he added, filling and handing to the swineherd a richer draught than Gurth had ever before tasted. "And how much money," continued Isaac, "hast thou brought with thee?"

"Holy Virgin!" said Gurth, setting down the cup, "what nectar these unbelieving dogs drink, while true Christians are fain to quaff ale as muddy and thick as the draff we give to hogs!-What money have I brought with me?" continued the Saxon, when he had finished this uncivil ejaculation, "even but a small sum; something in hand the whilst. What, Isaac! thou must bear a conscience, though it be a Jewish one."

"Nay, but," said Isaac, "thy master has won goodly steeds and rich armors with the strength of his lance, and of his right hand - but 'tis a good youth—the Jew will take these in present payment, and render him back the surplus."

66

My master has disposed of them already," said Gurth. "Ah! that was wrong," said the Jew, 66 that was the part of a fool. No Christians here could buy so many horses and armor-no Jew except myself would give him

half the values. But thou hast a hundred zecchins with thee in that bag," said Isaac, prying under Gurth's cloak; "it is a heavy one."

"I have heads for crossbow bolts in it," said Gurth readily.

"Well, then "said Isaac, panting and hesitating between habitual love of gain and a new-born desire to be liberal in the present instance, "if I should say that I would take eighty zecchins for the good steed and rich armor, which leaves me not a guilder's profit, have you money to pay me?"

66

Barely," said Gurth, though the sum demanded was more reasonable than he expected, "and it will leave my master nigh penniless. Nevertheless, if such be your least offer, I must be content."

66

Fill thyself another goblet of wine," said the Jew. "Ah! eighty zecchins is too little. It leaveth no profit for the usages of the money; and, besides, the good horse Bolts arrows; the "heads " were steel.

Draff refuse malt, etc.

may have suffered wrong in this day's encounter. O, it was a hard and dangerous meeting! man and steed rushing on each other like wild bulls of Bashan! The horse cannot but have had wrong."

"And I say," replied Gurth, "he is sound, wind and limb; and you may see him now in your stable. And I say, over and above, that seventy zecchins is enough for the armor, and I hope a Christian's word is as good as a Jew's. If you will not take seventy, I will carry this bag” (and he shook it till the contents jingled) “back to my master."

66

Nay, nay!" said Isaac; "lay down the talents — the shekels the eighty zecchins, and thou shalt see I will consider thee liberally."

Gurth at length complied; and telling out eighty zecchins upon the table, the Jew delivered out to him an acquittance for the horse and suit of armor. The Jew's hand trembled for joy as he wrapped up the first seventy pieces of gold. The last ten he told over with much deliberation, pausing, and saying something as he took each piece from the table and dropt it into his purse. It seemed as if his avarice were struggling with his better nature, and compelling him to pouch zecchin after zecchin, while his generosity urged him to restore some part at least to his benefactor, or as a donation to his agent. His whole speech ran nearly thus:

"Seventy-one-seventy-two; thy master is a good youth -seventy-three, an excellent youth-seventy-four, that piece hath been clipt within the ring-seventy-five- and that looketh light of weight-seventy-six when thy master wants money, let him come to Isaac of Yorkseventy-seven-that is, with reasonable security." Here he made a considerable pause, and Gurth had good hope that the last three pieces might escape the fate of their comrades; but the enumeration proceeded. "Seventyeight thou art a good fellow seventy-nine-and de

servest something for thyself—”

Here the Jew paused again, and looked at the last zecchin, intending doubtless to bestow it upon Gurth. He weighed it upon the tip of his finger, and made it ring by

dropping it upon the table. Had it rung too flat, or had it felt a hair's breadth too light, generosity had carried the day; but, unhappily for Gurth, the chime was full and true, the zecchin plump, newly coined, and a grain above weight. Isaac could not find in his heart to part with it, so dropt it into his purse as if in absence of mind, with the words, "Eighty completes the tale, and I trust thy master will reward thee handsomely. Surely," he added, looking earnestly at the bag, "thou hast more coins in that pouch?

Gurth grinned, which was his nearest approach to a laugh, as he replied, "About the same quantity which thou hast just told over so carefully." He then folded the acquittance, and put it under his cap, adding —“Peril of thy beard, Jew, see that this be full and ample!" He filled himself, unbidden, a third goblet of wine, and left the apartment without ceremony.

