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" I will warrant you against dying of old age, however, " said the

Templar, who now recognised his friend of the forest; " I will assure

you from all deaths but a violent one, if you give such directions to

wayfarers, as you did this night to the Prior and me. "

" How, sirrah! " said Cedric, " misdirect travellers? We must have you

whipt; you are at least as much rogue as fool. "

" I pray thee, uncle, " answered the Jester, " let my folly, for once,

protect my roguery. I did but make a mistake between my right hand and

my left; and he might have pardoned a greater, who took a fool for his

counsellor and guide. "

Conversation was here interrupted by the entrance of the porter's

page, who announced that there was a stranger at the gate, imploring

admittance and hospitality.

" Admit him, " said Cedric, " be he who or what he may; --a night like that

which roars without, compels even wild animals to herd with tame, and to

seek the protection of man, their mortal foe, rather than perish by

the elements. Let his wants be ministered to with all care--look to it,

Oswald. "

And the steward left the banqueting hall to see the commands of his

patron obeyed.

CHAPTER V

Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions,

senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with

the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the

same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as

a Christian is?

--Merchant of Venice

Oswald, returning, whispered into the ear of his master, " It is a Jew,

who calls himself Isaac of York; is it fit I should marshall him into

the hall? "

" Let Gurth do thine office, Oswald, " said Wamba with his usual

effrontery; " the swineherd will be a fit usher to the Jew. "

" St Mary, " said the Abbot, crossing himself, " an unbelieving Jew, and

admitted into this presence! "

" A dog Jew, " echoed the Templar, " to approach a defender of the Holy

Sepulchre? "

" By my faith, " said Wamba, " it would seem the Templars love the Jews'

inheritance better than they do their company. "

" Peace, my worthy guests, " said Cedric; " my hospitality must not be

bounded by your dislikes. If Heaven bore with the whole nation of

stiff-necked unbelievers for more years than a layman can number, we may

endure the presence of one Jew for a few hours. But I constrain no man

to converse or to feed with him. --Let him have a board and a morsel

apart, --unless, " he said smiling, " these turban'd strangers will admit

his society. "

" Sir Franklin, " answered the Templar, " my Saracen slaves are true

Moslems, and scorn as much as any Christian to hold intercourse with a

Jew. "

" Now, in faith, " said Wamba, " I cannot see that the worshippers of

Mahound and Termagaunt have so greatly the advantage over the people

once chosen of Heaven. "

" He shall sit with thee, Wamba, " said Cedric; " the fool and the knave

will be well met. "

" The fool, " answered Wamba, raising the relics of a gammon of bacon,

" will take care to erect a bulwark against the knave. "

" Hush, " said Cedric, " for here he comes. "

Introduced with little ceremony, and advancing with fear and hesitation,

and many a bow of deep humility, a tall thin old man, who, however, had

lost by the habit of stooping much of his actual height, approached the

lower end of the board. His features, keen and regular, with an aquiline

nose, and piercing black eyes; his high and wrinkled forehead, and long

grey hair and beard, would have been considered as handsome, had they

not been the marks of a physiognomy peculiar to a race, which, during

those dark ages, was alike detested by the credulous and prejudiced

vulgar, and persecuted by the greedy and rapacious nobility, and who,

perhaps, owing to that very hatred and persecution, had adopted a

national character, in which there was much, to say the least, mean and

unamiable.

The Jew's dress, which appeared to have suffered considerably from the

storm, was a plain russet cloak of many folds, covering a dark purple

tunic. He had large boots lined with fur, and a belt around his

waist, which sustained a small knife, together with a case for writing

materials, but no weapon. He wore a high square yellow cap of a peculiar

fashion, assigned to his nation to distinguish them from Christians, and

which he doffed with great humility at the door of the hall.

The reception of this person in the hall of Cedric the Saxon, was such

as might have satisfied the most prejudiced enemy of the tribes of

Israel. Cedric himself coldly nodded in answer to the Jew's repeated

salutations, and signed to him to take place at the lower end of the

table, where, however, no one offered to make room for him. On the

contrary, as he passed along the file, casting a timid supplicating

glance, and turning towards each of those who occupied the lower end of

the board, the Saxon domestics squared their shoulders, and continued

to devour their supper with great perseverance, paying not the least

attention to the wants of the new guest. The attendants of the Abbot

crossed themselves, with looks of pious horror, and the very heathen

Saracens, as Isaac drew near them, curled up their whiskers with

indignation, and laid their hands on their poniards, as if ready to

rid themselves by the most desperate means from the apprehended

contamination of his nearer approach.

