master upon the dais; the rest occupied the lower part of the hall. Other attendants there were of a different description: two or three large and shaggy greyhounds, such as were then employed in hunting the stag and wolf; as many slow-hounds of a large bony breed, with thick necks, large heads, and long ears; and one or two of the smaller dogs, now called terriers, which waited with impatience the arrival of the supper; but with the sagacious knowledge of physiognomy peculiar to their race, forbore to intrude upon the moody silence of their master, apprehensive probably of a small white truncheon which lay by Cedric's trencher, for the purpose of repelling the advances of his four-legged dependents. One grisly old wo.f-dog alone, with the liberty of an indulged favorite, had planted himself close by the chair of state, and occasionally ventured to solicit notice by putting his large hairy head upon his master's knee, or pushing his nose into his hand. Even he was repelled by the stern command, "Down, Balder,1 down! I am not in the humor for foolery."

In fact, Cedric, as we have observed, was in no very placid state of mind. The Lady Rowena, who had been absent to attend an evening mass at a distant church, had but just returned, and was changing her garments, which had been wetted by the storm. There was as yet no tidings of Gurth and his charge, which should long since have been driven home from the forest; and such was the insecurity of the period as to render it probable that the delay might be explained by some depredation of the outlaws, with whom the adjacent forest abounded, or by the violence of some neighboring baron, whose consciousness of strength made him equally negligent of the laws of property. The matter was of consequence, for great part of the domestic wealth of the Saxon proprietors consisted in numerous herds of swine, especially in forest-land, where those animals easily found their food.

Besides these subjects of anxiety, the Saxon thane was impatient for the presence of his favorite clown Wamba, 1 Cedric had named his dog for one of the gods of the Norse mythology.

whose jests, such as they were, served for a sort of seasoning to his evening meal, and to the deep draughts of ale and wine with which he was in the habit of accompanying it. Add to all this, Cedric had fasted since noon, and his usual supper hour was long past, a cause of irritation common to country squires, both in ancient and modern times. His displeasure was expressed in broken sentences, partly muttered to himself, partly addressed to the domestics who stood around; and particularly to his cupbearer, who offered him from time to time, as a sedative, a silver goblet filled with wine. "Why tarries the Lady Rowena?"

"She is but changing her head-gear," replied a female attendant, with as much confidence as the favorite lady's maid usually answers the master of a modern family. "You would not wish her to sit down to the banquet in her hood and kirtle? and no lady within the shire can be quicker in arraying herself than my mistress."

This undeniable argument produced a sort of acquiescent umph! on the part of the Saxon, with the addition, "I wish her devotion may choose fair weather for the next visit to St. John's kirk. But what, in the name of ten devils," continued he, turning to the cupbearer, and raising his voice as if happy to have found a channel into which he might divert his indignation without fear or control,— “what, in the name of ten devils, keeps Gurth so long a-field? I suppose we shall have an evil account of the herd. He was wont to be a faithful and cautious drudge, and I had destined him for something better; perchance I might even have made him one of my warders." 1

1 Sir Walter made a pleasant pretence that the story of Ivanhoe had been taken from an old manuscript which he called the Wardour Manuscript; and, referring to this imaginary Wardour Manuscript, he wrote the following explanation of the use here of the word "warder: "The original has cnichts, by which the Saxons seem to have designated a class of military attendants, sometimes free, sometimes bondsmen, but always ranking above an ordinary domestic, whether in the royal household or in those of the aldermen and thanes. But the term cnicht, now spelt knight, having been received into the English language as equivalent to the Norman word chevalier, I have avoided using it in its more ancient sense, to prevent con fusion." He uses cnichts further on in the story.

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Oswald the cupbearer modestly suggested "that it was scarce an hour since the tolling of the curfew," 1 chosen apology, since it turned upon a topic so harsh to Saxon ears.

