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considerable expenses, afforded also those largesses which he bestowed

among the peasantry, and with which he frequently relieved the

distresses of the oppressed. If Prior Aymer rode hard in the chase, or

remained long at the banquet, --if Prior Aymer was seen, at the early

peep of dawn, to enter the postern of the abbey, as he glided home

from some rendezvous which had occupied the hours of darkness, men

only shrugged up their shoulders, and reconciled themselves to his

irregularities, by recollecting that the same were practised by many

of his brethren who had no redeeming qualities whatsoever to atone for

them. Prior Aymer, therefore, and his character, were well known to

our Saxon serfs, who made their rude obeisance, and received his

" benedicite, mes filz, " in return.

But the singular appearance of his companion and his attendants,

arrested their attention and excited their wonder, and they could

scarcely attend to the Prior of Jorvaulx' question, when he demanded if

they knew of any place of harbourage in the vicinity; so much were they

surprised at the half monastic, half military appearance of the swarthy

stranger, and at the uncouth dress and arms of his Eastern attendants.

It is probable, too, that the language in which the benediction was

conferred, and the information asked, sounded ungracious, though not

probably unintelligible, in the ears of the Saxon peasants.

" I asked you, my children, " said the Prior, raising his voice, and using

the lingua Franca, or mixed language, in which the Norman and Saxon

races conversed with each other, " if there be in this neighbourhood any

good man, who, for the love of God, and devotion to Mother Church,

will give two of her humblest servants, with their train, a night's

hospitality and refreshment? "

This he spoke with a tone of conscious importance, which formed a strong

contrast to the modest terms which he thought it proper to employ.

" Two of the humblest servants of Mother Church! " repeated Wamba to

himself, --but, fool as he was, taking care not to make his observation

audible; " I should like to see her seneschals, her chief butlers, and

other principal domestics! "

After this internal commentary on the Prior's speech, he raised his

eyes, and replied to the question which had been put.

" If the reverend fathers, " he said, " loved good cheer and soft lodging,

few miles of riding would carry them to the Priory of Brinxworth, where

their quality could not but secure them the most honourable reception;

or if they preferred spending a penitential evening, they might turn

down yonder wild glade, which would bring them to the hermitage of

Copmanhurst, where a pious anchoret would make them sharers for the

night of the shelter of his roof and the benefit of his prayers. "

The Prior shook his head at both proposals.

" Mine honest friend, " said he, " if the jangling of thy bells had not

dizzied thine understanding, thou mightst know " Clericus clericum non

decimat"; that is to say, we churchmen do not exhaust each other's

hospitality, but rather require that of the laity, giving them thus

an opportunity to serve God in honouring and relieving his appointed

servants. "

" It is true, " replied Wamba, " that I, being but an ass, am,

nevertheless, honoured to hear the bells as well as your reverence's

mule; notwithstanding, I did conceive that the charity of Mother Church

and her servants might be said, with other charity, to begin at home. "

" A truce to thine insolence, fellow, " said the armed rider, breaking in

on his prattle with a high and stern voice, " and tell us, if thou canst,

the road to--How call'd you your Franklin, Prior Aymer? "

" Cedric, " answered the Prior; " Cedric the Saxon. --Tell me, good fellow,

are we near his dwelling, and can you show us the road? "

" The road will be uneasy to find, " answered Gurth, who broke silence for

the first time, " and the family of Cedric retire early to rest. "

" Tush, tell not me, fellow, " said the military rider; " 'tis easy for

them to arise and supply the wants of travellers such as we are, who

will not stoop to beg the hospitality which we have a right to command. "

" I know not, " said Gurth, sullenly, " if I should show the way to my

master's house, to those who demand as a right, the shelter which most

are fain to ask as a favour. "

" Do you dispute with me, slave! " said the soldier; and, setting spurs

to his horse, he caused him make a demivolte across the path, raising at

the same time the riding rod which he held in his hand, with a purpose

of chastising what he considered as the insolence of the peasant.