Probably the same motives which induced Cedric to open his hall to this

son of a rejected people, would have made him insist on his attendants

receiving Isaac with more courtesy. But the Abbot had, at this moment,

engaged him in a most interesting discussion on the breed and character

of his favourite hounds, which he would not have interrupted for matters

of much greater importance than that of a Jew going to bed supperless.

While Isaac thus stood an outcast in the present society, like his

people among the nations, looking in vain for welcome or resting

place, the pilgrim who sat by the chimney took compassion upon him, and

resigned his seat, saying briefly, " Old man, my garments are dried,

my hunger is appeased, thou art both wet and fasting. " So saying, he

gathered together, and brought to a flame, the decaying brands which

lay scattered on the ample hearth; took from the larger board a mess of

pottage and seethed kid, placed it upon the small table at which he had

himself supped, and, without waiting the Jew's thanks, went to the

other side of the hall; --whether from unwillingness to hold more close

communication with the object of his benevolence, or from a wish to draw

near to the upper end of the table, seemed uncertain.

Had there been painters in those days capable to execute such a subject,

the Jew, as he bent his withered form, and expanded his chilled and

trembling hands over the fire, would have formed no bad emblematical

personification of the Winter season. Having dispelled the cold, he

turned eagerly to the smoking mess which was placed before him, and

ate with a haste and an apparent relish, that seemed to betoken long

abstinence from food.

Meanwhile the Abbot and Cedric continued their discourse upon hunting;

the Lady Rowena seemed engaged in conversation with one of her attendant

females; and the haughty Templar, whose eye wandered from the Jew to

the Saxon beauty, revolved in his mind thoughts which appeared deeply to

interest him.

" I marvel, worthy Cedric, " said the Abbot, as their discourse proceeded,

" that, great as your predilection is for your own manly language, you do

not receive the Norman-French into your favour, so far at least as the

mystery of wood-craft and hunting is concerned. Surely no tongue is so

rich in the various phrases which the field-sports demand, or furnishes

means to the experienced woodman so well to express his jovial art. "

" Good Father Aymer, " said the Saxon, " be it known to you, I care not

for those over-sea refinements, without which I can well enough take my

pleasure in the woods. I can wind my horn, though I call not the blast

either a 'recheate' or a 'morte'--I can cheer my dogs on the prey, and

I can flay and quarter the animal when it is brought down, without using

the newfangled jargon of 'curee, arbor, nombles', and all the babble of

the fabulous Sir Tristrem. " [14]

" The French, " said the Templar, raising his voice with the presumptuous

and authoritative tone which he used upon all occasions, " is not only

the natural language of the chase, but that of love and of war, in which

ladies should be won and enemies defied. "

" Pledge me in a cup of wine, Sir Templar, " said Cedric, " and fill

another to the Abbot, while I look back some thirty years to tell you

another tale. As Cedric the Saxon then was, his plain English tale

needed no garnish from French troubadours, when it was told in the ear

of beauty; and the field of Northallerton, upon the day of the Holy

Standard, could tell whether the Saxon war-cry was not heard as far

within the ranks of the Scottish host as the 'cri de guerre' of

the boldest Norman baron. To the memory of the brave who fought

there! --Pledge me, my guests. " He drank deep, and went on with

increasing warmth. " Ay, that was a day of cleaving of shields, when a

hundred banners were bent forwards over the heads of the valiant, and

blood flowed round like water, and death was held better than flight.

A Saxon bard had called it a feast of the swords--a gathering of the

eagles to the prey--the clashing of bills upon shield and helmet, the

shouting of battle more joyful than the clamour of a bridal. But our

bards are no more, " he said; " our deeds are lost in those of another

race--our language--our very name--is hastening to decay, and none

mourns for it save one solitary old man--Cupbearer! knave, fill the

goblets--To the strong in arms, Sir Templar, be their race or language

what it will, who now bear them best in Palestine among the champions of

the Cross! "

" It becomes not one wearing this badge to answer, " said Sir Brian de

Bois-Guilbert; " yet to whom, besides the sworn Champions of the Holy

Sepulchre, can the palm be assigned among the champions of the Cross? "