The foul fiend," exclaimed Cedric, "take the curfewbell, and the tyrannical bastard by whom it was devised, and the heartless slave who names it with a Saxon tongue

a Saxon ear! The curfew!" he added, pausing, "ay, the curfew; which compels true men to extinguish their lights, that thieves and robbers may work their deeds in darkness! Ay, the curfew. Reginald Front-de-Bœuf and Philip de Malvoisin know the use of the curfew as well as William the Bastard himself, or e'er a Norman adventurer that fought at Hastings. I shall hear, I guess, that my property has been swept off to save from starving the hungry banditti, whom they cannot support but by theft and robbery. My faithful slave is murdered, and my goods are taken for a prey, and Wamba where is Wamba? Said not some one he had gone forth with Gurth?"

Oswald replied in the affirmative.

'Ay! why this is better and better! He is carried off, too, the Saxon fool, to serve the Norman lord. Fools are we all indeed that serve them, and fitter subjects for their scorn and laughter than if we were born with but half our wits. But I will be avenged," he added, starting from his chair in impatience at the supposed injury, and catching hold of his boar-spear. "I will go with my complaint to the great council. I have friends, I have followers; man to man will I appeal the Norman to the lists; let him come in his plate and his mail, and all that can render cowardice bold. I have sent such a javelin as this through a stronger fence than three of their war shields! Haply they think me old; but they shall find, alone and childless as I am, the blood of Hereward is in

1 The ringing of the curfew early in the night, as a command to put out fires and lights and to go to bed, was a custom brought into England by William the Conqueror, and it was very heartily disliked by the English. The word "curfew" means fire-cover.

the veins of Cedric. claimed in a lower tone, "couldst thou have ruled thine unreasonable passion, thy father had not been left in his age, like the solitary oak that throws out its shattered and unprotected branches against the full sweep of the tempest! The reflection seemed to conjure into sadness his irritated feelings. Replacing his javelin, he resumed his seat, bent his looks downward, and appeared to be absorbed in melancholy reflection.

Ah, Wilfred, Wilfred!" he ex

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From his musing, Cedric was suddenly awakened by the blast of a horn, which was replied to by the clamorous yells and barking of all the dogs in the hall, and some twenty or thirty which were quartered in other parts of the building. It cost some exercise of the white truncheon, well seconded by the exertions of the domestics, to silence this canine clamor.

To the gate, knaves!" said the Saxon hastily, as soon as the tumult was so much appeased that the dependents could hear his voice. "See what tidings that horn tells us of to announce, I ween, some hership1 and robbery which has been done upon my lands."

Returning in less than three minutes, a warder announced "that the Prior Aymer of Jorvaulx, and the good knight Brian de Bois-Guilbert, commander of the valiant and venerable order of Knights Templars, with a small retinue, requested hospitality and lodging for the night, being on their way to a tournament which was to be held not far from Ashby-de-la-Zouche, on the second day from the present.

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"Aymer, the Prior Aymer! Brian de Bois-Guilbert!" muttered Cedric; "Normans both; but Norman or Saxon, the hospitality of Rotherwood must not be impeached; they are welcome, since they have chosen to halt. welcome would they have been to have ridden farther on their way. But it were unworthy to murmur for a night's lodgings and a night's food; in the quality of guests, at least, even Normans must suppress their insolence. Go, Hundebert," he added, to a sort of major

1 The raiding of cattle; pillage.

domo who stood behind him with a white wand; "take six of the attendants, and introduce the strangers to the guests' lodging. Look after their horses and mules, and see their train lack nothing. Let them have change of vestments if they require it, and fire, and water to wash, and wine and ale; and bid the cooks add what they hastily can to our evening meal; and let it be put on the board when those strangers are ready to share it. Say to them, Hundebert, that Cedric would himself bid them welcome, but he is under a vow never to step more than three steps from the dais of his own hall to meet any who shares not the blood of Saxon royalty. Begone! see them carefully tended; let them not say in their pride, the Saxon churl has shown at once his poverty and his avarice."

The major-domo departed with several attendants, to execute his master's commands. "The Prior Aymer!" repeated Cedric, looking to Oswald; "the brother, if I mistake not, of Giles de Mauleverer, now lord of Middleham?"

"His brother

Oswald made a respectful sign of assent. sits in the seat and usurps the patrimony of a better race, the 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 buglehorn better than bell and book. 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, halfarguing tone which the habit of living among dependents 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, cruelty, and voluptuousness; a hardhearted 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