessed of that person and of those features which +women most readily recall to their memory, whether alive or dead. Think +what it will cost you to recollect that the rugged executioner received +his last salute,--that the shapely neck had no better repose than the +rough block--that the tongue, the sound of which you used to prefer to +the choicest instruments of music, is silent in the dust!" + +Anna, who was not insensible to the personal graces of her husband, was +much affected by this forcible appeal. "Why distress me thus, mother?" +she replied in a weeping accent. "Did I not feel as acutely as you +would have me to do, this moment, however awful, would be easily borne. +I had but to think of him as he is, to contrast his personal qualities +with those of the mind, by which they are more than overbalanced, and +resign myself to his deserved fate with unresisting submission to my +father's will." + +"And that," said the Empress, "would be to bind thee, by his sole fiat, +to some obscure wretch, whose habits of plotting and intriguing had, by +some miserable chance, given him the opportunity of becoming of +importance to the Emperor, and who is, therefore, to be rewarded by the +hand of Anna Comnena." + +"Do not think so meanly of me, madam," said the Princess--"I know, as +well as ever Grecian maiden did, how I should free myself from +dishonour; and, you may trust me, you shall never blush for your +daughter." + +"Tell me not that," said the Empress, "since I shall blush alike for +the relentless cruelty which gives up a once beloved husband to an +ignominious death, and for the passion, for which I want a name, which +would replace him by an obscure barbarian from the extremity of Thule, +or some wretch escaped from the Blacquernal dungeons." + +The Princess was astonished to perceive that her mother was acquainted +with the purposes, even the most private, which her father had formed +for his governance during this emergency. She was ignorant that Alexius +and his royal consort, in other respects living together with a decency +ever exemplary in people of their rank, had, sometimes, on interesting +occasions, family debates, in which the husband, provoked by the +seeming unbelief of his partner, was tempted to let her guess more of +his real purposes than he would have coolly imparted of his own calm +choice. + +The Princess was affected at the anticipation of the death of her +husband, nor could this have been reasonably supposed to be otherwise; +but she was still more hurt and affronted by her mother taking it for +granted that she designed upon the instant to replace the Caesar by an +uncertain, and at all events an unworthy successor. Whatever +considerations had operated to make Hereward her choice, their effect +was lost when the match was placed in this odious and degrading point +of view; besides which is to be remembered, that women almost +instinctively deny their first thoughts in favour of a suitor, and +seldom willingly reveal them, unless time and circumstance concur to +favour them. She called Heaven therefore passionately to witness, while +she repelled the charge. + +"Bear witness," she said, "Our Lady, Queen of Heaven! Bear witness, +saints and martyrs all, ye blessed ones, who are, more than ourselves, +the guardians of our mental purity! that I know no passion which I dare +not avow, and that if Nicephorus's life depended on my entreaty to God +and men, all his injurious acts towards me disregarded and despised, it +should be as long as Heaven gave to those servants whom it snatched +from the earth without suffering the pangs of mortality!" + +"You have sworn boldly," said the Empress. "See, Anna Comnena, that you +keep your word, for believe me it will be tried." + +"What will be tried, mother?" said the Princess; "or what have I to do +to pronounce the doom of the Caesar, who is not subject to my power?" + +"I will show you," said the Empress, gravely; and, leading her towards +a sort of wardrobe, which formed a closet in the wall, she withdrew a +curtain which hung before it, and placed before her her unfortunate +husband, Nicephorus Briennius, half-attired, with his sword drawn in +his hand. Looking upon him as an enemy, and conscious of some schemes +with respect to him which had passed through her mind in the course of +these troubles, the Princess screamed faintly, upon perceiving him so +near her with a weapon in his hand. + +"Be more composed," said the Empress, "or this wretched man, if +discovered, falls no less a victim to thy idle fears than to thy +baneful revenge." + +Nicephorus at this speech seemed to have adopted his cue, for, dropping +the point of his sword, and falling on his knees before the Princess, +he clasped his hands to entreat for mercy. + +"What hast thou to ask from me?" said his wife, naturally assured, by +her husband's prostration, that the stronger force was upon her own +side--"what hast thou to ask from me, that outraged gratitude, betrayed +affection, the most solemn vows violated, and the fondest ties of +nature torn asunder like the spider's broken web, will permit thee to +put in words for very shame?" + +"Do not suppose, Anna," replied the suppliant, "that I am at this +eventful period of my life to play the hypocrite, for the purpose of +saving the wretched remnant of a dishonoured existence. I am but +desirous to part in charity with thee, to make my peace with Heaven, +and to nourish the last hope of making my way, though burdened with +many crimes, to those regions in which alone I can find thy beauty, thy +talents, equalled at least, if not excelled." + +"You hear him, daughter?" said Irene; "his boon is for forgiveness +alone; thy condition is the more godlike, since thou mayst unite the +safety of his life with the pardon of his offences." + +"Thou art deceived, mother," answered Anna. "It is not mine to pardon +his guilt, far less to remit his punishment. You have taught me to +think of myself as future ages shall know me; what will they say of me, +those future ages, when I am described as the unfeeling daughter, who +pardoned the intended assassin of her father, because she saw in him +her own unfaithful husband?" + +"See there," said the Caesar, "is not that, most serene Empress, the +very point of despair? and have I not in vain offered my life-blood to +wipe out the stain of parricide and ingratitude? Have I not also +vindicated myself from the most unpardonable part of the accusation, +which charged me with attempting the murder of the godlike Emperor? +Have I not sworn by all that is sacred to man, that my purpose went no +farther than to sequestrate Alexius for a little time from the fatigues +of empire, and place him where he should quietly enjoy ease and +tranquillity? while, at the same time, his empire should be as +implicitly regulated by himself, his sacred pleasure being transmitted +through me, as in any respect, or at any period, it had ever been?" + +"Erring man!" said the Princess, "hast thou approached so near to the +footstool of Alexius Comnenus, and durst thou form so false an estimate +of him, as to conceive it possible that he would consent to be a mere +puppet by whose intervention you might have brought his empire into +submission? Know that the blood of Comnenus is not so poor; my father +would have resisted the treason in arms; and by the death of thy +benefactor only couldst thou have gratified the suggestions of thy +criminal ambition." + +"Be such your belief," said the Caesar; "I have said enough for a life +which is not and ought not to be dear to me. Call your guards, and let +them take the life of the unfortunate Briennius, since it has become +hateful to his once beloved Anna Comnena. Be not afraid that any +resistance of mine shall render the scene of my apprehension dubious or +fatal. Nicephorus Briennius is Caesar no longer, and he thus throws at +the feet of his Princess and spouse, the only poor means which he has +of resisting the just doom which is therefore at her pleasure to pass." + +He cast his sword before the feet of the Princess, while Irene +exclaimed, weeping, or seeming to weep bitterly, "I have indeed read of +such scenes! but could I ever have thought that my own daughter would +have been the principal actress in one of them--could I ever have +thought that her mind, admired by every one as a palace for the +occupation of Apollo and the Muses, should not have had room enough for +the humbler, but more amiable virtue of feminine charity and compassion, +which builds itself a nest in the bosom of the lowest village girl? Do +thy gifts, accomplishments, and talents, spread hardness as well as +polish over thy heart? If so, a hundred times better renounce them all, +and retain in their stead those gentle and domestic virtues which are +the first honours of the female heart. A woman who is pitiless, is a +worse monster than one who is unsexed by any other passion." + +"What would you have me do?" said Anna. "You, mother, ought to know +better than I, that the life of my father is hardly consistent with the +existence of this bold and cruel man. O, I am sure he still meditates +his purpose of conspiracy! He that could deceive a woman in the manner +he has done me, will not relinquish a plan which is founded upon the +death of his benefactor." + +"You do me injustice, Anna," said Briennius, starting up, and +imprinting a kiss upon her lips ere she was aware. "By this caress, the +last that will pass between us, I swear, that if in my life I have +yielded to folly, I have, notwithstanding, never been guilty of a +treason of the heart towards a woman as superior to the rest of the +female world in talents and accomplishments, as in personal beauty." + +The Princess, much softened, shook her head, as she replied--"Ah, +Nicephorus!--such were once your words! such, perhaps, were then your +thoughts! But who, or what, shall now warrant to me the veracity of +either?" + +"Those very accomplishments, and that very beauty itself," replied +Nicephorus. + +"And if more is wanting," said Irene, "thy mother will enter her +security for him. Deem her not an insufficient pledge in this affair; +she is thy mother, and the wife of Alexius Comnenus, interested beyond +all human beings in the growth and increase of the power and dignity of +her husband and her child; and one who sees on this occasion an +opportunity for exercising generosity, for soldering up the breaches of +the Imperial house, and reconstructing the frame of government upon a +basis, which, if there be faith and gratitude in man, shall never be +again exposed to hazard." + +"To the reality of that faith and gratitude, then," said the Princess, +"we must trust implicitly, as it is your will, mother; although even my +own knowledge of the subject, both through study and experience of the +world, has called me to observe the rashness of such confidence. But +although we two may forgive Nicephorus's errors, the Emperor is still +the person to whom the final reference must be had, both as to pardon +and favour." + +"Fear not Alexius," answered her mother; "he will speak determinedly +and decidedly; but, if he acts not in the very moment of forming the +resolution, it is no more to be relied on than an icicle in time of +thaw. Do thou apprize me, if thou canst, what the Emperor is at present +doing, and take my word I will find means to bring him round to our +opinion." + +"Must I then betray secrets which my father has intrusted to me?" said +the Princess; "and to one who has so lately held the character of his +avowed enemy?" + +"Call it not betray," said Irene, "since it is written thou shalt +betray no one, least of all thy father, and the father of the empire. +Yet again it is written, by the holy Luke, that men shall be betrayed, +both by parents and brethren, and kinsfolk and friends, and therefore +surely also by daughters; by which I only mean thou shalt discover to +us thy father's secrets, so far as may enable us to save the life of +thy husband. The necessity of the case excuses whatever may be +otherwise considered as irregular." + +"Be it so then, mother. Having yielded my consent perhaps too easily, +to snatch this malefactor from my father's justice, I am sensible I +must secure his safety by such means as are in my power. I left my +father at the bottom of those stairs, called the Pit of Acheron, in the +cell of a blind man, to whom he gave the name of Ursel." + +"Holy Mary!" exclaimed the Empress, "thou hast named a name which has +been long unspoken in the open air." + +"Has the Emperor's sense of his danger from the living," said the +Caesar, "induced him to invoke the dead?--for Ursel has been no living +man for the space of three years." + +"It matters not," said Anna Comnena; "I tell you true. My father even +now held conference with a miserable-looking prisoner, whom he so +named." + +"It is a danger the more," said the Caesar; "he cannot have forgotten +the zeal with which I embraced the cause of the present Emperor against +his own; and so soon as he is at liberty, he will study to avenge it. +For this we must endeavour to make some provision, though it increases +our difficulties.--Sit down then, my gentle, my beneficent mother; and +thou, my wife, who hast preferred thy love for an unworthy husband to +the suggestions of jealous passion and of headlong revenge, sit down, +and let us see in what manner it may be in our power, consistently with +your duty to the Emperor, to bring our broken vessel securely into +port." + +He employed much natural grace of manner in handing the mother and +daughter to their seats; and, taking his place confidentially between +them, all were soon engaged in concerting what measures should be taken +for the morrow, not forgetting such as should at once have the effect +of preserving the Caesar's life, and at the same time of securing the +Grecian empire against the conspiracy of which he had been the chief +instigator. Briennius ventured to hint, that perhaps the best way would +be to suffer the conspiracy to proceed as originally intended, pledging +his own faith that the rights of Alexius should be held inviolate +during the struggle; but his influence over the Empress and her +daughter did not extend to obtaining so great a trust. They plainly +protested against permitting him to leave the palace, or taking the +least share in the confusion which to-morrow was certain to witness. + +"You forget, noble ladies," said the Caesar, "that my honour is +concerned in meeting the Count of Paris." + +"Pshaw! tell me not of your honour, Briennius," said Anna Comnena; "do +I not well know, that although the honour of the western knights be a +species of Moloch, a flesh-devouring, blood-quaffing demon, yet that +which is the god of idolatry to the eastern warriors, though equally +loud and noisy in the hall, is far less implacable in the field? +Believe not that I have forgiven great injuries and insults, in order +to take such false coin as _honour_ in payment; your ingenuity is +but poor, if you cannot devise some excuse which will satisfy the +Greeks; and in good sooth, Briennius, to this battle you go not, +whether for your good or for your ill. Believe not that I will consent +to your meeting either Count or Countess, whether in warlike combat or +amorous parley. So you may at a word count upon remaining prisoner here +until the hour appointed for such gross folly be past and over." + +The Caesar, perhaps, was not in his heart angry that his wife's +pleasure was so bluntly and resolutely expressed against the intended +combat. "If," said he, "you are determined to take my honour into your +own keeping, I am here for the present your prisoner, nor have I the +means of interfering with your pleasure. When once at liberty, the free +exercise of my valour and my lance is once more my own." + +"Be it so, Sir Paladin," said the Princess, very composedly. "I have +good hope that neither of them will involve you with any of yon dare- +devils of Paris, whether male or female, and that we will regulate the +pitch to which your courage soars, by the estimation of Greek +philosophy, and the judgment of our blessed Lady of Mercy, not her of +the Broken Lances." + +At this moment an authoritative knock at the door alarmed the +consultation of the Caesar and the ladies. + + + + +CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SEVENTH. + + Physician. Be comforted, good madam; the great rage, + You see is cured in him: and yet it is danger + To make him even o'er the time he has lost. + Desire him to go in: trouble him no more, + Till further settling. + KING LEAR. + + +We left the Emperor Alexius Comnenus at the bottom of a subterranean +vault, with a lamp expiring, and having charge of a prisoner, who +seemed himself nearly reduced to the same extremity. For the first two +or three moments, he listened after his daughter's retiring footsteps. +He grew impatient, and began to long for her return before it was +possible she could have traversed the path betwixt him and the summit +of these gloomy stairs. A minute or two he endured with patience the +absence of the assistance which he had sent her to summon; but strange +suspicions began to cross his imagination. Could it be possible? Had +she changed her purpose on account of the hard words which he had used +towards her? Had she resolved to leave her father to his fate in his +hour of utmost need? and was he to rely no longer upon the assistance +which he had implored her to send? + +The short time which the Princess trifled away in a sort of gallantry +with the Varangian Hereward, was magnified tenfold by the impatience of +the Emperor, who began to think that she was gone to fetch the +accomplices of the Caesar to assault their prince in his defenceless +condition, and carry into effect their half-disconcerted conspiracy. + +After a considerable time, filled up with this feeling of agonizing +uncertainty, he began at length, more composedly, to recollect the +little chance there was that the Princess would, even for her own sake, +resentful as she was in the highest degree of her husband's ill +behaviour, join her resources to his, to the destruction of one who had +so generally showed himself an indulgent and affectionate father. When +he had adopted this better mood, a step was heard upon the staircase, +and after a long and unequal descent, Hereward, in his heavy armour, at +length coolly arrived at the bottom of the steps. Behind him, panting +and trembling, partly with cold and partly with terror, came Douban, +the slave well skilled in medicine. + +"Welcome, good Edward! Welcome, Douban!" he said, "whose medical skill +is sufficiently able to counterbalance the weight of years which hang +upon him." + +"Your Highness is gracious," said Douban--but what he would have +farther said was cut off by a violent fit of coughing, the consequence +of his age, of his feeble habit, of the damps of the dungeon, and the +rugged exercise of descending the long and difficult staircase. + +"Thou art unaccustomed to visit thy patients in so rough an abode," +said Alexius; "and, nevertheless, to the damps of these dreary regions +state necessity obliges us to confine many, who are no less our beloved +subjects in reality than they are in title." + +The medical man continued his cough, perhaps as an apology for not +giving that answer of assent, with which his conscience did not easily +permit him to reply to an observation, which, though stated by one who +should know the fact, seemed not to be in itself altogether likely. + +"Yes, my Douban," said the Emperor, "in this strong case of steel and +adamant have we found it necessary to enclose the redoubted Ursel, +whose fame is spread through the whole world, both for military skill, +political wisdom, personal bravery, and other noble gifts, which we +have been obliged to obscure for a time, in order that we might, at the +fittest conjuncture, which is now arrived, restore them to the world in +their full lustre. Feel his pulse, therefore, Douban--consider him as +one who hath suffered severe confinement, with all its privations, and +is about to be suddenly restored to the full enjoyment of life, and +whatever renders life valuable." + +"I will do my best," said Douban; "but your Majesty must consider, that +we work upon a frail and exhausted subject, whose health seems already +wellnigh gone, and may perhaps vanish in an instant--like this pale and +trembling light, whose precarious condition the life-breath of this +unfortunate patient seems closely to resemble." + +"Desire, therefore, good Douban, one or two of the mutes who serve in +the interior, and who have repeatedly been thy assistants in such +cases--or stay--Edward, thy motions will be more speedy; do thou go for +the mutes--make them bring some kind of litter to transport the +patient; and, Douban, do thou superintend the whole. Transport him +instantly to a suitable apartment, only taking care that it be secret, +and let him enjoy the comforts of the bath, and whatever else may tend +to restore his feeble animation--keeping in mind, that he must, if +possible, appear to-morrow in the field." + +"That will be hard," said Douban, "after having been, it would appear. +subjected to such fare and such usage as his fluctuating pulse +intimates but too plainly." + +"'Twas a mistake of the dungeon-keeper, the inhuman villain, who should +not go without his reward," continued the Emperor, "had not Heaven +already bestowed it by the strange means of a sylvan man, or native of +the woods, who yesterday put to death the jailor who meditated the +death of his prisoner--Yes, my dear Douban, a private sentinel of our +guards called the Immortal, had wellnigh annihilated this flower of our +trust, whom for a time we were compelled to immure in secret. Then, +indeed, a rude hammer had dashed to pieces an unparalleled brilliant, +but the fates have arrested such a misfortune." + +The assistance having arrived, the physician, who seemed more +accustomed to act than to speak, directed a bath to be prepared with +medicated herbs, and gave it as his opinion, that the patient should +not be disturbed till to-morrow's sun was high in the heavens. Ursel +accordingly was assisted to the bath, which was employed according to +the directions of the physician; but without affording any material +symptoms of recovery. From thence he was transferred to a cheerful +bedchamber, opening by an ample window to one of the terraces of the +palace, which commanded an extensive prospect. These operations were +performed upon a frame so extremely stupified by previous suffering, so +dead to the usual sensations of existence, that it was not till the +sensibility should be gradually restored by friction of the stiffened +limbs, and other means, that the leech hoped the mists of the intellect +should at length begin to clear away. + +Douban readily undertook to obey the commands of the Emperor, and +remained by the bed of the patient until the dawn of morning, ready to +support nature as far as the skill of leechcraft admitted. + +From the mutes, much more accustomed to be the executioners of the +Emperor's displeasure than of his humanity, Douban selected one man of +milder mood, and by Alexius's order, made him understand, that the ask +in which he was engaged was to be kept most strictly secret, while the +hardened slave was astonished to find that the attentions paid to the +sick were to be rendered with yet more mystery than the bloody offices +of death and torture. + +The passive patient received the various acts of attention which were +rendered to him in silence; and if not totally without consciousness, +at least without a distinct comprehension of their object. After the +soothing operation of the bath, and the voluptuous exchange of the rude +and musty pile of straw, on which he had stretched himself for years, +for a couch of the softest down, Ursel was presented with a sedative +draught, slightly tinctured with an opiate. The balmy restorer of +nature came thus invoked, and the captive sunk into a delicious slumber +long unknown to him, and which seemed to occupy equally his mental +faculties and his bodily frame, while the features were released from +their rigid tenor, and the posture of the limbs, no longer disturbed by +fits of cramp, and sudden and agonizing twists and throes, seemed +changed for a placid state of the most perfect ease and tranquillity. + +The morn was already colouring the horizon, and the freshness of the +breeze of dawn had insinuated itself into the lofty halls of the palace +of the Blacquernal, when a gentle tap at the door of the chamber +awakened Douban, who, undisturbed from the calm state of his patient, +had indulged himself in a brief repose. The door opened, and a figure +appeared, disguised in the robes worn by an officer of the palace, and +concealed, beneath an artificial beard of great size, and of a white +colour, the features of the Emperor himself. "Douban," said Alexius, +"how fares it with thy patient, whose safety is this day of such +consequence to the Grecian state?" + +"Well, my lord," replied the physician, "excellently well; and if he is +not now disturbed, I will wager whatever skill I possess, that nature, +assisted by the art of the physician, will triumph over the damps and +the unwholesome air of the impure dungeon. Only be prudent, my lord, +and let not an untimely haste bring this Ursel forward into the contest +ere he has arranged the disturbed current of his ideas, and recovered, +in some degree, the spring of his mind, and the powers of his body." + +"I will rule my impatience," said the Emperor, "or rather, Douban, I +will be ruled by thee. Thinkest thou he is awake?" + +"I am inclined to think so," said the leech, "but he opens not his eyes, +and seems to me as if he absolutely resisted the natural impulse to +rouse himself and look around him." + +"Speak to him," said the Emperor, "and let us know what is passing in +his mind." + +"It is at some risk," replied the physician, "but you shall be obeyed. +--Ursel," he said, approaching the bed of his blind patient, and then, +in a louder tone, he repeated again, "Ursel! Ursel!" + +"Peace--Hush!" muttered the patient; "disturb not the blest in their +ecstacy--nor again recall the most miserable of mortals to finish the +draught of bitterness which his fate had compelled him to commence." + +"Again, again," said the Emperor, aside to Douban, "try him yet again; +it is of importance for me to know in what degree he possesses his +senses, or in what measure they have disappeared from him." + +"I would not, however," said the physician, "be the rash and guilty +person, who, by an ill-timed urgency, should produce a total alienation +of mind and plunge him back either into absolute lunacy, or produce a +stupor in which he might remain for a long period." + +"Surely not," replied the Emperor: "my commands are those of one +Christian to another, nor do I wish them farther obeyed than as they +are consistent with the laws of God and man." + +He paused for a moment after this declaration, and yet but few minutes +had elapsed ere he again urged the leech to pursue the interrogation of +his patient. "If you hold me not competent," said Douban, somewhat vain +of the trust necessarily reposed in him, "to judge of the treatment of +my patient, your Imperial Highness must take the risk and the trouble +upon yourself." + +"Marry, I shall," said the Emperor, "for the scruples of leeches are +not to be indulged, when the fate of kingdoms and the lives of monarchs +are placed against them in the scales.--Rouse thee, my noble Ursel! +hear a voice, with which thy ears were once well acquainted, welcome +thee back to glory and command! Look around thee, and see how the world +smiles to welcome thee back from imprisonment to empire!" + +"Cunning fiend!" said Ursel, "who usest the most wily baits in order to +augment the misery of the wretched! Know, tempter, that I am conscious +of the whole trick of the soothing images of last night--thy baths--thy +beds--and thy bowers of bliss.--But sooner shalt thou be able to bring +a smile upon the cheek of St. Anthony the Eremite, than induce me to +curl mine after the fashion of earthly voluptuaries." + +"Try it, foolish man," insisted the Emperor, "and trust to the evidence +of thy senses for the reality of the pleasures by which thou art now +surrounded; or, if thou art obstinate in thy lack of faith, tarry as +thou art for a single moment, and I will bring with me a being so +unparalleled in her loveliness, that a single glance of her were worth +the restoration of thine eyes, were it only to look upon her for a +moment." So saying he left the apartment. + +"Traitor," said Ursel, "and deceiver of old, bring no one hither! and +strive not, by shadowy and ideal forms of beauty, to increase the +delusion that gilds my prison-house for a moment, in order, doubtless, +to destroy totally the spark of reason, and then exchange this earthly +hell for a dungeon in the infernal regions themselves." + +"His mind is somewhat shattered," mused the physician, "which is often +the consequence of a long solitary confinement. I marvel much," was his +farther thought, "if the Emperor can shape out any rational service +which this man can render him, after being so long immured in so +horrible a dungeon.--Thou thinkest, then," continued he, addressing the +patient, "that the seeming release of last night, with its baths and +refreshments, was only a delusive dream, without any reality?" + +"Ay--what else?" answered Ursel. + +"And that the arousing thyself, as we desire thee to do, would be but a +resigning to a vain temptation, in order to wake to more unhappiness +than formerly?" + +"Even so," returned the patient. + +"What, then, are thy thoughts of the Emperor by whose command thou +sufferest so severe a restraint?" + +Perhaps Douban wished he had forborne this question, for, in the very +moment when he put it, the door of the chamber opened, and the Emperor +entered, with his daughter hanging upon his arm, dressed with +simplicity, yet with becoming splendour. She had found time, it seems, +to change her dress for a white robe, which resembled a kind of +mourning, the chief ornament of which was a diamond chaplet, of +inestimable value, which surrounded and bound the long sable tresses, +that reached from her head to her waist. Terrified almost to death, she +had been surprised by her father in the company of her husband the +Caesar, and her mother; and the same thundering mandate had at once +ordered Briennius, in the character of a more than suspected traitor, +under the custody of a strong guard of Varangians, and commanded her to +attend her father to the bedchamber of Ursel, in which she now stood; +resolved, however, that she would stick by the sinking fortunes of her +husband, even in the last extremity, yet no less determined that she +would not rely upon her own entreaties or remonstrances, until she +should see whether her father's interference was likely to reassume a +resolved and positive character. Hastily as the plans of Alexius had +been formed, and hastily as they had been disconcerted by accident, +there remained no slight chance that he might be forced to come round +to the purpose on which his wife and daughter had fixed their heart, +the forgiveness, namely, of the guilty Nicephorus Briennius. To his +astonishment, and not perhaps greatly to his satisfaction, he heard the +patient deeply engaged with the physician in canvassing his own +character. + +"Think not," said Ursel in reply to him, "that though I am immured in +this dungeon, and treated as something worse than an outcast of +humanity--and although I am, moreover, deprived of my eyesight, the +dearest gift of Heaven--think not, I say, though I suffer all this by +the cruel will of Alexius Comnenus, that therefore I hold him to be +mine enemy; on the contrary, it is by his means that the blinded and +miserable prisoner has been taught to seek a liberty far more +unconstrained than this poor earth can afford, and a vision far more +clear than any Mount Pisgah on this wretched side of the grave can give +us: Shall I therefore account the Emperor among mine enemies? He who +has taught me the vanity of earthly things--the nothingness of earthly +enjoyments--and the pure hope of a better world, as a certain exchange +for the misery of the present? No!" + +The Emperor had stood somewhat disconcerted at the beginning of this +speech, but hearing it so very unexpectedly terminate, as he was +willing to suppose, much in his own favour, he threw himself into an +attitude which was partly that of a modest person listening to his own +praises, and partly that of a man highly struck with the commendations +heaped upon him by a generous adversary. + +"My friend," he said aloud, "how truly do you read my purpose, when you +suppose that the knowledge which men of your disposition can extract +from evil, was all the experience which I wished you to derive from a +captivity protracted by adverse circumstances, far, very far, beyond my +wishes! Let me embrace the generous man who knows so well how to +construe the purpose of a perplexed, but still faithful friend." + +The patient raised himself in his bed. + +"Hold there!" he said, "methinks my faculties begin to collect +themselves. Yes," he muttered, "that is the treacherous voice which +first bid me welcome as a friend, and then commanded fiercely that I +should be deprived of the sight of my eyes!--Increase thy rigour if +thou wilt, Comnenus--add, if thou canst, to the torture of my +confinement--but since I cannot see thy hypocritical and inhuman +features, spare me, in mercy, the sound of a voice, more distressing to +mine ear than toads, than serpents,--than whatever nature has most +offensive and disgusting!" + +This speech was delivered with so much energy, that it was in vain that +the Emperor strove to interrupt its tenor; although he himself, as well +as Douban and his daughter, heard a great deal more of the language of +unadorned and natural passion than he had counted upon. + +"Raise thy head, rash man," he said, "and charm thy tongue, ere it +proceed in a strain which may cost thee dear. Look at me, and see if I +have not reserved a reward capable of atoning for all the evil which +thy folly may charge to my account." + +Hitherto the prisoner had remained with his eyes obstinately shut, +regarding the imperfect recollection he had of sights which had been +before his eyes the foregoing evening, as the mere suggestion of a +deluded imagination, if not actually presented by some seducing spirit. +But now when his eyes fairly encountered the stately figure of the +Emperor, and the graceful form of his lovely daughter, painted in the +tender rays of the morning dawn, he ejaculated faintly, "I see!--I +see!"--And with that ejaculation fell back on the pillow in a swoon, +which instantly found employment for Douban and his restoratives. + +"A most wonderful cure indeed!" exclaimed the physician; "and the +height of my wishes would be to possess such another miraculous +restorative." + +"Fool!" said the Emperor; "canst thou not conceive that what has never +been taken away is restored with little difficulty? He was made," he +said, lowering his voice, "to undergo a painful operation, which led +him to believe that the organs of sight were destroyed; and as light +scarcely ever visited him, and when it did, only in doubtful and +invisible glimmerings, the prevailing darkness, both physical and +mental, that surrounded him, prevented him from being sensible of the +existence of that precious faculty, of which he imagined himself bereft. +Perhaps thou wilt ask my reason for inflicting upon him so strange a +deception?--Simply it was, that being by it conceived incapable of +reigning, his memory might pass out of the minds of the public, while, +at the same time, I reserved his eyesight, that in case occasion should +call, it might be in my power once more to liberate him from his +dungeon, and employ, as I now propose to do, his courage and talents in +the service of the empire, to counterbalance those of other +conspirators." + +"And can your imperial Highness," said Douban, "hope that you have +acquired this man's duty and affection by the conduct you have observed +to him?" + +"I cannot tell," answered the Emperor; "that must be as futurity shall +determine. All I know is, that it is no fault of mine, if Ursel does +not reckon freedom and a long course of Empire--perhaps sanctioned by +an alliance with our own blood--and the continued enjoyment of the +precious organs of eyesight, of which a less scrupulous man would have +deprived him, against a maimed and darkened existence." + +"Since such is your Highness's opinion and resolution," said Douban, +"it is for me to aid, and not to counteract it. Permit me, therefore, +to pray your Highness and the Princess to withdraw, that I may use such +remedies as may confirm a mind which has been so strangely shaken, and +restore to him fully the use of those eyes, of which he has been so +long deprived." + +"I am content, Douban," said the Emperor; "but take notice, Ursel is +not totally at liberty until he has expressed the resolution to become +actually mine. It may behove both him and thee to know, that although +there is no purpose of remitting him to the dungeons of the Blacquernal +palace, yet if he, or any on his part, should aspire to head a party in +these feverish times,--by the honour of a gentleman, to swear a +Frankish oath, he shall find that he is not out of the reach of the +battle-axes of my Varangians. I trust to thee to communicate this fact, +which concerns alike him and all who have interest in his fortunes.-- +Come, daughter, we will withdraw, and leave the leech with his patient +--Take notice, Douban, it is of importance that you acquaint me the very +first moment when the patient can hold rational communication with me." + +Alexius and his accomplished daughter departed accordingly. + + + + +CHAPTER THE TWENTY-EIGHTH. + + Sweet are the uses of adversity, + Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, + Bears yet a precious jewel in its head. + AS YOU LIKE IT. + + +From a terraced roof of the Blacquernal palace, accessible by a sash- +door, which opened from the bed-chamber of Ursel, there was commanded +one of the most lovely and striking views which the romantic +neighbourhood of Constantinople afforded. + +After suffering him to repose and rest his agitated faculties, it was +to this place that the physician led his patient; for when somewhat +composed, he had of himself requested to be permitted to verify the +truth of his restored eyesight, by looking out once more upon the +majestic face of nature. + +On the one hand, the scene which he beheld was a masterpiece of human +art. The proud city, ornamented with stately buildings, as became the +capital of the world, showed a succession of glittering spires and +orders of architecture, some of them chaste and simple, like those the +capitals of which were borrowed from baskets-full of acanthus; some +deriving the fluting of their shafts from the props made originally to +support the lances of the earlier Greeks--forms simple, yet more +graceful in their simplicity, than any which human ingenuity has been +able since to invent. With the most splendid specimens which ancient +art could afford of those strictly classical models were associated +those of a later age, where more modern taste had endeavoured at +improvement, and, by mixing the various orders, had produced such as +were either composite, or totally out of rule. The size of the +buildings in which they were displayed, however, procured them respect; +nor could even the most perfect judge of architecture avoid being +struck by the grandeur of their extent and effect, although hurt by the +incorrectness of the taste in which they were executed. Arches of +triumph, towers, obelisks, and spires, designed for various purposes, +rose up into the air in confused magnificence; while the lower view was +filled by the streets of the city, the domestic habitations forming +long narrow alleys, on either side of which the houses arose to various +and unequal heights, but, being generally finished with terraced +coverings, thick set with plants and flowers, and fountains, had, when +seen from an eminence, a more noble and interesting aspect than is ever +afforded by the sloping and uniform roofs of streets in the capitals of +the north of Europe. + +It has taken us some time to give, in words, the idea which was at a +single glance conveyed to Ursel, and affected him at first with great +pain. His eyeballs had been long strangers to that daily exercise, +which teaches us the habit of correcting the scenes as they appear to +our sight, by the knowledge which we derive from the use of our other +senses. His idea of distance was so confused, that it seemed as if all +the spires, turrets, and minarets which he beheld, were crowded forward +upon his eyeballs, and almost touching them. With a shriek of horror, +Ursel turned himself to the further side, and cast his eyes upon a +different scene. Here also he saw towers, steeples, and turrets, but +they were those of the churches and public buildings beneath his feet, +reflected from the dazzling piece of water which formed the harbour of +Constantinople, and which, from the abundance of wealth which it +transported to the city, was well termed the Golden Horn. In one place, +this superb basin was lined with quays, where stately dromonds and +argosies unloaded their wealth, while, by the shore of the haven, +galleys, feluccas, and other small craft, idly flapped the singularly +shaped and snow-white pinions which served them for sails. In other +places the Golden Horn lay shrouded in a verdant mantle of trees, where +the private gardens of wealthy or distinguished individuals, or places +of public recreation, shot down upon and were bounded by the glassy +waters. + +On the Bosphorus, which might be seen in the distance, the little fleet +of Tancred was lying in the same station they had gained during the +night, which was fitted to command the opposite landing; this their +general had preferred to a midnight descent upon Constantinople, not +knowing whether, so coming, they might be received as friends or +enemies. This delay, however, had given the Greeks an opportunity, +either by the orders of Alexius, or the equally powerful mandates of +some of the conspirators, to tow six ships of war, full of armed men, +and provided with the maritime offensive weapons peculiar to the Greeks +at that period, which they had moored so as exactly to cover the place +where the troops of Tancred must necessarily land. + +This preparation gave some surprise to the valiant Tancred, who did not +know that such vessels had arrived in the harbour from Lemnos on the +preceding night. The undaunted courage of that prince was, however, in +no respect to be shaken by the degree of unexpected danger with which +his adventure now appeared to be attended. + +This splendid view, from the description of which we have in some +degree digressed, was seen by the physician and Ursel from a terrace, +the loftiest almost on the palace of the Blacquernal. To the city-ward, +it was bounded by a solid wall, of considerable height, giving a +resting-place for the roof of a lower building, which, sloping outward, +broke to the view the vast height unobscured otherwise save by a high +and massy balustrade, composed of bronze, which, to the havenward, sunk +sheer down upon an uninterrupted precipice. + +No sooner, therefore, had Ursel turned his eyes that way, than, though +placed far from the brink of the terrace, he exclaimed, with a shriek, +"Save me--save me! if you are not indeed the destined executors of the +Emperor's will." + +"We are indeed such," said Douban, "to save, and if possible to bring +you to complete recovery; but by no means to do you injury, or to +suffer it to be offered by others." + +"Guard me then from myself," said Ursel, "and save me from the reeling +and insane desire which I feel to plunge myself into the abyss, to the +edge of which you have guided me." + +"Such a giddy and dangerous temptation is," said the physician, "common +to those who have not for a long time looked down from precipitous +heights, and are suddenly brought to them. Nature, however bounteous, +hath not provided for the cessation of our faculties for years, and for +their sudden resumption in full strength and vigour. An interval, +longer or shorter, must needs intervene. Can you not believe this +terrace a safe station while you have my support and that of this +faithful slave?" + +"Certainly," said Ursel; "but permit me to turn my face towards this +stone wall, for I cannot bear to look at the flimsy piece of wire, +which is the only battlement of defence that interposes betwixt me and +the precipice." He spoke of the bronze balustrade, six feet high, and +massive in proportion. Thus saying, and holding fast by the physician's +arm, Ursel, though himself a younger and more able man, trembled, and +moved his feet as slowly as if made of lead, until he reached the +sashed-door, where stood a kind of balcony-seat, in which he placed +himself.--"Here," he said, "will I remain." + +"And here," said Douban, "will I make the communication of the Emperor, +which it is necessary you should be prepared to reply to. It places you, +you will observe, at your own disposal for liberty or captivity, but it +conditions for your resigning that sweet but sinful morsel termed +revenge, which, I must not conceal from you, chance appears willing to +put into your hand. You know the degree of rivalry in which you have +been held by the Emperor, and you know the measure of evil you have +sustained at his hand. The question is, Can you forgive what has taken +place?" + +"Let me wrap my head round with my mantle," said Ursel, "to dispel this +dizziness which still oppresses my poor brain, and as soon as the power +of recollection is granted me, you shall know my sentiments." + +He sunk upon the seat, muffled in the way which he described, and after +a few minutes' reflection, with a trepidation which argued the patient +still to be under the nervous feeling of extreme horror mixed with +terror, he addressed Douban thus: "The operation of wrong and cruelty, +in the moment when they are first inflicted, excites, of course, the +utmost resentment of the sufferer; nor is there, perhaps, a passion +which lives so long in his bosom as the natural desire of revenge. If, +then, during the first month, when I lay stretched upon my bed of want +and misery, you had offered me an opportunity of revenge upon my cruel +oppressor, the remnant of miserable life which remained to me should +have been willingly bestowed to purchase it. But a suffering of weeks, +or even months, must not be compared in effect with that of years. For +a short space of endurance, the body, as well as the mind, retains that +vigorous habit which holds the prisoner still connected with life, and +teaches him to thrill at the long-forgotten chain of hopes, of wishes, +of disappointments, and mortifications, which affected his former +existence. But the wounds become callous as they harden, and other and +better feelings occupy their place, while they gradually die away in +forgetfulness. The enjoyments, the amusements of this world, occupy no +part of his time upon whom the gates of despair have once closed. I +tell thee, my kind physician, that for a season, in an insane attempt +to effect my liberty, I cut through a large portion of the living rock. +But Heaven cured me of so foolish an idea; and if I did not actually +come to love Alexius Comnenus--for how could that have been a possible +effect in any rational state of my intellects?--yet as I became +convinced of my own crimes, sins, and follies, the more and more I was +also persuaded that Alexius was but the agent through whom Heaven +exercised a dearly-purchased right of punishing me for my manifold +offences and transgressions; and that it was not therefore upon the +Emperor that my resentment ought to visit itself. And I can now say to +thee, that so far as a man who has undergone so dreadful a change can +be supposed to know his own mind, I feel no desire either to rival +Alexius in a race for empire, or to avail myself of any of the various +proffers which he proposes to me as the price of withdrawing my claim. +Let him keep unpurchased the crown, for which he has paid, in my +opinion, a price which it is not worth." + +"This is extraordinary stoicism, noble Ursel," answered the physician +Douban. "Am I then to understand that you reject the fair offers of +Alexius, and desire, instead of all which he is willing--nay, anxious +to bestow--to be committed safely back to thy old blinded dungeon in +the Blacquernal, that you may continue at ease those pietistic +meditations which have already conducted thee to so extravagant a +conclusion?" + +"Physician," said Ursel, while a shuddering fit that affected his whole +body testified his alarm at the alternative proposed--"one would +imagine thine own profession might have taught thee, that no mere +mortal man, unless predestined to be a glorified saint, could ever +prefer darkness to the light of day; blindness itself to the enjoyment +of the power of sight; the pangs of starving to competent sustenance, +or the damps of a dungeon to the free air of God's creation. No!--it +may be virtue to do so, but to such a pitch mine does not soar. All I +require of the Emperor for standing by him with all the power my name +can give him at this crisis is, that he will provide for my reception +as a monk in some of those pleasant and well endowed seminaries of +piety, to which his devotion, or his fears, have given rise. Let me not +be again the object of his suspicion, the operation of which is more +dreadful than that of being the object of his hate. Forgotten by power, +as I have myself lost the remembrance of those that wielded it, let me +find my way to the grave, unnoticed, unconstrained, at liberty, in +possession of my dim and disused organs of sight, and, above all, at +peace." + +"If such be thy serious and earnest wish, noble Ursel," said the +physician, "I myself have no hesitation to warrant to thee the full +accomplishment of thy religious and moderate desires. But, bethink thee, +thou art once more an inhabitant of the court, in which thou mayst +obtain what thou wilt to-day; while to-morrow, shouldst thou regret thy +indifference, it may be thy utmost entreaty will not suffice to gain +for thee the slightest extension of thy present conditions." + +"Be it so," said Ursel; "I will then stipulate for another condition, +which indeed has only reference to this day. I will solicit his +Imperial Majesty, with all humility, to spare me the pain of a personal +treaty between himself and me, and that he will be satisfied with the +solemn assurance that I am most willing to do in his favour all that he +is desirous of dictating; while, on the other hand, I desire only the +execution of those moderate conditions of my future aliment which I +have already told thee at length." + +"But wherefore," said Douban, "shouldst thou be afraid of announcing to +the Emperor thy disposition to an agreement, which cannot be esteemed +otherwise than extremely moderate on thy part? Indeed, I fear the +Emperor will insist on a brief personal conference." + +"I am not ashamed," said Ursel, "to confess the truth. It is true, that +I have, or think I have, renounced what the Scripture calls the pride +of life; but the old Adam still lives within us, and maintains against +the better part of our nature an inextinguishable quarrel, easy to be +aroused from its slumber, but as difficult to be again couched in peace. +While last night I but half understood that mine enemy was in my +presence, and while my faculties performed but half their duty in +recalling his deceitful and hated accents, did not my heart throb in my +bosom with all the agitation of a taken bird, and shall I again have to +enter into a personal treaty with the man who, be his general conduct +what it may, has been, the constant and unprovoked cause of my +unequalled misery? Douban, no!--to listen to his voice again, were to +hear an alarm sounded to every violent and vindictive passion, of my +heart; and though, may Heaven so help me as my intentions towards him +are upright, yet it is impossible for me to listen to his professions +with a chance of safety either to him or to myself." + +"If you be so minded," replied Douban, "I shall only repeat to him your +stipulation, and you must swear to him that you will strictly observe +it. Without this being done, it must be difficult, or perhaps +impossible, to settle the league of which both are desirous." + +"Amen!" said Ursel; "and as I am pure in my purpose, and resolved to +keep it to the uttermost, so may Heaven guard me from the influence of +precipitate revenge, ancient grudge, or new quarrel!" + +An authoritative knock at the door of the sleeping chamber was now +heard, and Ursel, relieved by more powerful feelings, from the +giddiness of which he had complained, walked firmly into the bedroom, +and seating himself, waited with averted eyes the entrance of the +person who demanded admittance, and who proved to be no other than +Alexius Comnenus. + +The Emperor appeared at the door in a warlike dress, suited for the +decoration of a prince who was to witness a combat in the lists fought +out before him. + +"Sage Douban," he said, "has our esteemed prisoner, Ursel, made his +choice between our peace and enmity?" + +"He hath, my lord," replied the physician, "embraced the lot of that +happy portion of mankind, whose hearts and lives are devoted to the +service of your Majesty's government." + +"He will then this day," continued the Emperor, "render me the office +of putting down all those who may pretend to abet insurrection in his +name, and under pretext of his wrongs?" + +"He will, my lord," replied the physician, "act to the fullest the part +which you require." + +"And in what way," said the Emperor, adopting his most gracious tone of +voice, "would our faithful Ursel desire that services like these, +rendered in the hour of extreme need; should be acknowledged by the +Emperor?" + +"Simply," answered Douban, "by saying nothing upon the subject. He +desires only that all jealousies between you and him may be henceforth +forgotten, and that he may be admitted into one of your Highness's +monastic institutions, with leave to dedicate the rest of his life to +the worship of Heaven and its saints." + +"Hath he persuaded thee of this, Douban?"--said the Emperor, in a low +and altered voice. "By Heaven! when I consider from what prison he was +brought, and in what guise he inhabited it, I cannot believe in this +gall-less disposition. He must at least speak to me himself, ere I can +believe, in some degree, the transformation of the fiery Ursel into a +being so little capable of feeling the ordinary impulses of mankind." + +"Hear me, Alexius Comnenus," said the prisoner; "and so may thine own +prayers to Heaven find access and acceptation, as thou believest the +words which I speak to thee in simplicity of heart. If thine empire of +Greece were made of coined gold, it would hold out no bait for my +acceptance; nor, I thank Heaven, have even the injuries I have +experienced at thy hand, cruel and extensive as they have been, +impressed upon me the slightest desire of requiting treachery with +treachery. Think of me as thou wilt, so thou seek'st not again to +exchange words with me; and believe me, that when thou hast put me +under the most rigid of thy ecclesiastical foundations, the discipline, +the fare, and the vigils, will be far superior to the existence falling +to the share of those whom the King delights to honour, and who +therefore must afford the King their society whenever they are summoned +to do so." + +"It is hardly for me," said the physician, "to interpose in so high a +matter; yet, as trusted both by the noble Ursel, and by his Highness +the Emperor, I have made a brief abstract of these short conditions to +be kept by the high parties towards each other, _sub crimine +falsi_." + +The Emperor protracted the intercourse with Ursel, until he more fully +explained to him the occasion which he should have that very day for +his services. When they parted, Alexius, with a great show of affection, +embraced his late prisoner, while it required all the self-command and +stoicism of Ursel to avoid expressing in plain terms the extent to +which he abhorred the person who thus caressed him. + + + + +CHAPTER THE TWENTY-NINTH. + + * * * * O, Conspiracy! + Sham'st thou to show thy dangerous brow by night, + When evils are most free? O, then, by day, + Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough + To mask thy monstrous visage? Seek none, Conspiracy; + Hide it in smiles and affability; + For if thou path thy native semblance on, + Not Erebus itself were dim enough + To hide thee from prevention. + JULIUS CAESAR + + +The important morning at last arrived, on which, by the Imperial +proclamation, the combat between the Caesar and Count Robert of Paris +was appointed to take place. This was a circumstance in a great measure +foreign to the Grecian manners, and to which, therefore, the people +annexed different ideas from those which were associated with the same +solemn decision of God, as the Latins called it, by the Western nations. +The consequence was a vague, but excessive agitation among the people, +who connected the extraordinary strife which they were to witness, with +the various causes which had been whispered abroad as likely to give +occasion to some general insurrection of a great and terrible nature. + +By the Imperial order, regular lists had been prepared for the combat, +with opposite gates, or entrances, as was usual, for the admittance of +the two champions; and it was understood that the appeal was to be made +to the Divinity by each, according to the forms prescribed by the +Church of which the combatants were respectively members. The situation +of these lists was on the side of the shore adjoining on the west to +the continent. At no great distance, the walls of the city were seen, +of various architecture, composed of lime and of stone, and furnished +with no less than four-and-twenty gates, or posterns, five of which +regarded the land, and nineteen the water. All this formed a beautiful +prospect, much of which is still visible. The town itself is about +nineteen miles in circumference; and as it is on all sides surrounded +with lofty cypresses, its general appearance is that of a city arising +out of a stately wood of these magnificent trees, partly shrouding the +pinnacles, obelisks, and minarets, which then marked the site of many +noble Christian temples; but now, generally speaking, intimate the +position of as many Mahomedan mosques. + +These lists, for the convenience of spectators, were surrounded on all +sides by long rows of seats, sloping downwards. In the middle of these +seats, and exactly opposite the centre of the lists, was a high throne, +erected for the Emperor himself; and which was separated from the more +vulgar galleries by a circuit of wooden barricades, which an +experienced eye could perceive, might, in case of need, be made +serviceable for purposes of defence. + +The lists were sixty yards in length, by perhaps about forty in breadth, +and these afforded ample space for the exercise of the combat, both on +horseback and on foot. Numerous bands of the Greek citizens began, with +the very break of day, to issue from the gates and posterns of the city, +to examine and wonder at the construction of the lists, pass their +criticisms upon the purposes of the peculiar parts of the fabric, and +occupy places, to secure them for the spectacle. Shortly after arrived +a large band of those soldiers who were called the Roman Immortals. +These entered without ceremony, and placed themselves on either hand of +the wooden barricade which fenced the Emperor's seat. Some of them took +even a greater liberty; for, affecting to be pressed against the +boundary, there were individuals who approached the partition itself, +and seemed to meditate climbing over it, and placing themselves on the +same side with the Emperor. Some old domestic slaves of the household +now showed themselves, as if for the purpose of preserving this sacred +circle for Alexius and his court; and, in proportion as the Immortals +began to show themselves encroaching and turbulent, the strength of the +defenders of the prohibited precincts seemed gradually to increase. + +There was, though scarcely to be observed, besides the grand access to +the Imperial seat from without, another opening also from the outside, +secured by a very strong door, by which different persons received +admission beneath the seats destined for the Imperial party. These +persons, by their length of limb, breadth of shoulders, by the fur of +their cloaks, and especially by the redoubted battle-axes which all of +them bore, appeared to be Varangians; but, although neither dressed in +their usual habit of pomp, nor in their more effectual garb of war, +still, when narrowly examined, they might be seen to possess their +usual offensive weapons. These men, entering in separate and straggling +parties, might be observed to join the slaves of the interior of the +palace in opposing the intrusion of the Immortals upon the seat of the +Emperor, and the benches around. Two or three Immortals, who had +actually made good their frolic, and climbed over the division, were +flung back again, very unceremoniously, by the barbaric strength and +sinewy arms of the Varangians. + +The people around, and in the adjacent galleries, most of whom had the +air of citizens in their holyday dresses, commented a good deal on +these proceedings, and were inclined strongly to make part with the +Immortals. "It was a shame to the Emperor," they said, "to encourage +these British barbarians to interpose themselves by violence between +his person and the Immortal cohorts of the city, who were in some sort +his own children." + +Stephanos, the gymnastic, whose bulky strength and stature rendered him +conspicuous amid this party, said, without hesitation, "If there are +two people here who will join in saying that the Immortals are unjustly +deprived of their right of guarding the Emperor's person, here is the +hand that shall place them beside the Imperial chair." + +"Not so," quoth a centurion of the Immortals, whom we have already +introduced to our readers by the name of Harpax; "Not so, Stephanos; +that happy time may arrive, but it is not yet come, my gem of the +circus. Thou knowest that on this occasion it is one of these Counts, +or western Franks, who undertakes the combat; and the Varangians, who +call these people their enemies, have some reason to claim a precedency +in guarding the lists, which it might not at this moment be convenient +to dispute with them. Why, man, if thou wert half so witty as thou art +long, thou wouldst be sensible that it were bad woodmanship to raise +the hollo upon the game, ere it had been driven within compass of the +nets." + +While the athlete rolled his huge grey eyes as if to conjure out the +sense of this intimation, his little friend Lysimachus, the artist, +putting himself to pain to stand upon his tiptoe, and look intelligent, +said, approaching as near as he could to Harpax's ear, "Thou mayst +trust me, gallant centurion, that this man. of mould and muscle shall +neither start like a babbling hound on a false scent, nor become mute +and inert, when the general signal is given. But tell me," said he, +speaking very low, and for that purpose mounting a bench, which brought +him on a level with the centurion's ear, "would it not have been better +that a strong guard of the valiant Immortals had been placed in this +wooden citadel, to ensure the object of the day?" + +"Without question," said the centurion, "it was so meant; but these +strolling Varangians have altered their station of their own +authority." + +"Were it not--well," said Lysimachus, "that you, who are greatly more +numerous than the barbarians, should begin a fray before more of these +strangers arrive?" + +"Content ye, friend," said the centurion, coldly, "we know our time. An +attack commenced too early would be worse than thrown away, nor would +an opportunity occur of executing our project in the fitting time, if +an alarm were prematurely given at this moment." + +So saying, he shuffled off among his fellow-soldiers, so as to avoid +suspicious intercourse with such persons as were only concerned with +the civic portion of the conspirators. + +As the morning advanced, and the sun took a higher station in the +horizon, the various persons whom curiosity, or some more decided +motive, brought to see the proposed combat, were seen streaming from +different parts of the town, and rushing to occupy such accommodation +as the circuit round the lists afforded them. In their road to the +place where preparation for combat was made, they had to ascend a sort +of cape, which, in the form of a small hill, projected into the +Hellespont, and the butt of which, connecting it with the shore, +afforded a considerable ascent, and of course a more commanding view of +the strait between Europe and Asia, than either the immediate vicinity +of the city, or the still lower ground upon which the lists were +erected. In passing this height, the earlier visitants of the lists +made little or no halt; but after a time, when it became obvious that +those who had hurried forward to the place of combat were lingering +there without any object or occupation, they that followed them in the +same route, with natural curiosity, paid a tribute to the landscape, +bestowing some attention on its beauty, and paused to see what auguries +could be collected from the water, which were likely to have any +concern in indicating the fate of the events that were to take place. +Some straggling seamen were the first who remarked that a squadron of +the Greek small craft (being that of Tancred) were in the act of making +their way from Asia, and threatening a descent upon Constantinople. + +"It is strange," said a person, by rank the captain of a galley, "that +these small vessels, which were ordered to return to Constantinople as +soon as they disembarked the Latins, should have remained so long at +Scutari, and should not be rowing back to the imperial city until this +time, on the second day after their departure from thence." + +"I pray to Heaven," said another of the same profession, "that these +seamen may come alone. It seems to me as if their ensign-staffs, +bowsprits, and topmasts were decorated with the same ensigns, or nearly +the same, with those which the Latins displayed upon them, when, by the +Emperor's order, they were transported towards Palestine; so methinks +the voyage back again resembles that of a fleet of merchant vessels, +who have been prevented from discharging their cargo at the place of +their destination." + +"There is little good," said one of the politicians whom we formerly +noticed, "in dealing with such commodities, whether they are imported +or exported. Yon ample banner which streams over the foremost galley, +intimates the presence of a chieftain of no small rank among the Counts, +whether it be for valour or for nobility." + +The seafaring leader added, with the voice of one who hints alarming +tidings, "They seem to have got to a point in the straits as high as +will enable them to run down--with the tide, and clear the cape which +we stand on, although with what purpose they aim to land so close +beneath the walls of the city, he is a wiser man than I who pretends to +determine." + +"Assuredly," returned his comrade, "the intention is not a kind one. +The wealth of the city has temptations to a poor people, who only value +the iron which they possess as affording them the means of procuring +the gold which they covet." + +"Ay, brother," answered Demetrius the politician, "but see you not, +lying at anchor within this bay which is formed by the cape, and at the +very point where these heretics are likely to be carried by the tide, +six strong vessels, having the power of sending forth, not merely +showers of darts and arrows, but of Grecian fire, as it is called, from +their hollow decks? If these Frank gentry continue directing their +course upon the Imperial city, being, as they are, + + ------'propago + Contemptrix Superum sane, saevaeque avidissima caedis + Et violenta;' [Footnote: Ovid, Met.] + +we shall speedily see a combat better worth witnessing than that +announced by the great trumpet of the Varangians. If you love me, let +us sit down here for a moment, and see how this matter is to end." + +"An excellent motion, my ingenious friend," said Lascaris, which was +the name of the other citizen; "but bethink you, shall we not be in +danger from the missiles with which the audacious Latins will not fail +to return the Greek fire, if, according to your conjecture, it shall be +poured upon them by the Imperial squadron?" + +"That is not ill argued, my friend," said Demetrius; "but know that you +have to do with a man who has been in such extremities before now; and +if such a discharge should open from the sea, I would propose to you to +step back some fifty yards inland, and thus to interpose the very crest +of the cape between us and the discharge of missiles; a mere child +might thus learn to face them without any alarm." + +"You are a wise man, neighbour," said Lascaris, "and possess such a +mixture of valour and knowledge as becomes a man whom a friend might be +supposed safely to risk his life with. There be those, for instance, +who cannot show you the slightest glimpse of what is going on, without +bringing you within peril of your life; whereas you, my worthy friend +Demetrius, between your accurate knowledge of military affairs, and +your regard for your friend, are sure to show him all that is to be +seen without the least risk to a person, who is naturally unwilling to +think of exposing himself to injury. But, Holy Virgin! what is the +meaning of that red flag which the Greek Admiral has this instant +hoisted?" + +"Why, you see, neighbour," answered Demetrius, "yonder western heretic +continues to advance without minding the various signs which our +Admiral has made to him to desist, and now he hoists the bloody colours, +as if a man should clench his fist and say, If you persevere in your +uncivil intention, I will do so and so." + +"By St. Sophia," said Lascaris, "and that is giving him fair warning. +But what is it the Imperial Admiral is about to do?" + +"Run! run! friend Lascaris," said Demetrius, "or you will see more of +that than perchance you have any curiosity for." + +Accordingly, to add the strength of example to precept, Demetrius +himself girt up his loins, and retreated with the most edifying speed +to the opposite side of the ridge, accompanied by the greater part of +the crowd, who had tarried there to witness the contest which the +newsmonger promised, and were determined to take his word for their own +safety. The sound and sight which had alarmed Demetrius, was the +discharge of a large portion of Greek fire, which perhaps may be best +compared to one of those immense Congreve rockets of the present day, +which takes on its shoulders a small grapnel or anchor, and proceeds +groaning through the air, like a fiend overburdened by the mandate of +some inexorable magician, and of which the operation was so terrifying, +that the crews of the vessels attacked by this strange weapon +frequently forsook every means of defence, and ran themselves ashore. +One of the principal ingredients of this dreadful fire was supposed to +be naphtha, or the bitumen which is collected on the banks of the Dead +Sea, and which, when in a state of ignition, could only be extinguished +by a very singular mixture, and which it was not likely to come in +contact with. It produced a thick smoke and loud explosion, and was +capable, says Gibbon, of communicating its flames with equal vehemence +in descent or lateral progress, [Footnote: For a full account of the +Greek five, see Gibbon, chapter 53] In sieges, it was poured from the +ramparts, or launched like our bombs, in red-hot balls of stone or iron, +or it was darted in flax twisted round arrows and in javelins. It was +considered as a state secret of the greatest importance; and for +wellnigh four centuries it was unknown to the Mahomedans. But at length +the composition was discovered by the Saracens, and used by them for +repelling the crusaders, and overpowering the Greeks, upon whose side +it had at one time been the most formidable implement of defence. Some +exaggeration--we must allow for a barbarous period; but there seems no +doubt that the general description of the crusader Joinville should be +admitted as correct:--"It came flying through the air," says that good +knight, "like a winged dragon, about the thickness of a hogshead, with +the report of thunder and the speed of lightning, and the darkness of +the night was dispelled by this horrible illumination." + +Not only the bold Demetrius and his pupil Lascaris, but all the crowd +whom they influenced, fled manfully when the commodore of the Greeks +fired the first discharge; and as the other vessels in the squadron +followed his example, the heavens were filled with the unusual and +outrageous noise, while the smoke was so thick as to darken the very +air. As the fugitives passed the crest of the hill, they saw the seaman, +whom we formerly mentioned as a spectator, snugly reclining under cover +of a dry ditch, where he managed so as to secure himself as far as +possible from any accident. He could not, however, omit breaking his +jest on the politicians. + +"What, ho!" he cried, "my good friends," without raising himself above +the counterscarp of his ditch, "will you not remain upon your station +long enough to finish that hopeful lecture upon battle by sea and land, +which you had so happy an opportunity of commencing? Believe me, the +noise is more alarming than hurtful; the fire is all pointed in a +direction opposite to yours, and if one of those dragons which you see +does happen to fly landward instead of seaward, it is but the mistake +of some cabin-boy, who has used his linstock with more willingness than +ability." + +Demetrius and Lascaris just heard enough of the naval hero's harangue, +to acquaint them with the new danger with which they might be assailed +by the possible misdirection of the weapons, and, rushing clown towards +the lists at the head of a crowd half-desperate with fear, they hastily +propagated the appalling news, that the Latins were coming back from +Asia with the purpose of landing in arms, pillaging, and burning the +city. The uproar, in the meantime, of this unexpected occurrence, was +such as altogether to vindicate, in public opinion, the reported cause, +however exaggerated. The thunder of the Greek fire came successively, +one hard upon the other, and each, in its turn, spread a blot of black +smoke upon the face of the landscape, which, thickened by so many +successive clouds, seemed at last, like that raised by a sustained fire +of modern artillery to overshadow the whole horizon. + +The small squadron of Tancred were completely hid from view in the +surging volumes of darkness, which the breath of the weapons of the +enemy had spread around him; and it seemed by a red light, which began +to show itself among the thickest of the veil of darkness, that one of +the flotilla at least had caught fire. Yet the Latins resisted, with an +obstinacy worthy of their own courage, and the fame of their celebrated +leader. Some advantage they had, on account of their small size, and +their lowness in the water, as well as the clouded state of the +atmosphere, which rendered them difficult marks for the fire of the +Greeks. + +To increase these advantages, Tancred, as well by boats as by the kind +of rude signals made use of at the period, dispersed orders to his +fleet, that each bark, disregarding the fate of the others, should +press forward individually, and that the men from each should be put on +shore wheresoever and howsoever they could effect that manoeuvre. +Tancred himself set a noble example; he was on board a stout vessel, +fenced in some degree against the effect of the Greek fire by being in +a great measure covered with raw hides, which hides had also been +recently steeped in water. This vessel contained upwards of a hundred +valiant warriors, several of them of knightly order, who had all night +toiled at the humble labours of the oar, and now in the morning applied +their chivalrous hands to the arblast and to the bow, which were in +general accounted the weapons of persons of a lower rank. Thus armed, +and thus manned. Prince Tancred bestowed upon his bark the full +velocity which wind, and tide, and oar, could enable her to obtain, and +placing her in the situation to profit by them as much as his maritime +skill could direct, he drove with the speed of lightning among the +vessels of Lemnos, plying on either side, bows, crossbows, javelins, +and military missiles of every kind, with the greater advantage that +the Greeks, trusting to their artificial fire, had omitted arming +themselves with other weapons; so that when the valiant Crusader bore +down on them with so much fury, repaying the terrors of their fire with +a storm of bolts and arrows no less formidable, they began to feel that +their own advantage was much less than they had supposed, and that, +like most other dangers, the maritime fire of the Greeks, when +undauntedly confronted, lost at least one-half of its terrors. The +Grecian sailors, too, when they observed the vessels approach so near, +filled with the steel-clad Latins, began to shrink from a contest to be +maintained hand to hand with so terrible an enemy. + +By degrees, smoke began to issue from the sides of the great Grecian +argosy, and the voice of Tancred announced to his soldiers that the +Grecian Admiral's vessel had taken fire, owing to negligence in the +management of the means of destruction she possessed, and that all they +had now to do was to maintain such a distance as to avoid sharing her +fate. Sparkles and flashes of flame were next seen leaping from place +to place on board of the great hulk, as if the element had had the +sense and purpose of spreading wider the consternation, and disabling +the few who still paid attention to the commands of their Admiral, and +endeavoured to extinguish the fire. The consciousness of the +combustible nature of the freight, began to add despair to terror; from +the boltsprit, the rigging, the yards, the sides, and every part of the +vessel, the unfortunate crew were seen dropping themselves, to exchange +for the most part a watery death for one by the more dreadful agency of +fire. The crew of Tancred's bark, ceasing, by that generous prince's +commands, to offer any additional annoyance to an enemy who was at once +threatened by the perils of the ocean and of conflagration, ran their +vessel ashore in a smooth part of the bay, and jumping into the shallow +sea, made the land without difficulty; many of their steeds being, by +the exertions of the owners, and the docility of the animals, brought +ashore at the same time with their masters. Their commander lost no +time in forming their serried ranks into a phalanx of lancers, few +indeed at first, but perpetually increasing as ship after ship of the +little flotilla ran ashore, or, having more deliberately moored their +barks, landed their men, and joined their companions. + +The cloud which had been raised by the conflict was now driven to +leeward before the wind, and the strait exhibited only the relics of +the combat. Here tossed upon the billows the scattered and broken +remains of one or two of the Latin vessels which had been burnt at the +commencement of the combat, though their crews, by the exertions of +their comrades, had in general been saved. Lower down were seen the +remaining five vessels of the Lemnos squadron, holding a disorderly and +difficult retreat, with the purpose of gaining the harbour of +Constantinople. In the place so late the scene of combat, lay moored +the hulk of the Grecian Admiral, burnt to the water's edge, and still +sending forth a black smoke from its scathed beams and planks. The +flotilla of Tancred, busied in discharging its troops, lay irregularly +scattered along the bay, the men making ashore as they could, and +taking their course to join the standard of their leader. Various black +substances floated on the surface of the water, nearer, or more distant +to the shore; some proved to be the wreck of the vessels which had been +destroyed, and others, more ominous still, the lifeless bodies of +mariners who had fallen in the conflict. + +The standard had been borne ashore by the Prince's favourite page, +Ernest of Apulia, so soon as the keel of Tancred's galley had grazed +upon the sand. It was then pitched on the top of that elevated cape +between Constantinople and the lists, where Lascaris, Demetrius, and +other gossips, had held their station at the commencement of the +engagement, but from which all had fled, between the mingled dread of +the Greek fire and the missiles of the Latin crusaders. + + + + +CHAPTER THE THIRTIETH. + + +Sheathed in complete armour, and supporting with his right hand the +standard of his fathers, Tancred remained with his handful of warriors +like so many statues of steel, expecting some sort of attack from the +Grecian party which had occupied the lists, or from the numbers whom +the city gates began now to pour forth--soldiers some of them, and +others citizens, many of whom were arrayed as if for conflict. These +persons, alarmed by the various accounts which were given of the +combatants, and the progress of the fight, rushed towards the standard +of Prince Tancred, with the intention of beating it to the earth, and +dispersing the guards who owed it homage and defence. But if the reader +shall have happened to have ridden at any time through a pastoral +country, with a clog of a noble race following him, he must have +remarked, in the deference ultimately paid to the high-bred animal by +the shepherd's cur as he crosses the lonely glen, of which the latter +conceives himself the lord and guardian, something very similar to the +demeanour of the incensed Greeks, when they approached near to the +little band of Franks. At the first symptom of the intrusion of a +stranger, the dog of the shepherd starts from his slumbers, and rushes +towards the noble intruder with a clamorous declaration of war; but +when the diminution of distance between them shows to the aggressor the +size and strength of his opponent, he becomes like a cruiser, who, in a +chase, has, to his surprise and alarm, found two tier of guns opposed +to him instead of one. He halts--suspends his clamorous yelping, and, +in fine, ingloriously retreats to his master, with, all the +dishonourable marks of positively declining the combat. + +It was in this manner that the troops of the noisy Greeks, with much +hallooing and many a boastful shout, hastened both from the town and +from the lists, with the apparent intention of sweeping from the field +the few companions of Tancred. As they advanced, however, within the +power of remarking the calm and regular order of those men who had +landed, and arranged themselves under this noble chieftain's banner, +their minds were altogether changed as to the resolution of instant +combat; their advance became an uncertain and staggering gait, their +heads were more frequently turned back to the point from which they +came, than towards the enemy; and their desire to provoke an instant +scuffle vanished totally, when there did not appear the least symptom +that their opponents cared about the matter. + +It added to the extreme confidence with which the Latins kept their +ground, that they were receiving frequent, though small reinforcements +from their comrades, who were landing by detachments all along the +beach; and that, in the course of a short hour, their amount had been +raised, on horseback and foot, to a number, allowing for a few +casualties, not much less than that which set sail from Scutari. + +Another reason why the Latins remained unassailed, was certainly the +indisposition of the two principal armed parties on shore to enter into +a quarrel with them. The guards of every kind, who were faithful to the +Emperor, more especially the Varangians, had their orders to remain +firm at their posts, some in the lists, and others at various places of +rendezvous in Constantinople, where their presence was necessary to +prevent the effects of the sudden insurrection which Alexius knew to be +meditated against him. These, therefore, made no hostile demonstration +towards the band of Latins, nor was it the purpose of the Emperor they +should do so. + +On the other hand, the greater part of the Immortal Guards, and those +citizens who were prepared to play a part in the conspiracy, had been +impressed by the agents of the deceased Agelastes with the opinion, +that this band of Latins, commanded by Tancred, the relative of +Bohemond, had been despatched by the latter to their assistance. These +men, therefore, stood still, and made no attempt to guide or direct the +popular efforts of such as inclined to attack these unexpected +visitors; in which purpose, therefore, no very great party were united, +while the majority were willing enough to find an apology for remaining +quiet. + +In the meantime, the Emperor, from his palace of Blacquernal, observed +what passed upon the straits, and beheld his navy from Lemnos totally +foiled in their attempt, by means of the Greek fire, to check, the +intended passage of Tancred and his men. He had no sooner seen the +leading ship of the squadron, begin to beacon the darkness with its own +fire, than the Emperor formed a secret resolution to disown the +unfortunate Admiral, and make peace with the Latins, if that should be +absolutely necessary, by sending them his head. He had hardly, +therefore, seen the flames burst forth, and the rest of the vessels +retreat from their moorings, than in his own mind, the doom of the +unfortunate Phraortes, for such was the name of the Admiral, was signed +and sealed. + +Achilles Tatius, at the same instant, determining to keep a close eye +upon the Emperor at this important crisis, came precipitately into the +palace, with an appearance of great alarm. + +"My Lord!---my Imperial Lord! I am unhappy to be the messenger of such +unlucky news; but the Latins have in great numbers succeeded in +crossing the strait from Scutari. The Lemnos squadron endeavoured to +stop them, as was last night determined upon in the Imperial Council of +War. By a heavy discharge of the Greek fire, one or two of the +crusaders' vessels were consumed, but by far the greater number of them +pushed on their course, burnt the leading ship of the unfortunate +Phraortes, and It is strongly reported he has himself perished, with +almost all his men. The rest have cut their cables, and abandoned the +defence of the passage of the Hellespont." + +"And you, Achilles Tatius," said the Emperor, "with what purpose is it +that you now bring me this melancholy news, at a period so late, when I +cannot amend the consequences!" + +"Under favour, most gracious Emperor," replied the conspirator, not +without colouring and stammering, "such was not my intention--I had +hoped to submit a plan, by which I might easily have prepared the way +for correcting this little error." + +"Well, your plan, sir?" said the Emperor, dryly. + +"With your sacred Majesty's leave," said the Acolyte, "I would myself +have undertaken instantly to lead against this Tancred and his Italians +the battle-axes of the faithful Varangian guard, who will make no more +account of the small number of Franks who have come ashore, than the +farmer holds of the hordes of rats and mice, and such like mischievous +vermin, who have harboured in his granaries." + +"And what mean you," said the Emperor, "that I am to do, while my +Anglo-Saxons fight for my sake?" + +"Your Majesty," replied Achilles, not exactly satisfied with the dry +and caustic manner in which the Emperor addressed him, "may put +yourself at the head of the Immortal cohorts of Constantinople; and I +am your security, that you may either perfect the victory over the +Latins, or at least redeem the most distant chance of a defeat, by +advancing at the head of this choice body of domestic troops, should +the day appear doubtful." + +"You, yourself, Achilles Tatius," returned the Emperor, "have +repeatedly assured us, that these Immortals retain a perverse +attachment to our rebel Ursel. How is it, then, you would have us +intrust our defence to these bands, when we have engaged our valiant +Varangians in the proposed conflict with the flower of the western +army?--Did you think of this risk, Sir Follower?" + +Achilles Tatius, much alarmed at an intimation indicative of his +purpose being known, answered, "That in his haste he had been more +anxious to recommend the plan which should expose his own person to the +greater danger, than that perhaps which was most attended with personal +safety to his Imperial Master." + +"I thank you for so doing," said the Emperor; "you have anticipated my +wishes, though it is not in my power at present to follow the advice +you have given me. I would have been well contented, undoubtedly, had +these Latins measured their way over the strait again, as suggested by +last night's council; but since they have arrived, and stand embattled +on our shores, it is better that we pay them with money and with spoil, +than with the lives of our gallant subjects. We cannot, after all, +believe that they come with any serious intention of doing us injury; +it is but the insane desire of witnessing feats of battle and single +combat, which is to them the breath of their nostrils, that can have +impelled them to this partial countermarch. I impose upon you, Achilles +Tatius, combining the Protospathaire in the same commission with you, +the duty of riding up to yonder standard, and learning of their chief, +called the Prince Tancred, if he is there in person, the purpose of his +return, and the cause of his entering into debate with Phraortes and +the Lemnos squadron. If they send us any reasonable excuse, we shall +not be averse to receive it at their hands; for we have not made so +many sacrifices for the preservation of peace, to break forth into war, +if, after all, so great an evil can be avoided. Thou wilt receive, +therefore, with a candid and complacent mind, such apologies as they +may incline to bring forward; and, be assured, that the sight of this +puppet-show of a single combat, will be enough of itself to banish +every other consideration from the reflection of these giddy +crusaders." + +A knock was at this moment heard at the door of the Emperor's +apartment; and upon the word being given to enter, the Protospathaire +made his appearance. He was arrayed in a splendid suit of ancient Roman +fashioned armour. The want of a visor left his countenance entirely +visible; which, pale and anxious as it was, did not well become the +martial crest and dancing plume with which it was decorated. He +received the commission already mentioned with the less alacrity, +because the Acolyte was added to him as his colleague; for, as the +reader may have observed, these two officers were of separate factions +in the army, and on indifferent terms with each other. Neither did the +Acolyte consider his being united in commission with the Protospathaire, +as a mark either of the Emperor's confidence, or of his own safety. He +was, however, in the meantime, in the Blacquernal, where the slaves of +the interior made not the least hesitation, when ordered, to execute +any officer of the court. The two generals had, therefore, no other +alternative, than that which is allowed to two greyhounds who are +reluctantly coupled together. The hope of Achilles Tatius was, that he +might get safely through his mission to Tancred, after which he thought +the successful explosion of the conspiracy might take place and have +its course, either as a matter desired and countenanced by those Latins, +or passed over as a thing in which they took no interest on either side. + +By the parting order of the Emperor, they were to mount on horseback at +the sounding of the great Varangian trumpet, put themselves at the head +of those Anglo-Saxon guards in the court-yard of their barrack, and +await the Emperor's further orders. + +There was something in this arrangement which pressed hard on the +conscience of Achilles Tatius, yet he was at a loss to justify his +apprehensions to himself, unless from a conscious feeling of his own +guilt, he felt, however, that in being detained, under pretence of an +honourable mission, at the head of the Varangians, he was deprived of +the liberty of disposing of himself, by which he had hoped to +communicate with the Caesar and Hereward, whom he reckoned upon as his +active accomplices, not knowing that the first was at this moment a +prisoner in the Blacquernal, where Alexius had arrested him in the +apartments of the Empress, and that the second was the most important +support of Comnenus during the whole of that eventful day. + +When the gigantic trumpet of the Varangian guards sent forth its deep +signal through the city, the Protospathaire hurried Achilles along with +him to the rendezvous of the Varangians, and on the way said to him, in +an easy and indifferent tone, "As the Emperor is in the field in person, +you, his representative, or Follower, will of course transmit no orders +to the body guard, except such as shall receive their origin from +himself, so that you will consider your authority as this day +suspended." + +"I regret," said Achilles, "that there should have seemed any cause for +such precautions; I had hoped my own truth and fidelity--but--I am +obsequious to his imperial pleasure in all things." + +"Such are his orders," said the other officer, "and you know under what +penalty obedience is enforced." + +"If I did not," said Achilles, "the composition of this body of guards +would remind me, since it comprehends not only great part of those +Varangians, who are the immediate defenders of the Emperor's throne, +but those slaves of the interior, who are the executioners of his +pleasure." To this the Protospathaire returned no answer, while the +more closely the Acolyte looked upon the guard which attended, to the +unusual number of nearly three thousand men, the more had he reason to +believe that he might esteem himself fortunate, if, by the intervention +of either the Caesar, Agelastes, or Hereward, he could pass to the +conspirators a signal to suspend the intended explosion, which seemed +to be provided against by the Emperor with unusual caution. He would +have given the full dream of empire, with which he had been for a short +time lulled to sleep, to have seen but a glimpse of the azure plume of +Nicephorus, the white mantle of the philosopher, or even a glimmer of +Hereward's battle-axe. No such objects could be seen anywhere, and not +a little was the faithless Follower displeased to see that whichever +way he turned his eyes, those of the Protospathaire, but especially of +the trusty domestic officers of the empire, seemed to follow and watch +their occupation. + +Amidst the numerous soldiers whom he saw on all sides, his eye did not +recognise a single man with whom he could exchange a friendly or +confidential glance, and he stood in all that agony of terror, which is +rendered the more discomfiting, because the traitor is conscious that, +beset by various foes, his own fears are the most likely of all to +betray him. Internally, as the danger seemed to increase, and as his +alarmed imagination attempted to discern new reasons for it, he could +only conclude that either one of the three principal conspirators, or +at least some of the inferiors, had turned informers; and his doubt was, +whether he should not screen his own share of what had been +premeditated, by flinging himself at the feet of the Emperor, and +making a full confession. But still the fear of being premature in +having recourse to such base means of saving himself, joined to the +absence of the Emperor, united to keep within his lips a secret, which +concerned not only all his future fortunes, but life itself. He was in +the meantime, therefore, plunged as it were in a sea of trouble and +uncertainty, while the specks of land, which seemed to promise him +refuge, were distant, dimly seen, and extremely difficult of attainment. + + + + +CHAPTER THE THIRTY-FIRST. + + To-morrow--oh, that's sudden! Spare him, spare him! + He's not prepared to die. + SHAKSPEARE. + + +At the moment when Achilles Tatius, with a feeling of much insecurity, +awaited the unwinding of the perilous skein of state politics, a +private council of the Imperial family was held in the hall termed the +Temple of the Muses, repeatedly distinguished as the apartment in which +the Princess Anna Comnena was wont to make her evening recitations to +those who were permitted the honour of hearing prelections of her +history. The council consisted of the Empress Irene, the Princess +herself, and the Emperor, with the Patriarch of the Greek Church, as a +sort of mediator between a course of severity and a dangerous degree of +lenity. + +"Tell not me, Irene," said the Emperor, "of the fine things attached to +the praise of mercy. Here have I sacrificed my just revenge over my +rival Ursel, and what good do I obtain by it? Why, the old obstinate +man, instead of being tractable, and sensible of the generosity which +has spared his life and eyes, can be with difficulty brought to exert +himself in favour of the Prince to whom he owes them. I used to think +that eyesight and the breath of life were things which one would +preserve at any sacrifice; but, on the contrary, I now believe men +value them like mere toys. Talk not to me, therefore, of the gratitude +to be excited by saving this ungrateful cub; and believe me, girl," +turning to Anna, "that not only will all my subjects, should I follow +your advice, laugh at me for sparing a man so predetermined to work my +ruin, but even thou thyself wilt be the first to upbraid me with the +foolish kindness thou art now so anxious to extort from me." + +"Your Imperial pleasure, then," said the Patriarch, "is fixed that your +unfortunate son-in-law shall suffer death for his accession to this +conspiracy, deluded by that heathen villain Agelastes, and the +traitorous Achilles Tatius?" + +"Such is my purpose," said the Emperor; "and in evidence that I mean +not again to pass over a sentence of this kind with a seeming execution +only, as in the case of Ursel, this ungrateful traitor of ours shall be +led from the top of the staircase, or ladder of Acheron, as it is +called, through the large chamber named the Hall of Judgment, at the +upper end of which are arranged the apparatus for execution, by which I +swear"---- + +"Swear not at all!" said the Patriarch; "I forbid thee, in the name of +that Heaven whose voice (though unworthy) speaks in my person, to +quench the smoking flax, or destroy the slight hope which there may +remain, that you may finally be persuaded to alter your purpose +respecting your misguided son-in-law, within the space allotted to him +to sue for your mercy. Remember, I pray you, the remorse of +Constantine." + +"What means your reverence?" said Irene. + +"A trifle," replied the Emperor, "not worthy being quoted from such a +mouth as the Patriarch's, being, as it probably is, a relic of +paganism." + +"What is it?" exclaimed the females anxiously, in the hope of hearing +something which might strengthen their side of the argument, and +something moved, perhaps, by curiosity, a motive which seldom slumbers +in a female bosom, even when the stronger passions are in arms. + +"The Patriarch will tell you," answered Alexius, "since you must needs +know; though I promise you, you will not receive any assistance in your +argument from a silly legendary tale." + +"Hear it, however," said the Patriarch; "for though it is a tale of the +olden time, and sometimes supposed to refer to the period when +heathenism predominated, it is no less true, that it was a vow made and +registered in the chancery of the rightful Deity, by an Emperor of +Greece." + +"What I am now to relate to you," continued he, "is, in truth, a tale +not only of a Christian Emperor, but of him who made the whole empire +Christian; and of that very Constantine, who was also the first who +declared Constantinople to be the metropolis of the empire. This hero, +remarkable alike for his zeal for religion and for his warlike +achievements, was crowned by Heaven with repeated victory, and with all +manner of blessings, save that unity in his family which wise men are +most ambitious to possess. Not only was the blessing of concord among +brethren denied to the family of this triumphant Emperor, but a +deserving son of mature age, who had been supposed to aspire to share +the throne with his father, was suddenly, and at midnight, called upon +to enter his defence against a capital charge of treason. You will +readily excuse my referring to the arts by which the son was rendered +guilty in the eyes of the father. Be it enough to say, that the +unfortunate young man fell a victim to the guilt of his step-mother, +Fausta, and that he disdained to exculpate himself from a charge so +gross and so erroneous. It is said, that the anger of the Emperor was +kept up against his son by the sycophants who called upon Constantine +to observe that the culprit disdained even to supplicate for mercy, or +vindicate his innocence from so foul a charge. + +"But the death-blow had no sooner struck the innocent youth, than his +father obtained proof of the rashness with which he had acted. He had +at this period been engaged in constructing the subterranean parts of +the Blacquernal palace, which his remorse appointed to contain a record +of his paternal grief and contrition. At the upper part of the +staircase, called the Pit of Acheron, he caused to be constructed a +large chamber, still called the Hall of Judgment, for the purpose of +execution. A passage through an archway in the upper wall leads from +the hall to the place of misery, where the axe, or other engine, is +disposed for the execution of state prisoners of consequence. Over this +archway was placed a species of marble altar, surmounted by an image of +the unfortunate Crispus--the materials were gold, and it bore the +memorable inscription, TO MY SON, WHOM I RASHLY CONDEMNED, AND TOO +HASTILY EXECUTED. When constructing this passage, Constantine made a +vow, that he himself and his posterity, being reigning Emperors, would +stand beside the statue of Crispus, at the time when any individual of +their family should be led to execution, and before they suffered him +to pass from the Hall of Judgment to the Chamber of Death, that they +should themselves be personally convinced of the truth of the charge +under which he suffered. + +"Time rolled on--the memory of Constantine was remembered almost like +that of a saint, and the respect paid to it threw into shadow the +anecdote of his son's death. The exigencies of the state rendered it +difficult to keep so large a sum in specie invested in a statue, which +called to mind the unpleasant failings of so great a man. Your Imperial +Highness's predecessors applied the metal which formed the statue to +support the Turkish wars; and the remorse and penance of Constantine +died away in an obscure tradition of the Church or of the palace. Still, +however, unless your Imperial Majesty has strong reasons to the +contrary, I shall give it as my opinion, that you will hardly achieve +what is due to the memory of the greatest of your predecessors, unless +you give this unfortunate criminal, being so near a relation of your +own, an opportunity of pleading his cause before passing by the altar +of refuge; being the name which is commonly given to the monument of +the unfortunate Crispus, son of Constantine, although now deprived both +of the golden letters which composed the inscription, and the golden +image which represented the royal sufferer." + +A mournful strain of music was now heard to ascend the stair so often +mentioned. + +"If I must hear the Caesar Nicephorus Briennius, ere he pass the altar +of refuge, there must be no loss of time," said the Emperor; "for these +melancholy sounds announce that he has already approached the Hall of +Judgment." + +Both the Imperial ladies began instantly, with the utmost earnestness, +to deprecate the execution of the Caesar's doom, and to conjure Alexius, +as he hoped for quiet in his household, and the everlasting gratitude +of his wife and daughter, that he would listen to their entreaties in +behalf of an unfortunate man, who had been seduced into guilt, but not +from his heart. + +"I will at least see him," said the Emperor, "and the holy vow of +Constantine shall be in the present instance strictly observed. But +remember, you foolish women, that the state of Crispus and the present +Caesar, is as different as guilt from innocence, and that their fates, +therefore, may be justly decided upon opposite principles, and with +opposite results. But I will confront this criminal; and you, Patriarch, +may be present to render what help is in your power to a dying man; for +you, the wife and mother of the traitor, you will, methinks, do well to +retire to the church, and pray God for the soul of the deceased, rather +than disturb his last moments with unavailing lamentations." + +"Alexius," said the Empress Irene, "I beseech you to be contented; be +assured that we will not leave you in this dogged humour of blood- +shedding, lest you make such materials for history as are fitter for +the time of Nero than of Constantine." + +The Emperor, without reply, led the way into the Hall of Judgment, +where a much stronger light than usual was already shining up the stair +of Acheron, from which were heard to sound, by sullen and intermitted +fits, the penitential psalms which the Greek Church has appointed to be +sung at executions. Twenty mute slaves, the pale colour of whose +turbans gave a ghastly look to the withered cast of their features, and +the glaring whiteness of their eyeballs, ascended two by two, as it +were from the bowels of the earth, each of them bearing in one hand a +naked sabre, and in the other a lighted torch. After these came the +unfortunate Nicephorus; his looks were those of a man half-dead from +the terror of immediate dissolution, and what he possessed of remaining +attention, was turned successively to two black-stoled monks, who were +anxiously repeating religious passages to him alternately from the +Greek scripture, and the form of devotion adopted by the court of +Constantinople. The Caesar's dress also corresponded to his mournful +fortunes: His legs and arms were bare, and a simple white tunic, the +neck of which was already open, showed that ho had assumed the garments +which were to serve his last turn. A tall muscular Nubian slave, who +considered himself obviously as the principal person in the procession, +bore on his shoulder a large heavy headsman's axe, and, like a demon +waiting on a sorcerer, stalked step for step after his victim. The rear +of the procession was closed by a band of four priests, each of whom +chanted from time to time the devotional psalm which was thundered +forth on the occasion; and another of slaves, armed with bows and +quivers, and with lances, to resist any attempt at rescue, if such +should be offered. + +It would have required a harder heart than that of the unlucky princess +to have resisted this gloomy apparatus of fear and sorrow, surrounding, +at the same time directed against, a beloved object, the lover of her +youth, and the husband of her bosom, within a few minutes of the +termination of his mortal career. + +As the mournful train approached towards the altar of refuge, half- +encircled as it now was by the two great and expanded arms which +projected from the wall, the Emperor, who stood directly in the passage, +threw upon the flame of the altar some chips of aromatic wood, steeped +in spirit of wine, which, leaping at once into a blaze, illuminated the +doleful procession, the figure of the principal culprit, and the slaves, +who had most of them extinguished their flambeaux so soon as they had +served the purpose of lighting them up the staircase. + +The sudden light spread from the altar failed not to make the Emperor +and the Princess visible to the mournful group which approached through +the hall. All halted--all were silent. It was a meeting, as the +Princess has expressed herself in her historical work, such as took +place betwixt Ulysses and the inhabitants of the other world, who, when +they tasted of the blood of his sacrifices, recognised him indeed, but +with empty lamentations, and gestures feeble and shadowy. The hymn of +contrition sunk also into silence; and, of the whole group, the only +figure rendered more distinct, was the gigantic executioner, whose high +and furrowed forehead, as well as the broad steel of his axe, caught +and reflected back the bright gleam from the altar. Alexius saw the +necessity of breaking the silence which ensued, lest it should, give +the intercessors for the prisoner an opportunity of renewing their +entreaties. + +"Nicephorus Briennius," he said, with a voice which, although generally +interrupted by a slight hesitation, which procured him, among his +enemies, the nickname of the Stutterer, yet, upon important occasions +like the present, was so judiciously tuned and balanced in its +sentences, that no such defect was at all visible--"Nicephorus +Briennius," he said, "late Caesar, the lawful doom hath been spoken, +that, having conspired against the life of thy rightful sovereign and +affectionate father, Alexius Comnenus, thou shalt suffer the +appropriate sentence, by having thy head struck from thy body. Here, +therefore, at the last altar of refuge, I meet thee, according to the +vow of the immortal Constantine, for the purpose of demanding whether +thou hast any thing to allege why this doom should not be executed? +Even at this eleventh hour, thy tongue is unloosed to speak with +freedom what may concern thy life. All is prepared in this world and in +the next. Look forward beyond yon archway--the block is fixed. Look +behind thee, thou seest the axe already sharpened--thy place for good +or evil in the next world is already determined--time flies--eternity +approaches. If thou hast aught to say, speak it freely--if nought, +confess the justice of thy sentence, and pass on to death." + +The Emperor commenced this oration, with those looks described by his +daughter as so piercing, that they dazzled like lightning, and his +periods, if not precisely flowing like burning lava, were yet the +accents of a man having the power of absolute command, and as such +produced an effect not only on the criminal, but also upon the Prince +himself, whose watery eyes and faltering voice acknowledged his sense +and feeling of the fatal import of the present moment. + +Rousing himself to the conclusion of what he had commenced, the Emperor +again demanded whether the prisoner had any thing to say in his own +defence. + +Nicephorus was not one of those hardened criminals who may be termed +the very prodigies of history, from the coolness with which they +contemplated the consummation of their crimes, whether in their own +punishment, or the misfortunes of others. "I have been tempted," he +said, dropping on his knees, "and I have fallen. I have nothing to +allege in excuse of my folly and ingratitude; but I stand prepared to +die to expiate my guilt," A deep sigh, almost amounting to a scream, +was here heard, close behind the Emperor, and its cause assigned by the +sudden exclamation of Irene,--"My lord! my lord! your daughter is +gone!" And in fact Anna Comnena had sunk into her mother's arms without +either sense or motion. The father's attention was instantly called to +support his swooning child, while the unhappy husband strove with the +guards to be permitted to go to the assistance of his wife. "Give me +but five minutes of that time which the law has abridged--let my +efforts but assist in recalling her to a life which should be as long +as her virtues and her talents deserve; and then let me die at her feet, +for I care not to go an inch beyond." + +The Emperor, who in fact had been more astonished at the boldness and +rashness of Nicephorus, than alarmed by his power, considered him as a +man rather misled than misleading others, and felt, therefore, the full +effect of this last interview. He was, besides, not naturally cruel, +where severities were to be enforced under his own eye. + +"The divine and immortal Constantine," he said, "did not, I am +persuaded, subject his descendants to this severe trial, in order +further to search out the innocence of the criminals, but rather to +give to those who came after him an opportunity of generously forgiving +a crime which could not, without pardon--the express pardon of the +Prince--escape unpunished. I rejoice that I am born of the willow +rather than of the oak, and I acknowledge my weakness, that not even +the safety of my own life, or resentment of this unhappy man's +treasonable machinations, have the same effect with me as the tears of +my wife, and the swooning of my daughter. Rise up, Nicephorus Briennius, +freely pardoned, and restored even to the rank of Caesar. We will +direct thy pardon to be made out by the great Logothete, and sealed +with the golden bull. For four-and-twenty hours thou art a prisoner, +until an arrangement is made for preserving the public peace. Meanwhile, +thou wilt remain under the charge of the Patriarch, who will be +answerable for thy forthcoming.