" To the Knights Hospitallers, " said the Abbot; " I have a brother of

their order. "

" I impeach not their fame, " said the Templar; " nevertheless---"

" I think, friend Cedric, " said Wamba, interfering, " that had Richard

of the Lion's Heart been wise enough to have taken a fool's advice,

he might have staid at home with his merry Englishmen, and left the

recovery of Jerusalem to those same Knights who had most to do with the

loss of it. "

" Were there, then, none in the English army, " said the Lady Rowena,

" whose names are worthy to be mentioned with the Knights of the Temple,

and of St John? "

" Forgive me, lady, " replied De Bois-Guilbert; " the English monarch did,

indeed, bring to Palestine a host of gallant warriors, second only to

those whose breasts have been the unceasing bulwark of that blessed

land. "

" Second to NONE, " said the Pilgrim, who had stood near enough to hear,

and had listened to this conversation with marked impatience. All turned

toward the spot from whence this unexpected asseveration was heard.

" I say, " repeated the Pilgrim in a firm and strong voice, " that the

English chivalry were second to NONE who ever drew sword in defence of

the Holy Land. I say besides, for I saw it, that King Richard himself,

and five of his knights, held a tournament after the taking of St

John-de-Acre, as challengers against all comers. I say that, on that

day, each knight ran three courses, and cast to the ground three

antagonists. I add, that seven of these assailants were Knights of the

Temple--and Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert well knows the truth of what I

tell you. "

It is impossible for language to describe the bitter scowl of rage

which rendered yet darker the swarthy countenance of the Templar. In the

extremity of his resentment and confusion, his quivering fingers griped

towards the handle of his sword, and perhaps only withdrew, from the

consciousness that no act of violence could be safely executed in that

place and presence. Cedric, whose feelings were all of a right onward

and simple kind, and were seldom occupied by more than one object at

once, omitted, in the joyous glee with which he heard of the glory of

his countrymen, to remark the angry confusion of his guest; " I would

give thee this golden bracelet, Pilgrim, " he said, " couldst thou tell me

the names of those knights who upheld so gallantly the renown of merry

England. "

" That will I do blithely, " replied the Pilgrim, " and without guerdon; my

oath, for a time, prohibits me from touching gold. "

" I will wear the bracelet for you, if you will, friend Palmer, " said

Wamba.

" The first in honour as in arms, in renown as in place, " said the

Pilgrim, " was the brave Richard, King of England. "

" I forgive him, " said Cedric; " I forgive him his descent from the tyrant

Duke William. "

" The Earl of Leicester was the second, " continued the Pilgrim; " Sir

Thomas Multon of Gilsland was the third. "

" Of Saxon descent, he at least, " said Cedric, with exultation.

" Sir Foulk Doilly the fourth, " proceeded the Pilgrim.

" Saxon also, at least by the mother's side, " continued Cedric, who

listened with the utmost eagerness, and forgot, in part at least, his

hatred to the Normans, in the common triumph of the King of England and

his islanders. " And who was the fifth? " he demanded.

" The fifth was Sir Edwin Turneham. "

" Genuine Saxon, by the soul of Hengist! " shouted Cedric--" And the

sixth? " he continued with eagerness--" how name you the sixth? "

" The sixth, " said the Palmer, after a pause, in which he seemed to

recollect himself, " was a young knight of lesser renown and lower rank,

assumed into that honourable company, less to aid their enterprise than

to make up their number--his name dwells not in my memory. "

" Sir Palmer, " said Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert scornfully, " this assumed

forgetfulness, after so much has been remembered, comes too late to

serve your purpose. I will myself tell the name of the knight before

whose lance fortune and my horse's fault occasioned my falling--it was

the Knight of Ivanhoe; nor was there one of the six that, for his years,

had more renown in arms. --Yet this will I say, and loudly--that were he

in England, and durst repeat, in this week's tournament, the challenge

of St John-de-Acre, I, mounted and armed as I now am, would give him

every advantage of weapons, and abide the result. "

" Your challenge would soon be answered, " replied the Palmer, " were your

antagonist near you. As the matter is, disturb not the peaceful hall

with vaunts of the issue of the conflict, which you well know cannot

take place. If Ivanhoe ever returns from Palestine, I will be his surety

that he meets you. "

" A goodly security! " said the Knight Templar; " and what do you proffer

as a pledge? "

