"His brother sits in the race

Oswald made a respectful sign of assent. the seat, and usurps the patrimony, of a better race,

of Ulfgar of Middleham; but what Norman lord doth not the same? This prior is, they say, a free and jovial priest, who loves the wine-cup and the bugle-horn better than bell and book.1 Good! Let him come, he shall be welcome. How named ye the Templar ? "

"Brian de Bois-Guilbert."

"Bois-Guilbert!" said Cedric, still in the musing, half-arguing tone which the habit of living among dependants had accustomed him to employ, and which resembled a man who talks to himself rather than to those around him; "Bois-Guilbert! that name has been spread wide both for good and evil. They say he is valiant as the bravest of his order, but stained with their usual vices, — pride, arrogance, and cruelty; a hard-hearted man, who knows neither fear of earth nor awe of heaven. So say the few warriors who have returned from Palestine. Well, it is but for one night: he shall be welcome too. - Oswald, broach the oldest wine-cask; place the best mead,2 the mightiest ale, the richest morat,3 the most sparkling cider, the most odoriferous pigments, upon the board; fill the largest horns.5 Templars and abbots love good wines and good measure. — Elgitha, let thy Lady Rowena know we shall not this night expect her in the hall, unless such be her especial pleasure."

4

"But it will be her especial pleasure," answered Elgitha with great readiness, "for she is ever desirous to hear the latest news from Palestine."

Cedric darted at the forward damsel a glance of hasty resent

1 Attendance at church, and devotions at prayers.

2 A fermented beverage from honey and malt.

3 A drink made of honey flavored with the juice of mulberries.

4 A sweet and rich liquor, composed of wine highly spiced, and sweetened with honey.

5 The Saxons used horns for drinking-cups, sometimes made of glass or stone, but usually of horn. Many of curious form and shape have been found in excavated barrows or tombs of the dead.

ment; but Rowena, and whatever belonged to her, were privileged, and secure from his anger. He only replied, "Silence. maiden! Thy tongue outruns thy discretion. Say my message to thy mistress, and let her do her pleasure. Here, at least, the descendant of Alfred1 still reigns a princess." Elgitha left the apartment.

"Palestine!" repeated the Saxon, "Palestine!

How many

But

ears are turned to the tales which dissolute crusaders or hypocritical pilgrims bring from that fatal land! I too might ask, I too might inquire, I too might listen with a beating heart to fables which the wily strollers devise to cheat us into hospitality. no. The son who has disobeyed me is no longer mine; nor will I concern myself more for his fate than for that of the most worthless among the millions that ever shaped the cross on their shoulder, rushed into excess and blood-guiltiness, and called it an accomplishment of the will of God."

He knit his brows, and fixed his eyes for an instant on the ground. As he raised them, the folding-doors at the bottom of the hall were cast wide, and preceded by the major-domo with his wand, and four domestics bearing blazing torches, the guests of the evening entered the apartment.

TH

CHAPTER IV.

`HE Prior Aymer had taken the opportunity afforded him, of changing his riding-robe for one of yet more costly materials, over which he wore a cope2 curiously embroidered. Besides the massive golden signet-ring, which marked his ecclesiastical dignity, his fingers, though contrary to the canon, were loaded with precious gems; his sandals were of the finest leather which was

1 King of Britain, 872-901. He was the greatest of the Saxon monarchs, a wise ruler, and an appreciative promoter of learning.

2 An ecclesiastical vestment very much like a cloak.

imported from Spain; his beard trimmed to as small dimensions as his order would possibly permit; and his shaven crown concealed by a scarlet cap richly embroidered.

The appearance of the Knight Templar was also changed; and, though less studiously bedecked with ornament, his dress was as rich and his appearance far more commanding than that of his companion. He had exchanged his shirt of mail for an under-tunic of dark purple silk, garnished with furs, over which flowed his long robe of spotless white in ample folds. The eightpointed cross of his order was cut on the shoulder of his mantle in black velvet. The high cap no longer invested his brows, which were only shaded by short and thick curled hair of a raven blackness, corresponding to his unusually swart complexion. Nothing could be more gracefully majestic than his step and manner, had they not been marked by a predominant air of haughtiness, easily acquired by the exercise of unresisted authority.

