"Our heads are in the lion's mouth," said Wamba, thrown in a few of his own flourishes to nelp cut the in a whisper to Gurth, "get them out how we can.' "chorus. "But who, in the saint's name, ever expected "Hush-be silent," said Gurth. "Offend him not to have heard such a jolly chant come from out & by thy folly, and I trust sincerely that all will go well." hermit's cell at midnight!" CHAPTER XX. When autumn nights were long and drear, And Music took Devotion's wing; The Hermit of St. Clement's Well. It was after three hours' good walking that the servants of Cedric, with their mysterious guide, arrived at a small opening in the forest, in the centre of which grew an oak-tree of enormous magnitude, throwing its twisted branches in every direction, Beneath this tree four or five yeomen lay stretched on the ground, while another, as sentinel, walked to and fro in the moonlight shade. Upon hearing the sound of feet approaching, the watch instantly gave the alarm, and the sleepers as suddenly started up and bent their bows. Six arrows placed on the string were pointed towards the quarter from which the travellers approached, when their guide, being recognised, was welcomed with every token of respect and attachment, and all signs and fears of a rough reception at once subsided. Where is the Miller?" was his first question. "On the road towards Rotherham." "With how many?" demanded the leader, for such he seemed to be. "With six men, and good hope of booty, if it please St. Nicholas." "Devoutly spoken," said Locksley; "and where is Allan-a-Dale?" Walked up towards the Watling-street, to watch for the Prior of Jorvaulx." "That is well thought on also," replied the Captain;-" and where is the Friar?" "In his cell." "Thither will I go," said Locksley. "Disperse and seek your companions. Collect what force you can, for there's game afoot that must be hunted hard, and will turn to bay. Meet me here by daybreak.-And, stay," he added, "I have forgotten what is most necessary of the whole-Two of you take the road quickly towards Torquilstone, the Castle of Frontde-Bœuf. A set of gallants, who have been masquerading in such guise as our own, are carrying a band of prisoners thither-Watch them closely, for even if they reach the castle before we collect our force, our honour is concerned to punish them, and we will find means to do so. Keep a close watch on them therefore; and dispatch one of your comrades, the lightest of foot, to bring the news of the yeomen thereabout." They promised implicit obedience, and departed with alacrity on their different errands. In the mean while, their leader and his two companions, who now looked upon him with great respect, as well as some fear, pursued their way to the Chapel of Copmanhurst. When they had reached the little moonlight glade, having in front the reverend, though ruinous chapel, and the rude hermitage, so well suited to ascetic devotion, Wamba whispered to Gurth, "If this be the habitation of a thief, it makes good the old proverb, The nearer the church the farther from God.-And by my cockscomb," he added, "I think it be even so -Hearken but to the black sanctus which they are singing in the hermitage!" In fact the anchorite and his guest were performing, at the full extent of their very powerful lungs, an old drinking song, of which this was the burden: "Come, trow the brown bowl to me, Bully boy, bully boy, Come, trowl the brown bowl to me: Come, trowl the brown bowl to me." Ho! jolly Jenkin, I spy a knave in drinking, "Marry, that should I," said Gurth, "for the jolly Clerk of Copmanhurst is a known man, and kills half the deer that are stolen in this walk. Men say that the keeper has complained to his official, and that he will be stripped of his cowl and cope alto. gether, if he keep not better order." While they were thus speaking, Locksley's loud and repeated knocks had at length disturbed the an chorite and his guest. "By my beads," said the hers mit, stopping short in a grand flourish, "here come more benighted guests. I would not for my cow! that they found us in this goodly exercise. All men have their enemies, good Sir Sluggard; and there be those malignant enough to construe the hospitable refreshment which I have been offering to you, a weary traveller, for the matter of three short hours, into sheer drunkenness and debauchery, vices alike alien to my profession and my disposition." "Base calumniators!" replied the knight; "I would I had the chastising of them. Nevertheless, Holy Clerk, it is true that all have their enemies; and there be those in this very land whom I would rather speak to through the bars of my helmet than barefaced." "Get thine iron pot on thy head then, friend Sluggard, as quickly as thy nature will permit," said the hermit, "while I remove these pewter flagons, whose late contents run strangely in mine own pate; and to drown the clatter-for, in faith, I feel