Gurth darted at him a savage and revengeful scowl, and with a fierce,

yet hesitating motion, laid his hand on the haft of his knife; but the

interference of Prior Aymer, who pushed his mule betwixt his companion

and the swineherd, prevented the meditated violence.

" Nay, by St Mary, brother Brian, you must not think you are now in

Palestine, predominating over heathen Turks and infidel Saracens; we

islanders love not blows, save those of holy Church, who chasteneth whom

she loveth. --Tell me, good fellow, " said he to Wamba, and seconded his

speech by a small piece of silver coin, " the way to Cedric the Saxon's;

you cannot be ignorant of it, and it is your duty to direct the wanderer

even when his character is less sanctified than ours. "

" In truth, venerable father, " answered the Jester, " the Saracen head of

your right reverend companion has frightened out of mine the way home--I

am not sure I shall get there to-night myself. "

" Tush, " said the Abbot, " thou canst tell us if thou wilt. This reverend

brother has been all his life engaged in fighting among the Saracens

for the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre; he is of the order of Knights

Templars, whom you may have heard of; he is half a monk, half a

soldier. "

" If he is but half a monk, " said the Jester, " he should not be wholly

unreasonable with those whom he meets upon the road, even if they should

be in no hurry to answer questions that no way concern them. "

" I forgive thy wit, " replied the Abbot, " on condition thou wilt show me

the way to Cedric's mansion. "

" Well, then, " answered Wamba, " your reverences must hold on this path

till you come to a sunken cross, of which scarce a cubit's length

remains above ground; then take the path to the left, for there are

four which meet at Sunken Cross, and I trust your reverences will obtain

shelter before the storm comes on. "

The Abbot thanked his sage adviser; and the cavalcade, setting spurs to

their horses, rode on as men do who wish to reach their inn before the

bursting of a night-storm. As their horses' hoofs died away, Gurth

said to his companion, " If they follow thy wise direction, the reverend

fathers will hardly reach Rotherwood this night. "

" No, " said the Jester, grinning, " but they may reach Sheffield if they

have good luck, and that is as fit a place for them. I am not so bad a

woodsman as to show the dog where the deer lies, if I have no mind he

should chase him. "

" Thou art right, " said Gurth; " it were ill that Aymer saw the Lady

Rowena; and it were worse, it may be, for Cedric to quarrel, as is most

likely he would, with this military monk. But, like good servants let us

hear and see, and say nothing. "

We return to the riders, who had soon left the bondsmen far behind

them, and who maintained the following conversation in the Norman-French

language, usually employed by the superior classes, with the exception

of the few who were still inclined to boast their Saxon descent.

" What mean these fellows by their capricious insolence? " said the

Templar to the Benedictine, " and why did you prevent me from chastising

it? "

" Marry, brother Brian, " replied the Prior, " touching the one of them, it

were hard for me to render a reason for a fool speaking according to his

folly; and the other churl is of that savage, fierce, intractable race,

some of whom, as I have often told you, are still to be found among the

descendants of the conquered Saxons, and whose supreme pleasure it is

to testify, by all means in their power, their aversion to their

conquerors. "

" I would soon have beat him into courtesy, " observed Brian; " I am

accustomed to deal with such spirits: Our Turkish captives are as fierce

and intractable as Odin himself could have been; yet two months in my

household, under the management of my master of the slaves, has made

them humble, submissive, serviceable, and observant of your will. Marry,

sir, you must be aware of the poison and the dagger; for they use either

with free will when you give them the slightest opportunity. "

" Ay, but, " answered Prior Aymer, " every land has its own manners and

fashions; and, besides that beating this fellow could procure us no

information respecting the road to Cedric's house, it would have been

sure to have established a quarrel betwixt you and him had we found our

way thither. Remember what I told you: this wealthy franklin is proud,

fierce, jealous, and irritable, a withstander of the nobility, and even

of his neighbors, Reginald Front-de-Boeuf and Philip Malvoisin, who are

no babies to strive with. He stands up sternly for the privileges of

his race, and is so proud of his uninterrupted descend from Hereward, a

renowned champion of the Heptarchy, that he is universally called Cedric

the Saxon; and makes a boast of his belonging to a people from whom

many others endeaver to hide their descent, lest they should encounter a

share of the 'vae victis, ' or severities imposed upon the vanquished. "