--Daughter and wife, you must now go +hence to your own apartment; a future time will come, during which you +may have enough of weeping and embracing, mourning and rejoicing. Pray +Heaven that I, who, having been trained on till I have sacrificed +justice and true policy to uxorious compassion and paternal tenderness +of heart, may not have cause at last for grieving in good earnest for +all the events of this miscellaneous drama." + +The pardoned Caesar, who endeavoured to regulate his ideas according to +this unexpected change, found it as difficult to reconcile himself to +the reality of his situation as Ursel to the face of nature, after +having been long deprived of enjoying it; so much do the dizziness and +confusion of ideas, occasioned by moral and physical causes of surprise +and terror, resemble each other in their effects on the understanding. + +At length he stammered forth a request that he might be permitted to go +to the field with the Emperor, and divert, by the interposition of his +own body, the traitorous blows which some desperate man might aim +against that of his Prince, in a day which was too likely to be one of +danger and bloodshed. + +"Hold there!" said Alexius Comnenus;--"we will not begin thy newly- +redeemed life by renewed doubts of thine allegiance; yet it is but +fitting to remind thee, that thou art still the nominal and ostensible +head of those who expect to take a part in this day's insurrection, and +it will be the safest course to trust its pacification to others than +to thee. Go, sir, compare notes with the Patriarch, and merit your +pardon by confessing to him any traitorous intentions concerning this +foul conspiracy with which we may be as yet unacquainted.--Daughter and +wife, farewell! I must now depart for the lists, where I have to speak +with the traitor Achilles Tatius and the heathenish infidel Agelastes, +if he still lives, but of whose providential death I hear a confirmed +rumour." + +"Yet do not go, my dearest father!" said the Princess; "but let me +rather go to encourage the loyal subjects in your behalf. The extreme +kindness which you have extended towards my guilty husband, convinces +me of the extent of your affection towards your unworthy daughter, and +the greatness of the sacrifice which you have made to her almost +childish affection for an ungrateful man who put your life in danger." + +"That is to say, daughter," said the Emperor, smiling, "that the pardon +of your husband is a boon which has lost its merit when it is granted. +Take my advice, Anna, and think otherwise; wives and their husbands +ought in prudence to forget their offences towards each other as soon +as human nature will permit them. Life is too short, and conjugal +tranquillity too uncertain, to admit of dwelling long upon such +irritating subjects. To your apartments, Princesses, and prepare the +scarlet-buskins, and the embroidery which is displayed on the cuffs and +collars of the Caesar's robe, indicative of his high rank. He must not +be seen without them on the morrow.--Reverend father, I remind you once +more that the Caesar is in your personal custody from this moment until +to-morrow at the same hour." + +They parted; the Emperor repairing to put himself at the head of his +Varangian guards--the Caesar, under the superintendence of the +Patriarch, withdrawing into the interior of the Blacquernal Palace, +where Nicephorus Briennius was under the necessity of "unthreading the +rude eye of rebellion," and throwing such lights as were in his power +upon the progress of the conspiracy. + +"Agelastes," he said, "Achilles Tatius, and Hereward the Varangian, +were the persons principally entrusted in its progress. But whether +they had been all true to their engagements, he did not pretend to be +assured." + +In the female apartments, there was a violent discussion betwixt Anna +Comnena and her mother. The Princess had undergone during the day many +changes of sentiment and feeling; and though they had finally united +themselves into one strong interest in her husband's favour, yet no +sooner was the fear of his punishment removed, than the sense of his +ungrateful behaviour began to revive. She became sensible also that a +woman of her extraordinary attainments, who had been by a universal +course of flattery disposed to entertain a very high opinion of her own +consequence, made rather a poor figure when she had been the passive +subject of a long series of intrigues, by which she was destined to be +disposed of in one way or the other, according to the humour of a set +of subordinate conspirators, who never so much as dreamed of regarding +her as a being capable of forming a wish in her own behalf, or even +yielding or refusing a consent. Her father's authority over her, and +right to dispose of her, was less questionable; but even then it was +something derogatory to the dignity of a Princess born in the purple-- +an authoress besides, and giver of immortality--to be, without her own +consent, thrown, as it were, at the head now of one suitor, now of +another, however mean or disgusting, whose alliance could for the time +benefit the Emperor. The consequence of these moody reflections, was +that Anna Comnena deeply toiled in spirit for the discovery of some +means by which she might assert her sullied dignity, and various were +the expedients which she revolved. + + + + +CHAPTER THE THIRTY-SECOND. + + But now the hand of fate is on the curtain, + And brings the scene to light. + DON SEBASTIAN. + + +The gigantic trumpet of the Varangians sounded its loudest note of +march, and the squadrons of the faithful guards, sheathed in complete +mail, and enclosing in their centre the person of their Imperial master, +set forth upon their procession through the streets of Constantinople. +The form of Alexius, glittering in his splendid armour, seemed no +unmeet central point for the force of an empire; and while the citizens +crowded in the train of him and his escort, there might be seen a +visible difference between those who came with the premeditated +intention of tumult, and the greater part, who, like the multitude of +every great city, thrust each other and shout for rapture on account of +any cause for which a crowd may be collected together. The hope of the +conspirators was lodged chiefly in the Immortal Guards, who were levied +principally for the defence of Constantinople, partook of the general +prejudices of the citizens, and had been particularly influenced by +those in favour of Ursel, by whom, previous to his imprisonment, they +had themselves been commanded. The conspirators had determined that +those of this body who were considered as most discontented, should +early in the morning take possession of the posts in the lists most +favourable for their purpose of assaulting the Emperor's person. But, +in spite of all efforts short of actual violence, for which the time +did not seem to be come, they found themselves disappointed in this +purpose, by parties of the Varangian guards, planted with apparent +carelessness, but in fact, with perfect skill, for the prevention of +their enterprise. Somewhat confounded at perceiving that a design, +which they could not suppose to be suspected, was, nevertheless, on +every part controlled and counter-checked, the conspirators began to +look for the principal persons of their own party, on whom they +depended for orders in this emergency; but neither the Caesar nor +Agelastes was to be seen, whether in the lists or on the military march +from Constantinople: and though Achilles Tatius rode in the latter +assembly, yet it might be clearly observed that he was rather attending +upon the Protospathaire, than, assuming that independence as an officer +which he loved to affect. + +In this manner, as the Emperor with his glittering bands approached the +phalanx of Tancred and his followers, who were drawn up, it will be +remembered, upon a rising cape between the city and the lists, the main +body of the Imperial procession deflected in some degree from the +straight road, in order to march past them without interruption; while +the Protospathaire and the Acolyte passed under the escort of a band of +Varangians, to bear the Emperor's inquiries to Prince Tancred, +concerning the purpose of his being there with his band. The short +march was soon performed--the large trumpet which attended the two +officers sounded a parley, and Tancred himself, remarkable for that +personal beauty which Tasso has preferred to any of the crusaders, +except Rinaldo d'Este, the creatures of his own poetical imagination, +advanced to parley with them. + +"The Emperor of Greece," said the Protospathaire to Tancred, "requires +the Prince of Otranto to show, by the two high officers who shall +deliver him this message, with what purpose he has returned, contrary +to his oath, to the right side of these straits; assuring Prince +Tancred at the same time, that nothing will so much please the Emperor, +as to receive an answer not at variance with his treaty with the Duke +of Bouillon, and the oath which was taken by the crusading nobles and +their soldiers; since that would enable the Emperor, in conformity to +his own wishes, by his kind reception of Prince Tancred and his troop, +to show how high is his estimation of the dignity of the one, and the +bravery of both--We wait an answer." + +The tone of the message had nothing in it very alarming, and its +substance cost Prince Tancred very little trouble to answer. "The +cause," he said, "of the Prince of Otranto appearing here with fifty +lances, is this cartel, in which a combat is appointed betwixt +Nicephorus Briennius, called the Caesar, a high member of this empire, +and a worthy knight of great fame, the partner of the Pilgrims who have +taken the Cross, in their high vow to rescue Palestine from the +infidels. The name of the said Knight is the redoubted Robert of Paris. +It becomes, therefore, an obligation, indispensable upon the Holy +Pilgrims of the Crusade, to send one chief of their number, with a body +of men-at-arms, sufficient to see, as is usual, fair play between the +combatants. That such is their intention, may be seen from, their +sending no more than fifty lances, with their furniture and following; +whereas it would have cost them no trouble to have detached ten times +the number, had they nourished any purpose of interfering by force, or +disturbing the fair combat which is about to take place. The Prince of +Otranto, therefore, and his followers, will place themselves at the +disposal of the Imperial Court, and witness the proceedings of the +combat, with the most perfect confidence that the rules of fair battle +will be punctually observed." + +The two Grecian officers transmitted this reply to the Emperor, who +heard it with pleasure, and immediately proceeding to act upon the +principle which he had laid down, of maintaining peace, if possible, +with the crusaders, named Prince Tancred with the Protospathaire as +Field Marshals of the lists, fully empowered, under the Emperor, to +decide all the terms of the combat, and to have recourse to Alexius +himself where their opinions disagreed. This was made known to the +assistants, who were thus prepared for the entry into the lists of the +Grecian officer and the Italian Prince in full armour, while a +proclamation announced to all the spectators their solemn office. The +same annunciation commanded the assistants of every kind to clear a +convenient part of the seats which surrounded the lists on one side, +that it might serve for the accommodation of Prince Tancred's followers. + +Achilles Tatius, who was a heedful observer of all these passages, saw +with alarm, that by the last collocation the armed Latins were +interposed between the Immortal Guards and the discontented citizens, +which made it most probable that the conspiracy was discovered, and +that Alexius found he had a good right to reckon upon the assistance of +Tancred and his forces in the task of suppressing it. This, added to +the cold and caustic manner in which the Emperor communicated his +commands to him, made the Acolyte of opinion, that his best chance of +escape from the danger in which he was now placed, was, that the whole +conspiracy should fall to the ground, and that the day should pass +without the least attempt to shake the throne of Alexius Comnenus. Even +then it continued highly doubtful, whether a despot, so wily and so +suspicious as the Emperor, would think it sufficient to rest satisfied +with the private knowledge of the undertaking, and its failure, with +which he appeared to be possessed, without putting into exercise the +bow-strings and the blinding-irons of the mutes of the interior. There +was, however, little possibility either of flight or of resistance. The +least attempt to withdraw himself from the neighbourhood of those +faithful followers of the Emperor, personal foes of his own, by whom he +was gradually and more closely surrounded, became each moment more +perilous, and more certain to provoke a rupture, which it was the +interest of the weaker party to delay, with whatever difficulty. And +while the soldiers under Achilles's immediate authority seemed still to +treat him as their superior officer, and appeal to him for the word of +command, it became more and more evident that the slightest degree of +suspicion which should be excited, would be the instant signal for his +being placed under arrest. With a trembling heart, therefore, and eyes +dimmed by the powerful idea of soon parting with the light of day, and +all that it made visible, the Acolyte saw himself condemned to watch +the turn of circumstances over which he could have no influence, and to +content himself with waiting the result of a drama, in which his own +life was concerned, although the piece was played by others. Indeed, it +seemed as if through the whole assembly some signal was waited for, +which no one was in readiness to give. + +The discontented citizens and soldiers looked in vain for Agelastes and +the Caesar, and when they observed the condition of Achilles Tatius, it +seemed such as rather to express doubt and consternation, than to give +encouragement to the hopes they had entertained. Many of the lower +classes, however, felt too secure in their own insignificance to fear +the personal consequences of a tumult, and were desirous, therefore, to +provoke the disturbance, which seemed hushing itself to sleep. + +A hoarse murmur, which attained almost the importance of a shout, +exclaimed,--"Justice, justice!--Ursel, Ursel!--The rights of the +Immortal Guards!" &c. At this the trumpet of the Varangians awoke, and +its tremendous tones were heard to peal loudly over the whole assembly, +as the voice of its presiding deity. A dead silence prevailed in the +multitude, and the voice of a herald announced, in the name of Alexius +Comnenus, his sovereign will and pleasure. + +"Citizens of the Roman Empire, your complaints, stirred up by factious +men, have reached the ear of your Emperor; you shall yourselves be +witness to his power of gratifying his people. At your request, and +before your own sight, the visual ray which hath been quenched shall be +re-illumined--the mind whose efforts were restricted to the imperfect +supply of individual wants shall be again extended, if such is the +owner's will, to the charge of an ample Theme or division of the empire. +Political jealousy, more hard to receive conviction than the blind to +receive sight, shall yield itself conquered, by the Emperor's paternal +love of his people, and his desire to give them satisfaction. Ursel, +the darling of your wishes, supposed to be long dead, or at least +believed to exist in blinded seclusion, is restored to you well in +health, clear in eyesight, and possessed of every faculty necessary to +adorn the Emperor's favour, or merit the affection of the people." + +As the herald thus spoke, a figure, which had hitherto stood shrouded +behind some officers of the interior, now stepped forth, and flinging +from him a dusky veil, in which he was wrapt, appeared in a dazzling +scarlet garment, of which the sleeves and buskins displayed those +ornaments which expressed a rank nearly adjacent to that of the Emperor +himself. He held in his hand a silver truncheon, the badge of delegated +command over the Immortal Guards, and kneeling before the Emperor, +presented it to his hands, intimating a virtual resignation of the +command which it implied. The whole assembly were electrified at the +appearance of a person long supposed either dead, or by cruel means +rendered incapable of public trust. Some recognised the man, whose +appearance and features were not easily forgot, and gratulated him upon +his most unexpected return to the service of his country. Others stood +suspended in amazement, not knowing whether to trust their eyes, while +a few determined malecontents eagerly pressed upon the assembly an +allegation that the person presented as Ursel was only a counterfeit, +and the whole a trick of the Emperor. + +"Speak to them, noble Ursel," said the Emperor. "Tell them, that if I +have sinned against thee, it has been because I was deceived, and that +my disposition to make thee amends is as ample as ever was my purpose +of doing thee wrong." + +"Friends and countrymen," said Ursel, turning himself to the assembly, +"his Imperial Majesty permits me to offer my assurance, that if in any +former part of my life I have suffered at his hand, it is more than +wiped out by the feelings of a moment so glorious as this; and that I +am well satisfied, from the present instant, to spend what remains of +my life in the service of the most generous and beneficent of +sovereigns, or, with his permission, to bestow it in preparing, by +devotional exercises, for an infinite immortality to be spent in the +society of saints and angels. Whichever choice I shall make, I reckon +that you, my beloved countrymen, who have remembered me so kindly +during years of darkness and captivity, will not fail to afford me the +advantage of your prayers." + +This sudden apparition of the long-lost Ursel had too much of that +which elevates and surprises not to captivate the multitude, and they +sealed their reconciliation with three tremendous shouts, which are +said to have shaken the air, that birds, incapable of sustaining +themselves, sunk down exhausted out of their native element. + + + + +CHAPTER THE THIRTY-THIRD. + + "What, leave the combat out!" exclaimed the knight. + "Yea! or we must renounce the Stagyrite. + So large a crowd the stage will ne'er contain." + --"Then build a new, or act it on a plain." + POPE. + + +The sounds of the gratulating shout had expanded over the distant +shores of the Bosphorus by mountain and forest, and died at length in +the farthest echoes, when the people, in the silence which ensued, +appeared to ask each other what next scene was about to adorn a pause +so solemn and a stage so august. The pause would probably have soon +given place to some new clamour, for a multitude, from whatever cause +assembled, seldom remains long silent, had not a new signal from the +Varangian trumpet given notice of a fresh purpose to solicit their +attention. The blast had something in its tone spirit-stirring and yet +melancholy, partaking both of the character of a point of war, and of +the doleful sounds which might be chosen to announce an execution of +peculiar solemnity. Its notes were high and widely extended, and +prolonged and long dwelt upon, as if the brazen clamour had been waked +by something more tremendous than the lungs of mere mortals. + +The multitude appeared to acknowledge these awful sounds, which were +indeed such as habitually solicited their attention to Imperial edicts, +of melancholy import, by which rebellions were announced, dooms of +treason discharged, and other tidings of a great and affecting import +intimated to the people of Constantinople. When the trumpet had in its +turn ceased, with its thrilling and doleful notes, to agitate the +immense assembly, the voice of the herald again addressed them. + +It announced in a grave and affecting strain, that it sometimes chanced +how the people failed in their duty to a sovereign, who was unto them +as a father, and how it became the painful duty of the prince to use +the rod of correction rather than the olive sceptre of mercy. + +"Fortunate," continued the herald, "it is, when the supreme Deity +having taken on himself the preservation of a throne, in beneficence +and justice resembling his own, has also assumed the most painful task +of his earthly delegate, by punishing those whom his unerring judgment +acknowledges as most guilty, and leaving to his substitute the more +agreeable task of pardoning such of those as art has misled, and +treachery hath involved in its snares. + +"Such being the case, Greece and its accompanying Themes are called +upon to listen and learn that a villain, namely Agelastes, who had +insinuated himself into the favour of the Emperor, by affection of deep +knowledge and severe virtue, had formed a treacherous plan for the +murder of the Emperor Alexius Comnenus, and a revolution in the state. +This person, who, under pretended wisdom, hid the doctrines of a +heretic and the vices of a sensualist, had found proselytes to his +doctrines even among the Emperor's household, and those persons who +were most bound to him, and down to the lower order, to excite the last +of whom were dispersed a multitude of forged rumours, similar to those +concerning Ursol's death and blindness, of which your own eyes have +witnessed the falsehood." + +The people, who had hitherto listened in silence, upon this appeal +broke forth in a clamorous assent. They had scarcely been again silent, +ere the iron-voiced herald continued his proclamation. + +"Not Korah, Dathan, and Abiram," he said, "had more justly, or more +directly fallen under the doom of an offended Deity, than this villain, +Agelastes. The steadfast earth gaped to devour the apostate sons of +Israel, but the termination of this wretched man's existence has been, +as far as can now be known, by the direct means of an evil spirit, whom +his own arts had evoked into the upper air. By the spirit, as would +appear by the testimony of a noble lady, and other females, who +witnessed the termination of his life, Agelastes was strangled, a fate +well-becoming his odious crimes. Such a death, even of a guilty man, +must, indeed, be most painful to the humane feelings of the Emperor, +because it involves suffering beyond this world. But the awful +catastrophe carries with it this comfort, that it absolves the Emperor +from the necessity of carrying any farther a vengeance which Heaven +itself seems to have limited to the exemplary punishment of the +principal conspirator. Some changes of offices and situations shall be +made, for the sake of safety and good order; but the secret who had or +who had not, been concerned in this awful crime, shall sleep in the +bosoms of the persons themselves implicated, since the Emperor is +determined to dismiss their offence from his memory, as the effect of a +transient delusion. Let all, therefore, who now hear me, whatever +consciousness they may possess of a knowledge of what was this day +intended, return to their houses, assured that their own thoughts will +be their only punishment. Let them rejoice that Almighty goodness has +saved them from the meditations of their own hearts, and, according to +the affecting language of Scripture,--'Let them repent and sin no more, +lest a worse thing befall them.'" + +The voice of the herald then ceased, and was again answered by the +shouts of the audience. These were unanimous; for circumstances +contributed to convince the malecontent party that they stood at the +Sovereign's mercy, and the edict that they heard having shown his +acquaintance with their guilt, it lay at his pleasure to let loose upon +them the strength of the Varangians, while, from the terms on which it +had pleased him to receive Tancred, it was probable that the Apuleian +forces were also at his disposal. + +The voices, therefore, of the bulky Stephanos, of Harpax the centurion, +and other rebels, both of the camp and city, were the first to thunder +forth their gratitude for the clemency of the Emperor, and their thanks +to Heaven for his preservation. + +The audience, reconciled to the thoughts of the discovered and +frustrated conspiracy, began meantime, according to their custom, to +turn themselves to the consideration of the matter which had more +avowedly called them together, and private whispers, swelling by +degrees into murmurs, began to express the dissatisfaction of the +citizens at being thus long assembled, without receiving any +communication respecting the announced purpose of their meeting. + +Alexius was not slow to perceive the tendency of their thoughts; and, +on a signal from his hand, the trumpets blew a point of war, in sounds +far more lively than those which had prefaced the Imperial edict. +"Robert, Count of Paris," then said a herald, "art thou here in thy +place, or by knightly proxy, to answer the challenge brought against +thee by his Imperial Highness Nicephorus Briennius, Caesar of this +empire?" + +The Emperor conceived himself to have equally provided against the +actual appearance at this call of either of the parties named, and had +prepared an exhibition of another kind, namely, certain cages, tenanted +by wild animals, which being now loosened should do their pleasure with +each other in the eyes of the assembly. His astonishment and confusion, +therefore, were great, when, as the last note of the proclamation died +in the echo, Count Robert of Paris stood forth, armed cap-a-pie, his +mailed charger led behind him from within the curtained enclosure, at +one end of the lists, as if ready to mount at the signal of the marshal. + +The alarm and the shame that were visible in every countenance near the +Imperial presence when no Caesar came forth in like fashion to confront +the formidable Frank, were not of long duration. Hardly had the style +and title of the Count of Paris been duly announced by the heralds, and +their second summons of his antagonist uttered in due form, when a +person, dressed like one of the Varangian Guards, sprung into the lists, +and announced himself as ready to do battle in the name and place of +the Caesar Nicephorus Briennius, and for the honour of the empire. + +Alexius, with the utmost joy, beheld this unexpected assistance, and +readily gave his consent to the bold soldier who stood thus forward in +the hour of utmost need, to take upon himself the dangerous office of +champion. He the more readily acquiesced, as, from the size and +appearance of the soldier, and the gallant bearing he displayed, he had +no doubt of his individual person, and fully confided in his valour. +But Prince Tancred interposed his opposition. + +"The lists," he said, "were only open to knights and nobles; or, at any +rate, men were not permitted to meet therein who were not of some +equality of birth and blood; nor could he remain a silent witness where +the laws of chivalry are in such respects forgotten." + +"Let Count Robert of Paris," said the Varangian, "look upon my +countenance, and say whether he has not, by promise, removed all +objection to our contest which might be founded upon an inequality of +condition, and let him be judge himself, whether, by meeting me in this +field, he will do more than comply with a compact which he has long +since become bound by." + +Count Robert, upon this appeal, advanced and acknowledged, without +further debate, that, notwithstanding their difference of rank, he held +himself bound by his solemn word to give this valiant soldier a meeting +in the field. That he regretted, on account of this gallant man's +eminent virtues, and the high services he had received at his hands, +that they should now stand upon terms of such bloody arbitration; but +since nothing was more common, than that the fate of war called on +friends to meet each other in mortal combat, he would not shrink from +the engagement he had pledged himself to; nor did he think his quality +in the slightest degree infringed or diminished, by meeting in battle a +warrior so well known and of such good account as Hereward, the brave +Varangian. He added, that "he willingly admitted that the combat should +take place on foot, and with the battle-axe, which was the ordinary +weapon of the Varangian guard." + +Hereward had stood still, almost like a statue, while this discourse +passed; but when the Count of Paris had made this speech, he inclined +himself towards him with a grateful obeisance, and expressed himself +honoured and gratified by the manly manner in which the Count acquitted +himself, according to his promise, with complete honour and fidelity. + +"What we are to do," said Count Robert, with a sigh of regret, which +even his love of battle could not prevent, "let us do quickly; the +heart may be affected, but the hand must do its duty." + +Hereward assented, with the additional remark, "Let us then lose no +more time, which is already flying fast." And, grasping his axe, he +stood prepared for combat. + +"I also am ready," said Count Robert of Paris, taking the same weapon +from a Varangian soldier, who stood by the lists. Both were immediately +upon the alert, nor did further forms or circumstances put off the +intended duel. + +The first blows were given and parried with great caution, and Prince +Tancred and others thought that on the part of Count Robert the caution +was much greater than usual; but, in combat as in food, the appetite +increases with the exercise. The fiercer passions began, as usual, to +awaken with the clash of arms and the sense of deadly blows, some of +which were made with great fury on either side, and parried with +considerable difficulty, and not so completely but that blood flowed on +both their parts. The Greeks looked with astonishment on a single +combat, such as they had seldom witnessed, and held their breath as +they beheld the furious blows dealt by either warrior, and expected +with each stroke the annihilation of one or other of the combatants. As +yet their strength and agility seemed somewhat equally matched, +although those who judged with more pretension to knowledge, were of +opinion, that Count Robert spared putting forth some part of the +military skill for which he was celebrated; and the remark was +generally made and allowed that he had surrendered a great advantage by +not insisting upon his right to fight upon horseback. On the other hand, +it was the general opinion that the gallant Varangian omitted to take +advantage of one or two opportunities afforded him by the heat of Count +Robert's temper, who obviously was incensed at the duration of the +combat. + +Accident at length seemed about to decide what had been hitherto an +equal contest. Count Robert, making a feint on one side of his +antagonist, struck him on the other, which was uncovered, with the edge +of his weapon, so that the Varangian reeled, and seemed in the act of +falling to the earth. The usual sound made by spectators at the sight +of any painful or unpleasant circumstance, by drawing the breath +between the teeth, was suddenly heard to pass through the assembly, +while a female voice loud and eagerly exclaimed,--"Count Robert of +Paris!--forget not this day that thou owest a life to Heaven and me." +The Count was in the act of again seconding his blow, with what effect +could hardly be judged, when this cry reached his ears, and apparently +took away his disposition for farther combat. + +"I acknowledge the debt," he said, sinking his battle-axe, and +retreating two steps from his antagonist, who stood in astonishment, +scarcely recovered from the stunning effect of the blow by which he was +so nearly prostrated. He sank the blade of his battle-axe in imitation +of his antagonist, and seemed to wait in suspense what was to be the +next process of the combat. "I acknowledge my debt," said the valiant +Count of Paris, "alike to Bertha of Britain and to the Almighty, who +has preserved me from the crime of ungrateful blood-guiltiness.--You +have seen the fight, gentlemen," turning to Tancred and his chivalry, +"and can testify, on your honour, that it has been maintained fairly on +both sides, and without advantage on either. I presume my honourable +antagonist has by this time satisfied the desire which brought me under +his challenge, and which certainly had no taste in it of personal or +private quarrel. On my part, I retain towards him such a sense of +personal obligation as would render my continuing this combat, unless +compelled to it by self-defence, a shameful and sinful action." + +Alexius gladly embraced the terms of truce, which he was far from +expecting, and threw down his warder, in signal that the duel was ended. +Tancred, though somewhat surprised, and perhaps even scandalized, that +a private soldier of the Emperor's guard should have so long resisted +the utmost efforts of so approved a knight, could not but own that the +combat had been fought with perfect fairness and equality, and decided +upon terms dishonourable to neither party. The Count's character being +well known and established amongst the crusaders, they were compelled +to believe that some motive of a most potent nature formed the +principle upon which, very contrary to his general practice, he had +proposed a cessation of the combat before it was brought to a deadly, +or at least to a decisive conclusion. The edict of the Emperor upon the +occasion, therefore, passed into a law, acknowledged by the assent of +the chiefs present, and especially affirmed and gratulated by the +shouts of the assembled spectators. + +But perhaps the most interesting figure in the assembly was that of the +bold Varangian, arrived so suddenly at a promotion of military renown, +which the extreme difficulty he had experienced in keeping his ground +against Count Robert had prevented him from anticipating, although his +modesty had not diminished the indomitable courage with which he +maintained the contest. He stood in the middle of the lists, his face +ruddy with the exertion of the combat, and not less so from the modest +consciousness proper to the plainness and simplicity of his character, +which was disconcerted by finding himself the central point of the gaze +of the multitude. + +"Speak to me, my soldier," said Alexius, strongly affected by the +gratitude which he felt was due to Hereward upon so singular an +occasion, "speak to thine Emperor as his superior, for such thou art at +this moment, and tell him if there is any manner, even at the expense +of half his kingdom, to atone for his own life saved, and, what is yet +dearer, for the honour of his country, which thou hast so manfully +defended and preserved?" + +"My Lord," answered Hereward, "your Imperial Highness values my poor +services over highly, and ought to attribute them to the noble Count of +Paris, first, for his condescending to accept of an antagonist so mean +in quality as myself; and next, in generously relinquishing victory +when he might have achieved it by an additional blow; for I here +confess before your Majesty, my brethren, and the assembled Grecians, +that my power of protracting the combat was ended, when the gallant +Count, by his generosity, put a stop to it." + +"Do not thyself that wrong, brave man," said Count Robert; "for I vow +to our Lady of the Broken Lances, that the combat was yet within the +undetermined doom of Providence, when the pressure of my own feelings +rendered me incapable of continuing it, to the necessary harm, perhaps +to the mortal damage, of an antagonist to whom I owe so much kindness. +Choose, therefore, the recompense which the generosity of thy Emperor +offers in a manner so just and grateful, and fear not lest mortal voice +pronounces that reward unmerited which Robert of Paris shall avouch +with his sword to have been gallantly won upon his own crest." + +"You are too great, my lord, and too noble," answered the Anglo-Saxon, +"to be gainsaid by such as I am, and I must not awaken new strife +between us by contesting the circumstances under which our combat so +suddenly closed, nor would it be wise or prudent in me further to +contradict you. My noble Emperor generously offers me the right of +naming what he calls my recompense; but let not his generosity be +dispraised, although it is from you, my lord, and not from his Imperial +Highness, that I am to ask a boon, to me the dearest to which my voice +can give utterance." + +"And that," said the Count, "has reference to Bertha, the faithful +attendant of my wife?" + +"Even so," said Hereward; "it is my proposal to request my discharge +from the Varangian guard, and permission to share in your lordship's +pious and honourable vow for the recovery of Palestine, with liberty to +fight under your honoured banner, and permission from time to time to +recommend my love-suit to Bertha, the attendant of the Countess of +Paris, and the hope that it may find favour in the eyes of her noble +lord and lady. I may thus finally hope to be restored to a country, +which I have never ceased to love over the rest of the world." + +"Thy service, noble soldier," said the Count, "shall be as acceptable +to me as that of a born earl; nor is there an opportunity of acquiring +honour which I can shape for thee, to which, as it occurs, I will not +gladly prefer thee. I will not boast of what interest I have with the +King of England, but something I can do with him, and it shall be +strained to the uttermost to settle thee in thine own beloved native +country." + +The Emperor then spoke. "Bear witness, heaven and earth, and you my +faithful subjects, and you my gallant allies; above all, you my bold +and true Varangian Guard, that we would rather have lost the brightest +jewel from our Imperial crown, than have relinquished the service of +this true and faithful Anglo-Saxon. But since go he must and will, it +shall be my study to distinguish him by such marks of beneficence as +may make it known through his future life, that he is the person to +whom the Emperor Alexius Comnenus acknowledged a debt larger than his +empire could discharge. You, my Lord Tancred, and your principal +leaders, will sup with us this evening, and to-morrow resume your +honourable and religious purpose of pilgrimage. We trust both the +combatants will also oblige us by their presence.--Trumpets, give the +signal for dismission." + +The trumpets sounded accordingly, and the different classes of +spectators, armed and unarmed, broke up into various parties, or formed +into their military ranks, for the purpose of their return to the city. + +The screams of women suddenly and strangely raised, was the first thing +that arrested the departure of the multitude, when those who glanced +their eyes back, saw Sylvan, the great ourang-outang, produce himself +in the lists, to their surprise and astonishment. The women, and many +of the men who were present, unaccustomed to the ghastly look and +savage appearance of a creature so extraordinary, raised a yell of +terror so loud, that it discomposed the animal who was the occasion of +its being raised. Sylvan, in the course of the night, having escaped +over the garden-wall of Agelastes, and clambered over the rampart of +the city, found no difficulty in hiding himself in the lists which were +in the act of being raised, having found a lurking-place in some dark +corner under the seats of the spectators. From this he was probably +dislodged by the tumult of the dispersing multitude, and had been +compelled, therefore, to make an appearance in public when he least +desired it, not unlike that of the celebrated Puliccinello, at the +conclusion of his own drama, when he enters in mortal strife with the +foul fiend himself, a scene which scarcely excites more terror among +the juvenile audience, than did the unexpected apparition of Sylvan +among the spectators of the duel. Bows were bent, and javelins pointed +by the braver part of the soldiery, against an animal of an appearance +so ambiguous, and whom his uncommon size and grizzly look caused most +who beheld him to suppose either the devil himself, or the apparition +of some fiendish deity of ancient days, whom the heathens worshipped. +Sylvan had so far improved such opportunities as had been afforded him, +as to become sufficiently aware that the attitudes assumed by so many +military men, inferred immediate danger to his person, from which he +hastened to shelter himself by flying to the protection of Hereward, +with whom he had been in some degree familiarized. He seized him, +accordingly, by the cloak, and, by the absurd and alarmed look of his +fantastic features, and a certain wild and gibbering chatter, +endeavoured to express his fear and to ask protection. Hereward +understood the terrified creature, and turning to the Emperor's throne, +said aloud,--"Poor frightened being, turn thy petition, and gestures, +and tones, to a quarter which, having to-day pardoned so many offences +which were wilfully and maliciously schemed, will not be, I am sure, +obdurate to such as thou, in thy half-reasoning capacity, may have been +capable of committing." + +The creature, as is the nature of its tribe, caught from Hereward +himself the mode of applying with most effect his gestures and pitiable +supplication, while the Emperor, notwithstanding the serious scene +which had just past, could not help laughing at the touch of comedy +flung into it by this last incident. + +"My trusty Hereward,"--he said aside, ("I will not again call him +Edward if I can help it)--thou art the refuge of the distressed, +whether it be man or beast, and nothing that sues through thy +intercession, while thou remainest in our service, shall find its +supplication in vain. Do thou, good Hereward," for the name was now +pretty well established in his Imperial memory, "and such of thy +companions as know the habits of the creature, lead him back to his old +quarters in the Blacquernal; and that done, my friend, observe that we +request thy company, and that of thy faithful mate Bertha, to partake +supper at our court, with our wife and daughter, and such of our +servants and allies as we shall request to share the same honour. Be +assured, that while thou remainest with us, there is no point of +dignity which shall not be willingly paid to thee.--And do thou +approach, Achilles Tatius, as much favoured by thine Emperor as before +this day dawned. What charges are against thee have been only whispered +in a friendly ear, which remembers them not, unless (which Heaven +forefend!) their remembrance is renewed by fresh offences." + +Achilles Tatius bowed till the plume of his helmet mingled with the +mane of his fiery horse, but held it wisest to forbear any answer in +words, leaving his crime and his pardon to stand upon those general +terms in which the Emperor had expressed them. + +Once more the multitude of all ranks returned on their way to the city, +nor did any second interruption arrest their march. Sylvan, accompanied +by one or two Varangians, who led him in a sort of captivity, took his +way to the vaults of the Blacquernal, which were in fact his proper +habitation. + +Upon the road to the city, Harpax, the notorious corporal of the +Immortal Guards, held a discourse with one or two of his own soldiers, +and of the citizens who had been members of the late conspiracy. + +"So," said Stephanos, the prize-fighter, "a fine affair we have made of +it, to suffer ourselves to be all anticipated and betrayed by a thick- +sculled Varangian; every chance turning against us as they would +against Corydon, the shoemaker, if he were to defy me to the circus. +Ursel, whose death made so much work, turns out not to be dead after +all; and what is worse, he lives not to our advantage. This fellow +Hereward, who was yesterday no better than myself--What do I say?-- +better!--he was a great deal worse--an insignificant nobody in every +respect!--is now crammed with honours, praises, and gifts, till he +wellnigh returns what they have given him, and the Caesar and the +Acolyte, our associates, have lost the Emperor's love and confidence, +and if they are suffered to survive, it must be like the tame domestic +poultry, whom we pamper with food, one day, that upon the next their +necks may be twisted for spit or spot." + +"Stephanos," replied the centurion, "thy form of body fits thee well +for the Palaestra, but thy mind is not so acutely formed as to detect +that which is real from that which is only probable, in the political +world, of which thou art now judging. Considering the risk incurred by +lending a man's ear to a conspiracy, thou oughtest to reckon it a +saving in every particular, where he escapes with his life and +character safe. This has been the case with Achilles Tatius, and with +the Caesar. They have remained also in their high places of trust and +power, and maybe confident that the Emperor will hardly dare to remove +them at a future period, since the possession of the full knowledge of +their guilt has not emboldened him to do so. Their power, thus left +with them, is in fact ours; nor is there a circumstance to be supposed, +which can induce them to betray their confederates to the government. +It is much more likely that they will remember them with the +probability of renewing, at a finer time, the alliance which binds them +together. Cheer up thy noble resolution, therefore, my Prince of the +Circus, and think that thou shalt still retain that predominant +influence which the favourites of the amphitheatre are sure to possess +over the citizens of Constantinople." + +"I cannot tell," answered Stephanos; "but it gnaws at my heart like the +worm that dieth not, to see this beggarly foreigner betray the noblest +blood in the land, not to mention the best athlete in the Palaestra, +and move off not only without punishment for his treachery, but with +praise, honour, and preferment." + +"True," said Harpax; "but observe, my friend, that he does move off to +purpose. He leaves the land, quits the corps in which he might claim +preferment and a few vain honours, being valued at what such trifles +amount to. Hereward, in the course of one or two days, shall be little +better than a disbanded soldier, subsisting by the poor bread which he +can obtain as a follower of this beggarly Count, or which he is rather +bound to dispute with the infidel, by encountering with his battle-axe +the Turkish sabres. What will it avail him amidst the disasters, the +slaughter, and the famine of Palestine, that he once upon a time was +admitted to supper with the Emperor? We know Alexius Comnenus---he is +willing to discharge, at the highest cost, such obligations as are +incurred to men like this Hereward; and, believe me, I think that I see +the wily despot shrug his shoulders in derision, when one morning he is +saluted with the news of a battle in Palestine lost by the crusaders in +which his old acquaintance has fallen a dead man. I will not insult +thee, by telling thee how easy it might be to acquire the favour of a +gentlewoman in waiting upon a lady of quality; nor do I think it would +be difficult, should that be the object of the prize-fighter, to +acquire the property of a large baboon like Sylvan, which no doubt +would set up as a juggler any Frank who had meanness of spirit to +propose to gain his bread in such a capacity, from the alms of the +starving chivalry of Europe. But he who can stoop to envy the lot of +such a person, ought not to be one whose chief personal distinctions +are sufficient to place him first in rank over all the favourites of +the amphitheatre." + +There was something in this sophistical kind of reasoning, which was +but half satisfactory to the obtuse intellect of the prize-fighter, to +whom it was addressed, although the only answer which he attempted was +couched in this observation:-- + +"Ay, but, noble centurion, you forget that, besides empty honours, this +Varangian Hereward, or Edward, whichever is his name, is promised a +mighty donative of gold." + +"Marry, you touch me there," said the centurion; "and when you tell me +that the promise is fulfilled, I will willingly agree that the Anglo- +Saxon hath gained something to be envied for; but while it remains in +the shape of a naked promise, you shall pardon me, my worthy Stephanos, +if I hold it of no more account than the mere pledges which are +distributed among ourselves as well as to the Varangians, promising +upon future occasions mints of money, which we are likely to receive at +the same time with the last year's snow. Keep up your heart, therefore, +noble Stephanos, and believe not that your affairs are worse for the +miscarriage of this day; and let not thy gallant courage sink, but +remembering those principles upon which it was called into action, +believe that thy objects are not the less secure because fate has +removed their acquisition to a more distant day." The veteran and +unbending conspirator, Harpax, thus strengthened for some future +renewal of their enterprise the failing spirits of Stephanos. + +After this, such leaders as were included in the invitation given by +the Emperor, repaired to the evening meal, and, from the general +content and complaisance expressed by Alexius and his guests of every +description, it could little have been supposed that the day just +passed over was one which had inferred a purpose so dangerous and +treacherous. + +The absence of the Countess Brenhilda, during this eventful day, +created no small surprise to the Emperor and those in his immediate +confidence, who knew her enterprising spirit, and the interest she must +have felt in the issue of the combat. Bertha had made an early +communication to the Count, that his lady, agitated with the many +anxieties of the few preceding days, was unable to leave her apartment. +The valiant knight, therefore, lost no time in acquainting his faithful +Countess of his safety; and afterwards joining those who partook of the +banquet at the palace, he bore himself as if the least recollection did +not remain on his mind of the perfidious conduct of the Emperor at the +conclusion of the last entertainment. He knew, in truth, that the +knights of Prince Tancred not only maintained a strict watch round the +house where Brenhilda remained, but also that they preserved a severe +ward in the neighbourhood of the Blacquernal, as well for the safety of +their heroic leader, as for that of Count Robert, the respected +companion of their military pilgrimage. + +It was the general principle of the European chivalry, that distrust +was rarely permitted to survive open quarrels, and that whatever was +forgiven, was dismissed from their recollection, as unlikely to recur; +but on the present occasion there was a more than usual assemblage of +troops, which the occurrences of the day had drawn together, so that +the crusaders were called upon to be particularly watchful. + +It may be believed that the evening passed over without any attempt to +renew the ceremonial in the council chamber of the Lions, which had +been upon a former occasion terminated in such misunderstanding. Indeed +it would have been lucky if the explanation between the mighty Emperor +of Greece and the chivalrous Knight of Paris had taken place earlier; +for reflection on what had passed, had convinced the Emperor that the +Franks were not a people to be imposed upon by pieces of clockwork, and +similar trifles, and that what they did not understand, was sure, +instead of procuring their awe or admiration, to excite their anger and +defiance. Nor had it altogether escaped Count Robert, that the manners +of the Eastern people were upon a different scale from those to which +he had been accustomed; that they neither were so deeply affected by +the spirit of chivalry, nor, in his own language, was the worship of +the Lady of the Broken Lances so congenial a subject of adoration. This +notwithstanding, Count Robert observed, that Alexius Comnenus was a +wise and politic prince; his wisdom perhaps too much allied to cunning, +but yet aiding him to maintain with great address that empire over the +minds of his subjects, which was necessary for their good, and for +maintaining his own authority. He therefore resolved to receive with +equanimity whatever should be offered by the Emperor, either in +civility or in the way of jest, and not again to disturb an +understanding which might be of advantage to Christendom, by a quarrel +founded upon misconception of terms or misapprehension of manners. To +this prudent resolution the Count of Paris adhered during the whole +evening; with some difficulty, however, since it was somewhat +inconsistent with his own fiery and inquisitive temper, which was +equally desirous to know the precise amount of whatever was addressed +to him, and to take umbrage at it, should it appear in the least degree +offensive, whether so intended or not. + + + + +CHAPTER THE THIRTY-FOURTH. + + +It was not until after the conquest of Jerusalem that Count Robert of +Paris returned to Constantinople, and with his wife, and such +proportion of his followers as the sword and pestilence had left after +that bloody warfare, resumed his course to his native kingdom. Upon +reaching Italy, the first care of the noble Count and Countess was to +celebrate in princely style the marriage of Hereward and his faithful +Bertha, who had added to their other claims upon their master and +mistress, those acquired by Hereward's faithful services in Palestine, +and no less by Bertha's affectionate ministry to her lady in +Constantinople. + +As to the fate of Alexius Comnenus, it may be read at large in the +history of his daughter Anna, who has represented him as the hero of +many a victory, achieved, says the purple-born, in the third chapter +and fifteenth book of her history, sometimes by his arms and sometimes +by his prudence. + +"His boldness alone has gained some battles, at other times his success +has been won by stratagem. He has erected the most illustrious of his +trophies by confronting danger, by combating like a simple soldier, and +throwing himself bareheaded into the thickest of the foe. But there are +others," continues the accomplished lady, "which he gained an +opportunity of erecting by assuming the appearance of terror, and even +of retreat. In a word, he knew alike how to triumph either in flight or +in pursuit, and remained upright even before those enemies who appeared +to have struck him down; resembling the military implement termed the +calthrop, which remains always upright in whatever direction it is +thrown on the ground." + +It would be unjust to deprive the Princess of the defence she herself +makes against the obvious charge of partiality. + +"I must still once more repel the reproach which some bring against me, +as if my history was composed merely according to the dictates of the +natural love for parents which is engraved in the hearts of children. +In truth, it is not the effect of that affection which I bear to mine, +but it is the evidence of matter of fact, which obliges me to speak as +I have done. Is it not possible that one can have at the same time an +affection for the memory of a father and for truth? For myself, I have +never directed my attempt to write history, otherwise than for the +ascertainment of the matter of fact. With this purpose, I have taken +for my subject the history of a worthy man. Is it just, that, by the +single accident of his being the author of my birth, his quality of my +father ought to form a prejudice against me, which would ruin my credit +with my readers? I have given, upon other occasions, proofs +sufficiently strong of the ardour which I had for the defence of my +father's interests, which those that know me can never doubt but, on +the present, I have been limited by the inviolable fidelity with which +I respect the truth, which I should have felt conscience to have veiled, +under pretence of serving the renown of my father."--_Alexiad_, +chap. iii. book xv. + +This much we have deemed it our duty to quote, in justice to the fair +historian; we will extract also her description of the Emperor's death, +and are not unwilling to allow, that the character assigned to the +Princess by our own Gibbon, has in it a great deal of fairness and of +truth. + +Notwithstanding her repeated protests of sacrificing rather to the +exact and absolute truth than to the memory of her deceased parent, +Gibbon remarks truly, that "instead of the simplicity of style and +narrative which wins a belief, an elaborate affectation of rhetoric and +science betrays in every page the vanity of a female author. The +genuine character of Alexius is lost in a vague constellation of +virtues; and the perpetual strain of panegyric and apology awakens our +jealousy to question the veracity of the historian, and the merit of +the hero. We cannot, however, refuse her judicious and important remark, +that the disorders of the times were the misfortune and the glory of +Alexius; and that every calamity which can afflict a declining empire +was accumulated on his reign by the justice of Heaven and the vices of +his predecessors."--GIBBON'S _Roman Empire_, vol. ix. p. 83, foot- +note. + +The Princess accordingly feels the utmost assurance, that a number of +signs which appeared in heaven and on earth, were interpreted by the +soothsayers of the day as foreboding the death of the Emperor. By these +means, Anna Comnena assigned to her father those indications of +consequence, which ancient historians represent as necessary +intimations of the sympathy of nature, with the removal of great +characters from the world; but she fails not to inform the Christian +reader that her father's belief attached to none of these prognostics, +and that even on the following remarkable occasion he maintained his +incredulity:--A splendid statue, supposed generally to be a relic of +paganism, holding in its hand a golden sceptre, and standing upon a +base of porphyry, was overturned by a tempest, and was generally +believed to be an intimation of the death of the Emperor. This, however, +he generously repelled. Phidias, he said, and other great sculptors of +antiquity, had the talent of imitating the human frame with surprising +accuracy; but to suppose that the power of foretelling future events +was reposed in these master-pieces of art, would be to ascribe to their +makers the faculties reserved by the Deity for himself, when he says, +"It is I who kill and make alive." During his latter days, the Emperor +was greatly afflicted with the gout, the nature of which has exercised +the wit of many persons of science as well as of Anna Comnena. The poor +patient was so much exhausted, that when the Empress was talking of +most eloquent persons who should assist in the composition of his +history, he said, with a natural contempt of such vanities, "The +passages of my unhappy life call rather for tears and lamentation than +for the praises you speak of." + +A species of asthma having come to the assistance of the gout, the +remedies of the physicians became as vain as the intercession of the +monks and clergy, as well as the alms which were indiscriminately +lavished. Two or three deep successive swoons gave ominous warning of +the approaching blow; and at length was terminated the reign and life +of Alexius Comnenus, a prince who, with all the faults which may be +imputed to him, still possesses a real right, from the purity of his +general intentions, to be accounted one of the best sovereigns of the +Lower Empire. + +For some time, the historian forgot her pride of literary rank, and, +like an ordinary person, burst into tears and shrieks, tore her hair, +and defaced her countenance, while the Empress Irene cast from her her +princely habits, cut off her hair, changed her purple buskins for black +mourning shoes, and her daughter Mary, who had herself been a widow, +took a black robe from one of her own wardrobes, and presented it to +her mother. "Even in the moment when she put it on," says Anna Comnena, +"the Emperor gave up the ghost, and in that moment the sun of my life +set." + +We shall not pursue her lamentations farther. She upbraids herself that, +after the death of her father, that light of the world, she had also +survived Irene, the delight alike of the east and of the west, and +survived her husband also. "I am indignant," she said, "that my soul, +suffering under such torrents of misfortune, should still deign to +animate my body. Have I not," said she, "been more hard and unfeeling +than the rocks themselves; and is it not just that one, who could +survive such a father and mother, and such a husband, should be +subjected to the influence of so much calamity? But let me finish this +history, rather than any longer fatigue my readers with my unavailing +and tragical lamentation." + +Having thus concluded her history, she adds the following two lines:-- + + "The learned Comnena lays her pen aside, + What time her subject and her father died." [Footnote: [Greek: + Laexen hopou biotoio Alexios d Komnaenos + Entha kalae thygataer laexen Alexiados.]] + +These quotations will probably give the readers as much as they wish to +know of the real character of this Imperial historian. Fewer words will +suffice to dispose of the other parties who have been selected from her +pages, as persons in the foregoing drama. + +There is very little doubt that the Count Robert of Paris, whose +audacity in seating himself upon the throne of the Emperor gives a +peculiar interest to his character, was in fact a person of the highest +rank; being no other, as has been conjectured by the learned Du Cange, +than an ancestor of the house of Bourbon, which has so long given Kings +to France. He was a successor, it has been conceived, of the Counts of +Paris, by whom the city was valiantly defended against the Normans, and +an ancestor of Hugh Capet. There are several hypotheses upon this +subject, deriving the well-known Hugh Capet, first, from the family of +Saxony; secondly, from St. Arnoul, afterwards Bishop of Altex; third, +from Nibilong; fourth, from the Duke of Bavaria; and fifth, from a +natural son of the Emperor Charlemagne. Variously placed, but in each +of these contested pedigrees, appears this Robert surnamed the +_Strong_, who was Count of that district, of which Paris was the +capital, most peculiarly styled the County, or Isle of France. Anna +Comnena, who has recorded the bold usurpation of the Emperor's seat by +this haughty chieftain, has also acquainted us with his receiving a +severe, if not a mortal wound, at the battle of Dorylseum, owing to his +neglecting the warlike instructions with which her father had favoured +him on the subject of the Turkish wars. The antiquary who is disposed +to investigate this subject, may consult the late Lord Ashburnham's +elaborate Genealogy of the Royal House of France; also a note of Du +Cange's on the Princess's history, p. 362, arguing for the identity of +her "Robert of Paris, a haughty barbarian," with the "Robert called the +Strong," mentioned as an ancestor of Hugh Capet. Gibbon, vol. xi. p. 52, +may also be consulted. The French antiquary and the English historian +seem alike disposed to find the church, called in the tale that of the +Lady of the Broken Lances, in that dedicated to St. Drusas, or Drosin +of Soissons, who was supposed to have peculiar influence on the issue +of combats, and to be in the habit of determining them in favour of +such champions as spent the night preceding at his shrine. + +In consideration of the sex of one of the parties concerned, the author +has selected our Lady of the Broken Lances as a more appropriate +patroness than St. Drusas himself, for the Amazons, who were not +uncommon in that age. Gaita, for example, the wife of Robert Guiscard, +a redoubted hero, and the parent of a most heroic race of sons, was +herself an Amazon, fought in the foremost ranks of the Normans, and is +repeatedly commemorated by our Imperial historian, Anna Comnena. + +The reader can easily conceive to himself that Robert of Paris +distinguished himself among his brethren-at-arms and fellow-crusaders. +His fame resounded from the walls of Antioch; but at the battle of +Dorylaeum, he was so desperately wounded, as to be disabled from taking +a part in the grandest scene of the expedition. His heroic Countess, +however, enjoyed the great satisfaction of mounting the walls of +Jerusalem, and in so far discharging her own vows and those of her +husband. This was the more fortunate, as the sentence of the physicians +pronounced that the wounds of the Count had been inflicted by a +poisoned weapon, and that complete recovery was only to be hoped for by +having recourse to his native air. After some time spent in the vain +hope of averting by patience this unpleasant alternative, Count Robert +subjected himself to necessity, or what was represented as such, and, +with his wife and the faithful Hereward, and all others of his +followers who had been like himself disabled from combat, took the way +to Europe by sea. + +A light galley, procured at a high rate, conducted them safely to +Venice, and from that then glorious city, the moderate portion of spoil +which had fallen to the Count's share among the conquerors of Palestine, +served to convey them to his own dominions, which, more fortunate than +those of most of his fellow-pilgrims, had been left uninjured by their +neighbours during the time of their proprietor's absence on the Crusade. +The report that the Count had lost his health, and the power of +continuing his homage to the Lady of the Broken Lances, brought upon +him the hostilities of one or two ambitious or envious neighbours, +whose covetousness was, however, sufficiently repressed by the brave +resistance of the Countess and the resolute Hereward. Less than a +twelvemonth was required to restore the Count of Paris to his full +health, and to render him, as formerly, the assured protector of his +own vassals, and the subject in whom the possessors of the French +throne reposed the utmost confidence. This latter capacity enabled +Count Robert to discharge his debt towards Hereward in a manner as +ample as he could have hoped or expected. Being now respected alike for +his wisdom and his sagacity, as much as he always was for his +intrepidity and his character as a successful crusader, he was +repeatedly employed by the Court of France in settling the troublesome +and intricate affairs in which the Norman possessions of the English +crown involved the rival nations. William Rufus was not insensible to +his merit, nor blind to the importance of gaining his good will; and +finding out his anxiety that Hereward should be restored to the land of +his fathers, he took, or made an opportunity, by the forfeiture of some +rebellious noble, of conferring upon our Varangian a large district +adjacent to the New Forest, being part of the scenes which his father +chiefly frequented, and where it is said the descendants of the valiant +squire and his Bertha have subsisted for many a long year, surviving +turns of time and chance, which are in general fatal to the continuance +of more distinguished families. + +[Illustration] + +Tales of my Landlord. + +CASTLE DANGEROUS + + As I stood by yon roofless tower, + Where the wa'flower scents the dewy air, + Where the howlet mourns in her ivy bower, + And tells the midnight moon her care: + The winds were laid, the air was still, + The stars they shot along the sky; + The Fox was howling on the hill, + And the distant echoing glens reply. + ROBERT BURNS. + + +INTRODUCTION.--(1832.) + +[The following Introduction to "Castle Dangerous" was forwarded by Sir +Walter Scott from Naples in February 1832, together with some +corrections of the text, and notes on localities mentioned in the Novel. + +The materials for the Introduction must have been collected before he +left Scotland in September 1831; but in the hurry of preparing for his +voyage, he had not been able to arrange them so as to accompany the +first edition of this Romance. A few notes, supplied by the Editor, are +placed within brackets.] + +The incidents on which the ensuing Novel mainly turns, are derived from +the ancient Metrical Chronicle of "The Brace," by Archdeacon Barbour, +and from the "History of the Houses of Douglas and Angus," by David +Hume of Godscroft; and are sustained by the immemorial tradition of the +western parts of Scotland. They are so much in consonance with the +spirit and manners of the troubled age to which they are referred, that +I can see no reason for doubting their being founded in fact; the names, +indeed, of numberless localities in the vicinity of Douglas Castle, +appear to attest, beyond suspicion, many even of the smallest +circumstances embraced in the story of Godscroft. + +Among all the associates of Robert the Brace, in his great enterprise +of rescuing Scotland from the power of Edward, the first place is +universally conceded to James, the eighth Lord Douglas, to this day +venerated by his countrymen as "the Good Sir James:" + + "The Gud Schyr James of Douglas, + That in his time sa worthy was, + That off his price and his bounte, + In far landis renownyt was he." + BARBOUR. + + "The Good Sir James, the dreadful blacke Douglas, + That in his dayes so wise and worthie was, + Wha here, and on the infidels of Spain, + Such honour, praise, and triumphs did obtain." + GORDON. + +From the time when the King of England refused to reinstate him, on his +return from France, where he had received the education of chivalry, in +the extensive possessions of his family,--which had been held forfeited +by the exertions of his father, William the Hardy--the young knight of +Douglas appears to have embraced the cause of Bruce with enthusiastic +ardour, and to have adhered to the fortunes of his sovereign with +unwearied fidelity and devotion. "The Douglasse," says Hollinshed, "was +right joyfully received of King Robert, in whose service he faithfully +continued, both in peace and war, to his life's end. Though the surname +and familie of the Douglasses was in some estimation of nobilitie +before those daies, yet the rising thereof to honour chanced through +this James Douglasse; for, by meanes of his advancement, others of that +lineage tooke occasion, by their singular manhood and noble prowess, +shewed at sundrie times in defence of the realme, to grow to such +height in authoritie and estimation, that their mightie puissance in +mainrent, [Footnote: Vassalage.] lands, and great possessions, at +length was (through suspicion conceived by the kings that succeeded) +the cause in part of their ruinous decay." + +In every narrative of the Scottish war of independence, a considerable +space is devoted to those years of perilous adventure and suffering +which were spent by the illustrious friend of Bruce, in harassing the +English detachments successively occupying his paternal territory, and +in repeated and successful attempts to wrest the formidable fortress of +Douglas Castle itself from their possession. In the English, as well as +Scotch Chronicles, and in Rymer's Foedera, occur frequent notices of +the different officers intrusted by Edward with the keeping of this +renowned stronghold; especially Sir Robert de Clifford, ancestor of the +heroic race of the Cliffords, Earls of Cumberland; his lieutenant, Sir +Richard de Thurlewalle, (written sometimes Thruswall,) of Thirwall +Castle, on the Tippal, in Northumberland; and Sir John de Walton, the +romantic story of whose love pledge, to hold the Castle of Douglas for +a year and day, or surrender all hope of obtaining his mistress's +favour, with the tragic consequences, softened in the Novel, is given +at length in Godscroft, and has often been pointed out as one of the +affecting passages in the chronicles of chivalry. [Footnote: [The +reader will find both this story, and that of Robert of Paris, in Sir W. +Scott's Essay on Chivalry, published in 1818, in the Supplement to the +Encyclopaedia Britannica.--_E_.]] + +The Author, before he had made much progress in this, probably the last +of his Novels, undertook a journey to Douglasdale, for the purpose of +examining the remains of the famous Castle, the Kirk of St. Bride of +Douglas, the patron saint of that great family, and the various +localities alluded to by Godscroft, in his account of the early +adventures of good Sir James; but though he was fortunate enough to +find a zealous and well-informed _cicerone_ in Mr. Thomas Haddow, +and had every assistance from the kindness of Mr. Alexander Finlay, the +resident Chamberlain of his friend Lord Douglas, the state of his +health at the time was so feeble, that he found himself incapable of +pursuing his researches, as in better days he would have delighted to +do, and was obliged to be contented with such a cursory view of scenes, +in themselves most interesting, as could be snatched in a single +morning, when any bodily exertion was painful. Mr. Haddow was attentive +enough to forward subsequently some notes on the points which the +Author had seemed desirous of investigating; but these did not reach +him until, being obliged to prepare matters for a foreign excursion in +quest of health and strength, he had been compelled to bring his work, +such as it is, to a conclusion. + +The remains of the old Castle of Douglas are inconsiderable. They +consist indeed of but one ruined tower, standing at a short distance +from the modern mansion, which itself is only a fragment of the design +on which the Duke of Douglas meant to reconstruct the edifice, after +its last accidental destruction by fire. [Footnote: [The following +notice of Douglas Castle, &c., is from the Description of the +Sheriffdom of Lanark, by William Hamilton of Wishaw, written in the +beginning of the last century, and printed by the Maitland Club of +Glasgow in 1831:]-- + +"Douglass parish, and baronie and lordship, heth very long appertained +to the family of Douglass, and continued with the Earles of Douglass +untill their fatall forfeiture, anno 1455; during which tyme there are +many noble and important actions recorded in histories performed by +them, by the lords and earls of that great family. It was thereafter +given to Douglass, Earle of Anguse, and continued with them untill +William, Earle of Anguse, was created Marquess of Douglass, anno 1633; +and is now the principal seat, of the Marquess of Douglass his family. +It is a large baronie and parish, and ane laick patronage; and the +Marquess is both titular and patron. He heth there, near to the church, +a very considerable great house, called the Castle of Douglas; and near +the church is a fyne village called the town of Douglass, long since +erected in a burgh of baronie. It heth ane handsome church, with many +ancient monuments and inscriptions on the old, interments of the Earles +of this place. + +"The water of Douglas runs quyte through the whole length of this +parish, and upon either side of the water it is called Douglasdale. It +toucheth Clyde towards the north, and is bounded by Lesmahagow to the +west, Kyle to the southwest, Crawford John and Carmichaell to the south +and southeast. It is a pleasant strath, plentifull in grass and corn, +and coal; and the minister is well provided. + +"The lands of Heysleside belonging to Samuel Douglass, has a good house +and pleasant seat, close by wood," &c.--P. 65.] His Grace had kept in +view the ancient prophecy, that as often as Douglas Castle might be +destroyed, it should rise again in enlarged dimensions and improved +splendour, and projected a pile of building, which, if it had been +completed, would have much exceeded any nobleman's residence then +existing in Scotland--as, indeed, what has been finished, amounting to +about one-eighth part of the plan, is sufficiently extensive for the +accommodation of a large establishment, and contains some apartments +the dimensions of which are magnificent. The situation is commanding; +and though the Duke's successors have allowed the mansion to continue +as he left it, great expense has been lavished on the environs, which +now present a vast sweep of richly undulated woodland, stretching to +the borders of the Cairntable mountains, repeatedly mentioned as the +favourite retreat of the great ancestor of the family in the days of +his hardship and persecution. There remains at the head of the +adjoining _bourg_, the choir of the ancient church of St. Bride, +having beneath it the vault which was used till lately as the burial- +place of this princely race, and only abandoned when their stone and +leaden coffins had accumulated, in the course of five or six hundred +years, in such a way that it could accommodate no more. Here a silver +case, containing the dust of what was once the brave heart of Good Sir +James, is still pointed out; and in the dilapidated choir above appears, +though in a sorely ruinous state, the once magnificent tomb of the +warrior himself. After detailing the well-known circumstances of Sir +James's death in Spain, 20th August, 1330, where he fell, assisting the +King of Arragon in an expedition against the Moors, when on his way +back to Scotland from Jerusalem, to which he had conveyed the heart of +Bruce,--the old poet Barbour tells us that-- + + "Quhen his men lang had mad murnyn, + Thai debowalyt him, and syne + Gert scher him swa, that mycht be tane + The flesch all haly frae the bane. + And the carioune thar in haly place + Erdyt, with rycht gret worschip, was. + + "The banys haue thai with them tane; + And syne ar to thair schippis gane; + Syne towart Scotland held thair way, + And thar ar cummyn in full gret hy. + And the banys honbrabilly + In till the Kyrk of Douglas war + Erdyt, with dule and mekill car. + Schyr Archebald his sone gert syn + Off alabastre, bath fair and fyne, + Ordane a tumbe sa richly + As it behowyt to swa worthy." + +The monument is supposed to have been wantonly mutilated and defaced by +a detachment of Cromwell's troops, who, as was their custom, converted +the kirk of St. Bride of Douglas into a stable for their horses. Enough, +however, remains to identify the resting-place of the great Sir James. +The effigy, of dark stone, is crossed-legged, marking his character as +one who had died after performing the pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre, +and in actual conflict with the infidels of Spain; and the introduction +of the HEART, adopted as an addition to the old arms of Douglas, in +consequence of the knight's fulfilment of Bruce's dying injunction, +appears, when taken in connexion with the posture of the figure, to set +the question at rest. The monument, in its original state, must have +been not inferior in any respect to the best of the same period in +Westminster Abbey; and the curious reader is referred for farther +particulars of it to "The Sepulchral Antiquities of Great Britain, by +Edward Blore, F.S.A." London, 4to, 1826: where may also be found +interesting details of some of the other tombs and effigies in the +cemetery of the first house of Douglas. + +As considerable liberties have been taken, with the historical +incidents on which this novel is founded, it is due to the reader to +place before him such extracts from Godscroft and Barbour as may enable +him to correct any mis-impression. The passages introduced in the +Appendix, from the ancient poem of "The Bruce," will moreover gratify +those who have not in their possession a copy of the text of Barbour, +as given in the valuable quarto edition of my learned friend Dr. +Jamieson, as furnishing on the whole a favourable specimen of the style +and manner of a venerable classic, who wrote when Scotland was still +full of the fame and glory of her liberators from the yoke of +Plantagenet, and especially of Sir James Douglas, "of whom," says +Godscroft, "we will not omit here, (to shut up all,) the judgment of +those times concerning him, in a rude verse indeed, yet such as beareth +witness of his true magnanimity and invincible mind in either fortune:-- + + "Good Sir James Douglas (who wise, and wight, and worthy was,) + Was never over glad in no winning, nor yet oversad for no lineing; + Good fortune and evil chance he weighed both in one balance." + W. S. + + + + +APPENDIX. + +No. I. + +EXTRACTS FROM "THE HISTORY OF THE HOUSES OF DOUGLAS AND ANGUS. BY +MASTER DAVID HUME OF GODSCROFT." FOL. EDIT. + + * * * And here indeed the course of the King's misfortunes begins to +make some halt and stay by thus much prosperous successe in his own +person; but more in the person of Sir James, by the reconquests of his +owne castles and countries. From hence he went into Douglasdale, where, +by the means of his father's old servant, Thomas Dickson, he took in +the Castle of Douglas, and not being able to keep it, he caused burn it, +contenting himself with this, that his enemies had one strength fewer +in that country than before. The manner of his taking of it is said to +have beene thus:--Sir James taking only with him two of his servants, +went to Thomas Dickson, of whom he was received with tears, after he +had revealed himself to him, for the good old man knew him not at first, +being in mean and homely apparel. There he kept him secretly in a quiet +chamber, and brought unto him such as had been trusty servants to his +father, not all at, once, but apart by one and one, for fear of +discoverie. Their advice was, that on Palm-Sunday, when the English +would come forth to the church, and his partners were conveened, that +then he should give the word, and cry the Douglas slogan, and presently +set upon them that should happen to be there, who being despatched, the +Castle might be taken easily. This being concluded, and they come, so +soon as the English were entered into the church with palms in their +hands, (according to the costume of that day,) little suspecting or +fearing any such thing, Sir James, according to their appointment, +cryed too soon (a Douglas, a Douglas!) which being heard in the church, +(this was Saint Bride's church of Douglas,) Thomas Dickson, supposing +he had beene hard at hand, drew out his sword, and ran upon them, +having none to second him but another man, so that, oppressed by the +number of his enemies, he was beaten downe and slaine. In the meantime, +Sir James being come, the English that were in the chancel kept off the +Scots, and having the advantage of the strait and narrow entrie, +defended themselves manfully. But Sir James encouraging his men, not so +much by words as by deeds and good example, and having slain the +boldest resisters, prevailed at last, and entring the place, slew some +twenty-six of their number, and took the rest, about ten or twelve +persons, intending by them to get the Castle upon composition, or to +enter with them when the gates should be opened to let them in: but it +needed not, for they of the Castle were so secure, that there was none +left to keep it save the porter and the cooke, who knowing nothing of +what had hapned at the church, which stood a large quarter of a mile +from thence, had left the gate wide open, the porter standing without, +and the cooke dressing the dinner within. They entered without +resistance, and meat being ready, and the cloth laid, they shut the +gates, and tooke their refection at good leasure. + +Now that he had gotten the Castle into his hands, considering with +himselfe (as he was a man no lesse advised than valiant) that it was +hard for him to keep it, the English being as yet the stronger in that +countrey, who if they should besiege him, he knewe of no reliefe, he +thought better to carry away such things as be most easily transported, +gold, silver, and apparell, with ammunition and armour, whereof he had +greatest use and need, and to destroy the rest of the provision, +together with the Castle itselfe, then to diminish the number of his +followers for a garrison there where it could do no good. And so he +caused carrie the meale and malt, and other cornes and graine, into the +cellar, and laid altogether in one heape: then he took the prisoners +and slew them, to revenge the death of his trustie and valiant servant, +Thomas Dickson, mingling the victuals with their bloud, and burying +their carkasses in the heap of corne: after that he struck out the +heads of the barrells and puncheons, and let the drink runn through +all; and then he cast the carkasses of dead horses and other carrion +amongst it, throwing the salt above all, so as to make altogether +unuseful to the enemie; and this cellar is called yet the Douglas +Lairder. Last of all, he set the house on fire, and burnt all the +timber, and what else the fire could overcome, leaving nothing but the +scorched walls behind him. And this seemes to be the first taking of +the Castle of Douglas, for it is supposed that he took it twice. For +this service, and others done to Lord William his father, Sir James +gave unto Thomas Dickson the lands of Hisleside, which hath beene given +him before the Castle was taken as an encouragement to whet him on, and +not after, for he was slain in the church; which was both liberally and +wisely done of him, thus to hearten and draw men to his service by such +a noble beginning. The Castle being burnt, Sir James retired, and +parting his men into divers companies, so as they might be most secret, +he caused cure such as were wounded in the fight, and he himselfe kept +as close as he could, waiting ever for an occasion to enterprise +something against the enemie. So soone as he was gone, the Lord +Clifford being advertised of what had happened, came himselfe in person +to Douglas, and caused re-edifie and repair the Castle in a very short +time, unto which he also added a Tower, which is yet called Harries +Tower from him, and so returned into England, leaving one Thurswall to +be Captain thereof.--Pp. 26-28. + + * * * * * * * + +He (Sir James Douglas) getting him again into Douglasdale, did use this +stratagem against Thurswall, Captain of the Castle, under the said Lord +Clifford. He caused some of his folk drive away the cattle that fed +near unto the Castle, and when the Captain of the garrison followed to +rescue, gave orders to his men to leave them and to flee away. Thus he +did often to make the Captain slight such frays, and to make him +secure, that he might not suspect any further end to be on it; which +when he had wrought sufficiently (as he thought), he laid some men in +ambuscado, and sent others away to drive such beasts as they should +find in the view of the Castle, as if they had been thieves and robbers, +as they had done often before. The Captain hearing of it, and supposing +there was no greater danger now than had been before, issued forth of +the Castle, and followed after them with such haste that his men +(running who should be first) were disordered and out of their ranks. +The drivers also fled as fast as they could till they had drawn the +Captain a little way beyond the place of ambuscado, which when they +perceived, rising quickly out of their covert, they set fiercely upon +him and his company, and so slew himself and chased his men back to the +Castle, some of whom were overtaken and slain, others got into the +Castle and so were saved. Sir James, not being able to force the house, +took what booty he could get without in the fields, and so departed. By +this means, and such other exploits, he so affrighted the enemy, that +it was counted a matter of such great jeopardy to keep this Castle, +that it began to be called the adventurous (or hazardous) Castle of +Douglas: Whereupon Sir John Walton being in suit of an English lady, +she wrote to him that when he had kept the adventurous Castle of +Douglas seven years, then, he might think himself worthy to be a suitor +to her. Upon this occasion Walton took upon him the keeping of it, and +succeeded to Thurswall; but he ran the same fortune with the rest that +were before him. + +For, Sir James having first dressed an ambuscado near unto the place, +he made fourteen of his men take so many sacks, and fill them with +grass, as though it had been corn, which they carried in the way toward +Lanark, the chief market town in that county: so hoping to draw forth +the Captain by that bait, and either to take him or the Castle, or both. + +Neither was this expectation frustrate, for the Captain did bite, and +came forth to have taken this victual (as he supposed). But ere he +could reach these carriers, Sir James, with his company, had gotten +between the Castle and him; and these disguised carriers, seeing the +Captain following after them, did quickly cast off their upper garments, +wherein they had masked themselves, and throwing off their sacks, +mounted themselves on horseback, and met the Captain with a sharp +encounter, he being so much the more amazed that it was unlooked for: +wherefore, when he saw these carriers metamorphosed into warriors, and +ready to assault him, fearing (that which was) that there was some +train laid for them, he turned about to have retired into the Castle; +but there also he met with his enemies; between which two companies he +and his followers were slain, so that none escaped; the Captain +afterwards being searched, they found (as it is reported) his +mistress's letters about him. Then he went and took in the Castle, but +it is uncertain (say our writers) whether by force or composition; but +it seems that the Constable, and those that were within, have yielded +it up without force; in regard that he used them so gently, which he +would not have done if he had taken it at utterance. For he sent them +all safe home to the Lord Clifford, and gave them also provision and +money for their entertainment by the way. The Castle, which he had +burnt only before, now he razeth, and casts down the walls thereof to +the ground. By these and the like proceedings, within a short while he +freed Douglasdale, Attrict Forest, and Jedward Forest, of the English +garrisons and subjection.--_Ibid_. p. 29. + +No. II. + +[Extracts from THE BRUCE.--"Liber compositus per Magistrum Johannem +Barber Archidiaeonum Abyrdonensem, de gestis, bellis, et vertutibus, +Domini Roberti Brwyes, Regis Scocie illustrissimi, et de conquestu +regni Scocie per eundem, et de Domino Jacobo de Douglas."