somewhat unsteady-strike into the tune which thou hearest me sing; it is no matter for the words-I scarce know them myself." So saying, he struck up a thundering De profundis clamavi, under cover of which he removed the apparatus of their banquet; while the knight, laughing heartily, and arming himself all the while, assisted his host with his voice from time to time as his mirth permitted. "What devil's matins are you after at this hour ?' said a voice from without. "Heaven forgive you, Sir Traveller!" said the hermit, whose own noise, and perhaps his nocturnal potations, prevented from recognising accents which were tolerable familiar to him-"Wend on your way, in the name of God and Saint Dunstan, and disturb not the devotions of me and my holy brother." "Mad priest," answered the voice from without, open to Locksley!" All's safe-all's right," said the hermit to his companion. "But who is he?" said the Black Knight; "it imports me much to know." Who is he?" answered the hermit; "I tell thee he is a friend." "But what friend?" answered the knight; "for he may be friend to thee and none of mine?" "What friend?" replied the hermit; "that, now, is one of the questions that is more easily asked than answered. What friend?-why, he is, now that I bethink me a little, the very same honest keeper I told thee of a while since." Ay, as honest a keeper as thou art a pious hermit," replied the knight, "I doubt it not. But undo the door to him before he beat it from its hinges." The dogs, in the mean time, which had made a dreadful baying at the commencement of the dis turbance, seemed now to recognise the voice of him who stood without; for totally changing their man ner, they scratched and whined at the door, as if interceding for his admission. The hermit speedily unbolted his portal, and admitted Locksley, with his two companions. "Why, hermit," was the yeoman's first question as soon as he beheld the knight, "what boon companion. hast thou here?" A brother of our order," replied the friar, shaking his head; "we have been at our orisons all night." "He is a monk of the church militant, I think," answered Locksley; "and there be more of them abroad. I tell thee, friar, thou must lay down tha "Now, that is not ill sung," said Wamba, who had rosary and take up the quarter-staff; we shall new every one of our merry men, whether clerk or layman.-But." he added, taking him a step aside, "art thou mad? to give admittance to a knight thou dost not know? Hast thou forgot our articles ?" "Not know him!" replied the friar, boldly, "I know him as well as the beggar knows his dish." And what is his name, then?" demanded Locksley. "His name," said the hermit-"his name is Sir Anthony of Scrabelstone-as if I would drink with a man, and did not know his name!" "Thou hast been drinking more than enough, friar," said the woodsman, "and I fear, prating more than enough too," "Good yeoman," said the knight, coming forward, "be not wroth with my merry host. He did but afford me the hospitality which I would have compelled from him if he had refused it." "Thou compel!" said the friar; "wait but till I have changed this gray gown for a green cassock, and if I make not a quarter-staff ring twelve upon thy pate, I am neither true clerk nor good woods man. While he spoke thus, he stript off his gown, and appeared in a close black buckram doublet and drawers, over which he speedily did on a cassock of green, and hose of the same colour. "I pray thee truss my points," said he to Wamba, "and thou shalt have a cup of sack for thy labour.' Gramercy for thy sack," said Wamba; "but think'st thou it is lawful for me to aid you to transmew thyself from a holy hermit into a sinful forester?" "Never fear," said the hermit; "I will but confess the sins of my green cloak to my grayfriar's frock, and all shall be well again." Amen!" answered the Jester; "a broadcloth penitent should have a sackcloth confessor, and your frock may absolve my motley doublet into the bargain." So saying, he accommodated the friar with his assistance in tying the endless number of points, as the laces which attached the hose to the doublet were then termed. While they were thus employed, Locksley led the knight a little apart, and addressed him thus:-"Deny it not, Sir Knight--you are he who decided the victory to the advantage of the English against the strangers on the second day of the tournament at Ashby." "And what follows if you guess truly, good yeo man?" replied the knight. man, "should in that case hold you,” replied the yeo"a friend to the weaker party." "Such is the duty of a true knight at least," replied the Black Champion; and I would not willingly that there were reason to think otherwise of me. "But for my purpose," said the yeoman, thou shouldst be as well a good Englishman as a good knight; for that, which I have to speak of, concerns, indeed, the duty of every honest man, but is more