These two dignified persons were followed by their respective attendants, and at a more humble distance by their guide, whose figure had nothing more remarkable than it derived from the usual weeds of a pilgrim. A cloak or mantle of coarse black serge enveloped his whole body. It was in shape something like the cloak of a modern hussar, having similar flaps for covering the arms, and was called a Sclaveyn or Sclavonian.1 Coarse sandals bound with thongs on his bare feet, a broad and shadowy hat with cockle-shells 2 stitched on its brim, and a long staff shod with iron, to the upper end of which was attached a branch of palm, completed the palmer's attire. He followed modestly the last of the train which entered the hall, and, observing that the lower table scarce afforded room sufficient for the domestics of Cedric and the retinue of his guests, he withdrew to a settle placed beside and almost under one of the large chimneys, and seemed to employ himself in drying his garments, until the retreat of some one should make room at the board, or the

1 Because worn by Sclavonians or Russians.

2 Sea-shells worn by the pilgrims as emblems of a visit to the Holy Land.

hospitality of the steward should supply him with refreshments in the place he had chosen apart.

Cedric rose to receive his guests with an air of dignified hospitality, and descending from the dais, or elevated part of his hall, made three steps towards them, and then awaited their approach.

"I grieve," he said, “reverend prior, that my vow binds me to advance no farther upon this floor of my fathers, even to receive such guests as you and this valiant Knight of the Holy Temple; but my steward has expounded to you the cause of my seeming discourtesy. Let me also pray that you will excuse my speaking to you in my native language, and that you will reply in the same if your knowledge of it permits; if not, I sufficiently understand Norman to follow your meaning."

"Vows," said the abbot, "must be unloosed, worthy franklin, or permit me rather to say worthy thane, though the title is antiquated. Vows are the knots which tie us to Heaven, - they are the cords which bind the sacrifice to the horns of the altar,—and are therefore, as I said before, to be unloosened and discharged, unless our holy Mother Church shall pronounce the contrary. And respecting language, I willingly hold communication in that spoken by my respected grandmother, Hilda of Middleham, who died in odor of sanctity, little short, if we may presume to say so, of her glorious namesake the blessed St. Hilda 1 of Whitby, God be gracious to her soul!"

When the prior had ceased what he meant as a conciliatory harangue, his companion said briefly and emphatically, "I speak ever French, the language of King Richard and his nobles; but I understand English sufficiently to communicate with the natives of the country."

1 A grandniece of Edwin, King of Northumbria (born 617, and died 680). In 650 she was abbess of Heortea (" Hartlepool "). She is best known in connection with the Abbey of Whitby, in Yorkshire, however, which she founded, and of which she was abbess. It was at this abbey the poet Cædmon sang.

Cedric darted at the speaker one of those hasty and impatient glances which comparisons between the two rival nations seldom failed to call forth; but, recollecting the duties of hospitality, he suppressed further show of resentment, and, motioning with his hand, caused his guests to assume two seats a little lower than his own, but placed close beside him, and gave a signal that the evening meal should be placed upon the board.

While the attendants hastened to obey Cedric's commands, his eye distinguished Gurth the swineherd, who, with his companion Wamba, had just entered the hall. "Send these loitering knaves up hither," said the Saxon impatiently. And when the culprits came before the dais, "How comes it, villains,1 that you have loitered abroad so late as this? Hast thou brought home thy charge, sirrah2 Gurth, or hast thou left them to robbers and marauders?"

"The herd is safe, so please ye," said Gurth.

"But it does not please me, thou knave," said Cedric, "that I should be made to suppose otherwise for two hours, and sit here devising vengeance against my neighbors for wrongs they have not done me. I tell thee, shackles and the prison-house shall punish the next offense of this kind."

Gurth, knowing his master's irritable temper, attempted no exculpation; but the Jester, who could presume upon Cedric's tolerance by virtue of his privileges as a fool, replied for them both : "In troth, uncle 4 Cedric, you are neither wise nor reasonable to-night."

'How, sir?" said his master; "you shall to the porter's lodge,

1 Originally “villeins;" in feudal times, persons, not free, of the lowest class in the social status. They were of two classes, regardant (annexed to the soil as fixtures) and in gross (the personal property of their lord).

2 A contemptuous (and sometimes jocular) expression for "fellow" or "sir."

3 Originally a boy, a youth, the Anglo-Saxon name being cnafa (“a boy"); later, a rogue, a dishonest person.

4 Another word for "master,” frequently used by jesters in addressing

their lords.