--Edited by +John Jamieson, D.D. F.R.S.F. &c. &c. Edinburgh, 1820.] + +Now takis James his waige +Towart Dowglas, his heretage, +With twa yemen, for his owtyn ma; +That wes a symple stuff to ta, +A land or a castell to win. +The quhethir he yarnyt to begyn +Till bring purposs till ending; +For gud help is in gud begynnyng, +For gud begynning, and hardy, +Gyff it be folwit wittily, +May ger oftsyss unlikly thing +Cum to full conabill ending. +Swa did it here: but he wes wyss +And saw he mycht, on nakyn wyss, +Werray his fa with evyn mycht; +Tharfur he thocht to wyrk with slycht. +And in Dowglas daile, his countre, +Upon an evymiyng entryt he. +And than a man wonnyt tharby. +That was off freyndis weill mychty, +And ryche of moble, and off cateill; +And had bene till his fadyr leyll; +And till him selff in his yowthed. +He haid done mony a thankfull deid. +Thom Dicson wes his name perlay. +Till him he send; and gan him pray, +That he wald cum all anerly +For to spek with him priuely. +And he but daunger till him gais: +Bot fra he tauld him quhat he wais, +He gret for joy, and for pite; +And him rycht till his houss had he; +Quhar in a chambre priuely +He held him, and his cumpany, +That nane had off him persaving. +Off mete, and drynk, and othyr thing, +That mycht thuim eyss, thai had plente. +Sa wrocht he thorow sutelte, +That all the lele men off that land, +That with his fadyr war duelland, +This gud man gert cum, ane and ane, +And mak him manrent cuir ilkane; +And he him selff fyrst homage maid. +Dowglas in part gret glaidschip haid, +That the gud men off his cuntre +Wald swagate till him bundyn be. +He speryt the conwyne off the land, +And quha the castell had in hand. +And thai him tauld all halily; +And syne amang them priuely +Thai ordanyt, that he still suld be +In hiddillis, and in priwete, +Till Palme Sonday, that wes ner hand, +The thrid day eftyr folowand. +For than the folk off that countre +Assemblyt at the kyrk wald be; +And thai, that in the castell wer, +Wald als be thar, thar palmys to ber, +As folk that had na dreid off ill; +For thai thoucht all wes at thair will. +Than suld he cum with his twa men. +Bot, for that men suld nocht him ken, +He suld ane mantill haiff auld and bar, +And a flaill, as he a thresscher war. +Undyr the mantill nocht for thi +He suld be armyt priuely. +And quhen the men off his countre, +That suld all boune befor him be, +His ensenye mycht her hym cry. +Then suld thai, full enforcely, +Rycht ymyddys the kyrk assaill +The Ingliss men with hard bataill +Swa that nane mycht eschap them fra; +For thar throwch trowyt thai to ta +The castell, that besid wes ner +And quhen this, that I tell you her, +Wes diuisyt and undertane, +Ilkane till his howss hame is gane; +And held this spek in priuete, +Till the day off thar assembly. + +The folk upon the Sonounday +Held to Saynct Bridis kyrk thair way, +And tha that in the castell war +Ischyt owt, bath les and mar, +And went thair palmys for to her; +Owtane a cuk and a porter. +James off Dowglas off thair cummyng, +And quhat thai war, had witting; +And sped him till the kyrk in hy +Bot or he come, too hastily +Ane off his criyt, "Dowglas! Dowglas!" +Thomas Dicson, that nerrest was +Till thaim that war off the castell, +That war all innouth the chancell, +Quhen he "Dowglas!" swa hey herd cry, +Drew owt his swerd; and fellely +Ruschyt amang thaim to and fra. +Bot ane or twa, for owtyn ma, +Than in hy war left lyand +Quhill Dowglas come rycht at hand. +And then enforcyt on thaim the cry. +Bot thai the chansell sturdely +Held, and thaim defendyt wele, +Till off thair men war slayne sumdell. +Bot the Dowglace sa weill him bar, +That all the men, that with him war, +Had comfort off his wele doyng; +And he him sparyt nakyn thing. +Bot provyt swa his force in fycht, +That throw his worschip, and his mycht, +His men sa keynly helpyt than, +That thai the chansell on thaim wan. +Than dang thai on swa hardyly, +That in schort tyme men mycht se ly +The twa part dede, or then deand. +The lave war sesyt sone in hand, +Swa that off thretty levyt nane, +That thai ne war slayne ilkan, or tane. + +James off Dowglas, quhen this wes done, +The presoneris has he tane alsone; +And, with thaim off his cumpany, +Towart the castell went in hy, +Or noyiss, or cry, suld ryss. +And for he wald thaim sone suppriss, +That levyt in the castell war, +That war but twa for owtyn mar, +Fyve men or sex befor send he, +That fand all opyn the entre; +And entryt, and the porter tuk +Rycht at the gate, and syne the cuk. +With that Dowglas come to the gat, +And entryt in for owtyn debate; +And fand the mete all ready grathit, +With burdys set, and clathis layit. +The gaitis then he gert sper, +And sat, and eyt all at layser. +Syne all the gudis turssyt thai +That thaim thocht thai mycht haiff away; +And namly wapnys, and armyng, +Siluer, and tresour, and clethyng. +Vyctallis, that, mycht nocht tursyt be, +On this manner destroyit he. +All the vrctalis, owtane salt, +Als quheyt, and flour, and meill, and malt +In the wyne sellar gert he bring; +And samyn on the flur all flyng. +And the presoneris that he had tane +Rycht thar in gert he heid ilkane; +Syne off the townnys he hedis outstrak: +A foule melle thar gane he mak. +For meile, and malt, and bluid, and wyne +Ran all to gidder in a mellyne, +That was unsemly for to se. +Tharfor the men of that countre, +For swa fele thar mellyt wer, +Callit it the "Dowglas Lardner." +Syne tuk he salt, as Ic hard tell, +And ded horss, and sordid the well. +And brynt all, owtakyn stane; +And is forth, with his menye, gayne +Till his resett; for him thoucht weill, +Giff he had haldyn the caslell, +It had bene assegyt raith; +And that him thoucht to mekill waith. +For he ne had hop of reskewyng. +And it is to peralous thing +In castell assegyt to be, +Quhar want is off thir thingis thre; +Victaill, or men with their armyng, +Or than gud hop off rescuyng. +And for he dred thir thingis suld faile, +He chesyt furthwart to trawaill, +Quhar he mycht at his larges be; +And swa dryve furth his destane. + +On this wise wes the castell tan, +And slayne that war tharin ilkan. +The Dowglas syne all his menye +Gert in ser placis depertyt be; +For men suld wyt quhar thai war, +That yeid depertyt her and thar. +Thim that war woundyt gert he ly +In till hiddillis, all priuely; +And gert gud leechis till thaim bring +Quhill that thai war in till heling. +And him selff, with a few menye, +Quhile ane, quhile twa and quhile thre, +And umqumll all him allane. +In hiddillis throw the land is gane. +Sa dred he Inglis men his mycht, +That he durst nocht wele cum in sycht. +For thai war that tyme all weldand +As maist lordis, our all the land. + +Bot tythandis, that scalis sone, +Off this deid that Dowglas has done, +Come to the Cliffurd his ere, in hy, +That for his tynsaill wes sary; +And menyt his men that thai had slayne, +And syne has to purpos tane, +To big the castell up agayne. +Thar for, as man of mekill mayne, +He assemblit grret cumpany, +And till Dowglas he went in hy. +And biggyt wp the castell swyth; +And maid it rycht stalwart and styth +And put tharin victallis and men +Ane off the Thyrwallys then +He left behind him Capitane, +And syne till Ingland went agayne. + Book IV. v. 255-460. + +Bot yeit than Janvss of Dowglas +In Dowglas Daile travailland was; +Or ellys weill ner hand tharby, +In hyddillys sumdeill priuely. +For he wald se his gouernyng, +That had the castell in keping: +And gert mak mony juperty, +To se quhethyr he wald ische blythly. +And quhen he persavyt that he +Wald blythly ische with his menye, +He maid a gadringr priuely +Off thaim that war on his party; +That war sa fele, that thai durst fych +With Thyrwall, and all the mycht +Off thaim that in the castell war. +He schupe him in the nycht so far +To Sandylandis: and thar ner by +He him enbuschyt priuely, +And send a few a trane to ma; +That sone in the mornyng gan ga, +And tuk catell, that wes the castell by, +And syne withdrew thaim hastely +Towart thaim that enbuschit war. +Than Thyrwall, for owtyn mar, +Gert arme his men, forowtyn baid; +Aud ischyt with all the men he haid: +And foiowyt fast eftir the cry. +He wes armyt at poynt clenly, +Owtane [that] his hede wes bar. +Than, with the men that with him war, +The catell folowit he gud speid, +Rycht as a man that had na dreid, +Till that he gat off thaim a sycht. +Than prekyt thai with all thar mycht, +Folowand thaim owt off aray +And thai sped thaim fleand, quhill thai +Fer by thair buschement war past: +And Thyrwall ay chassyt fast. +And than thai that enbuschyt war +Ischyt till him, bath les and mar +And rayssyt sudanly the cry. +And thai that saw sa sudanly +That folk come egyrly prikand +Rycht betuix thairn and thair warank, +Thai war in to full gret effray. +And, for thai war owt off aray, +Sum off thaim fled, and some abad. +And Dowglas, that thar with him had +A gret mengye, full egrely +Assaylyt, and scalyt thaim hastyly: +And in schort tyme ourraid thaim swa, +That weile nane eschapyt thaim fra. +Thyrwall, that wes thair capitane, +Wes thar in the bargane slane: +And off his men the mast party. +The lave fled full effraytly. + Book V. v. 10-60 + + + + +CASTLE DANGEROUS. + +CHAPTER THE FIRST. + + Hosts have been known at that dread sound to yield, + And, Douglas dead, his name hath won the field. + JOHN HOME. + + +It was at the close of an early spring day, when nature, in a cold +province of Scotland, was reviving from her winter's sleep, and the air +at least, though not the vegetation, gave promise of an abatement of +the rigour of the season, that two travellers, whose appearance at that +early period sufficiently announced their wandering character, which, +in general, secured a free passage even through a dangerous country, +were seen coming from the south-westward, within a few miles of the +Castle of Douglas, and seemed to be holding their course in the +direction of the river of that name, whose dale afforded a species of +approach to that memorable feudal fortress. The stream, small in +comparison to the extent of its fame, served as a kind of drain to the +country in its neighbourhood, and at the same time afforded the means +of a rough road to the castle and village. The high lords to whom the +castle had for ages belonged, might, had they chosen, have made this +access a great deal smoother and more convenient; but there had been as +yet little or no exercise for those geniuses, who have taught all the +world that it is better to take the more circuitous road round the base +of a hill, than the direct course of ascending it on the one side, and +descending it directly on the other, without yielding a single step to +render the passage more easy to the traveller; still less were those +mysteries dreamed of which M'Adam has of late days expounded. But, +indeed, to what purpose should the ancient Douglasses have employed his +principles, even if they had known them in ever so much perfection? +Wheel-carriages, except of the most clumsy description, and for the +most simple operations of agriculture, were totally unknown. Even the +most delicate female had no resource save a horse, or, in case of sore +infirmity, a litter. The men used their own sturdy limbs, or hardy +horses, to transport themselves from place to place; and travellers, +females in particular, experienced no small inconvenience from the +rugged nature of the country. A swollen torrent sometimes crossed their +path, and compelled them to wait until the waters had abated their +frenzy. The bank of a small river was occasionally torn away by the +effects of a thunder-storm, a recent inundation, or the like +convulsions of nature; and the wayfarer relied upon his knowledge of +the district, or obtained the best local information in his power, how +to direct his path so as to surmount such untoward obstacles. + +The Douglas issues from an amphitheatre of mountains which bounds the +valley to the south-west, from whose contributions, and the aid of +sudden storms, it receives its scanty supplies. The general aspect of +the country is that of the pastoral hills of the south of Scotland, +forming, as is usual, bleak and wild farms, many of which had, at no +great length of time from the date of the story, been covered with +trees; as some of them still attest by bearing the name of _shaw_, +that is, wild natural wood. The neighbourhood of the Douglas water +itself was flat land, capable of bearing strong crops of oats and rye, +supplying the inhabitants with what they required of these productions. +At no great distance from the edge of the river, a few special spots +excepted, the soil capable of agriculture was more and more mixed with +the pastoral and woodland country, till both terminated in desolate and +partly inaccessible moorlands. + +Above all, it was war-time, and of necessity all circumstances of mere +convenience were obliged to give way to a paramount sense of danger; +the inhabitants, therefore, instead of trying to amend the paths which +connected them with other districts, were thankful that the natural +difficulties which surrounded them rendered it unnecessary to break up +or to fortify the access from more open countries. Their wants, with a +very few exceptions, were completely supplied, as we have already said, +by the rude and scanty produce of their own mountains and _holms_, +[Footnote: Holms, or flat plains, by the sides of the brooks and rivers, +termed in the south, _Ings_.] the last of which served for the +exercise of their limited agriculture, while the better part of the +mountains and forest glens produced pasture for their herds and flocks. +The recesses of the unexplored depths of these sylvan retreats being +seldom disturbed, especially since the lords of the district had laid +aside, during this time of strife, their constant occupation of hunting, +the various kinds of game had increased of late very considerably; so +that not only in crossing the rougher parts of the hilly and desolate +country we are describing, different varieties of deer were +occasionally seen, but even the wild cattle peculiar to Scotland +sometimes showed themselves, and other animals, which indicated the +irregular and disordered state of the period. The wild-cat was +frequently surprised in the dark ravines or the swampy thickets; and +the wolf, already a stranger to the more populous districts of the +Lothians, here maintained his ground against the encroachments of man, +and was still himself a terror to those by whom he was finally to be +extirpated. In winter especially, and winter was hardly yet past, these +savage animals were wont to be driven to extremity for lack of food, +and used to frequent, in dangerous numbers, the battle-field, the +deserted churchyard--nay, sometimes the abodes of living men, there to +watch for children, their defenceless prey, with as much familiarity as +the fox now-a-days will venture to prowl near the mistress's [Footnote: +The good dame, or wife of a respectable farmer, is almost universally +thus designated in Scotland.] poultry-yard. + +From what we have said, our readers, if they have made--as who in these +days has not--the Scottish tour, will be able to form a tolerably just +idea of the wilder and upper part of Douglas Dale, during the earlier +period of the fourteenth century. The setting sun cast his gleams along +a moorland country, which to the westward broke into larger swells, +terminating in the mountains called the Larger and Lesser Cairntable. +The first of these is, as it were, the father of the hills in the +neighbourhood, the source of an hundred streams, and by far the largest +of the ridge, still holding in his dark bosom, and in the ravines with +which his sides are ploughed, considerable remnants of those ancient +forests with which all the high grounds of that quarter were once +covered, and particularly the hills, in which the rivers--both those +which run to the east, and those which seek the west to discharge +themselves into the Solway---hide, like so many hermits, their original +and scanty sources. + +The landscape was still illuminated by the reflection of the evening +sun, sometimes thrown back from pool or stream; sometimes resting on +grey rocks, huge cumberers of the soil, which labour and agriculture +have since removed, and sometimes contenting itself with gilding the +banks of the stream, tinged, alternately grey, green, or ruddy, as the +ground itself consisted of rock, or grassy turf, or bare earthen mound, +or looked at a distance like a rampart of dark red porphyry. +Occasionally, too, the eye rested on the steep brown extent of moorland +as the sunbeam glanced back from the little tarn or mountain pool, +whose lustre, like that of the eye in the human countenance, gives a +life and vivacity to every feature around. + +The elder and stouter of the two travellers whom we have mentioned, was +a person well, and even showily dressed, according to the finery of the +times, and bore at his back, as wandering minstrels were wont, a case, +containing a small harp, rote or viol, or some such species of musical +instrument for accompanying the voice. The leathern case announced so +much, although it proclaimed not the exact nature of the instrument. +The colour of the traveller's doublet was blue, and that of his hose +violet, with slashes which showed a lining of the same colour with the +jerkin. A mantle ought, according to ordinary custom, to have covered +this dress; but the heat of the sun, though the season was so early, +had induced the wearer to fold up his cloak in small compass, and form +it into a bundle, attached to the shoulders like the military +greatcoat of the infantry soldier of the present day. The neatness with +which it was made up, argued the precision of a practised traveller, +who had been long accustomed to every resource which change of weather +required. A great profusion of narrow ribands or points, constituting +the loops with which our ancestors connected their doublet and hose, +formed a kind of cordon, composed of knots of blue or violet, which +surrounded the traveller's person, and thus assimilated in colour with +the two garments which it was the office of these strings to combine. +The bonnet usually worn with this showy dress, was of that kind with +which Henry the Eighth and his son, Edward the Sixth, are usually +represented. It was more fitted, from the gay stuff of which it was +composed, to appear in a public place, than to encounter a storm of +rain. It was party-coloured, being made of different stripes of blue +and violet; and the wearer arrogated a certain degree of gentility to +himself, by wearing a plume of considerable dimensions of the same +favourite colours. The features over which this feather drooped were in +no degree remarkable for peculiarity of expression. Yet in so desolate +a country as the west of Scotland, it would, not have been easy to pass +the man without more minute attention than he would have met with where +there was more in the character of the scenery to arrest the gaze of +the passengers. + +A quick eye, a sociable look, seeming to say, "Ay, look at me, I am a +man worth noticing, and not unworthy your attention," carried with it, +nevertheless, an interpretation which might be thought favourable or +otherwise, according to the character of the person whom the traveller +met. A knight or soldier would merely have thought that he had met a +merry fellow, who could sing a wild song, or tell a wild tale, and help +to empty a flagon, with all the accomplishments necessary for a boon +companion at an hostelry, except perhaps an alacrity at defraying his +share of the reckoning. A churchman, on the other hand, might have +thought he of the blue and violet was of too loose habits, and +accustomed too little to limit himself within the boundaries of +beseeming mirth, to be fit society for one of his sacred calling. Yet +the Man of Song had a certain steadiness of countenance, which seemed +fitted to hold place in scenes of serious business as well as of gaiety. +A wayfaring passenger of wealth (not at that time a numerous class) +might have feared in him a professional robber, or one whom opportunity +was very likely to convert into such; a female might have been +apprehensive of uncivil treatment; and a youth, or timid person, might +have thought of murder, or such direful doings. Unless privately armed, +however, the minstrel was ill-accoutred for any dangerous occupation. +His only visible weapon was a small crooked sword, like what we now +call a hanger; and the state of the times would have justified any man, +however peaceful his intentions, in being so far armed against the +perils of the road. + +If a glance at this man had in any respect prejudiced him in the +opinion of those whom he met on his journey, a look at his companion +would, so far as his character could be guessed at--for he was closely +muffled up--have passed for an apology and warrant for his associate. +The younger traveller was apparently in early youth, a soft and gentle +boy, whose Sclavonic gown, the appropriate dress of the pilgrim, he +wore more closely drawn about him than the coldness of the weather +seemed to authorize or recommend. His features, imperfectly seen under +the hood of his pilgrim's dress, were prepossessing in a high degree; +and though he wore a walking sword, it seemed rather to be in +compliance with general fashion than from any violent purpose he did so. +There were traces of sadness upon his brow, and of tears upon his +cheeks; and his weariness was such, as even his rougher companion +seemed to sympathize with, while he privately participated also in the +sorrow which left its marks upon a countenance so lovely. They spoke +together, and the elder of the two, while he assumed the deferential +air proper to a man of inferior rank addressing a superior, showed in +tone and gesture, something that amounted to interest and affection. + +"Bertram, my friend," said the younger of the two, "how far are we +still from Douglas Castle? We have already come farther than the twenty +miles, which thou didst say was the distance from Cammock--or how didst +thou call the last hostelry which we left by daybreak?" + +"Cummock, my dearest lady--I beg ten thousand excuses--my gracious young +lord." + +"Call me Augustine," replied his comrade, "if you mean to speak as is +fittest for the time." + +"Nay, as for that," said Bertram, "if your ladyship can condescend to +lay aside your quality, my own good breeding is not so firmly sewed to +me but that I can doff it, and resume it again without its losing a +stitch; and since your ladyship, to whom I am sworn in obedience, is +pleased to command that I should treat you as my own son, shame it were +to me if I were not to show you the affection of a father, more +especially as I may well swear my great oath, that I owe you the duty +of such, though well I wot it has, in our case, been the lot of the +parent to be maintained by the kindness and liberality of the child; +for when was it that I hungered or thirsted, and the _black +stock_[Footnote: The table dormant, which stood in a baron's hall, +was often so designated.] of Berkley did not relieve my wants?" + +"I would have it so," answered the young pilgrim; "I would have it so. +What use of the mountains of beef, and the oceans of beer, which they +say our domains produce, if there is a hungry heart among our vassalage, +or especially if thou, Bertram, who hast served as the minstrel of our +house for more than twenty years, shouldst experience such a feeling?" + +"Certes, lady," answered Bertram, "it would be like the catastrophe +which is told of the Baron of Fastenough, when his last mouse was +starved to death in the very pantry; and if I escape this journey +without such a calamity, I shall think myself out of reach of thirst or +famine for the whole of my life." + +"Thou hast suffered already once or twice by these attacks, my poor +friend," said the lady. + +"It is little," answered Bertram, "any thing that I have suffered; and +I were ungrateful to give the inconvenience of missing a breakfast, or +making an untimely dinner, so serious a name. But then I hardly see how +your ladyship can endure this gear much longer. You must yourself feel, +that the plodding along these high lands, of which the Scots give us +such good measure in their miles, is no jesting matter; and as for +Douglas Castle, why it is still three good miles off." + +"The question then is," quoth the lady, heaving a sigh, "what we are to +do when we have so far to travel, and when the castle gates must be +locked long before we arrive there?" + +"For that I will pledge my word," answered Bertram. "The gates of +Douglas, under the care of Sir John de Walton, do not open so easily as +those of the buttery hatch at our own castle, when it is well oiled; +and if your ladyship take my advice, you will turn southward ho! and in +two days at farthest, we shall be in a land where men's wants are +provided for, as the inns proclaim it, with the least possible delay, +and the secret of this little journey shall never be known to living +mortal but ourselves, as sure as I am sworn minstrel, and man of +faith." + +"I thank thee for thy advice, mine honest Bertram," said the lady, "but +I cannot profit by it. Should thy knowledge of these parts possess thee +with an acquaintance with any decent house, whether it belong to rich +or poor, I would willingly take quarters there, if I could obtain them +from this time until to-morrow morning. The gates of Douglas Castle +will then be open to guests of so peaceful an appearance as we carry +with us, and--and--it will out--we might have time to make such +applications to our toilet as might ensure us a good reception, by +drawing a comb through our locks, or such like foppery." + +"Ah, madam!" said Bertram, "were not Sir John de Walton in question, +methinks I should venture to reply, that an unwashed brow, an unkempt +head of hair, and a look far more saucy than your ladyship ever wears, +or can wear, were the proper disguise to trick out that minstrel's boy, +whom, you wish to represent in the present pageant." + +"Do you suffer your youthful pupils to be indeed so slovenly and so +saucy, Bertram?" answered the lady. "I for one will not imitate them in +that particular; and whether Sir John be now in the Castle of Douglas +or not, I will treat the soldiers who hold so honourable a charge with +a washed brow, and a head of hair somewhat ordered. As for going back +without seeing a castle which has mingled even with my very dreams--at +a word, Bertram, thou mayst go that way, but I will not." + +"And if I part with your ladyship on such terms," responded the +minstrel, "now your frolic is so nearly accomplished, it shall be the +foul fiend himself, and nothing more comely or less dangerous, that +shall tear me from your side; and for lodging, there is not far from +hence the house of one Tom Dickson of Hazelside, one of the most honest +fellows of the Dale, and who, although a labouring man, ranked as high +as a warrior, when I was in this country, as any noble gentleman that +rode in the band of the Douglas." + +"He is then a soldier?" said the lady. + +"When his country or his lord need his sword," replied Bertram--"and, +to say the truth, they are seldom at peace; but otherwise, he is no +enemy, save to the wolf which plunders his herds." + +"But forget not, my trusty guide," replied the lady, "that the blood in +our veins is English, and consequently, that we are in danger from all +who call themselves foes to the ruddy Cross." + +"Do not fear this man's faith," answered Bertram. "You may trust to him +as to the best knight or gentleman of the land. We may make good our +lodging by a tune or a song; and it may remember you that I undertook +(provided it pleased your ladyship) to temporize a little with the +Scots, who, poor souls, love minstrelsy, and when they have but a +silver penny, will willingly bestow it to encourage the _gay +science_--I promised you, I say, that we should be as welcome to +them as if we had been born amidst their own wild hills; and for the +best that such a house as Dickson's affords, the glee-man's son, fair +lady, shall not breathe a wish in vain. And now, will you speak your +mind to your devoted friend and adopted father, or rather your sworn +servant and guide, Bertram the Minstrel, what it is your pleasure to do +in this matter?" + +"O, we will certainly accept of the Scot's hospitality," said the lady, +"your minstrel word being plighted that he is a true man. Tom Dickson, +call you him?" + +"Yes," replied Bertram, "such is his name; and by looking on these +sheep, I am assured that we are now upon his land." + +"Indeed?" said the lady, with some surprise; "and how is your wisdom +aware of that?" + +"I see the first letter of his name marked upon this flock," answered +the guide. "Ah, learning is what carries a man through the world, as +well as if he had the ring by virtue of which old minstrels tell that +Adam understood the language of the beasts in paradise. Ah, madam! +there is more wit taught in the shepherd's shieling than the lady +thinks of, who sews her painted seam in her summer bower." + +"Be it so, good Bertram. And although not so deeply skilled in the +knowledge of written language as you are, it is impossible for me to +esteem its value more than I actually do; so hold we on the nearest +road to this Tom Dickson's, whose very sheep tell of his whereabout. I +trust we have not very far to go, although the knowledge that our +journey is shortened by a few miles has so much recovered my fatigue, +that methinks I could dance all the rest of the way." + + + + +CHAPTER THE SECOND. + + _Rosalind_. Well, this is the Forest of Arden. + _Touchstone_. Ay, now am I in Arden; the more fool I. When I +was at + home I was in a better place; but travellers must be content. + _Rosalind_. Ay, be so, good Touchstone. Look you, who comes +here; a + young man and an old, in solemn talk. + As You Like It. _Scene IV. Act 2_. + + +As the travellers spoke together, they reached a turn of the path which +presented a more extensive prospect than the broken face of the country +had yet shown them. A valley, through which flowed a small tributary +stream, exhibited the wild, but not unpleasant, features of "a lone +vale of green braken;" here and there besprinkled with groups of alder- +trees, of hazels, and of copse-oakwood, which had maintained their +stations in the recesses of the valley, although they had vanished from +the loftier and more exposed sides of the hills. The farm-house or +mansion-house, (for, from its size and appearance, it might have been +the one or the other,) was a large but low building, and the walls of +the out-houses were sufficiently strong to resist any band of casual +depredators. There was nothing, however, which could withstand a more +powerful force; for, in a country laid waste by war, the farmer was +then, as now, obliged to take his chance of the great evils attendant +upon that state of things; and his condition, never a very eligible one, +was rendered considerably worse by the insecurity attending it. About +half a mile farther was seen a Gothic building of very small extent, +having a half dismantled chapel, which the minstrel pronounced to be +the Abbey of Saint Bride. "The place," he said, "I understand, is +allowed to subsist, as two or three old monks and as many nuns, whom it +contains, are permitted by the English to serve God there, and +sometimes to give relief to Scottish travellers; and who have +accordingly taken assurance with Sir John de Walton, and accepted as +their superior a churchman on whom he thinks he can depend. But if +these guests happen to reveal any secrets, they are, by some means or +other, believed to fly towards the English governor; and therefore, +unless your ladyship's commands be positive, I think we had best not +trust ourselves to their hospitality." + +"Of a surety, no," said the lady, "if thou canst provide me with +lodgings where we shall have more prudent hosts." + +At this moment, two human forms were seen to approach the farm-house in +a different direction from the travellers, and speaking so high, in a +tone apparently of dispute, that the minstrel and his companion could +distinguish their voices though the distance was considerable. Having +screened his eyes with his hand for some minutes, Bertram at length +exclaimed, "By our Lady, it is my old friend, Tom Dickson, sure +enough!--What can make him in such bad humour with the lad, who, I +think, may be the little wild boy, his son Charles, who used to run +about and plait rushes some twenty years ago? It is lucky, however, we +have found our friends astir; for I warrant, Tom hath a hearty piece of +beef in the pot ere he goes to bed, and he must have changed his wont +if an old friend hath not his share; and who knows, had we come later, +at what hour they may now find it convenient to drop latch and draw +bolt so near a hostile garrison; for if we call things by their right +names, such is the proper term for an English garrison in the castle of +a Scottish nobleman." + +"Foolish man," answered the lady, "thou judgest of Sir John de Walton +as thou wouldst of some rude boor, to whom the opportunity of doing +what he wills is a temptation and license to exercise cruelty and +oppression. Now, I could plight you my word, that, setting apart the +quarrel of the kingdoms, which, of course, will be fought out in fair +battles on both sides, you will find that English and Scottish, within +this domain, and within the reach of Sir John de Walton's influence, +live together as that same flock of sheep and goats do with the +shepherd's dog; a foe from whom they fly upon certain occasions, but +around whom they nevertheless eagerly gather for protection should a +wolf happen to show himself." + +"It is not to your ladyship," answered Bertram, "that I should venture +to state my opinion of such matters; but the young knight, when he is +sheathed in armour, is a different being from him who feasts in halls +among press of ladies; and he that feeds by another man's fireside, and +when his landlord, of all men in the world, chances to be the Black +Douglas, has reason to keep his eyes about him as he makes his meal:-- +but it were better I looked after our own evening refreshment, than +that I stood here gaping and talking about other folk's matters." So +saying, he called out in a thundering tone of voice, "Dickson!--what ho, +Thomas Dickson!--will you not acknowledge an old friend who is much +disposed to trust his supper and night's lodging to your hospitality?" + +The Scotchman, attracted by the call, looked first along the banks of +the river, then upward to the bare side of the hill, and at length cast +his eyes upon the two figures who were descending from it. + +As if he felt the night colder while he advanced from the more +sheltered part of the valley to meet them, the Douglas Dale farmer +wrapped closer around him the grey plaid, which, from an early period, +has been used by the shepherds of the south of Scotland, and the +appearance of which gives a romantic air to the peasantry and middle +classes; and which, although less brilliant and gaudy in its colours, +is as picturesque in its arrangement as the more military tartan mantle +of the Highlands. When they approached near to each other, the lady +might observe that this friend of her guide was a stout athletic man, +somewhat past the middle of life, and already showing marks of the +approach, but none of the infirmities, of age, upon a countenance which +had been exposed to many a storm. Sharp eyes, too, and a quick +observation, exhibited signs of vigilance, acquired by one who had +lived long in a country where he had constant occasion for looking +around him with caution. His features were still swollen with +displeasure; and the handsome young man who attended him seemed to be +discontented, like one who had undergone no gentle marks of his +father's indignation, and who, from the sullen expression which mingled +with an appearance of shame on his countenance, seemed at once affected +by anger and remorse. + +"Do you not remember me, old friend?" said Bertram, as they approached +within a distance for communing; "or have the twenty years which have +marched over us since we met, carried along with them all remembrance +of Bertram, the English minstrel?" + +"In troth," answered the Scot, "it is not for want of plenty of your +countrymen to keep you in my remembrance, and I have hardly heard one +of them so much as whistle + + 'Hey, now the day dawns,' + +but it has recalled some note of your blythe rebeck; and yet, such +animals are we, that I had forgot the mien of my old friend, and +scarcely knew him at a distance. But we have had trouble lately; there +are a thousand of your countrymen that keep garrison in the Perilous +Castle of Douglas yonder, as well as in other places through the vale, +and that is but a woful sight for a true Scotchman--even my own poor +house has not escaped the dignity of a garrison of a man-at-arms, +besides two or three archer knaves, and one or two slips of mischievous +boys called pages, and so forth, who will not let a man say, 'this is +my own,' by his own fireside. Do not, therefore, think hardly of me, +old comrade, if I show you a welcome something colder than you might +expect from a friend of other days; for, by Saint Bride of Douglas, I +have scarcely anything left to which I can say welcome." + +"Small welcome will serve," said Bertram. "My son, make thy reverence +to thy father's old friend. Augustine is learning my joyous trade, but +he will need some practice ere he can endure its fatigues. If you could +give him some little matter of food, and a quiet bed for the night, +there's no fear but that we shall both do well enough; for I dare say, +when you travel with my friend Charles there,--if that tall youth +chance to be my old acquaintance Charles,--you will find yourself +accommodated when his wants are once well provided for." + +"Nay, the foul fiend take me if I do," answered the Scottish husbandman. +"I know not what the lads of this day are made of--not of the same clay +as their fathers, to be sure--not sprung from their heather, which +fears neither wind nor rain, but from some delicate plant of a foreign +country, which will not thrive unless it be nourished under glass, with +a murrain to it. The good Lord of Douglas--I have been his henchman, +and can vouch for it--did not in his pagehood desire such food and +lodging as, in the present day, will hardly satisfy such a lad as your +friend Charles." + +"Nay," said Bertram, "it is not that my Augustine is over nice; but, +for other reasons, I must request of you a bed to himself; he hath of +late been unwell." + +"Ay, I understand," said Dickson, "your son hath had a touch of that +illness which terminates so frequently in the black death you English +folk die of? We hear much of the havoc it has made to the southward. +Comes it hitherward?" + +Bertram nodded. + +"Well, my father's house," continued the farmer, "hath more rooms than +one, and your son shall have one well-aired and comfortable; and for +supper, ye shall have a part of what is prepared for your countrymen, +though I would rather have their room than their company. Since I am +bound to feed a score of them, they will not dispute the claim of such +a skilful minstrel as thou art to a night's hospitality. I am ashamed +to say that I must do their bidding even in my own house, Well-a-day, +if my good lord were in possession of his own, I have heart and hand +enough to turn the whole of them out of my house, like--like"---- + +"To speak plainly," said Bertram, "like a southern strolling gang from +Redesdale, whom I have seen you fling out of your house like a litter +of blind puppies, when not one of them looked behind to see who had +done him the courtesy until he was half-way to Cairntable." + +"Ay," answered the Scotchman, drawing himself up at least six inches +taller than before; "then I had a house of my own, and a cause and an +arm to keep it. Now I am--what signifies it what I am?--the noblest +lord in Scotland is little better." + +"Truly, friend," said Bertram, "now you view this matter in a rational +light. I do not say that the wisest, the richest, or the strongest man +in this world has any right to tyrannize over his neighbour, because he +is the more weak, ignorant, and the poorer; but yet if he does enter +into such a controversy, he must submit to the course of nature, and +that will always give the advantage in the tide of battle to wealth, +strength, and health." + +"With permission, however," answered Dickson, "the weaker party, if he +use his facilities to the utmost, may, in the long run, obtain revenge +upon the author of his sufferings, which would be at least compensation +for his temporary submission; and he acts simply as a man, and most +foolishly as a Scotchman, whether he sustain these wrongs with the +insensibility of an idiot, or whether he endeavour to revenge them +before Heaven's appointed time has arrived.--But if I talk thus I shall +scare you, as I have scared some of your countrymen, from accepting a +meal of meat and a night's lodging, in a house where you might be +called with the morning to a bloody settlement of a national quarrel." + +"Never mind," said Bertram, "we have been known to each other of old; +and I am no more afraid of meeting unkindness in your house, than you +expect me to come here for the purpose of adding to the injuries of +which you complain." + +"So be it," said Dickson; "and you, my old friend, are as welcome to my +abode as when it never held any guest, save of my own inviting.--And +you, my young friend, Master Augustine, shall be looked after as well +as if you came with a gay brow and a light cheek, such as best becomes +the _gay science_." + +"But wherefore, may I ask," said Bertram, "so much displeased but now +at my young friend Charles?" + +The youth answered before his father had time to speak. "My father, +good sir, may put what show upon it he will, but shrewd and wise men +wax weak in the brain these troublous times. He saw two or three wolves +seize upon three of our choicest wethers; and because I shouted to give +the alarm to the English garrison, he was angry as if he could have +murdered me---just for saving the sheep from the jaws that would have +devoured them." + +"This is a strange account of thee, old friend," said Bertram. "Dost +thou connive with the wolves in robbing thine own fold?" + +"Why, let it pass, if thou lovest me," answered the countryman; +"Charles could tell thee something nearer the truth if he had a mind; +but for the present let it pass." + +The minstrel, perceiving that the Scotchman was fretted and embarrassed +with the subject, pressed it no farther. + +At this moment, in crossing the threshold of Thomas Dickson's house, +they were greeted with sounds from two English soldiers within. "Quiet, +Anthony," said one voice,--"quiet, man!--for the sake of common sense, +if not common manners;--Robin Hood himself never sat down to his board +ere the roast was ready." + +"Ready!" quoth another rough voice; "It is roasting to rags, and small +had been the knave Dickson's share, even of these rags, had it not been +the express orders of the worshipful Sir John de Walton, that the +soldiers who lie at outposts should afford to the inmates such +provisions as are not necessary for their own subsistence." + +"Hush, Anthony,--hush, for shame!" replied his fellow-soldier, "if ever +I heard our host's step, I heard it this instant; so give over thy +grumbling, since our captain, as we all know, hath prohibited, under +strict penalties, all quarrels between his followers and the people of +the country." + +"I am sure," replied Anthony, "that I have ministered occasion to none; +but I would I were equally certain of the good meaning of this sullen- +browed Thomas Dickson towards the English soldiers, for I seldom go to +bed in this dungeon of a house, but I expect my throat will gape as +wide as a thirsty oyster before I awaken. Here he comes, however," +added Anthony, sinking his sharp tones as he spoke; "and I hope to be +excommunicated if he has not brought with him that mad animal, his son +Charles, and two other strangers, hungry enough, I'll be sworn, to eat +up the whole supper, if they do us no other injury." + +"Shame of thyself, Anthony," repeated his comrade; "a good archer thou +as ever wore Kendal green, and yet affect to be frightened for two +tired travellers, and alarmed for the inroad their hunger may make on +the night's meal. There are four or five of us here--we have our bows +and our bills within reach, and scorn to be chased from our supper, or +cheated out of our share of it by a dozen Scotchmen, whether stationary +or strollers. How say'st thou?" he added, turning to Dickson--"How say +ye, quartermaster? it is no secret, that by the directions given to our +post, we must enquire into the occupations of such guests as you may +receive besides ourselves, your unwilling inmates; you are as ready for +supper, I warrant, as supper is for you, and I will only delay you and +my friend Anthony,--who becomes dreadfully impatient, until you answer +two or three questions which you wot of." + +"Bend-the-Bow," answered Dickson, "thou art a civil fellow; and +although it is something hard to be constrained to give an account of +one's friends, because they chance to quarter in one's own house for a +night or two, yet I must submit to the times, and make no vain +opposition. You may mark down in your breviary there, that upon the +fourteenth day before Palm Sunday, Thomas Dickson brought to his house +of Hazelside, in which you hold garrison, by orders from the English +governor, Sir John de Walton, two strangers, to whom the said Thomas +Dickson had promised refreshment, and a bed for the evening, if it be +lawful at this time and place." + +"But what are they, these strangers?" said Anthony, somewhat sharply. + +"A fine world the while," murmured Thomas Dickson, "that an honest man +should be forced to answer the questions of every paltry companion!"-- +But he mitigated his voice and proceeded. "The eldest of my guests is +Bertram, an ancient English minstrel, who is bound on his own errand to +the Castle of Douglas, and will communicate what he has to say of news +to Sir John de Walton himself. I have known him for twenty years, and +never heard any thing of him save that he was good man and true. The +younger stranger is his son, a lad recovering from the English disorder, +which has been raging far and wide in Westmoreland and Cumberland." + +"Tell me," said Bend-the-Bow, "this same Bertram,--was he not about a +year since in the service of some noble lady in our own country?" + +"I have heard so," answered Dickson. + +"We shall, in that case, I think, incur little danger," replied Bend- +the-Bow, "by allowing this old man and his son to proceed on their +journey to the castle." + +"You are my elder and my better," answered Anthony; "but I may remind +you that it is not so clearly our duty to give free passage, into a +garrison of a thousand men of all ranks, to a youth who has been so +lately attacked by a contagious disorder; and I question if our +commander would not rather hear that the Black Douglas, with a hundred +devils as black as himself, since such is his colour, had taken +possession of the outposts of Hazelside with sword and battle-axe, than +that one person suffering under this fell sickness had entered +peaceably, and by the open wicket of the castle." + +"There is something in what thou sayest, Anthony," replied his comrade; +"and considering that our governor, since he has undertaken the +troublesome job of keeping a castle which is esteemed so much more +dangerous than any other within Scotland, has become one of the most +cautious and jealous men in the world, we had better, I think, inform +him of the circumstance, and take his commands how the stripling is to +be dealt with." + +"Content am I," said the archer; "and first, methinks, I would just, in +order to show that we know what belongs to such a case, ask the +stripling a few questions, as how long he has been ill, by what +physicians he has been attended, when he was cured, and how his cure is +certified, &e." + +"True, brother," said Bend-the-Bow. "Thou hearest, minstrel, we would +ask thy son some questions--What has become of him?--he was in this +apartment but now." + +"So please you," answered Bertram, "he did but pass through the +apartment. Mr. Thomas Dickson, at my entreaty, as well as in respectful +reverence to your honour's health, carried him through the room without +tarriance, judging his own bed-chamber the fittest place for a young +man recovering from a severe illness, and after a day of no small +fatigue." + +"Well," answered the elder archer, "though it is uncommon for men who, +like us, live by bow-string and quiver, to meddle with interrogations +and examinations; yet, as the case stands, we must make some enquiries +of your son, ere we permit him to set forth to the Castle of Douglas, +where you say his errand leads him." + +"Rather my errand, noble sir," said the minstrel, "than that of the +young man himself." + +"If such be the case," answered Bend-the-Bow, "we may sufficiently do +our duty by sending yourself, with the first grey light of dawn, to the +castle, and letting your son remain in bed, which I warrant is the +fittest place for him, until we shall receive Sir John de Walton's +commands whether he is to be brought onward or not." + +"And we may as well," said Anthony, "since we are to have this man's +company at supper, make him acquainted with the rules of the out- +garrison stationed here for the time." So saying, he pulled a scroll +from his leathern pouch, and said, "Minstrel, canst thou read?" + +"It becomes my calling," said the minstrel. + +"It has nothing to do with mine, though," answered the archer, "and +therefore do thou read these regulations aloud; for since I do not +comprehend these characters by sight, I lose no chance of having them +read over to me as often as I can, that I may fix their sense in my +memory. So beware that thou readest the words letter for letter as they +are set down; for thou dost so at thy peril, Sir Minstrel, if thou +readest not like a true man." + +"On my minstrel word," said Bertram, and began to read excessively +slow; for he wished to gain a little time for consideration, which he +foresaw would be necessary to prevent his being separated from his +mistress, which was likely to occasion her much anxiety and distress. +He therefore began thus:--"'Outpost at Hazelside, the steading of +Goodman Thomas Dickson'--Ay, Thomas, and is thy house so called?" + +"It is the ancient name of the steading," said the Scot, "being +surrounded by a hazel-shaw, or thicket." + +"Hold your chattering tongue, minstrel," said Anthony, "and proceed, as +you value your ears, which you seem disposed to make less use of." + +"'His garrison'" proceeded the minstrel, reading, "'consists of a lance +with its furniture.' What, then, a lance, in other words, a belted +knight, commands this party?" + +"'Tis no concern of thine," said the archer. + +"But it is," answered the minstrel; "we have a right to be examined by +the highest person in presence." + +"I will show thee, thou rascal," said the archer, starting up, "that I +am lance enough for thee to reply to, and I will break thy head if thou +say'st a word more." + +"Take care, brother Anthony," said his comrade, "we are to use +travellers courteously--and, with your leave, those travellers best who +come from our native land." + +"It is even so stated here," said the minstrel, and he proceeded to +read:--"'The watch at this outpost of Hazelside [Footnote: Hazelside +Place, the fief granted to Thomas Dickson by William the Hardy, seventh +Lord Douglas, is still pointed out about two miles to the southwest of +the Castle Dangerous. Dickson was sixty years of age at the time when +Lord James first appeared in Douglasdale. His heirs kept possession of +the fief for centuries; and some respectable gentlemen's families in +Lanarkshire still trace themselves to this ancestor.--_From Notes by +Mr. Haddow_.] shall stop and examine all travellers passing by the +said station, suffering such to pass onward to the town of Douglas or +to Douglas Castle, always interrogating them with civility, and +detaining and turning them back if there arise matter of suspicion; but +conducting themselves in all matters civilly and courteously to the +people of the country, and to those who travel in it.' You see, most +excellent and valiant archer," added the commentator Bertram, "that +courtesy and civility are, above all, recommended to your worship in +your conduct towards the inhabitants, and those passengers who, like us, +may chance to fall under your rules in such matters." + +"I am not to be told at this time of day," said the archer, "how to +conduct myself in the discharge of my duties. Let me advise you, Sir +Minstrel, to be frank and open in your answers to our enquiries, and +you shall have no reason to complain." + +"I hope at all events," said the minstrel, "to have your favour for my +son, who is a delicate stripling, and not accustomed to play his part +among the crew which inhabit this wild world." + +"Well," continued the elder and more civil of the two archers, "if thy +son be a novice in this terrestrial navigation, I warrant that thou, my +friend, from thy look and manner of speech, hast enough of skill to use +thy compass. To comfort thee, although thou must thyself answer the +questions of our governor or deputy-governor, in order that he may see +there is no offence in thee, I think there may be permission granted +for thy son's residing here in the convent hard by, (where the nuns, by +the way, are as old as the monks, and have nearly as long beards, so +thou mayst be easy about thy son's morals,) until thou hast done thy +business at Douglas Castle, and art ready to resume thy journey." + +"If such permission," said the minstrel, "can be obtained, I should be +better pleased to leave him at the abbey, and go myself, in the first +place, to take the directions of your commanding officer." + +"Certainly," answered the archer, "that will be the safest and best +way; and with a piece or two of money, thou mayst secure the protection +of the abbot." + +"Thou say'st well," answered the minstrel; "I have known life, I have +known every stile, gap, pathway, and pass of this wilderness of ours +for some thirty years; and he that cannot steer his course fairly +through it like an able seaman, after having served such an +apprenticeship, can hardly ever be taught, were a century to be given +him to learn it in." + +"Since thou art so expert a mariner," answered the archer Anthony, +"thou hast, I warrant me, met in thy wanderings a potation called a +morning's draught, which they who are conducted by others, where they +themselves lack experience, are used to bestow upon those who undertake +the task of guide upon such an occasion?" + +"I understand you, sir," quoth the minstrel; "and although money, or +_drink-geld_, as the Fleming calls it, is rather a scarce +commodity in the purse of one of my calling, yet according to my feeble +ability, thou shalt have no cause to complain that thine eyes or those +of thy comrades have been damaged by a Scottish mist, while we can find +an English coin to pay for the good liquor which would wash them +clear." + +"Content," said the archer; "we now understand each other; and if +difficulties arise on the road, thou shalt not want the countenance of +Anthony to sail triumphantly through them. But thou hadst better let +thy son know soon of the early visit to the abbot to-morrow, for thou +mayst guess that we cannot and dare not delay our departure for the +convent a minute after the eastern sky is ruddy; and, with other +infirmities, young men often are prone to laziness and a love of ease." + +"Thou shalt have no reason to think so," answered the minstrel; "not +the lark himself, when waked by the first ray peeping over the black +cloud, springs more lightly to the sky, than will my Augustine answer +the same brilliant summons. And now we understand each other, I would +only further pray you to forbear light talk while my son is in your +company,--a boy of innocent life, and timid in conversation." + +"Nay, jolly minstrel," said the elder archer, "thou givest us here too +gross an example of Satan reproving sin. If thou hast followed thy +craft for twenty years, as thou pretendest, thy son, having kept thee +company since childhood, must by this time be fit to open a school to +teach even devils the practice of the seven deadly sins, of which none +know the theory if those of the _gay science_ are lacking." + +"Truly, comrade, thou speakest well," answered Bertram, "and I +acknowledge that we minstrels are too much to blame in this matter. +Nevertheless, in good sooth, the fault is not one of which I myself am +particularly guilty; on the contrary, I think that he who would wish to +have his own hair honoured when time has strewed it with silver, should +so rein his mirth when in the presence of the young, as may show in +what respect he holds innocence. I will, therefore, with your +permission, speak a word to Augustine, that to-morrow we must be on +foot early." + +"Do so, my friend," said the English soldier; "and do the same the more +speedily that our poor supper is still awaiting until thou art ready to +partake of it." + +"To which, I promise thee," said Bertram, "I am disposed to entertain, +no delay." + +"Follow me, then," said Dickson, "and I will show thee where this young +bird of thine has his nest." + +Their host accordingly tripped up the wooden stair, and tapped at a +door, which he thus indicated was that of his younger guest. + +"Your father," continued he, as the door opened, "would speak with you, +Master Augustine." + +"Excuse me, my host," answered Augustine, "the truth is, that this room +being directly above your eating-chamber, and the flooring not in the +best possible repair, I have been compelled to the unhandsome practice +of eavesdropping, and not a word has escaped me that passed concerning +my proposed residence at the abbey, our journey to-morrow, and the +somewhat early hour at which I must shake off sloth, and, according to +thy expression, fly down from the roost." + +"And how dost thou relish," said Dickson, "being left with the Abbot of +Saint Bride's little flock here." + +"Why, well," said the youth, "if the abbot is a man of respectability +becoming his vocation, and not one of those swaggering churchmen, who +stretch out the sword, and bear themselves like rank soldiers in these +troublous times." + +"For that, young master," said Dickson, "if you let him put his hand +deep enough into your purse, he will hardly quarrel with any thing." +"Then I will leave him to my father," replied Augustine, "who will not +grudge him any thing he asks in reason." + +"In that case," replied the Scotchman, "you may trust to our abbot for +good accommodation--and so both sides are pleased." + +"It is well, my son," said Bertram, who now joined in the conversation; +"and that thou mayst be ready for early travelling, I shall presently +get our host to send thee some food, after partaking of which thou +shouldst go to bed and sleep off the fatigue of to-day, since to-morrow +will bring work for itself." + +"And as for thy engagement to these honest archers," answered Augustine, +"I hope you will be able to do what will give pleasure to our guides, +if they are disposed to be civil and true men." + +"God bless thee, my child!" answered Bertram; "thou knowest already +what would drag after thy beck all the English archers that were ever +on this side of the Solway. There is no fear of a grey goose shaft, if +you sing a _reveillez_ like to that which chimed even now from +that silken nest of dainty young goldfinches." + +"Hold me as in readiness, then," said the seeming youth, "when you +depart to-morrow morning. I am within hearing, I suppose, of the bells +of Saint Bride's chapel, and have no fear, through my sloth, of keeping +you or your company waiting." + +"Good night, and God bless thee, my child!" again said the minstrel; +"remember that your father sleeps not far distant, and on the slightest +alarm will not fail to be with you. I need scarce bid thee recommend +thyself, meantime, to the great Being, who is the friend and father of +us all." + +The pilgrim thanked his supposed father for his evening blessing, and +the visitors withdrew without farther speech at the time, leaving the +young lady to those engrossing fears, which, the novelty of her +situation, and the native delicacy of her sex being considered, +naturally thronged upon her. + +The tramp of a horse's foot was not long after heard at the house of +Hazelside, and the rider was welcomed by its garrison with marks of +respect. Bertram understood so much as to discover from the +conversation of the warders that this late arrival was Aymer de Valence, +the knight who commanded the little party, and to the furniture of +whose lance, as it was technically called, belonged the archers with +whom we have already been acquainted, a man-at-arms or two, a certain +proportion of pages or grooms, and, in short, the command and guidance +of the garrison at Thomas Dickson's, while in rank he was Deputy- +governor of Douglas Castle. + +To prevent all suspicion respecting himself and his companion, as well +as the risk of the latter being disturbed, the minstrel thought it +proper to present himself to the inspection of this knight, the great +authority of the little place. He found him with as little scruple as +the archers heretofore, making a supper of the relics of the roast beef. + +Before this young knight Bertram underwent an examination, while an old +soldier took down in writing such items of information as the examinate +thought proper to express in his replies, both with regard to the +minutiae of his present journey, his business at Castle Douglas, and +his route when that business should be accomplished; a much more minute +examination, in a word, than he had hitherto undergone by the archers, +or perhaps than was quite agreeable to him, being encumbered with at +least the knowledge of one secret, whatever more. Not that this new +examinator had any thing stern or severe in his looks or his questions. +As to the first, he was mild, gentle, and "meek as a maid," and +possessed exactly of the courteous manners ascribed by our father +Chaucer to the pattern of chivalry whom he describes upon his +pilgrimage to Canterbury. But with all his gentleness, De Valence +showed a great degree of acuteness and accuracy in his queries; and +well pleased was Bertram that the young knight did not insist upon +seeing his supposed son, although even in that case his ready wit had +resolved, like a seaman in a tempest, to sacrifice one part to preserve +the rest. He was not, however, driven to this extremity, being treated +by Sir Aymer with that degree of courtesy which in that age men of song +were in general thought entitled to. The knight kindly and liberally +consented to the lad's remaining in the convent, as a fit and quiet +residence for a stripling and an invalid, until Sir John de Walton +should express his pleasure on the subject; and Sir Aymer consented to +this arrangement the more willingly, as it averted all possible danger +of bringing disease into the English garrison. + +By the young knight's order, all in Dickson's house were despatched +earlier to rest than usual; the matin bell of the neighbouring chapel +being the signal for their assembly by daybreak. They rendezvoused +accordingly, and proceeded to Saint Bride's, where they heard mass, +after which an interview took place between the abbot Jerome and the +minstrel, in which the former undertook, with the permission of De +Valence, to receive Augustine into his abbey as a guest for a few days, +less or more, and for which Bertram promised an acknowledgment in name +of alms, which was amply satisfactory. + +"So be it," said Bertram, taking leave of his supposed son; "rely on it +I will not tarry a day longer at Douglas Castle than shall suffice for +transacting my business there, which is to look after the old books you +wot of, and I will speedily return for thee to the Abbey of Saint Bride, +to resume in company our journey homeward." + +"O father," replied the youth, with a smile, "I fear if you get among +romances and chronicles, you will be so earnest in your researches, +that you will forget poor Augustine and his concerns." + +"Never fear me, Augustine," said the old man, making the motion of +throwing a kiss towards the boy; "thou art good and virtuous, and +Heaven will not neglect thee, were thy father unnatural enough to do so. +Believe me, all the old songs since Merlin's day shall not make me +forget thee." + +Thus they separated, the minstrel, with the English knight and his +retinue, to move towards the castle, and the youth in dutiful +attendance on the venerable abbot, who was delighted to find that his +guest's thoughts turned rather upon spiritual things than on the +morning repast, of the approach of which he could not help being +himself sensible. + + + + +CHAPTER THE THIRD. + + This night, methinks, is but the daylight sick. + It looks a little paler; 'tis a day + Such as the day is when the sun is hid. + MERCHANT OF VENICE. + + +To facilitate the progress of the party on its way to Douglas Castle, +the Knight of Valence offered the minstrel the convenience of a horse, +which the fatigues of yesterday made him gladly accept. Any one +acquainted with equestrian exercise, is aware that no means of +refreshment carries away the sense of fatigue from over walking so +easily, as the exchange to riding, which calls into play another set of +muscles, and leaves those which have been over exerted an opportunity +of resting through change of motion, more completely than they could in +absolute repose. Sir Aymer de Valence was sheathed in armour, and +mounted on his charger, two of the archers, a groom of mean rank, and a +squire, who looked in his day for the honour of knighthood, completed +the detachment, which seemed so disposed as to secure the minstrel from +escape, and to protect him against violence. "Not," said the young +knight, addressing himself to Bertram, "that there is usually danger in +travelling in this country any more than in the most quiet districts of +England; but some disturbances, as you may have learnt, have broken out +here within this last year, and have caused the garrison of Castle +Douglas to maintain a stricter watch. But let us move on, for the +complexion of the day is congenial with the original derivation of the +name of the country, and the description of the chiefs to whom it +belonged--_Sholto Dhu Glass_--(see yon dark grey man,) and dark +grey will our route prove this morning, though by good luck it is not +long." + +The morning was indeed what the original Gaelic words implied, a +drizzly, dark, moist day; the mist had settled upon the hills, and +unrolled itself upon brook, glade, and tarn, and the spring breeze was +not powerful enough to raise the veil, though from the wild sounds +which were heard occasionally on the ridges, and through the glens, it +might be supposed to wail at a sense of its own inability. The route of +the travellers was directed by the course which the river had ploughed +for itself down the valley, the banks of which bore in general that +dark grey livery which Sir Aymer de Valence had intimated to be the +prevalent tint of the country. Some ineffectual struggles of the sun +shot a ray here and there to salute the peaks of the hills; yet these +were unable to surmount the dulness of a March morning, and, at so +early an hour, produced a variety of shades, rather than a gleam of +brightness upon the eastern horizon. The view was monotonous and +depressing, and apparently the good knight Aymer sought some amusement +in occasional talk with Bertram, who, as was usual with his craft, +possessed a fund of knowledge, and a power of conversation, well suited +to pass away a dull morning. The minstrel, well pleased to pick up such +information as he might be able concerning the present state of the +country, embraced every opportunity of sustaining the dialogue. + +"I would speak with you, Sir Minstrel," said the young knight. "If thou +dost not find the air of this morning too harsh for thine organs, +heartily do I wish thou wouldst fairly tell me what can have induced +thee, being, as thou seemst, a man of sense, to thrust thyself into a +wild country like this, at such a time.--And you, my masters," +addressing the archers and the rest of the party, "methinks it would be +as fitting and seeming if you reined back your steeds for a horse's +length or so, since I apprehend you can travel on your way without the +pastime of minstrelsy." The bowmen took the hint, and fell back, but, +as was expressed by their grumbling observations, by no means pleased +that there seemed little chance of their overhearing what conversation +should pass between the young knight and the minstrel, which proceeded +as follows-- + +"I am, then, to understand, good minstrel," said the knight, "that you, +who have in your time borne arms, and even followed Saint George's red- +cross banner to the Holy Sepulchre, are so little tired of the danger +attending our profession, that you feel yourself attracted +unnecessarily to regions where the sword, for ever loose in its +scabbard, is ready to start on the slightest provocation?" + +"It would be hard," replied the minstrel bluntly, "to answer such a +question in the affirmative; and yet, when you consider how nearly +allied is his profession who celebrates deeds of arms with that of the +knight who performs them, your honour, I think, will hold it advisable +that a minstrel desirous of doing his devoir, should, like a young +knight, seek the truth of adventures where it is to be found, and +rather visit countries where the knowledge is preserved of high and +noble deeds, than those lazy and quiet realms, in which men live +indolently, and die ignobly in peace, or by sentence of law. You +yourself, sir, and those like you, who hold life cheap in respect of +glory, guide your course through this world on the very same principle +which brings your poor rhyming servant Bertram from a far province of +merry England, to this dark country of rugged Scotland called Douglas +Dale. You long to see adventures worthy of notice, and I (under favour +for naming us two in the same breath) seek a scanty and precarious, but +not a dishonourable living, by preparing for immortality, as well as I +can, the particulars of such exploits, especially the names of those +who were the heroes of these actions. Each, therefore, labours in his +vocation; nor can the one be justly wondered at more than the other, +seeing that if there be any difference in the degrees of danger to +which both the hero and the poet are exposed, the courage, strength, +arms, and address of the valiant knight, render it safer for him to +venture into scenes of peril, than for the poor man of rhyme." + +"You say well," answered the warrior; "and although it is something of +novelty to me to hear your craft represented as upon a level with my +own mode of life, yet shame were it to say that the minstrel who toils +so much to keep in memory the feats of gallant knights should not +himself prefer fame to existence, and a single achievement of valour to +a whole age without a name, or to affirm that he follows a mean and +unworthy profession." + +"Your worship will then acknowledge," said the minstrel, "that it is a +legitimate object in such as myself, who, simple as I am, have taken my +regular degrees among the professors of the _gay science_ at the +capital town of Aigues-Mortos, to struggle forward into this northern +district, where I am well assured many things have happened which have +been adapted to the harp by minstrels of great fame in ancient days, +and have become the subject of lays which lie deposited in the library +of Castle Douglas, where, unless copied over by some one who +understands the old British characters and language, they must, with +whatever they may contain, whether of entertainment or edification, be +speedily lost to posterity. If these hidden treasures were preserved +and recorded by the minstrel art of my poor self and others, it might +be held well to compensate for the risk of a chance blow of a +broadsword, or the sweep of a brown bill, while I am engaged in +collecting them; and I were unworthy of the name of a man, much more of +an inventor or finder, [Footnote: The name of Maker stands for +_Poet_ (with the original sense of which word it exactly +corresponds) in the old Scottish language. That of _Trouveur_ or +Troubadour--Finder, in short--has a similar meaning, and almost in +every country the poetical tribes have been graced with the same +epithets, inferring the property of those who employ invention or +creation.] should I weigh the loss of life, a commodity always so +uncertain, against the chance of that immortality which will survive in +my lay after my broken voice and shivered harp shall no longer be able +either to express tune or accompany tale." + +"Certainly," said Sir Aymer, "having a heart to feel such a motive, you +have an undoubted right to express it; nor should I have been in any +degree disposed to question it had I found many minstrels prepared, +like yourself, to prefer renown even to life itself, which most men +think of greatly more consequence." + +"There are, indeed, noble sir," replied Bertram, "minstrels, and, with +your reverence, even belted knights themselves, who do not sufficiently +value that renown which is acquired at the risk of life. To such +ignoble men we must leave their own reward--let us abandon to them +earth, and the things of earth, since they cannot aspire to that glory +which is the _best_ reward of others." + +The minstrel uttered these last words with such enthusiasm, that the +knight drew his bridle, and stood fronting Bertram, with his +countenance kindling at the same theme, on which, after a short silence, +he expressed himself with a like vivacity. + +"Well fare thy heart, gay companion! I am happy to see there is still +so much enthusiasm surviving in the world. Thou hast fairly won the +minstrel groat; and if I do not pay it in conformity to my sense of thy +merit, it shall be the fault of dame Fortune, who has graced my labours +in these Scottish wars with the niggard pay of Scottish money. A gold +piece or two there must be remaining of the ransom of one French knight, +whom chance threw into my hands, and that, my friend, shall surely be +thine own; and hark thee, I, Aymer de Valence, who now speak to thee, +am born of the noble House of Pembroke; and though now landless, shall, +by the grace of Our Lady, have in time a fitting establishment, wherein +I will find room for a minstrel like thee, if thy talents have not by +that time found thee a better patron." + +"Thank thee, noble knight," said the minstrel, "as well for thy present +intentions, as I hope I shall for thy future performance; but I may say, +with truth, that I have not the sordid inclination of many of my +brethren." + +"He who partakes the true thirst of noble fame," said the young knight, +"can have little room in his heart for the love of gold. But thou hast +not yet told me, friend minstrel, what are the motives, in particular +which have attracted thy wandering steps to this wild country?" + +"Were I to do so," replied Bertram, rather desirous to avoid the +question, as in some respects too nearly bordering on the secret +purpose of his journey, "it might sound like a studied panegyric on +thine own bold deeds, Sir Knight, and those of your companions in arms; +and such adulation, minstrel as I am, I hate like an empty cup at a +companion's lips. But let me say in few words, that Douglas Castle, and +the deeds of valour which it has witnessed, have sounded wide through +England; nor is there a gallant knight or trusty minstrel, whose heart +does not throb at the name of the stronghold, which, in former days, +the foot of an Englishman never entered, except in hospitality. There +is a magic in the very names of Sir John de Walton and Sir Aymer de +Valence, the gallant defenders of a place so often won back by its +ancient lords, and with such circumstances of valour and cruelty, that +it bears, in England, the name of the Dangerous Castle." + +"Yet I would fain hear," answered the knight, "your own minstrel +account of those legends which have induced you, for the amusement of +future times, to visit a country which, at this period, is so +distracted and perilous." + +"If you can endure the length of a minstrel tale," said Bertram--"I for +one am always amused by the exercise of my vocation, and have no +objection to tell my story, provided you do not prove an impatient +listener." + +"Nay, for that matter," said the young knight, "a fair listener thou +shalt have of me; and if my reward be not great, my attention at least +shall be remarkable." + +"And he," said the minstrel, "must be a poor gleeman who does not hold +himself better paid with that, than with gold or silver, were the +pieces English rose-nobles. On this condition, then, I begin a long +story, which may, in one or other of its details, find subject for +better minstrels than myself, and be listened to by such warriors as +you hundreds of years hence." + + + + +CHAPTER THE FOURTH. + + While many a merry lay and many a song + Cheer'd the rough road, we wish'd the rough road long; + The rough road then returning in a round, + Mark'd their impatient steps, for all was fairy ground. + DR. JOHNSON. + + +"It was about the year of redemption one thousand two hundred and +eighty-five years," began, the minstrel, "when King Alexander the Third +of Scotland lost his daughter Margaret, whose only child of the same +name, called the Maiden of Norway, (as her father was king of that +country,) became the heiress of this kingdom of Scotland, as well as of +her father's crown. An unhappy death was this for Alexander, who had no +nearer heirs left of his own body than this grandchild. She indeed +might claim his kingdom by birthright; but the difficulty of +establishing such a claim of inheritance must have been anticipated by +all who bestowed a thought upon the subject. The Scottish king, +therefore, endeavoured to make up for his loss by replacing his late +Queen, who was an English princess, sister of our Edward the First, +with Juletta, daughter of the Count de Dreux. The solemnities at the +nuptial ceremony, which took place in the town of Jedburgh, were very +great and remarkable, and particularly when, amidst the display of a +pageant which was exhibited on the occasion, a ghastly spectre made its +appearance in the form of a skeleton, as the King of Terrors is said to +be represented.--Your worship is free to laugh at this, if you think it +a proper subject for mirth; but men are alive who viewed it with their +own eyes, and the event showed too well of what misfortunes this +apparition was the singular prognostication." + +"I have heard the story," said the knight; "but the monk who told it me, +suggested that the figure, though unhappily chosen, was perhaps +purposely introduced as a part of the pageant." + +"I know not that," said the minstrel, dryly; "but there is no doubt +that shortly after this apparition King Alexander died, to the great +sorrow of his people. The Maid of Norway, his heiress, speedily +followed her grandfather to the grave, and our English king, Sir Knight, +raked up a claim of dependency and homage due, he said, by Scotland, +which neither the lawyers, nobles, priests, nor the very minstrels of +Scotland, had ever before heard of." + +"Now, beshrew me," interrupted Sir Aymer de Valence, "this is beyond +bargain. I agreed to hear your tale with patience, but I did not pledge +myself that it should contain matter to the reproach of Edward the +First, of blessed memory; nor will I permit his name to be mentioned in +my hearing without the respect due his high rank and noble qualities." + +"Nay," said the minstrel, "I am no highland bagpiper or genealogist, to +carry respect for my art so far as to quarrel with a man of worship who +stops me at the beginning of a pibroch. I am an Englishman, and wish +dearly well to my country; and, above all, I must speak the truth. But +I will avoid disputable topics. Your age, sir, though none of the +ripest, authorizes me to suppose you may have seen the battle of +Falkirk, and other onslaughts in which the competition of Bruce and +Baliol has been fiercely agitated, and you will permit me to say, that +if the Scottish have not had the right upon their side, they have at +least defended the wrong with the efforts of brave men and true." + +"Of brave men I grant you," said the knight, "for I have seen no +cowards amongst them; but as for truth, they can best judge of it who +know how often they have sworn faith to England, and how repeatedly +they have broken their vow." + +"I shall not stir the question," said the minstrel, "leaving it to your +worship to determine which has most falsehood--he who compels a weaker +person to take an unjust path, or he who, compelled by necessity, takes +the imposed oath without the intention of keeping his word." + +"Nay, nay," said De Valence, "let us keep our opinions, for we are not +likely to force each other from the faith we have adopted on this +subject. But take my advice, and whilst thou travellest under an +English pennon, take heed that thou keepest off this conversation in +the hall and kitchen, where perhaps the soldier may be less tolerant +than the officer; and now, in a word, what is thy legend of this +Dangerous Castle?" + +"For that," replied Bertram, "methinks your worship is most likely to +have a better edition than I, who have not been in this country for +many years; but it is not for me to bandy opinions with your knightship. +I will even proceed with the tale as I have heard it. I need not, I +presume, inform your worship that the Lords of Douglas, who founded +this castle, are second to no lineage in Scotland in the antiquity of +their descent. Nay, they have themselves boasted that their family is +not to be seen or distinguished, like other great houses, until it is +found at once in a certain degree of eminence. 'You may see us in the +tree,' they say, 'you cannot discover us in the twig; you may see us in +the stream, you cannot trace us to the fountain.' In a word, they deny +that historians or genealogists can point out the first mean man named +Douglas, who originally elevated the family; and true it is, that so +far back as we have known this race, they have always been renowned for +valour and enterprise, accompanied with the power which made that +enterprise effectual." + +"Enough," said the knight, "I have heard of the pride and power of that +great family, nor does it interest me in the least to deny or detract +from their bold claims to consideration in this respect." + +"Without doubt you must also have heard, noble sir," replied the +minstrel, "many things of James, the present heir of the house of +Douglas?" "More than enough," answered the English knight; "he is known +to have been a stout supporter of that outlawed traitor, William +Wallace; and again, upon the first raising of the banner by this Robert +Bruce, who pretends to be King of Scotland, this young springald, James +Douglas, must needs start into rebellion anew. He plunders his uncle, +the Archbishop of St. Andrews, of a considerable sum of money, to fill +the Scottish Usurper's not over-burdened treasury, debauches the +servants of his relation, takes arms, and though repeatedly chastised +in the field, still keeps his vaunt, and threatens mischief to those, +who, in the name of his rightful sovereign, defend the Castle of +Douglasdale." + +"It is your pleasure to say so, Sir Knight," replied Bertram; "yet I am +sure, were you a Scot, you would with patience hear me tell over what +has been said of this young man by those who have known him, and whose +account of his adventures shows how differently the same tale may be +told. These men talk of the present heir of this ancient family as +fully adequate to maintain and augment its reputation; ready, indeed, +to undergo every peril in the cause of Robert the Bruce, because the +Bruce is esteemed by him his lawful king; and sworn and devoted, with +such small strength as he can muster, to revenge himself on those +Southrons who have, for several years, as he thinks, unjustly, +possessed themselves of his father's abode." + +"O," replied Sir Aymer de Valence, "we have heard much of his +achievements in this respect, and of his threats against our governor +and ourselves; yet we think it scarce likely that Sir John de Walton +will move from Douglasdale without the King's order, although this +James Douglas, a mere chicken, take upon himself to crack his voice by +crowing like a cock of the game." + +"Sir," answered Bertram, "our acquaintance is but brief, and yet I feel +it has been so beneficial to me, that I trust there is no harm, in +hoping that James Douglas and you may never meet in bodily presence +till the state of the two countries shall admit of peace being between +you." + +"Thou art obliging, friend," answered Sir Aymer, "and, I doubt not, +sincere; and truly thou seemest to have a wholesome sense of the +respect due to this young knight, when men talk of him in his native +valley of Douglas. For me, I am only poor Aymer of Valence, without an +acre of land, or much hope of acquiring any, unless I cut something +huge with my broadsword out of the middle of these hills. Only this, +good minstrel, if thou livest to tell my story, may I pray thee to use +thy scrupulous custom of searching out the verity, and whether I live +or die thou shalt not, I think, discover that thy late acquaintance of +a spring morning hath added more to the laurels of James of Douglas, +than any man's death must give to him by whose stronger arm, or more +lucky chance, it is his lot to fall." + +"I nothing fear you, Sir Knight," said the minstrel, "for yours is that +happy brain, which, bold in youth as beseems a young knight, is in more +advanced life the happy source of prudent counsel, of which I would not, +by an early death, wish thy country to be deprived." + +"Thou art so candid, then, as to wish Old England the benefit of good +advice" said Sir Aymer, "though thou leanest to the side of Scotland in +the controversy?" + +"Assuredly, Sir Knight," said the minstrel, "since in wishing that +Scotland and England each knew their own true interest, I am bound to +wish them both alike well; and they should, I think, desire to live in +friendship together. Occupying each their own portion of the same +island, and living under the same laws, and being at peace with each +other, they might without fear, face the enmity of the whole world." + +"If thy faith be so liberal," answered the Knight, "as becomes a good +man, thou must certainly pray, Sir Minstrel, for the success of England +in the war, by which alone these murderous hostilities of the northern +nation can end in a solid peace. The rebellions of this obstinate +country are but the struggles of the stag when he is mortally wounded; +the animal grows weaker and weaker with every struggle, till his +resistance is effectually tamed by the hand of death." + +"Not so, Sir Knight," said the minstrel; "if my creed is well taught me, +we ought not so to pray. We may, without offence, intimate in our +prayers the end we wish to obtain; but it is not for us, poor mortals, +to point out to an all-seeing Providence the precise manner in which +our petitions are to be accomplished, or to wish the downfall of a +country to end its commotions, as the death-stab terminates the agonies +of the wounded stag. Whether I appeal to my heart or to my +understanding, the dictate would be to petition Heaven for what is just +and equal in the case; and if I should fear for thee, Sir Knight, in an +encounter with James of Douglas, it is only because he upholds, as I +conceive, the better side of the debate; and powers more earthly have +presaged to him success." + +"Do you tell me so, Sir Minstrel," said De Valence in a threatening +tone, "knowing me and my office?" + +"Your personal dignity and authority" said Bertram, "cannot change the +right into wrong, or avert what Providence has decreed to take place. +You know, I must presume, that the Douglas hath, by various devices, +already contrived to make himself master of this Castle of Douglas +three several times, and that Sir John de Walton, the present governor, +holds it with a garrison trebled in force, and under the assurance that +if, without surprise, he should keep it from the Scottish power for a +year and a day, he shall obtain the barony of Douglas, with its +extensive appendages, in free property for his reward; while, on the +other hand, if he shall suffer the fortress during this space to be +taken, either by guile or by open force, as has happened successively +to the holders of the Dangerous Castle, he will become liable to +dishonour as a knight, and to attainder as a subject; and the chiefs +who take share with him, and serve under him, will participate also in +his guilt and his punishment?" + +"All this I know well" said Sir Aymer; "and I only wonder that, having +become public, the conditions have, nevertheless, been told with so +much accuracy; but what has this to do with the issue of the combat, if +the Douglas and I should chance to meet? I will not surely be disposed +to fight with less animation because I wear my fortune upon my sword, +or become coward because I fight for a portion of the Douglas's estate, +as well as for fame and for fatherland? And after all"-- + +"Hear me," said the minstrel; "an ancient gleeman has said, that in a +false quarrel there is no true valour, and the _los_ or praise won +therein, is, when balanced against honest fame, as valueless as a +wreath formed out of copper, compared to a chaplet of pure gold; but I +bid you not take me for thy warrant in this important question. Thou +well knowest how James of Thirlwall, the last English commander before +Sir John de Walton, was surprised, and the castle sacked with +circumstances of great inhumanity." + +"Truly," said Sir Aymer, "I think that Scotland and England both have +heard of that onslaught, and of the disgusting proceedings of the +Scottish chieftain, when he caused transport into the wild forest gold, +silver, ammunition, and armour, and all things that could be easily +removed, and destroyed a large quantity of provisions in a manner +equally savage and unheard-of." + +"Perhaps, Sir Knight," said Bertram, "you were yourself an eyewitness +of that transaction, which has been spoken of far and wide, and is +called the Douglas Larder?" + +"I saw not the actual accomplishment of the deed," said De Valence; +"that is, I witnessed it not a-doing, but I beheld enough of the sad +relics to make the Douglas Larder never by me to be forgotten as a +record of horror and abomination. I would speak it truly, by the hand +of my father and by my honour as a knight! and I will leave it to thee +to judge whether it was a deed calculated to secure the smiles of +Heaven in favour of the actors. This is my edition of the story:-- + +"A large quantity of provisions had during two years or thereabouts +been collected from different points, and the Castle of Douglas, newly +repaired, and, as was thought, carefully guarded, was appointed as the +place where the said provisions were to be put in store for the service +of the King of England, or of the Lord Clifford, whichever should first +enter the Western Marches with an English army, and stand in need of +such a supply. This army was also to relieve our wants, I mean those of +my uncle the Earl of Pembroke, who for some time before had lain with a +considerable force in the town called Ayr, near the old Caledonian +Forest, and where we had hot wars with the insurgent Scots. Well, sir, +it happened, as in similar cases, that Thirlwall, though a bold and +active soldier, was surprised in the Castle of Douglas, about +Hallowmass, by this same worthy, young James Douglas. In no very good +humour was he, as you may suppose; for his father, called William the +Hardy, or William Longlegs, having refused, on any terms, to become +Anglicized, was made a lawful prisoner, and died as such, closely +confined in Berwick, or, as some say, in Newcastle. The news of his +father's death had put young Douglas into no small rage, and tended, I +think, to suggest what he did in his resentment. Embarrassed by the +quantity of provisions which he found in the castle, which, the English +being superior in the country, he had neither the means to remove, nor +the leisure to stay and consume, the fiend, as I think, inspired him +with a contrivance to render them unfit for human use. You shall judge +yourself whether it was likely to be suggested by a good or an evil +spirit. + +"According to this device, the gold, silver, and other transportable +commodities being carried to secret places of safety, Douglas caused +the meat, the malt, and other corn or grain, to be brought down into +the castle cellar, where he emptied the contents of the sacks into one +loathsome heap, striking out the heads of the barrels and puncheons, so +as to let the mingled drink run through the heap of meal, grain, and so +forth. The bullocks provided for slaughter were in like manner knocked +on the head, and their blood suffered to drain into the mass of edible +substances; and lastly, the flesh of these oxen was buried in the same +mass, in which was also included the dead bodies of those in the castle, +who, receiving no quarter from the Douglas, paid dear enough for having +kept no better watch. This base and unworthy abuse of provisions +intended for the use of man, together with throwing into the well of +the castle carcasses of men and horses, and other filth for polluting +the same, has since that time been called the DOUGLAS LARDER." + +"I pretend not, good Sir Aymer," said the minstrel, "to vindicate what +you justly reprove, nor can I conceive any mode of rendering provisions +arranged after the form of the Douglas Larder, proper for the use of +any Christian; yet this young gentleman might perhaps act under the +sting of natural resentment, rendering his singular exploit more +excusable than it may seem at first. Think, if your own noble father +had just died in a lingering captivity, his inheritance seized upon, +and occupied as a garrison by a foreign enemy, would not these things +stir you to a mode of resentment, which in cold blood, and judging of +it as the action of an enemy, your honour might hold in natural and +laudable abhorrence?