especially that of a true-born native of England." You can epeak to no one," replied the knight, "to nom England, and the life of every Englishman, can be dearer than to me." "I would willingly believe so," said the woodsman, "for never had this country such need to be supported by those who love her. Hear me, and I will tell thee of an enterprise, in which, if thou be'st really that which thou seemest, thou mayst take an honourable part. A band of villains, in the disguise of better men than themselves, have made themselves master of the person of a noble Englishman, called Cedric the Saxon, together with his ward, and his friend Athelstane of Coningsburgh, and have transported them to a castle in this forest, called Torquilstone. I ask of thee, as a good knight and a good Englishman, wilt thou aid in their rescue ?" "I am bound by my vow to do so," replied the knight; "but I would willingly know who you are, who request my assistance in their behalf?" "I am," said the forester, "a nameless man; but I am the friend of my country, and of my country's friends-With this account of me you must for the present remain satisfied, the more especially since you yourself desire to continue unknown. Believe, however, that my word, when pledged, is as inviolate as if I wore golden spurs." "I willingly believe it," said the knight; "I have been accustomed to study men's countenances, and I can read in thine honesty and resolution. I will, therefore, ask thee no further questions, but aid thee in setting at freedom these oppressed captives; which done, I trust we shall part better acquainted, and well satisfied with each other," "So," said Wamba to Gurth,-for the friar being now fully equipped, the Jester, having approached to the other side of the hut, had heard the conclusion of the conversation,-"So we have got a new ally?-I trust the valour of the knight will be truer metal than the religion of the hermit, or the honesty of the yeoman; for this Locksley looks like a born deer-stealer, and the priest like a lusty hypocrite." "Hold thy peace, Wamba," said Gurth; "it may all be as thou dost guess; but were the horned devil to rise and proffer me his assistance to set at liberty Cedric and the Lady Rowena, I fear I should hardly have religion enough to refuse the foul fiend's offer, and bid him get behind me." The friar was now completely accoutred as a yeoman, with sword and buckler, bow, and quiver, and a strong partisan over his shoulder. He left his cell at the head of the party, and, having carefully locked the door, deposited the key under the threshold. Art thou in condition to do good service, friar," said Locksley, "or does the brown bowl still run in thy head?" 16 'Not more than a draught of St. Dunstan's foun tain will allay," answered the priest; "something there is of a whizzing in my brain, and of instability in my legs, but you shall presently see both pass away." So saying, he stepped to the stone basin, in which the waters of the fountain as they fell formed bubbles which danced in the white moonlight, and took so long a draught as if he had meant to exhaust the spring. "When didst thou drink as deep a draught of water before, Holy Clerk of Copmanhurst?" said the Black Knight. "Never since my wine-but leaked, and let out its liquor by an illegal vent." replied the friar, "and so left me nothing to drink but my patron's bounty here." Then plunging his hands and head into the fountain, he washed from them all marks of the midnight revel. Thus refreshed and sobered, the jolly priest twirled his heavy partisan round his head with three fingers as if he had been balancing a reed, exclaiming at the same time, "Where be those false ravishers, who carry off wenches against their will? May the foul fiend fly off with me, if I am not man enough for a dozen of them." "Swearest thou, Holy Clerk?" said the Black Knight. "Clerk me no Clerks," replied the transformed priest; "by Saint George and the Dragon, I am in longer a shaveling than while my frock is on my back-When I am cased in my green cassock, I will drink, swear, and woo a lass, with any blithe forester in the West Riding." "Come on, Jack Priest," said Locksley, "and be silent; thou art as noisy as a whole convent on a holy eve, when the Father Abbot has gone to bed.-Cont on you, too, my masters, tarry not to talk of it-I say. come on, we must collect all our forces, and few enough we shall have, if we are to storm the Castle of Reginald Front-de-Bœuf." What is it Front-de-Boeuf," said the Black Knight, "who has stopt on the king's highway the king's liege subjects ?