"Rebecca," said the Jew, "that Ishmaelite hath gone somewhat beyond me. Nevertheless his master is a good youth-ay, and I am well pleased that he hath gained shekels of gold and shekels of silver, even by the speed of his horse and by the strength of his lance, which, like that of Goliath the Philistine, might vie with a weaver's beam."

As he turned to receive Rebecca's answer, he observed that, during his chaffering with Gurth, she had left the apartment unperceived.

In the meanwhile, Gurth had descended the stair, and having reached the dark antechamber or hall, was puzzling about to discover the entrance, when a figure in white, shown by a small silver lamp which she held in her hand, beckoned him into a side apartment. Gurth had some reluctance to obey the summons. Rough and impetuous as a wild boar where only earthly force was to be apprehended, he had all the characteristic terrors of a Saxon respecting fawns, forest-fiends, "white women," and the whole of the superstitions which his ancestors had brought with them from the wilds of Germany. He remembered, moreover, that he was in the house of a Jew, a people who, besides the other unamiable qualities which popular report ascribed to them, were supposed to be profound

Tale number.

necromancers and cabalists. Nevertheless, after a moment's pause, he obeyed the beckoning summons of the apparition, and followed her into the apartment which she indicated, where he found to his joyful surprise that his fair guide was the beautiful Jewess whom he had seen at the tournament, and a short time in her father's apartment.

She asked him the particulars of his transaction with Isaac, which he detailed accurately.

66

My father did but jest with thee, good fellow," said Rebecca; "he owes thy master deeper kindness than these arms and steeds could pay, were their value tenfold. What sum didst thou pay my father even now?"

66

tion.

Eighty zecchins," said Gurth, surprised at the ques

"In this purse," said Rebecca, "thou wilt find a hundred. Restore to thy master that which is his due, and enrich thyself with the remainder. Haste-begonestay not to render thanks! and beware how you pass through this crowded town, where thou mayst easily lose both thy burden and thy life. - Reuben," she added, clapping her hands together, "light forth this stranger, and fail not to draw lock and bar behind him."

Reuben, a dark-brow'd and black-bearded Israelite, obeyed her summons, with a torch in his hand; undid the outward door of the house, and conducted Gurth across a paved court, let him out through a wicket in the entrancegate, which he closed behind him with such bolts and chains as would well have become that of a prison. "By St. Dunstan," said Gurth, as he stumbled up the dark avenue, "this is no Jewess, but an angel from heaven! Ten zecchins from my brave young master twenty from this pearl of Zion-Oh, happy day!-Such another, Gurth, will redeem thy bondage, and make thee a brother as free of thy guild as the best. And then do I lay down my swineherd's horn and staff, and take the freeman's sword and buckler, and follow my young master to the death, without hiding either my face or my name."

Necromancers and cabalists: i.e., wizards and conjurors.

Guild: an association of free men of the same class, for mutual protection,

etc.

CHAPTER ELEVENTH.

1st OUTLAW. Stand, sir, and throw us that you have about you; If not, we'll make you sit, and rifle you.

SPEED. Sir, we are undone! these are the villains

That all the travellers do fear so much.

VAL. My friends,

1st OUT. That's not so, sir, we are your enemies. Peace! we'll hear him.

2d OUT.

3d OUT. Ay, by my beard, will we; For he's a proper man.

Two GENTLEMEN OF Verona.

THE nocturnal adventures of Gurth were not yet concluded; indeed, he himself became partly of that mind, when, after passing one or two straggling houses which stood in the outskirts of the village, he found himself in a deep lane, running between two banks overgrown with hazel and holly, while here and there a dwarf oak flung its arms altogether across the path. The lane was moreover much rutted and broken up by the carriages which had recently transported articles of various kinds to the tournament; and it was dark, for the banks and bushes intercepted the light of the harvest moon.

From the village were heard the distant sounds of revelry, mixed occasionally with loud laughter, sometimes broken by screams, and sometimes by wild strains of distant music. All these sounds, intimating the disorderly state of the town, crowded with military nobles and their dissolute attendants, gave Gurth some uneasiness. "The Jewess was right," he said to himself. "By heaven and St. Dunstan, I would I were safe at my journey's end with all this treasure! Here are such numbers, I will not say of arrant thieves, but of errant knights and errant squires, errant monks and errant minstrels, errant jugglers and errant jesters, that a man with a single merk would be in danger, much more a poor swineherd with a whole bagful

Arrant notorious.

Errant wandering.