"No, lady," answered Rebecca, the same calm melancholy reigning in her soft voice and beautiful features" that may not be. I may not change the faith of my fathers like a garment unsuited to the climate in which I seek to dwell, and unhappy, lady, I will not be. He to whom I dedicate my future life will be my comforter, if I do His will."

"Have you then convents, to one of which you mean to retire?" asked Rowena.

"No, lady," said the Jewess; "but among our people, since the time of Abraham downwards, have been women who have devoted their thoughts to Heaven, and their actions to works of kindness to men, tending the sick, feeding the hungry, and relieving the distressed. Among these will Rebecca be numbered. Say this to thy lord should he chance to inquire after the fate of her whose life he saved."

There was an involuntary tremor in Rebecca's voice, and a tenderness of accent, which perhaps betrayed more than she would willingly have expressed. She hastened to bid Rowena adieu.

Farewell," she said. "May He who made both Jew and Christian shower down on you His choicest blessings! The bark that wafts us hence will be under weigh ere we can reach the port.”

She glided from the apartment, leaving Rowena surprised as if a vision had passed before her. The fair Saxon related the singular conference to her husband, on whose mind it made a deep impression. He lived long and happily with Rowena, for they were attached to each other by the bonds of early affection, and they loved each other the more from the recollection of the obstacles which had impeded their union. Yet it would be inquiring too curiously to ask whether the recollection of Rebecca's beauty and magnanimity did not recur to his mind more frequently than the fair descendant of Alfred might altogether have approved.

Ivanhoe distinguished himself in the service of Richard, and was graced with further marks of the royal favour. He might have risen still higher but for the premature death of the heroic Cœur-deLion before the Castle of Chaluz, near Limoges. With the life of a generous, but rash and romantic monarch, perished all the projects which his ambition and his generosity had formed; to whom may be applied, with a slight alteration, the lines composed by Johnson for Charles of Sweden

His fate was destined to a foreign strand,

A petty fortress and an "humble" hand;

He left the name at which the world grew pale,

To point a moral or adorn a TALE.

NOTES.

CHAPTER I.

Ivanhoe. This title was suggested to Scott by the following English rhyme :—

"Thring, Wring, and Ivanhoe,
For striking of a blow,
Hampden did forego,

And glad he could escape so."

The sound pleased his ear, and it had the further merit of furnishing no clue to the nature of the story. Scott disapproved of titles that suggested the purpose or plot of a book.

Page 17.-Line 1. That pleasant district.—It lies in the south-east corner of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and embraces the towns of Sheffield, Rotherham, and Doncaster.

Line 2. A large forest.-Sherwood Forest, famous as the scene of Robin Hood's exploits. In olden times it extended many miles through Nottinghamshire.

Line 5. The noble seats of Wentworth.—In the old village chapel there is a monument to the Earl of Strafford (Thomas Wentworth), who was executed in 1641. Wharncliffe Park is the seat of Lord Wharncliffe. Its fine woods are a favourite resort of the people of Sheffield.

Line 7. Of yore.-Belonging to the olden time. Yore is a word allied to "Year." The fabulous Dragon of Wantley.-The name "Wantley" is said to be a corruption of "Wharncliffe." A recess in a rocky cliff within the woods of Wharncliffe Park is still called "The Dragon's Den ;" and the dragon's footprints are pointed out on the face of the rock. The following lines from an old ballad describe the monster :

"Horses and churches

Were as geese and turkeys,

He ate all and left none behind,

Save some stones, dear Jack,

Which he could not crack,

Which on the hill you will find."

Line 8. Desperate battles during the Civil Wars of the Roses.These were Wakefield Green (1460), in which the Lancastrians

gained their last victory, and the Duke of York was slain; and Towton (1461), a Yorkist victory, which placed Edward IV. on the throne. The war of the Roses, so termed from the colour of the ensigns of the rival factions, continued from 1455 to 1471. It arose out of the rival pretensions of the Houses of York and Lancaster to the throne of England. Few men were able to evade the necessity of taking a side in the war, and few districts of the country escaped the horrors of battle.

Line 9. Gallant outlaws.-The most famous of these was Robin Hood. Robin Hood's well is still to be found at the roadside; and his tomb, with the inscription, "Robert, Earl of Huntingdon," is near the ruins of the old priory at Barnsdale.

Line 12. The reign of Richard I. (1189-1199).-On returning from the wars of the Crusades in Palestine, Richard fell into the hands of his enemy, the Duke of Austria. He was confined in a castle of the Tyrol for fourteen months, after which he obtained his liberty, on payment, by his English subjects, of 100,000 merks.

Line 16. The reign of Stephen (1135-1154).-Feeling himself to be a usurper, Stephen, to gain the support of the barons, allowed them privileges, which in time were turned against himself, and against the peace and security of the country. The prudence of Henry II. (1154–1189).-Henry took care to obtain the sanction of the Great Council-the Legislature—of the realm, before setting himself to the work of destroying the castles of the turbulent nobles, and reducing their owners to subjection. In restoring to the Crown the lands and castles that had been gifted to favourites by Stephen, he so carefully avoided every appearance of self-seeking and revenge as to earn the title of prudent monarch.

Line 19. The English Council of State.-The Early English Parliament, composed of the chief barons and prelates. The business of the State, however, was mainly conducted at that time by great officers of the Court-such as the High Justiciary, the Constable, the Treasurer. The counties and burghs were for the first time represented in the Council in 1265, when Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, succeeded in reforming Parliament, or rather in creating it, on its present footing.

Line 24. The national convulsions.-The disorders that prevailed during the period, through the intrigues of the different claimants for power, and the instigations of various interested parties. Richard desired that his nephew, Arthur, should succeed him; but Philip of France favoured the claims of John, from whom he counted on being easily able to wrest Normandy.

Line 25. Franklins.-The franklin, or frankelein, was the English free-holder of olden times. He held his lands from the Crown, free from feudal servitude of any kind. At one time he ranked after earls, barons, and lords; but at the time of the story he had somewhat descended in the social scale, being only in the position of a well-to-do yeoman.

Page 18.-Line 19. The Conquest of Duke William of Normandy.