--Is he turned thief and oppres sor?" "Oppressor he ever was," said Locksley. And for thief," said the priest, "I doubt if ever he were even half so honest a man as many a thief of my acquaintance." Move on, priest, and be silent," said the yeoman: "it were better you led the way to the place of rendezvous, than say what should be left unsaid both a decency and prudence." CHAPTER XXI. Alas, how many hours and years have past, WHILE these measures were taking in behalf of Cedric and his companions, the armed men by whom the latter had been seized, hurried their captives | along towards the place of security, where they intended to imprison them. But darkness came on fast, and the paths of the wood seemed but imperfectly known to the marauders. They were compelled to make several long halts, and once or twice to return on their road to resume the direction which they wished to pursue. The summer morn had dawned upon them ere they could travel in full assurance that they held the right path. But confidence returned with light, and the cavalcade now moved rapidly for ward. Mean while, the following dialogue took place between the two leaders of the banditti. "It is time thou shouldst leave us, Sir Maurice," said the Templar to De Bracy, "in order to prepare the second part of thy mystery. Thou art next, thou knowest, to act the Knight Deliverer." "I have thought better of it," said De Bracy; "I will not leave thee till the prize is fairly deposited in Front-de-Bouf's castle. There will I appear before the Lady Rowena in mine own shape, and trust that she will set down to the vehemence of my passion the violence of which I have been guilty." "And what has made thee change thy plan, De Bracy?" replied the Knight Templar. "That concerns thee nothing," answered his companion. "I would hope, however, Sir Knight," said the Templar, that this alteration of measures arises from no suspicion of my honourable meaning, such as Fitzurse endeavoured to instil into thee?" My thoughts are my own," answered De Bracy; "the fiend laughs, they say, when one thief robs another; and we know, that were he to spit fire and brimstone instead, it would never prevent a Templar from following his bent." "Or the leader of a Free Company," answered the Templar, "from dreading at the hands of a comrade and friend, the injustice he does to all mankind." "This is unprofitable and perilous recrimination," answered De Bracy; "suffice it to say, I know the morals of the Temple-Order, and I will not give thee the power of cheating me out of the fair prey for which I have run such risks." Pshaw," replied the Templar, "what hast thou to fear?-Thou knowest the vows of our order." "Right well," said De Bracy," and also how they are kept. Come, Sir Templar, the laws of gallantry have a liberal interpretation in Palestine, and this is a case in which I will trust nothing to your conscience." "Hear the truth, then," said the Templar; "I care not for your blue-eyed beauty. There is in that train one who will make me a better mate.' "9 "What! wouldst thou stoop to the waiting damsel ?" said De Bracy. "No. Sir Knight," said the Templar, haughtily. "To the waiting-woman will I not stoop. I have a prize among the captives as lovely as thine own.' "By the mass, thou meanest the fair Jewess!" said De Bracy. “And if I do," said Bois-Guilbert, “who shall gainsay me?" No one that I know," said De Bracy, "unless it be your vow of celibacy, or a check of conscience for an intrigue with a Jewess." "For my vow," said the Templar, "our Grand Master hath granted me a dispensation. And for my conscience, a man that has slain three hundred Saracens, need not reckon up every little failing, like a village girl at her first confession upon Good Friday eve." Thou knowest best thine own privileges," said De Bracy. "Yet, I would have sworn thy thought had been more on the old usurer's money bags, than on the black eyes of the daughter." "I can admire both," answered the Templar; "besides, the old Jew is but half-prize. I must share his spoils with Front-de-Boeuf, who will not lend us the use of his castle for nothing. I must have something that I can term exclusively my own by this foray of ours, and I have fixed on the lovely Jewess as my peculiar prize. Bu now thou knowest my drift, thou wilt resume thine own original plan, wilt thou not?-Thon hast nothing, thou seest, to fear from my interference." "No," replied De Bracy, "I will remain beside my prize. What thou sayst is passing true, but I like not the privileges acquired by the dispensation of the Grand Master, and the merit acquired by the slaughter of three hundred Saracens. You have too good a right to a free pardon, to render you very scrupulous about peccadilloes." While this dialogue was proceeding, Cedric was endeavouring to wring out of those who guarded him an avowal of their character and purpose. "You should be Englishmen," said he; "and yet, sacred Heaven! you prey upon your countrymen as if you were very Normans. You should be my neighbours, and, if so, my friends; for which of my English neighbours have reason to be otherwise? I tell ye, yeomen, that even those among ye who have been branded with outlawry have had from me protection; for I have pitied their miseries, and curst the oppression of their tyrannic nobles. What, then, would you have of me? or in what can this violence serve ye?