--Would you pay respect to dead and senseless +objects, which no one could blame your appropriating to your own use, +or even scruple the refusal of quarter to prisoners, which is so often +practised even in wars which are otherwise termed fair and humane?" + +"You press me close, minstrel," said Aymer de Valence. "I at least have +no great interest to excuse the Douglas in this matter, since its +consequences were, that I myself, and the rest of my uncle's host, +laboured with Clifford and his army to rebuild this same Dangerous +Castle; and feeling no stomach for the cheer that the Douglas had left +us, we suffered hard commons, though I acknowledge we did not hesitate +to adopt for our own use such sheep and oxen as the miserable Scots had +still left around their farm-houses; and I jest not, Sir Minstrel, when +I acknowledge in sad earnest, that we martial men ought to make our +petitions with peculiar penitence to Heaven for mercy, when we reflect +on the various miseries which the nature of our profession compels us +to inflict on each other." + +"It seems to me," answered the minstrel, "that those who feel the stings +of their own conscience should be more lenient when they speak of the +offences of others; nor do I greatly rely on a sort of prophecy which +was delivered, as the men of this hill district say, to the young +Douglas, by a man who in the course of nature should have been long +since dead, promising him a course of success against the English for +having sacrificed his own castle to prevent their making it a +garrison." + +"We have time enough for the story," said Sir Aymer, "and methinks it +would suit a knight and a minstrel better than the grave converse we +have hitherto held, which would have beseemed--so God save me--the +mouths of two travelling friars." + +"So be it," said the minstrel; "the rote or the viol easily changes its +time and varies its note." + + + + +CHAPTER THE FIFTH. + + A tale of sorrow, for your eyes may weep; + A tale of horror, for your flesh may tingle; + A tale of wonder, for the eyebrows arch, + And the flesh curdles if you read it rightly + OLD PLAY. + + +"Your honour must be informed, gentle Sir Aymer de Valence, that I have +heard this story told at a great distance from the land in which it +happened, by a sworn minstrel, the ancient friend and servant of the +house of Douglas, one of the best, it is said, who ever belonged to +that noble family. This minstrel, Hugo Hugonet by name, attended his +young master when on this fierce exploit, as was his wont. + +"The castle was in total tumult; in one corner the war-men were busy +breaking up and destroying provisions; in another, they were slaying +men, horses, and cattle, and these actions were accompanied with +appropriate sounds. The cattle, particularly, had become sensible of +their impending fate, and with awkward resistance and piteous cries, +testified that reluctance with which these poor creatures look +instinctively on the shambles. The groans and screams of men, +undergoing, or about to undergo, the stroke of death, and the screeches +of the poor horses which were in mortal agony, formed a fearful chorus. +Hugonet was desirous to remove himself from such unpleasant sights and +sounds; but his master, the Douglas, had been a man of some reading, +and his old servant was anxious to secure a book of poetry, to which he +had been attached of old. This contained the Lays of an ancient +Scottish Bard, who, if an ordinary human creature while he was in this +life, cannot now perhaps be exactly termed such. + +"He was, in short, that Thomas, distinguished by the name of the Rhymer, +and whose intimacy, it is said, became so great with the gifted people, +called the Faery folk, that he could, like them, foretell the future +deed before it came to pass, and united in his own person the quality +of bard and of soothsayer. But of late years he had vanished almost +entirely from this mortal scene; and although the time and manner of +his death were never publicly known, yet the general belief was, that +he was not severed from the land of the living, but removed to the land +of Faery, from whence he sometimes made excursions, and concerned +himself only about matters which were to come hereafter. Hugonet was +the more earnest to prevent the loss of the works of this ancient bard, +as many of his poems and predictions were said to be preserved in the +castle, and were supposed to contain much especially connected with the +old house of Douglas, as well as other families of ancient descent, who +had been subjects of this old man's prophecy; and accordingly he +determined to save this volume from destruction in the general +conflagration to which the building was about to be consigned by the +heir of its ancient proprietors. With this view he hurried up into the +little old vaulted room, called 'the Douglas's study,' in which there +might be some dozen old books written by the ancient chaplains, in what +the minstrels call _the letter black_. He immediately discovered +the celebrated lay, called Sir Tristrem, which has been so often +altered and abridged as to bear little resemblance to the original. +Hugonet, who well knew the value in which this poem was held by the +ancient lords of the castle, took the parchment volume from the shelves +of the library, and laid it upon a small desk adjacent to the Baron's +chair. Having made such preparation for putting it in safety, he fell +into a brief reverie, in which the decay of light, and the preparations +for the Douglas Larder, but especially the last sight of objects which +had been familiar to his eyes, now on the eve of destruction, engaged +him at that moment. + +"The bard, therefore, was thinking within himself upon the uncommon +mixture of the mystical scholar and warrior in his old master, when, as +he bent his eyes upon the book of the ancient Rhymer, he was astonished +to observe it slowly removed from the desk on which it lay by an +invisible hand. The old man looked with horror at the spontaneous +motion of the book, for the safety of which he was interested, and had +the courage to approach a little nearer the table, in order to discover +by what means it had been withdrawn. + +"I have said the room was already becoming dark, so as to render it +difficult to distinguish any person in the chair, though it now +appeared, on closer examination, that a kind of shadowy outline of a +human form was seated in it, but neither precise enough to convey its +exact figure to the mind, nor so detailed as to intimate distinctly its +mode of action. The Bard of Douglas, therefore, gazed upon the object +of his fear, as if he had looked upon something not mortal; +nevertheless, as he gazed more intently, he became more capable of +discovering the object which offered itself to his eyes, and they grew +by degrees more keen to penetrate what they witnessed. A tall thin form, +attired in, or rather shaded with, a long flowing dusky robe, having a +face and physiognomy so wild and overgrown with hair as to be hardly +human, were the only marked outlines of the phantom; and, looking more +attentively, Hugonet was still sensible of two other forms, the +outlines, it seemed, of a hart and a hind, which appeared half to +shelter themselves behind the person and under the robe of this +supernatural figure." + +"A probable tale," said the knight, "for you, Sir Minstrel, a man of +sense as you seem to be, to recite so gravely! From what wise authority +have you had this tale, which, though it might pass well enough amid +clanging beakers, must be held quite apocryphal in the sober hours of +the morning?" + +"By my minstrel word, Sir Knight," answered Bertram, "I am no +propagator of the fable, if it be one; Hugonet, the violer, when he had +retired into a cloister near the Lake of Pembelmere in Wales, +communicated the story to me as I now tell it. Therefore, as it was +upon the authority of an eyewitness, I apologize not for relating it to +you, since I could hardly discover a more direct source of knowledge." + +"Be it so, Sir Minstrel," said the knight; "tell on thy tale, and may +thy legend escape criticism from others as well as from me." + +"Hugonet, Sir Knight," answered Bertram, "was a holy man, and +maintained a fair character during his whole life, notwithstanding his +trade may be esteemed a light one. The vision spoke to him in an +antique language, like that formerly used in the kingdom of Strath- +Clyde, being a species of Scots or Gaelic, which few would have +comprehended. + +"'You are a learned man,' said the apparition, 'and not unacquainted +with the dialects used in your country formerly, although they are now +out of date, and you are obliged to translate them into the vulgar +Saxon of Deira or Northumberland; but highly must an ancient British +bard prize one in this "remote term of time," who sets upon the poetry +of his native country a value which invites him to think of its +preservation at a moment of such terror as influences the present +evening.' + +"'It is, indeed,' said Hugonet, 'a night of terror, that calls even the +dead from the grave, and makes them the ghastly and fearful companions +of the living--Who or what art thou, in God's name, who breakest the +bounds which divide them, and revisitest thus strangely the state thou +hast so long bid adieu to?' + +"'I am,' replied the vision, 'that celebrated Thomas the Rhymer, by +some called Thomas of Erceldoun, or Thomas the True Speaker. Like other +sages, I am permitted at times to revisit the scenes of my former life, +nor am I incapable of removing the shadowy clouds and darkness which +overhang futurity; and know, thou afflicted man, that what thou now +seest in this woeful country, is not a general emblem of what shall +therein befall hereafter, but in proportion as the Douglasses are now +suffering the loss and destruction of their home for their loyalty to +the rightful heir of the Scottish kingdom, so hath Heaven appointed for +them a just reward; and as they have not spared to burn and destroy +their own house and that of their fathers in the Bruce's cause, so is +it the doom of Heaven, that as often as the walls of Douglas Castle +shall be burnt to the ground, they shall be again rebuilt still more +stately and more magnificent than before.' + +"A cry was now heard like that of a multitude in the courtyard, joining +in a fierce shout of exultation; at the same time a broad and ruddy +glow seemed to burst from the beams and rafters, and sparks flew from +them as from the smith's stithy, while the element caught to its fuel, +and the conflagration broke its way through every aperture. + +"'See ye that?' said the vision, casting his eye towards the windows +and disappearing--'Begone! The fated hour of removing this book is not +yet come, nor are thine the destined hands. But it will be safe where I +have placed it, and the time of its removal shall come.' The voice was +heard after the form had vanished, and the brain of Hugonet almost +turned round at the wild scene which he beheld; his utmost exertion was +scarcely sufficient to withdraw him from the terrible spot, and Douglas +Castle that night sunk into ashes and smoke, to arise, in no great +length of time, in a form stronger than ever." The minstrel stopt, and +his hearer, the English knight, remained silent for some minutes ere at +length he replied. + +"It is true, minstrel," answered Sir Aymer, "that your tale is so far +undeniable, that this castle--three times burned down by the heir of +the house and of the barony--has hitherto been as often reared again by +Henry Lord Clifford, and other generals of the English, who endeavoured +on every occasion to build it up more artificially and more strongly +than it had formerly existed, since it occupies a position too +important to the safety of our Scottish border to permit our yielding +it up. This I myself have partly witnessed. But I cannot think, that +because the castle has been so destroyed, it is therefore decreed so to +be repaired in future, considering that such cruelties, as surely +cannot meet the approbation of Heaven, have attended the feats of the +Douglasses. But I see thou art determined to keep thine own faith, nor +can I blame thee, since the wonderful turns of fate which have attended +this fortress, are sufficient to warrant any one to watch for what seem +the peculiar indications of the will of Heaven; but thou mayst believe, +good minstrel, that the fault shall not be mine, if the young Douglas +shall have opportunity to exercise his cookery upon a second edition of +his family larder, or to profit by the predictions of Thomas the +Rhymer." + +"I do not doubt due circumspection upon your own part and Sir John de +Walton's," said Bertram; "but there is no crime in my saying that +Heaven can accomplish its own purposes. I look upon Douglas Castle as +in some degree a fated place, and I long to see what changes time may +have made in it during the currency of twenty years. Above all, I +desire to secure, if possible, the volume of this Thomas of Erceldoun, +having in it such a fund of forgotten minstrelsy, and of prophecies +respecting the future fates of the British kingdom, both northern and +southern." + +The knight made no answer, but rode a little space forward, keeping the +upper part of the ridge of the water, by which the road down the vale +seemed to be rather sharply conducted. It at length attained the summit +of an acclivity of considerable length. From this point, and behind a +conspicuous rock, which appeared to have been pushed aside, as it were, +like the scene of a theatre to admit a view of the under part of the +valley, the travellers beheld the extensive vale, parts of which have +been already shown in detail, but which, as the river became narrower, +was now entirely laid bare in its height and depth as far as it +extended, and displayed in its precincts, at a little distance from the +course of the stream, the towering and lordly castle to which it gave +the name. The mist which continued to encumber the valley with its +fleecy clouds, showed imperfectly the rude fortifications which served +to defend the small town of Douglas, which was strong enough to repel a +desultory attack, but not to withstand what was called in those days a +formal siege. The most striking feature was its church, an ancient +Gothic pile raised on an eminence in the centre of the town, and even +then extremely ruinous. To the left, and lying in the distance, might +be seen other towers and battlements; and divided from the town by a +piece of artificial water, which extended almost around it, arose the +Dangerous Castle of Douglas. + +Sternly was it fortified, after the fashion of the middle ages, with +donjon and battlements; displaying, above others, the tall tower, which +bore the name of Lord Henry's, or the Clifford's Tower. + +"Yonder is the castle," said Aymer de Valence, extending his arm with a +smile of triumph upon his brow; "thou mayst judge thyself, whether the +defences added to it under the Clifford are likely to render its next +capture a more easy deed than the last." + +The minstrel barely shook his head, and quoted from the Psalmist-- +"_Nisi Dominus custodiet_." Nor did he prosecute the discourse, +though De Valence answered eagerly, "My own edition of the text is not +very different from thine; but, methinks thou art more spiritually- +minded than can always be predicated of a wandering minstrel." + +"God knows," said Bertram, "that if I, or such as I, are forgetful of +the finger of Providence in accomplishing its purposes in this lower +world, we have heavier blame than that of other people, since we are +perpetually called upon, in the exercise of our fanciful profession, to +admire the turns of fate which bring good out of evil, and which render +those who think only of their own passions and purposes the executors +of the will of Heaven." + +"I do submit to what you say, Sir Minstrel," answered the knight, "and +it would be unlawful to express any doubt of the truths which you speak +so solemnly, any more than of your own belief in them. Let me add, sir, +that I think I have power enough in this garrison to bid you welcome, +and Sir John de Walton, I hope, will not refuse access to hall, castle, +or knight's bower, to a person of your profession, and by whose +conversation we shall, perhaps, profit somewhat. I cannot, however, +lead you to expect such indulgence for your son, considering the +present state of his health; but if I procure him the privilege to +remain at the convent of Saint Bride, he will be there unmolested and +in safety, until you have renewed your acquaintance with Douglas Dale +and its history, and are disposed to set forward on your journey." + +"I embrace your honour's proposal the more willingly," said the +minstrel, "that I can recompense the Father Abbot." + +"A main point with holy men or women," replied De Valence, "who, in +time of warfare, subsist by affording the visitors of their shrine the +means of maintenance in their cloisters for a passing season." + +The party now approached the sentinels on guard at the castle, who were +closely and thickly stationed, and who respectfully admitted Sir Aymer +de Valence, as next in command under Sir John de Walton. Fabian--for so +was the young squire named who attended on De Valence--mentioned it as +his master's pleasure that the minstrel should also be admitted. An old +archer, however, looked hard at the minstrel as he followed Sir Aymer. +"It is not for us," said he, "or any of our degree, to oppose the +pleasure of Sir Aymer do Valence, nephew to the Earl of Pembroke, in +such a matter; and for us, Master Fabian, welcomes are you to make the +gleeman your companion both at bed and board, as well as your visitant, +a week or two at the Castle of Douglas; but your worship is well aware +of the strict order of watch laid upon us, and if Solomon, King of +Israel, were to come here as a travelling minstrel, by my faith I durst +not give him entrance, unless I had positive authority from Sir John de +Walton." + +"Do you doubt, sirrah," said Aymer de Valence, who returned on hearing +an altercation betwixt Fabian and the archer--"do you doubt that I have +good authority to entertain a guest, or do you presume to contest it?" + +"Heaven forbid!" said the old man, "that I should presume to place my +own desire in opposition to your worship, who has so lately and so +honourably acquired your spurs; but in this matter I must think what +will be the wish of Sir John de Walton, who is your governor, Sir +Knight, as well as mine; and so far I hold it worth while to detain +your guest until Sir John return from a ride to the outposts of the +castle; and this, I conceive, being my duty, will be no matter of +offence to your worship." + +"Methinks," said the knight, "it is saucy in thee to suppose that my +commands can have any thing in them improper, or contradictory to those +of Sir John de Walton; thou mayst trust to me at least that thou shalt +come to no harm. Keep this man in the guard-room; let him not want good +cheer, and when Sir John de Walton returns, report him as a person +admitted by my invitation, and if any thing more be wanted to make out +your excuse, I shall not be reluctant in stating it to the governor." + +The archer made a signal of obedience with the pike which he held in +his hand, and resumed the grave and solemn manner of a sentinel upon +his post. He first, however, ushered in the minstrel, and furnished him +with food and liquor, speaking at the same time to Fabian, who remained +behind. The smart young stripling had become very proud of late, in +consequence of obtaining the name of Sir Aymer's squire, and advancing +a step in chivalry, as Sir Aymer himself had, somewhat earlier than the +usual period, been advanced from squire to knight. + +"I tell thee, Fabian," said the old archer, (whose gravity, sagacity, +and skill in his vocation, while they gained him the confidence of all +in the castle, subjected him, as he himself said, occasionally to the +ridicule of the young coxcombs; and at the same time we may add, +rendered him somewhat pragmatic and punctilious towards those who stood +higher than himself in birth and rank;) "I tell thee, Fabian, thou wilt +do thy master, Sir Aymer, good service, if thou wilt give him a hint to +suffer an old archer, man-at-arms, or such like, to give him a fair and +civil answer respecting that which he commands; for undoubtedly it is +not in the first score of a man's years that he learns the various +proper forms of military service; and Sir John de Walton, a most +excellent commander no doubt, is one earnestly bent on pursuing the +strict line of his duty, and will be rigorously severe, as well, +believe me, with thy master as with a lesser person. Nay, he also +possesses that zeal for his duty which induces him to throw blame, if +there be the slightest ground for it, upon Aymer de Valence himself, +although his uncle, the Earl of Pembroke, was John de Walton's steady +patron, and laid the beginning of his good fortune; for all which, by +training up his nephew in the true discipline of the French wars, Sir +John has taken the best way of showing himself grateful to the eld +Earl." + +"Be it as you will, old Gilbert Greenleaf," answered Fabian, "thou +knowest I never quarrel with thy sermonizing, and therefore give me +credit for submitting to many a lecture from Sir John de Walton and +thyself; but thou drivest this a little too far, if thou canst not let +a day pass without giving me a flogging. Credit me, Sir John de Walton +will not thank thee, if thou term him one too old to remember that he +himself had once some green sap in his veins. Ay, thus it is, the old +man will not forget that he has once been young, nor the young that he +must some day be old; and so the one changes his manners into the +lingering formality of advanced age, and the other remains like a +midsummer torrent swoln with rain, every drop of water in it noise, +froth, and overflow. There is a maxim for thee, Gilbert!--Heardest thou +ever better? hang it up amidst thy axioms of wisdom, and see if it will +not pass among them like fifteen to the dozen. It will serve to bring +thee off, man, when the wine-pot (thine only fault, good Gilbert) hath +brought thee on occasion into something of a scrape." + +"Best keep it for thyself, good Sir Squire," said the old man; +"methinks it is more like to stand thyself one day in good stead. Who +ever heard of a knight, or of the wood of which a knight is made, and +that is a squire, being punished corporally like a poor old archer or +horseboy? Your worst fault will be mended by some of these witty +sayings, and your best service will scarce be rewarded more thankfully +than by giving thee the name of Fabian the Fabler, or some such witty +title." + +Having unloosed his repartee to this extent, old Greenleaf resumed a +certain acidity of countenance, which may be said to characterise those +whose preferment hath become frozen under the influence of the slowness +of its progress, and who display a general spleen against such as have +obtained the advancement for which all are struggling, earlier, and, as +they suppose, with less merit than their own. From time to time the eye +of the old sentinel stole from the top of his pike, and with an air of +triumph rested upon the young man Fabian, as if to see how deeply the +wound had galled him, while at the same time he held himself on the +alert to perform whatever mechanical duty his post might require. Both +Fabian and his master were at the happy period of life when such +discontent as that of the grave archer affected them lightly, and, at +the very worst, was considered as the jest of an old man and a good +soldier; the more especially, as he was always willing to do the duty +of his companions, and was much trusted by Sir John de Walton, who, +though very much younger, had been bred up like Greenleaf in the wars +of Edward the First, and was tenacious in upholding strict discipline, +which, since the death of that great monarch, had been considerably +neglected by the young and warm-blooded valour of England. + +Meantime it occurred to Sir Aymer de Valence, that though in displaying +the usual degree of hospitality shown, to such a man as Bertram, he had +merely done what was becoming his own rank, as one possessed of the +highest honours of chivalry--the self-styled minstrel might not in +reality be a man of that worth which he assumed. There was certainly +something in his conversation, at least more grave, if not more austere, +than was common to those of his calling; and when he recollected many +points of Sir John de Walton's minuteness, a doubt arose in his mind, +that the governor might not approve of his having introduced into the +castle a person of Bertram's character, who was capable of making +observations from which the garrison might afterwards feel much danger +and inconvenience. Secretly, therefore, he regretted that he had not +fairly intimated to the wandering minstrel, that his reception, or that +of any stranger, within the Dangerous Castle, was not at present +permitted by the circumstances of the times. In this case, the express +line of his duty would have been his vindication, and instead, perhaps +of discountenance and blame, he would have had praise and honour from +his superior. + +With these thoughts passing through his mind, some tacit apprehension. +arose of a rebuke on the part of his commanding-officer; for this +officer, notwithstanding his strictness, Sir Aymer loved as well as +feared. He went, therefore, towards the guard-room of the castle, under +the pretence of seeing that the rites of hospitality had been duly +observed towards his late travelling companion. The minstrel arose +respectfully, and from the manner in which he paid his compliments, +seemed, if he had not expected this call of enquiry, at least to be in +no degree surprised at it. Sir Aymer, on the other hand, assumed an air +something more distant than he had yet used towards Bertram, and in +reverting to his former invitation, he now so far qualified it as to +say, that the minstrel knew that he was only second in command, and +that effectual permission to enter the castle ought to be sanctioned by +Sir John de Walton. + +There is a civil way of seeming to believe any apology which people are +disposed to receive in payment, without alleging suspicion of its +currency. The minstrel, therefore, tendered his thanks for the civility +which had so far been shown to him. "It was a mere wish of passing +curiosity," he said, "which, if not granted, could be attended with no +consequences either inconvenient or disagreeable to him. Thomas of +Erceldoun was, according to the Welsh triads, _one of the three bards +of Britain_, who never stained a spear with blood, or was guilty +either of taking or retaking castles and fortresses, and thus far not a +person likely, after death, to be suspected of such warlike feats. But +I can easily conceive why Sir John de Walton should have allowed the +usual rites of hospitality to fall into disuse, and why a man of public +character like myself ought not to desire food or lodging where it is +accounted so dangerous; and it can surprise no one why the governor did +not even invest his worthy young lieutenant with the power of +dispensing with so strict and unusual a rule." + +These words, very coolly spoken, had something of the effect of +affronting the young knight, as insinuating, that he was not held +sufficiently trustworthy by Sir John de Walton, with whom he had lived +on terms of affection and familiarity, though the governor had attained +his thirtieth year and upwards, and his lieutenant did not yet write +himself one-and-twenty, the full age of chivalry having been in his +case particularly dispensed with, owing to a feat of early manhood. Ere +he had fully composed the angry thoughts which were chafing in his mind, +the sound of a hunting bugle was heard at the gate, and from the sort +of general stir which it spread through the garrison, it was plain that +the governor had returned from his ride. Every sentinel, seemingly +animated by his presence, shouldered his pike more uprightly, gave the +word of the post more sharply, and seemed more fully awake and +conscious of his duty. Sir John de Walton having alighted from his +horse, asked Greenleaf what had passed during his absence; the old +archer thought it his duty to say that a minstrel, who seemed like a +Scotchman, or wandering borderer, had been admitted into the castle, +while his son, a lad sick of the pestilence so much talked of, had been +left for a time at the Abbey of Saint Bride. This he said on Fabian's +information. The archer added, that the father was a man of tale and +song, who could keep the whole garrison amused, without giving them +leave to attend to their own business. + +"We want no such devices to pass the time," answered the governor; "and +we would have been better satisfied if our lieutenant had been pleased +to find us other guests, and fitter for a direct and frank +communication, than one who, by his profession, is a detractor of God +and a deceiver of man." + +"Yet," said the old soldier, who could hardly listen even to his +commander without indulging the humour of contradiction, "I have heard +your honour intimate that the trade of a minstrel, when it is justly +acted up to, is as worthy as even the degree of knighthood itself." + +"Such it may have been in former days," answered the knight; "but in +modern minstrelsy, the duty of rendering the art an incentive to virtue +is forgotten, and it is well if the poetry which fired our fathers to +noble deeds, does not now push on their children to such as are base +and unworthy. But I will speak upon this to my friend Aymer, than whom +I do not know a more excellent, or a more high-spirited young man." + +While discoursing with the archer in this manner, Sir John de Walton, +of a tall and handsome figure, advanced and stood within the ample arch +of the guard-room chimney, and was listened to in reverential silence +by trusty Gilbert, who filled up with nods and signs, as an attentive +auditor, the pauses in the conversation. The conduct of another hearer +of what passed was not equally respectful, but, from his position, he +escaped observation. + +This third person was no other than the squire Fabian, who was +concealed from observation by his position behind the hob, or +projecting portion of the old-fashioned fireplace, and hid himself yet +more carefully when he heard the conversation between the governor and +the archer turn to the prejudice, as he thought, of his master. The +squire's employment at this time was the servile task of cleaning Sir +Aymer's arms, which was conveniently performed by heating, upon the +projection already specified, the pieces of steel armour for the usual +thin coating of varnish. He could not, therefore, if he should be +discovered, be considered as guilty of any thing insolent or +disrespectful. He was better screened from view, as a thick smoke arose +from a quantity of oak panelling, carved in many cases with the crest +and achievements of the Douglas family, which being the fuel nearest at +hand, lay smouldering in the chimney, and gathering to a blaze. + +The governor, unconscious of this addition to his audience, pursued his +conversation, with Gilbert Greenleaf: "I need not tell you," he said, +"that I am interested in the speedy termination of this siege or +blockade, with which Douglas continues to threaten us; my own honour +and affections are engaged in keeping this Dangerous Castle safe in +England's behalf, but I am troubled at the admission of this stranger; +and young De Valence would have acted more strictly in the line of his +duty, if he had refused to this wanderer any communication with this +garrison without my permission." + +"Pity it is," replied old Greenleaf, shaking his head, "that this good- +natured and gallant young knight is somewhat drawn aside by the rash +advices of his squire, the boy Fabian, who has bravery, but as little +steadiness in him as a bottle of fermented small beer." + +"Now hang thee," thought Fabian to himself, "for an old relic of the +wars, stuffed full of conceit and warlike terms, like the soldier who, +to keep himself from the cold, has lapped himself so close in a +tattered ensign for a shelter, that his very outside may show nothing +but rags and blazonry." + +"I would not think twice of the matter, were the party less dear to +me," said Sir John de Walton. "But I would fain be of use to this young +man, even although I should purchase his improvement in military +knowledge at the expense of giving him a little pain. Experience should, +as it were, be burnt in upon the mind of a young man, and not merely +impressed by marking the lines of his chart out for him with chalk; I +will remember the hint you, Greenleaf, have given, and take an +opportunity of severing these two young men; and though I most dearly +love the one, and am far from wishing ill to the other, yet at present, +as you well hint, the blind is leading the blind, and the young knight +has for his assistant and counsellor too young a squire, and that must +be amended." + +"Marry! out upon thee, old palmer-worm!" said the page within himself; +"have I found thee in the very fact of maligning myself and my master, +as it is thy nature to do towards all the hopeful young buds of +chivalry? If it were not to dirty the arms of an _eleve_ of +chivalry, by measuring them with one of thy rank, I might honour thee +with a knightly invitation to the field, while the scandal which thou +hast spoken is still foul upon thy tongue; as it is, thou shalt not +carry one kind of language publicly in the castle, and another before +the governor, upon the footing of having served with him under the +banner of Longshanks. I will carry to my master this tale of thine evil +intentions; and when we have concerted together, it shall appear +whether the youthful spirits of the garrison or the grey beards are +most likely to be the hope and protection, of this same Castle of +Douglas." + +It is enough to say that Fabian pursued his purpose, in carrying to his +master, and in no very good humour, the report of what had passed +between Sir John de Walton and the old soldier. He succeeded in +representing the whole as a formal offence intended to Sir Aymer de +Valence; while all that the governor did to remove the suspicions +entertained by the young knight, could not in any respect bring him to +take a kindly view of the feelings of his commander towards him. He +retained the impression which he had formed from Fabian's recital of +what he had heard, and did not think he was doing Sir John de Walton +any injustice, in supposing him desirous to engross the greatest share +of the fame acquired in the defence of the castle, and thrusting back +his companions, who might reasonably pretend to a fair portion of it. + +The mother of mischief, says a Scottish proverb, is no bigger than a +midge's wing. [Footnote: i.e. Gnat's wing] In this matter of quarrel, +neither the young man nor the older knight had afforded each other any +just cause of offence. De Walton was a strict observer of military +discipline, in which he had been educated from his extreme youth, and +by which he was almost as completely ruled as by his natural +disposition; and his present situation added force to his original +education. + +Common report had even exaggerated the military skill, the love of +adventure, and the great variety of enterprise, ascribed to James, the +young Lord of Douglas. He had, in the eyes of this Southern garrison, +the faculties of a fiend, rather than those of a mere mortal; for if +the English soldiers cursed the tedium of the perpetual watch and ward +upon the Dangerous Castle, which admitted of no relaxation from the +severity of extreme duty, they agreed that a tall form was sure to +appear to them with a battle-axe in his hand, and entering into +conversation in the most insinuating manner, never failed, with an +ingenuity and eloquence equal to that of a fallen spirit, to recommend +to the discontented sentinel some mode in which, by giving his +assistance to betray the English, he might set himself at liberty. The +variety of these devices, and the frequency of their recurrence, kept +Sir John de Walton's anxiety so perpetually upon the stretch, that he +at no time thought himself exactly out of the Black Douglas's reach, +any more than the good Christian supposes himself out of reach of the +wiles of the Devil; while every new temptation, instead of confirming +his hope, seems to announce that the immediate retreat of the Evil One +will be followed by some new attack yet more cunningly devised. Under +this general state of anxiety and apprehension, the temper of the +governor changed somewhat for the worse, and they who loved him best, +regretted most that he became addicted to complain of the want of +diligence on the part of those, who, neither invested with +responsibility like his, nor animated by the hope of such splendid +rewards, did not entertain the same degree of watchful and incessant +suspicion as himself. The soldiers muttered that the vigilance of their +governor was marked with severity; the officers and men of rank, of +whom there were several, as the castle was a renowned school of arms, +and there was a certain merit attained even by serving within its walls, +complained, at the same time, that Sir John de Walton no longer made +parties for hunting, for hawking, or for any purpose which might soften +the rigours of warfare, and suffered nothing to go forward but the +precise discipline of the castle. On the other hand, it may be usually +granted that the castle is well kept where the governor is a +disciplinarian; and where feuds and personal quarrels are found in the +garrison, the young men are usually more in fault than those whose +greater experience has convinced them of the necessity of using the +strictest precautions. + +A generous mind--and such was Sir John de Walton's--is often in this +way changed and corrupted by the habit of over-vigilance, and pushed +beyond its natural limits of candour. Neither was Sir Aymer de Valence +free from a similar change; suspicion, though from a different cause, +seemed also to threaten to bias his open and noble disposition, in +those qualities which had hitherto been proper to him. It was in vain +that Sir John de Walton studiously sought opportunities to give his +younger friend indulgences, which at times were as far extended as the +duty of the garrison permitted. The blow was struck; the alarm had been +given to a proud and fiery temper on both sides; and while De Valence +entertained an opinion that he was unjustly suspected by a friend, who +was in several respects bound to him, De Walton, on the other hand, was +led to conceive that a young man, of whom he took a charge as +affectionate as if he had been a son of his own, and who owed to his +lessons what he knew of warfare, and what success he had obtained in +life, had taken offence at trifles, and considered himself ill-treated +on very inadequate grounds. The seeds of disagreement, thus sown +between them, failed not, like the tares sown by the Enemy among the +wheat, to pass from one class of the garrison to another; the soldiers, +though without any better reason than merely to pass the time, took +different sides between their governor and his young lieutenant; and so +the ball of contention being once thrown up between them, never lacked +some arm or other to keep it in motion. + + + + +CHAPTER THE SIXTH. + + Alas! they had been friends in youth; + But whispering tongues can poison truth; + And constancy lives in realms above; + And life is thorny, and youth is vain; + And to be wroth with one we love, + Doth work like madness in' the brain. + * * * * * * + Each spoke words of high disdain, + And insult to his heart's dear brother, + But never either found another + To free the hollow heart from paining-- + They stood aloof, the scars remaining, + Like cliffs which had been rent asunder; + A dreary sea now flows between, + But neither heat, nor frost, nor thunder, + Shall wholly do away, I ween, + The marks of that which once hath been. + CHRISTABELLE OF COLERIDGE. + + +In prosecution of the intention which, when his blood was cool, seemed +to him wisest, Sir John de Walton resolved that he would go to the +verge of indulgence with his lieutenant and his young officers, furnish +them with every species of amusement which the place rendered possible, +and make them ashamed of their discontent, by overloading them with +courtesy. The first time, therefore, that he saw Aymer de Valence after +his return to the castle, he addressed him in high spirits, whether +real or assumed. + +"What thinkest thou, my young friend," said De Walton, "if we try some +of the woodland sports proper, they say, to this country? There are +still in our neighbourhood some herds of the Caledonian breed of wild +cattle, which are nowhere to be found except among the moorlands--the +black and rugged frontier of what was anciently called the Kingdom of +Strath-Clyde. There are some hunters, too, who have been accustomed to +the sport, and who vouch that these animals are by far the most bold +and fierce subjects of chase in the island of Britain." + +"You will do as you please," replied Sir Aymer, coldly; "but it is not +I, Sir John, who would recommend, for the sake of a hunting-match, that +you should involve the whole garrison in danger; you know best the +responsibilities incurred by your office here, and no doubt must have +heedfully attended to them before making a proposal of such a nature." + +"I do indeed know my own duty," replied De Walton, offended in turn, +"and might be allowed to think of yours also, without assuming more +than my own share of responsibility; but it seems to me as if the +commander of this Dangerous Castle, among other inabilities, were, as +old people in this country say, subjected to a spell--and one which +renders it impossible for him to guide his conduct so as to afford +pleasure to those whom he is most desirous to oblige. Not a great many +weeks since, whose eyes would have sparkled like those of Sir Aymer de +Valence at the proposal of a general hunting-match after a new object +of game; and now what is his bearing when such sport is proposed, +merely, I think, to disappoint my purpose of obliging him?--a cold +acquiescence drops half frozen from his lips, and he proposes to go to +rouse the wild cattle with an air of gravity, as if he were undertaking +a pilgrimage to the tomb of a martyr." + +"Not so, Sir John," answered the young knight. "In our present +situation we stand conjoined in more charges than one, and although the +greater and controlling trust is no doubt laid upon you as the elder +and abler knight, yet still I feel that I myself have my own share of a +serious responsibility. I trust, therefore, you will indulgently hear +my opinion, and bear with it, even though it should appear to have +relation to that part of our common charge which is more especially +intrusted to your keeping. The dignity of knighthood, which I have the +honour to share with you, the _accolade_ laid on my shoulder by +the royal Plantagenet, entitles me, methinks, to so much grace." + +"I cry you mercy," said the elder cavalier; "I forgot how important a +person I had before me, dubbed by King Edward himself, who was moved no +doubt by special reasons to confer such an early honour; and I +certainly feel that I overstep my duty when I propose any thing that +savours like idle sport to a person of such grave pretensions." + +"Sir John de Walton," retorted De Valence, "we have had something too +much of this--let it stop here. All that I mean to say is, that in this +wardship of Douglas Castle, it will not be by my consent, if any +amusement, which distinctly infers a relaxation of discipline, be +unnecessarily engaged in, and especially such as compels us to summon +to our assistance a number of the Scots, whose evil disposition towards +us we well know; nor will I, though my years have rendered me liable to +such suspicion, suffer any thing of this kind to be imputed to me; and +if unfortunately--though I am sure I know not why--we are in future to +lay aside those bonds of familiar friendship which formerly linked us +to each other, yet I see no reason why we should not bear ourselves in +our necessary communications like knights and gentlemen, and put the +best construction on each other's motives, since there can be no reason +for imputing the worst to any thing that comes from either of us." + +"You may be right, Sir Aymer de Valence," said the governor, bending +stiffly: "and since you say we are no longer bound to each other as +friends, you may be certain, nevertheless, that I will never permit a +hostile feeling, of which you are the object, to occupy my bosom. You +have been long, and I hope not uselessly, my pupil in the duties of +chivalry. You are the near relation of the Earl of Pembroke, my kind +and constant patron; and if these circumstances are well weighed, they +form a connexion which it would be difficult, at least for me, to break +through. If you feel yourself, as you seem to intimate, less strictly +tied by former obligations, you must take your own choice in fixing our +relations towards each other." + +"I can only say," replied De Valence, "that my conduct will naturally +be regulated by your own; and you, Sir John, cannot hope more devoutly +than I do that our military duties may be fairly discharged, without +interfering with our friendly intercourse." + +The knights here parted, after a conference which once or twice had +very nearly terminated in a full and cordial explanation; but still +there was wanting one kind heartfelt word from either to break, as it +were, the ice which was fast freezing upon their intercourse, and +neither chose to be the first in making the necessary advances with +sufficient cordiality, though each would have gladly done so, had the +other appeared desirous of meeting it with the same ardour; but their +pride was too high, and prevented either from saying what might at once +have put them upon an open and manly footing. They parted, therefore, +without again returning to the subject of the proposed diversion; until +it was afterwards resumed in a formal note, praying Sir Aymer de +Valence to accompany the commandant of Douglas Castle upon a solemn +hunting-match, which had for its object the wild cattle of the +neighbouring dale. + +The time of meeting was appointed at six in the morning, beyond the +gate of the outer barricade; and the chase was declared to be ended in +the afternoon, when the _recheat_ should be blown beneath the +great oak, known by the name of Sholto's Club, which stood a remarkable +object, where Douglas Dale was bounded by several scattered trees, the +outskirts of the forest and hill country. The usual warning was sent +out to the common people, or vassals of the district, which they, +notwithstanding their feeling of antipathy, received in general with +delight, upon the great Epicurean principle of _carpe diem_, that +is to say, in whatever circumstances it happens to present itself, be +sure you lose no recreation which life affords. A hunting-match has +still its attractions, even though an English knight take his pleasure +in the woods of the Douglas. + +It was no doubt afflicting to these faithful vassals, to acknowledge +another lord than the redoubted Douglas, and to wait by wood and river +at the command of English officers, and in the company of their archers, +whom they accounted their natural enemies. Still it was the only +species of amusement which had been permitted them for a long time, and +they were not disposed to omit the rare opportunity of joining in it. +The chase of the wolf, the wild boar, or even the timid stag, required +silvan arms; the wild cattle still more demanded this equipment of war- +bows and shafts, boar-spears and sharp swords, and other tools of the +chase similar to those used in actual war. Considering this, the +Scottish inhabitants were seldom allowed to join in the chase, except +under regulations as to number and arms, and especially in preserving a +balance of force on the side of the English soldiers, which was very +offensive to them. The greater part of the garrison was upon such +occasions kept on foot, and several detachments, formed according to +the governor's direction, were stationed in different positions in case +any quarrel should suddenly break out. + + + + +CHAPTER THE SEVENTH. + + The drivers thorough the wood went, + For to raise the deer; + Bowmen bickered upon the bent, + With their broad arrows clear. + + The wylde thorough the woods went, + On every side shear; + Grehounds thorough the groves glent, + For to kill thir deer. + BALLAD OF CHEVY CHASE, _Old Edit_. + + +The appointed morning came in cold and raw, after the manner of the +Scottish March weather. Dogs yelped, yawned, and shivered, and the +huntsmen, though hardy and cheerful in expectation of the day's sport, +twitched their mauds, or Lowland plaids, close to their throats, and +looked with some dismay at the mists which floated about the horizon, +now threatening to sink down on the peaks and ridges of prominent +mountains, and now to shift their position under the influence of some +of the uncertain gales, which rose and fell alternately, as they swept +along the valley. + +Nevertheless, the appearance of the whole formed, as is usual in almost +all departments of the chase, a gay and a jovial spectacle. A brief +truce seemed to have taken place between the nations, and the Scottish +people appeared for the time rather as exhibiting the sports of their +mountains in a friendly manner to the accomplished knights and bonny +archers of Old England, than as performing a feudal service, neither +easy nor dignified in itself, at the instigation of usurping neighbours. +The figures of the cavaliers, now half seen, now exhibited fully, and +at the height, of strenuous exertion, according to the character of the +dangerous and broken ground, particularly attracted the attention of +the pedestrians, who, leading the dogs or beating the thickets, +dislodged such objects of chase as they found in the dingles, and kept +their eyes fixed upon their companions, rendered more remarkable from +being mounted, and the speed at which they urged their horses; the +disregard of all accidents being as perfect as Melton-Mowbray itself, +or any other noted field of hunters of the present day, can exhibit. + +The principles on which modern and ancient hunting were conducted, are, +however, as different as possible. A fox, or even a hare is, in our own +day, considered as a sufficient apology for a day's exercise to forty +or fifty dogs, and nearly as many men and horses; but the ancient chase, +even though not terminating, as it often did, in battle, carried with +it objects more important, and an interest immeasurably more stirring. +If indeed one species of exercise can be pointed out as more +universally exhilarating and engrossing than others, it is certainly +that of the chase. The poor over-laboured drudge, who has served out +his day of life, and wearied all his energies in the service of his +fellow-mortals--he who has been for many years the slave of agriculture, +or (still worse) of manufactures, engaged in raising a single peck of +corn from year to year, or in the monotonous labours of the desk--can +hardly remain dead to the general happiness when the chase sweeps past +him with hound and horn, and for a moment feels all the exultation of +the proudest cavalier who partakes the amusement. Let any one who has +witnessed the sight recall to his imagination the vigour and lively +interest which he has seen inspired into a village, including the +oldest and feeblest of its inhabitants. In the words of Wordsworth, it +is, on such occasions, + + "Up, Timothy, up with your staff and away, + Not a soul will remain in the village to-day; + The hare has just started from Hamilton's grounds, + And Skiddaw is glad with the cry of the hounds." + +But compare those inspiring sounds to the burst of a whole feudal +population enjoying the sport, whose lives, instead of being spent in +the monotonous toil of modern avocations, have been agitated by the +hazards of war, and of the chase, its near resemblance, and you must +necessarily suppose that the excitation is extended, like a fire which +catches to dry heath. To use the common expression, borrowed from +another amusement, all is fish that comes in the net on such occasions. +An ancient hunting-match (the nature of the carnage excepted) was +almost equal to a modern battle, when the strife took place on the +surface of a varied and unequal country. A whole district poured forth +its inhabitants, who formed a ring of great extent, called technically, +a tinchel, and, advancing and narrowing their circle by degrees, drove +before them the alarmed animals of every kind; all and each of which, +as they burst from the thicket or the moorland, were objects of the bow, +the javelin, or whatever missile weapons the hunters possessed; while +others were run down and worried by large greyhounds, or more +frequently brought to bay, when the more important persons present +claimed for themselves the pleasure of putting them to death with their +chivalrous hands, incurring individually such danger as is inferred +from a mortal contest even with the timid buck, when he is brought to +the death-struggle, and has no choice but yielding his life or putting +himself upon the defensive, by the aid of his splendid antlers, and +with all the courage of despair. + +The quantity of game found in Douglas Dale on this occasion was very +considerable, for, as already noticed, it was a long time since a +hunting upon a great scale had been attempted under the Douglasses +themselves, whose misfortunes had commenced several years before, with +those of their country. The English garrison, too, had not sooner +judged themselves strong or numerous enough to exercise these valued +feudal privileges. In the meantime, the game increased considerably. +The deer, the wild cattle, and the wild boars, lay near the foot of the +mountains, and made frequent irruptions into the lower part of the +valley, which in Douglas Dale bears no small resemblance to an oasis, +surrounded by tangled woods, and broken moors, occasionally rocky, and +showing large tracts of that bleak dominion to which wild creatures +gladly escape when pressed by the neighbourhood of man. + +As the hunters traversed the spots which separated the field from the +wood, there was always a stimulating uncertainty what sort of game was +to be found, and the marksman, with his bow ready bent, or his javelin +poised, and his good and well-bitted horse thrown upon its haunches, +ready for a sudden start, observed watchfully what should rush from the +covert, so that, were it deer, boar, wolf, wild cattle, or any other +species of game, he might be in readiness. + +The wolf, which, on account of its ravages, was the most obnoxious of +the beasts of prey, did not, however, supply the degree of diversion +which his name promised; he usually fled far--in some instances many +miles--before he took courage to turn to bay, and though formidable at +such moments, destroying both dogs and men by his terrible bite, yet at +other times was rather despised for his cowardice. The boar, on the +other hand, was a much more irascible and courageous animal. + +The wild cattle, the most formidable of all the tenants of the ancient +Caledonian forest, were, however, to the English cavaliers, by far the +most interesting objects of pursuit. [Footnote: These Bulls are thus +described by Hector Boetius, concerning whom he says--"In this wood +(namely the Caledonian wood) were sometime white bulls, with crisp and +curling manes, like fierce lions; and though they seemed meek and tame +in the remanent figure of their bodies, they were more wild than any +other beasts, and had such hatred against the society and company of +men, that they never came in the woods nor lesuries where they found +any foot or hand thereof, and many days after they eat not of the herbs +that were touched or handled by man. These bulls were so wild, that +they were never taken but by slight and crafty labour, and so impatient, +that after they were taken they died from insupportable dolour. As soon +as any man, invaded these bulls, they rushed with such, terrible press +upon him that they struck him to the earth, taking no fear of hounds, +sharp lances, or other most penetrative weapons."--_Boetius, Chron. +Scot_. Vol. I. page xxxix. + +The wild cattle of this breed, which are now only known in one manor in +England, that of Chillingham Castle, in Northumberland, (the seat of +the Earl of Tankerville,) were, in the memory of man, still preserved +in three places in Scotland, namely, Drumlanrig, Cumbernauld, and the +upper park at Hamilton Palace, at all of which places, except the last, +I believe, they have now been destroyed, on account of their ferocity. +But though those of modern days are remarkable for their white colour, +with black muzzles, and exhibiting, in a small degree, the black mane, +about three or four inches long, by which the bulls in particular are +distinguished, they do not by any means come near the terrific +description given us by the ancient authors, which has made some +naturalists think that these animals should probably be referred to a +different species, though possessing the same general habits, and +included in the same genus. The bones, which are often discovered in +Scottish mosses, belong certainly to a race of animals much larger than +those of Chillingham, which seldom grow to above 80 stone (of 14 lbs.), +the general weight varying from 60 to 80 stone. We should be accounted +very negligent by one class of readers, did we not record that the beef +furnished by those cattle is of excellent flavour, and finely marbled. + +[The following is an extract from, a letter received by Sir Walter +Scott, some time after the publication of the novel.-- + +"When it is wished to kill any of the cattle at Chillingham, the keeper +goes into the herd on horseback, in which way they are quite accessible, +and singling out his victim, takes aim with a large rifle-gun, and +seldom fails in bringing him down. If the poor animal makes much +bellowing in his agony, and especially if the ground be stained with +his blood, his companions become very furious, and are themselves, I +believe, accessory to his death. After which, they fly off to a distant +part of the park, and he is drawn away on a sledge. Lord Tankerville is +very tenacious of these singular animals; he will on no account part +with a living one, and hardly allows of a sufficient number being +killed, to leave pasturage for those that remain. + +"It happened on one occasion, three or four years ago, that a party +visiting at the castle, among whom were some men of war, who had hunted +buffaloes in foreign parts, obtained permission to do the keeper's work, +and shoot one of the wild cattle. They sallied out on horseback, and +duly equipped for the enterprise, attacked their object. The poor +animal received several wounds, but none of them proving fatal, he +retired before his pursuers, roaring with pain and rage, till, planting +himself against a wall or tree, he stood at bay, offering a front of +defiance. In this position the youthful heir of the castle, Lord +Ossulston, rode up to give him the fatal shot. Though warned of the +danger of approaching near to the enraged animal, and especially of +firing without first having turned his horse's head in a direction to +he ready for flight, he discharged his piece; but ere he could turn his +horse round to make his retreat, the raging beast had plunged his +immense horns into its flank. The horse staggered and was near falling, +but recovering by a violent effort, he extricated himself from his +infuriated pursuer, making off with all the speed his wasting strength +supplied, his entrails meanwhile dragging on the ground, till at length +he fell, and died at the same moment. The animal was now close upon his +rear, and the young Lord would unquestionably have shared the fate of +his unhappy steed, had not the keeper, deeming it full time to conclude +the day's diversion, fired at the instant. His shot brought the beast +to the ground, and running in with his large knife, he put a period to +his existence. + +"This scene of gentlemanly pastime was viewed from a turret of the +castle by Lady Tankerville and her female visitors. Such a situation +for the mother of the young hero, was anything but enviable."]] +Altogether, the ringing of bugles, the clattering of horses' hoofs, the +lowing and bellowing of the enraged mountain cattle, the sobs of deer +mingled by throttling dogs, the wild shouts of exultation of the men,-- +made a chorus which extended far through the scene in which it arose, +and seemed to threaten the inhabitants of the valley even in its inmost +recesses. + +During the course of the hunting, when a stag or a boar was expected, +one of the wild cattle often came rushing forward, bearing down the +young trees, crashing the branches in its progress, and in general +dispersing whatever opposition was presented to it by the hunters. Sir +John de Walton was the only one of the chivalry of the party who +individually succeeded in mastering one of these powerful animals. Like +a Spanish tauridor, he bore down and killed with his lance a ferocious +bull; two well-grown calves and three kine were also slain, being +unable to carry off the quantity of arrows, javelins, and other +missiles, directed against them by the archers and drivers; but many +others, in spite of every endeavour to intercept them, escaped to their +gloomy haunts in the remote skirts of the mountain called Cairntable, +with their hides well feathered with those marks of human enmity. + +A large portion of the morning was spent in this way, until a +particular blast from the master of the hunt announced that he had not +forgot the discreet custom of the repast, which, on such occasions, was +provided for upon a scale proportioned to the multitude who had been +convened to attend the sport. + +The blast peculiar to the time, assembled the whole party in an open +space in a wood, where their numbers had room and accommodation to sit +down upon the green turf, the slain game affording a plentiful supply +for roasting or broiling, an employment in which the lower class were +all immediately engaged; while puncheons and pipes, placed in readiness, +and scientifically opened, supplied Gascoigne wine, and mighty ale, at +the pleasure of those who chose to appeal to them. + +The knights, whose rank did not admit of interference, were seated by +themselves, and ministered to by their squires and pages, to whom such +menial services were not accounted disgraceful, but, on the contrary, a +proper step of their education. The number of those distinguished +persons seated upon the present occasion at the table of dais, as it +was called, (in virtue of a canopy of green boughs with which it was +overshadowed,) comprehended Sir John de Walton, Sir Aymer de Valance, +and some reverend brethren dedicated to the service of Saint Bride, who, +though Scottish ecclesiastics, were treated with becoming respect by +the English soldiers. One or two Scottish retainers, or vavasours, +maintaining, perhaps in prudence, a suitable deference to the English +knights, sat at the bottom of the table, and as many English archers, +peculiarly respected by their superiors, were invited, according to the +modern phrase, to the honours of the sitting. + +Sir John de Walton sat at the head of the table; his eye, though it +seemed to have no certain object, yet never for a moment remained +stationary, but glanced from one countenance to another of the ring +formed by his guests, for such they all were, no doubt, though he +himself could hardly have told upon what principle he had issued the +invitations; and even apparently was at a loss to think what, in one or +two cases, had procured him the honour of their presence. + +One person in particular caught De Walton's eye, as having the air of a +redoubted man-at-arms, although it seemed as if fortune had not of late +smiled upon his enterprises. He was a tall raw-boned man, of an +extremely rugged countenance, and his skin, which showed itself through +many a loophole in his dress, exhibited a complexion which must have +endured all the varieties of an outlawed life; and akin to one who had, +according to the customary phrase, "ta'en the bent with Robin Bruce," +in other words occupied the moors with him as an insurgent. Some such +idea certainly crossed De Walton's mind. Yet the apparent coolness, and +absence of alarm, with which the stranger sat at the board of an +English officer, at the same time being wholly in his power, had much +in it which was irreconcilable with any such suggestion. De Walton, and +several of those about him, had in the course of the day observed that +this tattered cavalier, the most remarkable parts of whose garb and +equipments consisted of an old coat-of-mail and a rusted yet massive +partisan about eight feet long, was possessed of superior skill in the +art of hunting to any individual of their numerous party. The governor +having looked at this suspicious figure until he had rendered the +stranger aware of the special interest which he attracted, at length +filled a goblet of choice wine, and requested him, as one of the best +pupils of Sir Tristem who had attended upon the day's chase, to pledge +him in a vintage superior to that supplied to the general company. + +"I suppose, however, sir," said De Walton, "you will have no objections +to put off my challenge of a brimmer, until you can answer my pledge in +Gascoigne wine, which grew in the king's own demesne, was pressed for +his own lip, and is therefore fittest to be emptied to his majesty's +health and prosperity." + +"One half of the island of Britain," said the woodsman, with great +composure, "will be of your honour's opinion; but as I belong to the +other half, even the choicest liquor in Gascony cannot render that +health acceptable to me." + +A murmur of disapprobation ran through the warriors present; the +priests hung their heads, looked deadly grave, and muttered their +pater-nosters. + +"You see, stranger," said De Walton sternly, "that your speech +discomposes the company." + +"It may be so," replied the man, in the same blunt tone; "and it may +happen that there is no harm in the speech notwithstanding." + +"Do you consider that it is made in my presence?" answered De Walton. + +"Yes, Sir Governor." + +"And have you thought what must be the necessary inference?" continued +De Walton. + +"I may form a round guess," answered the stranger, "what I might have +to fear, if your safe conduct and word of honour, when inviting me to +this hunting, were less trustworthy than I know full well it really is. +But I am your guest--your meat is even now passing my throat--your cup, +filled with right good wine, I have just now quaffed off--and I would +not fear the rankest Paynim infidel, if we stood in such relation +together, much less an English knight. I tell you, besides, Sir Knight, +you undervalue the wine we have quaffed. The high flavour and contents +of your cup, grow where it will, give me spirit to tell you one or two +circumstances, which cold cautious sobriety would, in a moment like +this, have left unsaid. You wish, I doubt not, to know who I am? My +Christian name is Michael--my surname is that of Turnbull, a redoubted +clan, to whose honours, even in the field of hunting or of battle, I +have added something. My abode is beneath the mountain of Rubieslaw, by +the fair streams of Teviot. You are surprised that I know how to hunt +the wild cattle,--I, who have made them my sport from infancy in the +lonely forests of Jed and Southdean, and have killed more of them than +you or any Englishman in your host ever saw, even if you include the +doughty deeds of this day." + +The bold borderer made this declaration with the same provoking degree +of coolness which predominated in his whole demeanour, and was indeed +his principal attribute. His effrontery did not fail to produce its +effect upon Sir John De Walton, who instantly called out, "To arms! to +arms!--Secure the spy and traitor! Ho! pages and yeomen--William, +Anthony, Bend-the-bow, and Greenleaf--seize the traitor, and bind him +with your bow-strings and dog-leashes--bind him, I say, until the blood +start from beneath his nails!" + +"Here is a goodly summons!" said Turnbull, with a sort of horselaugh. +"Were I as sure of being answered by twenty men I could name, there +would be small doubt of the upshot of this day." + +The archers thickened around the hunter, yet laid no hold on him, none +of them being willing to be the first who broke the peace proper to the +occasion. + +"Tell me," said De Walton, "thou traitor, for what waitest thou here?" + +"Simply and solely," said the Jed forester, "that I may deliver up to +the Douglas the castle of his ancestors, and that I may ensure thee, +Sir Englishman, the payment of thy deserts, by cutting that very throat +which thou makest such a brawling use of." + +At the same time, perceiving that the yeomen were crowding behind him +to carry their lord's commands into execution so soon as they should be +reiterated, the huntsman turned himself short round upon those who +appeared about to surprise him, and having, by the suddenness of the +action, induced them to step back a pace, he proceeded--"Yes, John de +Walton, my purpose was ere now to have put thee to death, as one whom I +find in possession of that castle and territory which belong to my +master, a knight much more worthy than thyself; but I know not why I +have paused--thou hast given me food when I have hungered for twenty- +four hours, I have not therefore had the heart to pay thee at advantage +as thou hast deserved. Begone from this place and country, and take the +fair warning of a foe; thou hast constituted thyself the mortal enemy +of this people, and there are those among them who have seldom been +injured or defied with impunity. Take no care in searching after me, it +will be in vain,--until I meet thee at a time which will come at my +pleasure, not thine. Push not your inquisition into cruelty, to +discover by what means I have deceived you, for it is impossible for +you to learn; and with this friendly advice, look at me and take your +leave, for although we shall one day meet, it may be long ere I see you +again." + +De Walton remained silent, hoping that his prisoner, (for he saw no +chance of his escaping,) might, in his communicative humour, drop some +more information, and was not desirous to precipitate a fray with which +the scene was likely to conclude, unconscious at the same time of the +advantage which he thereby gave the daring hunter. + +As Turnbull concluded his sentence, he made a sudden spring backwards, +which carried him out of the circle formed around him, and before they +were aware of his intentions, at once disappeared among the underwood. + +"Seize him--seize him!" repeated De Walton: "let us have him at least +at our discretion, unless the earth has actually swallowed him." + +This indeed appeared not unlikely, for near the place where Turnbull +had made the spring, there yawned a steep ravine, into which he plunged, +and descended by the assistance of branches, bushes, and copsewood, +until he reached the bottom, where he found some road to the outskirts +of the forest, through which he made his escape, leaving the most +expert woodsmen among the pursuers totally at fault, and unable to +trace his footsteps. + + + + +CHAPTER THE EIGHTH. + + +This interlude carried some confusion into the proceedings of the hunt, +thus suddenly surprised by the apparition of Michael Turnbull, an armed +and avowed follower of the House of Douglas, a sight so little to be +expected in the territory where his master was held a rebel and a +bandit, and where he himself must have been well known to most of the +peasantry present. The circumstance made an obvious impression on the +English chivalry. Sir John de Walton looked grave and thoughtful, +ordered the hunters to be assembled on the spot, and directed his +soldiers to commence a strict search among the persons who had attended +the chase, so as to discover whether Turnbull had any companions among +them; but it was too late to make that enquiry in the strict fashion +which De Walton directed. + +The Scottish attendants on the chase, when they beheld that the hunting, +under pretence of which they were called together, was interrupted for +the purpose of laying hands upon their persons, and subjecting them to +examination, took care to suit their answers to the questions put to +them; in a word, they kept their own secret, if they had any. Many of +them, conscious of being the weaker party, became afraid of foul play, +slipt away from the places to which they had been appointed, and left +the hunting-match like men who conceived they had been invited with no +friendly intent. Sir John de Walton became aware of the decreasing +numbers of the Scottish--their gradual disappearance awakening in the +English knight that degree of suspicion which had of late become his +peculiar characteristic. + +"Take, I pray thee," said he to Sir Aymer de Valence, "as many men-at- +arms as thou canst get together in five minutes' space, and at least a +hundred of the mounted archers, and ride as fast as thou canst, without +permitting them to straggle from thy standard, to reinforce the +garrison of Douglas; for I have my own thoughts what may have been +attempted on the castle, when we observe with our own eyes such a nest +of traitors here assembled." + +"With reverence, Sir John," replied Aymer, "you shoot in this matter +rather beyond the mark. That the Scottish peasants have had bad +thoughts against us, I will be the last to deny; but, long debarred +from any silvan sport, you cannot wonder at their crowding to any +diversion by wood or river, and still less at their being easily +alarmed as to the certainty of the safe footing on which they stand +with us. The least rough usage is likely to strike them with fear, and +with the desire of escape, and so"-- + +"And so," said Sir John de Walton, who had listened with a degree of +impatience scarce consistent with the grave and formal politeness which +one knight was accustomed to bestow upon another, "and so I would +rather see Sir Aymer de Valence busy his horse's heels to execute my +orders, than give his tongue the trouble of impugning them." + +At this sharp reprimand, all present looked at each other with +indications of marked displeasure. Sir Aymer was highly offended, but +saw it was no time to indulge in reprisal. He bowed until the feather +which was in his barret-cap mingled with his horse's mane, and without +reply--for he did not even choose to trust his voice in reply at the +moment--headed a considerable body of cavalry by the straightest road +back to the Castle of Douglas. + +When he came to one of those eminences from which he could observe the +massive and complicated towers and walls of the old fortress, with the +glitter of the broad lake which surrounded it on three sides, he felt +much pleasure at the sight of the great banner of England, which +streamed from the highest part of the building. "I knew it," he +internally said; "I was certain that Sir John de Walton had become a +very woman in the indulgence of his fears and suspicions. Alas! that a +situation of responsibility should so much have altered a disposition +which I have known so noble and so knightly! By this good day, I scarce +know in what manner I should demean me when thus publicly rebuked +before the garrison. Certainly he deserves that I should, at some time +or other, let him understand, that however he may triumph in the +exercise of his short-lived command, yet, when man is to meet with man, +it will puzzle Sir John de Walton to show himself the superior of Aymer +de Valence, or perhaps to establish himself as his equal. But if, on +the contrary, his fears, however fantastic, are sincere at the moment +he expresses them, it becomes me to obey punctually commands which, +however absurd, are imposed in consequence of the governor's belief +that they are rendered necessary by the times, and not inventions +designed to vex and domineer over his officers in the indulgence of his +official powers. I would I knew which is the true statement of the case, +and whether the once famed De Walton is become afraid of his enemies +more than fits a knight, or makes imaginary doubts the pretext of +tyrannizing over his friend. I cannot say it would make much difference +to me, but I would rather have it that the man I once loved had turned +a petty tyrant than a weak-spirited coward; and I would be content that +he should study to vex me, rather than be afraid of his own shadow." + +With these ideas passing in his mind, the young knight crossed the +causeway which traversed the piece of water that fed the moat, and, +passing under the strongly fortified gateway, gave strict orders for +letting down the portcullis, and elevating the drawbridge, even at the +appearance of De Walton's own standard before it. + +A slow and guarded movement from the hunting-ground to the Castle of +Douglas, gave the governor ample time to recover his temper, and to +forget that his young friend had shown less alacrity than usual in +obeying his commands. He was even disposed to treat as a jest the +length of time and extreme degree of ceremony with which every point of +martial discipline was observed on his own re-admission to the castle, +though the raw air of a wet spring evening whistled around his own +unsheltered person, and those of his followers, as they waited before +the castle gate for the exchange of pass-words, the delivery of keys, +and all the slow minutiae attendant upon the movements of a garrison in +a well-guarded fortress. + +"Come," said he to an old knight, who was peevishly blaming the +lieutenant-governor, "it was my own fault; I spoke but now to Aymer de +Valence with more authoritative emphasis than his newly-dubbed dignity +was pleased with, and this precise style of obedience is a piece of not +unnatural and very pardonable revenge. Well, we will owe him a return, +Sir Philip--shall we not? This is not a night to keep a man at the +gate." + +This dialogue, overheard by some of the squires and pages, was bandied +about from one to another, until it entirely lost the tone of good- +humour in which it was spoken, and the offence was one for which Sir +John de Walton and old Sir Philip were to meditate revenge, and was +said to have been represented by the governor as a piece of mortal and +intentional offence on the part of his subordinate officer. + +Thus an increasing feud went on from day to day between two warriors, +who, with no just cause of quarrel, had at heart every reason to esteem +and love each other. It became visible in the fortress even to those of +the lower rank, who hoped to gain some consequence by intermingling in +the species of emulation produced by the jealousy of the commanding +officers--an emulation which may take place, indeed, in the present day, +but can hardly have the same sense of wounded pride and jealous dignity +attached to it, which existed in times when the personal honour of +knighthood rendered those who possessed it jealous of every punctilio. + +So many little debates took place between the two knights, that Sir +Aymer de Valence thought himself under the necessity of writing to his +uncle and namesake, the Earl of Pembroke, stating that his officer, Sir +John de Walton, had unfortunately of late taken some degree of +prejudice against him, and that after having borne with many provoking +instances of his displeasure, he was now compelled to request that his +place of service should be changed from the Castle of Douglas, to +wherever honour could be acquired, and time might be given to put an +end to his present cause of complaint against his commanding officer. +Through the whole letter, young Sir Aymer was particularly cautious how +he expressed his sense of Sir John de Walton's jealousy or severe +usage: but such sentiments are not easily concealed, and in spite of +him an air of displeasure glanced out from several passages, and +indicated his discontent with his uncle's old friend and companion in +arms, and with the sphere of military duty which his uncle had himself +assigned him. An accidental movement among the English troops brought +Sir Aymer an answer to his letter sooner than he could have hoped for +at that time of day, in the ordinary course of correspondence, which +was then extremely slow and interrupted. + +Pembroke, a rigid old warrior, entertained the most partial opinion of +Sir John de Walton, who was a work as it were of his own hands, and was +indignant to find that his nephew, whom he considered as a mere boy, +elated by having had the dignity of knighthood conferred upon him at an +age unusually early, did not absolutely coincide with him in this +opinion. He replied to him, accordingly, in a tone of high displeasure, +and expressed himself as a person of rank would write to a young and +dependent kinsman upon the duties of his profession; and, as he +gathered his nephew's cause of complaint from his own letter, he +conceived that he did him no injustice in making it slighter than it +really was. He reminded the young man that the study of chivalry +consisted in the faithful and patient discharge of military service, +whether of high or low degree, according to the circumstances in which +war placed the champion. That above all, the post of danger, which +Douglas Castle had been termed by common consent, was also the post of +honour; and that a young man should be cautious how he incurred the +supposition of being desirous of quitting his present honourable +command, because he was tired of the discipline of a military director +so renowned as Sir John de Walton. Much also there was, as was natural +in a letter of that time, concerning the duty of young men, whether in +council or in arms, to be guided implicitly by their elders; and it was +observed, with justice, that the commanding officer, who had put +himself into the situation of being responsible with his honour, if not +his life, for the event of the siege or blockade, might, justly, and in +a degree more than common, claim the implicit direction of the whole +defence. Lastly, Pembroke reminded his nephew that he was, in a great +measure, dependent upon the report of Sir John de Walton for the +character which he was to sustain in after life; and reminded him, that +a few actions of headlong and inconsiderate valour would not so firmly +found his military reputation, as months and years spent in regular, +humble, and steady obedience to the commands which the governor of +Douglas Castle might think necessary in so dangerous a conjuncture. + +This missive arrived within so short a time after the despatch of the +letter to which it was a reply, that Sir Aymer was almost tempted to +suppose that his uncle had some mode of corresponding with De Walton, +unknown to the young knight himself, and to the rest of the garrison. +And as the earl alluded to some particular displeasure which had been +exhibited by De Valence on a late trivial occasion, his uncle's +knowledge of this, and other minutiae, seemed to confirm his idea that +his own conduct was watched in a manner which he did not feel +honourable to himself, or dignified on the part of his relative; in a +word, he conceived himself exposed to that sort of surveillance of +which, in all ages, the young have accused the old. It hardly needs to +say that the admonition of the Earl of Pembroke greatly chafed the +fiery spirit of his nephew; insomuch, that if the earl had wished to +write a letter purposely to increase the prejudices which he desired to +put an end to, he could not have made use of terms better calculated +for that effect. + +The truth was, that the old archer, Gilbert Greenleaf, had, without the +knowledge of the young knight, gone to Pembroke's camp, in Ayrshire, +and was recommended by Sir John de Walton to the earl, as a person who +could give such minute information respecting Aymer de Valence, as he +might desire to receive. The old archer was, as we have seen, a +formalist, and when pressed on some points of Sir Aymer de Valence's +discipline, he did not hesitate to throw out hints, which, connected +with those in the knight's letter to his uncle, made the severe old +earl adopt too implicitly the idea that his nephew was indulging a +spirit of insubordination, and a sense of impatience under authority, +most dangerous to the character of a young soldier. A little +explanation might have produced a complete agreement in the sentiments +of both; but for this, fate allowed neither time nor opportunity; and +the old earl was unfortunately induced to become a party, instead of a +negotiator, in the quarrel, + + "And by decision more embroil'd the fray." + +Sir John de Walton soon perceived, that the receipt of Pembroke's +letter did not in any respect alter the cold ceremonious conduct of his +lieutenant towards him, which limited their intercourse to what their +situation rendered indispensable, and exhibited no advances to any more +frank or intimate connexion. Thus, as may sometimes be the case between +officers in their relative situations even at the present day, they +remained in that cold stiff degree of official communication, in which +their intercourse was limited to as few expressions as the respective +duties of their situation absolutely demanded. Such a state of +misunderstanding is, in fact, worse than a downright quarrel;--the +latter may be explained or apologized for, or become the subject of +mediation; but in such a case as the former, an _eclaircissement_ +is as unlikely to take place as a general engagement between two armies +which have taken up strong defensive positions on both sides. Duty, +however, obliged the two principal persons in the garrison of Douglas +Castle to be often together, when they were so far from seeking an +opportunity of making up matters, that they usually revived ancient +subjects of debate. + +It was upon such an occasion that De Walton, in a very formal manner, +asked De Valence in what capacity, and for how long time, it was his +pleasure that the minstrel, called Bertram, should remain at the castle. + +"A week," said the governor, "is certainly long enough, in this time +and place, to express the hospitality due to a minstrel." + +"Certainly," replied the young man, "I have not interest enough in the +subject to form a single wish upon it." + +"In that case," resumed De Walton, "I shall request of this person to +cut short his visit at the Castle of Douglas." + +"I know no particular interest," replied Aymer de Valence, "which I can +possibly have in this man's motions. He is here under pretence of +making some researches after the writings of Thomas of Erceldoun, +called the Rhymer, which he says are infinitely curious, and of which +there is a volume in the old Baron's study, saved somehow from the +flames at the last conflagration. This told, you know as much of his +errand as I do; and if you hold the presence of a wandering old man, +and the neighbourhood of a boy, dangerous to the castle under your +charge, you will no doubt do well to dismiss them--it will cost but a +word of your mouth." + +"Pardon me," said De Walton; "the minstrel came here as one of your +retinue, and I could not, in fitting courtesy, send him away without +your leave." + +"I am sorry, then," answered Sir Aymer, "in my turn, that you did not +mention your purpose sooner. I never entertained a dependent, vassal or +servant, whose residence in the castle I would wish to have prolonged a +moment beyond your honourable pleasure." + +"I am sorry," said Sir John de Walton, "that we two have of late grown +so extremely courteous that it is difficult for us to understand each +other. This minstrel and his son come from we know not where, and are +bound we know not whither. There is a report among some of your escort, +that this fellow Bertram upon the way had the audacity to impugn, even +to your face, the King of England's right to the crown of Scotland, and +that he debated the point with you, while your other attendants were +desired by you to keep behind and out of hearing." + +"Hah!" said Sir Aymer, "do you mean to found on that circumstance any +charge against my loyalty? I pray you to observe, that such an averment +would touch mine honour, which I am ready and willing to defend to the +last gasp." + +"No doubt of it, Sir Knight," answered the governor; "but it is the +strolling minstrel, and not the high-born English knight, against whom +the charge is brought. Well! the minstrel comes to this castle, and he +intimates a wish that his son should be allowed to take up his quarters +at the little old convent of Saint Bride, where two or three Scottish +nuns and friars are still permitted to reside, most of them rather out +of respect to their order, than for any good will which they are +supposed to bear the English or their sovereign. It may also be noticed +that his leave was purchased by a larger sum of money, if my +information be correct, than is usually to be found in the purses of +travelling minstrels, a class of wanderers alike remarkable for their +poverty and for their genius. What do you think of all this?" + +"I?"--replied De Valence; "I am happy that my situation, as a soldier, +under command, altogether dispenses with my thinking of it at all. My +post, as lieutenant of your castle, is such, that if I can manage +matters so as to call my honour and my soul my own, I must think that +quite enough of free-will is left at my command; and I promise you +shall not have again to reprove, or send a bad report of me to my uncle, +on that account." + +"This is beyond sufferance!" said Sir John de Walton half aside, and +then proceeded aloud--"Do not, for Heaven's sake, do yourself and me +the injustice of supposing that I am endeavouring to gain an advantage +over you by these questions. Recollect, young knight, that when you +evade giving your commanding officer your advice when required, you +fail as much in point of duty, as if you declined affording him the +assistance of your sword and lance." + +"Such being the case," answered De Valence, "let me know plainly on +what matter it is that you require my opinion? I will deliver it +plainly, and stand by the result, even if I should have the misfortune +(a crime unpardonable in so young a man, and so inferior an officer) to +differ from that of Sir John de Walton." + +"I would ask you then. Sir Knight of Valence," answered the governor, +"what is your opinion with respect to this minstrel, Bertram, and +whether the suspicions respecting him and his son are not such as to +call upon me, in performance of my duty, to put them to a close +examination, with the question ordinary and extraordinary, as is usual +in such cases, and to expel them not only from the castle, but from the +whole territory of Douglas Dale, under pain of scourging, if they be +again found wandering in these parts?" + +"You ask me my opinion," said De Valence, "and you shall have it, Sir +Knight of Walton, and freely and fairly, as if matters stood betwixt us +on a footing as friendly as they ever did. I agree with you, that most +of those who in this day profess the science of minstrelsy, are +altogether unqualified to support the higher pretensions of that noble +order. Minstrels by right, are men who have dedicated themselves to the +noble occupation of celebrating knightly deeds and generous principles; +it is in their verse that the valiant knight is handed down to fame, +and the poet has a right, nay is bound, to emulate the virtues which he +praises. The looseness of the times has diminished the consequence, and +impaired the morality of this class of wanderers; their satire and +their praise are now too often distributed on no other principle than +love of gain; yet let us hope that there are still among them some who +know, and also willingly perform, their duty. My own opinion is that +this Bertram holds himself as one who has not shared in the degradation +of his brethren, nor bent the knee to the mammon of the times; it must +remain with you, sir, to judge whether such a person, honourably and +morally disposed, can cause any danger to the Castle of Douglas. But +believing, from the sentiments he has manifested to me, that he is +incapable of playing the part of a traitor, I must strongly remonstrate +against his being punished as one, or subjected to the torture within +the walls of an English garrison. I should blush for my country, if it +required of us to inflict such wanton misery upon wanderers, whose sole +fault is poverty; and your own knightly sentiments will suggest more +than would become me to state to Sir John de Walton, unless in so far +as is necessary to apologize for retaining my own opinion." + +Sir John de Walton's dark brow was stricken with red when he heard an +opinion delivered in opposition to his own, which plainly went to +stigmatize his advice as ungenerous, unfeeling, and unknightly. He made +an effort to preserve his temper while he thus replied with a degree of +calmness. "You have given your opinion, Sir Aymer de Valence; and that +you have given it openly and boldly, without regard to my own, I thank +you. It is not quite so clear that I am obliged to defer my own +sentiments to yours, in case the rules on which I hold my office--the +commands of the king--and the observations which I may personally have +made, shall recommend to me a different line of conduct from that which +you think it right to suggest." + +De Walton bowed, in conclusion, with great gravity; and the young +knight returning the reverence with exactly the same degree of stiff +formality, asked whether there were any particular orders respecting +his duty in the castle; and having received an answer in the negative +took his departure. + +Sir John de Walton, after an expression of impatience, as if +disappointed at finding that the advance which he had made towards an +explanation with his young friend had proved unexpectedly abortive, +composed his brow as if to deep thought, and walked several times to +and fro in the apartment, considering what course he was to take in +these circumstances. "It is hard to censure him severely," he said, +"when I recollect that, on first entering upon life, my own thoughts +and feelings would have been the same with those of this giddy and hot- +headed, but generous boy. Now prudence teaches me to suspect mankind in +a thousand instances where perhaps there is not sufficient ground. If I +am disposed to venture my own honour and fortune, rather than an idle +travelling minstrel should suffer a little pain, which at all events I +might make up to him by money, still, have I a right to run the risk of +a conspiracy against the king, and thus advance the treasonable +surrender of the Castle of Douglas, for which I know so many schemes +are formed; for which, too, none can be imagined so desperate but +agents will be found bold enough to undertake the execution? A man who +holds my situation, although the slave of conscience, ought to learn to +set aside those false scruples which assume the appearance of flowing +from our own moral feeling, whereas they are in fact instilled by the +suggestion of affected delicacy. I will not, I swear by Heaven, be +infected by the follies of a boy, such as Aymer; I will not, that I may +defer to his caprices, lose all that love, honour, and ambition can +propose, for the reward of twelve months' service, of a nature the most +watchful and unpleasant. I--will go straight to my point, and use the +ordinary precautions in Scotland which I should employ in Normandy or +Gascoigny.--What ho! page! who waits there?" + +One of his attendants replied to his summons--"Seek me out Gilbert +Greenleaf the archer, and tell him I would speak with him touching the +two bows and the sheaf of arrows, concerning which I gave him a +commission to Ayr." + +A few minutes intervened after the order was given, when the archer +entered, holding in his hand two bow-staves, not yet fashioned, and a +number of arrows secured together with a thong. He bore the mysterious +looks of one whose apparent business is not of very great consequence, +but is meant as a passport for other affairs which are in themselves of +a secret nature. Accordingly, as the knight was silent, and afforded no +other opening for Greenleaf, that judicious negotiator proceeded to +enter upon such as was open to him. + +"Here are the bow-staves, noble sir, which you desired me to obtain +while I was at Ayr with the Earl of Pembroke's army. They are not so +good as I could have wished, yet are perhaps of better quality than +could have been procured by any other than a fair judge of the weapon. +The Earl of Pembroke's whole camp are frantic mad in order to procure +real Spanish staves from the Groyne, and other ports in Spain; but +though two vessels laden with such came into the port of Ayr, said to +be for the King's army, yet I believe never one half of them have come +into English hands. These two grew in Sherwood, which having been +seasoned since the time of Robin Hood, are not likely to fail either in +strength or in aim, in so strong a hand, and with so just an eye, as +those of the men who wait on your worship." + +"And who has got the rest, since two ships' cargoes of new bow-staves +are arrived at Ayr, and thou with difficulty hast only procured me two +old ones?" said the governor. + +"Faith, I pretend not skill enough to know," answered Greenleaf, +shrugging his shoulders. "Talk there is of plots in that country as +well as here. It is said that their Bruce, and the rest of his kinsmen, +intend a new May-game, and that the outlawed king proposes to land near +Turnberry, early in summer, with a number of stout kernes from Ireland; +and no doubt the men of his mock earldom of Garrick are getting them +ready with bow and spear for so hopeful an undertaking. I reckon that +it will not cost us the expense of more than a few score of sheaves of +arrows to put all that matter to rights." + +"Do you talk then of conspiracies in this part of the country, +Greenleaf?" said De Walton. "I know you are a sagacious fellow, well +bred for many a day to the use of the bent stick and string, and will +not allow such a practice to go on under thy nose, without taking +notice of it." + +"I am old enough, Heaven knows," said Greenleaf, "and have had good +experience of these Scottish wars, and know well whether these native +Scots are a people to be trusted to by knight or yeoman. Say they are a +false generation, and say a good archer told you so, who, with a fair +aim, seldom missed a handsbreadth of the white. Ah! sir, your honour +knows how to deal with them---ride them strongly, and rein them hard,-- +you are not like those simple novices who imagine that all is to be +done by gentleness, and wish to parade themselves as courteous and +generous to those faithless mountaineers, who never, in the course of +their lives, knew any tincture either of courteousness or generosity." + +"Thou alludest to some one," said the governor, "and I charge thee, +Gilbert, to be plain and sincere with me. Thou knowest, methinks, that +in trusting me thou wilt come to no harm?" + +"It is true, it is true, sir," said the old remnant of the wars, +carrying his hand to his brow, "but it were imprudent to communicate +all the remarks which float through an old man's brain in the idle +moments of such a garrison as this. One stumbles unawares on fantasies, +as well as realities, and thus one gets, not altogether undeservedly, +the character of a tale-bearer and mischief-maker among his comrades, +and methinks I would not willingly fall under that accusation." + +"Speak frankly to me," answered De Walton, "and have no fear of being +misconstrued, whosoever the conversation may concern." + +"Nay, in plain truth," answered Gilbert, "I fear not the greatness of +this young knight, being, as I am, the oldest soldier in the garrison, +and having drawn a bow-string long and many a day ere he was weaned +from his nurse's breast." + +"It is, then." said De Walton, "my lieutenant and friend, Aymer de +Valence, at whom your suspicions point?" + +"At nothing," replied the archer, "touching the honour of the young +knight himself, who is as brave as the sword he wears, and, his youth +considered, stands high in the roll of English chivalry; but he is +young, as your worship knows, and I own that in the choice of his +company he disturbs and alarms me." + +"Why, you know, Greenleaf," answered the governor, "that in the leisure +of a garrison a knight cannot always confine his sports and pleasures +among those of his own rank, who are not numerous, and may not be so +gamesome or fond of frolic, as he would desire them to be." + +"I know that well," answered the archer, "nor would I say a word +concerning your honour's lieutenant for joining any honest fellows, +however inferior their rank, in the wrestling ring, or at a bout of +quarterstaff. But if Sir Aymer de Valence has a fondness for martial +tales of former days, methinks he had better learn them from the +ancient soldiers who have followed Edward the First, whom God assoilzie, +and who have known before his time the Barons' wars and Other +onslaughts, in which the knights and archers of merry England +transmitted so many gallant actions to be recorded by fame; this truly, +I say, were more beseeming the Earl of Pembroke's nephew, than to see +him closet himself day after day with a strolling minstrel, who gains +his livelihood by reciting nonsense and lies to such young men as are +fond enough to believe him, of whom hardly any one knows whether he be +English or Scottish in his opinions, and still less can any one pretend +to say whether he is of English or Scottish birth, or with what purpose +he lies lounging about this castle, and is left free to communicate +every thing which passes within it to those old mutterers of matins at +St. Bride's, who say with their tongues God save King Edward, but pray +in their hearts God save King Robert the Bruce. Such a communication he +can easily carry on by means of his son, who lies at Saint Bride's cell, +as your worship knows, under pretence of illness." + +"How do you say?" exclaimed the governor, "under pretence?--is he not +then really indisposed?" + +"Nay, he may be sick to the death for aught I know," said the archer; +"but if so, were it not then more natural that the father should attend +his son's sick-bed, than that he should be ranging about this castle, +where one eternally meets him in the old Baron's study, or in some +corner, where you least expect to find him?" + +"If he has no lawful object," replied the knight, "it might be as you +say; but he is said to be in quest of ancient poems or prophecies of +Merlin, of the Rhymer, or some other old bard; and in truth it is +natural for him to wish to enlarge his stock of knowledge and power of +giving amusement, and where should he find the means save in a study +filled with ancient books?" + +"No doubt," replied the Archer, with a sort of dry civil sneer of +incredulity; "I have seldom known an insurrection in Scotland but that +it was prophesied by some old forgotten rhyme, conjured out of dust and +cobwebs, for the sake of giving courage to these North Country rebels, +who durst not otherwise have abidden the whistling of the grey-goose +shaft; but curled heads are hasty, and, with license, even your own +train, Sir Knight, retains too much of the fire of youth for such +uncertain times as the present." + +"Thou hast convinced me, Gilbert Greenleaf, and I will look into this +man's business and occupation more closely than hitherto. This is no +time to peril the safety of a royal castle for the sake of affecting +generosity towards a man of whom we know so little, and to whom, till +we receive a very full explanation, we may, without doing him injustice, +attach grave suspicions. Is he now in the apartment called the Baron's +study?" + +"Your worship will be certain to find him there," replied Greenleaf. + +"Then follow me, with two or three of thy comrades, and keep out of +sight, but within hearing; it may be necessary to arrest this man." + +"My assistance," said the old archer, "shall be at hand when you call, +but"-- + +"But what?" said the knight; "I hope I am not to find doubts and +disobedience on all hands?" + +"Certainly not on mine," replied Greenleaf; "I would only remind your +worship that what I have said was a sincere opinion expressed in answer +to your worship's question; and that, as Sir Aymer de Valence has +avowed himself the patron of this man, I would not willingly be left to +the hazard of his revenge." + +"Pshaw" answered De Walton, "is Aymer de Valence governor of this +castle, or am I? or to whom do you imagine you are responsible for +answering such questions as I may put to you?" + +"Nay," replied the archer, secretly not displeased at seeing De Walton +show some little jealousy of his own authority, "believe me, Sir Knight, +that I know my own station and your worship's, and that I am not now to +be told to whom I owe obedience." + +"To the study, then, and let us find the man," said the governor. + +"A fine matter, indeed," subjoined Greenleaf, following him, "that your +worship should have to go in person to look after the arrest of so mean +an individual. But your honour is right; these minstrels are often +jugglers, and possess the power of making their escape by means which +borrel [Footnote: Unlearned.] folk like myself are disposed to attribute +to necromancy." + +Without attending to these last words, Sir John de Walton set forth +towards the study, walking at a quick pace, as if this conversation had +augmented his desire to find himself in possession of the person of the +suspected minstrel. + +Traversing the ancient passages of the castle, the governor had no +difficulty in reaching the study, which was strongly vaulted with stone, +and furnished with a sort of iron cabinet, intended for the +preservation of articles and papers of value, in case of fire. Here he +found the minstrel seated at a small table, sustaining before him a +manuscript, apparently of great antiquity, from which he seemed engaged +in making extracts. The windows of the room were very small, and still +showed some traces that they had originally been glazed with a painted +history of Saint Bride--another mark of the devotion of the great +family of Douglas to their tutelar saint. + +The minstrel, who had seemed deeply wrapped in the contemplation of his +task, on being disturbed by the unlooked-for entrance of Sir John de +Walton, rose with every mark of respect and humility, and, remaining +standing in the governor's presence, appeared to wait for his +interrogations, as if he had anticipated that the visit concerned +himself particularly. + +"I am to suppose, Sir Minstrel," said Sir John de Walton, "that you +have been successful in your search, and have found the roll of poetry +or prophecies that you proposed to seek after amongst these broken +shelves and tattered volumes?" + +"More successful than I could have expected," replied the minstrel, +"considering the effects of the conflagration. This, Sir Knight, is +apparently the fatal volume for which I sought, and strange it is, +considering the heavy chance of other books contained in this library, +that I have been able to find a few though imperfect fragments of it." + +"Since, therefore, you have been permitted to indulge your curiosity," +said the governor, "I trust, minstrel, you will have no objection to +satisfy mine?" + +The minstrel replied with the same humility, "that if there was any +thing within the poor compass of his skill which could gratify Sir John +de Walton in any degree, he would but reach his lute, and presently +obey his commands." + +"You mistake, Sir," said Sir John, somewhat harshly. "I am none of +those who have hours to spend in listening to tales or music of former +days; my life has hardly given me time enough for learning the duties +of my profession, far less has it allowed me leisure for such twangling +follies. I care not who knows it, but my ear is so incapable judging of +your art, which you doubtless think a noble one, that I can scarcely +tell the modulation of one tune from another." + +"In that case," replied the minstrel composedly, "I can hardly promise +myself the pleasure of affording your worship the amusement which I +might otherwise have done." + +"Nor do I look for any from your hand," said the governor, advancing a +step nearer to him, and speaking in a sterner tone. "I want information, +sir, which I am assured you can give me, if you incline; and it is my +duty to tell you, that if you show unwillingness to speak the truth, I +know means by which it will become my painful duty to extort it in a +more disagreeable manner than I would wish." + +"If your questions, Sir Knight," answered Bertram, "be such as I can or +ought to answer, there shall be no occasion to put them more than once. +If they are such as I cannot, or ought not to reply to, believe me that +no threats of violence will extort an answer from me." + +"You speak boldly," said Sir John de Walton; "but take my word for it, +that your courage will be put to the test. I am as little fond of +proceeding to such extremities as you can be of undergoing them, but +such will be the natural consequence of your own obstinacy. I therefore +ask you, whether Bertram be your real name--whether you have any other +profession than that of a travelling minstrel--and, lastly, whether you +have any acquaintance or connexion with any Englishman or Scottishman +beyond the walls of this Castle of Douglas?" + +"To these questions," replied the minstrel, "I have already answered +the worshipful knight, Sir Aymer de Valence, and having fully satisfied +him, it is not, I conceive, necessary that I should undergo a second +examination; nor is it consistent either with your worship's honour, or +that of the lieutenant-governor, that such a re-examination should take +place." + +"You are very considerate," replied the governor, "of my honour and of +that of Sir Aymer de Valence. Take my word for it, they are both in +perfect safety in our own keeping, and may dispense with your attention. +I ask you, will you answer the enquiries which it is my duty to make, +or am I to enforce obedience by putting you under the penalties of the +question? I have already, it is my duty to say, seen the answers you +have returned to my lieutenant, and they do not satisfy me." + +He at the same time clapped his hands, and two or three archers showed +themselves stripped of their tunics, and only attired in their shirts +and hose. + +"I understand," said the minstrel, "that you intend to inflict upon me +a punishment which is foreign to the genius of the English laws, in +that no proof is adduced of my guilt. I have already told that I am by +birth an Englishman, by profession a minstrel, and that I am totally +unconnected with any person likely to nourish any design against this +Castle of Douglas, Sir John de Walton, or his garrison. What answers +you may extort from me by bodily agony, I cannot, to speak as a plain- +dealing Christian, hold myself responsible for. I think that I can +endure as much pain as any one; I am sure that I never yet felt a +degree of agony, that I would not willingly prefer to breaking my +plighted word, or becoming a false informer against innocent persons: +but I own I do not know the extent to which the art of torture may be +carried; and though I do not fear you, Sir John de Walton, yet I must +acknowledge that I fear myself, since I know not to what extremity your +cruelty may be capable of subjecting me, or how far I may be enabled to +bear it. I, therefore, in the first place, protest, that I shall in no +manner be liable for any words which I may utter in the course of any +examination enforced from me by torture; and you must therefore, under +such circumstances, proceed to the execution of an office, which, +permit me to say, is hardly that which I expected to have found thus +administered by an accomplished knight like yourself." + +"Hark you, sir," replied the governor, "you and I are at issue, and in +doing my duty, I ought instantly to proceed to the extremities I have +threatened; but perhaps you yourself feel less reluctance to undergo +the examination as proposed, than I shall do in commanding it; I will +therefore consign you for the present to a place of confinement, +suitable to one who is suspected of being a spy upon this fortress. +Until you are pleased to remove such suspicions, your lodgings and +nourishment are those of a prisoner. In the meantime, before subjecting +you to the question, take notice, I will myself ride to the Abbey of +Saint Bride, and satisfy myself whether the young person whom you would +pass as your son, is possessed of the same determination as that which +you yourself seem to assert. It may so happen that his examination and +yours may throw such light upon each other as will decidedly prove +either your guilt or innocence, without its being confirmed by the use +of the extraordinary question. If it be otherwise, tremble for your +son's sake, if not for your own.