" Prior Aymer, " said the Templar, " you are a man of gallantry, learned

in the study of beauty, and as expert as a troubadour in all matters

concerning the 'arrets' of love; but I shall expect much beauty in this

celebrated Rowena to counterbalance the self-denial and forbearance

which I must exert if I am to court the favor of such a seditious churl

as you have described her father Cedric. "

" Cedric is not her father, " replied the Prior, " and is but of remote

relation: she is descended from higher blood than even he pretends to,

and is but distantly connected with him by birth. Her guardian, however,

he is, self-constituted as I believe; but his ward is as dear to him as

if she were his own child. Of her beauty you shall soon be judge; and if

the purity of her complexion, and the majestic, yet soft expression of a

mild blue eye, do not chase from your memory the black-tressed girls of

Palestine, ay, or the houris of old Mahound's paradise, I am an infidel,

and no true son of the church. "

" Should your boasted beauty, " said the Templar, " be weighed in the

balance and found wanting, you know our wager? "

" My gold collar, " answered the Prior, " against ten butts of Chian

wine; --they are mine as securely as if they were already in the convent

vaults, under the key of old Dennis the cellarer. "

" And I am myself to be judge, " said the Templar, " and am only to be

convicted on my own admission, that I have seen no maiden so beautiful

since Pentecost was a twelvemonth. Ran it not so? --Prior, your collar

is in danger; I will wear it over my gorget in the lists of

Ashby-de-la-Zouche. "

" Win it fairly, " said the Prior, " and wear it as ye will; I will trust

your giving true response, on your word as a knight and as a churchman.

Yet, brother, take my advice, and file your tongue to a little more

courtesy than your habits of predominating over infidel captives

and Eastern bondsmen have accustomed you. Cedric the Saxon, if

offended, --and he is noway slack in taking offence, --is a man who,

without respect to your knighthood, my high office, or the sanctity

of either, would clear his house of us, and send us to lodge with the

larks, though the hour were midnight. And be careful how you look on

Rowena, whom he cherishes with the most jealous care; an he take the

least alarm in that quarter we are but lost men. It is said he banished

his only son from his family for lifting his eyes in the way of

affection towards this beauty, who may be worshipped, it seems, at a

distance, but is not to be approached with other thoughts than such as

we bring to the shrine of the Blessed Virgin. "

" Well, you have said enough, " answered the Templar; " I will for a night

put on the needful restraint, and deport me as meekly as a maiden; but

as for the fear of his expelling us by violence, myself and squires,

with Hamet and Abdalla, will warrant you against that disgrace. Doubt

not that we shall be strong enough to make good our quarters. "

" We must not let it come so far, " answered the Prior; " but here is the

clown's sunken cross, and the night is so dark that we can hardly see

which of the roads we are to follow. He bid us turn, I think to the

left. "

" To the right, " said Brian, " to the best of my remembrance. "

" To the left, certainly, the left; I remember his pointing with his

wooden sword. "

" Ay, but he held his sword in his left hand, and so pointed across his

body with it, " said the Templar.

Each maintained his opinion with sufficient obstinacy, as is usual in

all such cases; the attendants were appealed to, but they had not been

near enough to hear Wamba's directions. At length Brian remarked, what

had at first escaped him in the twilight; " Here is some one either

asleep, or lying dead at the foot of this cross--Hugo, stir him with the

butt-end of thy lance. "

This was no sooner done than the figure arose, exclaiming in good

French, " Whosoever thou art, it is discourteous in you to disturb my

thoughts. "

" We did but wish to ask you, " said the Prior, " the road to Rotherwood,

the abode of Cedric the Saxon. "

" I myself am bound thither, " replied the stranger; " and if I had a

horse, I would be your guide, for the way is somewhat intricate, though

perfectly well known to me. "

" Thou shalt have both thanks and reward, my friend, " said the Prior, " if

thou wilt bring us to Cedric's in safety. "

And he caused one of his attendants to mount his own led horse, and give

that upon which he had hitherto ridden to the stranger, who was to serve

for a guide.