-Ye are worse than brute beasts in your actions, and will you imitate them in their very dumbness?" It was in vain that Cedric expostulated with his guards, who had too many good reasons for their silence to be induced to break it either by his wrath or his expostulations. They continued to hurry him along, travelling at a very rapid rate, until, at the end of an avenue of huge trees, arose Torquilstone, now the hoary and ancient castle of Reginald Frontde-Bœuf. It was a fortress of no great size, consisting of a donjon, or large and high square tower, surrounded by buildings of inferior height, which were encircled by an inner court-yard. Around the exterior of the wall was a deep moat, supplied with water from a neighbouring rivulet. Front-de-Boeuf, whose character placed him often at feud with his enemies, had made considerable additions to the strength of his castle, by building towers upon the outward wall, so as to flank it at every angle. The access, as usual in castles of the period, lay through an arched barbican, or outwork, which was terminated and defended by a small turret at each corner. Cedric no sooner saw the turrets of Front-deBouf's castle raise their gray and moss-grown battlements, glimmering in the morning sun above the wood by which they were surrounded, than he instantly augured more truly concerning the cause of his misfortune. "I did injustice," he said, "to the thieves and outlaws of these woods, when I supposed such banditti to belong to their bands; I might as justly have confounded the foxes of these brakes with the ravening wolves of France. Tell me, ye dogs-is it my life or my wealth that your master aims at? Is it too much that two Saxons, myself, and the noble Athelstane, should hold land in the country which was once the patrimony of our race?-Put us then to death, and complete your tyranny by taking our lives, as you began with our liberties. If the Saxon Cedric cannot rescue England, he is willing to die for her. Tell your tyrannical master, I do only beseech him to dismiss the Lady Rowena in honour and safety. She is a woman, and he need not dread her; and with us will die all who dare fight in her cause.' The attendants remained as mute to this address as to the former, and they now stood before the gate of the castle. De Bracy winded his horn three times, and the archers and cross-bow men, who had manned the wall upon seeing their approach, hastened to lower the drawbridge, and admit them. The prisoners were compelled by their guards to alight, and were conducted to an apartment where a hasty repast was offered them, of which none but Athelstane fel any inclination to partake. Neitner had the descendant of the Confessor much time to do justice to the good cheer placed before them, for their guards gave him and Cedric to understand that they were to be imprisoned in a chamber apart from Rowena. Resistance was vain; and they were compelled to follow to a large room, which rising on clumsy Saxon pillars, resembled those refectories and chapter-houses which may be still seen in the most cient parts of our most ancient monasteries. "The hall rung with acclamations, and cup and horn was filled to the Norwegian, who should be speedily in possession of his English territory.", "I could have pledged him with all my soul," said Athelstane, "for my tongue cleaves to my palate." "The baffled envoy," continued Cedric, pursuing with animation his tale, though it interested not the listener, "retreated, to carry to Tosti and his ally the ominous answer of his injured brother. It was then that the distant towers of York, and the bloody streams of the Derwent,* beheld that direful conflict, in which, after displaying the most undaunted valour, the King of Norway, and Tosti, both fell, with ten thousand of their bravest followers. Who would have thought that upon the proud day when this battle was won, the very gale which waved the Saxon banners in triumph, was filling the Norman sails, and impelling them to the fatal shores of Sussex ?-Who would have thought that Harold, within a few brief days, would himself possess no more of his kingdom, than the share which he allotted in his wrath to the Nor wegian invader?