--Have I shaken you, sir?--or do you +fear, for your boy's young sinews and joints, the engines which, in +your case, you seem willing to defy?" + +"Sir," answered the minstrel, recovering from the momentary emotion he +had shown, "I leave it to yourself, as a man of honour and candour, +whether you ought, in common fairness, to form a worse opinion of any +man, because he is not unwilling to incur, in his own person, +severities which he would not desire to be inflicted upon his child, a +sickly youth, just recovering from a dangerous disease." + +"It is my duty," answered De Walton, after a short pause, "to leave no +stone unturned by which this business may be traced to the source; and +if thou desirest mercy for thy son, thou wilt thyself most easily +attain it, by setting him the example of honesty and plain-dealing." + +The minstrel threw himself back on the seat, as if fully resolved to +bear every extremity that could be inflicted, rather than make any +farther answer than he had already offered. Sir John de Walton himself +seemed in some degree uncertain what might now be his best course. He +felt an invincible repugnance to proceed, without due consideration, in +what most people would have deemed the direct line of his duty, by +inflicting the torture both upon father and son; but deep as was his +sense of devotion towards the King, and numerous as were the hopes and +expectations he had formed upon the strict discharge of his present +high trust, he could not resolve upon having recourse at once to this +cruel method of cutting the knot. Bertram's appearance was venerable, +and his power of words not unworthy of his aspect and bearing. The +governor remembered that Aymer de Valence, whose judgment in general it +was impossible to deny, had described him as one of those rare +individuals, who vindicated the honour of a corrupted profession by +their personal good behaviour; and he acknowledged to himself, that +there was gross cruelty and injustice in refusing to admit the prisoner +to the credit of being a true and honest man, until, by way of proving +his rectitude, he had strained every sinew, and crushed every joint in +his body, as well as those of his son. "I have no touchstone," he said +internally, "which can distinguish truth from falsehood; the Bruce and +his followers are on the alert,-he has certainly equipped the galleys +which lay at Rachrin during winter. This story, too, of Greenleaf, +about arms being procured for a new insurrection, tallies strangely +with the appearance of that savage-looking forester at the hunt; and +all tends to show, that something is upon the anvil which it is my duty +to provide against. I will, therefore, pass over no circumstance by +which I can affect the mind through hope or fear; but, please God to +give me light from any other source, I will not think it lawful to +torment these unfortunate, and, it may yet be, honest men." He +accordingly took his departure from the library, whispering a word to +Greenleaf respecting the prisoner. + +He had reached the outward door of the study, and his satellites had +already taken the minstrel into their grasp, when the voice of the old +man was heard calling upon De Walton to return for a single moment. + +"What hast thou to say, sir?" said the governor; "be speedy, for I have +already lost more time in listening to thee than I am answerable for; +and so I advise thee for thine own sake"-- + +"I advise thee," said the minstrel, "for thine own sake, Sir John de +Walton, to beware how thou dost insist on thy present purpose, by which +thou thyself alone, of all men living,--will most severely suffer. If +thou harmest a hair of that young man's head--nay, if thou permittest +him to undergo any privation which it is in thy power to prevent, thou +wilt, in doing so, prepare for thine own suffering a degree of agony +more acute than anything else in this mortal world could cause thee. I +swear by the most blessed objects of our holy religion; I call to +witness that holy sepulchre, of which I have been an unworthy visitor, +that I speak nothing but the truth, and that thou wilt one day testify +thy gratitude for the part I am now acting. It is my interest, as well +as yours, to secure you in the safe possession of this castle, although +assuredly I know some things respecting it, and respecting your worship, +which I am not at liberty to tell without the consent of that youth. +Bring me but a note under his hand, consenting to my taking you into +our mystery, and believe me, you will soon see those clouds charmed +away; since there was never a doleful uncertainty which more speedily +changed to joy, or a thunder-cloud of adversity which more instantly +gave way to sunshine, than would then the suspicions which appear now +so formidable." + +He spoke with so much earnestness as to make some impression upon Sir +John de Walton, who was once more wholly at a loss to know what line +his duty called upon him to pursue. + +"I would most gladly," said the governor, "follow out my purpose by the +gentlest means in my power; and I shall bring no further distress upon +this poor lad, than thine own obstinacy and his shall appear to deserve. +In the meantime, think, Sir Minstrel, that my duty has limits, and if I +slack it for a day, it will become thee to exert every effort in thy +power to meet my condescension. I will give thee leave to address thy +son by a line under thy hand, and I will await his answer before I +proceed farther in this matter, which seems to be very mysterious. +Meantime, as thou hast a soul to be saved, I conjure thee to speak the +truth, and tell me whether the secrets of which thou seemest to be a +too faithful treasurer, have regard to the practices of Douglas, of +Bruce, or of any in their names, against this Castle of Douglas?" + +The prisoner thought a moment, and then replied--"I am aware, Sir +Knight, of the severe charge under which this command is intrusted to +your hands, and were it in my power to assist you, as a faithful +minstrel and loyal subject, either with hand or tongue, I should feel +myself called upon so to do; but so far am I from being the character +your suspicions have apprehended, that I should have held it for +certain that the Bruce and Douglas had assembled their followers, for +the purpose of renouncing their rebellious attempts, and taking their +departure for the Holy Land, but for the apparition of the forester, +who, I hear, bearded you at the hunting, which impresses upon me the +belief, that when so resolute a follower and henchman of the Douglas +was sitting fearless among you, his master and comrades could be at no +great distance--how far his intentions could be friendly to you, I must +leave it to yourself to judge; only believe me thus far, that the rack, +pulley, or pincers, would not have compelled me to act the informer, or +adviser, in a quarrel wherein I have little or no share, if I had not +been desirous of fixing the belief upon you, that you are dealing with +a true man, and one who has your welfare at heart.--Meanwhile, permit +me to have writing materials, or let my own be restored, for I possess, +in some degree, the higher arts of my calling; nor do I fear but that I +can procure for you an explanation of these marvels, without much more +loss of time." + +"God grant it prove so," said the governor; "though I see not well how +I can hope for so favourable a termination, and I may sustain great +harm by trusting too much on the present occasion. My duty, however, +requires that, in the meantime, you be removed into strict +confinement." + +He handed to the prisoner, as he spoke, the writing materials, which +had been seized upon by the archers on their first entrance, and then +commanded those satellites to unhand the minstrel. + +"I must, then," said Bertram, "remain subjected to all the severities +of a strict captivity; but I deprecate no hardship whatever in my own +person, so I may secure you from acting with a degree of rashness, of +which you will all your life repent, without the means of atoning." + +"No more words, minstrel," said the governor; "but since I have made my +choice, perhaps a very dangerous one for myself, let us carry this +spell into execution, which thou sayest is to serve me, as mariners say +that oil spread upon the raging billows will assuage their fury." + + + + +CHAPTER THE NINTH. + + Beware! beware! of the black Friar, + He still retains his sway, + For he is yet the Church's heir by right, + Whoever may be the lay. + Amundeville is lord by day, + But the monk is lord by night, + Nor wine nor wassel could raise a vassal + To question that friar's right. + Don Juan, CANTO XVII. + + +The minstrel made no vain boast of the skill which he possessed in the +use of pen and ink. In fact, no priest of the time could have produced +his little scroll more speedily, more neatly composed, or more fairly +written, than were the lines addressed "To the youth called Augustine, +son of Bertram the Minstrel." + +"I have not folded this letter," said he, "nor tied it with silk, for +it is not expressed so as to explain the mystery to you; nor, to speak +frankly, do I think that it can convey to you any intelligence; but it +may be satisfactory to show you what the letter does not contain, and +that it is written from and to a person, who both mean kindly towards +you and your garrison." + +"That," said the governor, "is a deception which is easily practised; +it tends, however, to show, though not with certainty, that you are +disposed to act upon good faith; and until the contrary appear, I shall +consider it a point of duty to treat you with as much gentleness as the +matter admits of. Meantime, I will myself ride to the Abbey of Saint +Bride, and in person examine the young prisoner; and as you say he has +the power, so I pray to Heaven he may have the will, to read this +riddle, which seems to throw us all into confusion." So saying, he +ordered his horse, and while it was getting ready, he perused with +great composure the minstrel's letter. Its contents ran thus:-- + +"DEAR AUGUSTINE, + +"Sir John de Walton, the governor of this castle, has conceived those +suspicions which I pointed out as likely to be the consequence of our +coming to this country without an avowed errand. I at least am seized, +and threatened with examination under torture, to force me to tell the +purpose of our journey; but they shall tear the flesh from my bones, +ere they force me to break the oath which I have taken. And the purport +of this letter is to apprize you of the danger in which you stand of +being placed in similar circumstances, unless you are disposed to +authorize me to make the discovery to this knight; but on this subject +you are only to express your own wishes, being assured they shall be in +every respect attended to by your devoted + +"BERTRAM." + +This letter did not throw the smallest light upon the mystery of the +writer. The governor read it more than once, and turned it repeatedly +in his hand, as if he had hoped by that mechanical process to draw +something from the missive, which at a first view the words did not +express; but as no result of this sort appeared, De Walton retired to +the hall, where he informed Sir Aymer de Valence, that he was going +abroad as far as the Abbey of Saint Bride, and that he would be obliged +by his taking upon him the duties of governor during his absence. Sir +Aymer, of course, intimated his acquiescence in the charge; and the +state of disunion in which they stood to each other, permitted no +further explanation. + +Upon the arrival of Sir John de Walton at the dilapidated shrine, the +abbot, with trembling haste, made it his business immediately to attend +the commander of the English garrison, upon whom for the present, their +house depended for every indulgence they experienced, as well as for +the subsistence and protection necessary to them in so perilous a +period. Having interrogated this old man respecting the youth residing +in the Abbey, De Walton was informed that he had been indisposed since +left there by his father, Bertram, a minstrel. It appeared to the abbot, +that his indisposition might be of that contagious kind which, at that +period, ravaged the English Borders, and made some incursions into +Scotland, where it afterwards worked a fearful progress. After some +farther conversation, Sir John de Walton put into the abbot's hand the +letter to the young person under his roof, on delivering which to +Augustine, the reverend father was charged with a message to the +English governor, so bold, that he was afraid to be the bearer of it. +It signified, that the youth could not, and would not, at that moment, +receive the English knight; but that, if he came back on the morrow +after mass, it was probable he might learn something of what was +requested. + +"This is not an answer," said Sir John de Walton, "to be sent by a boy +like this to a person in my charge; and me thinks, Father Abbot, you +consult your own safety but slenderly in delivering such an insolent +message." + +The abbot trembled under the folds of his large coarse habit; and De +Walton, imagining that his discomposure was the consequence of guilty +fear, called upon him to remember the duties which he owed to England, +the benefits which he had received from himself, and the probable +consequence of taking part in a pert boy's insolent defiance of the +power of the governor of the province. + +The abbot vindicated himself from these charges with the utmost anxiety. +He pledged his sacred word, that the inconsiderate character of the +boy's message was owing to the waywardness arising from indisposition. +He reminded the governor that, as a Christian and an Englishman, he had +duties to observe towards the community of Saint Bride, which had never +given the English government the least subject of complaint. As he +spoke, the churchman seemed to gather courage from the immunities of +his order. He said he could not permit a sick boy who had taken refuge +within the sanctuary of the Church, to be seized or subjected to any +species of force, unless he was accused of a specific crime, capable of +being immediately proved. The Douglasses, a headstrong race, had, in +former days, uniformly respected the sanctuary of Saint Bride, and it +was not to be supposed that the king of England, the dutiful and +obedient child of the Church of Rome, would act with less veneration +for her rights, than the followers of a usurper, homicide, and +excommunicated person like Robert Bruce. + +Walton was considerably shaken with this remonstrance. He knew that, in +the circumstances of the times, the Pope had great power in every +controversy in which it was his pleasure to interfere. He knew that +even in the dispute respecting the supremacy of Scotland, his Holiness +had set up a claim to the kingdom which, in the temper of the times, +might perhaps have been deemed superior both to that of Robert Bruce, +and that of Edward of England, and he conceived his monarch would give +him little thanks for any fresh embroilment which might take place with +the Church. Moreover, It was easy to place a watch, so as to prevent +Augustine from escaping during the night; and on the following morning +he would be still as effectually in the power of the English governor +as if he were seized on by open force at the present moment. Sir John +de Walton, however, so far exerted his authority over the abbot, that +he engaged, in consideration of the sanctuary being respected for this +space of time, that, when it expired, he would be aiding and assisting +with his spiritual authority to surrender the youth, should he not +allege a sufficient reason to the contrary. This arrangement, which +appeared still to flatter the governor with the prospect of an easy +termination of this troublesome dispute, induced him to grant the delay +which Augustine rather demanded than petitioned for. + +"At your request, Father Abbot, whom I have hitherto found a true man, +I will indulge this youth with the grace he asks, before taking him +into custody, understanding that he shall not be permitted to leave +this place; and thou art to be responsible to this effect, giving thee, +as is reasonable, power to command our little, garrison at Hazelside, +to which I will send a reinforcement on my return to the Castle, in +case it should be necessary to use the strong hand, or circumstances +impose upon me other measures." + +"Worthy Sir Knight," replied the Abbot, "I have no idea that the +frowardness of this youth will render any course necessary, saving that +of persuasion; and I venture to say, that you yourself will in the +highest degree approve of the method in which I shall acquit myself of +my present trust." + +The abbot went through the duties of hospitality, enumerating what +simple cheer the cloister of the convent permitted him to offer to the +English knight. Sir John de Walton declined the offer of refreshment, +however--took a courteous leave of the churchman, and did not spare his +horse until the noble animal had brought him again before the Castle of +Douglas. Sir Aymer De Valence met him on the drawbridge, and reported +the state of the garrison to be the same in winch he had left it, +excepting that intimation had been received that twelve or fifteen men +were expected on their way to the town of Lanark; and being on march +from the neighbourhood of Ayr, would that night take up their quarters +at the outpost of Hazelside. + +"I am glad of it," replied the governor; "I was about to strengthen +that detachment. This stripling, the son of Bertram the minstrel, or +whoever he is, has engaged to deliver himself up for examination in the +morning. As this party of soldiers are followers of your uncle, Lord +Pembroke, may I request you will ride to meet them, and command them to +remain at Hazelside until you make farther enquiries about this youth, +who has still to clear up the mystery which hangs about him, and reply +to a letter which I delivered with my own hand to the Abbot of Saint +Bride. I have shown too much forbearance in this matter, and I trust to +your looking to the security of this young man, and conveying him +hither, with all due care and attention, as being a prisoner of some +importance." + +"Certainly, Sir John," answered Sir Aymer; "your orders shall be obeyed, +since you have none of greater importance for one who hath the honour +to be second only to yourself in this place." + +"I crave your mercy, Sir Aymer," returned the governor, "if the +commission be in any degree beneath your dignity; but it is our +misfortune to misunderstand each other, when we endeavour to be most +intelligible." + +"But what am I to do," said Sir Aymer--"no way disputing your command, +but only asking for information--what am I to do, if the Abbot of Saint +Bride offers opposition?" + +"How!" answered Sir John de Walton; "with the reinforcement from. my +Lord of Pembroke, you will command at least twenty war-men, with bow +and spear, against five or six timid old monks, with only gown and, +hood." + +"True," said Sir Aymer, "but ban and excommunication are sometimes; In +the present day, too hard for the mail coat, and I would not willingly +be thrown out of the pale of the Christian Church." + +"Well, then, thou very suspicious and scrupulous young man," replied De +Walton, "know that if this youth does not deliver himself up to thee of +his own accord, the abbot has promised to put him into thy hands." + +There was no farther answer to be made, and De Valence, though still +thinking himself unnecessarily harassed with the charge of a petty +commission, took the sort of half arms which were always used when the +knights stirred, beyond the walls of the garrison, and proceeded to +execute the commands of De Walton. A horseman or two, together with his +squire Fabian, accompanied him. + +The evening closed in with one of those Scottish mists which are +commonly said to be equal to the showers of happier climates; the path +became more and more dark, the hills more wreathed in vapours, and more +difficult to traverse; and all the little petty inconveniences which +rendered travelling through the district slow and uncertain, were +augmented by the density of the fog which overhung every thing. + +Sir Aymer, therefore, occasionally mended his pace, and often incurred +the fate of one who is over-late, delaying himself by his efforts to +make greater expedition. The knight bethought himself that he would get +into a straight road by passing through the almost deserted town of +Douglas--the inhabitants of which had been treated so severely by the +English, in the course of those fierce troubles, that most of them who +were capable of bearing arms had left it, and withdrawn themselves to +different parts of the country. This almost deserted place was defended +by a rude palisade, and a ruder drawbridge, which gave entrance into +streets so narrow, as to admit with difficulty three horses abreast, +and evincing with what strictness the ancient lords of the village +adhered to their prejudice against fortifications, and their opinion in +favour of keeping the field, so quaintly expressed in the well-known +proverb of the family,--"It is better to hear the lark sing than the +mouse cheep." The streets, or rather the lanes, were dark, but for a +shifting gleam of moonlight, which, as that planet began to rise, was +now and then visible upon some steep and narrow gable. No sound of +domestic industry, or domestic festivity, was heard, and no ray of +candle or firelight glanced from the windows of the houses; the ancient +ordinance called the curfew, which the Conqueror had introduced into +England, was at this time in full force in such parts of Scotland as +were thought doubtful, and likely to rebel; under which description it +need not be said the ancient possessions of the Douglas were most +especially regarded. The Church, whose Gothic monuments were of a +magnificent character, had been, as far as possible, destroyed by fire; +but the ruins, held together by the weight of the massive stones of +which they were composed, still sufficiently evinced the greatness of +the family at whose cost it had been raised, and whose bones, from +immemorial time, had been entombed in its crypts. + +Paying little attention to these relics of departed splendour, Sir +Aymer de Valence advanced with his small detachment, and had passed the +scattered fragments of the cemetery of the Douglasses, when to his +surprise, the noise of his horse's feet was seemingly replied to by +sounds which rung like those of another knightly steed advancing +heavily up the street, as if it were to meet him. Valence was unable to +conjecture what might be the cause of these warlike sounds; the ring +and the clang of armour was distinct, and the heavy tramp of a war- +horse was not to be mistaken by the ear of a warrior. The difficulty of +keeping soldiers from straying out of quarters by night, would have +sufficiently accounted for the appearance of a straggling foot-soldier; +but it was more difficult to account for a mounted horseman, in full +armour; and such was the apparition which a peculiarly bright glimpse +of moonlight now showed at the bottom of the causewayed hill. Perhaps +the unknown warrior obtained at the same time a glance of Aymer de +Valence and his armed followers--at least each of them shouted "Who +goes there?"--the alarm of the times; and on the instant the deep +answers of "St. George!" on the one side, and "The Douglas!" on the +other, awakened the still echoes of the small and ruinous street, and +the silent arches of the dilapidated church. Astonished at a war-cry +with which so many recollections were connected, the English knight +spurred his horse at full gallop down the steep and broken descent +leading out at the south or south-east gate of the town; and it was the +work of an instant to call out, "Ho! Saint George! upon the insolent +villain all of you!--To the gate, Fabian, and cut him off from flight! +--Saint George! I say, for England! Bows and bills!--bows and bills!" At +the same time Aymer de Valence laid in rest his own long lance, which +he snatched from the squire by whom it was carried. But the light was +seen and gone in an instant, and though De Valence concluded that the +hostile warrior had hardly room to avoid his career, yet he could take +no aim for the encounter, unless by mere guess, and continued to plunge +down the dark declivity, among shattered stones and other encumbrances, +without groping out with his lance the object of his pursuit. He rode, +in short, at a broken gallop, a descent of about fifty or sixty yards, +without having any reason to suppose that he had met the figure which +had appeared to him, although the narrowness of the street scarcely +admitted his having passed him, unless both horse and horseman could +have melted at the moment of encounter like an air-bubble. The riders +of his suite, meanwhile, were struck with a feeling like supernatural +terror, which a number of singular adventures, had caused most of them +to attach to the name of Douglas; and when he reached the gate by which +the broken street was terminated, there was none close behind him but +Fabian, in whose head no suggestions of a timorous nature could outlive +the sound of his dear master's voice. + +Here there were a post of English, archers, who were turning out in +considerable alarm, when De Valence and his page rode in amongst them. +"Villains!" shouted De Valence, "why were you not upon your duty? Who +was it passed through your post even now, with the traitorous cry of +Douglas?" + +"We know of no such," said the captain of the watch. + +"That is to say, you besotted villains," answered the young knight, +"you have been drinking, and have slept?" + +The men protested the contrary, but in a confused manner, which was far +from overcoming De Valence's suspicions. He called loudly to bring +cressets, torches, and candles; and a few remaining inhabitants began +to make their unwilling appearance, with such various means of giving +light as they chanced to possess. They heard the story of the young +English knight with wonder; nor, although it was confirmed by all his +retinue, did they give credit to the recital, more than that the +Englishmen wished somehow or other to pick a quarrel with the people of +the palace, under the pretence of their having admitted a retainer of +their ancient lord by night into the town. They protested, therefore, +their innocence of the cause of tumult, and endeavoured to seem active +in hastening from house to house, and corner to corner, with their +torches, in order to discover the invisible cavalier. The English +suspected them no less of treachery, than the Scottish imagined the +whole matter a pretext for bringing an accusation, on the part of the +young knight, against the citizens. The women, however, who now began +to issue from the houses, had a key for the solution of the apparition, +which at that time was believed of efficacy sufficient to solve any +mystery. "The devil," they said, "must have appeared visibly amongst +them," an explanation which had already occurred to the followers of +the young knight; for that a living man and horse, both as it seemed, +of a gigantic size, could be conjured in the twinkling of an eye, and +appear in a street secured at one end by the best of the archers, and +at the other by the horsemen under Valence himself, was altogether, it +seemed, a thing impossible. The inhabitants did not venture to put +their thoughts on the subject into language, for fear of giving offence, +and only indicated by a passing word to each other the secret degree of +pleasure which they felt in the confusion and embarrassment of the +English garrison. Still, however, they continued to affect a great deal +of interest in the alarm which De Valence had received, and the anxiety +which he expressed to discover the cause. + +At length a female voice spoke above the Babel of confused sounds, +saying, "Where is the Southern Knight? I am sure that I can tell him +where he can find the only person who can help him out of his present +difficulty." + +"And who is that, good woman?" said Aymer de Valence, who was growing +every moment more impatient at the loss of time, which was flying fast, +in an investigation which had something vexatious in it, and even +ridiculous. At the same time, the sight of an armed partisan of the +Douglasses, in their own native town, seemed to bode too serious +consequences, if it should be suffered to pass without being probed to +the bottom. + +"Come hither to me," said the female voice, "and I will name to you the +only person who can explain all matters of this kind that chance in +this country." On this the knight snatched a torch from some of those +who were present, and holding it up, descried the person who spoke, a +tall woman, who evidently endeavoured to render herself remarkable. +When he approached her, she communicated her intelligence in a grave +and sententious tone of voice. + +"We had once wise men, that could have answered any parables which +might have been put to them for explanation in this country side. +Whether you yourselves, gentlemen, have not had some hand in weeding +them out, good troth, it is not for the like of me to say; at any rate, +good counsel is not so easy come by as it was in this Douglas country, +nor, may be, is it a safe thing to pretend to the power of giving it." + +"Good woman," said De Valence, "if you will give me an explanation of +this mystery, I will owe you a kirtle of the best raploch grey." + +"It is not I," said the old woman, "that pretend to possess the +knowledge which may assist you; but I would fain know that the man whom +I shall name to you shall be skaithless and harmless. Upon your +knighthood and your honour, will you promise to me so much?" + +"Assuredly," said De Valence, "such a person shall even have thanks and +reward, if he is a faithful informer; ay, and pardon, moreover, +although he may have listened to any dangerous practices, or been +concerned in any plots." + +"Oh! not he," replied the female; "it is old Goodman Powheid, who has +the charge of the muniments," (meaning probably monuments,) "that is, +such part of them as you English have left standing; I mean the old +sexton of the kirk of Douglas, who can tell more stories of these old +folk, whom your honour is not very fond of hearing named, than would +last us from this day to Yule." + +"Does anybody," said the knight, "know whom it is that this old woman +means?" + +"I conjecture," replied Fabian, "that she speaks of an old dotard, who +is, I think, the general referee concerning the history and antiquities +of this old town, and of the savage family that lived here perhaps +before the flood." + +"And who, I dare say," said the knight, "knows as much about the matter +as she herself does. But where is this man? a sexton is he? He may be +acquainted with places of concealment, which are often fabricated in +Gothic buildings, and known to those whose business calls them to +frequent them. Come, my good old dame, bring this man to me; or, what +may be better, I will go to him, for we have already spent too much +time." + +"Time!" replied the old woman,--"is time an object with your honour? I +am sure I can hardly get so much for mine as will hold soul and body +together. You are not far from the old man's house." + +She led the way accordingly, blundering over heaps of rubbish, and +encountering all the embarrassments of a ruinous street, in lighting +the way to Sir Aymer, who, giving his horse to one of his attendants, +and desiring Fabian to be ready at a call, scrambled after as well as +the slowness of his guide would permit. + +Both were soon involved in the remains of the old church, much +dilapidated as it had been by wanton damage done to it by the soldiery, +and so much impeded by rubbish, that the knight marvelled how the old +woman could find the way. She kept talking all the while as she +stumbled onward. Sometimes she called out in a screeching tone, +"Powheid! Lazarus Powheid!"--and then muttered---"Ay, ay, the old man +will be busy with some of his duties, as he calls them; I wonder he +fashes wi' them in these times. But never mind, I warrant they will +last for his day and for mine; and the times, Lord help us! for all +that I can see, are well enough for those that are to live in them." + +"Are you sure, good woman," replied the knight, "that there is any +inhabitant in these ruins? For my part, I should rather suppose that +you are taking me to the charnel-house of the dead." + +"Maybe you are right," said the old woman, with a ghastly laugh; +"carles and carlines agree weel with funeral vaults and charnel-houses, +and when an auld bedral dwells near the dead, he is living, ye ken, +among his customers--Halloo! Powheid! Lazarus Powheid! there is a +gentleman would speak with you;" and she added, with some sort of +emphasis, "an. English noble gentleman---one of the honourable +garrison." + +An old man's step was now heard advancing, so slowly that the +glimmering light which he held in his hand was visible on the ruined +walls of the vault some time before it showed the person who bore it. + +The shadow of the old man was also projected upon the illuminated wall +ere his person came in view; his dress was in considerable confusion, +owing to his having been roused from his bed; and since artificial +light was forbidden by the regulations of the garrison, the natives of +Douglas Dale spent in sleep the time that they could not very well get +rid of by any other means. The sexton was a tall thin man, emaciated by +years and by privations; his body was bent habitually by his occupation +of grave-digging, and his eye naturally inclined downward to the scene +of his labours. His hand sustained the cruise or little lamp, which he +held so as to throw light upon his visitant; at the same time it +displayed to the young knight the features of the person with whom he +was now confronted, which, though neither handsome nor pleasing, were +strongly marked, sagacious, and venerable, indicating, at the same time, +a certain air of dignity, which age, even mere poverty, may be found +occasionally to bestow, as conferring that last melancholy species of +independence proper to those whose situation can hardly by any +imaginable means, be rendered much worse than years and fortune have +already made it. The habit of a lay brother added somewhat of religious +importance to his appearance. + +"What would you with me, young man?" said the sexton. "Your youthful +features, and your gay dress, bespeak one who stands in need of my +ministry neither for himself nor for others." + +"I am indeed," replied the knight, "a living man, and therefore need +not either shovel or pick-axe for my own behoof. I am not, as you see, +attired in mourning, and therefore need not your offices in behalf of +any friend; I would only ask you a few questions." + +"What you would have done must needs be done, you being at present one +of our rulers, and, as I think, a man of authority," replied the +sexton; "follow me this way into my poor habitation; I have had a +better in my day; and yet, Heaven knows, it is good enough for me, when +many men of much greater consequence must perforce content themselves +with worse." + +He opened a lowly door, which was fitted, though irregularly, to serve +as the entrance of a vaulted apartment, where it appeared that the old +man held, apart from the living world, his wretched and solitary +dwelling. [Footnote: [This is a most graphic and accurate description +of the present state of the ruin. Its being occupied by the sexton as a +dwelling-place, and the whole scene of the old man's interview with De +Valence, may be classed with our illustrious author's most felicitous +imaginings._--Note by the Rev. Mr. Stewart of Douglas._]] The +floor, composed of paving stones, laid together with some accuracy, and +here and there inscribed with letters and hieroglyphics, as if they had +once upon a time served to distinguish sepulchres, was indifferently +well swept, and a fire at the upper end directed its smoke into a hole +which served for a chimney. The spade and pick-axe, (with other tools,) +which the chamberlain of mortality makes use of, lay scattered about +the apartment, and, with a rude stool or two, and a table, where some +inexperienced hand had unquestionably supplied the labours of the +joiner, were nearly the only furniture, if we include the old man's bed +of straw, lying in a corner, and discomposed, as if he had been just +raised from it. At the lower end of the apartment, the wall was almost +entirely covered by a large escutcheon, such as is usually hung over +the graves of men of very high rank, having the appropriate quarters, +to the number of sixteen, each properly blazoned and distinct, placed +as ornaments around the principal armorial coat itself. + +"Let us sit," said the old man; "the posture will better enable my +failing ears to apprehend your meaning, and the asthma will deal with +me more mercifully in permitting me to make you understand mine." + +A peal of short asthmatic coughs attested the violence of the disorder +which he had last named, and the young knight followed his host's +example, in sitting down on one of the rickety stools by the side of +the fire. The old man brought from one corner of the apartment an apron, +which he occasionally wore, full of broken boards in irregular pieces, +some of which were covered with black cloth, or driven full of nails, +black, as it might happen, or gilded. + +"You will find this fresh fuel necessary," said the old man, "to keep +some degree of heat within this waste apartment; nor are the vapours of +mortality, with which this vault is apt to be filled, if the fire is +permitted to become extinct, indifferent to the lungs of the dainty and +the healthy, like your worship, though to me they are become habitual. +The wood will catch fire, although it is some time ere the damps of the +grave are overcome by the drier air, and the warmth of the chimney." + +Accordingly, the relics of mortality with which the old man had heaped +his fireplace, began by degrees to send forth a thick unctuous vapour, +which at length leaped to light, and blazing up the aperture, gave a +degree of liveliness to the gloomy scene. The blazonry of the huge +escutcheon met and returned the rays with as brilliant a reflection as +that lugubrious object was capable of, and the whole apartment looked +with a fantastic gaiety, strangely mingled with the gloomy ideas which +its ornaments were calculated to impress upon the imagination. + +"You are astonished," said the old man, "and perhaps, Sir Knight, you +have never before seen these relics of the dead applied to the purpose +of rendering the living, in some degree, more comfortable than their +condition would otherwise admit of." + +"Comfortable!" returned the Knight of Valence, shrugging his shoulders; +"I should be sorry, old man, to know that I had a dog that was as +indifferently quartered as thou art, whose grey hairs have certainly +seen better days." + +"It may be," answered the sexton, "and it may be otherwise; but it was +not, I presume, concerning my own history that your worship seemed +disposed to ask me some questions; and I would venture to enquire, +therefore, to whom they have relation?" + +"I will speak plainly to you," replied Sir Aymer, "and you will at once +acknowledge the necessity of giving a short and distinct reply. I have +even now met in the streets of this village a person only shown to me +by a single flash of light, who had the audacity to display the +armorial insignia and utter the war-cry of the Douglasses; nay, if I +could trust a transient glance, this daring cavalier had the features +and the dark complexion proper to the Douglas. I am referred to thee as +to one who possesses means of explaining this extraordinary +circumstance, which, as an English knight, and one holding a charge +under King Edward, I am particularly called upon to make enquiry into." + +"Let me make a distinction," said the old man. "The Douglasses of +former generations are my near neighbours, and, according to my +superstitious townsmen, my acquaintances and visitors; I can take it +upon my conscience to be answerable for their good behaviour, and to +become bound that none of the old barons, to whom the roots of that +mighty tree may, it is said, be traced, will again disturb with their +war-cry the towns or villages of their native country--not one will +parade in moonshine the black armour which has long rusted upon their +tombs. + + 'The knights are dust. + And their good swords are rust; + Their souls are with the saints, we trust.' [Footnote: [The author +has somewhat altered part of a beautiful unpublished fragment of +Coleridge:-- + "Where is the grave of Sir Arthur Orellan,-- + Where may the grave of that good knight be? + By the marge of a brook, on the slope of Helvellyn, + Under the boughs of a young birch tree. + The Oak that in summer was pleasant to hear, + That rustled in Autumn all withered and sear, + That whistled and groan'd thro' the Winter alone, + He hath gone, and a birch in his place is grown. + The knight's bones are dust, + His good sword is rust; + His spirit is with, the saints, we trust." _Edit_.]] + +Look around, Sir Knight, you have above and around you the men of whom +we speak. Beneath us, in a little aisle, (which hath not been opened +since these thin grey locks were thick and brown,) there lies the first +man whom I can name as memorable among those of this mighty line. It is +he whom the Thane of Athol pointed out to the King of Scotland as +Sholto Dhuglass, or the dark iron-coloured man, whose exertions had +gained the battle for his native prince; and who, according to this +legend, bequeathed his name to our dale and town, though others say +that the race assumed the name of Douglass from the stream so called in +unrecorded times, before they had their fastness on its banks. Others, +his descendants, called Eachain, or Hector the first, and Orodh, or +Hugh, William, the first of that name, and Gilmour, the theme of many a +minstrel song, commemorating achievements done under the oriflamme of +Charles the Great, Emperor of France, have all consigned themselves to +their last sleep, nor has their memory been sufficiently preserved from +the waste of time. Something we know concerning their great deeds, +their great power, and, alas! their great crimes. Something we also +know of a Lord of Douglas who sat in a parliament at Forfar, held by +King Malcolm the First, and we are aware that from his attachment to +hunting the wild hart, he built himself a tower called Blackhouse, in +the forest of Ettrick, which perhaps still exists." + +"I crave your forgiveness, old man," said the knight, "but I have no +time at present to bestow upon the recitation of the pedigree of the +House of Douglas. A less matter would hold a well-breathed minstrel in +subject for recitation for a calendar month, Sundays and holidays +included." + +"What other information can you expect from me," said the sexton, "than +that respecting those heroes, some of whom it has been my lot to +consign to that eternal rest, which will for ever divide the dead from +the duties of this world? I have told you where the race sleep, down to +the reign of the royal Malcolm. I can tell you also of another vault, +in which lie Sir John of Douglas-burn, with his son Lord Archibald, and +a third William, known by an indenture with Lord Abernethy. Lastly, I +can tell you of him to whom that escutcheon, with its appurtenances of +splendour and dignity, justly belong. Do you envy that nobleman, whom, +if death were in the sound, I would not hesitate to term my honourable +patron? and have you any design of dishonouring his remains? It will be +a poor victory! nor does it become a knight and nobleman to come in +person to enjoy such a triumph over the dead, against whom, when he +lived, there were few knights dared spur their horses. He fought in +defence of his country, but he had not the good fortune of most of his +ancestors, to die on the field of battle. Captivity, sickness, and +regret for the misfortunes of his native land, brought his head to the +grave in his prison-house, in the land of the stranger." + +The old man's voice here became interrupted by emotion, and the English +knight found it difficult to continue his examination in the stern +fashion which his duty required. + +"Old man," he said, "I do not require from thee this detail, which must +be useless to me, as well as painful to thyself. Thou dost but thy duty +in rendering justice to thy ancient lord; but thou hast not yet +explained to me why I have met in this town, this very night, and not +half an hour since, a person in the arms, and bearing the complexion, +of one of the Black Douglasses, who cried his war-cry as if in contempt +of his conquerors." + +"Surely," replied the sexton, "it is not my business to explain such a +fancy, otherwise than by supposing that the natural fears of the +Southron will raise the spectre of a Douglas at any time, when he is +within sight of their sepulchre. Methinks, in such a night as this, the +fairest cavalier would wear the complexion of this swarthy race, nor +can I hold it wonderful that the war-cry which was once in the throats +of so many thousands in this country, should issue upon occasion from +the mouth of a single champion." + +"You are bold, old man," returned the English knight; "do you consider +that your life is in my power, and that it may, in certain cases, be my +duty to inflict death with that degree of pain at which humanity +shudders?" + +The old man rose up slowly in the light of the blazing fire, displaying +his emaciated features, which resembled those ascribed by artists to +Saint Anthony of the desert; and pointing to the feeble lamp, which he +placed upon the coarse table, thus addressed his interrogator, with an +appearance of perfect firmness, and something even resembling dignity:-- + +"Young knight of England, you see that utensil constructed for the +purpose of dispensing light amid these fatal vaults,--it is as frail as +any thing can well be, whose flame is supplied by living element, +contained in a frame composed of iron. It is doubtless in your power +entirely to end its service, by destroying the frame, or extinguishing +the light. Threaten it with such annihilation, Sir Knight, and see +whether your menace will impress any sense of fear either on the +element or the iron. Know that you have no more power over the frail +mortal whom you threaten with similar annihilation. You may tear from +my body the skin in which it is now swathed, but although my nerves +might glow with agony during the inhuman operation, it would produce no +more impression on me than flaying on the stag which an arrow has +previously pierced through the heart. My age sets me beyond your +cruelty: if you think otherwise, call your agents, and commence your +operations; neither threats nor inflictions will enable you to extort +from me any thing that I am not ready to tell you of my own accord." + +"You trifle with me, old man," said De Valence; "you talk as if you +possessed some secret respecting the motions of these Douglasses, who +are to you as gods, yet you communicate no intelligence to me +whatever." + +"You may soon know," replied the old man, "all that a poor sexton has +to communicate; and it will not increase your knowledge respecting the +living, though it may throw some light upon my proper domains, which +are those of the dead. The spirits of the deceased Douglasses do not +rest in their graves during the dishonour of their monuments, and the +downfall of their house. That, upon death, the greater part of any line +are consigned to the regions of eternal bliss, or of never-ending +misery, religion will not suffer us to believe, and amidst a race who +had so great a share of worldly triumph and prosperity, we must suppose +there have existed many who have been justly subjected to the doom of +an intermediate space of punishment. You have destroyed the temples-- +which were built by their posterity to propitiate Heaven for the +welfare of their souls; you have silenced the prayers and stopt the +choirs, by the mediation of which the piety of children had sought to +appease the wrath of Heaven in behalf of their ancestors, subjected to +expiatory fires. Can you wonder that the tormented spirits, thus +deprived of the relief which had been proposed to them, should not, +according to the common phrase, rest in their graves? Can you wonder +they should show themselves like discontented loiterers near to the +places which, but for the manner in which you have prosecuted your +remorseless warfare, might have ere now afforded them rest? Or do you +marvel that these fleshless warriors should interrupt your marches, and +do what else their airy nature may permit to disturb your councils, and +meet as far as they may the hostilities which you make it your boast to +carry on, as well against those who are deceased, as against any who +may yet survive your cruelty?" + +"Old man," replied Aymer de Valence, "you cannot expect that I am to +take for answer a story like this, being a fiction too gross to charm +to sleep a schoolboy tormented with the toothache; nevertheless, I +thank God that thy doom does not remain in my hands. My squire and two +archers shall carry thee captive to the worshipful Sir John de Walton, +Governor of the Castle and Valley, that he may deal with thee as seems +meet; nor is he a person to believe in your apparitions and ghosts from +purgatory.--What ho! Fabian! Come hither, and bring with thee two +archers of the guard." + +Fabian accordingly, who had waited at the entrance of the ruined +building, now found his way, by the light of the old sexton's lamp, and +the sound of his master's voice, into the singular apartment of the old +man, the strange decorations of which struck the youth with great +surprise, and some horror. + +"Take the two archers with thee, Fabian," said the Knight of Valence, +"and, with their assistance, convey this old man, on horseback, or in a +litter, to the presence of the worshipful Sir John de Walton. Tell him +what we have seen, which thou didst witness as well as I; and tell him +that this old sexton, whom I send to be examined by his superior wisdom, +seems to know more than he is willing to disclose respecting our +ghostly cavalier, though he will give us no account of him, except +intimating that he is a spirit of the old Douglasses from purgatory, to +which Sir John de Walton will give what faith he pleases. You may say, +that, for my part, my belief is, either that the sexton is crazed by +age, want, and enthusiasm, or that he is connected with some plot which +the country people are hatching. You may also say that I shall not use +much ceremony with the youth under the care of the Abbot of St. Bride; +there is something suspicious in all the occurrences that are now +passing around us." + +Fabian promised obedience; and the knight, pulling him aside, gave him +an additional caution, to behave with attention in this business, +seeing he must recollect that neither the judgment of himself, nor that +of his master, were apparently held in very much esteem by the +governor; and that it would ill become them to make any mistake in a +matter where the safety of the Castle was perhaps concerned. + +"Fear me not, worshipful sir," replied the youth; "I am returning to +pure air in the first place, and a good fire in the second, both +acceptable exchanges for this dungeon of suffocating vapours and +execrable smells. You may trust to my making no delay; a very short +time will carry me back to Castle Douglas, even moving with suitable +attention to this old man's bones." + +"Use him humanely," answered the knight. "And thou, old man, if thou +art insensible to threats of personal danger in this matter, remember, +that if thou art found paltering with us, thy punishment will perhaps +be more severe than any we can inflict upon thy person." + +"Can you administer the torture to the soul?" said the sexton. + +"As to thee," answered the knight, "we have that power;--we will +dissolve every monastery or religious establishment held for the souls +of these Douglasses, and will only allow the religious people to hold +their residence there upon condition of their praying for the soul of +King Edward the First of glorious memory, the _malleus Scotorum_; +and if the Douglasses are deprived of the ghostly benefit of the +prayers and services of such shrines, they may term thy obstinacy the +cause." + +"Such a species of vengeance," answered the old man, in the same bold +unsubdued tone which he had hitherto used, "were more worthy of the +infernal fiends than of Christian men." + +The squire raised his hand. The knight interposed: "Forbear him," he +said, "Fabian, he is very old, and perhaps insane.--And you, sexton, +remember that the vengeance threatened is lawfully directed towards a +family which have been the obstinate supporters of the excommunicated +rebel, who murdered the Red Comyn at the High Church in Dumfries." + +So saying, Aymer strode out of the ruins, picking his way with much +difficulty--took his horse, which he found at the entrance--repeated a +caution to Fabian, to conduct himself with prudence--and, passing on to +the south-western gate, gave the strongest injunctions concerning the +necessity of keeping a vigilant watch, both by patrols and by sentinels, +intimating, at the same time, that it must have been neglected during +the preceding part of the evening. The men murmured an apology, the +confusion of which seemed to express that there had existed some +occasion for the reprimand. + +Sir Aymer then proceeded on his journey to Hazelside, his train +diminished by the absence of Fabian and his assistants. After a hasty, +but not a short journey, the knight alighted at Thomas Dickson's, where +he found the detachment from Ayr had arrived before him, and were +snugly housed for the night. He sent one of the archers to announce his +approach to the Abbot of Saint Bride and his young guest, intimating at +the same time, that the archer must keep sight of the latter until he +himself arrived at the chapel, which would be instantly. + + + + +CHAPTER THE TENTH. + + When the nightengale singes, the wodes waxes grene, + Lef, and gras, and blosme, springeth in April I wene, + And love is to myne herte gone with one speare so kene. + Night and day my blood hyt drynkes, mine herte deth me fane. + _MSS. Hail. Quoted by Warton._ + + +Sir Aymer De Valance had no sooner followed his archer to the convent +of Saint Bride, than he summoned the abbot to his presence, who came +with the air of a man who loves his ease, and who is suddenly called +from the couch where he has consigned himself to a comfortable repose, +at the summons of one whom he does not think it safe to disobey, and to +whom he would not disguise his sense of peevishness, if he durst. + +"It is a late ride," he said, "which has brought your worthy honour +hither from the castle. May I be informed of the cause, after the +arrangement so recently gone into with the governor?" + +"It is my hope," replied the knight, "that you, Father Abbot, are not +already conscious of it; suspicions are afloat, and I myself have this +night seen something to confirm them, that some of the obstinate rebels +of this country are again setting afoot dangerous practices, to the +peril of the garrison; and I come, father, to see whether, in requital +of many favours received from the English monarch, you will not merit +his bounty and protection, by contributing to the discovery of the +designs of his enemies." + +"Assuredly so," answered Father Jerome, in an agitated voice. "Most +unquestionably my information should stand at your command; that is, if +I knew any thing the communication of which could be of advantage to +you." + +"Father Abbot," replied the English knight, "although it is rash to +make myself responsible for a North-country man in these times, yet I +own I do consider you as one who has ever been faithfully subject to +the King of England, and I willingly hope that you will still continue +so." + +"And a fine encouragement I have!" said the abbot; "to be called out of +my bed at midnight, in this raw weather, to undergo the examination of +a knight, who is the youngest, perhaps, of his own honourable rank, and +who will not tell me the subject of the interrogatories, but detains me +on this cold pavement, till, according to the opinion of Celsus, the +podagra which lurks in my feet may be driven into my stomach, and then +good-night to abbacy and examinations from henceforward." + +"Good father," said the young man, "the spirit of the times must teach +thee patience; recollect that I can feel no pleasure in this duty, and +that if an insurrection should take place, the rebels, who are +sufficiently displeased with thee for acknowledging the English monarch, +would hang thee from thine own steeple to feed the crows; or that, if +thou hast secured thy peace by some private compact with the insurgents, +the English governor, who will sooner or later gain the advantage, will +not fail to treat thee as a rebel to his sovereign." + +"It may appear to you, my noble son," answered the abbot, obviously +discomposed, "that I am hung up, in this case, on the horns of the +dilemma which you have stated; nevertheless, I protest to you, that if +any one accuses me of conspiring with the rebels against the King of +England, I am ready, provided you give me time to swallow a potion +recommended by Celsus in my perilous case, to answer with the most +perfect sincerity every question which you can put to me upon that +subject." So saying, he called upon a monk who had attended at his +levee, and giving him a large key, whispered something in his ear. The +cup which the monk brought was of such capacity as proved Celsus's +draught required to be administered in considerable quantity, and a +strong smell which it spread through the apartment, accredited the +knight's suspicion that the medicine chiefly consisted of what were +then termed distilled waters, a preparation known in the monasteries +for some time before that comfortable secret had reached the laity in +general. The abbot, neither overawed by the strength nor by the +quantity of the potion, took it off with what he himself would have +called a feeling of solace and pleasance, and his voice became much +more composed; he signified himself as comforted extraordinarily by the +medicine, and willing to proceed to answer any questions which could be +put to him by his gallant young friend. + +"At present," said the knight, "you are aware, father, that strangers +travelling through this country, must be the first objects of our +suspicions and enquiries. What is, for example, your own opinion of the +youth termed Augustine, the son, or calling himself so, of a person +called Bertram the minstrel, who has resided for some days in your +convent?" + +The abbot heard the question with eyes expressive of surprise at the +quarter from which it came. + +"Assuredly," said he, "I think of him as a youth who, from any thing I +have seen, is of that excellent disposition, both with respect to +loyalty and religion, which I should have expected, were I to judge +from the estimable person who committed him to my care." + +With this the abbot bowed to the knight, as if he had conceived that +this repartee gave him a silencing advantage in any question which +could follow upon that subject; and he was probably, therefore, +surprised when Sir Aymer replied as follows: + +"It is very true, Father Abbot, that I myself did recommend this +stripling to you as a youth of a harmless disposition, and with respect +to whom it would be unnecessary to exercise the strict vigilance +extended to others in similar circumstances; but the evidence which +seemed to me to vouch for this young man's innocence, has not appeared +so satisfactory to my superior and commander; and it is by his orders +that I now make farther enquiries of you. You must think they are of +consequence, since we again trouble you, and at so unwonted an hour." + +"I can only protest by my order, and by the veil of Saint Bride," +replied the abbot, the spirit of Celsus appearing to fail his pupil, +"that whatever evil may be in this matter, is totally unknown to me-- +nor could it be extorted from me by racks or implements of torture. +Whatever signs of disloyalty may have been evinced by this young man, I +have witnessed none of them, although I have been strictly attentive to +his behaviour." + +"In what respect?" said the knight--"and what is the result of your +observation?" + +"My answer," said the abbot of Saint Bride, "shall be sincere and +downright. The youth condescended upon payment of a certain number of +gold crowns, not by any means to repay the hospitality of the church of +Saint Bride, but merely"-- + +"Nay, father," interrupted the knight, "you may cut that short, since +the governor and I well understand the terms upon which the monks of +Saint Bride exercise their hospitality. In what manner, it is more +necessary to ask, was it received by this boy?" + +"With the utmost gentleness and moderation, noble sir," answered the +abbot; "indeed it appeared to me, at first, that he might be a +troublesome guest, since the amount of his benevolence to the convent +was such as to encourage, and, in some degree, to authorise, his +demanding accommodation of a kind superior to what we had to bestow." + +"In which case," said Sir Aymer, "you would have had the discomfort of +returning some part of the money you have received?" + +"That," replied the abbot, "would have been a mode of settlement +contrary to our vows. What is paid to the treasury of Saint Bridget, +cannot, agreeably to our rule, be on any account restored. But, noble +knight, there was no occasion for this; a crust of white bread and a +draught of milk were diet sufficient to nourish this poor youth for a +day, and it was my own anxiety for his health that dictated the +furnishing of his cell with a softer bed and coverlet than are quite +consistent with the rules of our order." + +"Now hearken to what I say, Sir Abbot, and answer me truly," said the +Knight of Valence--"What communication has this youth held with the +inmates of your convent, or with those beyond your house? Search your +memory concerning this, and let me have a distinct answer, for your +guest's safety and your own depend upon it." + +"As I am a Christian man," said the abbot, "I have observed nothing +which could give ground for your worship's suspicions. The boy +Augustine, unlike those whom I have observed who have been educated in +the world, showed a marked preference to the company of such sisters as +the house of Saint Bride contains, rather than for that of the monks, +my brethren, although there are among them pleasant and conversible +men." + +"Scandal," said the young knight, "might find a reason for that +preference." + +"Not in the case of the sisters of Saint Bridget," said the abbot, +"most of whom have been either sorely misused by time, or their +comeliness destroyed by some mishap previously to their being received +into the seclusion of the house." + +This observation the good father made with some internal movement of +mirth, which was apparently excited at the idea of the sisterhood of +Saint Bridget becoming attractive to any one by dint of their personal +beauty, in which, as it happened, they were all notably, and almost +ludicrously, deficient. The English knight, to whom the sisterhood were +well known, felt also inclined to smile at this conversation. + +"I acquit," he said, "the pious sisterhood of charming, otherwise than +by their kind wishes, and attention to the wants of the suffering +stranger." + +"Sister Beatrice," continued the father, resuming his gravity, "is +indeed blessed with a winning gift of making comfits and syllabubs; but, +on minute enquiry, I do not find that the youth has tasted any of them. +Neither is sister Ursula so hard-favoured by nature, as from the +effects of an accident; but your honour knows that when a woman is ugly, +the men do not trouble themselves about the cause of her hard favour. I +will go, with your leave, and see in what state the youth now is, and +summon him, before you." + +"I request you to do so, father, for the affair is instant: and I +earnestly advise you to watch, in the closest manner, this Augustine's +behaviour: you cannot be too particular. I will wait your return, and +either carry the boy to the castle, or leave him here, as circumstances +may seem to require." + +The abbot bowed, promised his utmost exertions, and hobbled out of the +room to wait on the youth Augustine in his cell, anxious to favour, if +possible, the wishes of De Valence, whom he looked upon as rendered by +circumstances his military patron. + +He remained long absent, and Sir Aymer began to be of opinion that the +delay was suspicious, when the abbot returned with perplexity and +discomposure in his countenance. + +"I crave your pardon for keeping your worship waiting," said Jerome, +with much anxiety; "but I have myself been detained and vexed by +unnecessary formalities and scruples on the part of this peevish boy. +In the first place, hearing my foot approaching his bedroom, my youth, +instead of undoing the door, which would have been but proper respect +to my place, on the contrary draws a strong bolt on the inside; and +this fastening, forsooth, has been placed on his chamber by Ursula's +command, that his slumbers might be suitably respected. I intimated to +him as I best could, that he must attend you without delay, and prepare +to accompany you to the Castle of Douglas; but he would not answer a +single word, save recommending to me patience, to which I was fain to +have recourse, as well as your archer, whom I found standing sentinel +before the door of the cell, and contenting himself with the assurance +of the sisters that there was no other passage by which Augustine could +make his escape. At length the door opens, and my young master presents +himself fully arrayed for his journey. The truth is, I think some fresh +attack of his malady has affected the youth; he may perhaps be +disturbed with some touch of hypochondria, or black choler, a species +of dotage of the mind, which is sometimes found concomitant with and +symptomatic of this disorder; but he is at present composed, and if +your worship chooses to see him, he is at your command." + +"Call him hither," said the knight. And a considerable space of time +again elapsed ere the eloquence of the abbot, half chiding and half +soothing, prevailed on the lady, in her adopted character, to approach, +the parlour, in which at last she made her appearance, with a +countenance on which the marks of tears might still be discovered, and +a pettish sullenness, like that of a boy, or, with reverence, that of a +girl, who is determined upon taking her own way in any matter, and +equally resolved to give no reason for her doing so. Her hurried levee +had not prevented her attending closely to all the mufflings and +disguisings by which her pilgrim's dress was arranged, so as to alter +her appearance, and effectually disguise her sex. But as civility +prevented her wearing her large slouched hat, she necessarily exposed +her countenance more than in the open air; and though the knight beheld +a most lovely set of features, yet they were not such as were +inconsistent with the character she had adopted, and which she had +resolved upon maintaining to the last. She had, accordingly, mustered +up a degree of courage which was not natural to her, and which she +perhaps supported by hopes which her situation hardly admitted. So soon +as she found herself in the same apartment with De Valence, she assumed +a style of manners, bolder and more determined than she had hitherto +displayed. + +"Your worship," she said, addressing him even before he spoke, "is a +knight of England, and possessed, doubtless, of the virtues which +become that noble station. I am an unfortunate lad, obliged, by reasons +which I am under the necessity of keeping secret, to travel in a +dangerous country, where I am suspected, without any just cause, of +becoming accessory to plots and conspiracies which are contrary to my +own interest, and which my very soul abhors; and which I might safely +abjure, by imprecating upon myself all the curses of our religion and +renouncing all its promises, if I were accessory to such designs, in +thought, word, or deed. Nevertheless, you, who will not believe my +solemn protestations, are about to proceed against me as a guilty +person, and in so doing I must warn you, Sir Knight, that you will +commit a great and cruel injustice." + +"I shall endeavour to avoid that," said the knight, "by referring the +duty to Sir John de Walton, the governor, who will decide what is to be +done; in this case, my only duty will be to place you in his hands at +Douglas Castle." + +"Must you do this?" said Augustine. + +"Certainly," replied the knight, "or be answerable for neglecting my +duty." + +"But if I become bound to answer your loss with a large sum of money, a +large tract of land"-- + +"No treasure, no land,--supposing such at your disposal," answered the +knight, "can atone for disgrace; and, besides, boy, how should I trust +to your warrant, were my avarice such as would induce me to listen to +such proposals?" + +"I must then prepare to attend you instantly to the Castle of Douglas +and the presence of Sir John de Walton?" replied Augustine. + +"Young man," answered De Valence, "there is no remedy, since if you +delay me longer, I must carry you thither by force." + +"What will be the consequence to my father?" said the youth. + +"That," replied the knight, "will depend exactly on the nature of your +confession and his; something you both have to say, as is evident from +the terms of the letter Sir John de Walton conveyed to you; and I +assure you, you were better to speak it out at once than to risk the +consequences of more delay. I can admit of no more trifling; and, +believe me, that your fate will be entirely ruled by your own frankness +and candour." + +"I must prepare, then, to travel at your command," said the youth. "But +this cruel disease still hangs around me, and Abbot Jerome, whose +leech-craft is famous, will himself assure you that I cannot travel +without danger of my life; and that while I was residing in this +convent, I declined every opportunity of exercise which was offered me +by the kindness of the garrison at Hazelside, lest I might by mishap +bring the contagion among your men." + +"The youth says right," said the abbot; "the archers and men-at-arms +have more than once sent to invite this lad to join in some of their +military games, or to amuse them, perhaps, with some of his minstrelsy; +but he has uniformly declined doing so; and, according to my belief, it +is the effects of this disorder which have prevented his accepting an +indulgence so natural to his age, and in so dull a place as the convent +of Saint Bride must needs seem to a youth bred up in the world." + +"Do you then hold, reverend father," said Sir Aymer, "that there is +real danger in carrying this youth to the castle to-night, as I +proposed?" + +"I conceive such danger," replied the abbot, "to exist, not only as it +may occasion the relapse of the poor youth himself, but as particularly +likely, no preparations having been made, to introduce the infection +among your honourable garrison; for it is in these relapses, more than +in the first violence of the malady, that it has been found most +contagious." + +"Then," said the knight, "you must be content, my friend, to give a +share of your room to an archer, by way of sentinel." + +"I cannot object," said Augustine, "provided my unfortunate vicinity +does not endanger the health of the poor soldier." + +"He will be as ready to do his duty," said the abbot, "without the door +of the apartment as within it; and if the youth should sleep soundly, +which the presence of a guard in his chamber might prevent, he is the +more likely to answer your purpose on the morrow." + +"Let it be so," said Sir Aymer; "so you are sure that you do not +minister any facility of escape."' + +"The apartment," said the monk, "hath no other entrance than that which +is guarded by the archer; but, to content you, I shall secure the door +in your presence." + +"So be it, then," said the Knight of Valence; "this done, I myself will +lie down without doffing my mail-shirt, and snatch a sleep till the +ruddy dawn calls me again to duty, when you, Augustine, will hold +yourself ready to attend me to our Castle of Douglas." + +The bells of the convent summoned the inhabitants and inmates of Saint +Bride to morning prayers at the first peep of day. When this duty was +over, the knight demanded his prisoner. The abbot marshalled him to the +door of Augustine's chamber. The sentinel who was stationed there, +armed with a brown-bill, or species of partisan, reported that he had +heard no motion in the apartment during the whole night. The abbot +tapped at the door, but received no answer. He knocked again louder, +but the silence was unbroken from within. + +"What means this?" said the reverend ruler of the convent of Saint +Bride; "my young patient has certainly fallen into a syncope or swoon!" + +"I wish, Father Abbot," said the knight, "that he may not have made his +escape instead, an accident which both you and I may be required to +answer, since, according to our strict duty, we ought to have kept +sight of him, and detained him in close custody until daybreak." + +"I trust your worship," said the abbot, "only anticipates a misfortune +which I cannot think possible." + +"We shall speedily see," said the knight; and raising his voice, he +called aloud, so as to be heard within, "Bring crow-bars and levers, +and burst me that door into splinters without an instant's delay." + +The loudness of his voice, and the stern tone in which he spoke, soon +brought around him the brethren of the house, and two or three soldiers +of his own party, who were already busy in caparisoning their horses. +The displeasure of the young knight was manifested by his flushed +features, and the abrupt manner in which he again repeated his commands +for breaking open the door. This was speedily performed, though it +required the application of considerable strength, and as the shattered +remains fell crashing into the apartment, De Valence sprung, and the +abbot hobbled, into the cell of the prisoner, which, to the fulfilment +of their worst suspicions, they found empty. + + + + +CHAPTER THE ELEVENTH. + + Where is he? Has the deep earth swallow'd him? + Or hath he melted like some airy phantom + That shuns the approach of morn and the young sun? + Or hath he wrapt him in Cimmerian darkness, + And pass'd beyond the circuit of the sight + With things of the night's shadows? + ANONYMOUS. + + +The disappearance of the youth, whose disguise and whose fate have, we +hope, inclined our readers to take some interest in him, will require +some explanation ere we proceed with the other personages of the story, +and we shall set about giving it accordingly. + +When Augustine was consigned to his cell for the second time on the +preceding evening, both the monk and the young Knight of Valence had +seen the key turned upon him, and had heard him secure the door in the +inside with the bolt which had been put on at his request by sister +Ursula, in whose affections the youth of Augustine, his extreme +handsomeness, and, above all, his indisposition of body and his +melancholy of mind, had gained him considerable interest. + +So soon, accordingly, as Augustine re-entered his apartment, he was +greeted in a whisper by the sister, who, during the interval of his +absence, had contrived to slip into the cell, and having tappiced +herself behind the little bed, came out with great appearance of joy, +to greet the return of the youth. The number of little attentions, the +disposal of holly boughs, and such other evergreens as the season +permitted, showed the anxiety of the holy sisters to decorate the +chamber of their guest, and the greetings of sister Ursula expressed +the same friendly interest, at the same time intimating that she was +already in some degree in possession of the stranger's mystery. + +As Augustine and the holy sister were busied in exchange of confidence, +the extraordinary difference between, their countenances and their +persons must have struck any one who might have been accidentally a +witness of their interview. The dark pilgrim's robe of the disguised +female was not a stronger contrast to the white woollen garment worn by +the votaress of Saint Bride, than the visage of the nun, seamed with +many a ghastly scar, and the light of one of her eyes extinguished for +ever, causing it to roll a sightless luminary in her head, was to the +beautiful countenance of Augustine, now bent with a confidential, and +even affectionate look, upon the extraordinary features of her +companion. + +"You know," said the supposed Augustine, "the principal part of my +story; can you, or will you, lend me your assistance? If not, my +dearest sister, you must consent to witness my death, rather than my +shame. Yes, sister Ursula, I will not be pointed at by the finger of +scorn, as the thoughtless maiden who sacrificed so much for a young man, +of whose attachment she was not so well assured as she ought to have +been. I will not be dragged before De Walton, for the purpose of being +compelled, by threats of torture, to declare myself the female in +honour of whom he holds the Dangerous Castle. No doubt, he might be +glad to give his hand in wedlock to a damsel whose dowry is so ample; +but who can tell whether he will regard me with that respect which +every woman would wish to command, or pardon that boldness of which I +have been guilty, even though its consequences have been in his own +favour?" + +"Nay, my darling daughter," answered the nun, "comfort yourself; for in +all I can aid you, be assured I will. My means are somewhat more than +my present situation may express, and, be assured, they shall be tried +to the uttermost. Methinks, I still hear that lay which you sung to the +other sisters and myself, although I alone, touched by feelings kindred +to yours, had the address to comprehend that it told your own tale." + +"I am yet surprised," said Augustine, speaking beneath her breath, "how +I had the boldness to sing in your ears the lay, which, in fact, was +the history of my disgrace." + +"Alas! that you will say so," returned the nun; "there was not a word +but what resembled those tales of love and of high-spirited daring +which the best minstrels love to celebrate, and the noblest knights and +maidens weep at once and smile to hear. The Lady Augusta of Berkely, a +great heiress, according to the world, both in land and movable goods, +becomes the King's ward by the death of her parents; and thus is on the +point of being given away in marriage to a minion of the King of +England, whom in these Scottish valleys, we scruple not to call a +peremptory tyrant." + +"I must not say so, my sister," said the pilgrim; "and yet, true it is, +that the cousin of the obscure parasite Gaviston, on whom the king +wished to confer my poor hand, was neither by birth, merit, nor +circumstance, worthy of such an alliance. Meantime, I heard of the fame +of Sir John de Walton; and I heard of it not with the less interest +that his feats of chivalry were said to adorn a knight, who, rich in +everything else, was poor in worldly goods, and in the smiles of +fortune. I saw this Sir John de Walton, and I acknowledge that a +thought, which had already intruded itself on my imagination, became, +after this interview, by frequent recurrence, more familiar, and more +welcome to me. Methought that the daughter of a powerful English family, +if she could give away with her hand such wealth as the world spoke of, +would more justly and honourably bestow it in remedying the errors of +fortune in regard to a gallant knight like De Walton, than in patching +the revenues of a beggarly Frenchman, whose only merit was in being the +kinsman of a man who was very generally detested by the whole kingdom +of England, excepting the infatuated monarch himself." + +"Nobly designed, my daughter," said the nun; "what more worthy of a +noble heart, possessing riches, beauty, birth, and rank, than to confer +them all upon indigent and chivalrous merit?" + +"Such, dearest sister, was my intention," replied Augustine; "but I +have, perhaps, scarce sufficiently explained the manner in which I +meant to proceed. By the advice of a minstrel of our house, the same +who is now prisoner at Douglas, I caused exhibit a large feast upon +Christmas eve, and sent invitations abroad to the young knights of +noble name who were known to spend their leisure in quest of arms and +adventures. When the tables were drawn, and the feast concluded, +Bertram, as had been before devised, was called upon to take his harp. +He sung, receiving from all who were present the attention due to a +minstrel of so much fame. The theme which he chose, was the frequent +capture of this Douglas Castle, or, as the poet termed it, Castle +Dangerous. 'Where are the champions of the renowned Edward the First,' +said the minstrel, 'when the realm of England cannot furnish a man +brave enough, or sufficiently expert in the wars, to defend a miserable +hamlet of the North against the Scottish rebels, who have vowed to +retake it over our soldiers' heads ere the year rolls to an end? Where +are the noble ladies, whose smiles used to give countenance to the +Knights of Saint George's Cross? Alas! the spirit of love and of +chivalry is alike dead amongst us--our knights are limited to petty +enterprises--and our noblest heiresses are given as prizes to strangers, +as if their own country had no one to deserve them.'--Here stopt the +harp; and I shame to say, that I myself, as if moved to enthusiasm by +the song of the minstrel, arose, and taking from my neck the chain of +gold which supported a crucifix of special sanctity, I made my vow, +always under the King's permission, that I would give my hand, and the +inheritance of my fathers, to the good knight, being of noble birth and +lineage, who should keep the Castle of Douglas in the King of England's +name, for a year and a day. I sat down, my dearest sister, deafened +with the jubilee in which my guests expressed their applause of my +supposed patriotism. Yet some degree of pause took place amidst the +young knights, who might reasonably have been supposed ready to embrace +this offer, although at the risk of being encumbered with Augusta of +Berkely." + +"Shame on the man," said sister Ursula, "who should think so! Put your +beauty alone, my dearest, into consideration, and a true knight ought +to have embraced the dangers of twenty Castles of Douglas, rather than +let such an invaluable opportunity of gaining your favour be lost." + +"It may be that some in reality thought so," said the pilgrim; "but it +was supposed that the king's favour might be lost by those who seemed +too anxious to thwart his royal purpose upon his ward's hand. At any +rate, greatly to my joy, the only person who availed himself of the +offer I had made was Sir John de Walton; and as his acceptance of it +was guarded by a clause, saving and reserving the king's approbation, I +hope he has not suffered any diminution of Edward's favour." + +"Assure yourself, noble and high-spirited young lady," replied the nun, +"that there is no fear of thy generous devotion hurting thy lover with +the King of England. Something we hear concerning worldly passages, +even in this remote nook of Saint Bride's cloister; and the report goes +among the English soldiers that their king was indeed offended at your +putting your will in opposition to his own; yet, on the other hand, +this preferred lover, Sir John de Walton, was a man of such extensive +fame, and your offer was so much in the character of better but not +forgotten times, that even a king could not at the beginning of a long +and stubborn war deprive an errant cavalier of his bride, if she should +be duly won by his sword and lance." + +"Ah! dearest sister Ursula!" sighed the disguised pilgrim, "but, on the +other hand, how much time must pass by in the siege, by defeating which +that suit must needs be advanced? While I sat in my lonely castle, +tidings came to astound me with the numerous, or rather the constant +dangers, with which my lover was surrounded, until at length, in a +moment I think of madness, I resolved to set out in this masculine +disguise; and having myself with my own eyes seen in what situation I +had placed my knight, I determined to take such measures in respect to +shortening the term of his trial, or otherwise, as a sight of Douglas +Castle, and--why should I deny it?--of Sir John de Walton, might +suggest. Perhaps you, my dearest sister, may not so well understand my +being tempted into flinching from the resolution which I had laid down +for my own honour, and that of my lover; but consider, that my +resolution was the consequence of a moment of excitation, and that the +course which I adopted was the conclusion of a long, wasting, sickening +state of uncertainty, the effect of which was to weaken the nerves +which were once highly strung with love of my country, as I thought; +but in reality, alas! with fond and anxious feelings of a more selfish +description." + +"Alas!" said sister Ursula, evincing the strongest symptoms of interest +and compassion, "am I the person, dearest child, whom you suspect of +insensibility to the distresses which are the fruit of true love? Do +you suppose that the air which is breathed within these walls has the +property upon the female heart, of such marvellous fountains as they +say change into stone the substances which are immersed into their +waters? Hear my tale, and judge if it can be thus with one who +possesses my causes of grief. And do not fear for loss of time; we must +let our neighbours at Hazelside be settled for the evening, ere I +furnish you with the means of escape; and you must have a trusty guide, +for whose fidelity I will be responsible, to direct your path through +these woods, and protect you in case of any danger, too likely to occur +in these troublesome times. It will thus be nigh an hour ere you +depart; and sure I am that in no manner can you spend the time better +than in listening to distresses too similar to your own, and flowing +from the source of disappointed affection which you must needs +sympathize with." + +The distresses of the Lady Augusta did not prevent her being in some +degree affected, almost ludicrously, with the singular contrast between +the hideous countenance of this victim of the tender passion, and the +cause to which she imputed her sorrows; but it was not a moment for +giving way to a sense of the ridiculous, which would have been in the +highest degree offensive to the sister of Saint Bride, whose good-will +she had so many reasons to conciliate. She readily, therefore, +succeeded in preparing herself to listen to the votary--with an +appearance of sympathy, which might reward that which she had herself +experienced at the hands of sister Ursula; while the unfortunate +recluse, with an agitation which made her ugliness still more +conspicuous, narrated, nearly in a whisper, the following +circumstances:-- + +"My misfortunes commenced long before I was called sister Ursula, or +secluded as a votaress within these walls. My father was a noble Norman, +who, like many of his countrymen, sought and found fortune at the court +of the King of Scotland. He was endowed with the sheriffdom of this +county, and Maurice de Hattely, or Hautlieu, was numbered among the +wealthy and powerful barons of Scotland. Wherefore should I deny it, +that the daughter of this baron, then called Margaret de Hautlieu, was +also distinguished among the great and fair of the land? It can be +no censurable vanity which provokes me to speak the truth, and unless I +tell it myself, you could hardly suspect what a resemblance I once bore +even to the lovely Lady Augusta of Berkely. About this time broke out +those unfortunate feuds of Bruce and Baliol, which have been so long +the curse of this country. My father, determined in his choice of party +by the arguments of his wealthy kinsmen at the court of Edward, +embraced with passion the faction of the English interest, and became +one of the keenest partisans, at first of John Baliol, and afterwards +of the English monarch. None among the Anglocised-Scottish, as his +party was called, were so zealous as he for the red cross, and no one +was more detested by his countrymen who followed the national standard +of Saint Andrew and the patriot Wallace. Among those soldiers of the +soil, Malcolm Fleming of Biggar was one of the most distinguished by +his noble birth, his high acquirements, and his fame in chivalry. I saw +him; and the ghastly spectre who now addresses you must not be ashamed +to say, that she loved, and was beloved by, one of the handsomest +youths in Scotland. Our attachment was discovered to my father almost +ere we had owned it to each other, and he was furious both against my +lover and myself; he placed me under the charge of a religious woman of +this rule, and I was immured within the house of Saint Bride, where my +father shamed not to announce he would cause me to take the veil by +force, unless I agreed to wed a youth bred at the English court, his +nephew; and, as Heaven had granted him no son, the heir, as he had +resolved, of the house of Hautlieu. I was not long in making my +election. I protested that death should be my choice, rather than any +other husband excepting Malcolm Fleming. Neither was my lover less +faithful; he found means to communicate to me a particular night on +which he proposed to attempt to storm the nunnery of Saint Bride, and +carry me from hence to freedom and the greenwood, of which Wallace was +generally called the king. In an evil hour--an hour I think of +infatuation and witchery--I suffered the abbess to wheedle the secret +out of me, which I might have been sensible would appear more horribly +flagitious to her than to any other woman that breathed; but I had not +taken the vows, and I thought Wallace and Fleming had the same charms +for every body as for me, and the artful woman gave me reason to +believe that her loyalty to Bruce was without a flaw of suspicion, and +she took part in a plot of which my freedom was the object. The abbess +engaged to have the English guards removed to a distance, and in +appearance the troops were withdrawn. Accordingly, in the middle of the +night appointed, the window of my cell, which was two stories from the +ground, was opened without noise; and never were my eyes more gladdened +than, as ready disguised and arrayed for flight, even in a horseman's +dress, like yourself, fairest. Lady Augusta, I saw Malcolm Fleming +spring into the apartment. He rushed towards me; but at the same time +my father with ten of his strongest men filled the room, and cried +their war-cry of Baliol. Blows were instantly dealt on every side. A +form like a giant, however, appeared in the midst of the tumult, and +distinguished himself, even to my half-giddy eye, by the ease with +which he bore down and dispersed those who fought against our freedom. +My father alone offered an opposition which threatened to prove fatal +to him; for Wallace, it was said, could foil any two martial champions +that ever drew sword. Brushing from him the armed men, as a lady would +drive away with her fan a swarm of troublesome flies, he secured me in +one arm, used his other for our mutual protection, and I found myself +in the act of being borne in safety down the ladder by which my +deliverers had ascended from without,--but an evil fate awaited this +attempt. + +"My father, whom the Champion of Scotland had spared for my sake, or +rather for Fleming's, gained by his victor's compassion and lenity a +fearful advantage, and made a remorseless use of it. Having only his +left hand to oppose to the maniac attempts of my father, even the +strength of Wallace could not prevent the assailant, with all the +energy of desperation, from throwing down the ladder, on which his +daughter was perched like a dove in the grasp of an eagle. The champion +saw our danger, and exerting his inimitable strength and agility, +cleared himself and me from the ladder, and leaped free of the moat of +the convent, into which we must otherwise have been precipitated. The +Champion of Scotland was saved in the desperate attempt, but I who fell +among a heap of stones and rubbish, I the disobedient daughter, +wellnigh the apostate vestal, waked only from a long bed of sickness, +to find myself the disfigured wretch, which you now see me. I then +learned that Malcolm had escaped from the fray, and shortly after I +heard, with feelings less keen perhaps than they ought to have been, +that my father was slain in one of the endless battles which took place +between the contending factions. If he had lived, I might have +submitted to the completion of my fate; but since he was no more, I +felt that it would be a preferable lot to be a beggar in the streets of +a Scottish village, than, an abbess in this miserable house of Saint +Bride; nor was even that poor object of ambition, on which my father +used to expatiate when desirous of persuading me to enter the monastic +state by milder means than throwing me off the battlements, long open +to me. The old abbess died of a cold caught the evening of the fray; +and the place, which might have been kept open until I was capable of +filling it, was disposed of otherwise, when the English thought fit to +reform, as they termed it, the discipline of the house; and instead of +electing a new abbess, sent hither two or three friendly monks, who +have now the absolute government of the community, and wield it +entirely according to the pleasure of the English. But I, for one, who +have had the honour to be supported by the arms of the Champion of my +country, will not remain here to be commanded by this Abbot Jerome. I +will go forth, nor do I fear to find relations and friends, who will +provide a more fitting place of refuge for Margaret de Hautlieu than +the convent of Saint Bride; you, too, dearest lady, shall obtain your +freedom, and it will be well to leave such information as will make Sir +John de Walton aware of the devotion with which his happy fate has +inspired you." + +"It is not, then, your own intention," said the Lady Augusta, "to +return into the world again, and you are about to renounce the lover, +in a union with whom you and he once saw your joint happiness?" + +"It is a question, my dearest child," said sister Ursula, "which I dare +not ask myself, and to which I am absolutely uncertain what answer I +should return. I have not taken the final and irrevocable vows; I have +done nothing to alter my situation with regard to Malcolm Fleming. He +also, by the vows plighted in the Chancery of Heaven, is my affianced +bridegroom, nor am I conscious that I less deserve his faith, in any +respect now, than at the moment when it was pledged to me; but, I +confess, dearest lady, that rumours have reached me, which sting me to +the quick; the reports of my wounds and scars are said to have +estranged the knight of my choice. I am now, indeed, poor," she added, +with a sigh, "and I am no longer possessed of those personal charms, +which they say attract the love, and fix the fidelity, of the other sex. +I teach myself, therefore, to think, in my moments of settled +resolution, that all betwixt me and Malcolm Fleming is at an end, +saving good wishes on the part of both towards the other; and yet there +is a sensation in my bosom which whispers, in spite of my reason, that +if I absolutely believed that which I now say, there would be no object +on earth worthy my living for in order to attain it. This insinuating +prepossession whispers, to my secret soul, and in very opposition to my +reason and understanding, that Malcolm Fleming, who could pledge his +all upon the service of his country, is incapable of nourishing the +versatile affection of an ordinary, a coarse, or a venal character. +Methinks, were the difference upon his part instead of mine, he would +not lose his interest in my eyes, because he was seamed with honourable +scars, obtained in asserting the freedom of his choice, but that such +wounds would, in my opinion, add to his merit, whatever they took away +from his personal comeliness. Ideas rise on my soul, as if Malcolm and +Margaret might yet be to each other all that their affections once +anticipated with so much security, and that a change, which took +nothing from the honour and virtue of the beloved person, must rather +add to, than diminish, the charms of the union. Look at me, dearest +Lady Augusta!