Their conductor pursued an opposite road from that which Wamba had

recommended, for the purpose of misleading them. The path soon led

deeper into the woodland, and crossed more than one brook, the approach

to which was rendered perilous by the marshes through which it flowed;

but the stranger seemed to know, as if by instinct, the soundest ground

and the safest points of passage; and by dint of caution and attention,

brought the party safely into a wilder avenue than any they had yet

seen; and, pointing to a large low irregular building at the upper

extremity, he said to the Prior, " Yonder is Rotherwood, the dwelling of

Cedric the Saxon. "

This was a joyful intimation to Aymer, whose nerves were none of the

strongest, and who had suffered such agitation and alarm in the course

of passing through the dangerous bogs, that he had not yet had the

curiosity to ask his guide a single question. Finding himself now at his

ease and near shelter, his curiosity began to awake, and he demanded of

the guide who and what he was.

" A Palmer, just returned from the Holy Land, " was the answer.

" You had better have tarried there to fight for the recovery of the Holy

Sepulchre, " said the Templar.

" True, Reverend Sir Knight, " answered the Palmer, to whom the appearance

of the Templar seemed perfectly familiar; " but when those who are under

oath to recover the holy city, are found travelling at such a distance

from the scene of their duties, can you wonder that a peaceful peasant

like me should decline the task which they have abandoned? "

The Templar would have made an angry reply, but was interrupted by the

Prior, who again expressed his astonishment, that their guide, after

such long absence, should be so perfectly acquainted with the passes of

the forest.

" I was born a native of these parts, " answered their guide, and as he

made the reply they stood before the mansion of Cedric; --a low irregular

building, containing several court-yards or enclosures, extending over

a considerable space of ground, and which, though its size argued the

inhabitant to be a person of wealth, differed entirely from the tall,

turretted, and castellated buildings in which the Norman nobility

resided, and which had become the universal style of architecture

throughout England.

Rotherwood was not, however, without defences; no habitation, in

that disturbed period, could have been so, without the risk of being

plundered and burnt before the next morning. A deep fosse, or ditch,

was drawn round the whole building, and filled with water from a

neighbouring stream. A double stockade, or palisade, composed of pointed

beams, which the adjacent forest supplied, defended the outer and inner

bank of the trench. There was an entrance from the west through the

outer stockade, which communicated by a drawbridge, with a similar

opening in the interior defences. Some precautions had been taken to

place those entrances under the protection of projecting angles, by

which they might be flanked in case of need by archers or slingers.

Before this entrance the Templar wound his horn loudly; for the rain,

which had long threatened, began now to descend with great violence.

CHAPTER III

Then (sad relief! ) from the bleak coast that hears

The German Ocean roar, deep-blooming, strong,

And yellow hair'd, the blue-eyed Saxon came.

Thomson's Liberty

In a hall, the height of which was greatly disproportioned to its

extreme length and width, a long oaken table, formed of planks

rough-hewn from the forest, and which had scarcely received any polish,

stood ready prepared for the evening meal of Cedric the Saxon. The roof,

composed of beams and rafters, had nothing to divide the apartment from

the sky excepting the planking and thatch; there was a huge fireplace at

either end of the hall, but as the chimneys were constructed in a very

clumsy manner, at least as much of the smoke found its way into the

apartment as escaped by the proper vent. The constant vapour which this

occasioned, had polished the rafters and beams of the low-browed hall,

by encrusting them with a black varnish of soot. On the sides of the

apartment hung implements of war and of the chase, and there were at

each corner folding doors, which gave access to other parts of the

extensive building.

The other appointments of the mansion partook of the rude simplicity

of the Saxon period, which Cedric piqued himself upon maintaining.

The floor was composed of earth mixed with lime, trodden into a hard

substance, such as is often employed in flooring our modern barns. For

about one quarter of the length of the apartment, the floor was raised

by a step, and this space, which was called the dais, was occupied only

by the principal members of the family, and visitors of distinction.