-Who would have thought that you, noble Athelstane-that you, descended of Harold's blood, and that I, whose father was not the worst defender of the Saxon crown, should be prisoners to vile Norman, in the very hall in which our ancestors held such high festival?" The Lady Rowena was next separated from her train, and conducted, with courtesy, indeed, but still without consulting her inclination, to a distant apart ment. The same alarming distinction was conferred on Rebecca, in spite of her father's entreaties, who offered even money, in this extremity of distress, that she might be permitted to abide with him. Base unbeliever," answered one of his guards, "when thou hast seen thy lair, thou wilt not wish thy daughter to partake it." And, without farther discussion, the old Jew was forcibly dragged off in a different direction from the other prisoners. The domestics, after being carefully searched and disarmed, were confined in another part of the castle; and Rowena was refused even the comfort she might have derived from the attendance of her hand-a maiden Elgitha. The apartment in which the Saxon chicfs were confined, for to them we turn our first attention, although at present used as a sort of guard-room, had formerly been the great hall of the castle. It was now abandoned to meaner purposes, because the present lord, among other additions to the convenience, security, and beauty of his baronial residence, had erected a new and noble hall, whose vaulted roof was supported by lighter and more elegant pillars, and fitted up with that higher degree of ornament, which the Normans had already introduced into architecture. Cedric paced the apartment, filled with indignant reflections on the past and on the present, while the apathy of his companion served, instead of patience and philosophy, to defend him against every thing save the inconvenience of the present moment; and so little did he feel even this last, that he was only from time to time roused to a reply by Cedric's anímated and impassioned appeal to him. 66 Yes," " said Cedric, half speaking to himself, and half addressing himself to Athelstane, "it was in this very hall that my father feasted with Torquil Wolfganger, when he entertained the valiant and unfortunate Harold, then advancing against the Norwegians, who had united themselves to the rebel Tosti. It was in this hall that Harold returned the magnanimous answer to the ambassador of his rebel brother. Oft have I heard my father kindle as he told the tale. The envoy of Tosti was admitted, when this ample room could scarce contain the crowd of noble Saxon leaders, who were quaffing the blood-red wine around their monarch." "I hope," said Athelstane, somewhat moved by this part of his friend's discourse, "they will not forget to send us some wine and refections at noonwe had scarce a breathing-space allowed to break our fast, and I never have the benefit of my food when I eat immediately after dismounting from horseback, though the leeches recommend that practice." Cedric went on with his story without noticing this interjectional observation of his friend. "The envoy of Tosti," he said, "moved up the hall, undismayed by the frowning countenances of ail around him, until he made his obeisance before the throne of King Harold. 'What terms,' he said, 'Lord King, hath thy brother Tosti to hope, if he should lay down his arms, und crave peace at thy hands?' 'A brother's love,' cried the generous Harold, and the fair earldom of Northumberland.' "It is sad enough," replied Athelstane; "but I trust they will hold us to a moderate ransom-At any rate it cannot be their purpose to starve us outright; and yet, although it is high noon, I see no preparations for serving dinner. Look up at the window, noble Cedric, and judge by the sunbeams if it is not on the verge of noon.' " "It may be so," answered Cedric; "but I cannot look on that stained lattice without its awakening other reflections than those which concern the passing moment, or its privations. When that window was wrought, my noble friend, our hardy fathers knew not the art of making glass, or of staining itThe pride of Wolfganger's father brought an artist from Normandy to adorn his hall with this new species of emblazonment, that breaks the golden light of God's blessed day into so many fantastic hues. The foreigner came here poor, beggarly, cringing, and subservient, ready to doff his cap to the meanest native of the household. He returned pampered and proud, to tell his rapacious countrymen of the wealth and the simplicity of the Saxon nobles-a folly, oh, Athelstane, foreboded of old, as well as foreseen, by those descendants of Hengist and his hardy tribes, who retained the simplicity of their manners. made these strangers our bosom friends, our confidential servants; we borrowed their artists and their arts, and despised the honest simplicity and hardihood with which our brave ancestors supported themselves, and we became enervated by Norman arts long ere we fell under Norman arms. Far better was our homely diet, eaten in peace and liberty, than the We *A great topographica! blurder occurred here in former editions. The bloody battle alluded to in the text, fought and won by King Harold, over his brother the rebellious Tosti, and an auxiliary force of Danes, or Norsemen, was said in the text, Leicestershire, and upon the river Wel'and. This is a mistake, and a corresponding note, to have taken place at Stamford, in into which the author