--look me--if you have courage--full in the face, and tell +me whether I do not rave when my fancy is thus converting mere +possibilities into that which is natural and probable." + +The Lady of Berkely, conscious of the necessity, raised her eyes on the +unfortunate nun, afraid of losing her own chance of deliverance by the +mode in which she should conduct herself in this crisis; yet not +willing at the same time to flatter the unfortunate Ursula, with +suggesting ideas for which her own sense told her she could hardly find +any rational grounds. But her imagination, stored with the minstrelsy +of the time, brought back to her recollection the Loathly Lady in "The +marriage of Sir Gawain," and she conducted her reply in the following +manner:-- + +"You ask me, my dear Lady Margaret, a trying question, which it would +be unfriendly to answer otherwise than sincerely, and most cruel to +answer with too much rashness. It is true, that what is called beauty, +is the first quality on which we of the weaker sex learn to set a +value; we are flattered by the imputation of personal charms, whether +we actually possess them or not; and no doubt we learn to place upon +them a great deal more consequence than in reality is found to belong +to them. Women, however, even, such as are held by their own sex, and +perhaps in secret by themselves, as devoid of all pretensions to beauty, +have been known to become, from their understanding, their talents, or +their accomplishments, the undoubted objects of the warmest attachment. +Wherefore then should you, in the mere rashness of your apprehension, +deem it impossible that your Malcolm Fleming should be made of that +porcelain clay of the earth, which despises the passing captivations of +outward form in comparison to the charms of true affection, and the +excellence of talents and virtue?" + +The nun pressed her companion's hand to her bosom, and answered her +with a deep sigh. + +"I fear," she said, "you flatter me; and yet in a crisis like this, it +does one good to be flattered, even as cordials, otherwise dangerous to +the constitution, are wisely given to support a patient through a +paroxysm of agony, and enable him to endure at least what they cannot +cure. Answer only one question, and it will be time to drop this +conversation. Could you, sweet lady--you upon whom fortune has bestowed +so many charms--could any argument make you patient under the +irretrievable loss of your personal advantages, with the concomitant +loss, as in my case is most probable, of that lover for whom you have +already done so much?" + +The English lady cast her eyes again on her friend, and could not help +shuddering a little at the thought of her own beautiful countenance +being exchanged for the seamed and scarred features of the Lady of +Hautlieu, irregularly lighted by the beams of a single eye. + +"Believe me," she said, looking solemnly upwards, "that even in the +case which you suppose, I would not sorrow so much for myself, as I +would for the poor-spirited thoughts of the lover who could leave me +because those transitory charms (which must in any case erelong take +their departure) had fled ere yet the bridal day. It is, however, +concealed by the decrees of Providence, in what manner, or to what +extent, other persons, with whose disposition we are not fully +acquainted, may be affected by such changes. I can only assure you that +my hopes go with yours, and that there is no difficulty which shall +remain in your path in future, if it is in my power to remove it.-- +Hark!"-- + +"It is the signal of our freedom," replied Ursula, giving attention to +something resembling the whoop of the night-owl. "We must prepare to +leave the convent in a few minutes. Have you anything to take with +you?" + +"Nothing," answered the Lady of Berkely, "except the few valuables, +which I scarce know why I brought with me on my flight hither. This +scroll, which I shall leave behind, gives my faithful minstrel +permission to save himself, by confessing to Sir John de Walton who the +person really is whom he has had within his reach." + +"It is strange," said the novice of Saint Bride, "through what +extraordinary labyrinths this Love, this Will-of-the-Wisp, guides his +votaries, Take heed as you descend; this trap-door, carefully concealed, +curiously jointed and oiled, leads to a secret postern, where I +conceive the horses already wait, which will enable us speedily to bid +adieu to Saint Bride's--Heaven's blessing on her, and on her convent! +We can have no advantage from any light, until we are in the open air." + +During this time, sister Ursula, to give her for the last time her +conventual name, exchanged her stole, or loose upper garment, for the +more succinct cloak and hood of a horseman. She led the way through +divers passages, studiously complicated, until the Lady of Berkely, +with throbbing heart, stood in the pale and doubtful moonlight, which +was shining with grey uncertainty upon the walls of the ancient +building. The imitation of an owlet's cry directed them to a +neighbouring large elm, and on approaching it, they were aware of three +horses, held by one, concerning whom they could only see that he was +tall, strong, and accoutred in the dress of a man-at-arms. + +"The sooner," he said, "we are gone from this place, Lady Margaret, it +is so much the better. You have only to direct the course which we +shall hold." + +Lady Margaret's answer was given beneath her breath; and replied to +with a caution from the guide to ride slowly and silently for the first +quarter of an hour, by which time inhabited places would be left at a +distance. + + + + +CHAPTER THE TWELFTH. + + +Great was the astonishment of the young Knight of Valence and the +reverend Father Jerome, when, upon breaking into the cell, they +discovered the youthful pilgrim's absence; and, from the garments which +were left, saw every reason to think that the one-eyed novice, sister +Ursula, had accompanied him in his escape from custody. A thousand +thoughts thronged upon Sir Aymer, how shamefully he had suffered +himself to be outwitted by the artifices of a boy and of a novice. His +reverend companion in error felt no less contrition for having +recommended to the knight a mild exercise of his authority. Father +Jerome had obtained his preferment as abbot upon the faith of his zeal +for the cause of the English monarch, with the affected interest in +which he was at a loss to reconcile his proceedings of the last night. +A hurried enquiry took place, from which little could be learned, save +that the young pilgrim had most certainly gone off with the Lady +Margaret de Hautlieu, an incident at which the females of the convent +expressed surprise, mingled with a great deal of horror; while that of +the males, whom the news soon reached, was qualified with a degree of +wonder, which seemed to be founded upon the very different personal +appearance of the two fugitives. + +"Sacred Virgin," said a nun, "who could have conceived the hopeful +votaress, sister Ursula, so lately drowned in tears for her father's +untimely fate, capable of eloping with a boy scarce fourteen years +old!" + +"And, holy Saint Bride!" said the Abbot Jerome, "what could have made +so handsome a young man lend his arm to assist such a nightmare as +sister Ursula, in the commission of so great an enormity? Certainly he +can neither plead temptation nor seduction, but must have gone, as the +worldly phrase is,--to the devil with a dish-clout." + +"I must disperse the soldiers to pursue the fugitives," said De Valence, +"unless this letter, which the pilgrim must have left behind him, shall +contain some explanations respecting our mysterious prisoner." + +After viewing the contents with some surprise, he read aloud,--"The +undersigned, late residing in the house of Saint Bride, do you, father +Jerome, the abbot of said house, to know, that finding you were +disposed to treat me as a prisoner and a spy, in the sanctuary to which +you had received me as a distressed person, I have resolved to use my +natural liberty, with which you have no right to interfere, and +therefore have withdrawn myself from your abbacy. Moreover, finding +that the novice called in your convent sister Ursula (who hath, by +monastic rule and discipline, a fair title to return to the world +unless she is pleased, after a year's novitiate, to profess herself +sister of your order) is determined to use such privilege, I joyfully +take the opportunity of her company in this her lawful resolution, as +being what is in conformity to the law of God, and the precepts of +Saint Bride, which gave you no authority to detain any person in your +convent by force, who hath not taken upon her irrevocably the vows of +the order. + +"To you, Sir John de Walton, and Sir Aymer de Valence, knights of +England, commanding the garrison of Douglas Dale, I have only to say, +that you have acted and are acting against me under a mystery, the +solution of which is comprehended in a secret known only to my faithful +minstrel, Bertram of the many Lays, as whose son I have found it +convenient to pass myself. But as I cannot at this time prevail upon +myself personally to discover a secret which cannot well be unfolded +without feelings of shame, I not only give permission to the said +Bertram the minstrel, but I charge and command him that he tell to you +the purpose with which I came originally to the Castle of Douglas. When +this is discovered, it will only remain to express my feelings towards +the two knights, in return for the pain and agony of mind which their +violence and threats of further severities have occasioned me. + +"And first respecting Sir Aymer de Valence, I freely and willingly +forgive him for having been involved in a mistake to which I myself led +the way, and I shall at all times be happy to meet with him as an +acquaintance, and never to think farther of his part in these few days' +history, saving as matter of mirth and ridicule. + +"But respecting Sir John de Walton, I must request of him to consider +whether his conduct towards me, standing as we at present do towards +each, other, is such as he himself ought to forget or I ought to +forgive; and I trust he will understand me when I tell him, that all +former connexions must henceforth be at an end between him and the +supposed "AUGUSTINE." + +"This is madness," said the abbot, when he had read the letter,--"very +midsummer madness; not unfrequently an accompaniment of this +pestilential disease, and I should do well in requiring of those +soldiers who shall first apprehend this youth Augustine, that they +reduce his victuals immediately to water and bread, taking care that +the diet do not exceed in measure what is necessary to sustain nature; +nay, I should be warranted by the learned, did I recommend a sufficient +intermixture of flagellation with belts, stirrup-leathers, or +surcingles, and failing those, with riding-whips, switches, and the +like." + +"Hush! my reverend father," said De Valence, "a light begins to break +in upon me. John de Walton, if my suspicions be true, would sooner +expose his own flesh to be hewn from his bones, than have this +Augustine's finger stung by a gnat. Instead of treating this youth as a +madman, I for my own part, will be contented to avow that I myself have +been bewitched and fascinated; and by my honour, if I send out my +attendants in quest of the fugitives, it shall be with the strict +charge, that, when apprehended, they treat them with all respect, and +protect them, if they object to return to this house, to any honourable +place of refuge which they may desire." + +"I hope," said the abbot, looking strangely confused, "I shall be first +heard in behalf of the Church concerning this affair of an abducted +nun? You see yourself, Sir Knight, that this scapegrace of a minstrel +avouches neither repentance nor contrition at his share in a matter so +flagitious." + +"You shall be secured an opportunity of being fully heard," replied the +knight, "if you shall find at last that you really desire one. Meantime, +I must back, without a moment's delay, to inform Sir John de Walton of +the turn which affairs have taken. Farewell, reverend father. By my +honour we may wish each other joy that we have escaped from a +troublesome charge, which brought as much terror with it as the +phantoms of a fearful dream, and is yet found capable of being +dispelled by a cure as simple as that of awakening the sleeper. But, by +Saint Bride! both churchmen and laymen are bound to sympathise with the +unfortunate Sir John de Walton. I tell thee, father, that if this +letter"--touching the missive with his finger--"is to be construed +literally, as far as respects him, he is the man most to be pitied +betwixt the brink of Solway and the place where we now stand. Suspend +thy curiosity, most worthy churchman, lest there should be more in this +matter than I myself see; so that, while thinking that I have lighted +on the true explanation, I may not have to acknowledge that I have been +again leading you into error. Sound to horse there! Ho?" he called out +from the window of the apartment; "and let the party I brought hither +prepare to scour the woods on their return." + +"By my faith!" said Father Jerome, "I am right glad that this young +nut-cracker is going to leave me to my own meditation. I hate when a +young person pretends to understand whatever passes, while his betters +are obliged to confess that it is all a mystery to them. Such an +assumption is like that of the conceited fool, sister Ursula, who +pretended to read with a single eye a manuscript which I myself could +not find intelligible with the assistance of my spectacles." + +This might not have quite pleased the young knight, nor was it one of +those truths which the abbot would have chosen to deliver in his +hearing. But the knight had shaken him by the hand, said adieu, and was +already at Hazelside, issuing particular orders to little troops of the +archers and others, and occasionally chiding Thomas Dickson, who, with +a degree of curiosity which the English knight was not very willing to +excuse, had been endeavouring to get some account of the occurrences of +the night. + +"Peace, fellow!" he said, "and mind thine own business, being well +assured that the hour will come in which it will require all the +attention thou canst give, leaving others to take care of their own +affairs." + +"If I am suspected of any thing," answered Dickson, in a tone rather +dogged and surly than otherwise, "methinks it were but fair to let me +know what accusation is brought against me. I need not tell you that +chivalry prescribes that a knight should not attack an enemy undefied." + +"When you are a knight," answered Sir Aymer de Valence, "it will be +time enough for me to reckon with you upon the points of form due to +you by the laws of chivalry. Meanwhile, you had best let me know what +share you have had in playing off the martial phantom which sounded the +rebellious slogan of Douglas in the town of that name?" + +"I know nothing of what you speak," answered the goodman of Hazelside. + +"See then," said the knight, "that you do not engage yourself in the +affairs of other people, even if your conscience warrants that you are +in no danger from your own." + +So saying, he rode off, not waiting any answer. The ideas which filled +his head were to the following purpose. + +"I know not how it is, but one mist seems no sooner to clear away than. +we find ourselves engaged in another. I take it for granted that the +disguised damsel is no other than the goddess of Walton's private +idolatry, who has cost him and me so much trouble, and some certain, +degree of misunderstanding during these last weeks. By my honour! this +fair lady is right lavish in the pardon which she has so frankly +bestowed upon me, and if she is willing to be less complaisant to Sir +John de Walton, why then--And what then?--It surely does not infer that +she would receive me into that place in her affections, from which she +has just expelled De Walton? Nor, if she did, could I avail myself of a +change in favour of myself, at the expense of my friend and companion +in arms. It were a folly even to dream of a thing so improbable. But +with respect to the other business, it is worth serious consideration. +Yon sexton seems to have kept company with dead bodies, until he is +unfit for the society of the living; and as to that Dickson of +Hazelside, as they call him, there is no attempt against the English +during these endless wars, in which that man has not been concerned; +had my life depended upon it, I could not have prevented myself from +intimating my suspicions of him, let him take it as he lists." So +saying, the knight spurred his horse, and arriving at Douglas Castle +without farther adventure, demanded in a tone of greater cordiality +than he had of late used, whether he could be admitted to Sir John de +Walton, having something of consequence to report to him. He was +immediately ushered into an apartment, in which the governor was seated +at his solitary breakfast. Considering the terms upon which they had +lately stood, the governor of Douglas Dale was somewhat surprised at +the easy familiarity with which De Valence now approached him. + +"Some uncommon news," said Sir John, rather gravely, "have brought me +the honour of Sir Aymer de Valence's company." + +"It is," answered Sir Aymer, "what seems of high importance to your +interest, Sir John de Walton, and therefore I were to blame if I lost a +moment in communicating it." + +"I shall be proud to profit by your intelligence," said Sir John de +Walton. + +"And I too," said the young knight, "am both to lose the credit of +having penetrated a mystery which blinded Sir John de Walton. At the +same time, I do not wish to be thought capable of jesting with you, +which might be the case were I, from misapprehension, to give a false +key to this matter. With your permission, then, we will proceed thus: +We go together to the place of Bertram the minstrel's confinement. I +have in my possession a scroll from the young person who was intrusted +to the care of the Abbot Jerome; it is written in a delicate female +hand, and gives authority to the minstrel to declare the purpose which +brought them to this vale of Douglas." + +"It must be as you say," said Sir John de Walton, "although can scarce +see occasion for adding so much form to a mystery which can be +expressed in such small compass." + +Accordingly the two knights, the warder leading the way, proceeded to +the dungeon to which the minstrel had been removed. + + + + +CHAPTER THE THIRTEENTH. + + +The doors of the stronghold being undone, displayed a dungeon such as +in those days held victims hopeless of escape, but in which the +ingenious knave of modern times would scarcely have deigned to remain +many hours. The huge rings by which the fetters were soldered together, +and attached to the human body, were, when examined minutely, found to +be clenched together by riveting so very thin, that when rubbed with +corrosive acid, or patiently ground with a bit of sandstone, the hold +of the fetters upon each other might easily be forced asunder, and the +purpose of them entirely frustrated. The locks also, large, and +apparently very strong, were so coarsely made, that an artist of small +ingenuity could easily contrive to get the better of their fastenings +upon the same principle. The daylight found its way to the subterranean +dungeon only at noon, and through a passage which was purposely made +tortuous, so as to exclude the rays of the sun, while it presented no +obstacle to wind or rain. The doctrine that a prisoner was to be +esteemed innocent until he should be found guilty by his peers, was not +understood in those days of brute force, and he was only accommodated +with a lamp or other alleviation of his misery, if his demeanour was +quiet, and he appeared disposed to give his jailor no trouble by +attempting to make his escape. Such a cell of confinement was that of +Bertram, whose moderation of temper and patience had nevertheless +procured for him such mitigations of his fate as the warder could grant. +He was permitted to carry into his cell the old book, in the perusal of +which he found an amusement of his solitude, together with writing +materials, and such other helps towards spending his time as were +consistent with his abode in the bosom of the rock, and the degree of +information with which his minstrel craft had possessed him. He raised +his head from the table as the knights entered, while the governor +observed to the young knight:-- + +"As you seem to think yourself possessed of the secret of this prisoner, +I leave it to you, Sir Aymer de Valence, to bring it to light in the +manner which you shall judge most expedient. If the man or his son have +suffered unnecessary hardship, it shall be my duty to make amends-- +which, I suppose, can be no very important matter." + +Bertram looked up, and fixed his eyes full upon the governor, but read +nothing in his looks which indicated his being better acquainted than +before with the secret of his imprisonment. Yet, upon turning his eye +towards Sir Aymer, his countenance evidently lighted up, and the glance +which passed between them was one of intelligence. + +"You have my secret, then," said he, "and you know who it is that +passes under the name of Augustine?" + +Sir Aymer exchanged with him a look of acquiescence; while the eyes of +the governor glancing wildly from the prisoner to the knight of Valence, +exclaimed,-- + +"Sir Aymer de Valence, as you are belted knight and Christian man, as +you have honour to preserve on earth, and a soul to rescue after death, +I charge you to tell me the meaning of this mystery! It may be that you +conceive, with truth, that you have subject of complaint against me;-- +If so, I will satisfy you as a knight may." + +The minstrel spoke at the same moment. + +"I charge this knight," he said, "by his vow of chivalry, that he do +not divulge any secret belonging to a person of honour and of character, +unless he has positive assurance that it is done entirely by that +person's own consent." + +"Let this note remove your scruples," said Sir Aymer, putting the +scroll into the hands of the minstrel; "and for you, Sir John de Walton, +far from retaining the least feeling of any misunderstanding which may +have existed between us, I am disposed entirely to bury it in +forgetfulness, as having arisen out of a series of mistakes which no +mortal could have comprehended. And do not be offended, my dear Sir +John, when I protest, on my knightly faith, that I pity the pain which +I think this scroll is likely to give you, and that if my utmost +efforts can be of the least service to you in unravelling this tangled +skein, I will contribute them with as much earnestness as ever I did +aught in my life. This faithful minstrel will now see that he can have +no difficulty in yielding up a secret, which I doubt not, but for the +writing I have just put into his hands, he would have continued to keep +with unshaken fidelity." + +Sir Aymer now placed in De Walton's hand a note, in which he had, ere +he left Saint Bride's convent, signified his own interpretation, of the +mystery; and the governor had scarcely read the name it contained, +before the same name was pronounced aloud by Bertram, who, at the same +moment, handed to the governor the scroll which he had received from +the Knight of Valence. + +The white plume which floated over the knight's cap of maintenance, +which was worn as a headpiece within doors, was not more pale in +complexion than was the knight himself at the unexpected and surprising +information, that the lady who was, in chivalrous phrase, empress of +hia thoughts, and commander of his actions, and to whom, even in less +fantastic times, he must have owed the deepest gratitude for the +generous election which she had made in his favour, was the same person +whom he had threatened with personal violence, and subjected to +hardships and affronts which he would not willingly have bestowed even +upon the meanest of her sex. + +Yet Sir John de Walton seemed at first scarcely to comprehend the +numerous ill consequences which might probably follow this unhappy +complication of mistakes. He took the paper from the minstrel's hand, +and while his eye, assisted by the lamp, wandered over the characters +without apparently their conveying any distinct impression to his +understanding, De Valence even became alarmed that he was about to lose +his faculties. + +"For Heaven's sake, sir," he said, "be a man, and support with manly +steadiness these unexpected occurrences--I would fain think they will +reach to nothing else--which the wit of man could not have prevented. +This fair lady, I would fain hope, cannot be much hurt or deeply +offended by a train of circumstances, the natural consequence of your +anxiety to discharge perfectly a duty upon which must depend the +accomplishment of all the hopes she had permitted you to entertain. In +God's name, rouse up, sir; let it not be said, that an apprehended +frown of a fair lady hath damped to such a degree the courage of the +boldest knight in England; be what men have called you, 'Walton the +Unwavering;' in Heaven's name, let us at least see that the lady is +indeed offended, before we conclude that she is irreconcilably so. To +whose fault are we to ascribe the source of all these errors? Surely, +with all due respect, to the caprice of the lady herself, which has +engendered such a nest of mistakes. Think of it as a man, and as a +soldier. Suppose that you yourself, or I, desirous of proving the +fidelity of our sentinels, or for any other reason, good or bad, +attempted to enter this Dangerous Castle of Douglas without giving the +password to the warders, would we be entitled to blame those upon duty, +if, not knowing our persons, they manfully refused us entrance, made us +prisoners, and mishandled us while resisting our attempt, in terms of +the orders which we ourselves had imposed upon them? What is there that +makes a difference between such a sentinel and yourself, John de Walton, +in this curious affair, which, by Heaven! would rather form a gay +subject for the minstrelsy of this excellent bard, than the theme of a +tragic lay? Come! look not thus, Sir John de Walton; be angry, if you +will, with the lady who has committed such a piece of folly, or with me +who have rode up and down nearly all night on a fool's errand, and +spoiled my best horse, in absolute uncertainty how I shall get another +till my uncle of Pembroke and I shall be reconciled; or, lastly, if you +desire to be totally absurd in your wrath, direct it against this +worthy minstrel on account of his rare fidelity, and punish him for +that for which he better deserves a chain of gold. Let passion out, if +you will; but chase this desponding gloom from the brow of a man and a +belted knight." + +Sir John de Walton made an effort to speak, and succeeded with some +difficulty. + +"Aymer de Valence," he said, "in irritating a madman you do but sport +with your own life;" and then remained silent. + +"I am glad you can say so much," replied his friend; "for I was not +jesting when I said I would rather that you were at variance with me, +than that you laid the whole blame on yourself. It would be courteous, +I think, to set this minstrel instantly at liberty. Meantime, for his +lady's sake, I will entreat him, in all honour, to be our guest till +the Lady Augusta de Berkely shall do us the same honour, and to assist +us in our search after her place of retirement.--Good minstrel," he +continued, "you hear what I say, and you will not, I suppose, be +surprised, that in all honour and kind usage, you find yourself +detained for a short space in this Castle of Douglas?" + +"You seem, Sir Knight," replied the minstrel, "not so much to keep your +eye upon the right of doing what you should, as to possess the might of +doing what you would. I must necessarily be guided by your advice, +since you have the power to make it a command." + +"And I trust," continued De Valence, "that when your mistress and you +again meet, we shall have the benefit of your intercession for any +thing which we may have done to displeasure her, considering that the +purpose of our action was exactly the reverse." + +"Let me," said Sir John de Walton, "say a single word. I will offer +thee a chain of gold, heavy enough to bear down the weight of these +shackles, as a sign of regret for having condemned thee to suffer so +many indignities." + +"Enough said, Sir John," said De Valence; "let us promise no more till +this good minstrel shall see some sign of performance. Follow me this +way, and I will tell thee in private of other tidings, which it is +important that you should know." + +So saying, he withdrew De Walton from the dungeon, and sending for the +old knight, Sir Philip de Montenay, already mentioned, who acted as +seneschal of the castle, he commanded that the minstrel should be +enlarged from the dungeon, well looked to in other respects, yet +prohibited, though with every mark of civility, from leaving the castle +without a trusty attendant. + +"And now, Sir John de Walton," he said, "methinks you are a little +churlish in not ordering me some breakfast, after I have been all night +engaged in your affairs; and a cup of muscadel would, I think, be no +bad induction to a full consideration of this perplexed matter." + +"Thou knowest," answered De Walton, "that thou mayest call for what +thou wilt, provided always thou tellest me, without loss of time, what +else thou knowest respecting the will of the lady, against whom we have +all sinned so grievously--and I, alas, beyond hope of forgiveness!" + +"Trust me, I hope," said the Knight of Valence, "the good lady bears me +no malice, as indeed she has expressly renounced any ill-will against +me. The words, you see, are as plain as you yourself may read--'The +lady pardons poor Aymer de Valence, and willingly, for having been +involved in a mistake, to which she herself led the way; she herself will +at all times be happy to meet with him as an acquaintance, and never to +think farther of these few days' history, except as matter of mirth and +ridicule.' So it is expressly written and set down." + +"Yes," replied Sir John de Walton, "but see you not that her offending +lover is expressly excluded from the amnesty granted to the lesser +offender? Mark you not the concluding paragraph?" He took the scroll +with a trembling hand, and read with a discomposed voice its closing +words. "It is even so: 'All former connexion must henceforth be at an +end between him and the supposed Augustine.' Explain to me how the +reading of these words is reconcilable to anything but their plain +sense of condemnation and forfeiture of contract, implying destruction +of the hopes of Sir John de Walton?" + +"You are somewhat an older man than I, Sir Knight," answered De Valence, +"and I will grant, by far the wiser and more experienced; yet I will +uphold that there is no adopting the interpretation which you seem to +have affixed in your mind to this letter, without supposing the +preliminary, that the fair writer was distracted in her understanding, +--nay, never start, look wildly, or lay your hand on your sword, I do +not affirm this is the case. I say again, that no woman in her senses +would have pardoned a common acquaintance for his behaving to her with +unintentional disrespect and unkindness, during the currency of a +certain masquerade, and, at the same time, sternly and irrevocably +broke off with the lover to whom her troth was plighted, although his +error in joining in the offence was neither grosser nor more protracted +than that of the person indifferent to her love." + +"Do not blaspheme," said Sir John do Walton; "and forgive me, if, in +justice to truth and to the angel whom I fear I have forfeited for ever, +I point out to you the difference which a maiden of dignity and of +feeling must make between an offence towards her, committed by an +ordinary acquaintance, and one of precisely the same kind offered by a +person who is bound by the most undeserved preference, by the most +generous benefits, and by every thing which can bind human feeling, to +think and reflect ere he becomes an actor in any case in which it is +possible for her to be concerned." + +"Now, by mine honour," said Aymer de Valence, "I am glad to hear thee +make some attempt at reason, although it is but an unreasonable kind of +reason too, since its object is to destroy thine own hopes, and argue +away thine own chance of happiness; but if I have, in the progress of +this affair, borne me sometimes towards thee, as to give not only the +governor, but even the friend, some cause of displeasure, I will make +it up to thee now, John de Walton, by trying to convince thee in spite +of thine own perverse logic. But here comes the muscadel and the +breakfast; wilt thou take some refreshment;--or shall we go on without +the spirit of muscadel?" + +"For Heaven's sake," replied De Walton, "do as thou wilt, so thou make +me clear of thy well-intended babble." + +"Nay, thou shalt not brawl me out of my powers of argument," said De +Valence, laughing, and helping himself to a brimming cup of wine; "if +thou acknowledgest thyself conquered, I am contented to give the +victory to the inspiring strength of the jovial liquor." + +"Do as thou listest," said De Walton, "but make an end of an argument +which thou canst not comprehend." + +"I deny the charge," answered the younger knight, wiping his lips, +after having finished his draught; "and listen, Walton the Warlike, to +a chapter in the history of woman, in which thou art more unskilled +than I would wish thee to be. Thou canst not deny that, be it right or +wrong, the lady Augusta hath ventured more forward with you than is +usual upon the sea of affection; she boldly made thee her choice, while +thou wert as yet known to her only as a flower of English chivalry,-- +faith, and I respect her for her frankness--but it was a choice, which +the more cold of her own sex might perhaps claim occasion to term rash +and precipitate.--Nay, be not, I pray thee, offended--I am far from +thinking or saying so; on the contrary, I will uphold with my lance, +her selection of John de Walton against the minions of a court, to be a +wise and generous choice, and her own behaviour as alike candid and +noble. But she herself is not unlikely to dread unjust misconstruction; +a fear of which may not improbably induce her, upon any occasion, to +seize some opportunity of showing an unwonted and unusual rigour +towards her lover, in order to balance her having extended towards him, +in the beginning of their intercourse, somewhat of an unusual degree of +frank encouragement. Nay, it might be easy for her lover so far to take +part against himself, by arguing as thou dost, when out of thy senses, +as to make it difficult for her to withdraw from an argument which he +himself was foolish enough to strengthen; and thus, like a maiden too +soon taken at her first nay-say, she shall perhaps be allowed no +opportunity of bearing herself according to her real feelings, or +retracting a sentence issued with consent of the party whose hopes it +destroys." + +"I have heard thee, De Valence," answered the governor of Douglas Dale; +"nor is it difficult for me to admit, that these thy lessons may serve +as a chart to many a female heart, but not to that of Augusta de +Berkely. By my life, I say I would much sooner be deprived of the merit +of those few deeds of chivalry which thou sayest have procured for me +such enviable distinction, than I would act upon them with the +insolence, as if I said that my place in the lady's bosom was too +firmly fixed to be shaken even by the success of a worthier man, or by +my own gross failure in respect to the object of my attachment. No, +herself alone shall have power to persuade me that even goodness equal +to that of an interceding saint will restore me to the place in her +affections which I have most unworthily forfeited, by a stupidity only +to be compared to that of brutes." + +"If you are so minded," said Aymer De Valence, "I have only one word +more--forgive me if I speak it peremptorily--the lady, as you say, and +say truly, must be the final arbitress in this question. My arguments +do not extend to insisting that you should claim her hand, whether she +herself will or no; but, to learn her determination, it is necessary +that you should find out where she is, of which I am unfortunately not +able to inform you." + +"How! what mean you!" exclaimed the governor, who now only began to +comprehend the extent of his misfortune; "whither hath she fled? or +with whom?" + +"She is fled, for what I know," said De Valence, "in search of a more +enterprising lover than one who is so willing to interpret every air of +frost as a killing blight to his hopes; perhaps she seeks the Black +Douglas, or some such hero of the Thistle, to reward with her lands, +her lordships, and beauty, those virtues of enterprise and courage, of +which John de Walton was at one time thought possessed. But, seriously, +events are passing around us of strange import. I saw enough last night, +on my way to Saint Bride's, to make me suspicious of every one. I sent +to you as a prisoner the old sexton of the church of Douglas. I found +him contumacious as to some enquiries which I thought it proper to +prosecute; but of this more at another time. The escape of this lady +adds greatly to the difficulties which encircle this devoted castle." + +"Aymer de Valence," replied De Walton, in a solemn and animated tone, +"Douglas Castle shall be defended, as we have hitherto been able, with +the aid of heaven, to spread from its battlements the broad banner of +St. George. Come of me what lists during my life, I will die the +faithful lover of Augusta de Berkely, even although I no longer live as +her chosen knight. There are cloisters and hermitages"-- + +"Ay, marry are there," replied Sir Aymer; "and girdles of hemp, +moreover, and beads of oak; but all these we omit in our reckonings, +till we discover where the Lady Augusta is, and what she purposes to do +in this matter." + +"You say well," replied De Walton; "let us hold counsel together by +what means we shall, if possible, discover the lady's too hasty retreat, +by which she has done me great wrong; I mean, if she supposed her +commands would not have been fully obeyed, had she honoured with them +the governor of Douglas Dale, or any who are under his command." + +"Now," replied De Valence, "you again speak like a true son of chivalry. +With your permission I would summon this minstrel to our presence. His +fidelity to his mistress has been remarkable; and, as matters stand now, +we must take instant measures for tracing the place of her retreat." + + + + +CHAPTER THE FOURTEENTH. + + The way is long, my children, long and rough + The moors are dreary, and the woods are dark; + But he that creeps from cradle on to grave, + Unskill'd save in the velvet course of fortune, + Hath miss'd the discipline of noble hearts. + OLD PLAY. + + +It was yet early in the day, when, after the Governor and De Valence +had again summoned Bertram to their councils, the garrison of Douglas +was mustered, and a number of small parties, in addition to those +already despatched by De Valence from Hazelside, were sent out to scour +the woods in pursuit of the fugitives, with strict injunctions to treat +them, if overtaken, with the utmost respect, and to obey their commands, +keeping an eye, however, on the place where they might take refuge. To +facilitate this result, some who were men of discretion were intrusted +with the secret who the supposed pilgrim and the fugitive nun really +were. The whole ground, whether forest or moorland, within many miles +of Douglas Castle, was covered and traversed by parties, whose anxiety +to detect the fugitives was equal to the reward for their safe recovery, +liberally offered by De Walton and De Valence. They spared not, +meantime, to make such enquiries in all directions as might bring to +light any machinations of the Scottish insurgents which might be on +foot in those wild districts, of which, as we have said before, De +Valence, in particular, entertained strong suspicions. Their +instructions were, in case of finding such, to proceed against the +persons engaged, by arrest and otherwise, in the most rigorous manner, +such as had been commanded by De Walton himself at the time when the +Black Douglas and his accomplices had been the principal objects of his +wakeful suspicions. These various detachments had greatly reduced the +strength of the garrison; yet, although numerous, alert, and despatched +in every direction, they had not the fortune either to fall on the +trace of the Lady of Berkely, or to encounter any party whatever of the +insurgent Scottish. + +Meanwhile, our fugitives had, as we have seen, set out from the convent +of St. Bride under the guidance of a cavalier, of whom the Lady Augusta +knew nothing, save that he was to guide their steps in a direction +where they would not be exposed to the risk of being overtaken. At +length Margaret de Hautlieu herself spoke upon the subject. + +"You have made no enquiry," she said, "Lady Augusta, whither you are +travelling, or under whose charge, although methinks it should much +concern you to know." + +"Is it not enough for me to be aware," answered Lady Augusta, "that I +am travelling, kind sister, under the protection of one to whom you +yourself trust as to a friend; and why need I be anxious for any +farther assurance of my safety?" + +"Simply," said Margaret, de Hautlieu, "because the persons with whom, +from national as well as personal circumstances, I stand connected, are +perhaps not exactly the protectors to whom you, lady, can with such +perfect safety intrust yourself." + +"In what sense," said the Lady Augusta, "do you use these words?" + +"Because," replied Margaret de Hautlieu, "the Bruce, the Douglas, +Malcolm Fleming, and others of that party, although they are incapable +of abusing such an advantage to any dishonourable purpose, might +nevertheless, under a strong temptation, consider you as an hostage +thrown into their hands by Providence, through whom they might meditate +the possibility of gaining some benefit to their dispersed and +dispirited party." + +"They might make me," answered the Lady Augusta, "the subject of such a +treaty, when I was dead, but, believe me, never while I drew vital +breath. Believe me also that, with whatever pain, shame, or agony, I +would again deliver myself up to the power of De Walton, yes, I would +rather put myself in his hands--what do I say? _his_!--I would +rather surrender myself to the meanest archer of my native country, +than combine with its foes to work mischief to merry England---my own +England--that country which is the envy of every other country, and the +pride of all who can term themselves her natives!" + +"I thought that your choice might prove so," said Lady Margaret; "and +since you have honoured me with your confidence, gladly would I provide +for your liberty by placing you as nearly in the situation which you +yourself desire, as my poor means have the power of accomplishing. In +half an hour we shall be in danger of being taken by the English +parties, which will be instantly dispersed in every direction in quest +of us. Now, take notice, lady, I know a place in which I can take +refuge with my friends and countrymen, those gallant Scots, who have +never even in this dishonoured age bent the knee to Baal. For their +honour, their nicety of honour, I could in other days have answered +with my own; but of late, I am bound to tell you, they have been put to +those trials by which the most generous affections may be soured, and +driven to a species of frenzy, the more wild that it is founded +originally on the noblest feelings. A person who feels himself deprived +of his natural birthright, denounced, exposed to confiscation and death, +because he avouches the rights of his king, the cause of his country, +ceases on his part to be nice or precise in estimating the degree of +retaliation which it is lawful for him to exercise in the requital of +such injuries; and, believe me, bitterly should I lament having guided +you into a situation which you might consider afflicting or degrading." + +"In a word then," said the English lady, "what is it you apprehend I am +like to suffer at the hands of your friends, whom I must be excused for +terming rebels?" + +"If," said the sister Ursula, "_your_ friends, whom I should term +oppressors and tyrants, take our land and our lives, seize our castles, +and confiscate our property, you must confess, that the rough laws of +war indulge _mine_ with the privilege of retaliation. There can be +no fear, that such men, under any circumstances, would ever exercise +cruelty or insult upon a lady of your rank; but it is another thing to +calculate that they will abstain from such means of extorting advantage +from your captivity as are common in warfare. You would not, I think, +wish to be delivered up to the English, on consideration of Sir John de +Walton surrendering the Castle of Douglas to its natural lord; yet, +were you in the hands of the Bruce or Douglas, although I can answer +for your being treated with all the respect which they have the means +of showing, yet I own, their putting you at such a ransom might be by +no means unlikely." + +"I would sooner die," said the Lady Berkely, "than have my name mixed +up in a treaty so disgraceful; and De Walton's reply to it would, I am +certain, be to strike the head from the messenger, and throw it from +the highest tower of Douglas Castle." + +"Where, then, lady, would you now go," said sister Ursula, "were the +choice in your power?" + +"To my own castle," answered Lady Augusta, "where, if necessary, I +could be defended even against the king himself, until I could place at +least my person under the protection of the Church." + +"In that case," replied Margaret de Hautlieu, "my power of rendering +you assistance is only precarious, yet it comprehends a choice which I +will willingly submit to your decision, notwithstanding I thereby +subject the secrets of my friends to some risk of being discovered and +frustrated. But the confidence which you have placed in me, imposes on +me the necessity of committing to you a like trust. It rests with you, +whether you will proceed with me to the secret rendezvous of the +Douglas and his friends, which I may be blamed for making known, and +there take your chance of the reception which you may encounter, since +I cannot warrant you of any thing save honourable treatment, so far as +your person is concerned; or if you should think this too hazardous, +make the best of your way at once for the Border; in which last case I +will proceed as far as I can with you towards the English line, and +then leave you to pursue your journey, and to obtain a guard and a +conductor among your own countrymen. Meantime, it will be well for me +if I escape being taken, since the abbot would not shrink at inflicting +upon me the death due to an apostate nun." + +"Such cruelty, my sister, could hardly be inflicted upon one who had +never taken the religious vows, and who still, according to the laws of +the Church, had a right to make a choice between the world and the +veil." + +"Such choice as they gave their gallant victims," said Lady Margaret, +"who have fallen into English hands during these merciless wars,--such +choice as they gave to Wallace, the Champion of Scotland,--such as they +gave to Hay, the gentle and the free,--to Sommerville, the flower of +chivalry,--and to Athol, the blood relation of King Edward himself--all +of whom were as much traitors, under which name they were executed, as +Margaret de Hautlieu is an apostate nun, and subject to the rule of the +cloister." + +She spoke with some eagerness, for she felt as if the English lady +imputed to her more coldness than she was, in such doubtful +circumstances, conscious of manifesting. + +"And after all," she proceeded, "you, Lady Augusta de Berkely, what do +you venture, if you run the risk of falling into the hands of your +lover? What dreadful risk do you incur? You need not, methinks, fear +being immured between four walls, with a basket of bread and a cruise +of water, which, were I seized, would be the only support allowed to me +for the short space that my life would be prolonged. Nay, even were you +to be betrayed to the rebel Scots, as you call them, a captivity among +the hills, sweetened by the hope of deliverance, and rendered tolerable +by all the alleviations which the circumstances of your captors allowed +them the means of supplying, were not, I think, a lot so very hard to +endure." + +"Nevertheless," answered the Lady of Berkely, "frightful enough it must +have appeared to me, since, to fly from such, I threw myself upon your +guidance." + +"And, whatever you think or suspect," answered the novice, "I am as +true to you as ever was one maiden to another; and as sure as ever +sister Ursula was true to her vows, although they were never completed, +so will I be faithful to your secret, even at the risk of betraying my +own." + +"Hearken, lady!" she said, suddenly pausing, "do you hear that?" + +The sound to which she alluded was the same imitation of the cry of an +owlet, which the lady had before heard under the walls of the convent. + +"These sounds," said Margaret de Hautlieu, "announce that one is near, +more able than I am to direct us in this matter. I must go forward and +speak with him; and this man, our guide, will remain by you for a +little space; nor, when he quits your bridle, need you wait for any +other signal, but ride forward on the woodland path, and obey the +advice and directions which will be given you." + +"Stay! stay! sister Ursula!" cried the Lady de Berkely--"abandon me not +in this moment of uncertainty and distress!" + +"It must be, for the sake of both," returned Margaret de Hautlieu. "I +also am in uncertainty--I also am in distress--and patience and +obedience are the only virtues which can save us both." + +So saying, she struck her horse with the riding rod, and moving briskly +forward, disappeared among the tangled boughs of a thicket. The Lady of +Berkely would have followed her companion, but the cavalier who +attended them laid a strong hand upon the bridle of her palfrey, with a +look which implied that he would not permit her to proceed in that +direction. Terrified, therefore, though she could not exactly state a +reason why, the Lady of Berkely remained with her eyes fixed upon the +thicket, instinctively, as it were, expecting to see a band of English +archers, or rugged Scottish insurgents, issue from its tangled skirts, +and doubtful which she should have most considered as the objects of +her terror. In the distress of her uncertainty, she again attempted to +move forward, but the stern check which her attendant again bestowed +upon her bridle, proved sufficiently that in restraining her wishes, +the stranger was not likely to spare the strength which he certainly +possessed. At length, after some ten minutes had elapsed, the cavalier +withdrew his hand from her bridle, and pointing with his lance towards +the thicket, through which there winded a narrow, scarce visible path, +seemed to intimate to the lady that her road lay in that direction, and +that he would no longer prevent her following it. + +"Do you not go with me?" said the lady, who, having been accustomed to +this man's company since they left the convent, had by degrees come to +look upon him as a sort of protector. He, however, gravely shook his +head, as if to excuse complying with a request, which it was not in his +power to grant; and turning his steed in a different direction, retired +at a pace which soon carried him from her sight. She had then no +alternative but to take the path of the thicket, which had been +followed by Margaret de Hautlieu, nor did she pursue it long before +coming in sight of a singular spectacle. The trees grew wider as the +lady advanced, and when she entered the thicket, she perceived that, +though hedged in as it were by an enclosure of copsewood, it was in the +interior altogether occupied by a few of the magnificent trees, such as +seemed to have been the ancestors of the forest, and which, though few +in number, were sufficient to overshade all the unoccupied ground, by +the great extent of their complicated branches. Beneath one of these +lay stretched something of a grey colour, which, as it drew itself +together, exhibited the figure of a man sheathed in armour, but +strangely accoutred, and in a manner so bizarre, as to indicate some of +the wild fancies peculiar to the knights of that period. His armour was +ingeniously painted, so as to represent a skeleton; the ribs being +constituted by the corselet and its back-piece. The shield represented +an owl with its wings spread, a device which was repeated upon the +helmet, which appeared to be completely covered by an image of the same +bird of ill omen. But that which was particularly calculated to excite +surprise in the spectator, was the great height and thinness of the +figure, which, as it arose from the ground, and placed itself in an +erect posture, seemed rather to resemble an apparition in the act of +extricating itself from the grave, than that of an ordinary man rising +upon his feet. The horse, too, upon which the lady rode, started back +and snorted, either at the sudden change of posture of this ghastly +specimen of chivalry, or disagreeably affected by some odour which +accompanied his presence. The lady herself manifested some alarm, for +although she did not utterly believe she was in the presence of a super +natural being, yet, among all the strange half-frantic disguises of +chivalry this was assuredly the most uncouth which she had ever seen; +and, considering how often the knights of the period pushed their +dreamy fancies to the borders of insanity, it seemed at best no very +safe adventure to meet? one accoutred in the emblems of the King of +Terrors himself, alone, and in the midst of a wild forest. Be the +knight's character and purposes what they might, she resolved, however, +to accost him in the language and manner observed in romances upon such +occasions, in the hope even that if he were a madman he might prove a +peaceable one, and accessible to civility. + +"Sir Knight," she said, in as firm a tone as she could assume, "right +sorry am I, if, by my hasty approach, I have disturbed your solitary +meditations. My horse, sensible I think of the presence of yours, +brought me hither, without my being aware whom or what I was to +encounter." + +"I am one," answered the stranger, in a solemn tone, "whom few men seek +to meet, till the time comes that they can avoid me no longer." + +"You speak, Sir Knight," replied the Lady de Berkely, "according to the +dismal character of which it has pleased you to assume the distinction. +May I appeal to one whose exterior is so formidable, for the purpose of +requesting some directions to guide me through this wild wood; as, for +instance, what is the name of the nearest castle, town, or hostelry, +and by what course I am best likely to reach such?" + +"It is a singular audacity," answered the Knight of the Tomb, "that +would enter into conversation with him who is termed the Inexorable, +the Unsparing, and the Pitiless, whom even the most miserable forbears +to call to his assistance, lest his prayers should be too soon +answered." + +"Sir Knight," replied the Lady Augusta, "the character which you have +assumed, unquestionably for good reasons, dictates to you a peculiar +course of speech; but although your part is a sad one, it does not, I +should suppose, render it necessary for you to refuse those acts of +civility to which you must have bound yourself in taking the high vows +of chivalry." + +"If you will trust to my guidance," replied the ghastly figure, "there +is only one condition upon which I can grant you the information which +you require; and that is, that you follow my footsteps without any +questions asked as to the tendency of our journey." + +"I suppose I must submit to your conditions," she answered, "if you are +indeed pleased to take upon yourself the task of being my guide. In my +heart I conceive you to be one of the unhappy gentlemen of Scotland, +who are now in arms, as they say, for the defence of their liberties. A +rash undertaking has brought me within the sphere of your influence, +and now the only favour I have to request of you, against whom I never +did, nor planned any evil, is the guidance which your knowledge of the +country permits you easily to afford me in my way to the frontiers of +England. Believe that what I may see of your haunts or of your +practices, shall be to me things invisible, as if they were actually +concealed by the sepulchre itself, of the king of which it has pleased +you to assume the attributes; and if a sum of money, enough to be the +ransom of a wealthy earl, will purchase such a favour at need, such a +ransom will be frankly paid, and with as much fidelity as ever it was +rendered by a prisoner to the knight by whom he was taken. Do not +reject me, princely Bruce--noble Douglas--if indeed it is to either of +these that I address myself in this my last extremity--men speak of +both as fearful enemies, but generous knights and faithful friends. Let +me entreat you to remember how much you would wish your own friends and +connexions to meet with compassion under similar circumstances, at the +hands of the knights of England." + +"And have they done so?" replied the Knight, in a voice more gloomy +than before, "or do you act wisely, while imploring the protection of +one whom you believe to be a true Scottish knight, for no other reason +than the extreme and extravagant misery of his appearance?--is it, I +say, well or wise to remind him of the mode in which the lords of +England have treated the lovely maidens and the high-born dames of +Scotland? Have not their prison cages been suspended from the +battlements of castles, that their captivity might be kept in view of +every base burgher, who should desire to look upon the miseries of the +noblest peeresses, yea, even the Queen of Scotland? [Footnote: The +Queen of Robert the Bruce, and the Countess of Buchan, by whom, as one +of Macduff's descent, he was crowned at Scone, were secured in the +manner described.] Is this a recollection which can inspire a Scottish +knight with compassion towards an English lady? or is it a thought +which can do aught but swell the deeply sworn hatred of Edward +Plantagenet, the author of these evils, that boils in every drop of +Scottish blood which still feels the throb of life? No;--it is all you +can expect, if, cold and pitiless as the sepulchre I represent, I leave +you unassisted in the helpless condition in which you describe yourself +to be." + +"You will not be so inhuman," replied the lady; "in doing so you must +surrender every right to honest fame, which you have won either by +sword or lance. You must surrender every pretence to that justice which +affects the merit of supporting the weak against the strong. You must +make it your principle to avenge the wrongs and tyranny of Edward +Plantagenet upon the dames and damosels of England, who have neither +access to his councils, nor perhaps give him their approbation in his +wars against Scotland." + +"It would not then," said the Knight of the Sepulchre, "induce you to +depart from your request, should I tell you the evils to which you +would subject yourself should we fall into the hands of the English +troops, and should they find you under such ill-omened protection as my +own?" + +"Be assured," said the lady, "the consideration of such an event does +not in the least shake my resolution, or desire of confiding in your +protection. You may probably know who I am, and may judge how far even, +Edward would hold himself entitled to extend punishment towards me." + +"How am I to know you," replied the ghastly cavalier, "or your +circumstances? They must be extraordinary indeed, if they could form a +check, either of justice or humanity, upon the revengeful feelings of +Edward. All who know him are well assured that it is no ordinary motive +that will induce him to depart from the indulgence of his evil temper. +But be it as it may, you, lady, if a lady you be, throw yourself as a +burden upon me, and I must discharge myself of my trust as I best may; +for this purpose you must be guided implicitly by my directions, which +will be given after the fashion of those of the spiritual world, being +intimations, rather than detailed instructions for your conduct, and +expressed rather by commands, than, by any reason or argument. In this +way it is possible that I may be of service to you; in any other case, +it is most likely that I may fail you at need, and melt from your side +like a phantom which dreads the approach of day." + +"You cannot be so cruel!" answered the lady. "A gentleman, a knight, +and a nobleman--and I persuade myself I speak to all--hath duties which +he cannot abandon." + +"He has, I grant it, and they are most sacred to me," answered the +Spectral Knight; "but I have also duties whose obligations are doubly +binding, and to which I must sacrifice those which would otherwise lead +me to devote myself to your rescue. The only question is whether you +feel inclined to accept my protection on the limited terms on which +alone I can extend it, or whether you deem it better that each go their +own way, and limit themselves to their own resources, and trust the +rest to Providence?" "Alas!" replied the lady, "beset and hard pressed +as I am, to ask me to form a resolution for myself, is like calling on +the wretch in the act of falling from a precipice, to form a calm +judgment by what twig he may best gain the chance of breaking his fall. +His answer must necessarily be, that he will cling to that which he can +easiest lay hold of, and trust the rest to Providence. I accept +therefore your offer of protection in the modified way you are pleased +to limit it, and I put my faith in Heaven and in you. To aid me +effectually, however, you must know my name and my circumstances." + +"All these," answered the Knight of the Sepulchre, "have already been +told me by your late companion; for deem not, young lady, that either +beauty, rank, extended domains, unlimited wealth, or the highest +accomplishments, can weigh any thing in the consideration of him who +wears the trappings of the tomb, and whose affections and desires are +long buried in the charnel-house." + +"May your faith," said the Lady Augusta de Berkely, "be as steady as +your words appear severe, and I submit to your guidance, without the +least doubt or fear that it will prove otherwise than as I venture to +hope." + + + + +CHAPTER THE FIFTEENTH. + + +Like the dog following its master, when engaged in training him to the +sport in which he desires he should excel, the Lady Augusta felt +herself occasionally treated with a severity, calculated to impress +upon her the most implicit obedience and attention to the Knight of the +Tomb, in whom she had speedily persuaded herself she saw a principal +man among the retainers of Douglas, if not James of Douglas himself. +Still, however, the ideas which the lady had formed of the redoubted +Douglas, were those of a knight highly accomplished in the duties of +chivalry, devoted in particular to the service of the fair sex, and +altogether unlike the personage with whom she found herself so +strangely united, or rather for the present enthralled to. Nevertheless, +when, as if to abridge farther communication, he turned short into one +of the mazes of the wood, and seemed to adopt a pace, which, from the +nature of the ground, the horse on which the Lady Augusta was mounted +had difficulty to keep up with, she followed him with the alarm and +speed of the young spaniel, which from fear rather than fondness, +endeavours to keep up with the track of its severe master. The simile, +it is true, is not a very polite one, nor entirely becoming an age, +when women were worshipped with a certain degree of devotion; but such +circumstances as the present were also rare, and the Lady Augusta de +Berkely could not but persuade herself that the terrible champion, +whose name had been so long the theme of her anxiety, and the terror +indeed of the whole country, might be able, some way or other, to +accomplish her deliverance. She, therefore, exerted herself to the +utmost, so as to keep pace with the phantom-like apparition, and +followed the knight, as the evening shadow keeps watch upon the belated +rustic. + +As the lady obviously suffered under the degree of exertion necessary +to keep her palfrey from stumbling in these steep and broken paths, the +Knight of the Tomb slackened his pace, looked anxiously around him, and +muttered apparently to himself, though probably intended for his +companion's ear, "There is no occasion for so much haste." + +He proceeded at a slower rate, until they seemed to be on the brink of +a ravine, being one of many irregularities on the surface of the ground, +effected by the sudden torrents peculiar to that country, and which, +winding among the trees and copse-wood, formed, as it were, a net of +places of concealment, opening into each other, so that there was +perhaps no place in the world so fit for the purpose of ambuscade. The +spot where the borderer Turnbull had made his escape at the hunting +match, was one specimen of this broken country, and perhaps connected +itself with the various thickets and passes through which the knight +and pilgrim occasionally seemed to take their way, though that ravine +was at a considerable distance from their present route. + +Meanwhile the knight led the way, as if rather with the purpose of +bewildering the Lady Augusta amidst these interminable woods, than +following any exact or fixed path. Here they ascended, and anon +appeared to descend in the same direction, finding only boundless +wildernesses, and varied combinations of tangled woodland scenery. Such +part of the country as seemed arable, the knight appeared carefully to +avoid; yet he could not direct his course with so much certainty but +that he occasionally crossed the path of inhabitants and cultivators, +who showed a consciousness of so singular a presence, but never as the +lady observed evinced any symptoms of recognition. The inference was +obvious, that the spectre knight was known in the country, and that he +possessed adherents or accomplices there, who were at least so far his +friends, as to avoid giving any alarm, which might be the means of his +discovery. The well-imitated cry of the night-owl, too frequent a guest +in the wilderness that its call should be a subject of surprise, seemed +to be a signal generally understood among them; for it was heard in +different parts of the wood, and the Lady Augusta, experienced in such +journeys by her former travels under the guidance of the minstrel +Bertram, was led to observe, that on hearing such wild notes, her guide +changed the direction of his course, and betook himself to paths which +led through deeper wilds, and more impenetrable thickets. This happened +so often, that a new alarm came upon the unfortunate pilgrim, which +suggested other motives of terror. Was she not the confidant, and +almost the tool of some artful design, laid with a view to an extensive +operation, which was destined to terminate, as the efforts of Douglas +had before done, in the surprise of his hereditary castle, the massacre +of the English garrison--and finally in the dishonour and death of that +Sir John de Walton, upon whose fate she had long believed, or taught +herself to believe, that her own was dependent? + +It no sooner flashed across the mind of the Lady Augusta that she was +engaged in some such conspiracy with a Scottish insurgent, than she +shuddered at the consequences of the dark transactions in which she had +now become involved, and which appeared to have a tendency so very +different from what she had at first apprehended. + +The hours of the morning of this remarkable day, being that of Palm +Sunday, were thus drawn out in wandering from place to place; while the +Lady de Berkely occasionally interposed by petitions for liberty, which +she endeavoured to express in the most moving and pathetic manner, and +by offers of wealth and treasures, to which no answer whatever was +returned by her strange guide. + +At length, as if worn out by his captive's importunity, the knight, +coming close up to the bridle-rein of the Lady Augusta, said in a +solemn tone-- + +"I am, as you may well believe, none of those knights who roam through +wood and wild, seeking adventures, by which I may obtain grace in the +eyes of a fair lady: Yet will I to a certain degree grant the request +which thou dost solicit so anxiously, and the arbitration of thy fate +shall depend upon the pleasure of him to whose will thou hast expressed +thyself ready to submit thine own. I will, on our arrival at the place +of our destination, which is now at hand, write to Sir John de Walton, +and send my letter, together with thy fair self, by a special messenger. +He will, no doubt, speedily attend our summons, and thou shalt thyself +be satisfied, that even he who has as yet appeared deaf to entreaty, +and insensible to earthly affections, has still some sympathy for +beauty and for virtue. I will put the choice of safety, and thy future +happiness, into thine own hands, and those of the man whom thou hast +chosen; and thou mayst select which thou wilt betwixt those and +misery." + +While he thus spoke, one of those ravines or clefts in the earth seemed +to yawn before them, and entering it at the upper end, the spectre +knight, with an attention which he had not yet shown, guided the lady's +courser by the rein down the broken and steep path by which alone the +bottom of the tangled dingle was accessible. + +When placed on firm ground after the dangers of a descent, in which her +palfrey seemed to be sustained by the personal strength and address of +the singular being who had hold of the bridle, the lady looked with +some astonishment at a place so well adapted for concealment as that +which she had now reached. It appeared evident that it was used for +this purpose, for more than one stifled answer was given to a very low +bugle-note emitted by the Knight of the Tomb; and when the same note +was repeated, about half a score of armed men, some wearing the dress +of soldiers, others those of shepherds and agriculturists, showed +themselves imperfectly, as if acknowledging the summons. + + + + +CHAPTER THE SIXTEENTH. + + +"Hail to you, my gallant friends!" said the Knight of the Tomb to his +companions, who seemed to welcome him with the eagerness of men engaged +in the same perilous undertaking. "The winter has passed over, the +festival of Palm Sunday is come, and as surely as the ice and snow of +this season shall not remain to chill the earth through the ensuing +summer, so surely we, in a few hours, keep our word to those southern +braggarts, who think their language of boasting and malice has as much +force over our Scottish bosoms, as the blast possesses over the autumn +fruits; but it is not so. While we choose to remain concealed, they may +as vainly seek to descry us, as a housewife would search for the needle +she has dropped among the withered foliage of yon gigantic oak. Yet a +few hours, and the lost needle shall become the exterminating sword of +the Genius of Scotland, avenging ten thousand injuries, and especially +the life of the gallant Lord Douglas, cruelly done to death as an exile +from his native country." + +An exclamation between a yell and a groan burst from the assembled +retainers of Douglas, upon being reminded of the recent death of their +chieftain; while they seemed at the same time sensible of the necessity +of making little noise, lest they should give the alarm to some of the +numerous English parties which were then traversing different parts of +the forest. The acclamation, so cautiously uttered, had scarce died +away in silence, when the Knight of the Tomb, or, to call him by his +proper name, Sir James Douglas, again addressed his handful of faithful +followers. + +"One effort, my friends, may yet be made to end our strife with the +Southron without bloodshed. Fate has within a few hours thrown into my +power the young heiress of Berkely, for whose sake it is said Sir John +de Walton keeps with such obstinacy the castle which is mine by +inheritance. Is there one among you who dare go, as the honourable +escort of Augusta de Berkely, bearing a letter, explaining the terms on +which I am willing to restore her to her lover, to freedom, and to her +English lordships?" + +"If there is none other," said a tall man, dressed in the tattered +attire of a woodsman, and being, in fact, no other than the very +Michael Turnbull, who had already given so extraordinary a proof of his +undaunted manhood, "I will gladly be the person who will be the lady's +henchman on this expedition." + +"Thou art never wanting," said the Douglas, "where a manly deed is to +be done; but remember, this lady must pledge to us her word and oath +that she will hold herself our faithful prisoner, rescue or no rescue; +that she will consider herself as pledged for the life, freedom, and +fair usage of Michael Turnbull; and that if Sir John de Walton refuse +my terms, she must hold herself obliged to return with Turnbull to our +presence, in order to be disposed of at our pleasure." + +There was much in these conditions, which struck the Lady Augusta with +natural doubt and horror; nevertheless, strange as it may seem, the +declaration of the Douglas gave a species of decision to her situation, +which might have otherwise been unattainable; and from the high opinion +which she entertained of the Douglas's chivalry, she could not bring +herself to think, that any part which he might play in the approaching +drama would be other than that which a perfect good knight would, under +all circumstances, maintain towards his enemy. Even with respect to De +Walton, she felt herself relieved of a painful difficulty. The idea of +her being discovered by the knight himself, in a male disguise, had +preyed upon her spirits; and she felt as if guilty of a departure from +the laws of womanhood, in having extended her favour towards him beyond +maidenly limits; a step, too, which might tend to lessen her in the +eyes of the lover for whom she had hazarded so much. + + "The heart, she said, is lightly prized, + That is but lightly won; + And Long shall mourn the heartless man, + That leaves his love too soon." + +On the other hand, to be brought before him as a prisoner, was indeed a +circumstance equally perplexing as unpleasing, but it was one which was +beyond her control, and the Douglas, into whose hands she had fallen, +appeared to her to represent the deity in the play, whose entrance was +almost sufficient to bring its perplexities to a conclusion; she +therefore not unwillingly submitted to take what oaths and promises +were required by the party in whose hands she found herself, and +accordingly engaged to be a true prisoner, whatever might occur. +Meantime she strictly obeyed the directions of those who had her +motions at command, devoutly praying that circumstances, in themselves +so adverse, might nevertheless work together for the safety of her +lover and her own freedom. + +A pause ensued, during which a slight repast was placed before the Lady +Augusta, who was well-nigh exhausted with the fatigues of her journey. + +Douglas and his partisans, meanwhile, whispered together, as if +unwilling she should hear their conference; while, to purchase their +good-will, if possible, she studiously avoided every appearance of +listening. + +After some conversation, Turnbull, who appeared to consider the lady as +peculiarly his charge, said to her in a harsh voice, "Do not fear, +lady; no wrong shall be done you; nevertheless, you must be content for +a space to be blindfolded." + +She submitted to this in silent terror; and the trooper, wrapping part +of a mantle round her head, did not assist her to remount her palfrey, +but lent her his arm to support her in this blinded state. + + + + +CHAPTER THE SEVENTEENTH. + + +The ground which they traversed was, as Lady Augusta could feel, very +broken and uneven, and sometimes, as she thought, encumbered with ruins, +which were difficult to surmount. The strength of her comrade assisted +her forward on such occasions; but his help was so roughly administered, +that the lady once or twice, in fear or suffering, was compelled to +groan or sigh heavily, whatever was her desire to suppress such +evidence of the apprehension which she underwent, or the pain which she +endured. Presently, upon an occasion of this kind, she was distinctly +sensible that the rough woodsman was removed from her side, and another +of the party substituted in his stead, whose voice, more gentle than +that of his companions, she thought she had lately heard. + +"Noble lady," were the words, "fear not the slightest injury at our +hands, and accept of my ministry instead of that of my henchman, who +has gone forward with our letter; do not think me presuming on my +situation if I bear you in my arms through ruins where you could not +easily move alone and blindfold." + +At the same time the Lady Augusta Berkely felt herself raised from the +earth in the strong arms of a man, and borne onward with the utmost +gentleness, without the necessity of making those painful exertions +which had been formerly required. She was ashamed of her situation; but, +however delicate, it was no time to give vent to complaints, which +might have given offence to persons whom it was her interest to +conciliate. She, therefore, submitted to necessity, and heard the +following words whispered in her ear. + +"Fear nothing; there is no evil intended you; nor shall Sir John de +Walton, if he loves you as you deserve at his hand, receive any harm on +our part. We call on him but to do justice to ourselves and to you; and +be assured you will best accomplish your own happiness by aiding our +views, which are equally in favour of your wishes and your freedom." + +The Lady Augusta would have made some answer to this, but her breath, +betwixt fear and the speed with which she was transported, refused to +permit her to use intelligible accents. Meantime she began to be +sensible that she was enclosed within some building, and probably a +ruinous one--for although the mode of her transportation no longer +permitted her to ascertain the nature of her path in any respect +distinctly, yet the absence of the external air--which was, however, +sometimes excluded, and sometimes admitted in furious gusts--intimated +that she was conducted through buildings partly entire, and in other +places admitting the wind through wide rents and gaps. In one place it +seemed to the lady as if she passed through a considerable body of +people, all of whom observed silence, although there was sometimes +heard among them a murmur, to which every one present in some degree +contributed, although the general sound did not exceed a whisper. Her +situation made her attend to every circumstance, and she did not fail +to observe that these persons made way for him who bore her, until at +length she became sensible that he descended by the regular steps of a +stair, and that she was now alone excepting his company. Arrived, as it +appeared to the lady, on more level ground, they proceeded on their +singular road by a course which appeared neither direct nor easy, and +through an atmosphere which was close to a smothering degree, and felt +at the same time damp and disagreeable, as if from the vapours of a +new-made grave. Her guide again spoke. + +"Bear up, Lady Augusta, for a little longer, and continue to endure +that atmosphere which must be one day common to us all. By the +necessity of my situation, I must resign my present office to your +original guide, and can only give you my assurance, that neither he, +nor any one else, shall offer you the least incivility or insult--and +on this you may rely, on the faith of a man of honour." + +He placed her, as he said these words, upon the soft turf, and, to her +infinite refreshment, made her sensible that she was once more in the +open air, and free from the smothering atmosphere which had before +oppressed her like that of a charnel-house. At the same time, she +breathed in a whisper an anxious wish that she might be permitted to +disencumber herself from the folds of the mantle which excluded almost +the power of breathing, though intended only to prevent her seeing by +what road she travelled. She immediately found it unfolded, agreeably +to her request, and hastened, with uncovered eyes, to take note of the +scene around her. + +It was overshadowed by thick oak trees, among which stood some remnants +of buildings, or what might have seemed such, being perhaps the same in +which she had been lately wandering. A clear fountain of living water +bubbled forth from under the twisted roots of one of those trees, and +offered the lady the opportunity of a draught of the pure element, and +in which she also bathed her face, which had received more than one +scratch in the course of her journey, in spite of the care, and almost +the tenderness, with which she had latterly been borne along. The cool +water speedily stopt the bleeding of those trifling injuries, and the +application served at the same time to recall the scattered senses of +the damsel herself. Her first idea was, whether an attempt to escape, +if such should appear possible, was not advisable. A moment's +reflection, however, satisfied her that such a scheme was not to be +thought of; and such second thoughts were confirmed by the approach of +the gigantic form of the huntsman Turnbull, the rough tones of whose +voice were heard before his figure was obvious to her eye. + +"Were you impatient for my return, fair lady? Such as I," he continued +in an ironical tone of voice, "who are foremost in the chase of wild +stags and silvan cattle, are not in use to lag behind, when fair ladies, +like you, are the objects of pursuit; and if I am not so constant in my +attendance as you might expect, believe me, it is because I was engaged +in another matter, to which I must sacrifice for a little even the duty +of attending on you." + +"I offer no resistance," said the lady; "forbear, however, in +discharging thy duty, to augment my uneasiness by thy conversation, for +thy master hath pledged me his word that he will not suffer me to be +alarmed or ill treated." + +"Nay, fair one," replied the huntsman, "I ever thought it was fit to +make interest by soft words with fair ladies; but if you like it not, I +have no such pleasure in hunting for fine holyday terms, but that I can +with equal ease hold myself silent. Come, then, since we must wait upon +this lover of yours ere morning closes, and learn his last resolution +touching a matter which is become so strangely complicated, I will hold +no more intercourse with you as a female, but talk to you as a person +of sense, although an Englishwoman." + +"You will," replied the lady, "best fulfil the intentions of those by +whose orders you act, by holding no society with me whatever, otherwise +than is necessary in the character of guide." + +The man lowered his brows, yet seemed to assent to what the Lady of +Berkely proposed, and remained silent as they for some time pursued +their course, each pondering over their own share of meditation, which +probably turned upon matters essentially different. At length the loud +blast of a bugle was heard at no great distance from the unsocial +fellow-travellers. + +"That is the person we seek," said Turnbull; "I know his blast from any +other who frequents this forest, and my orders are to bring you to +speech of him." + +The blood darted rapidly through the lady's veins at the thought of +being thus unceremoniously presented to the knight, in whose favour she +had confessed a rash preference more agreeable to the manners of those +times, when exaggerated sentiments often inspired actions of +extravagant generosity, than in our days, when every thing is accounted +absurd which does not turn upon a motive connected with the immediate +selfish interests of the actor himself. When Turnbull, therefore, +winded his horn, as if in answer to the blast which they had heard, the +lady was disposed to fly at the first impulse of shame and of fear. +Turnbull perceived her intention, and caught hold of her with no very +gentle grasp, saying--"Nay, lady, it is to be understood that you play +your own part in the drama, which, unless you continue on the stage, +will conclude unsatisfactorily to us all, in a combat at outrance +between your lover and me, when it will appear which of us is most +worthy of your favour." + +"I will be patient," said the lady, bethinking her that even this +strange man's presence, and the compulsion which he appeared to use +towards her, was a sort of excuse to her female scruples, for coming +into the presence of her lover, at least at her first appearance before +him, in a disguise which her feelings confessed was not extremely +decorous, or reconcilable to the dignity of her sex. + +The moment after these thoughts had passed through her mind, the tramp +of a horse was heard approaching; and Sir John de Walton, pressing +through the trees, became aware of the presence of his lady, captive, +as it seemed, in the grasp of a Scottish outlaw, who was only known to +him by his former audacity at the hunting-match. + +His surprise and joy only supplied the knight with those hasty +expressions--"Caitiff, let go thy hold! or die in thy profane attempt +to control the motions of one whom the very sun in heaven should be +proud to obey." At the same time, apprehensive that the huntsman might +hurry the lady from his sight by means of some entangled path--such as +upon a former occasion had served him for escape Sir John de Walton +dropt his cumbrous lance, of which the trees did not permit him the +perfect use, and springing from his horse, approached Turnbull with his +drawn sword. + +The Scotchman, keeping his left hand still upon the lady's mantle, +uplifted with his right his battle-axe, or Jedwood staff, for the +purpose of parrying and returning the blow of his antagonist, but the +lady spoke. + +"Sir John de Walton," she said, "for heaven's sake, forbear all +violence, till you hear upon what pacific object I am brought hither, +and by what peaceful means these wars may be put an end to. This man, +though an enemy of yours, has been to me a civil and respectful +guardian; and I entreat you to forbear him while he speaks the purpose +for which he has brought me hither." + +"To speak of compulsion and the Lady de Berkely in the same breath, +would itself be cause enough for instant death," said the Governor of +Douglas Castle; "but you command, lady, and I spare his insignificant +life, although I have causes of complaint against him, the least of +which were good warrant, had he a thousand lives, for the forfeiture of +them all." + +"John de Walton," replied Turnbull, "this lady well knows that no fear +of thee operates in my mind to render this a peaceful meeting; and were +I not withheld by other circumstances of great consideration to the +Douglas as well as thyself, I should have no more fear in facing the +utmost thou couldst do, than I have now in levelling that sapling to +the earth it grows upon." + +So saying, Michael Turnbull raised his battle-axe, and struck from a +neighbouring oak-tree a branch, wellnigh as thick as a man's arm, which +(with all its twigs and leaves) rushed to the ground between De Walton +and the Scotchman, giving a singular instance of the keenness of his +weapon, and the strength and dexterity with which he used it. + +"Let there be truce, then, between us, good fellow," said Sir John de +Walton, "since it is the lady's pleasure that such should be the case, +and let me know what thou hast to say to me respecting her?" + +"On that subject," said Turnbull, "my words are few, but mark them, Sir +Englishman. The Lady Augusta Berkely, wandering in this country, has +become a prisoner of the noble Lord Douglas, the rightful inheritor of +the Castle and lordship, and he finds himself obliged to attach to the +liberty of this lady the following conditions, being in all respects +such as good and lawful warfare entitles a knight to exact. That is to +say, in all honour and safety the Lady Augusta shall be delivered to +Sir John de Walton, or those whom he shall name, for the purpose of +receiving her. On the other hand, the Castle of Douglas itself, +together with all out-posts or garrisons thereunto belonging, shall be +made over and surrendered by Sir John de Walton, in the same situation, +and containing the same provisions and artillery, as are now within +their walls; and the space of a month of truce shall be permitted to +Sir James Douglas and Sir John de Walton farther to regulate the terms +of surrender on both parts, having first plighted their knightly word +and oath, that in the exchange of the honourable lady for the foresaid +castle, lies the full import of the present agreement, and that every +other subject of dispute shall, at the pleasure of the noble knights +foresaid, be honourably compounded and agreed betwixt them; or at their +pleasure, settled knightly by single combat according to usage, and in +a fair field, before any honourable person, that may possess power +enough to preside." + +It is not easy to conceive the astonishment of Sir John de Walton at +hearing the contents of this extraordinary cartel; he looked towards +the Lady of Berkely with that aspect of despair with which a criminal +may be supposed to see his guardian angel prepare for departure. +Through her mind also similar ideas flowed, as if they contained a +concession of what she had considered as the summit of her wishes, but +under conditions disgraceful to her lover, like the cherub's fiery +sword of yore, which was a barrier between our first parents and the +blessings of Paradise. Sir John de Walton, after a moment's hesitation, +broke silence in these words:-- + +"Noble lady, you may be surprised if a condition be imposed upon me, +having for its object your freedom; and if Sir John de Walton, already +standing under those obligations to you, which he is proud of +acknowledging, should yet hesitate on accepting, with the utmost +eagerness, what must ensure your restoration to freedom and +independence; but so it is, that the words now spoken have thrilled in +mine ear without reaching to my understanding, and I must pray the Lady +of Berkely for pardon if I take time to reconsider them for a short +space." + +"And I," replied Turnbull, "have only power to allow you half an hour +for the consideration of an offer, in accepting which, methinks, you +should jump shoulder-height instead of asking any time for reflection. +What does this cartel exact, save what your duty as a knight implicitly +obliges you to? You have engaged yourself to become the agent of the +tyrant Edward, in holding Douglas Castle, as his commander, to the +prejudice of the Scottish nation, and of the Knight of Douglas Dale, +who never, as a community or as an individual, were guilty of the least +injury towards you; you are therefore prosecuting a false path, +unworthy of a good knight. On the other hand, the freedom and safety of +your lady is now proposed to be pledged to you, with a full assurance +of her liberty and honour, on consideration of your withdrawing from +the unjust line of conduct, in which you have suffered yourself to be +imprudently engaged. If you persevere in it, you place your own honour, +and the lady's happiness, in the hands of men whom you have done +everything in your power to render desperate, and whom, thus irritated, +it is most probable you may find such." + +"It is not from thee at least," said the knight, "that I shall learn to +estimate the manner in which Douglas will explain the laws of war, or +De Walton receive them at his dictating." + +"I am not, then," said Turnbull, "received as a friendly messenger? +Farewell, and think of this lady as being in any hands but those which +are safe, while you make up at leisure your mind upon the message I +have brought you. Come, madam, we must be gone." + +So saying, he seized upon the lady's hand, and pulled her, as if to +force her to withdraw. The lady had stood motionless, and almost +senseless, while these speeches were exchanged between the warriors; +but when she felt the grasp of Michael Turnbull, she exclaimed, like +one almost beside herself with fear--"Help me, De Walton!" + +The knight, stung to instant rage, assaulted the forester with the +utmost fury, and dealt him with his long sword, almost at unawares, +two or three heavy blows, by which he was so wounded that he sunk +backwards in the thicket, and. De Walton was about to despatch him, +when he was prevented by the anxious cry of the lady--"Alas! De Walton, +what have you done? This man was only an ambassador, and should have +passed free from injury, while he confined himself to the delivery of +what he was charged with; and if thou hast slain him, who knows how +frightful may prove the vengeance exacted!" + +The voice of the lady seemed to recover the huntsman from the effects +of the blows he had received: he sprung on his feet, saying--"Never +mind me, nor think of my becoming the means of making mischief. The +knight, in his haste, spoke without giving me warning and defiance, +which gave him an advantage which, I think, he would otherwise have +scorned to have taken, in such a case, I will renew the combat on +fairer terms, or call another champion, as the knight pleases." With +these words he disappeared. + +"Fear not, empress of De Walton's thoughts," answered the knight, "but +believe, that if we regain together the shelter of Douglas Castle, and +the safeguard of Saint George's Cross, thou may'st laugh at all. And if +you can but pardon, what I shall never be able to forgive myself, the +mole-like blindness which did not recognise the sun while under a +temporary eclipse, the task cannot be named too hard for mortal valour +to achieve which I shall not willingly undertake, to wipe out the +memory of my grievous fault." + +"Mention it no more," said the lady; "it is not at such a time as--this, +when our lives are for the moment at stake, that quarrels upon slighter +topics are to be recurred to. I can tell you, if you do not yet know, +that the Scots are in arms in this vicinity, and that even the earth +has yawned to conceal them from the sight of your garrison." + +"Let it yawn, then," said Sir John de Walton, "and suffer every fiend +in the infernal abyss to escape from his prison-house and reinforce our +enemies--still, fairest, having received in thee a pearl of matchless +price, my spurs shall be hacked from my heels by the basest scullion, +if I turn my horse's head to the rear before the utmost force these +ruffians can assemble, either upon earth or from underneath it. In thy +name I defy them all to instant combat." + +As Sir John de Walton pronounced these last words, in something of an +exalted tone, a tall cavalier, arrayed in black armour of the simplest +form, stepped forth from that part of the thicket where Turnbull had +disappeared. "I am," he said, "James of Douglas, and your challenge is +accepted. I, the challenged, name the arms our knightly weapons as we +now wear them, and our place of combat this field or dingle, called the +Bloody Sykes, the time being instant, and the combatants, like true +knights, foregoing each advantage on either side." [Footnote: The +ominous name of Bloodmire-sink or Syke, marks a narrow hollow to the +north-west of Douglas Castle, from which it is distant about the third +of a mile. Mr. Haddow states, that according to local tradition, the +name was given in consequence of Sir James Douglas having at this spot +intercepted and slain part of the garrison of the castle, while De +Walton was in command.] + +"So be it, in God's name," said the English knight, who, though +surprised at being called upon to so sudden an encounter with so +formidable a warrior as young Douglas, was too proud to dream of +avoiding the combat. Making a sign to the lady to retire behind him, +that he might not lose the advantage which he had gained by setting her +at liberty from the forester, he drew his sword, and with a deliberate +and prepared attitude of offence, moved slowly to the encounter. It was +a dreadful one, for the courage and skill both of the native Lord of +Douglas Dale, and of De Walton, among the most renowned of the times, +and perhaps the world of chivalry could hardly have produced two +knights more famous. Their blows fell as if urged by some mighty engine, +where they were met and parried with equal strength and dexterity; nor +seemed it likely, in the course of ten minutes' encounter, that an +advantage would be gained by either combatant over the other. An +instant they stopped by mutually implied assent, as it seemed, for the +purpose of taking breath, during which Douglas said, "I beg that this +noble lady may understand, that her own freedom is no way concerned in +the present contest, which entirely regards the injustice done by this +Sir John de Walton, and by his nation of England, to the memory of my +father, and to my own natural rights." + +"You are generous, Sir Knight," replied the lady; "but in what +circumstances do you place me, if you deprive me of my protector by +death or captivity, and leave me alone in a foreign land?" + +"If such should be the event of the combat," replied Sir James, "the +Douglas himself, lady, will safely restore thee to thy native land; for +never did his sword do an injury for which he was not willing to make +amends with the same weapon; and if Sir John de Walton will make the +slightest admission that he renounces maintaining the present strife, +were it only by yielding up a feather from the plume of his helmet, +Douglas will renounce every purpose on his part which can touch the +lady's honour or safety, and the combat may be suspended until the +national quarrel again brings us together." + +Sir John de Walton pondered a moment, and the lady, although she did +not speak, looked at him with eyes which plainly expressed how much she +wished that he would choose the less hazardous alternative. But the +knight's own scruples prevented his bringing the case to so favourable +an arbitrement. + +"Never shall it be said of Sir John de Walton," he replied, "that he +compromised, in the slightest degree, his own honour, or that of his +country. This battle may end in my defeat, or rather death, and in that +case my earthly prospects are closed, and I resign to Douglas, with my +last breath, the charge of the Lady Augusta, trusting that he will +defend her with his life, and find the means of replacing her with +safety in the halls of her fathers. But while I survive, she may have a +better, but will not need another protector than he who is honoured by +being her own choice; nor will I yield up, were it a plume from my +helmet, implying that I have maintained an unjust quarrel, either in +the cause of England, or of the fairest of her daughters. Thus far +alone I will concede to Douglas--an instant truce, provided the lady +shall not be interrupted in her retreat to England, and the combat be +fought out upon another day. The castle and territory of Douglas is the +property of Edward of England, the governor in his name is the rightful +governor, and on this point I will fight while my eyelids are +unclosed." + +"Time flies," said Douglas, "without waiting for our resolves; nor is +there any part of his motions of such value as that which is passing +with every breath of vital air which we presently draw. Why should we +adjourn till to-morrow that which can be as well finished today? Will +our swords be sharper, or our arms stronger to wield them, than they +are at this moment? Douglas will do all which knight can do to succour +a lady in distress; but he will not grant to her knight the slightest +mark of deference, which Sir John de Walton vainly supposes himself +able to extort by force of arms." + +With these words, the knights engaged once more in mortal combat, and +the lady felt uncertain whether she should attempt her escape through +the devious paths of the wood, or abide the issue of this obstinate +fight. It was rather her desire to see the fate of Sir John de Walton, +than any other consideration, which induced her to remain, as if +fascinated, upon the spot, where one of the fiercest quarrels ever +fought--was disputed by two of the bravest champions that ever drew +sword. At last the lady attempted to put a stop to the combat, by +appealing to the bells which began to ring for the service of the day, +which was Palm Sunday. + +"For Heaven's sake," she said--"for your own sakes, and for that of +lady's love, and the duties of chivalry, hold your hands only for an +hour, and take chance, that where strength is so equal, means will be +found of converting the truce into a solid peace. Think this is Palm +Sunday, and will you defile with blood such a peculiar festival of +Christianity! Intermit your feud at least so far as to pass to the +nearest church, bearing with you branches, not in the ostentatious mode +of earthly conquerors, but as rendering due homage to the rules of the +blessed Church, and the institutions of our holy religion." + +"I was on my road, fair lady, for that purpose, to the holy church of +Douglas," said the Englishman, "when I was so fortunate as to meet you +at this place; nor do I object to proceed thither even, now, holding +truce for an hour, and I fear not to find there friends to whom I can +commit you with assurance of safety, in case I am unfortunate in the +combat which is now broken off, to be resumed after the service of the +day." + +"I also assent," said the Douglas, "to a truce for such short space; +nor do I fear that there may be good Christians enough at the church, +who will not see their master overpowered by odds. Let us go thither, +and each take the chance of what Heaven shall please to send us." + +From these words Sir John de Walton little doubted that Douglas had +assured himself of a party among those who should there assemble; but +he doubted not of so many of the garrison being present as would bridle +every attempt at rising; and the risk, he thought, was worth incurring, +since ha should thereby secure an opportunity to place Lady Augusta de +Berkely in safety, at least so far as to make her liberty depend on the +event of a general conflict, instead of the precarious issue of a +combat between himself and Douglas. + +Both these distinguished knights were inwardly of opinion, that the +proposal of the lady, though it relieved them from their present +conflict, by no means bound them to abstain from the consequences which +an accession of force might add to their general strength, and each +relied upon his superiority, in some degree provided for by their +previous proceedings. Sir John de Walton made almost certain of meeting +with several of his bands of soldiers, who were scouring the country +and traversing the woods by his direction; and Douglas, it may be +supposed, had not ventured himself in person, where a price was set +upon his head, without being attended by a sufficient number of +approved adherents, placed in more or less connexion with each other, +and stationed for mutual support. Each, therefore, entertained well- +grounded hopes, that by adopting the truce proposed, he would ensure +himself an advantage over his antagonist, although neither exactly knew +in what manner or to what extent this success was to be obtained. + + + + +CHAPTER THE EIGHTEENTH. + + His talk was of another world--his bodiments + Strange, doubtful, and mysterious; those who heard him + Listen'd as to a man in feverish dreams, + Who speaks of other objects than the present, + And mutters like to him who sees a vision. + OLD PLAY. + + +On the same Palm Sunday when De Walton and Douglas measured together +their mighty swords, the minstrel Bertram was busied with the ancient +Book of Prophecies, which we have already mentioned as the supposed +composition of Thomas the Rhymer, but not without many anxieties as to +the fate of his lady, and the events which were passing around him. As +a minstrel he was desirous of an auditor to enter into the discoveries +which he should make in that mystic volume, as well as to assist in +passing away the time; Sir John de Walton had furnished him, in Gilbert +Greenleaf the archer, with one who was well contented to play the +listener "from morn to dewy eve," provided a flask of Gascon wine, or a +stoup of good English ale, remained on the board. It may be remembered +that De Walton, when he dismissed the minstrel from the dungeon, was +sensible that he owed him some compensation for the causeless suspicion +which had dictated his imprisonment, more particularly as he was a +valued servant, and had shown himself the faithful confidant of the +Lady Augusta de Berkely, and the person who was moreover likely to know +all the motives and circumstances of her Scottish journey. To secure +his good wishes was, therefore, politic; and De Walton had intimated to +his faithful archer that he was to lay aside all suspicion of Bertram, +but at the same time keep him in sight, and, if possible, in good +humour with the governor of the castle, and his adherents. Greenleaf +accordingly had no doubt in his own mind, that the only way to please a +minstrel was to listen with patience and commendation to the lays which +he liked best to sing, or the tales which he most loved to tell; and in +order to ensure the execution of his master's commands, he judged it +necessary to demand of the butler such store of good liquor, as could +not fail to enhance the pleasure of his society. + +Having thus fortified himself with the means of bearing a long +interview with the minstrel, Gilbert Greenleaf proposed to confer upon +him the bounty of an early breakfast, which, if it pleased him, they +might wash down with a cup of sack, and, having his master's commands +to show the minstrel any thing about the castle which he might wish to +see, refresh their overwearied spirits by attending a part of the +garrison of Douglas to the service of the day, which, as we have +already seen, was of peculiar sanctity. Against such a proposal the +minstrel, a good Christian by profession, and, by his connexion with +the joyous science, a good fellow, having no objections to offer, the +two comrades, who had formerly little good-will towards each other, +commenced their morning's repast on that fated Palm Sunday, with all +manner of cordiality and good fellowship. + +"Do not believe, worthy minstrel," said the archer, "that my master in +any respect disparages your worth or rank in referring you for company +or conversation to so poor a man as myself. It is true I am no officer +of this garrison; yet for an old archer, who, for these thirty years, +has lived by bow and bowstring, I do not (Our Lady make me thankful!) +hold less share in the grace of Sir John de Walton, the Earl of +Pembroke, and other approved good soldiers, than many of those giddy +young men on whom commissions are conferred, and to whom confidences +are intrusted, not on account of what they have done, but what their +ancestors have done before them. I pray you to notice among them one +youth placed at our head in De Walton's absence, and who bears the +honoured name of Aymer de Valence, being the same with that of the Earl +of Pembroke, of whom I have spoken; this knight has also a brisk young +page, whom men call Fabian Harbothel." + +"Is it to these gentlemen that your censure applies?" answered the +minstrel; "I should have judged differently, having never, in the +course of my experience, seen a young man more courteous and amiable +than the young knight you named." + +"I nothing dispute that it may be so," said the archer, hastening to +amend the false step which he had made; "but in order that it should be +so, it will be necessary that he conform to the usages of his uncle, +taking the advice of experienced old soldiers in the emergencies which +may present themselves; and not believing, that the knowledge which it +takes many years of observation to acquire, can be at once conferred by +the slap of the flat of a sword, and the magic words, 'Rise up, Sir +Arthur'--or however the case may be." + +"Doubt not, Sir Archer," replied Bertram, "that I am fully aware of the +advantage to be derived from conversing with men of experience like +you: it benefiteth men of every persuasion, and I myself am oft reduced +to lament my want of sufficient knowledge of armorial bearings, signs, +and cognizances, and would right fain have thy assistance, where I am a +stranger alike to the names of places, of persons, and description of +banners and emblems by which great families are distinguished from each +other, so absolutely necessary to the accomplishment of my present +task." + +"Pennons and banners," answered the archer, "I have seen right many, +and can assign, as is a soldier's wont, the name of the leader to the +emblem under which he musters his followers; nevertheless, worthy +minstrel, I cannot presume to understand what you call prophecies, with +or under warranted authority of old painted books, expositions of +dreams, oracles, revelations, invocations of damned spirits, judicials, +astrologicals, and other gross and palpable offences, whereby men, +pretending to have the assistance of the devil, do impose upon the +common people, in spite of the warnings of the Privy Council; not +however, that I suspect you, worthy minstrel, of busying yourself with +these attempts to explain futurity, which are dangerous attempts, and +may be truly said to be penal, and part of treason." + +"There is something in what you say," replied the minstrel; "yet it +applieth not to books and manuscripts such as I have been consulting; +part, of which things therein written having already come to pass, +authorize us surely to expect the completion of the rest; nor would I +have much difficulty in showing you from this volume, that enough has +been already proved true, to entitle us to look with certainty to the +accomplishment of that which remains." + +"I should be glad to hear that," answered the archer, who entertained +little more than a soldier's belief respecting prophecies and auguries, +but yet cared not bluntly to contradict the minstrel upon such subjects, +as he had been instructed by Sir John de Walton to comply with his +humour. Accordingly the minstrel began to recite verses, which, in our +time, the ablest interpreter could not make sense out of. + + "When the cook crows, keep well his comb, + For the fox and the fulmart they are false both. + When the raven and the rook have rounded together, + And the kid in his cliff shall accord to the same. + Then shall they be bold, and soon to battle thereafter. + Then the birds of the raven rugs and reives, + And the leal men of Lothian, are louping on their horse; + Then shall the poor people be spoiled full near, + And the Abbeys be burnt truly that stand upon Tweed + They shall burn and slay, and great reif make: + There shall no poor man who say whose man he is: + Then shall the land be lawless, for love there is none. + Then falset shall have foot fully five years; + Then truth surely shall be tint, and none shall lippen to other; + The one cousing shall not trust the other, + Not the son the father, nor the father the son: + For to have his goods he would have him hanged." + &c. &c. &c. + +The archer listened to these mystic prognostications, which were not +the less wearisome that they were, in a considerable degree, +unintelligible; at the same time subduing his Hotspur-like disposition +to tire of the recitation, yet at brief intervals comforting himself +with an application to the wine flagon, and enduring as he might what +he neither understood nor took interest in. Meanwhile the minstrel +proceeded with his explanation of the dubious and imperfect +vaticinations of which we have given a sufficient specimen. + +"Could you wish," said he to Greenleaf, "a more exact description of +the miseries which have passed over Scotland in these latter days? Have +not these the raven and rook, the fox and the fulmart, explained; +either because the nature of the birds or beasts bear an individual +resemblance to those of the knights who display them on their banners, +or otherwise are bodied forth by actual blazonry on their shields, and +come openly into the field to ravage and destroy? Is not the total +disunion of the land plainly indicated by these words, that connexions +of blood shall be broken asunder, that kinsmen shall not trust each +other, and that the father and son, instead, of putting faith in their +natural connexion, shall seek each other's life, in order to enjoy his +inheritance? The _leal men_ of Lothian are distinctly mentioned as +taking arms, and there is plainly allusion to the other events of these +late Scottish troubles. The death of this last William is obscurely +intimated under the type of a hound, which was that good lord's +occasional cognizance. + + 'The hound that was harm'd then muzzled shall be, + Who loved him worst shall weep for his wreck; + Yet shall a whelp rise of the same race, + That rudely shall roar, and rule the whole north, + And quit the whole quarrel of old deeds done, + Though he from his hold be kept back awhile. + True Thomas told me this in a troublesome time, + In a harvest morning at Eldoun hills.'" + +"This hath a meaning, Sir Archer," continued the minstrel, "and which +flies as directly to its mark as one of your own arrows, although there +may be some want of wisdom in making the direct explication. Being, +however, upon assurance with you, I do not hesitate to tell you, that +in my opinion this lion's whelp that awaits its time, means this same +celebrated Scottish prince, Robert the Bruce, who, though repeatedly +defeated, has still, while hunted with bloodhounds, and surrounded by +enemies of every sort, maintained his pretensions to the crown of +Scotland, in despite of King Edward, now reigning." + +"Minstrel," answered the soldier, "you are my guest, and we have sat +down together as friends to this simple meal in good comradeship. I +must tell thee, however, though I am loath to disturb our harmony, that +thou art the first who hast adventured to speak a word before Gilbert +Greenleaf in favour of that outlawed traitor, Robert Bruce, who has by +his seditions so long disturbed the peace of this realm. Take my advice, +and be silent on this topic; for, believe me, the sword of a true +English archer will spring from its scabbard without consent of its +master, should it hear aught said to the disparagement of bonny St. +George and his ruddy cross; nor shall the authority of Thomas the +Rhymer, or any other prophet in Scotland, England, or Wales, be +considered as an apology for such unbecoming predictions." + +"I were loth to give offence at any time," said the minstrel, "much +more to provoke you to anger, when I am in the very act of experiencing +your hospitality. I trust, however, you will remember that I do not +come your uninvited guest, and that if I speak to you of future events, +I do so without having the least intention to add my endeavour to bring +them to pass; for, God knows, it is many years since my sincere prayer +has been for peace and happiness to all men, and particularly honour +and happiness to the land of Bowmen, in which I was born, and which I +am bound to remember in my prayers beyond all other nations in the +world." + +"It is well that you do so," said the archer; "for so you shall best +maintain your bounden duty to the fair land of your birth, which is the +richest that the sun shines upon. Something, however, I would know, if +it suits with your pleasure to tell me, and that is, whether you find +anything in these rude rhymes appearing to affect the safety of the +Castle of Douglas, where we now are?