For this purpose, a table richly covered with scarlet cloth was placed

transversely across the platform, from the middle of which ran the

longer and lower board, at which the domestics and inferior persons fed,

down towards the bottom of the hall. The whole resembled the form of the

letter T, or some of those ancient dinner-tables, which, arranged on the

same principles, may be still seen in the antique Colleges of Oxford or

Cambridge. Massive chairs and settles of carved oak were placed upon the

dais, and over these seats and the more elevated table was fastened a

canopy of cloth, which served in some degree to protect the dignitaries

who occupied that distinguished station from the weather, and

especially from the rain, which in some places found its way through the

ill-constructed roof.

The walls of this upper end of the hall, as far as the dais extended,

were covered with hangings or curtains, and upon the floor there was a

carpet, both of which were adorned with some attempts at tapestry, or

embroidery, executed with brilliant or rather gaudy colouring. Over the

lower range of table, the roof, as we have noticed, had no covering;

the rough plastered walls were left bare, and the rude earthen floor was

uncarpeted; the board was uncovered by a cloth, and rude massive benches

supplied the place of chairs.

In the centre of the upper table, were placed two chairs more elevated

than the rest, for the master and mistress of the family, who presided

over the scene of hospitality, and from doing so derived their Saxon

title of honour, which signifies " the Dividers of Bread. "

To each of these chairs was added a footstool, curiously carved and

inlaid with ivory, which mark of distinction was peculiar to them. One

of these seats was at present occupied by Cedric the Saxon, who, though

but in rank a thane, or, as the Normans called him, a Franklin, felt, at

the delay of his evening meal, an irritable impatience, which might have

become an alderman, whether of ancient or of modern times.

It appeared, indeed, from the countenance of this proprietor, that he

was of a frank, but hasty and choleric temper. He was not above the

middle stature, but broad-shouldered, long-armed, and powerfully made,

like one accustomed to endure the fatigue of war or of the chase; his

face was broad, with large blue eyes, open and frank features, fine

teeth, and a well formed head, altogether expressive of that sort of

good-humour which often lodges with a sudden and hasty temper. Pride and

jealousy there was in his eye, for his life had been spent in asserting

rights which were constantly liable to invasion; and the prompt, fiery,

and resolute disposition of the man, had been kept constantly upon the

alert by the circumstances of his situation. His long yellow hair was

equally divided on the top of his head and upon his brow, and combed

down on each side to the length of his shoulders; it had but little

tendency to grey, although Cedric was approaching to his sixtieth year.

His dress was a tunic of forest green, furred at the throat and cuffs

with what was called minever; a kind of fur inferior in quality to

ermine, and formed, it is believed, of the skin of the grey squirrel.

This doublet hung unbuttoned over a close dress of scarlet which sat

tight to his body; he had breeches of the same, but they did not reach

below the lower part of the thigh, leaving the knee exposed. His

feet had sandals of the same fashion with the peasants, but of finer

materials, and secured in the front with golden clasps. He had bracelets

of gold upon his arms, and a broad collar of the same precious metal

around his neck. About his waist he wore a richly-studded belt, in

which was stuck a short straight two-edged sword, with a sharp point, so

disposed as to hang almost perpendicularly by his side. Behind his seat

was hung a scarlet cloth cloak lined with fur, and a cap of the same

materials richly embroidered, which completed the dress of the opulent

landholder when he chose to go forth. A short boar-spear, with a broad

and bright steel head, also reclined against the back of his chair,

which served him, when he walked abroad, for the purposes of a staff or

of a weapon, as chance might require.

Several domestics, whose dress held various proportions betwixt the

richness of their master's, and the coarse and simple attire of Gurth

the swine-herd, watched the looks and waited the commands of the Saxon

dignitary. Two or three servants of a superior order stood behind their

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

dependants. One grisly old wolf-dog alone, with the liberty of an

indulged favourite, 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, down! I am not in the

humour 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 were 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 depreciation of the

outlaws, with whom the adjacent forest abounded, or by the violence

of some neighbouring 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

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