has been led by trusting to his memory, and so confounding two places of the same name. The Starford, Strangford, or Staneford, at which the battle really was about seven miles from York, and situated in that large and fought, is a ford upon the river Derwent, at the distance of opulent county. Along wooden bridge over the Derwent, the site of which, with one remaining buttress, is still shown to the long defended it by his single arm, and was at length pierced curious traveller, was furiously contested. One Norwegian with a spear thrust through the planks of the bridge from a boat beneath. The neighbourhood of Stamford, on the Derwent, contains some memorials of the battle. Horseshoes, swords, and the heads of halberds, or bills, are often found there; one place is called the "Danes' Well," another the " Battle flats." From a tradition that the weapon with which the Norwegian champion was slain, resembled a pear, or as others say, that the trough or boat in which the soldier floated under the bridge to strike the blow, had such a shape, the country people usually begin a called the Pear-pie feast, which after all may be a corruption 'But should Tosti accept these terms,' continued the envoy, what lands shall be assigned to his faith-great market, which is held at Stamford, with an entertainment ful ally, Hardrada, King of Norway? Seven feet of English ground, answered Harold, fiercely, 'or, as Hardrada is said to be a giant, perhaps we may allow him twelve inches more.' of the Spear-pic feast. For more particulars, Drake's History out to him, in the most obliging manner, by Robert Belt, Esq. of York may be referred to. The author's mistake was pointed of Bossal House. The battle was fought in 1066. luxurious dainties, the love of which hath delivered us as bondsmen to the foreign conqueror!" times, with as much violence as if it had been blown before an enchanted castle by the destined knight, at "I should," replied Athelstane, "hold very humble whose summons halls and towers, barbican and diet a luxury at present; and it astonishes me, noble | battlement, were to roll off like a morning vapour Cedric, that you can bear so truly in mind the memory The Saxons started from the table, and hastened to of past deeds, when it appeareth you forget the very the window. But their curiosity was disappointed; nour of dinner." for these outlets only looked upon the court of the castle, and the sound came from beyond its precincts. The summons, however, seemed of importance, for a considerable degree of bustle instantly took place in the castle. "It is time lost," muttered Cedric apart and impatiently, "to speak to him of aught else but that which concerns his appetite! The soul of Hardicanute hath taken possession of him, and he hath no pleasure save to fill, to swill, and to call for more.-Alas!" said he, looking at Athelstane with compassion, "that so dull a spirit should be lodged in so goodly a form! Alas! that such an enterprise as the regeneration of England should turn on a hinge so imperfect! Wedded to Rowena, indeed, her nobler and more generous soul may yet awake the better nature which is torpid within him. Yet how should this be, while Rowena, Athelstane, and I myself, remain the prisoners of this brutal marauder, and have been made so perhaps from a sense of the dangers which our liberty might bring to the usurped power of this nation ?" While the Saxon was plunged in these painful reflections, the door of their prison opened, and gave entrance to a sewer, holding his white rod of office. This important person advanced into the chamber with a grave pace, followed by four attendants, bearing in a table cover with dishes, the sight and smell of which seemed to be an instant compensation to Athelstane for all the inconvenience he had undergone. The persons who attended on the feasts were masked and cloaked. "What mummery is this?" said Cedric; "think you that we are ignorant whose prisoners we are, when we are in the castle of your master? Tell him," he continued, willing to use this opportunity to open a negotiation for his freedom,-"Tell your master, Reginald Front-de-Boeuf, that we know no reason he can have for withholding our liberty, excepting his unlawful desire to enrich himself at our expense. Tell him that we yield to his rapacity, as in similar circumstances we should do to that of a literal robber. Let him name the ransom at which he rates our liberty, and it shall be paid, providing the exaction is suited to our means." The sewer made no answer, but bowed his head. And tell Sir Reginald Front-de-Bœuf," said Athelstane, "that I send him my mortal defiance, and challenge him to combat with me, on foot or horseback, at any secure place, within eight days after our liberation; which, if he be a true knight, he will not, under these circumstances, venture to refuse or to delay." "I shall deliver to the knight your defiance," answered