--for, mark me, Sir Minstrel, I +have observed that these mouldering parchments, when or by whomsoever +composed, have so far a certain coincidence with the truth, that when +such predictions which they contain are spread abroad in the country, +and create rumours of plots, conspiracies, and bloody wars, they are +very apt to cause the very mischances which they would be thought only +to predict." + +"It were not very cautious in me," said the minstrel, "to choose a +prophecy for my theme, which had reference to any attack on this +garrison; for in such case I should, according to your ideas, lay +myself under suspicion of endeavouring to forward what no person could +more heartily regret than myself." + +"Take my word for it, good friend," said the archer, "that it shall not +be thus with thee; for I neither will myself conceive ill of thee, nor +report thee to Sir John de Walton as meditating harm against him or his +garrison--nor, to speak truth, would Sir John de Walton be willing to +believe anyone who did. He thinks highly, and no doubt deservedly, of +thy good faith towards thy lady, and would conceive it unjust to +suspect the fidelity of one who has given evidence of his willingness +to meet death rather than betray the least secret of his mistress." + +"In preserving her secret," said Bertram, "I only discharged the duty +of a faithful servant, leaving it to her to judge how long such a +secret ought to be preserved; for a faithful servant ought to think as +little of the issue towards himself of the commission which he bears, +as the band of flock silk concerns itself with the secret of the letter +which it secures. And, touching your question--I have no objections, +although merely to satisfy your curiosity, to unfold to you that these +old prophecies do contain some intimations of wars befalling in Douglas +Dale, between an haggard, or wild hawk, which I take to be the +cognizance of Sir John de Walton, and the three stars, or martlets, +which is the cognizance of the Douglas; and more particulars I could +tell of these onslaughts, did I know whereabouts is a place in these +woods termed Bloody Sykes, the scene also, as I comprehend, of +slaughter and death, between the followers of the three stars and those +who hold the part of the Saxon, or King of England." + +"Such a place," replied Gilbert Greenleaf, "I have heard often +mentioned by that name among the natives of these parts; nevertheless +it is vain to seek to discover the precise spot, as these wily Scots +conceal from us with care every thing respecting the geography of their +country, as it is called by learned men; but we may here mention the +Bloody Sykes, Bottomless Myre, and other places, as portentous names, +to which their traditions attach some signification of war and +slaughter. If it suits your wish, however, we can, on our way to the +church, try to find this place called Bloody Sykes, which I doubt not +we shall trace out long before the traitors who meditate an attack upon +us will find a power sufficient for the attempt." + +Accordingly the minstrel and archer, the latter of whom was by this +time reasonably well refreshed with wine, marched out of the castle of +Douglas, without waiting for others of the garrison, resolving to seek +the dingle bearing the ominous name of Bloody Sykes, concerning which +the archer only knew that by mere accident he had heard of a place +bearing such a name, at the hunting match made under the auspices of +Sir John de Walton, and knew that it lay in the woods somewhere near +the town of Douglas and in the vicinage of the castle. + + + + +CHAPTER THE NINETEENTH. + + _Hotspur_. I cannot choose; sometimes he angers me + With telling me of the moldwarp and the ant, + Of the dreamer Merlin, and his prophecies; + And of a dragon and a finless fish, + A clipt-wing'd griffin and a moulten raven, + A couching lion, and a ramping cat. + And such a deal of skimble-skamble stuff, + As puts me from my faith. + KING HENRY IV. + + +The conversation between the minstrel and the ancient archer naturally +pursued a train somewhat resembling that of Hotspur and Glendower, in +which Gilbert Greenleaf by degrees took a larger share than was +apparently consistent with his habits and education: but the truth was +that as he exerted himself to recall the recognisances of military +chieftains, their war-cries, emblems, and other types by which they +distinguished themselves in battle, and might undoubtedly be indicated +in prophetic rhymes, he began to experience the pleasure which most men +entertain when they find themselves unexpectedly possessed of a faculty +which the moment calls upon them to employ, and renders them important +in the possession of. The minstrel's sound good sense was certainly +somewhat surprised at the inconsistencies sometimes displayed by his +companion, as he was carried off by the willingness to make show of his +newly-discovered faculty on the one hand, and, on the other, to call to +mind the prejudices which he had nourished during his whole life +against minstrels, who, with the train of legends and fables, were the +more likely to be false, as being generally derived from the "North +Countrie." + +As they strolled from one glade of the forest to another, the minstrel +began to be surprised at the number of Scottish votaries whom they met, +and who seemed to be hastening to the church, and, as it appeared by +the boughs which they carried, to assist in the ceremony of the day. To +each of these the archer put a question respecting the existence of a +place called Bloody Sykes, and where it was to be found--but all seemed +either to be ignorant on the subject, or desirous of evading it, for +which they found some pretext in the jolly archer's manner of +interrogation, which savoured a good deal of the genial breakfast. The +general answer was, that they knew no such place, or had other matters +to attend to upon the morn of a holy-tide than answering frivolous +questions. At last, when, in one or two; instances, the answer of the +Scottish almost approached to sullenness, the minstrel remarked it, +observing that there was ever some mischief on foot when the people of +this country could not find a civil answer to their betters, which is +usually so ready among them, and that they appeared to be making a +strong muster for the service of Palm Sunday. + +"You will doubtless, Sir Archer," continued the minstrel, "make your +report to your knight accordingly; for I promise you, that if you do +not, I myself, whose lady's freedom is also concerned, will feel it my +duty to place before Sir John de Walton the circumstances which make me +entertain suspicion of this extraordinary confluence of Scottish men, +and the surliness which has replaced their wonted courtesy of manners." + +"Tush, Sir Minstrel," replied the archer, displeased at Bertram's +interference, "believe me, that armies have ere now depended on my +report to the general, which has always been perspicuous and clear, +according to the duties of war. Your walk, my worthy friend, has been +in a separate department, such as affairs of peace, old songs, +prophecies, and the like, in which it is far from my thoughts to +contend with you; but credit me, it will be most for the reputation, of +both, that we do not attempt to interfere with what concerns each +other." + +"It is far from my wish to do so," replied the minstrel; "but I would. +wish that a speedy return should be made to the castle, in order to ask +Sir John de Walton's opinion of that which we have but just seen." + +"To this," replied Greenleaf, "there can be no objection; but, would +you seek the governor at the hour which now is, you will find him most +readily by going to the church of Douglas, to which he regularly wends +on occasions such as the present, with the principal part of his +officers, to ensure, by his presence, that no tumult arise (of which +there is no little dread) between the English and the Scottish. Let us +therefore hold to our original intention of attending the service of +the day, and we shall rid ourselves of these entangled woods, and gain +the shortest road to the church of Douglas." + +"Let us go, then, with all despatch," said the minstrel; "and with the +greater haste, that it appears to me that something has passed on this +very spot this morning, which argues that the Christian peace due to +the day has not been inviolably observed. What mean these drops of +blood?" alluding to those which had flowed from the wounds of Turnbull-- +"Wherefore is the earth impressed with these deep tints, the footsteps +of armed men advancing and retreating, doubtless, according to the +chances of a fierce and heady conflict?" + +"By Our Lady," returned Greenleaf, "I must own that thou seest clear. +What were my eyes made of when they permitted thee to be the first +discoverer of these signs of conflict? Here are feathers of a blue +plume, which I ought to remember, seeing my knight assumed it, or at +least permitted me to place it in his helmet, this morning, in sign of +returning hope, from the liveliness of its colour. But here it lies, +shorn from his head, and, if I may guess, by no friendly hand. Come, +friend, to the church--to the church--and thou shalt have my example of +the manner in which De Walton ought to be supported when in danger." + +He led the way through the town of Douglas, entering at the southern +gate, and up the very street in which Sir Aymer de Valence had charged +the Phantom Knight. + +We can now say more fully, that the church of Douglas had originally +been a stately Gothic building, whose towers, arising high above the +walls of the town, bore witness to the grandeur of its original +construction. It was now partly ruinous, and the small portion of open +space which was retained for public worship was fitted up in the family +aisle where its deceased lords rested from worldly labours and the +strife of war. From the open ground in the front of the building, their +eye could pursue a considerable part of the course of the river Douglas, +which approached the town from the south-west, bordered by a line of +hills fantastically diversified in their appearance, and in many places +covered with copsewood, which descended towards the valley, and formed +a part of the tangled and intricate woodland by which the town was +surrounded. The river itself, sweeping round the west side of the town, +and from thence northward, supplied that large inundation or artificial +piece of water which we have already mentioned. Several of the Scottish +people, bearing willow branches, or those of yew, to represent the +palms which were the symbol of the day, seemed wandering in the +churchyard as if to attend the approach of some person of peculiar +sanctity, or procession, of monks and friars, come to render the homage +due to the solemnity. At the moment almost that Bertram and his +companion entered the churchyard, the Lady of Berkely, who was in the +act of following Sir John de Walton into the church, after having +witnessed his conflict with the young Knight of Douglas, caught a +glimpse of her faithful minstrel, and instantly determined to regain +the company of that old servant of her house and confidant of her +fortunes, and trust to the chance afterwards of being rejoined by Sir +John de Walton, with a sufficient party to provide for her safety, +which she in no respect doubted it would be his care to collect. She +darted away accordingly from the path in which she was advancing, and +reached the place where Bertram, with his new acquaintance Greenleaf, +were making some enquiries of the soldiers of the English garrison, +whom the service of the day had brought there. + +Lady Augusta Berkely, in the meantime, had an opportunity to say +privately to her faithful attendant and guide, "Take no notice of me, +friend Bertram, but take heed, if possible, that we be not again +separated from each other." Having given him this hint, she observed +that it was adopted by the minstrel, and that he presently afterwards +looked round and set his eye upon her, as, muffled in her pilgrim's +cloak, she slowly withdrew to another part of the cemetery, and seemed +to halt, until, detaching himself from Greenleaf, he should find an +opportunity of joining her. + +Nothing, in truth, could have more sensibly affected the faithful +minstrel than the singular mode of communication which acquainted him +that his mistress was safe, and at liberty to choose her own motions, +and, as he might hope, disposed to extricate herself from the dangers +which surrounded her in Scotland, by an immediate retreat to her own +country and domain. He would gladly have approached and joined her, but +she took an opportunity by a sign to caution him against doing so, +while at the same time he remained somewhat apprehensive of the +consequences of bringing her under the notice of his new friend, +Greenleaf, who might perhaps think it proper to busy himself so as to +gain some favour with the knight who was at the head of the garrison. +Meantime the old archer continued his conversation with Bertram, while +the minstrel, like many other men similarly situated, heartily wished +that his well-meaning companion had been a hundred fathoms under ground, +so his evanishment had given him license to join his mistress; but all +he had in his power was to approach her as near as he could, without +creating any suspicion. + +"I would pray you, worthy minstrel," said Greenleaf, after looking +carefully round, "that we may prosecute together the theme which we +were agitating before we came hither; is it not your opinion, that the +Scottish natives have fixed this very morning for some of those +dangerous attempts which they have repeatedly made, and which are so +carefully guarded against by the governors placed in this district of +Douglas by our good King Edward, our rightful sovereign?" + +"I cannot see," replied the minstrel, "on what grounds you found such +an apprehension, or what you see here in the churchyard different from +that you talked of as we approached it, when you held me rather in +scorn, for giving way to some suspicions of the same kind." + +"Do you not see," added the archer, "the numbers of men, with strange +faces, and in various disguisements, who are thronging about these +ancient ruins, which are usually so solitary? Yonder, for example, sits +a boy who seems to shun observation, and whose dress, I will be sworn, +has never been shaped in Scotland." + +"And if he is an English pilgrim," replied the minstrel, observing that +the archer pointed towards the Lady of Berkely, "he surely affords less +matter of suspicion." + +"I know not that," said old Greenleaf, "but I think it will bo my duty +to inform Sir John de Walton, if I can reach him, that there are many +persons here, who in outward appearance neither belong to the garrison, +nor to this part of the country.'" + +"Consider," said Bertram, "before you harass with accusation a poor +young man, and subject him to the consequences which must necessarily +attend upon suspicions of this nature, how many circumstances call +forth men peculiarly to devotion at this period. Not only is this the +time of the triumphal entrance of the founder of the Christian religion +into Jerusalem, but the day itself is called Dominica Confitentium, or +the Sunday of Confessors, and the palm-tree, or the box and yew, which +are used as its substitutes, and which are distributed to the priests, +are burnt solemnly to ashes, and those ashes distributed among the +pious, by the priests, upon the Ash-Wednesday of the succeeding year, +all which rites and ceremonies in our country, are observed, by order +of the Christian Church; nor ought you, gentle archer, nor can you +without a crime, persecute those as guilty of designs upon your +garrison, who can ascribe their presence here to their desire to +discharge the duties of the day; and look ye at yon numerous procession +approaching with banner and cross, and, as it appears, consisting of +some churchman of rank, and his attendants; let us first enquire who he +is, and it is probable we shall find in his name and rank sufficient +security for the peaceable and orderly behaviour of those whom piety +has this day assembled at the church of Douglas." + +Greenleaf accordingly made the investigation recommended by his +companion, and received information that the holy man who headed the +procession, was no other than the diocesan of the district, the Bishop +of Glasgow, who had come to give his countenance to the rites with +which the day was to be sanctified. + +The prelate accordingly entered the walls of the dilapidated churchyard, +preceded by his cross-bearers, and attended by numbers, with boughs of +yew and other evergreens, used on the festivity instead of palms. Among +them the holy father showered his blessing, accompanied by signs of the +cross, which were met with devout exclamations by such of the +worshippers as crowded around him:--"To thee, reverend father, we apply +for pardon for our offences, which we humbly desire to confess to thee, +in order that we may obtain pardon from Heaven." + +In this manner the congregation and the dignified clergyman met +together, exchanging pious greeting, and seemingly intent upon nothing +but the rites of the day. The acclamations of the congregation, mingled +with the deep voice of the officiating priest, dispensing the sacred +ritual; the whole forming a scene which, conducted with the Catholic +skill and ceremonial, was at once imposing and affecting. + +The archer, on seeing the zeal with which the people in the churchyard, +as well as a number who issued from the church, hastened proudly to +salute the bishop of the diocese, was rather ashamed of the suspicions +which he had entertained of the sincerity of the good man's purpose in +coming hither. Taking advantage of a fit of devotion, not perhaps very +common with old Greenleaf, who at this moment thrust himself forward to +share in. those spiritual advantages which the prelate was dispensing, +Bertram. slipped clear of his English friend, and, gliding to the side +of the Lady Augusta, exchanged, by the pressure of the hand, a mutual +congratulation upon having rejoined company. On a sign by the minstrel, +they withdrew to the inside of the church, so as to remain unobserved +amidst the crowd, in which they were favoured by the dark shadows of +some parts of the building. + +The body of the church, broken as it was, and hung round with the +armorial trophies of the last Lords of Douglas, furnished rather the +appearance of a sacrilegiously desecrated ruin, than the inside of a +holy place; yet some care appeared to have been taken to prepare it for +the service of the day. At the lower end hung the great escutcheon of +William Lord of Douglas, who had lately died a prisoner in England; +around that escutcheon were placed the smaller shields of his sixteen +ancestors, and a deep black shadow was diffused by the whole mass, +unless where relieved by the glance of the coronets, or the glimmer of +bearings particularly gay in emblazonry. I need not say that in other +respects the interior of the church was much dismantled, it being the +very same place in which Sir Aymer de Valence held an interview with +the old sexton; and who now, drawing into a separate corner some of the +straggling parties whom he had collected and brought to the church, +kept on the alert, and appeared ready for an attack as well at mid-day +as at the witching hour of midnight. This was the more necessary, as +the eye of Sir John de Walton seemed busied in searching from one place +to another, as if unable to find the object he was in quest of, which +the reader will easily understand to be the Lady Augusta de Berkely, of +whom he had lost sight in the pressure of the multitude. At the eastern +part of the church was fitted up a temporary altar, by the side of +which, arrayed in his robes, the Bishop of Glasgow had taken his place, +with such priests and attendants as composed his episcopal retinue. His +suite was neither numerous nor richly attired, nor did his own +appearance present a splendid specimen of the wealth and dignity of the +episcopal order. When he laid down, however, his golden cross, at the +stern command of the King of England, that of simple wood, which he +assumed instead thereof, did not possess less authority, nor command +less awe among the clergy and people of the diocese. + +The various persons, natives of Scotland, now gathered around, seemed +to watch his motions, as those of a descended saint, and the English +waited in mute astonishment, apprehensive that at some unexpected +signal an attack would be made upon them, either by the powers of earth +or heaven, or perhaps by both in combination. The truth is, that so +great was the devotion of the Scottish clergy of the higher ranks to +the interests of the party of Bruce, that the English had become +jealous of permitting them to interfere even with those ceremonies of +the Church which were placed under their proper management, and thence +the presence of the Bishop of Glasgow, officiating at a high festival +in the church of Douglas, was a circumstance of rare occurrence, and +not unattended both with wonder and suspicion. A council of the Church, +however, had lately called the distinguished prelates of Scotland to +the discharge of their duty on the festivity of Palm Sunday, and +neither English nor Scottish saw the ceremony with indifference. An +unwonted silence which prevailed in the church, filled, as it appeared, +with persons of different views, hopes, wishes, and expectations, +resembled one of those solemn pauses which often take place before a +strife of the elements, and are well understood to be the forerunners +of some dreadful concussion of nature. All animals, according to their +various nature, express their sense of the approaching tempest; the +cattle, the deer, and other inhabitants of the walks of the forest, +withdraw to the inmost recesses of their pastures; the sheep crowd into +their fold; and the dull stupor of universal nature, whether animate or +inanimate, presages its speedily awakening into general convulsion and +disturbance, when the lurid lightning shall hiss at command of the +diapason of the thunder. + +It was thus that, in deep suspense, those who had come to the church in +arms, at the summons, of Douglas, awaited and expected every moment a +signal to attack, while the soldiers of the English garrison, aware of +the evil disposition of the natives towards them, were reckoning every +moment when the well-known shouts of "Bows and bills!" should give +signal for a general conflict, and both parties, gazing fiercely upon +each other, seemed to expect the fatal onset. + +Notwithstanding the tempest, which appeared every moment ready to burst, +the Bishop of Glasgow proceeded with the utmost solemnity to perform +the ceremonies proper to the day; he paused from time to time to survey +the throng, as if to calculate whether the turbulent passions of those +around him would be so long kept under as to admit of his duties being +brought to a close in a manner becoming the time and place. + +The prelate had just concluded the service, when a person advanced +towards him with a solemn and mournful aspect, and asked if the +reverend father could devote a few moments to administer comfort to a +dying man, who was lying wounded close by. + +The churchman signified a ready acquiescence, amidst a stillness which, +when he surveyed the lowering brows of one party at least of those who +were in the church, boded no peaceful termination to this fated day. +The father motioned to the messenger to show him the way, and proceeded +on his mission, attended by some of those who were understood to be +followers of the Douglas. + +There was something peculiarly striking, if not suspicious, in the +interview which followed. In a subterranean vault was deposited the +person of a large tall man, whose blood flowed copiously through two or +three ghastly wounds, and streamed amongst the trusses of straw on +which he lay; while his features exhibited a mixture of sternness and +ferocity, which seemed prompt to kindle into a still more savage +expression. + +The reader will probably conjecture that the person in question was no +other than Michael Turnbull, who, wounded in the rencounter of the +morning, had been left by some of his friends upon the straw, which was +arranged for him by way of couch, to live or die as he best could. The +prelate, on entering the vault, lost no time in calling the attention +of the wounded man to the state of his spiritual affairs, and assisting +him to such comfort as the doctrine of the Church directed should be +administered to departing sinners. The words exchanged between them +were of that grave and severe character which passes between the +ghostly father and his pupil, when one world is rolling away from the +view of the sinner, and another is displaying itself in all its terrors, +and thundering in the ear of the penitent that retribution which the +deeds done in the flesh must needs prepare him to expect. This is one +of the most solemn meetings which can take place between earthly +beings; and the courageous character of the Jedwood forester, as well +as the benevolent and pious expression of the old churchman, +considerably enhanced the pathos of the scene. + +"Turnbull," said the churchman, "I trust you will believe me when I say +that it grieves my heart to see thee brought to this situation by +wounds which it is my duty to tell you, you must consider mortal." + +"Is the chase ended, then?" said the Jedwood man with a sigh. "I care +not, good father, for I think I have borne me as becomes a gallant +quarry, and that the old forest has lost no credit by me, whether in +pursuit, or in bringing to bay; and even in this last matter, methinks +this gay English knight would not have come off with such advantage had +the ground on which we stood been alike indifferent to both, or had I +been aware of his onset; but it will be seen, by any one who takes the +trouble to examine, that poor Michael Turnbull's foot slipped twice in +the _melee_, otherwise it had not been his fate to be lying here +in the dead-thraw; [Footnote: Or death agony.] while yonder southron +would probably have died like a dog, upon this bloody straw, in his +place." + +The bishop replied, advising his penitent to turn from vindictive +thoughts respecting the death of others, and endeavour to fix his +attention upon his own departure from existence, which seemed shortly +about to take place. + +"Nay," replied the wounded man, "you, father, undoubtedly know best +what is fit for me to do; yet methinks it would not be very well with +me if I had prolonged to this time of day the task of revising my life, +and I am not the man to deny that mine has been a bloody and a +desperate one. But you will grant me I never bore malice to a brave +enemy for having done me an injury, and show me the man, being a +Scotchman born, and having a natural love for his own country, who hath +not, in these times, rather preferred a steel cap to a hat and feather, +or who hath not been more conversant with drawn blades than with +prayer-book; and you yourself know, father, whether, in our proceedings +against the English interest, we have not uniformly had the countenance +of the sincere fathers of the Scottish Church, and whether we have not +been exhorted to take arms and make use of them, for the honour of the +King of Scotland, and the defence of our own rights." + +"Undoubtedly," said the prelate, "such have been our exhortations +towards our oppressed countrymen, nor do I now teach you a different +doctrine; nevertheless, having now blood around me, and a dying man +before me, I have need to pray that I have not been misled from the +true path, and thus become the means of misdirecting others. May Heaven +forgive me if I have done so, since I have only to plead my sincere and +honest intention in excuse for the erroneous counsel which I may have +given to you and others touching these wars. I am conscious that +encouraging you so to stain your swords in blood, I have departed in +some degree from the character of my profession, which enjoins that we +neither shed blood, nor are the occasion of its being shed. May Heaven +enable us to obey our duties, and to repent of our errors, especially +such as have occasioned the death or distress of our fellow-creatures. +And, above all, may this dying Christian become aware of his errors, +and repent with sincerity of having done to others that which he would +not willingly have suffered at their hand!" + +"For that matter," answered Turnbull, "the time has never been when I +would not exchange a blow with the best man who ever lived; and if I +was not in constant practice of the sword, it was because I have been +brought up to the use of the Jedwood-axe, which the English call a +partisan, and which makes little difference, I understand, from the +sword and poniard." + +"The distinction is not great," said the bishop; "but I fear, my friend, +that life taken with what you call a Jedwood-axe, gives you no +privilege over him who commits the same deed, and inflicts the same +injury, with any other weapon." + +"Nay, worthy father," said the penitent, "I must own that the effect of +the weapons is the same, as far as concerns the man who suffers; but I +would pray of you information, why a Jedwood man ought not to use, as +is the custom of his country, a Jedwood-axe, being, as is implied in +the name, the offensive weapon proper to his country?" + +"The crime of murder," said the bishop, "consists not in the weapon +with which the crime is inflicted, but in the pain which the murderer +inflicts upon his fellow-creature, and the breach of good order which +he introduces into heaven's lovely and peaceable creation; and it is by +turning your repentance upon this crime that you may fairly expect to +propitiate Heaven for your offences, and at the same time to escape the +consequences which are denounced in Holy Writ against those by whom +man's blood shall be shed." + +"But, good father," said the wounded man, "you know as well as any one, +that in this company, and in this very church, there are upon the watch +scores of both Scotchmen and Englishmen, who come here not so much to +discharge the religious duties of the day, as literally to bereave each +other of their lives, and give a new example of the horror of those +feuds which the two extremities of Britain nourish against each other. +What conduct, then, is a poor man like me to hold? Am I not to raise +this hand against the English, which methinks I still can make a +tolerably efficient one--or am I, for the first time in my life, to +hear the war-cry when it is raised, and hold back my sword from the +slaughter? Methinks it will be difficult, perhaps altogether impossible, +for me to do so; but if such is the pleasure of Heaven, and your advice, +most reverend father, unquestionably I must do my best to be governed +by your directions, as of one who has a right and title to direct us in +every dilemma, or case, as they term it, of troubled conscience." + +"Unquestionably," said the bishop, "it is my duty, as I have already +said, to give no occasion this day for the shedding of blood, or the +breach of peace; and I must charge you, as my penitent, that upon your +soul's safety, you do not minister any occasion to affray or bloodshed, +either by maintaining such in your own person, or inciting others to +the same; for by following a different course of advice, I am certain +that you, as well as myself, would act sinfully and out of character." + +"So I will endeavour to think, reverend father," answered the huntsman; +"nevertheless, I hope it will be remembered in my favour that I am the +first person bearing the surname of Turnbull, together with the proper +name of the Prince of Archangels himself, who has at any time been able +to sustain the affront occasioned by the presence of a southron with a +drawn sword, and was not thereby provoked to pluck forth his own weapon, +and to lay about him." + +"Take care, my son," returned the Prelate of Glasgow, "and observe, +that even now thou art departing from those resolutions which, but a +few minutes since, thou didst adopt upon serious and just +consideration; wherefore do not be, O my son! like the sow that has +wallowed in the mire, and, having been washed, repeats its act of +pollution, and becomes again yet fouler than it was before." + +"Well, reverend father," replied the wounded man, "although it seems +almost unnatural for Scottishmen and English to meet and part without a +buffet, yet I will endeavour most faithfully not to minister any +occasion of strife, nor, if possible, to snatch at any such occasion as +shall be ministered to me." + +"In doing so," returned the bishop, "thou wilt best atone for the +injury which thou hast done to the law of Heaven upon former occasions, +and thou shalt prevent the causes for strife betwixt thee and thy +brethren of the southern land, and shalt eschew the temptation towards +that blood-guiltiness which is so rife in this our day and generation. +And do not think that I am imposing upon thee, by these admonitions, a +duty more difficult than it is in thy covenant to bear, as a man and as +a Christian. I myself am a man and a Scotchman, and, as such, I feel +offended at the unjust conduct of the English towards our country and +sovereign; and thinking as you do yourself, I know what you must suffer +when you are obliged to submit to national insults, unretaliated and +unrevenged. But let us not conceive ourselves the agents of that +retributive vengeance which Heaven has, in a peculiar degree, declared +to be its own attribute. Let us, while we see and feel the injuries +inflicted on our own country, not forget that our own raids, ambuscades, +and surprisals, have been at least equally fatal to the English as +their attacks and forays have been to us; and, in short, let the mutual +injuries of the crosses of Saint Andrew and of Saint George be no +longer considered as hostile to the inhabitants of the opposite +district, at least during the festivals of religion; but as they are +mutually signs of redemption, let them be, in like manner, intimations +of forbearance and peace on both sides." + +"I am contented," answered Turnbull, "to abstain from all offences +towards others, and shall even endeavour to keep myself from resenting +those of others towards me, in the hope of bringing to pass such a +quiet and godly state of things as your words, reverend father, induce +me to expect." Turning his face to the wall, the Borderer lay in stern +expectation of approaching death, which the bishop left him to +contemplate. The peaceful disposition which the prelate had inspired +into Michael Turnbull, had in some degree diffused itself among those +present, who heard with awe the spiritual admonition to suspend the +national antipathy, and remain in truce and amity with each other. +Heaven had, however, decreed that the national quarrel, in which so +much blood had been sacrificed, should that day again be the occasion +of deadly strife. + +A loud flourish of trumpets, seeming to proceed from beneath the earth, +now rung through the church, and roused the attention of the soldiers +and worshippers then assembled. Most of those who heard these warlike +sounds betook themselves to their weapons, as if they considered it +useless to wait any longer for the signal of conflict. Hoarse voices, +rude exclamations, the rattle of swords against their sheaths, or their +clashing against other pieces of armour, gave an awful presage of an +onset, which, however, was for a time averted by the exhortations of +the bishop. A second flourish of trumpets having taken place, the voice +of a herald made proclamation to the following purpose:-- + +"That whereas there were many noble pursuivants of chivalry presently +assembled in the Kirk of Douglas, and whereas there existed among them +the usual causes of quarrel and points of debate for their advancement +in chivalry, therefore the Scottish knights were ready to fight any +number of the English who might be agreed, either upon the superior +beauty of their ladies, or upon the national quarrel in any of its +branches, or upon whatever point might be at issue between them, which +should be deemed satisfactory ground of quarrel by both; and the +knights who should chance to be worsted in such dispute should renounce +the prosecution thereof, or the bearing arms therein thereafter, with +such other conditions to ensue upon their defeat as might be agreed +upon by a council of the knights present at the Kirk of Douglas +aforesaid. But foremost of all, any number of Scottish knights, from +one to twenty, will defend the quarrel which has already drawn blood, +touching the freedom of Lady Augusta de Berkely, and the rendition of +Douglas Castle to the owner here present. Wherefore it is required that +the English knights do intimate their consent that such trial of valour +take place, which, according to the rules of chivalry, they cannot +refuse, without losing utterly the reputation of valour, and incurring +the diminution of such other degree of estimation as a courageous +pursuivant of arms would willingly be held in, both by the good knights +of his own country, and those of others." + +This unexpected gage of battle realized the worst fears of those who +had looked with suspicion on the extraordinary assemblage this day of +the dependents of the House of Douglas. After a short pause, the +trumpets again flourished lustily, when the reply of the English +knights was made in the following terms:-- + +"That God forbid the rights and privileges of England's knights, and +the beauty of her damsels, should not be asserted by her children, or +that such English knights as were here assembled, should show the least +backwardness to accept the combat offered, whether grounded upon the +superior beauty of their ladies, or whether upon the causes of dispute +between the countries, for either or all of which the knights of +England here present were willing to do battle in the terms of the +indenture aforesaid, while sword and lance shall endure. Saving and +excepting the surrender of the Castle of Douglas, which can be rendered +to no one but England's king, or those acting under his orders." + + + + +CHAPTER THE TWENTIETH. + + Cry the wild war-note, let the champions pass, + Do bravely each, and God defend the right; + Upon Saint Andrew thrice can they thus cry, + And thrice they shout on height, + And then marked them on the Englishmen, + As I have told you right. + Saint George the bright, our ladies' knight, + To name they were full fain; + Our Englishmen they cried on height, + And thrice they shout again. + OLD BALLAD. + + +The extraordinary crisis mentioned in the preceding chapter, was the +cause, as may be supposed, of the leaders on both sides now throwing +aside all concealment, and displaying their utmost strength, by +marshalling their respective adherents; the renowned Knight of Douglas, +with Sir Malcolm Fleming and other distinguished cavaliers, were seen +in close consultation. + +Sir John de Walton, startled by the first flourish of trumpets, while +anxiously endeavouring to secure a retreat for the Lady Augusta, was in +a moment seen collecting his followers, in which he was assisted by the +active friendship of the Knight of Valence. + +The Lady of Berkely showed no craven spirit at these warlike +preparations; she advanced, closely followed by the faithful Bertram, +and a female in a riding-hood, whose face, though carefully concealed, +was no other than that of the unfortunate Margaret de Hautlieu, whose +worst fears had been realized as to the faithlessness of her betrothed +knight. + +A pause ensued, which for some time no one present thought himself of +authority sufficient to break. + +At last the Knight of Douglas stepped forward and said, loudly, "I wait +to know whether Sir John de Walton requests leave of James of Douglas +to evacuate his castle without further wasting that daylight which +might show us to judge a fair field, and whether he craves Douglas's +protection in doing so?" + +The Knight of Walton drew his sword. "I hold the Castle of Douglas," he +said, "in spite of all deadly,--and never will I ask the protection +from any one which my own sword is competent to afford me." + +"I stand by you, Sir John," said Aymer de Valence, "as your true +comrade, against whatever odds may oppose themselves to us." + +"Courage, noble English," said the voice of Greenleaf; "take your +weapons in God's name. Bows and bills! bows and bills!--A messenger +brings us notice that Pembroke is in full march hither from the borders +of Ayrshire, and will be with us in half an hour. Fight on, gallant +English! Valence to the rescue! and long life to the gallant Earl of +Pembroke!" + +Those English within and around the church no longer delayed to take +arms, and De Walton, crying out at the height of his voice, "I implore +the Douglas to look nearly to the safety of the ladies," fought his way +to the church door; the Scottish finding themselves unable to resist +the impression of terror which affected them at the sight of this +renowned knight, seconded by his brother-in-arms, both of whom had been +so long the terror of the district. In the meantime, it is possible +that De Walton might altogether have forced his way out of the church, +had he not been met boldly by the young son of Thomas Dickson of +Hazelside, while his father was receiving from Douglas the charge of +preserving the stranger ladies from all harm from the fight, which, so +long suspended, was now on the point of taking place. + +De Walton cast his eye upon the Lady Augusta, with a desire of rushing +to the rescue; but was forced to conclude, that he provided best for +her safety by leaving her under the protection of Douglas's honour. + +Young Dickson, in the meantime, heaped blow on blow, seconding with all +his juvenile courage every effort he could make, in order to attain the +prize due to the conqueror of the renowned De Walton. + +"Silly boy," at length said Sir John, who had for some time forborne +the stripling, "take, then, thy death from a noble hand, since thou +preferrest that to peace and length of days." + +"I care not," said the Scottish youth, with his dying breath; "I have +lived long enough, since I have kept you so long in the place where you +now stand." + +And the youth said truly, for as he fell never again to rise, the +Douglas stood in his place, and without a word spoken, again engaged +with De Walton in the same formidable single combat, by which they had +already been distinguished, but with even additional fury. Aymer de +Valence drew up to his friend De Walton's left hand, and seemed but to +desire the apology of one of Douglas's people attempting to second him, +to join in the fray; but as he saw no person who seemed disposed to +give him such opportunity, he repressed the inclination, and remained +an unwilling spectator. At length it seemed as if Fleming, who stood +foremost among the Scottish knights, was desirous to measure his sword +with De Valence. Aymer himself, burning with the desire of combat, at +last called out, "Faithless Knight of Boghall! step forth and defend +yourself against the imputation of having deserted your lady-love, and +of being a man-sworn disgrace to the rolls of chivalry!" + +"My answer," said Fleming, "even to a less gross taunt, hangs by my +side." In an instant his sword was in his hand, and even the practised +warriors who looked on felt difficulty in discovering the progress of +the strife, which rather resembled a thunder storm in a mountainous +country than the stroke and parry of two swords, offending on the one +side, and keeping the defensive on the other. + +Their blows were exchanged with surprising rapidity; and although the +two combatants did not equal Douglas and De Walton in maintaining a +certain degree of reserve, founded upon a respect which these knights +mutually entertained for each other, yet the want of art was supplied +by a degree of fury, which gave chance at least an equal share in the +issue. + +Seeing their superiors thus desperately engaged, the partisans, as they +were accustomed, stood still on either side, and looked on with the +reverence which they instinctively paid to their commanders and leaders +in arms. One or two of the women were in the meanwhile attracted, +according to the nature of the sex, by compassion for those who had +already experienced the casualties of war. Young Dickson, breathing his +last among the feet of the combatants, [Footnote: [The fall of this, +brave stripling by the hand of the English governor, and the stern +heroism of the father in turning from the spot where he lay, "a model +of beauty and strength," that he might not be withdrawn from the duty +which Douglas had assigned him of protecting the Lady of Berkely, +excites an interest for both, with which it is almost to be regretted +that history interferes. It was the old man, Thomas Dickson, not his +son, who fell. The _slogan_, "a Douglas, a Douglas," having been +prematurely raised, Dickson, who was within the church, thinking that +his young Lord with his armed band was at hand, drew his sword, and +with only one, man to assist him, opposed the English, who now rushed +to the door. Cut across the middle by an English sword, he still +continued his opposition, till he fell lifeless at the threshold. Such +is tradition, and it is supported by a memorial of some authority--a +tombstone, still to be seen in the church-yard of Douglas, on winch is +sculptured a figure of Dickson, supporting with his left arm his +protruding entrails, and raising his sword with the other in the +attitude of combat.]--_Note by the Rev, Mr. Stewart of Douglas_.] +was in some sort rescued from the tumult by the Lady of Berkely, in +whom the action seemed less strange, owing to the pilgrim's dress which +she still retained, and who in vain endeavoured to solicit the +attention of the boy's father to the task in which she was engaged. + +"Cumber yourself not, lady, about that which is bootless," said old +Dickson, "and distract not your own attention and mine from preserving +you, whom it is the Douglas's wish to rescue, and whom, so please God +and St. Bride, I consider as placed by my Chieftain under my charge. +Believe me, this youth's death is in no way forgotten, though this be +not the time to remember it. A time will come for recollection, and an +hour for revenge." + +So said the stern old man, reverting his eyes from the bloody corpse +which lay at his feet, a model of beauty and strength. Having taken one +more anxious look, he turned round, and placed himself where he could +best protect the Lady of Berkely, not again turning his eyes on his +son's body. + +In the interim the combat continued, without the least cessation on +either side, and without a decided advantage. At length, however, fate +seemed disposed to interfere; the Knight of Fleming, pushing fiercely +forward, and brought by chance almost close to the person of the Lady +Margaret de Hautlieu, missed his blow, and his foot sliding in the +blood of the young victim, Dickson, he fell before his antagonist, and +was in imminent danger of being at his mercy, when Margaret de Hautlieu, +who inherited the soul of a warrior, and, besides, was a very strong, +as well as an undaunted person, seeing a mace of no great weight lying +on the floor, where it had been dropped by the fallen Dickson, it, at +the same instant, caught her eye, armed her hand, and intercepted, or +struck down the sword of Sir Aymer de Valence, who would otherwise have +remained the master of the day at that interesting moment. Fleming had +more to do to avail himself of an unexpected chance of recovery, than +to make a commentary upon the manner in which it had been so singularly +brought about; he instantly recovered the advantage he had lost, and +was able in the ensuing close to trip up the feet of his antagonist, +who fell on the pavement, while the voice of his conqueror, if he could +properly be termed such, resounded through the church with the fatal +words, "Yield thee, Aymer de Valence--rescue or no rescue--yield thee! +--yield ye!" he added, as he placed his sword to the throat of the +fallen knight, "not to me, but to this noble lady--rescue or no +rescue." + +With a heavy heart the English knight perceived that he had lost so +favourable an opportunity of acquiring fame, and was obliged to submit +to his destiny, or be slain upon the spot. There was only one +consolation, that no battle was ever more honourably sustained, being +gained as much by accident as by valour. + +The fate of the protracted and desperate combat between Douglas and De +Walton did not much longer remain in suspense; indeed, the number of +conquests in single combat achieved by the Douglas in these wars, was +so great, as to make it doubtful whether he was not, in personal +strength and skill, even a superior knight to Bruce himself, and he was +at least acknowledged nearly his equal in the art of war. + +So however it was, that when three quarters of an hour had passed in +hard contest, Douglas and De Walton, whose nerves were not actually of +iron, began to show some signs that their human bodies were feeling the +effect of the dreadful exertion. Their blows began to be drawn more +slowly, and were parried with less celerity. Douglas, seeing that the +combat must soon come to an end, generously made a signal, intimating +to his antagonist to hold his hand for an instant. + +"Brave De Walton," he said, "there is no mortal quarrel between us, and +you must be sensible that in this passage of arms, Douglas, though he +is only worth his sword and his cloak, has abstained from taking a +decisive advantage when the chance of arms has more than once offered +it. My father's house, the broad domains around it, the dwelling, and +the graves of my ancestors, form a reasonable reward for a knight to +fight for, and call upon me in an imperative voice the prosecute to +strife which has such an object, while you are as welcome to the noble +lady, in all honour and safety, as if you had received her from the +hands of King Edward himself; and I give you my word, that the utmost +honours which can attend a prisoner, and a careful absence of every +thing like injury or insult, shall attend De Walton when he yields up +the castle, as well as his sword to James of Douglas." + +"It is the fate to which I am perhaps doomed," replied Sir John de +Walton; "but never will I voluntarily embrace it, and never shall it be +said that my own tongue, saving in the last extremity, pronounced upon +me the fatal sentence to sink the point of my own sword. Pembroke is +upon the march with his whole army, to rescue the garrison of Douglas. +I hear the tramp of his horse's feet even now; and I will maintain my +ground while I am within reach of support; nor do I fear that the +breath which now begins to fail will not last long enough to uphold the +struggle till the arrival of the expected succour. Come on, then, and +treat me not as a child, but as one who, whether I stand or fall, fears +not to encounter the utmost force of my knightly antagonist." + +"So be it then," said Douglas, a darksome hue, like the lurid colour of +the thunder-cloud, changing his brow as he spoke, intimating that he +meditated a speedy end to the contest, when, just as the noise of +horses' feet drew nigh, a Welsh knight, known as such by the diminutive +size of his steed, his naked limbs, and his bloody spear, called out +loudly to the combatants to hold their hands. + +"Is Pembroke near?" said De Walton. + +"No nearer than Loudon Hill," said the Prestantin; "but I bring his +commands to John de Walton." + +"I stand ready to obey them through every danger," answered the knight. + +"Woe is me," said the Welshman, "that my mouth should bring to the ears +of so brave a man tidings so unwelcome! The Earl of Pembroke yesterday +received information that the castle of Douglas was attacked by the son +of the deceased Earl, and the whole inhabitants of the district. +Pembroke, on hearing this, resolved to march to your support, noble +knight, with all the forces he had at his disposal. He did so, and +accordingly entertained every assurance of relieving the castle, when +unexpectedly he met, on Loudon Hill, a body of men of no very inferior +force to his own, and having at their head that famous Bruce whom the +Scottish rebels acknowledge as their king. He marched instantly to the +attack, swearing he would not even draw a comb through his grey beard +until he had rid England of his recurring plague. But the fate of war +was against us." + +He stopt here for lack of breath. + +"I thought so!" exclaimed Douglas. "Robert Bruce will now sleep at +night, since he has paid home Pembroke for the slaughter of his friends +and the dispersion of his army at Methuen Wood. His men are, indeed, +accustomed to meet with dangers, and to conquer them: those who follow +him have been trained under Wallace, besides being partakers of the +perils of Bruce himself. It was thought that the waves had swallowed +them when they shipped themselves from the west; but know, that the +Bruce was determined with the present reviving spring to awaken his +pretensions, and that he retires not from Scotland again while he lives, +and while a single lord remains to set his foot by his sovereign, in +spite of all the power which has been so feloniously employed against +him." + +"It is even too true," said the Welshman Meredith, "although it is said +by a proud Scotchman.--The Earl of Pembroke, completely defeated, is +unable to stir from Ayr, towards which he has retreated with great +loss: and he sends his instructions to Sir John de Walton, to make the +best terms he can for the surrender of the Castle of Douglas, and trust +nothing to his support." + +The Scottish, who heard this unexpected news, joined in a shout so loud +and energetic, that the ruins of the ancient church seemed actually to +rock and threaten to fall on the heads of those who were crowded within +it. + +The brow of De Walton was overclouded at the news of Pembroke's defeat, +although in some respects it placed him at liberty to take measures for +the safety of the Lady of Berkely. He could not, however, claim the +same honourable terms which had been offered to him by Douglas before +the news of the battle of Loudon Hill had arrived. + +"Noble knight," he said, "it is entirely at your pleasure to dictate +the terms of surrender of your paternal castle; nor have I a right to +claim from you those conditions which, a little while since, your +generosity put in my offer. But I submit to my fate; and upon whatever +terms you think fit to grant me, I must be content to offer to +surrender to you the weapon, of which I now put the point in the earth, +in evidence that I will never more direct it against you until a fair +ransom shall place it once more at my own disposal." + +"God forbid," answered the noble James of Douglas, "that I should take +such advantage of the bravest knight out of not a few who have found +me work in battle! I will take example from the Knight of Fleming, who +has gallantly bestowed his captive in guerdon upon a noble damsel here +present; and in like manner I transfer my claim upon the person of the +redoubted Knight of Walton, to the high and noble Lady Augusta Berkely, +who, I hope, will not scorn to accept from the Douglas a gift which the +chance of war has thrown into his hands." + +Sir John de Walton, on hearing this unexpected decision, looked up like +the traveller who discovers the beams of the sun breaking through and +dispersing the tempest which has accompanied him for a whole morning. +The Lady of Berkely recollected what became her rank, and showed her +sense of the Douglas's chivalry. Hastily wiping off the tears which had +unwillingly flowed to her eyes, while her lover's safety and her own +were resting on the precarious issue of a desperate combat, she assumed +the look proper to a heroine of that age, who did not feel averse to +accept the importance which was conceded to her by the general voice of +the chivalry of the period. Stepping forward, bearing her person +gracefully, yet modestly, in the attitude of a lady accustomed to be +looked to in difficulties like the present, she addressed the audience +in a tone which might not have misbecome the Goddess of Battle +dispersing her influence at the close of a field covered with the dead +and the dying. + +"The noble Douglas," she said, "shall not pass without a prize from the +field which he has so nobly won. This rich string of brilliants, which +my ancestor won from the Sultan of Trebisond, itself a prize of battle, +will be honoured by sustaining, under the Douglas's armour, a lock of +hair of the fortunate lady whom the victorious lord has adopted for his +guide in. chivalry; and if the Douglas, till he shall adorn it with +that lock, will permit the honoured lock of hair which it now bears to +retain its station, she on whose head it grew will hold it as a signal +that poor Augusta de Berkely is pardoned for having gaged any mortal +man in strife with the Knight of Douglas." + +"Woman's love," replied the Douglas, "shall not divorce this locket +from my bosom, which I will keep till the last day of my life, as +emblematic of female worth and female virtue. And, not to encroach upon +the valued and honoured province of Sir John de Walton, be it known to +all men, that whoever shall say that the Lady Augusta of Berkely has, +in this entangled matter, acted otherwise than becomes the noblest of +her sex, he will do well to be ready to maintain such a proposition +with his lance, against James of Douglas, in a fair field." + +This speech was heard with approbation on all sides; and the news +brought by Meredith of the defeat of the Earl of Pembroke, and his +subsequent retreat, reconciled the fiercest of the English soldiers to +the surrender of Douglas Castle. The necessary conditions were speedily +agreed on, which put the Scottish in possession of this stronghold, +together with the stores, both of arms and ammunition, of every kind +which it contained. The garrison had it to boast, that they obtained a +free passage, with their horses and arms, to return by the shortest and +safest route to the marches of England, without either suffering or +inflicting damage. + +Margaret of Hautlieu was not behind in acting a generous part; the +gallant Knight of Valence was allowed to accompany his friend De Walton +and the Lady Augusta to England, and without ransom. + +The venerable prelate of Glasgow, seeing what appeared at one time +likely to end in a general conflict, terminate so auspiciously for his +country, contented himself with bestowing his blessing on the assembled +multitude, and retiring with those who came to assist in the service of +the day. + +This surrender of Douglas Castle upon the Palm Sunday of 19th March, +1306-7, was the beginning of a career of conquest which was +uninterrupted, in which the greater part of the strengths and +fortresses of Scotland were yielded to those who asserted the liberty +of their country, until the crowning mercy was gained in the celebrated +field of Bannockburn, where the English sustained a defeat more +disastrous than is mentioned upon any other occasion in their annals. + +Little need be said of the fate of the persons of this story. King +Edward was greatly enraged at Sir John de Walton for having surrendered +the Castle of Douglas, securing at the same time his own object, the +envied hand of the heiress of Berkely. The knights to whom he referred +the matter as a subject of enquiry, gave it nevertheless as their +opinion that De Walton was void of all censure, having discharged his +duty in its fullest extent, till the commands of his superior officer +obliged him to surrender tho Dangerous Castle. + +A singular renewal of intercourse took place, many months afterwards, +between Margaret of Hautlieu and her lover, Sir Malcolm Fleming. The +use which the lady made of her freedom, and of the doom of the Scottish +Parliament, which put her in possession of her father's inheritance, +was to follow her adventurous spirit through dangers not usually +encountered by those of her sex; and the Lady of Hautlieu was not only +a daring follower of the chase, but it was said that she was even not +daunted in the battlefield. She remained faithful to the political +principles which she had adopted at an early period; and it seemed as +if she had formed the gallant resolution of shaking the god Cupid from +her horse's mane, if not treading him beneath her horse's feet. + +The Fleming, although he had vanished from the neighbourhood of the +counties of Lanark and Ayr, made an attempt to state his apology to the +Lady de Hautlieu herself, who returned his letter unopened, and +remained to all appearance resolved never again to enter upon the topic +of their original engagement. It chanced, however, at a later period of +the war with England, while Fleming was one night travelling upon the +Border, after the ordinary fashion of one who sought adventures, a +waiting-maid, equipped in a fantastic habit, asked the protection of +his arm in the name of her lady, who, late in the evening, had been +made captive, she said, by certain ill-disposed caitiffs, who were +carrying her by force through the forest. The Fleming's lance was, of +course, in its rest, and woe betide the faitour whose lot it was to +encounter its thrust; the first fell, incapable of further combat, and +another of the felons encountered the same fate with little more +resistance. The lady, released from the discourteous cord which +restrained her liberty, did not hesitate to join company with the brave +knight by whom she had been rescued; and although the darkness did not +permit her to recognise her old lover in her liberator, yet she could +not but lend a willing ear to the conversation with which he +entertained her, as they proceeded on the way. He spoke of the fallen +caitiffs as being Englishmen, who found a pleasure in exercising +oppression and barbarities upon the wandering damsels of Scotland, and +whose cause, therefore, the champions of that country were bound to +avenge while the blood throbbed in their veins. He spoke of the +injustice of the national quarrel which had afforded a pretence for +such deliberate oppression; and the lady, who herself had suffered so +much by the interference of the English in the affairs of Scotland, +readily acquiesced in the sentiments which he expressed on a subject +which she had so much reason for regarding as an afflicting one. Her +answer was given in the spirit of a person who would not hesitate, if +the times should call for such an example, to defend even with her hand +the rights which she asserted with her tongue. + +Pleased with the sentiments which she expressed, and recognising in her +voice that secret charm, which, once impressed upon the human heart, is +rarely wrought out of the remembrance by a long train of subsequent +events, he almost persuaded himself that the tones were familiar to him, +and had at one time formed the key to his innermost affections. In +proceeding on their journey, the knight's troubled state of mind was +augmented instead of being diminished. The scenes of his earliest youth +were recalled by circumstances so slight, as would in ordinary cases +have produced no effect whatever; the sentiments appeared similar to +those which his life had been devoted to enforce, and he half persuaded +himself that the dawn of day was to be to him the beginning of a +fortune equally singular and extraordinary. + +In the midst of this anxiety, Sir Malcolm Fleming had no anticipation +that the lady whom he had heretofore rejected was again thrown into his +path, after years of absence; still less, when daylight gave him a +partial view of his fair companion's countenance, was he prepared to +believe that he was once again to term himself the champion of Margaret +de Hautlieu, but it was so. The lady, on that direful morning when she +retired from the church of Douglas, had not resolved (indeed what lady +ever did?) to renounce, without some struggle, the beauties which she +had once possessed. A long process of time, employed under skilful +hands, had succeeded in obliterating the scars which remained as the +marks of her fall. These were now considerably effaced, and the lost +organ of sight no longer appeared so great a blemish, concealed, as it +was, by a black ribbon, and the arts of the tirewoman, who made it her +business to shadow it over by a lock of hair. In a word, he saw the +same Margaret de Hautlieu, with no very different style of expression +from that which her face, partaking of the high and passionate +character of her soul, had always presented. It seemed to both, +therefore, that their fate, by bringing them together after a +separation which appeared so decisive, had intimated its _fiat_ +that their fortunes were inseparable from each other. By the time that +the summer sun had climbed high in the heavens, the two travellers rode +apart from their retinue, conversing together with an eagerness which +marked the important matters of discussion between them; and in a short +time it was made generally known through Scotland, that Sir Malcolm +Fleming and the Lady Margaret de Hautlieu were to be united at the +court of the good King Robert, and the husband invested with the +honours of Biggar and Cumbernauld, an earldom so long known in the +family of Fleming. + +The gentle reader is acquainted, that these are, in all probability, +the last tales which it will be the lot of the Author to submit to the +public. He is now on the eve of visiting foreign parts; a ship of war +is commissioned by its Royal Master to carry the Author of Waverley to +climates in which he may possibly obtain such a restoration of health +as may serve him to spin his thread to an end in his own country. Had +he continued to prosecute his usual literary labours, it seems indeed +probable, that at the term of years he has already attained, the bowl, +to use the pathetic language of Scripture, would have been broken at +the fountain; and little can one, who has enjoyed on the whole an +uncommon share of the most inestimable of worldly blessings, be +entitled to complain, that life, advancing to its period, should be +attended with its usual proportions of shadows and storms. They have +affected him at least in no more painful manner than is inseparable +from the discharge of this part of the debt of humanity. Of those whose +relation to him in the ranks of life might have ensured him their +sympathy under indisposition, many are now no more; and those who may +yet follow in his wake, are entitled to expect, in bearing inevitable +evils, an example of firmness and patience, more especially on the part +of one who has enjoyed no small good fortune during the course of his +pilgrimage. + +The public have claims on his gratitude, for which the Author of +Waverley has no adequate means of expression; but he may be permitted +to hope, that the powers of his mind, such as they are, may not have a +different date from those of his body; and that he may again meet his +patronising friends, if not exactly in his old fashion of literature, +at least in some branch, which may not call forth the remark, that-- + + "Superfluous lags the veteran on the stage." + +ABBOTSFORD, _September_, 1831. + +END OF CASTLE DANGEROUS. + + + + +MY AUNT MARGARET'S MIRROR + +INTRODUCTION.--(1831.) + +The species of publication--which has come to be generally known by the +title of _Annual_, being a miscellany of prose and verse, equipped +with numerous engravings, and put forth every year about Christmas, had +flourished for a long while in Germany, before it was imitated in this +country by an enterprising bookseller, a German by birth, Mr. Ackermann. +The rapid success of his work, as is the custom of the time, gave birth +to a host of rivals, and, among others, to an Annual styled The +Keepsake, the first volume of which appeared in 1828, and attracted +much notice, chiefly in consequence of the very uncommon splendour of +its illustrative accompaniments. The expenditure which the spirited +proprietors lavished on this magnificent volume, is understood to have +been not less than from ten to twelve thousand pounds sterling! + +Various gentlemen, of such literary reputation that any one might think +it an honour to be associated with them, had been announced as +contributors to this Annual, before application was made to me to +assist in it; and I accordingly placed with much pleasure at the +Editor's disposal a few fragments, originally designed to have been +worked into the Chronicles of the Canongate, besides a MS. Drama, the +long-neglected performance of my youthful days,--the House of Aspen. + +The Keepsake for 1828 included, however, only three of these little +prose tales--of which the first in order was that entitled "My Aunt +Margaret's Mirror." By way of _introduction_ to this, when now +included in a general collection of my lucubrations, I have only to say +that it is a mere transcript, or at least with very little +embellishment, of a story that I remembered being struck with in my +childhood, when told at the fireside by a lady of eminent virtues, and +no inconsiderable share of talent, one of the ancient and honourable +house of Swinton. She was a kind relation of my own, and met her death +in a manner so shocking, being killed in a fit of insanity by a female +attendant who had been attached to her person for half a lifetime, that +I cannot now recall her memory, child as I was when the catastrophe +occurred, without a painful reawakening of perhaps the first images of +horror that the scenes of real life stamped on my mind. + +This good spinster had in her composition a strong vein of the +superstitious, and was pleased, among other fancies, to read alone in +her chamber by a taper fixed in a candlestick which she had formed out +of a human skull. One night, this strange piece of furniture acquired +suddenly the power of locomotion, and, after performing some odd +circles on her chimneypiece, fairly leaped on the floor, and continued +to roll about the apartment. Mrs. Swinton calmly proceeded to the +adjoining room for another light, and had the satisfaction to penetrate +the mystery on the spot. Rats abounded in the ancient building she +inhabited, and one of these had managed to ensconce itself within her +favourite _memento mori_. Though thus endowed with a more than +feminine share of nerve, she entertained largely that belief in +supernaturals, which in those times was not considered as sitting +ungracefully on the grave and aged of her condition; and the story of +the Magic Mirror was one for which she vouched with particular +confidence, alleging indeed that one of her own family had been an eye- +witness of the incidents recorded in it. + + "I tell the tale as it was told to me." + +Stories enow of much the same cast will present themselves to the +recollection of such of my readers as have ever dabbled in a species of +lore to which I certainly gave more hours, at one period of my life, +than I should gain any credit by confessing. + +_August_, 1831. + + + + +MY AUNT MARGARET'S MIRROR. + + "There are times + When Fancy plays her gambols, in despite + Even of our watchful senses, when in sooth + Substance seems shadow, shadow substance seems + When the broad, palpabale, and mark'd partition + 'Twixt that which is and is not, seems dissolved + As if the mental eye gain'd power to gaze + Beyond the limits of the existing world. + Such hours of shadowy dreams I better love + Than all the gross realities of life." + ANONYMOUS. + + My Aunt Margaret was one of that respected sisterhood, upon whom +devolve all the trouble and solicitude incidental to the possession of +children, excepting only that which attends their entrance into the +world. We were a large family, of very different dispositions and +constitutions. Some were dull and peevish--they were sent to Aunt +Margaret to be amused; some were rude, romping, and boisterous--they +were sent to Aunt Margaret to be kept quiet, or rather that their noise +might be removed out of hearing: those who were indisposed were sent +with the prospect of being nursed--those who were stubborn, with the +hope of their being subdued by the kindness of Aunt Margaret's +discipline; in short, she had all the various duties of a mother, +without the credit and dignity of the maternal character. The busy +scene of her various cares is now over--of the invalids and the robust, +the kind and the rough, the peevish and pleased children, who thronged +her little parlour from morning to night, not one now remains alive but +myself; who, afflicted by early infirmity, was one of the most delicate +of her nurslings, yet nevertheless, have outlived them all. + +It is still my custom, and shall be so while I have the use of my limbs, +to visit my respected relation at least three times a-week. Her abode +is about half a mile from the suburbs of the town in which I reside; +and is accessible, not only by the high-road, from which it stands at +some distance, but by means of a greensward footpath, leading through +some pretty meadows. I have so little left to torment me in life, that +it is one of my greatest vexations to know that several of these +sequestered fields have been devoted as sites for building. In that +which is nearest the town, wheelbarrows have been at work for several +weeks in such numbers, that, I verily believe, its whole surface, to +the depth of at least eighteen inches, was mounted in these monotrochs +at the same moment, and in the act of being transported from one place +to another. Huge triangular piles of planks are also reared in +different parts of the devoted messuage; and a little group of trees, +that still grace the eastern end, which rises in a gentle ascent, have +just received warning to quit, expressed by a daub of white paint, and +are to give place to a curious grove of chimneys. + +It would, perhaps, hurt others in my situation to reflect that this +little range of pasturage once belonged to my father, (whose family was +of some consideration in the world,) and was sold by patches to remedy +distresses in which he involved himself in an attempt by commercial +adventure to redeem, his diminished fortune. While the building scheme +was in full operation, this circumstance was often pointed out to me by +the class of friends who are anxious that no part of your misfortunes +should escape your observation. "Such pasture-ground!--lying at the +very town's end--in turnips and potatoes, the parks would bring +20_l_. per acre, and if leased for building--Oh, it was a gold +mine!--And all sold for an old song out of the ancient possessor's +hands!" My comforters cannot bring me to repine much on this subject. +If I could be allowed to look back on the past without interruption, I +could willingly give up the enjoyment of present income, and the hope +of future profit, to those who have purchased what my father sold. I +regret the alteration of the ground only because it destroys +associations, and I would more willingly (I think) see the Earl's +Closes in the hands of strangers, retaining their silvan appearance, +than know them for my own, if torn up by agriculture, or covered with +buildings. Mine are the sensations of poor Logan: + + "The horrid plough has rased the green + Where yet a child I stray'd; + The axe has fell'd the hawthorn screen, + The schoolboy's summer shade." + +I hope, however, the threatened devastation will not be consummated in +my day. Although the adventurous spirit of times short while since +passed gave rise to the undertaking, I have been encouraged to think, +that the subsequent changes have so far damped the spirit of +speculation, that the rest of the woodland footpath leading to Aunt +Margaret's retreat will be left undisturbed for her time and mine. I am +interested in this, for every step of the way, after I have passed +through the green already mentioned, has for me something of early +remembrance :--There is the stile at which I can recollect a cross +child's-maid upbraiding me with my infirmity, as she lifted me coarsely +and carelessly over the flinty steps, which my brothers traversed with +shout and bound. I remember the suppressed bitterness of the mo-ment, +and, conscious of my own inferiority, the feeling of envy with which I +regarded the easy movements and elastic steps of my more happily formed +brethren. Alas! these goodly barks have all perished on life's wide +ocean, and only that which seemed so little seaworthy, as the naval +phrase goes, has reached the port when the tempest is over. Then there +is the pool, where, manoeuvring our little navy, constructed out of the +broad water flags, my elder brother fell in, and was scarce saved from +the watery element to die under Nelson's banner. There is the hazel +copse also, in which my brother Henry used to gather nuts, thinking +little that he was to die in an Indian jungle in quest of rupees. + +There is so much more of remembrance about the little walk, that--as I +stop, rest on my crutch-headed cane, and look round with that species +of comparison between the thing I was and that which I now am--it +almost induces me to doubt my own identity; until I find myself in face +of the honeysuckle porch of Aunt Margaret's dwelling, with its +irregularity of front, and its odd projecting latticed windows; where +the workmen seem to have made a study that no one of them should +resemble another, in form, size, or in the old-fashioned stone +entablature and labels which adorn them. This tenement, once the manor- +house of Earl's Closes, we still retain a slight hold upon; for, in +some family arrangements, it had been settled upon Aunt Margaret during +the term of her life. Upon this frail tenure depends, in a great +measure, the last shadow of the family of Bothwell of Earl's Closes, +and their last slight connection with their paternal inheritance. The +only representative will then be an infirm old man, moving not +unwillingly to the grave, which has devoured all that were dear to his +aifections. + +When I have indulged such thoughts for a minute or two, I enter the +mansion, which is said to have been the gatehouse only of the original +building, and find one being on whom time seems to have made little +impression; for the Aunt Margaret of to-day bears the same proportional +ago to the Aunt Margaret of my early youth, that the boy of ten years +old does to the man of (by'r Lady!) some fifty-six years. The old +lady's invariable costume has doubtless some share in confirming one in +the opinion, that time has stood still with Aunt Margaret. + +The brown or chocolate-coloured silk gown, with ruffles of the same +stuff at the elbow, within which are others of Mechlin lace--the black +silk gloves, or mitts, the white hair combed back upon a roll, and the +cap of spotless cambric, which closes around the venerable countenance, +as they were not the costume of 1780, so neither were they that of +1826; they are altogether a style peculiar to the individual Aunt +Margaret. There she still sits, as she sat thirty years since, with her +wheel or the stocking, which she works by the fire in winter, and by +the window in summer; or, perhaps, venturing as far as the porch in an +unusually fine summer evening. Her frame, like some well-constructed +piece of mechanics, still performs the operations for which it had +seemed destined; going its round with an activity which is gradually +diminished, yet indicating no probability that it will soon come to a +period. + +The solicitude and affection which had made Aunt Margaret the willing +slave to the inflictions of a whole nursery, have now for their object +the health and comfort of one old and infirm man, the last remaining +relative of her family, and the only one who can still find interest in +the traditional stores which she hoards as some miser hides the gold +which he desires that no one should enjoy after his death. + +My conversation with Aunt Margaret generally relates little either to +the present or to the future: for the passing day we possess as much as +we require, and we neither of us wish for more; and for that which is +to follow we have on this side of the grave neither hopes, nor fears, +nor anxiety. We therefore naturally look back to the past; and forget +the present fallen fortunes and declined importance of our family, in +recalling the hours when it was wealthy and prosperous. + +With this slight introduction, the reader will know as much of Aunt +Margaret and her nephew as is necessary to comprehend the following +conversation and narrative. + +Last week, when, late in a summer evening, I went to call on the old +lady to whom my reader is now introduced, I was received by her with +all her usual affection and benignity; while, at the same time, she +seemed abstracted and disposed to silence. I asked her the reason. +"They have been clearing out the old chapel," she said; "John +Clayhudgeons having, it seems, discovered that the stuff within--being, +I suppose, the remains of our ancestors--was excellent for top-dressing +the meadows." + +Here I started up with more alacrity than I have displayed for some +years; but sat down while my aunt added, laying her hand upon my sleeve, +"The chapel has been long considered as common ground, my dear, and +used for a penfold, and what objection can we have to the man for +employing what is his own, to his own profit? Besides, I did speak to +him, and he very readily and civilly promised, that, if he found bones +or monuments, they should be carefully respected and reinstated; and +what more could I ask? So, the first stone they found bore the name of +Margaret Bothwell, 1585, and I have caused it to be laid carefully +aside, as I think it betokens death; and having served my namesake two +hundred years, it has just been cast up in time to do me the same good +turn. My house has been long put in order, as far as the small earthly +concerns require it, but who shall say that their account with Heaven +is sufficiently revised?" + +"After what you have said, aunt," I replied, "perhaps I ought to take +my hat and go away, and so I should, but that there is on this occasion +a little alloy mingled with our devotion. To think of death at all +times is a duty--to suppose it nearer, from the finding of an old +gravestone, is superstition; and you, with your strong useful common +sense, which was so long the prop of a fallen family, are the last +person whom I should have suspected of such weakness." + +"Neither would I have deserved your suspicions, kinsman" answered Aunt +Margaret, "if we were speaking of any incident occurring in the actual +business of human life. But for all this I have a sense of superstition +about me, which I do not wish to part with. It is a feeling which +separates me from this age, and links me with that to which I am +hastening; and even when it seems, as now, to lead me to the brink of +the grave, and bids me gaze on it, I do not love that it should be +dispelled. It soothes my imagination, without influencing my reason or +conduct." + +"I profess, my good lady," replied I, "that had any one but you made +such a declaration, I should have thought it as capricious as that of +the clergyman, who, without vindicating his false reading, preferred, +from habit's sake, his old Mumpsimus to the modern Sumpsimus." + +"Well," answered my aunt, "I must explain my inconsistency in this +particular, by comparing it to another. I am, as you know, a piece of +that old-fashioned thing called a Jacobite; but I am so in sentiment +and feeling only; for a more loyal subject never joined in prayers, for +the health and wealth of George the Fourth, whom God long preserve! But +I dare say that kind-hearted sovereign would not deem that an old woman +did him, much injury if she leaned back in her arm-chair, just in such +a twilight as this, and thought of the high-mettled men, whose sense of +duty called them to arms against his grandfather; and how, in a cause +which they deemed that of their rightful prince and country, + + 'They fought till their hands to the broadsword were glued, + They fought against fortune with hearts unsubdued.' + +do not come at such a moment, when my head is full of plaids, pibrochs, +and claymores, and ask my reason to admit what, I am afraid, it cannot +deny--I mean, that the public advantage peremptorily demanded that +these things should cease to exist. I cannot, indeed, refuse to allow +the justice of your reasoning; but yet, being convinced against my will, +you will gain little by your motion. You might as well read to an +infatuated lover the catalogue of his mistress's imperfections; for, +when he has been compelled to listen to the summary, you will only get +for answer, that, 'he lo'es her a' the better.'" + +I was not sorry to have changed the gloomy train of Aunt Margaret's +thoughts, and replied in the same tone, "Well, I can't help being +persuaded that our good king is the more sure of Mrs. Bothwell's loyal +affection, that he has the Stuart right of birth, as well as the Act of +Succession in his favour." + +"Perhaps my attachment, were its source of consequence, might be foumd +warmer for the union of the rights you mention," said Aunt Margaret? +"but, upon my word, it would be as sincere if the king's right were +founded only on the will of the nation, as declared at the Revolution. +I am none of your _jure divino_ folk." + +"And a Jacobite notwithstanding." + +"And a Jacobite notwithstanding; or rather, I will give you leave to +call me one of the party which, in Queen Anne's time, were called +_Whimsicals_; because they were sometimes operated upon by +feelings, sometimes by principle. After all, it is very hard that you +will not allow an old woman to be as inconsistent in her political +sentiments, as mankind in general show themselves in all the various +courses of life; since you cannot point out one of them, in which the +passions and prejudices of those who pursue it are not perpetually +carrying us away from the path which our reason points out." + +"True, aunt; but you are a wilful wanderer, who should be forced back +into the right path." + +"Spare me, I entreat you," replied Aunt Margaret. "You remember the +Gaelic song, though I dare say I mispronounce the words-- + + 'Hatil mohatil, na dowski mi.' + 'I am asleep, do not waken me.' + +I tell you, kinsman, that the sort of waking dreams which my +imagination spins out, in what your favourite Wordsworth calls 'moods +of my own mind,' are worth all the rest of my more active days. Then, +instead of looking forwards as I did in youth, and forming for myself +fairy palaces, upon the verge of the grave, I turn my eyes backward +upon the days and manners of my better time; and the sad, yet soothing +recollections come so close and interesting, that I almost think it +sacrilege to be wiser, or more rational, or less prejudiced, than those +to whom I looked up in my younger years." + +"I think I now understand what you mean," I answered, "and can +comprehend why you should occasionally prefer the twilight of illusion +to the steady light of reason." + +"Where there is no task," she rejoined, "to be performed, we may sit in +the dark if we like it--if we go to work, we must ring for candles." + +"And amidst such shadowy and doubtful light," continued I, "imagination +frames her enchanted and enchanting visions, and sometimes passes them +upon the senses for reality." + +"Yes," said Aunt Margaret, who is a well-read woman, "to those who +resemble the translator of Tasso, + + 'Prevailing poet, whose undoubting mind + Believed the magic wonders which he sung.' + +It is not required for this purpose, that you should be sensible of the +painful horrors which an actual belief in such prodigies inflicts--such +a belief, now-a-days, belongs only to fools and children. It is not +necessary that your ears should tingle, and your complexion change, +like that of Theodore, at the approach of the spectral huntsman. All +that is indispensable for the enjoyment of the milder feeling of +supernatural awe is, that you should be susceptible of the slight +shuddering which creeps over you when you hear a tale of terror--that +well-vouched tale which the narrator, having first expressed his +general disbelief of all such legendary lore, selects and produces, as +having something in it which he has been always obliged to give up as +inexplicable. Another symptom is, a momentary hesitation to look round +you, when the interest of the narrative is at the highest; and the +third, a desire to avoid looking into a mirror, when you are alone, in +your chamber, for the evening. I mean such are signs which indicate the +crisis, when a female imagination is in due temperature to enjoy a +ghost story. I do not pretend to describe those which express the same +disposition in a gentleman." + +"This last symptom, dear aunt, of shunning the mirror, seems likely to +be a rare occurrence amongst the fair sex." + +"You are a novice in toilet fashions, my dear kinsman. All women +consult the looking-glass with anxiety before they go into company; but +when they return home, the mirror has not the same charm. The die has +been cast-the party has been successful or unsuccessful, in the +impression which she desired to make. But, without going deeper into +the mysteries of the dressing-table, I will tell you that I myself, +like many other honest folk, do not like to see the blank black front +of a large mirror in a room dimly lighted, and where the reflection of +the candle seems rather to lose itself in the deep obscurity of the +glass, than to be reflected back again into the apartment. That space +of inky darkness seems to be a field for Fancy to play her revels in. +She may call up other features to meet us, instead of the reflection of +our own; or, as in the spells of Hallowe'en, which we learned in +childhood some unknown form may be seen peeping over our shoulder. In +short, when I am in a ghost-seeing humour, I make my handmaiden draw +the green curtains over the mirror, before I go into the room, so that +she may have the first shock of the apparition, if there be any to be +seen. But, to tell you the truth, this dislike to look into a mirror in +particular times and places, has, I believe, its original foundation in +a story which came to me by tradition from my grandmother, who was a +party concerned in the scene of which I will now tell you." + + + + +THE MIRROR. + +CHAPTER THE FIRST. + + +You are fond (said my aunt) of sketches of the society which has passed +away. I wish I could describe to you Sir Philip Forester, the +"chartered libertine" of Scottish good company, about the end of the +last century. I never saw him indeed; but my mother's traditions were +full of his wit, gallantry and dissipation. This gay knight flourished +about the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th century. He was the +Sir Charles Easy and the Lovelace of his day and country; renowned for +the number of duels he had fought, and the successful intrigues which +he had carried on. The supremacy which he had attained in the +fashionable world was absolute; and when we combine with it one or two +anecdotes, for which, "if laws were made for every degree," he ought +certainly to have been hanged, the popularity of such a person really +serves to show, either that the present times are much more decent, if +not more virtuous, than they formerly were; or, that high breeding then +was of more difficult attainment than that which is now so called; and, +consequently, entitled the successful professor to a proportionable +degree of plenary indulgences and privileges. No beau of this day could +have borne out so ugly a story as that of Pretty Peggy Grindstone, the +miller's daughter at Sillermills--it had well-nigh made work for the +Lord Advocate. But it hurt Sir Philip Forester no more than the hail +hurts the hearth-stone. He was as well received in society as ever, and +dined with the Duke of A---- the day the poor girl was buried. She died +of heart-break. But that has nothing to do with my story. + +Now, you must listen to a single word upon kith, kin, and ally; I +promise you I will not be prolix. But it is necessary to the +authenticity of my legend, that you should know that Sir Philip +Forester, with his handsome person, elegant accomplishments, and +fashionable manners, married the younger Miss Falconer of King's +Copland. The elder sister of this lady had previously become the wife +of my grandfather, Sir Geoffrey Bothwell, and brought into our family a +good fortune. Miss Jemima, or Miss Jemmie Falconer, as she was usually +called, had also about ten thousand pounds sterling--then thought a +very handsome portion indeed. + +The two sisters were extremely different, though each had their +admirers while they remained single. Lady Bothwell had some touch of +the old King's Copland blood about her. She was bold, though not to the +degree of audacity; ambitious, and desirous to raise her house and +family; and was, as has been said, a considerable spur to my +grandfather, who was otherwise an indolent man; but whom, unless he has +been slandered, his lady's influence involved in some political matters +which had been more wisely let alone. She was a woman of high principle, +however, and masculine good sense, as some of her letters testify, +which are still in my wainscot cabinet. + +Jemmie Falconer was the reverse of her sister in every respect. Her +understanding did not reach above the ordinary pitch, if, indeed, she +could be said to have attained it. Her beauty, while it lasted, +consisted, in a great measure, of delicacy of complexion and regularity +of features, without any peculiar force of expression. Even these +charms faded under the sufferings attendant on an ill-sorted match. She +was passionately attached to her husband, by whom she was treated with +a callous, yet polite indifference, which, to one whose heart was as +tender as her judgment was weak, was more painful perhaps than absolute +ill-usage. Sir Philip was a voluptuary, that is, a completely selfish +egotist, whose disposition and character resembled the rapier he wore, +polished, keen, and brilliant, but inflexible and unpitying. As he +observed carefully all the usual forms towards his lady, he had the art +to deprive her even of the compassion of the world; and useless and +unavailing as that may be while actually possessed by the sufferer, it +is, to a mind like Lady Forester's, most painful to know she has it not. + +The tattle of society did its best to place the peccant husband above +the suffering wife. Some called her a poor spiritless thing, and +declared, that, with a little of her sister's spirit, she might have +brought to reason any Sir Philip whatsoever, were it the termagant +Falconbridge himself. But the greater part of their acquaintance +affected candour, and saw faults on both sides; though, in fact, there +only existed the oppressor and the oppressed. The tone of such critics +was--"To be sure, no one will justify Sir Philip Forester, but then we +all know Sir Philip, and Jemmie Falconer might have known what she had +to expect from the beginning.