" This reliquary, " said the Palmer, taking a small ivory box from his

bosom, and crossing himself, " containing a portion of the true cross,

brought from the Monastery of Mount Carmel. "

The Prior of Jorvaulx crossed himself and repeated a pater noster, in

which all devoutly joined, excepting the Jew, the Mahomedans, and the

Templar; the latter of whom, without vailing his bonnet, or testifying

any reverence for the alleged sanctity of the relic, took from his neck

a gold chain, which he flung on the board, saying--" Let Prior Aymer

hold my pledge and that of this nameless vagrant, in token that when the

Knight of Ivanhoe comes within the four seas of Britain, he underlies

the challenge of Brian de Bois-Guilbert, which, if he answer not, I will

proclaim him as a coward on the walls of every Temple Court in Europe. "

" It will not need, " said the Lady Rowena, breaking silence; " My voice

shall be heard, if no other in this hall is raised in behalf of the

absent Ivanhoe. I affirm he will meet fairly every honourable challenge.

Could my weak warrant add security to the inestimable pledge of this

holy pilgrim, I would pledge name and fame that Ivanhoe gives this proud

knight the meeting he desires. "

A crowd of conflicting emotions seemed to have occupied Cedric, and

kept him silent during this discussion. Gratified pride, resentment,

embarrassment, chased each other over his broad and open brow, like the

shadow of clouds drifting over a harvest-field; while his attendants,

on whom the name of the sixth knight seemed to produce an effect almost

electrical, hung in suspense upon their master's looks. But when Rowena

spoke, the sound of her voice seemed to startle him from his silence.

" Lady, " said Cedric, " this beseems not; were further pledge necessary, I

myself, offended, and justly offended, as I am, would yet gage my honour

for the honour of Ivanhoe. But the wager of battle is complete, even

according to the fantastic fashions of Norman chivalry--Is it not,

Father Aymer? "

" It is, " replied the Prior; " and the blessed relic and rich chain will I

bestow safely in the treasury of our convent, until the decision of this

warlike challenge. "

Having thus spoken, he crossed himself again and again, and after

many genuflections and muttered prayers, he delivered the reliquary to

Brother Ambrose, his attendant monk, while he himself swept up with less

ceremony, but perhaps with no less internal satisfaction, the golden

chain, and bestowed it in a pouch lined with perfumed leather, which

opened under his arm. " And now, Sir Cedric, " he said, " my ears are

chiming vespers with the strength of your good wine--permit us another

pledge to the welfare of the Lady Rowena, and indulge us with liberty to

pass to our repose. "

" By the rood of Bromholme, " said the Saxon, " you do but small credit to

your fame, Sir Prior! Report speaks you a bonny monk, that would hear

the matin chime ere he quitted his bowl; and, old as I am, I feared to

have shame in encountering you. But, by my faith, a Saxon boy of twelve,

in my time, would not so soon have relinquished his goblet. "

The Prior had his own reasons, however, for persevering in the course

of temperance which he had adopted. He was not only a professional

peacemaker, but from practice a hater of all feuds and brawls. It was

not altogether from a love to his neighbour, or to himself, or from

a mixture of both. On the present occasion, he had an instinctive

apprehension of the fiery temper of the Saxon, and saw the danger that

the reckless and presumptuous spirit, of which his companion had

already given so many proofs, might at length produce some disagreeable

explosion. He therefore gently insinuated the incapacity of the native

of any other country to engage in the genial conflict of the bowl

with the hardy and strong-headed Saxons; something he mentioned, but

slightly, about his own holy character, and ended by pressing his

proposal to depart to repose.

The grace-cup was accordingly served round, and the guests, after making

deep obeisance to their landlord and to the Lady Rowena, arose and

mingled in the hall, while the heads of the family, by separate doors,

retired with their attendants.