the sewer; mean while I leave you to your food." The challenge of Athelstane was delivered with no good grace; for a large mouthful, which required the exercise of both jaws at once, added to a natural hesitation, considerably damped the effect of the bold defiance it contained. Still, however, his speech was hailed by Cedric as an incontestible token of reviving spirit in his companion, whose previous indifference had begun, notwithstanding his respect for Athelstane's descent, to wear out his patience. But he now cordially shook hands with him in token of his approbation, and was somewhat grieved when Athelstane observed, "that he would fight a dozen such men as Front-de Boeuf, if, by so doing, he could hasten his departure from a dungeon where they put so much garlic into their pottage." Notwithstanding this intimation of a relapse into the apathy of sensuality, Cedric placed himself opposite to Athelstane, and soon showed, that if the distresses of his country could banish the recollection of food while the table was uncovered, yet no sooner were the victuals put there, than he proved that the appetite of his Saxon ancestors had descended to him along with their other qualities. CHAPTER XXII. My daughter-O my ducats- my daughter! O my Christian ducats! Justice-the Law-my ducats, and my daughter! Merchant of Venice. LEAVING the Saxon chiefs to return to their banquet as soon as their ungratified curiosity should permit them to attend to the calls of their half-satiated appetite, we have to look in upon the yet more severe imprisonment of Isaac of York. The poor Jew had! been hastily thrust into a dungeon-vault of the castle, the floor of which was deep beneath the level of the ground, and very damp, being lower than even the moat itself. The only light was received through one or two loop-holes far above the reach of the captive's hand. These apertures admitted, even at midday, only a dim and uncertain light, which was changed for utter darkness long before the rest of the castle had lost the blessing of day. Chains and shackles, which had been the portion of former captives, from whom active exertions to escape had been apprehended, hung rusted and empty on the walls of the prison, and in the rings of one of those sets of fetters there remained two mouldering bones, which seemed to have been once those of the human leg, as if some prisoner had been left not only to perish there, but to be consumed to a skeleton. At one end of this ghastly apartment was a large fire-grate, over the top of which were stretched some transverse iron bars, half devoured with rust. The whole appearance of the dungeon might have appalled a stouter heart than that of Isaac, who, nevertheless, was more composed under the imminent pressure of danger, than he had seemed to be while affected by terrors, of which the cause was as yet remote and contingent. The lovers of the chase say that the hare feels more agony during the pursuit of the greyhounds, than when she is struggling in their fangs. And thus it is probable, that the Jews, by the very frequency of their fear on all occasions, had their minds in some degree prepared for every effort of tyranny which could be practised upon them; so that no aggression, when it had taken place, could bring with it that surprise which is the most disabling quality of terror. Neither was it the first time that Isaac had been placed in circumstances so dangerous. He had therefore experience to guide him, as well as hope, that he might again, as formerly, be delivered as a prey from the fowler. Above all, he had upon his side the unyielding obstinacy of his nation, and that unbending resolution, with which Israelites have been frequently known to submit to the uttermost evils which power and violence can inflict upon them, rather than gratify their oppressors by granting their demands. In this humour of passive resistance, and with his garment collected beneath him to keep his limbs from the wet pavement, Isaac sat in a corner of his dungeon, where his folded hands, his dishevelled hair and beard, his furred cloak and high cap, seen by the wirv and broken light, would have afforded a study for Rembrandt, had that celebrated painter existed at the period. The Jew remained, without altering his position, for nearly three hours, at the expiry of which, steps were heard on the dungeon stair. The bolts screamed as they were withdrawn-the hinges creaked as the wicket opened, and Reginald Front-de-Bœuf, followed by the two Saracen slaves of the Templar, entered the prison. The captives had not long enjoyed their refreshment however, ere their attention was disturbed even from this most serious occupation by the blast of a horn winded before the gate. It was repeated three wce of natural history, which we give on the authority of the VOL. III. * Nota Bene.-We by no means warrant the accuracy of this Wardour MS. 2. T 33 |