--What made her set her cap at Sir +Philip?--He would never have looked at her if she had not thrown +herself at his head, with her poor ten thousand pounds. I am sure, if +it is money he wanted, she spoiled his market. I know where Sir Philip +could have done much better.--And then, if she _would_ have the +man, could not she try to make him more comfortable at home, and have +his friends oftener, and not plague him with the squalling children, +and take care all was handsome and in good style about the house? I +declare I think Sir Philip would have made a very domestic man, with a +woman who knew how to manage him." + +Now these fair critics, in raising their profound edifice of domestic +felicity, did not recollect that the corner-stone was wanting; and that +to receive good company with good cheer, the means of the banquet ought +to have been furnished by Sir Philip; whose income (dilapidated as it +was) was not equal to the display of hospitality required, and, at the +same time, to the supply of the good knight's _menus plaisirs_. So, +in spite of all that was so sagely suggested by female friends, Sir +Philip carried his good-humour every where abroad, and left at home a +solitary mansion and a pining spouse. + +At length, inconvenienced in his money affairs, and tired even of the +short time which he spent in his own dull house, Sir Philip Forester +determined to take a trip to the Continent, in the capacity of a +volunteer. It was then common for men of fashion to do so; and our +knight perhaps was of opinion that a touch of the military character, +just enough to exalt, but not render pedantic, his qualities as a +_beau garcon_, was necessary to maintain possession of the +elevated situation which he held in the ranks of fashion. + +Sir Philip's resolution threw his wife into agonies of terror, by which +the worthy baronet was so much annoyed, that, contrary to his wont, he +took some trouble to soothe her apprehensions; and once more brought +her to shed tears, in which sorrow was not altogether unmingled with +pleasure. Lady Bothwell asked, as a favour, Sir Philip's permission to +receive her sister and her family into her own house during his absence +on the Continent. Sir Philip readily assented to a proposition which +saved expense, silenced the foolish people who might have talked of a +deserted wife and family, and gratified Lady Bothwell, for whom he felt +some respect, as for one who often spoke to him, always with freedom, +and sometimes with severity, without being deterred either by his +raillery, or the _prestige_ of his reputation. + +A day or two before Sir Philip's departure, Lady Bothwell took the +liberty of asking him, in her sister's presence, the direct question, +which his timid wife had often desired, but never ventured, to put to +him. + +"Pray, Sir Philip, what route do you take when you reach the +Continent?" + +"I go from Leith to Helvoet by a packet with advices." + +"That I comprehend perfectly," said Lady Bothwell dryly; "but you do +not mean to remain long at Helvoet, I presume, and I should like to +know what is your next object?" + +"You ask me, my dear lady," answered Sir Philip, "a question which I +have not dared to ask myself. The answer depends on the fate of war. I +shall, of course, go to headquarters, wherever they may happen to be +for the time; deliver my letters of introduction; learn as much of the +noble art of war as may suffice a poor interloping amateur; and then +take a glance at the sort of thing of which we read so much in the +Gazette." + +"And I trust, Sir Philip," said Lady Bothwell, "that you will remember +that you are a husband and a father; and that though you think fit to +indulge this military fancy, you will not let it hurry you into dangers +which it is certainly unnecessary for any save professional persons to +encounter?" + +"Lady Bothwell does me too much honour," replied the adventurous knight, +"in regarding such a circumstance with the slightest interest. But to +soothe your flattering anxiety, I trust your ladyship will recollect, +that I cannot expose to hazard the venerable and paternal character +which you so obligingly recommend to my protection, without putting in +some peril an honest fellow, called Philip Forester, with whom I have +kept company for thirty years, and with whom, though some folk consider +him a coxcomb, I have not the least desire to part." + +"Well, Sir Philip, you are the best judge of your own affairs; I have +little right to interfere--you are not my husband." + +"God forbid!"--said Sir Philip hastily; instantly adding, however, "God +forbid that I should deprive my friend Sir Geoffrey of so inestimable a +treasure." + +"But you are my sister's husband," replied the lady; "and I suppose you +are aware of her present distress of mind--" + +"If hearing of nothing else from morning to night can make me aware of +it," said Sir Philip, "I should know something of the matter." + +"I do not pretend to reply to your wit, Sir Philip," answered Lady +Bothwell, "but you must be sensible that all this distress is on +account of apprehensions for your personal safety." + +"In that case, I am surprised that Lady Bothwell, at least, should give +herself so much trouble upon so insignificant a subject." + +"My sister's interest may account for my being anxious to learn +something of Sir Philip Forester's motions; about which otherwise, I +know, he would not wish me to concern myself. I have a brother's safety, +too, to be anxious for." + +"You mean Major Falconer, your brother by the mother's side:--What can +he possibly have to do with our present agreeable conversation?" + +"You have had words together, Sir Philip," said Lady Bothwell. + +"Naturally; we are connections," replied Sir Philip, "and as such have +always had the usual intercourse." + +"That is an evasion of the subject," answered the lady. "By words, I +mean angry words, on the subject of your usage of your wife." + +"If," replied Sir Philip Forester, "you suppose Major Falconer simple +enough to intrude his advice upon me, Lady Bothwell, in my domestic +matters, you are indeed warranted in believing that I might possibly be +so far displeased with the interference, as to request him to reserve +his advice till it was asked." + +"And, being on these terms, you are going to join the very army in +which my brother Falconer is now serving?" + +"No man knows the path of honour better than Major Falconer," said Sir +Philip. "An aspirant after fame, like me, cannot choose a better guide +than his footsteps." + +Lady Bothwell rose and went to the window, the tears gushing from her +eyes. + +"And this heartless raillery," she said, "is all the consideration that +is to be given to our apprehensions of a quarrel which may bring on the +most terrible consequences? Good God! of what can men's hearts be made, +who can thus dally with the agony of others?" + +Sir Philip Forester was moved; he laid aside the mocking tone in which +he had hitherto spoken. + +"Dear Lady Bothwell," he said, taking her reluctant hand, "we are both +wrong:--you are too deeply serious; I, perhaps, too little. The dispute +I had with Major Falconer was of no earthly consequence. Had any thing +occurred betwixt us that ought to have been settled _par voie du +fait_, as we say in France, neither of us are persons that are +likely to postpone such a meeting. Permit me to say, that were it +generally known that you or my Lady Forester are apprehensive of such a +catastrophe, it might be the very means of bringing about what would +not otherwise be likely to happen. I know your good sense, Lady +Bothwell, and that you will understand me when I say, that really my +affairs require my absence for some months;--this Jemima cannot +understand; it is a perpetual recurrence of questions, why can you not +do this, or that, or the third thing; and, when you have proved to her +that her expedients are totally ineffectual, you have just to begin the +whole round again. Now, do you tell her, dear Lady Bothwell, that +_you_ are satisfied. She is, you must confess, one of those +persons with whom authority goes farther than reasoning. Do but repose +a little confidence in me, and you shall see how amply I will repay +it." + +Lady Bothwell shook her head, as one but half satisfied. "How difficult +it is to extend confidence, when the basis on which it ought to rest +has been so much shaken! But I will do my best to make Jemima easy; and +farther, I can only say, that for keeping your present purpose, I hold +you responsible both to God and man." + +"Do not fear that I will deceive you," said Sir Philip; "the safest +conveyance to me will be through the general post-office, Helvoetsluys, +where I will take care to leave orders for forwarding my letters. As +for Falconer, our only encounter will be over a bottle of Burgundy! so +make yourself perfectly easy on his score." + +Lady Bothwell could not make herself easy; yet she was sensible that +her sister hurt her own cause by _taking on_, as the maid-servants +call it, too vehemently; and by showing before every stranger, by +manner, and sometimes by words also, a dissatisfaction with her +husband's journey, that was sure to come to his ears, and equally +certain to displease him. But there was no help for this domestic +dissension, which ended only with the day of separation. + +I am sorry I cannot tell, with precision, the year in which Sir Philip +Forester went over to Flanders; but it was one of those in which the +campaign opened with extraordinary fury; and many bloody, though +indecisive, skirmishes were fought between the French on the one side, +and the Allies on the other. In all our modern improvements, there are +none, perhaps, greater than in the accuracy and speed with which +intelligence is transmitted from any scene of action to those in this +country whom it may concern. During Marlborough's campaigns, the +sufferings of the many who had relations in, or along with, the army, +were greatly augmented by the suspense in which they were detained for +weeks, after they had heard of bloody battles in which, in all +probability, those for whom their bosoms throbbed with anxiety had been +personally engaged. Amongst those who were most agonized by this state +of uncertainty, was the--I had almost said deserted---wife of the gay +Sir Philip Forester. A single letter had informed her of his arrival on +the Continent--no others were received. One notice occurred in the +newspapers, in which Volunteer Sir Philip Forester was mentioned as +having been entrusted with a dangerous reconnoissance, which he had +executed with the greatest courage, dexterity, and intelligence, and +received the thanks of the commanding officer. The sense of his having +acquired distinction brought a momentary glow into the lady's pale +cheek; but it--was instantly lost in ashen whiteness at the +recollection of his danger. After this, they had no news whatever, +neither from Sir Philip, nor even from their brother Falconer. The case +of Lady Forester was not indeed different from that of hundreds in the +same situation; but a feeble mind is necessarily an irritable one, and +the suspense which some bear with constitutional indifference or +philosophical resignation, and some with a disposition to believe and +hope the best, was intolerable to Lady Forester, at once solitary and +sensitive, low-spirited, and devoid of strength of mind, whether +natural or acquired. + + + + +CHAPTER THE SECOND. + + +As she received no farther news of Sir Philip, whether directly or +indirectly, his unfortunate lady began now to feel a sort of +consolation, even in those careless habits which had so often given her +pain. "He is so thoughtless," she repeated a hundred times a day to her +sister, "he never writes when things are going on smoothly; it is his +way: had any thing happened he would have informed us." + +Lady Bothwell listened to her sister without attempting to console her. +Probably she might be of opinion, that even the worst intelligence +which could be received from Flanders might not be without some touch +of consolation; and that the Dowager Lady Forester, if so she was +doomed to be called, might have a source of happiness unknown to the +wife of the gayest and finest gentleman in Scotland. This conviction +became stronger as they learned from inquiries made at headquarters, +that Sir Philip was no longer with the army; though whether he had been +taken or slain in some of those skirmishes which were perpetually +occurring, and in which he loved to distinguish himself, or whether he +had, for some unknown reason or capricious change of mind, voluntarily +left the service, none of his countrymen in the camp of the Allies +could form even a conjecture. Meantime his creditors at home became +clamorous, entered into possession of big property, and threatened his +person, should he be rash enough to return to Scotland. These +additional disadvantages aggravated Lady Bothwell's displeasure against +the fugitive husband; while her sister saw nothing in any of them, save +what tended to increase her grief for the absence of him whom her +imagination now represented,--as it had before marriage,--gallant, gay, +and affectionate. + +About this period there appeared in Edinburgh a man of singular +appearance and pretensions. He was commonly called the Paduan Doctor, +from having received his education at that famous university. He was +supposed to possess some rare receipts in medicine, with which, it was +affirmed, he had wrought remarkable cures. But though, on the one hand, +the physicians of Edinburgh termed him an empiric, there were many +persons, and among them some of the clergy, who, while they admitted +the truth of the cures and the force of his remedies, alleged that +Doctor Baptisti Damiotti made use of charms and unlawful arts in order +to obtain success in his practice. The resorting to him was even +solemnly preached against, as a seeking of health from idols, and a +trusting to the help which was to come from Egypt. But the protection +which the Paduan Doctor received from some friends of interest and +consequence, enabled him to set these imputations at defiance, and to +assume, even in the city of Edinburgh, famed as it was for abhorrence +of witches and necromancers, the dangerous character of an expounder of +futurity. It was at length rumoured, that for a certain gratification, +which, of course, was not an inconsiderable one, Doctor Baptisti +Damiotti could tell the fate of the absent, and even show his visitors +the personal form of their absent friends, and the action in which they +were engaged at the moment. This rumour came to the ears of Lady +Forester, who had reached that pitch of mental agony in which the +sufferer will do any thing, or endure any thing, that suspense may be +converted into certainty. + +Gentle and timid in most cases, her state of mind made her equally +obstinate and reckless, and it was with no small surprise and alarm +that her sister, Lady Bothwell, heard her express a resolution to visit +this man of art, and learn from him the fate of her husband. Lady +Bothwell remonstrated on the improbability that such pretensions as +those of this foreigner could be founded on any thing but imposture. + +"I care not," said the deserted wife, "what degree of ridicule I may +incur; if there be any one chance out of a hundred that I may obtain +some certainty of my husband's fate, I would not miss that chance for +whatever else the world can offer me." + +Lady Bothwell next urged the unlawfulness of resorting to such sources +of forbidden knowledge. + +"Sister," replied the sufferer, "he who is dying of thirst cannot +refrain from drinking poisoned water. She who suffers under suspense +must seek information, even were the powers which offer it unhallowed +and infernal. I go to learn my fate alone; and this very evening will I +know it: the sun that rises to-morrow shall find me, if not more happy, +at least more resigned." + +"Sister," said Lady Bothwell, "if you are determined upon this wild +step, you shall not go alone. If this man be an impostor, you may be +too much agitated by your feelings to detect his villany. If, which I +cannot believe, there be any truth in what he pretends, you shall not +be exposed alone to a communication of so extraordinary a nature. I +will go with you, if indeed you determine to go. But yet reconsider +your project, and renounce inquiries which cannot be prosecuted without +guilt, and perhaps without danger." + +Lady Forester threw herself into her sister's arms, and, clasping her +to her bosom, thanked her a hundred times for the offer of her company; +while she declined with a melancholy gesture the friendly advice with +which it was accompanied. + +When the hour of twilight arrived,--which was the period when the +Paduan Doctor was understood to receive the visits of those who came to +consult with him,--the two ladies left their apartments in the +Canongate of Edinburgh, having their dress arranged like that of women +of an inferior description, and their plaids disposed around their +faces as they were worn by the same class; for, in those days of +aristocracy, the quality of the wearer was generally indicated by the +manner in which her plaid was disposed, as well as by the fineness of +its texture. It was Lady Bothwell who had suggested this species of +disguise, partly to avoid observation as they should go to the +conjuror's house, and partly in order to make trial of his penetration, +by appearing before him in a feigned character. Lady Forester's servant, +of tried fidelity, had been employed by her to propitiate the Doctor by +a suitable fee, and a story intimating that a soldier's wife desired to +know the fate of her husband; a subject upon which, in all probability, +the sage was very frequently consulted. + +To the last moment, when the palace clock struck eight, Lady Bothwell +earnestly watched her sister, in hopes that she might retreat from, her +rash undertaking; but as mildness, and even timidity, is capable at +times of vehement and fixed purposes, she found Lady Forester +resolutely unmoved and determined when the moment of departure arrived. +Ill satisfied with the expedition, but determined not to leave her +sister at such a crisis, Lady Bothwell accompanied Lady Forester +through more than one obscure street and lane, the servant walking +before, and acting as their guide. At length he suddenly turned into a +narrow court, and knocked at an arched door, which seemed to belong to +a building of some antiquity. It opened, though no one appeared to act +as porter; and the servant, stepping aside from the entrance, motioned +the ladies to enter. They had no sooner done so, than it shut, and +excluded their guide. The two ladies found themselves in a small +vestibule, illuminated by a dim lamp, and having, when the door was +closed, no communication with the external light or air. The door of an +inner apartment, partly open, was at the farther side of the vestibule. + +"We must not hesitate now, Jemima," said Lady Bothwell, and walked +forwards into the inner room, where, surrounded by books, maps, +philosophical utensils, and other implements of peculiar shape and +appearance, they found the man of art. + +There was nothing very peculiar in the Italian's appearance. He had the +dark complexion and marked features of his country, seemed about fifty +years old, and was handsomely, but plainly, dressed in a full suit of +black clothes, which was then the universal costume of the medical +profession. Large wax-lights, in silver sconces, illuminated the +apartment, which was reasonably furnished. He rose as the ladies +entered; and, not-withstanding the inferiority of their dress, received +them with the marked respect due to their quality, and which foreigners +are usually punctilious in rendering to those to whom such honours are +due. + +Lady Bothwell endeavoured to maintain her proposed incognito; and, as +the Doctor ushered them to the upper end of the room, made a motion +declining his courtesy, as unfitted for their condition. "We are poor +people, sir," she said; "only my sister's distress has brought us to +consult your worship whether--" + +He smiled as he interrupted her--"I am aware, madam, of your sister's +distress, and its cause; I am aware, also, that I am honoured with a +visit from two ladies of the highest consideration--Lady Bothwell and +Lady Forester. If I could not distinguish them from the class of +society which their present dress would indicate, there would be small +possibility of my being able to gratify them by giving the information +which they come to seek." + +"I can easily understand," said Lady Bothwell---- + +"Pardon my boldness to interrupt you, milady," cried the Italian; "your +ladyship was about to say, that you could easily understand that I had +got possession of your names by means of your domestic. But in thinking +so, you do injustice to the fidelity of your servant, and, I may add, +to the skill of one who is also not less your humble servant--Baptisti +Damiotti." + +"I have no intention to do either, sir," said Lady Bothwell, +maintaining a tone of composure, though somewhat surprised, "but the +situation is something new to me. If you know who we are, you also know, +sir, what brought us here." + +"Curiosity to know the fate of a Scottish gentleman of rank, now, or +lately upon the Continent," answered the seer; "his name is Il +Cavaliero Philippo Forester; a gentleman who has the honour to be +husband to this lady, and, with your ladyship's permission for using +plain language, the misfortune not to value as it deserves that +inestimable advantage." + +Lady Forester sighed deeply, and Lady Bothwell replied-- + +"Since you know our object without our telling it, the only question +that remains is, whether you have the power to relieve my sister's +anxiety?" + +"I have, madam," answered the Paduan scholar; "but there is still a +previous inquiry. Have you the courage to behold with your own eyes +what the Cavaliero Philippo Forester is now doing? or will you take it +on my report?" + +"That question my sister must answer for herself," said Lady Bothwell. + +"With my own eyes will I endure to see whatever you have power to show +me," said Lady Forester, with the same determined spirit which had +stimulated her since her resolution was taken upon this subject. + +"There may be danger in it." + +"If gold can compensate the risk," said Lady Forester, taking out her +purse. + +"I do not such things for the purpose of gain," answered the foreigner. +"I dare not turn my art to such a purpose. If I take the gold of the +wealthy, it is but to bestow it on the poor; nor do I ever accept more +than the sum I have already received from your servant. Put up your +purse, madam; an adept needs not your gold." + +Lady Bothwell considering this rejection of her sister's offer as a +mere trick of an empiric, to induce her to press a larger sum upon him, +and willing that the scene should be commenced and ended, offered some +gold in turn, observing that it was only to enlarge the sphere of his +charity. + +"Let Lady Bothwell enlarge the sphere of her own charity," said the +Paduan, "not merely in giving of alms, in which I know she is not +deficient, but in judging the character of others; and let her oblige +Baptisti Damiotti by believing him honest, till she shall discover him +to be a knave. Do not be surprised, madam, if I speak in answer to your +thoughts rather than your expressions, and tell me once more whether +you have courage to look on what I am prepared to show?" + +"I own, sir," said Lady Bothwell. "that your words strike me with some +sense of fear; but whatever my sister desires to witness, I will not +shrink from witnessing along with her." + +"Nay, the danger only consists in the risk of your resolution failing +you. The sight can only last for the space of seven minutes; and should +you interrupt the vision by speaking a single word, not only would the +charm be broken, but some danger might result to the spectators. But if +you can remain steadily silent for the seven minutes, your curiosity +will be gratified without the slightest risk; and for this I will +engage my honour." + +Internally Lady Bothwell thought the security was but an indifferent +one; but she suppressed the suspicion, as if she had believed that the +adept, whose dark features wore a half-formed smile, could in reality +read even her most secret reflections. A solemn pause then ensued, +until Lady Forester gathered courage enough to reply to the physician, +as he termed himself, that she would abide with firmness and silence +the sight which he had promised to exhibit to them. Upon this, he made +them a low obeisance, and saying he went to prepare matters to meet +their wish, left the apartment. The two sisters, hand in hand, as if +seeking by that close union to divert any danger which might threaten +them, sat down on two seats in immediate contact with each other: +Jemima seeking support in the manly and habitual courage of Lady +Bothwell; and she, on the other hand, more agitated than she had +expected, endeavouring to fortify herself by the desperate resolution +which circumstances had forced her sister to assume. The one perhaps +said to herself, that her sister never feared anything; and the other +might reflect, that what so feeble a minded woman as Jemima did not +fear, could not properly be a subject of apprehension to a person of +firmness and resolution like herself. + +In a few moments the thoughts of both were diverted from their own +situation, by a strain of music so singularly sweet and solemn, that, +while it seemed calculated to avert or dispel any feeling unconnected +with its harmony, increased, at the same time, the solemn excitation +which the preceding interview was calculated to produce. The music was +that of some instrument with which they were unacquainted; but +circumstances afterwards led my ancestress to believe that it was, that +of the harmonica, which she heard at a much later period in life. + +When these heaven-born sounds had ceased, a door opened in the upper +end of the apartment, and they saw Damiotti, standing at the head of +two or three steps, sign to them to advance. His dress was so different +from that which he had worn a few minutes before, that they could +hardly recognize him; and the deadly paleness of his countenance, and a +certain rigidity of muscles, like that of one whose mind is made up to +some strange and daring action, had totally changed the somewhat +sarcastic expression with which he had previously regarded them both, +and particularly Lady Bothwell. He was barefooted, excepting a species +of sandals in the antique fashion; his legs were naked beneath the +knees; above them he wore hose, and a doublet of dark crimson silk +close to his body; and over that a flowing loose robe, something +resembling a surplice, of snow-white linen; his throat and neck were +uncovered, and his long, straight, black hair was carefully combed down +at full length. + +As the ladies approached at his bidding, he showed no gesture of that +ceremonious courtesy of which he had been formerly lavish. On the +contrary, he made the signal of advance with an air of command; and +when, arm in arm, and with insecure steps, the sisters approached the +spot where he stood, it was with a warning frown that he pressed his +finger to his lips, as if reiterating his condition of absolute silence, +while, stalking before them, he led the way into the next apartment. + +This was a large room, hung with black, as if for a funeral. At the +upper end was a table, or rather a species of altar, covered with the +same lugubrious colour, on which lay divers objects resembling the +usual implements of sorcery. These objects were not indeed visible as +they advanced into the apartment; for the light which displayed them, +being only that of two expiring lamps, was extremely faint. The master +--to use the Italian phrase for persons of this description--approached +the upper end of the room with a genuflexion like that of a Catholic to +the crucifix, and at the same time crossed himself. The ladies followed +in silence, and arm in arm. Two or three low broad steps led to a +platform in front of the altar, or what resembled such. Here the sage +took his stand, and placed the ladies beside him, once more earnestly +repeating by signs his injunctions of silence. The Italian then, +extending his bare arm from under his linen vestment, pointed with his +forefinger to five large flambeaux, or torches, placed on each side of +the altar. They took fire successively at the approach of his hand, or +rather of his finger, and spread a strong light through the room. By +this the visitors could discern that, on the seeming altar, were +disposed two naked swords laid crosswise; a large open book, which they +conceived to be a copy of the Holy Scriptures, but in a language to +them unknown; and beside this mysterious volume was placed a human +skull. But what struck the sisters most was a very tall and broad +mirror, which occupied all the space behind the altar, and, illuminated +by the lighted torches, reflected the mysterious articles which were +laid upon it. + +The master then placed himself between the two ladies, and, pointing to +the mirror, took each by the hand, but without speaking a syllable. +They gazed intently on the polished and sable space to which he had +directed their attention. Suddenly the surface assumed a new and +singular appearance. It no longer simply reflected the objects placed +before it, but, as if it had self-contained scenery of its own, objects +began to appear within it, at first in a disorderly, indistinct, and +miscellaneous manner, like form arranging itself out of chaos; at +length, in distinct and defined shape and symmetry. It was thus that, +after some shifting of light and darkness over the face of the +wonderful glass, a long perspective of arches and columns began to +arrange itself on its sides, and a vaulted roof on the upper part of +it; till, after many oscillations, the whole vision gained a fixed and +stationary appearance, representing the interior of a foreign church. +The pillars were stately, and hung with scutcheons; the arches were +lofty and magnificent; the floor was lettered with funeral inscriptions. +But there were no separate shrines, no images, no display of chalice or +crucifix on the altar. It was, therefore, a Protestant church upon the +Continent. A clergyman, dressed in the Geneva gown and band, stood by +the communion-table, and, with the Bible opened before him, and his +clerk awaiting in the background, seemed prepared to perform some +service of the church to which he belonged. + +At length there entered the middle aisle of the building a numerous +party, which appeared to be a bridal one, as a lady and gentleman +walked first, hand in hand, followed by a large concourse of persons of +both sexes, gaily, nay richly, attired. The bride, whose features they +could distinctly see, seemed not more than sixteen years old, and +extremely beautiful. The bridegroom, for some seconds, moved rather +with his shoulder towards them, and his face averted; but his elegance +of form and step struck the sisters at once with the same apprehension. +As he turned his face suddenly, he was frightfully realized, and they +saw, in the gay bridegroom before them, Sir Philip Forester. His wife +uttered an imperfect exclamation, at the sound of which the whole scene +stirred and seemed to separate. + +"I could compare it to nothing," said Lady Bothwell, while recounting +the wonderful tale, "but to the dispersion of the reflection offered by +a deep and calm pool, when a stone is suddenly cast into it, and the +shadows become dissipated and broken." The master pressed both the +ladies' hands severely, as if to remind them of their promise, and of +the danger which they incurred. The exclamation died away on Lady +Forester's tongue without attaining perfect utterance, and the scene in +the glass, after the fluctuation of a minute, again resumed to the eye +its former appearance of a real scene, existing within the mirror, as +if represented in a picture, save that the figures were moveable +instead of being stationary. + +The representation of Sir Philip Forester, now distinctly visible in +form and feature, was seen to lead on towards the clergyman that +beautiful girl, who advanced at once with diffidence, and with a +species of affectionate pride. In the meantime, and just as the +clergyman had arranged the bridal company before him, and seemed about +to commence the service, another group of persons, of whom two or three +were officers, entered the church. They moved, at first, forward, as +though they came to witness the bridal ceremony, but suddenly one of +the officers, whose back was towards the spectators, detached himself +from his companions, and rushed hastily towards the marriage party, +when the whole of them, turned towards him, as if attracted by some +exclamation which had accompanied his advance Suddenly the intruder +drew his sword; the bridegroom unsheathed his own, and made towards +him; swords were also drawn by other individuals, both of the marriage +party, and of those who had last entered. They fell into a sort of +confusion, the clergyman, and some elder and graver persons, labouring +apparently to keep the peace, while the hotter spirits on both sides +brandished their weapons. But now the period of brief space during +which the soothsayer, as he pretended, was permitted to exhibit his art, +was arrived. The fumes again mixed together, and dissolved gradually +from observation; the vaults and columns of the church rolled asunder, +and disappeared; and the front of the mirror reflected nothing save the +blazing torches, and the melancholy apparatus placed on the altar or +table before it. + +The doctor led the ladies, who greatly required his support, into the +apartment from whence they came; where wine, essences, and other means +of restoring suspended animation, had been provided during his absence. +He motioned them to chairs, which they occupied in silence; Lady +Forester, in particular, wringing her hands, and casting her eyes up to +heaven, but without speaking a word, as if the spell had been still +before her eyes. + +"And what we have seen is even now acting?" said Lady Bothwell, +collecting herself with difficulty. + +"That," answered Baptisti Damiotti, "I cannot justly, or with certainty, +say. But it is either now acting, or has been acted, during a short +space before this. It is the last remarkable transaction in which the +Cavalier Forester has been engaged." + +Lady Bothwell then expressed anxiety concerning her sister, whose +altered countenance and apparent unconsciousness of what passed around +her, excited her apprehensions how it might be possible to convey her +home. + +"I have prepared for that," answered the adept; "I have directed the +servant to bring your equipage as near to this place as the narrowness +of the street will permit. Fear not for your sister; but give her, when +you return home, this composing draught, and she will be better to- +morrow morning. Few," he added, in a melancholy tone, "leave this house +as well in health as they entered it. Such being the consequence of +seeking knowledge by mysterious means, I leave you to judge the +condition of those who have the power of gratifying such irregular +curiosity. Farewell, and forget not the potion." + +"I will give her nothing that comes from you," said Lady Bothwell; "I +have seen enough of your art already. Perhaps you would poison us both +to conceal your own necromancy. But we are persons who want neither the +means of making our wrongs known, nor the assistance of friends to +right them." + +"You have had no wrongs from me, madam," said the adept. "You sought +one who is little grateful for such honour. He seeks no one, and only +gives responses to those who invite and call upon him. After all, you +have but learned a little sooner the evil which you must still be +doomed to endure. I hear your servant's step at the door, and will +detain your ladyship and Lady Forester no longer. The next packet from +the continent will explain what you have partly witnessed. Let it not, +if I may advise, pass too suddenly into your sister's hands." + +So saying, he bid Lady Bothwell good-night. She went, lighted by the +adept, to the vestibule, where he hastily threw a black cloak over his +singular dress, and opening the door intrusted his visitors to the care +of the servant. It was with difficulty that Lady Bothwell sustained her +sister to the carriage, though it was only twenty steps distant. When +they arrived at home, Lady Forester required medical assistance. The +physician of the family attended, and shook his head on feeling her +pulse. + +"Here has been," he said, "a violent and sudden shock on the nerves. I +must know how it has happened." + +Lady Bothwell admitted they had visited the conjuror, and that Lady +Forester had received some bad news respecting her husband, Sir Philip. + +"That rascally quack would make my fortune were he to stay in +Edinburgh," said the graduate; "this is the seventh nervous case I have +heard of his making for me, and all by effect of terror." He next +examined the composing draught which Lady Bothwell had unconsciously +brought in her hand, tasted it, and pronounced it very germain to the +matter, and what would save an application to the apothecary. He then +paused, and looking at Lady Bothwell very significantly, at length +added, "I suppose I must not ask your ladyship anything about this +Italian warlock's proceedings?" + +"Indeed, Doctor," answered Lady Bothwell, "I consider what passed as +confidential; and though the man may be a rogue, yet, as we were fools +enough to consult him, we should, I think, be honest enough to keep his +counsel." + +"_May_ be a knave--come," said the Doctor, "I am glad to hear your +ladyship allows such a possibility in any thing that comes from Italy." + +"What comes from Italy may be as good as what conies from Hanover, +Doctor. But you and I will remain good friends, and that it may be so, +we will say nothing of Whig and Tory." + +"Not I," said the Doctor, receiving his fee, and taking his hat; "a +Carolus serves my purpose as well as a Willielmus. But I should like to +know why old Lady Saint Ringan's, and all that set, go about wasting +their decayed lungs in puffing this foreign fellow." + +"Ay--you had best set him down a Jesuit, as Scrub says." On these terms +they parted. + +The poor patient--whose nerves, from an extraordinary state of tension, +had at length become relaxed in as extraordinary a degree--continued to +struggle with a sort of imbecility, the growth of superstitious terror, +when the shocking tidings were brought from Holland, which fulfilled +even her worst expectations. + +They were sent by the celebrated Earl of Stair, and contained the +melancholy event of a duel betwixt Sir Philip Forester, and his wife's +half-brother, Captain Falconer, of the Scotch-Dutch, as they were then +called, in which the latter had been killed. The cause of quarrel +rendered the incident still more shocking. It seemed that Sir Philip +had left the army suddenly, in consequence of being unable to pay a +very considerable sum, which he had lost to another volunteer at play. +He had changed his name, and taken up his residence at Rotterdam, where +he had insinuated himself into the good graces of an ancient and rich +burgomaster, and, by his handsome person and graceful manners, +captivated the affections of his only child, a very young person, of +great beauty, and the heiress of much wealth. Delighted with the +specious attractions of his proposed son-in-law, the wealthy merchant-- +whose idea of the British character was too high to admit of his taking +any precaution to acquire evidence of his condition and circumstances-- +gave his consent to the marriage. It was about to be celebrated in the +principal church of the city, when it was interrupted by a singular +occurrence. + +Captain Falconer having been detached to Rotterdam to bring up a part +of the brigade of Scottish auxiliaries, who were in quarters there, a +person of consideration in the town, to whom he had been formerly known, +proposed to him for amusement to go to the high church, to see a +countryman of his own married to the daughter of a wealthy burgomaster. +Captain Falconer went accordingly, accompanied by his Dutch +acquaintance with a party of his friends, and two or three officers of +the Scotch brigade. His astonishment may be conceived when he saw his +own brother-in-law, a married man, on the point of leading to the altar +the innocent and beautiful creature, upon whom he was about to practise +a base and unmanly deceit. He proclaimed his villany on the spot, and +the marriage was interrupted of course. But against the opinion of more +thinking men, who considered Sir Philip Forester as having thrown +himself out of the rank of men of honour, Captain Falconer admitted him +to the privilege of such, accepted a challenge from him, and in the +rencounter received a mortal wound. Such are the ways of Heaven, +mysterious in our eyes. Lady Forester never recovered the shock of this +dismal intelligence. + + * * * * * + +"And did this tragedy," said I, "take place exactly at the time when +the scene in the mirror was exhibited?" + +"It is hard to be obliged to maim one's story," answered my aunt; "but, +to speak the truth, it happened some days sooner than the apparition +was exhibited." + +"And so there remained a possibility," said I, "that by some secret and +speedy communication the artist might have received early intelligence +of that incident." + +"The incredulous pretended so," replied my aunt. + +"What became of the adept?" demanded I. + +"Why, a warrant came down shortly afterwards to arrest him for high- +treason, as an agent of the Chevalier St. George; and Lady Bothwell, +recollecting the hints which had escaped the Doctor, an ardent friend +of the Protestant succession, did then call to remembrance, that this +man was chiefly _prone_ among the ancient matrons of her own +political persuasion. It certainly seemed probable that intelligence +from the continent, which could easily have been transmitted by an +active and powerful agent, might have enabled him to prepare such a +scene of phantasmagoria as she had herself witnessed. Yet there were so +many difficulties in assigning a natural explanation, that, to the day +of her death, she remained in great doubt on the subject, and much +disposed to cut the Gordian knot, by admitting the existence of +supernatural agency." + +"But, my dear aunt," said I, "what became of the man of skill?" + +"Oh, he was too good a fortune-teller not to be able to foresee that +his own destiny would be tragical if he waited the arrival of the man +with the silver greyhound upon his sleeve. He made, as we say, a +moonlight flitting, and was nowhere to be seen or heard of. Some noise +there was about papers or letters found in the house, but it died away, +and Doctor Baptisti Damiotti was soon as little talked of as Galen or +Hippocrates." + +"And Sir Philip Forester," said I, "did he too vanish for ever from the +public scene?" + +"No," replied my kind informer. "He was heard of once more, and it was +upon a remarkable occasion. It is said that we Scots, when there was +such a nation in existence, have, among our full peck of virtues, one +or two little barleycorns of vice. In particular, it is alleged that we +rarely forgive, and never forget, any injuries received; that we used +to make an idol of our resentment, as poor Lady Constance did of her +grief; and are addicted, as Burns says, to 'nursing our wrath to keep +it warm.' Lady Bothwell was not without this feeling; and, I believe, +nothing whatever, scarce the restoration of the Stuart line, could have +happened so delicious to her feelings as an opportunity of being +revenged on Sir Philip Forester, for the deep and double injury which +had deprived her of a sister and of a brother. But nothing of him was +heard or known till many a year had passed away." + +At length--it was on a Fastern's E'en (Shrovetide) assembly, at which +the whole fashion of Edinburgh attended, full and frequent, and when +Lady Bothwell had a seat amongst the lady patronesses, that one of the +attendants on the company whispered into her ear, that a gentleman +wished to speak with her in private. + +"In private? and in an assembly-room?--he must be mad--Tell him to call +upon me to-morrow morning." + +"I said, so, my lady," answered the man; "but he desired me to give you +this paper." + +She undid the billet, which was curiously folded and sealed. It only +bore the words, "_On business of life and death_," written in a +hand which she had never seen before. Suddenly it occurred to her, that +it might concern the safety of some of her political friends; she +therefore followed the messenger to a small apartment where the +refreshments were prepared, and from which the general company was +excluded. She found an old man, who, at her approach, rose up and bowed +profoundly. His appearance indicated a broken constitution; and his +dress, though sedulously rendered conforming to the etiquette of a +ball-room, was worn and tarnished, and hung in folds about his +emaciated person. Lady Bothwell was about to feel for her purse, +expecting to get rid of the supplicant at the expense of a little money, +but some fear of a mistake arrested her purpose. She therefore gave the +man leisure to explain himself. + +"I have the honour to speak with the Lady Bothwell?" + +"I am Lady Bothwell; allow me to say, that this is no time or place for +long explanations.--What are your commands with me?" + +"Your ladyship," said the old man, "had once a sister." + +"True; whom I loved as my own soul." + +"And a brother." + +"The bravest, the kindest, the most affectionate!" said Lady Bothwell. + +"Both these beloved relatives you lost by the fault of an unfortunate +man," continued the stranger. + +"By the crime of an unnatural, bloody-minded murderer," said the lady. + +"I am answered," replied the old man, bowing, as if to withdraw. + +"Stop, sir, I command you," said Lady Bothwell.--"Who are you, that, at +such a place and time, come to recall these horrible recollections? I +insist upon knowing." + +"I am one who intends Lady Bothwell no injury; but, on the contrary, to +offer her the means of doing a deed of Christian charity, which the +world would wonder at, and which Heaven would reward; but I find her in +no temper for such a sacrifice as I was prepared to ask." + +"Speak out, sir; what is your meaning?" said Lady Bothwell. + +"The wretch that has wronged you so deeply," rejoined the stranger, "is +now on his death-bed. His days have been days of misery, his nights +have been sleepless hours of anguish--yet he cannot die without your +forgiveness. His life has been an unremitting penance--yet he dares not +part from his burden while your curses load his soul." + +"Tell him," said Lady Bothwell, sternly, "to ask pardon of that Being +whom he has so greatly offended; not of an erring mortal like himself. +What could my forgiveness avail him?" + +"Much," answered the old man. "It will be an earnest of that which he +may then venture to ask from his Creator, lady, and from yours. +Remember, Lady Bothwell, you too have a death-bed to look forward to; +your soul may, all human souls must, feel the awe of facing the +judgment seat, with the wounds of an untented conscience, raw, and +rankling--what thought would it be then that should whisper, 'I have +given no mercy, how then shall I ask it?'" + +"Man, whosoever thou mayst be," replied Lady Bothwell, "urge me not so +cruelly. It would be but blasphemous hypocrisy lo utter with my lips +the words which every throb of my heart protests against. They would +open the earth and give to light the wasted form of my sister--the +bloody form of my murdered brother--forgive him?--Never, never!" + +"Great God!" cried the old man, holding up his hands, "is it thus the +worms which thou hast called out of dust obey the commands of their +Maker? Farewell, proud and unforgiving woman. Exult that thou hast +added to a death in want and pain the agonies of religious despair; but +never again mock Heaven by petitioning for the pardon which thou host +refused to grant." + +He was turning from her. + +"Stop," she exclaimed; "I will try; yes, I will try to pardon him." + +"Gracious lady," said the old man, "you will relieve the over-burdened +soul, which dare not sever itself from its sinful companion of earth +without being at peace with you. What do I know--your forgiveness may +perhaps preserve for penitence the dregs of a wretched life." + +"Ha!" said the lady, as a sudden light broke on her, "it is the villain +himself!" And grasping Sir Philip Forester--for it was he, and no +other--by the collar, she raised a cry of "Murder, murder! Seize the +murderer!" + +At an exclamation so singular, in such a place, the company thronged +into the apartment, but Sir Philip Forester was no longer there. He had +forcibly extricated himself from Lady Bothwell's hold, and had run out +of the apartment which opened on the landing-place of the stair. There +seemed no escape in that direction, for there were several persons +coming up the steps, and others descending. But the unfortunate man was +desperate. He threw himself over the balustrade, and alighted safely in +the lobby, though a leap of fifteen feet at least, then dashed into the +street and was lost in darkness. Some of the Bothwell family made +pursuit, and, had they come up with the fugitive, they might have +perhaps slain him; for in those days men's blood ran warm in their +veins. But the police did not interfere; the matter most criminal +having happened long since, and in a foreign land. Indeed, it was +always thought, that this extraordinary scene originated in a +hypocritical experiment, by which Sir Philip desired to ascertain +whether he might return to his native country in safety from the +resentment of a family which he had injured so deeply. As the result +fell out so contrary to his wishes, he is believed to have returned to +the Continent, and there died in exile. + +So closed the tale of the MYSTERIOUS MIRROR. + + + + +THE TAPESTRIED CHAMBER; + +OR, + +THE LADY IN THE SACQUE. + +THIS is another little story, from the Keepsake of 1828. It was told to +me many years ago, by the late Miss Anna Seward, who, among other +accomplishments that rendered her an amusing inmate in a country house, +had that of recounting narratives of this sort with very considerable +effect; much greater, indeed, than any one would be apt to guess from +the style of her written performances. There are hours and moods when +most people are not displeased to listen to such things; and I have +heard some of the greatest and wisest of my contemporaries take their +share in telling them. + +August, 1831. + +THE following narrative is given from the pen, so far as memory permits, +in the same character in which it was presented to the author's ear; +nor has he claim to farther praise, or to be more deeply censured, than +in proportion to the good or bad judgment which he has employed in +selecting his materials, as he has studiously avoided any attempt at +ornament, which might interfere with the simplicity of the tale. + +At the same time, it must be admitted, that the particular class of +stories which turns on the marvellous, possesses a stronger influence +when told than when committed to print. The volume taken up at noonday, +though rehearsing the same incidents, conveys a much more feeble +impression than, is achieved by the voice of the speaker on a circle of +fireside auditors, who hang upon the narrative as the narrator details +the minute incidents which serve to give it authenticity, and lowers +his voice with an affectation of mystery while he approaches the +fearful and wonderful part. It was with such advantages that the +present writer heard the following events related, more than twenty +years since, by the celebrated Miss Seward, of Litchfield, who, to her +numerous accomplishments, added, in a remarkable degree, the power of +narrative in private conversation. In its present form, the tale must +necessarily lose all the interest which was attached to it, by the +flexible voice and intelligent features of the gifted narrator. Yet +still, read aloud, to an undoubting audience by the doubtful light of +the closing evening, or in silence, by a decaying taper, and amidst the +solitude of a half-lighted apartment, it may redeem its character as a +good ghost story. Miss Seward always affirmed that she had derived her +information from an authentic source, although she suppressed the names +of the two persons chiefly concerned. I will not avail myself of any +particulars I may have since received concerning the localities of the +detail, but suffer them to rest under the same general description in +which they were first related to me; and, for the same reason, I will +not add to, or diminish the narrative, by any circumstances, whether +more or less material, but simply rehearse, as I heard it, a story of +supernatural terror. + +About the end of the American war, when the officers of Lord +Cornwallis's army, which surrendered at York-town, and others, who had +been made prisoners during the impolitic and ill-fated controversy, +were returning to their own country, to relate their adventures, and +repose themselves after their fatigues; there was amongst them a +general officer, to whom Miss S. gave the name of Browne, but merely, +as I understood, to save the inconvenience of introducing a nameless +agent in the narrative. He was an officer of merit, as well as a +gentleman of high consideration for family and attainments. + +Some business had carried General Browne upon a tour through the +western counties, when, in the conclusion of a morning stage, he found +himself in the vicinity of a small country town, which presented a +scene of uncommon beauty, and of a character peculiarly English. + +The little town, with its stately church, whose tower bore testimony to +the devotion of ages long past, lay amidst pasture and corn-fields of +small extent, but bounded and divided with hedge-row timber of great +age and size. There were few marks of modern improvement. The environs +of the place intimated neither the solitude of decay, nor the bustle of +novelty; the houses were old, but in good repair; and the beautiful +little river murmured freely on its way to the left of the town, +neither restrained by a dam, nor bordered by a towing-path. + +Upon a gentle eminence, nearly a mile to the southward of the town, +were seen, amongst many venerable oaks and tangled thickets, the +turrets of a castle, as old as the wars of York and Lancaster, but +which seemed to have received important alterations during the age of +Elizabeth and her successors. It had not been a place of great size; +but whatever accommodation it formerly afforded, was, it must be +supposed, still to be obtained within its walls; at least, such was the +inference which General Browne drew from observing the smoke arise +merrily from several of the ancient wreathed and carved chimney-stalks. +The wall of the park ran alongside of the highway for two or three +hundred yards; and through the different points by which the eye found +glimpses into the woodland scenery, it seemed to be well stocked. Other +points of view opened in succession; now a full one, of the front of +the old castle, and now a side glimpse at its particular towers; the +former rich in all the bizarrerie of the Elizabethan school, while the +simple arid solid strength of other parts of the building seemed to +show that they had been raised more for defence than ostentation. +Delighted with the partial glimpses which he obtained of the castle +through the woods and glades by which this ancient feudal fortress was +surrounded, our military traveller was determined to inquire whether it +might not deserve a nearer view, and whether it contained family +pictures or other objects of curiosity worthy of a stranger's visit; +when, leaving the vicinity of the park, he rolled through a clean and +well-paved street, and stopped at the door of a well-frequented inn. + +Before ordering horses to proceed on his journey, General Browne made +inquiries concerning the proprietor of the chateau which had so +attracted his admiration, and was equally surprised and pleased at +hearing in reply a nobleman named whom we shall call Lord Woodville. +How fortunate! Much of Browne's early recollections, both at school and +at college, had been connected with young Woodville, whom, by a few +questions, he now ascertained to be the same with the owner of this +fair domain. He had been raised to the peerage by the decease of his +father a few months before, and, as the General learned from the +landlord, the term of mourning being ended, was now taking possession +of his paternal estate, in the jovial season of merry autumn, +accompanied by a select party of friends to enjoy the sports of a +country famous for game. + +This was delightful news to our traveller. Frank Woodville had been +Richard Browne's fag at Eton, and his chosen intimate at Christ Church; +their pleasures and their tasks had been the same; and the honest +soldier's heart warmed to find his early friend in possession of so +delightful a residence, and of an estate, as the landlord assured him +with a nod and a wink, fully adequate to maintain and add to his +dignity. Nothing was more natural than that the traveller should +suspend a journey, which there was nothing to render hurried, to pay a +visit to an old friend under such agreeable circumstances. + +The fresh horses, therefore, had only the brief task of conveying the +General's travelling carriage to Woodville Castle. A porter admitted +them at a modern Gothic Lodge, built in that style to correspond with +the Castle itself, and at the same time rang a bell to give warning of +the approach of visitors. Apparently the sound of the bell had +suspended the separation of the company, bent on the various amusements +of the morning; for, on entering the court of the chateau, several +young men were lounging about in their sporting dresses, looking at, +and criticising, the dogs which the keepers held in readiness to attend +their pastime. As General Browne alighted, the young lord came to the +gate of the hall, and for an instant gazed, as at a stranger, upon the +countenance of his friend, on which war, with its fatigues and its +wounds, had made a great alteration. But the uncertainty lasted no +longer than till the visitor had spoken, and the hearty greeting which +followed was such as can only be exchanged betwixt those who have +passed together the merry days of careless boyhood or early youth. + +"If I could have formed a wish, my dear Browne," said Lord Woodville, +"it would have been to have you here, of all men, upon this occasion, +which my friends are good enough to hold as a sort of holyday. Do not +think you have been unwatched during the years you have been absent +from us. I have traced you through your dangers, your triumphs, your +misfortunes, and was delighted to see that, whether in victory or +defeat, the name of my old friend was always distinguished with +applause." + +The General made a suitable reply, and congratulated his friend on his +new dignities, and the possession of a place and domain so beautiful. + +"Nay, you have seen nothing of it as yet," said Lord Woodville, "and I +trust you do not mean to leave us till you are better acquainted with +it. It is true, I confess, that my present party is pretty large, and +the old house, like other places of the kind, does not possess so much +accommodation as the extent of the outward walls appears to promise. +But we can give you a comfortable old-fashioned room; and I venture to +suppose that your campaigns have taught you to be glad of worse +quarters." + +The General shrugged his shoulders, and laughed. "I presume," he said, +"the worst apartment in your chateau is considerably superior to the +old tobacco-cask, in which I was fain to take up my night's lodging +when I was in the Bush, as the Virginians call it, with the light corps. +There I lay, like Diogenes himself, so delighted with my covering from +the elements, that I made a vain attempt to have it rolled on to my +next quarters; but my commander for the time would give way to no such +luxurious provision, and I took farewell of my beloved cask with tears +in my eyes." + +"Well, then, since you do not fear your quarters," said Lord Woodville, +"you will stay with me a week at least. Of guns, dogs, fishing-rods, +flies, and means of sport by sea and land, we have enough and to spare: +you cannot pitch on an amusement, but we will pitch on the means of +pursuing it. But if you prefer the gun and pointers, I will go with you +myself, and see whether you have mended your shooting since you have +been amongst the Indians of the back settlements." + +The General gladly accepted his friendly host's proposal in all its +points. After a morning of manly exercise, the company met at dinner, +where it was the delight of Lord Woodville to conduce to the display of +the high properties of his recovered friend, so as to recommend him to +his guests, most of whom were persons of distinction. He led General +Browne to speak of the scenes he had witnessed; and as every word +marked alike the brave officer and the sensible man, who retained +possession of his cool judgment under the most imminent dangers, the +company looked upon the soldier with general respect, as no one who had +proved himself possessed of an uncommon portion of personal courage-- +that attribute, of all others, of which every body desires to be +thought possessed. + +The day at Woodville Castle ended as usual in such mansions. The +hospitality stopped within the limits of good order; music, in which +the young lord was a proficient, succeeded to the circulation of the +bottle: cards and billiards, for those who preferred such amusements, +were in readiness: but the exercise of the morning required early hours, +and not long after eleven o'clock the guests began to retire to their +several apartments. + +The young lord himself conducted his friend, General Browne, to the +chamber destined for him, which answered the description he had given +of it, being comfortable, but old-fashioned. The bed was of the massive +form used in the end of the seventeenth century, and the curtains of +faded silk, heavily trimmed with tarnished gold. But then the sheets, +pillows, and blankets looked delightful to the campaigner, when he +thought of his mansion, the cask. There was an air of gloom in the +tapestry hangings, which, with their worn-out graces, curtained the +walls of the little chamber, and gently undulated as the autumnal +breeze found its way through the ancient lattice-window, which pattered +and whistled as the air gained entrance. The toilet too, with its +mirror, turbaned, after the manner of the beginning of the century, +with a coiffure of murrey-coloured silk, and its hundred strange-shaped +boxes, providing for arrangements which had been obsolete for more than +fifty years, had an antique, and in so far a melancholy, aspect. But +nothing could blaze more brightly and cheerfully than the two large wax +candles; or if aught could rival them, it was the flaming bickering +fagots in the chimney, that sent at once their gleam and their warmth +through the snug apartment; which, notwithstanding the general +antiquity of its appearance, was not wanting in the least convenience +that modern habits rendered either necessary or desirable. + +"This is an old-fashioned sleeping apartment, General," said the young +lord; "but I hope you will find nothing that makes you envy your old +tobacco-cask." + +"I am not particular respecting my lodgings," replied the General; "yet +were I to make any choice, I would prefer this chamber by many degrees, +to the gayer and more modern rooms of your family mansion. Believe me, +that when I unite its modern air of comfort with its venerable +antiquity, and recollect that it is your lordship's property, I shall +feel in better quarters here, than if I were in the best hotel London +could afford." + +"I trust--I have no doubt--that you will find yourself as comfortable +as I wish you, my dear General," said the young nobleman; and once more +bidding his guest good-night, he shook him by the hand, and withdrew. + +The General again looked round him, and internally congratulating +himself on his return to peaceful life, the comforts of which were +endeared by the recollection of the hardships and dangers he had lately +sustained, undressed himself, and prepared himself for a luxurious +night's rest. + +Here, contrary to the custom of this species of tale, we leave the +General in possession of his apartment until the next morning. + +The company assembled for breakfast at an early hour, but without the +appearance of General Browne, who seemed the guest that Lord Woodville +was desirous of honouring above all whom his hospitality had assembled +around him. He more than once expressed surprise at the General's +absence, and at length sent a servant to make inquiry after him. The +man brought back information that General Browne had been walking +abroad since an early hour of the morning, in defiance of the weather, +which was misty and ungenial. + +"The custom of a soldier,"--said the young nobleman to his friends; +"many of them acquire habitual vigilance, and cannot sleep after the +early hour at which their duty usually commands them to be alert." + +Yet the explanation which Lord Woodville thus offered to the company +seemed hardly satisfactory to his own mind, and it was in a fit of +silence and abstraction that he awaited the return of the General. It +took place near an hour after the breakfast bell had rung. He looked +fatigued and feverish. His hair, the powdering and arrangement of which +was at this time one of the most important occupations of a man's whole +day, and marked his fashion as much as, in the present time, the tying +of a cravat, or the want of one, was dishevelled, uncurled, void of +powder, and dank with dew. His clothes were huddled on with a careless +negligence, remarkable in a military man, whose real or supposed duties +are usually held to include some attention to the toilet; and his looks +were haggard and ghastly in a peculiar degree. + +"So you have stolen a march upon us this morning, my dear General," +said Lord Woodville; "or you have not found your bed so much to your +mind as I had hoped and you seemed to expect. How did you rest last +night?" + +"Oh, excellently well! remarkably well! never better in my life"--said +General Browne rapidly, and yet with an air of embarrassment which was +obvious to his friend. He then hastily swallowed a cup of tea, and +neglecting or refusing whatever else was offered, seemed to fall into a +fit of abstraction. + +"You will take the gun to-day, General;" said his friend and host, but +had to repeat the question twice ere he received the abrupt answer, "No, +my lord; I am sorry I cannot have the honour of spending another day +with your lordship; my post horses are ordered, and will be here +directly." + +All who were present showed surprise, and Lord Woodville immediately +replied, "Post horses, my good friend! what can you possibly want with +them, when you promised to stay with me quietly for at least a week?" + +"I believe," said the General, obviously much embarrassed, "that I +might, in the pleasure of my first meeting with your lordship, have +said something about stopping here a few days; but I have since found +it altogether impossible." + +"That is very extraordinary," answered the young nobleman. "You seemed +quite disengaged yesterday, and you cannot have had a summons to-day; +for our post has not come up from the town, and therefore you cannot +have received any letters." + +General Browne, without giving any farther explanation, muttered +something of indispensable business, and insisted on the absolute +necessity of his departure in a manner which silenced all opposition on +the part of his host, who saw that his resolution was taken, and +forbore farther importunity. + +"At least, however," he said, "permit me, my dear Browne, since go you +will or must, to show you the view from the terrace, which the mist, +that is now rising, will soon display." + +He threw open a sash window, and stepped down upon the terrace as he +spoke. The General followed him mechanically, but seemed little to +attend to what his host was saying, as, looking across an extended and +rich prospect, he pointed out the different objects worthy of +observation. Thus they moved on till Lord Woodville had attained his +purpose of drawing his guest entirely apart from the rest of the +company, when, turning round upon him with an air of great solemnity, +he addressed him thus: + +"Richard Browne, my old and very dear friend, we are now alone. Let me +conjure you to answer me upon the word of a friend, and the honour of a +soldier. How did you in reality rest during last night?" + +"Most wretchedly indeed, my lord," answered the General, in the same +tone of solemnity;--"so miserably, that I would not run the risk of +such a second night, not only for all the lands belonging to this +castle, but for all the country which I see from this elevated point of +view." + +"This is most extraordinary," said the young lord, as if speaking to +himself; "then there must be something in the reports concerning that +apartment." Again turning to the General, he said, "For God's sake, my +dear friend, be candid with me, and let me know the disagreeable +particulars, which have befallen you under a roof, where, with consent +of the owner, you should have met nothing save comfort." + +The General seemed distressed by this appeal, and paused a moment +before he replied. "My dear lord," he at length said, "what happened to +me last night is of a nature so peculiar and so unpleasant, that I +could hardly bring myself to detail it even to your lordship, were it +not that, independent of my wish to gratify any request of yours, I +think that sincerity on my part may lead to some explanation about a +circumstance equally painful and mysterious. To others, the +communication I am about to make, might place me in the light of a +weak-minded, superstitious fool who suffered his own imagination to +delude and bewilder him; but you have known me in childhood and youth, +and will not suspect me of having adopted in manhood the feelings and +frailties from which my early years were free." Here he paused, and his +friend replied: + +"Do not doubt my perfect confidence in the truth of your communication, +however strange it may be," replied Lord Woodville; "I know your +firmness of disposition too well, to suspect you could be made the +object of imposition, and am aware that your honour and your friendship +will equally deter you from exaggerating whatever you may have +witnessed." + +"Well then," said the General, "I will proceed with my story as well as +I can, relying upon your candour; and yet distinctly feeling that I +would rather face a battery than recall to my mind the odious +recollection's of last night." + +He paused a second time, and then perceiving that Lord Woodville +remained silent and in an attitude of attention, he commenced, though +not without obvious reluctance, the history of his night's adventures +in the Tapestried Chamber. + +"I undressed and went to bed, so soon as your lordship left me +yesterday evening; but the wood in the chimney, which nearly fronted my +bed, blazed brightly and cheerfully, and, aided by a hundred exciting +recollections of my childhood and youth, which had been recalled by the +unexpected pleasure of meeting your lordship, prevented me from falling +immediately asleep. I ought, however, to say, that these reflections +were all of a pleasant and agreeable kind, grounded on a sense of +having for a time exchanged the labour, fatigues, and dangers of my +profession, for the enjoyments of a peaceful life, and the reunion of +those friendly and affectionate ties, which I had torn asunder at the +rude summons of war. + +"While such pleasing reflections were stealing over my mind, and +gradually lulling me to slumber, I was suddenly aroused by a sound like +that of the rustling of a silken gown, and the tapping of a pair of +high-heeled shoes, as if a woman were walking in the apartment. Ere I +could draw the curtain to see what the matter was, the figure of a +little woman passed between the bed and the fire. The back of this form +was turned to me, and I could observe, from the shoulders and neck, it +was that of an old woman, whose dress was an old-fashioned gown, which, +I think, ladies call a sacque; that is, a sort of robe, completely +loose in the body, but gathered into broad plaits upon the neck and +shoulders, which fall down to the ground, and terminate in a species of +train. + +"I thought the intrusion singular enough, but never harboured for a +moment the idea that what I saw was any thing more than the mortal form +of some old woman about the establishment, who had a fancy to dress +like her grandmother, and who, having perhaps (as your lordship +mentioned that you were rather straitened for room) been dislodged from +her chamber for my accommodation, had forgotten the circumstance, and +returned by twelve to her old haunt. Under this persuasion I moved +myself in bed and coughed a little, to make the intruder sensible of my +being in possession of the premises.--She turned slowly round, but +gracious heaven! my lord, what a countenance did she display to me! +There was no longer any question what she was, or any thought of her +being a living being. Upon a face which wore the fixed features of a +corpse, were imprinted the traces of the vilest and most hideous +passions which had animated her while she lived. The body of some +atrocious criminal seemed to have been given up from the grave, and the +soul restored from the penal fire, in order to form, for a space, a +union with the ancient accomplice of its guilt. I started up in bed, +and sat upright, supporting myself on my palms, as I gazed on this +horrible spectre. The hag made, as it seemed, a single and swift stride +to the bed where I lay, and squatted herself down upon it, in precisely +the same attitude which I had assumed in the extremity of horror, +advancing her diabolical countenance within half a yard of mine, with a +grin which seemed to intimate the malice and the derision of an +incarnate fiend." + +Here General Browne stopped, and wiped from his brow the cold +perspiration with which the recollection of his horrible vision had +covered it. + +"My lord," he said, "I am no coward. I have been in all the mortal +dangers incidental to my profession, and I may truly boast, that no man +ever knew Richard Browne dishonour the sword he wears; but in these +horrible circumstances, under the eyes, and as it seemed, almost in the +grasp of an incarnation of an evil spirit, all firmness forsook me, all +manhood melted from me like wax in the furnace, and I felt my hair +individually bristle. The current of my life-blood ceased to flow, and +I sank back in a swoon, as very a victim to panic terror as ever was a +village girl, or a child of ten years old. How long I lay in this +condition I cannot pretend to guess. + +"But I was roused by the castle clock striking one, so loud that it +seemed as if it were in the very room. It was some time before I dared +open my eyes, lest they should again encounter the horrible spectacle. +When, however, I summoned courage to look up, she was no longer visible. +My first idea was to pull my bell, wake the servants, and remove to a +garret or a hay-loft, to be ensured against a second visitation. Nay, I +will confess the truth, that my resolution was altered, not by the +shame of exposing myself, but by the fear that, as the bell-cord hung +by the chimney, I might, in making my way to it, be again crossed by +the fiendish hag, who, I figured to myself, might be still lurking +about some corner of the apartment. + +"I will not pretend to describe what hot and cold fever-fits tormented +me for the rest of the night, through broken sleep, weary vigils, and +that dubious state which forms the neutral ground between them. A +hundred terrible objects appeared to haunt me; but there was the great +difference betwixt the vision which I have described, and those which +followed, that I knew the last to be deceptions of my own fancy and +over-excited nerves. + +"Day at last appeared, and I rose from my bed ill in health, and +humiliated in mind. I was ashamed of myself as a man and a soldier, and +still more so, at feeling my own extreme desire to escape from the +haunted apartment, which, however, conquered all other considerations; +so that, huddling on my clothes with the most careless haste, I made my +escape from your lordship's mansion, to seek in the open air some +relief to my nervous system, shaken as it was by this horrible +encounter with a visitant, for such I must believe her, from the other +world. Your lordship has now heard the cause of my discomposure, and of +my sudden desire to leave your hospitable castle. In other places I +trust we may often meet; but God protect me from ever spending a second +night under that roof!" + +Strange as the General's tale was, he spoke with such a deep air of +conviction, that it cut short all the usual commentaries which are made +on such stories. Lord Woodville never once asked him if he was sure he +did not dream of the apparition, or suggested any of the possibilities +by which it is fashionable to explain supernatural appearances, as wild +vagaries of the fancy, or deceptions of the optic nerves. On the +contrary, he seemed deeply impressed with the truth and reality of what +he had heard; and, after a considerable pause, regretted, with much +appearance of sincerity, that his early friend should in his house have +suffered so severely. + +"I am the more sorry for your pain, my dear Browne," he continued, +"that it is the unhappy, though most unexpected, result of an +experiment of my own! You must know, that for my father and +grandfather's time, at least, the apartment which was assigned to you +last night, had been shut on account of reports that it was disturbed +by supernatural sights and noises. When I came, a few weeks since, into +possession of the estate, I thought the accommodation, which the castle +afforded for my friends, was not extensive enough to permit the +inhabitants of the invisible world to retain possession of a +comfortable sleeping apartment. I therefore caused the Tapestried +Chamber, as we call it, to be opened; and without destroying its air of +antiquity, I had such new articles of furniture placed in it as became +the modern times. Yet as the opinion that the room was haunted very +strongly prevailed among the domestics, and was also known in the +neighbourhood and to many of my friends, I feared some prejudice might +be entertained by the first occupant of the Tapestried Chamber, which +might tend to revive the evil report which it had laboured under, and +so disappoint my purpose of rendering it a useful part of the house. I +must confess, my dear Browne, that your arrival yesterday, agreeable to +me for a thousand reasons besides, seemed the most favourable +opportunity of removing the unpleasant rumours which attached to the +room, since your courage was indubitable and your mind free of any pre- +occupation on the subject. I could not, therefore, have chosen a more +fitting subject for my experiment." + +"Upon my life," said General Browne, somewhat hastily, "I am infinitely +obliged to your lordship--very particularly indebted indeed. I am +likely to remember for some time the consequences of the experiment, as +your lordship is pleased to call it." + +"Nay, now you are unjust, my dear friend," said Lord Woodville. "You +have only to reflect for a single moment, in order to be convinced that +I could not augur the possibility of the pain to which you have been so +unhappily exposed. I was yesterday morning a complete sceptic on the +subject of supernatural appearances. Nay, I am sure that had I told you +what was said about that room, those very reports would have induced +you, by your own choice, to select it for your accommodation. It was my +misfortune, perhaps my error, but really cannot be termed my fault, +that you have been afflicted so strangely." + +"Strangely indeed!" said the General, resuming his good temper; "and I +acknowledge that I have no right to be offended with your lordship for +treating me like what I used to think myself--a man of some firmness +and courage.--But I see my post horses are arrived, and I must not +detain your lordship from your amusement." + +"Nay, my old friend," said Lord Woodville, "since you cannot stay with +us another day, which, indeed, I can no longer urge, give me at least +half an hour more. You used to love pictures, and I have a gallery of +portraits, some of them by Vandyke, representing ancestry to whom this +property and castle formerly belonged. I think that several of them +will strike you as possessing merit." + +General Browne accepted the invitation, though somewhat unwillingly. It +was evident he was not to breathe freely or at ease till he left +Woodville Castle far behind him. He could not refuse his friend's +invitation, however; and the less so, that he was a little ashamed of +the peevishness which he had displayed towards his well-meaning +entertainer. + +The General, therefore, followed Lord Woodville through several rooms, +into a long gallery hung with pictures, which the latter pointed out to +his guest, telling the names, and giving some account of the personages +whose portraits presented themselves in progression. General Browne was +but little interested in the details which these accounts conveyed to +him. They were, indeed, of the kind which are usually found in an old +family gallery. Here was a cavalier who had ruined the estate in the +royal cause; there a fine lady who had reinstated it by contracting a +match with a wealthy Roundhead. There hung a gallant who had been in +danger for corresponding with the exiled Court at St. Germain's; here +one who had taken arms for William at the Revolution; and there a third +that had thrown his weight alternately into the scale of whig and tory. + +While Lord Woodville was cramming these words into his guest's ear, +"against the stomach of his sense," they gained the middle of the +gallery, when he beheld General Browne suddenly start, and assume an +attitude of the utmost surprise, not unmixed with fear, as his eyes +were caught and suddenly riveted by a portrait of an old lady in a +sacque, the fashionable dress of the end of the seventeenth century. + +"There she is!" he exclaimed; "there she is, in form and features, +though inferior in demoniac expression, to the accursed hag who visited +me last night." + +"If that be the case," said the young nobleman, "there can remain no +longer any doubt of the horrible reality of your apparition. That is +the picture of a wretched ancestress of mine, of whose crimes a black +and fearful catalogue is recorded in a family history in my charter- +chest. The recital of them would be too horrible; it is enough to say, +that in yon fatal apartment incest and unnatural murder were committed. +I will restore it to the solitude, to which the better judgment of +those who preceded me had consigned it; and never shall any one, so +long as I can prevent it, be exposed to a repetition of the +supernatural horrors which could shake such courage as yours." + +Thus the friends, who had met with such glee, parted in a very +different mood; Lord Woodville to command the Tapestried Chamber to be +unmantled, and the door built up; and General Browne to seek in some +less beautiful country, and with some less dignified friend, +forgetfulness of the painful night which he had passed in Woodville +Castle. + + + + +DEATH OF THE LAIRD'S JOCK. + +[The manner in which this trifle was introduced at the time to Mr. F.M. +Reynolds, editor of the Keepsake of 1828, leaves no occasion for a +preface.] _August_, 1831. + +TO THE EDITOR OF THE KEEPSAKE. + +You have asked me, sir, to point out a subject for the pencil, and I +feel the difficulty of complying with your request; although I am not +certainly unaccustomed to literary composition, or a total stranger to +the stores of history and tradition, which afford the best copies for +the painter's art. But although _sicut pictura poesis_ is an +ancient and undisputed axiom--although poetry and painting both address +themselves to the same object of exciting the human imagination, by +presenting to it pleasing or sublime images of ideal scenes; yet the +one conveying itself through the ears to the understanding, and the +other applying itself only to the eyes, the subjects which are best +suited to the bard or tale-teller are often totally unfit for painting, +where the artist must present in a single glance all that his art has +power to tell us. The artist can neither recapitulate the past nor +intimate the future. The single _now_ is all which he can present; +and hence, unquestionably, many subjects which delight us in poetry, or +in narrative, whether real or fictitious, cannot with advantage be +transferred to the canvass. + +Being in some degree aware of these difficulties, though doubtless +unacquainted both with their extent, and the means by which they may be +modified or surmounted, I have, nevertheless, ventured to draw up the +following traditional narrative as a story in which, when the general +details are known, the interest is so much concentrated in one strong +moment of agonizing passion, that it can be understood, and sympathized +with, at a single glance. I therefore presume that it may be acceptable +as a hint to some one among the numerous artists, who have of late +years distinguished themselves as rearing up and supporting the British +school. + +Enough has been said and sung about + + The well-contested ground, + The warlike border-land-- + +to render the habits of the tribes who inhabited them before the union +of England and Scotland familiar to most of your readers. The rougher +and sterner features of their character were softened by their +attachment to the fine arts, from which has arisen the saying that, on +the frontiers every dale had its battle, and every river its song. A +rude species of chivalry was in constant use, and single combats were +practised as the amusement of the few intervals of truce which +suspended the exercise of war. The inveteracy of this custom may be +inferred from the following incident:-- + +Bernard Gilpin, the apostle of the north, the first who undertook to +preach the Protestant doctrines to the Border dalesmen, was surprised, +on entering one of their churches, to see a gauntlet, or mail-glove, +hanging above the altar. Upon inquiring the meaning of a symbol so +indecorous being displayed in that sacred place, he was informed by the +clerk, that the glove was that of a famous swordsman who hung it there +as an emblem of a general challenge and gage of battle, to any who +should dare to take the fatal token down. "Reach it to me," said the +reverend churchman. The clerk and sexton equally declined the perilous +office: and the good Bernard Gilpin was obliged to remove the glove +with his own hands, desiring those who were present to inform the +champion, that he, and no other, had possessed himself of the gage of +defiance. But the champion was as much ashamed to face Bernard Gilpin +as the officials of the church had been to displace his pledge of +combat. + +The date of the following story is about the latter years of Queen +Elizabeth's reign; and the events took place in Liddesdale, a hilly and +pastoral district of Roxburghshire, which, on a part of its boundary, +is divided from England only by a small river; + +During the good old times of _rugging and riving_, (that is, +tugging and tearing,) under which term the disorderly doings of the +warlike age are affectionately remembered, this valley was principally +cultivated by the sept or clan of the Armstrongs. The chief of this +warlike race was the Laird of Mangertown. At the period of which I +speak, the estate of Mangertown, with the power and dignity of chief, +was possessed by John Armstrong, a man of great size, strength and +courage. While his father was alive, he was distinguished from others +of his clan who bore the same name by the epithet of the _Laird's +Jock_, that is to say, the Laird's son Jock, or Jack. This name he +distinguished by so many bold and desperate achievements, that he +retained it even after his father's death, and is mentioned under it +both in authentic records and in tradition. Some of his feats are +recorded in the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, and others mentioned +in contemporary chronicles. + +At the species of singular combat which we have described, the Laird's +Jock was unrivalled; and no champion of Cumberland, Westmoreland, or +Northumberland, could endure the sway of the huge two-handed sword +which he wielded, and which few others could even lift. This "awful +sword," as the common people term it, was as dear to him as Durindana +or Fushberta to their respective masters, and was nearly as formidable +to his enemies as those renowned falchions proved to the foes of +Christendom. The weapon had been bequeathed to him by a celebrated +English outlaw named Hobbie Noble, who, having committed some deed for +which he was in danger from justice, fled to Liddesdale, and became a +follower, or rather a brother-in-arms, to the renowned Laird's Jock; +till, venturing into England with a small escort, a faithless guide, +and with a light single-handed sword instead of his ponderous brand, +Hobbie Noble, attacked by superior numbers, was made prisoner and +executed. + +With this weapon, and by means of his own strength and address, the +Laird's Jock maintained the reputation of the best swordsman on the +Border side, and defeated or slew many who ventured to dispute with him +the formidable title. + +But years pass on with the strong and the brave as with the feeble and +the timid. In process of time, the Laird's Jock grew incapable of +wielding his weapon, and finally of all active exertion, even of the +most ordinary kind. The disabled champion became at length totally bed- +ridden, and entirely dependent for his comfort on the pious duties of +an only daughter, his perpetual attendant and companion. + +Besides this dutiful child, the Laird's Jock had an only son, upon whom +devolved the perilous task of leading the clan to battle, and +maintaining the warlike renown of his native country, which was now +disputed by the English upon many occasions. The young Armstrong was +active, brave, and strong, and brought home from dangerous adventures +many tokens of decided success. Still the ancient chief conceived, as +it would seem, that his son was scarce yet entitled by age and +experience to be entrusted with the two-handed sword, by the use of +which he had himself been so dreadfully distinguished. + +At length, an English champion, one of the name of Foster, (if I +rightly recollect,) had the audacity to send a challenge to the best +swordsman in, Liddesdale; and young Armstrong, burning for chivalrous +distinction, accepted the challenge. + +The heart of the disabled old man swelled with joy when he heard that +the challenge was passed and accepted, and the meeting fixed at a +neutral spot, used as the place of rencontre upon such occasions, and +which he himself had distinguished by numerous victories. He exulted so +much in the conquest which he anticipated, that, to nerve his son to +still bolder exertions, he conferred upon him, as champion of his clan +and province, the celebrated weapon which he had hitherto retained in +his own custody. + +This was not all. When the day of combat arrived, the Laird's Jock, in +spite of his daughter's affectionate remonstrances, determined, though +he had not left his bed for two years, to be a personal witness of the +duel. His will was still a law to his people, who bore him on their +shoulders, wrapped in plaids and blankets, to the spot where the combat +was to take place, and seated him on a fragment of rock, which is still +called the Laird's Jock's stone. There he remained with eyes fixed on +the lists or barrier, within which the champions were about to meet. +His daughter, having done all she could for his accommodation, stood +motionless beside him, divided between anxiety for his health, and for +the event of the combat to her beloved brother. Ere yet the fight began, +the old men gazed on their chief, now seen for the first time after +several years, and sadly compared his altered features and wasted frame, +with the paragon of strength and manly beauty which they once +remembered. The young men gazed on his large form and powerful make, as +upon some antediluvian giant who had survived the destruction of the +Flood. + +But the sound of the trumpets on both sides recalled the attention of +every one to the lists, surrounded as they were by numbers of both +nations eager to witness the event of the day. The combatants met. It +is needless to describe the struggle: the Scottish champion fell. +Foster, placing his foot on his antagonist, seized on the redoubted +sword, so precious in the eyes of its aged owner, and brandished it +over his head as a trophy of his conquest. The English shouted in +triumph. But the despairing cry of the aged champion, who saw his +country dishonoured, and his sword, long the terror of their race, in +possession of an Englishman, was heard high above the acclamations of +victory. He seemed, for an instant, animated by all his wonted power; +for he started from the rock on which he sat, and while the garments +with which he had been invested fell from his wasted frame, and showed +the ruins of his strength, he tossed his arms wildly to heaven, and +uttered a cry of indignation, horror, and despair, which, tradition +says, was heard to a preternatural distance, and resembled the cry of a +dying lion more than a human sound. + +His friends received him in their arms as he sank utterly exhausted by +the effort, and bore him back to his castle in mute sorrow; while his +daughter at once wept for her brother, and endeavoured to mitigate and +soothe the despair of her father. But this was impossible; the old +man's only tie to life was rent rudely asunder, and his heart had +broken with it. The death of his son had no part in his sorrow. If he +thought of him at all, it was as the degenerate boy, through whom the +honour of his country and clan had been lost; and he died in the course +of three days, never even mentioning his name, but pouring out +uninterrupted lamentations for the loss of his sword. + +I conceive, that the instant when the disabled chief was roused into a +last exertion by the agony of the moment is favourable to the object of +a painter. He might obtain the full advantage of contrasting the form +of the rugged old man, in the extremity of furious despair, with the +softness and beauty of the female form. The fatal field might be thrown +into perspective, so as to give full effect to these two principal +figures, and with the single explanation that the piece represented a +soldier beholding his son slain, and the honour of his country lost, +the picture would be sufficiently intelligible at the first glance. If +it was thought necessary to show more clearly the nature of the +conflict, it might be indicated by the pennon of Saint George being +displayed at one end of the lists, and that of Saint Andrew at the +Other. + +I remain, Sir, + +Your obedient servant, + +THE AUTHOR OF WAVERLEY. + +END OF THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, WAVERLEY VOLUME XII *** + +This file should be named wvr1210.txt or wvr1210.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, wvr1211.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, wvr1210a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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