" Unbelieving dog, " said the Templar to Isaac the Jew, as he passed him

in the throng, " dost thou bend thy course to the tournament? "

" I do so propose, " replied Isaac, bowing in all humility, " if it please

your reverend valour. "

" Ay, " said the Knight, " to gnaw the bowels of our nobles with usury,

and to gull women and boys with gauds and toys--I warrant thee store of

shekels in thy Jewish scrip. "

" Not a shekel, not a silver penny, not a halfling--so help me the God

of Abraham! " said the Jew, clasping his hands; " I go but to seek the

assistance of some brethren of my tribe to aid me to pay the fine which

the Exchequer of the Jews have imposed upon me--Father Jacob be my

speed! I am an impoverished wretch--the very gaberdine I wear is

borrowed from Reuben of Tadcaster. " [15]

The Templar smiled sourly as he replied, " Beshrew thee for a

false-hearted liar! " and passing onward, as if disdaining farther

conference, he communed with his Moslem slaves in a language unknown to

the bystanders. The poor Israelite seemed so staggered by the address

of the military monk, that the Templar had passed on to the extremity

of the hall ere he raised his head from the humble posture which he had

assumed, so far as to be sensible of his departure. And when he did

look around, it was with the astonished air of one at whose feet a

thunderbolt has just burst, and who hears still the astounding report

ringing in his ears.

The Templar and Prior were shortly after marshalled to their sleeping

apartments by the steward and the cupbearer, each attended by two

torchbearers and two servants carrying refreshments, while servants of

inferior condition indicated to their retinue and to the other guests

their respective places of repose.

CHAPTER VI

To buy his favour I extend this friendship:

If he will take it, so; if not, adieu;

And, for my love, I pray you wrong me not.

--Merchant of Venice

As the Palmer, lighted by a domestic with a torch, passed through the

intricate combination of apartments of this large and irregular mansion,

the cupbearer coming behind him whispered in his ear, that if he had

no objection to a cup of good mead in his apartment, there were many

domestics in that family who would gladly hear the news he had brought

from the Holy Land, and particularly that which concerned the Knight of

Ivanhoe. Wamba presently appeared to urge the same request, observing

that a cup after midnight was worth three after curfew. Without

disputing a maxim urged by such grave authority, the Palmer thanked them

for their courtesy, but observed that he had included in his religious

vow, an obligation never to speak in the kitchen on matters which were

prohibited in the hall. " That vow, " said Wamba to the cupbearer, " would

scarce suit a serving-man. "

The cupbearer shrugged up his shoulders in displeasure. " I thought to

have lodged him in the solere chamber, " said he; " but since he is so

unsocial to Christians, e'en let him take the next stall to Isaac the

Jew's. --Anwold, " said he to the torchbearer, " carry the Pilgrim to the

southern cell. --I give you good-night, " he added, " Sir Palmer, with

small thanks for short courtesy. "

" Good-night, and Our Lady's benison, " said the Palmer, with composure;

and his guide moved forward.

In a small antechamber, into which several doors opened, and which was

lighted by a small iron lamp, they met a second interruption from the

waiting-maid of Rowena, who, saying in a tone of authority, that her

mistress desired to speak with the Palmer, took the torch from the hand

of Anwold, and, bidding him await her return, made a sign to the

Palmer to follow. Apparently he did not think it proper to decline this

invitation as he had done the former; for, though his gesture

indicated some surprise at the summons, he obeyed it without answer or

remonstrance.

A short passage, and an ascent of seven steps, each of which was

composed of a solid beam of oak, led him to the apartment of the Lady

Rowena, the rude magnificence of which corresponded to the respect which

was paid to her by the lord of the mansion. The walls were covered with

embroidered hangings, on which different-coloured silks, interwoven with

gold and silver threads, had been employed with all the art of which the

age was capable, to represent the sports of hunting and hawking. The bed

was adorned with the same rich tapestry, and surrounded with curtains

dyed with purple. The seats had also their stained coverings, and one,

which was higher than the rest, was accommodated with a footstool of

ivory, curiously carved.

No fewer than four silver candelabras, holding great waxen torches,

served to illuminate this apartment. Yet let not modern beauty envy the

magnificence of a Saxon princess. The walls of the apartment were so ill

finished and so full of crevices, that the rich hangings shook in the

night blast, and, in despite of a sort of screen intended to protect

them from the wind, the flame of the torches streamed sideways into the

air, like the unfurled pennon of a chieftain. Magnificence there was,

with some rude attempt at taste; but of comfort there was little, and,

being unknown, it was unmissed.

The Lady Rowena, with three of her attendants standing at her back, and

arranging her hair ere she lay down to rest, was seated in the sort of

throne already mentioned, and looked as if born to exact general homage.

The Pilgrim acknowledged her claim to it by a low genuflection.

" Rise, Palmer, " said she graciously. " The defender of the absent has

a right to favourable reception from all who value truth, and honour

manhood. " She then said to her train, " Retire, excepting only Elgitha; I

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