by Walter Scott 7 страница

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would speak with this holy Pilgrim. "

The maidens, without leaving the apartment, retired to its further

extremity, and sat down on a small bench against the wall, where they

remained mute as statues, though at such a distance that their whispers

could not have interrupted the conversation of their mistress.

" Pilgrim, " said the lady, after a moment's pause, during which she

seemed uncertain how to address him, " you this night mentioned a name--I

mean, " she said, with a degree of effort, " the name of Ivanhoe, in

the halls where by nature and kindred it should have sounded most

acceptably; and yet, such is the perverse course of fate, that of many

whose hearts must have throbbed at the sound, I, only, dare ask you

where, and in what condition, you left him of whom you spoke? --We heard,

that, having remained in Palestine, on account of his impaired health,

after the departure of the English army, he had experienced the

persecution of the French faction, to whom the Templars are known to be

attached. "

" I know little of the Knight of Ivanhoe, " answered the Palmer, with

a troubled voice. " I would I knew him better, since you, lady, are

interested in his fate. He hath, I believe, surmounted the persecution

of his enemies in Palestine, and is on the eve of returning to England,

where you, lady, must know better than I, what is his chance of

happiness. "

The Lady Rowena sighed deeply, and asked more particularly when the

Knight of Ivanhoe might be expected in his native country, and whether

he would not be exposed to great dangers by the road. On the first

point, the Palmer professed ignorance; on the second, he said that the

voyage might be safely made by the way of Venice and Genoa, and from

thence through France to England. " Ivanhoe, " he said, " was so well

acquainted with the language and manners of the French, that there was

no fear of his incurring any hazard during that part of his travels. "

" Would to God, " said the Lady Rowena, " he were here safely arrived, and

able to bear arms in the approaching tourney, in which the chivalry

of this land are expected to display their address and valour. Should

Athelstane of Coningsburgh obtain the prize, Ivanhoe is like to hear

evil tidings when he reaches England. --How looked he, stranger, when

you last saw him? Had disease laid her hand heavy upon his strength and

comeliness? "

" He was darker, " said the Palmer, " and thinner, than when he came from

Cyprus in the train of Coeur-de-Lion, and care seemed to sit heavy on

his brow; but I approached not his presence, because he is unknown to

me. "

" He will, " said the lady, " I fear, find little in his native land to

clear those clouds from his countenance. Thanks, good Pilgrim, for your

information concerning the companion of my childhood. --Maidens, " she

said, " draw near--offer the sleeping cup to this holy man, whom I will

no longer detain from repose. "

One of the maidens presented a silver cup, containing a rich mixture of

wine and spice, which Rowena barely put to her lips. It was then offered

to the Palmer, who, after a low obeisance, tasted a few drops.

" Accept this alms, friend, " continued the lady, offering a piece of

gold, " in acknowledgment of thy painful travail, and of the shrines thou

hast visited. "

The Palmer received the boon with another low reverence, and followed

Edwina out of the apartment.

In the anteroom he found his attendant Anwold, who, taking the torch

from the hand of the waiting-maid, conducted him with more haste than

ceremony to an exterior and ignoble part of the building, where a number

of small apartments, or rather cells, served for sleeping places to the

lower order of domestics, and to strangers of mean degree.

" In which of these sleeps the Jew? " said the Pilgrim.

" The unbelieving dog, " answered Anwold, " kennels in the cell next your

holiness. --St Dunstan, how it must be scraped and cleansed ere it be

again fit for a Christian! "

" And where sleeps Gurth the swineherd? " said the stranger.

" Gurth, " replied the bondsman, " sleeps in the cell on your right, as the

Jew on that to your left; you serve to keep the child of circumcision

separate from the abomination of his tribe. You might have occupied a

more honourable place had you accepted of Oswald's invitation. "

" It is as well as it is, " said the Palmer; " the company, even of a Jew,

can hardly spread contamination through an oaken partition. "

So saying, he entered the cabin allotted to him, and taking the torch

from the domestic's hand, thanked him, and wished him good-night. Having

shut the door of his cell, he placed the torch in a candlestick made of

wood, and looked around his sleeping apartment, the furniture of which

was of the most simple kind. It consisted of a rude wooden stool,

and still ruder hutch or bed-frame, stuffed with clean straw, and

accommodated with two or three sheepskins by way of bed-clothes.

The Palmer, having extinguished his torch, threw himself, without taking

off any part of his clothes, on this rude couch, and slept, or at least

retained his recumbent posture, till the earliest sunbeams found their

way through the little grated window, which served at once to admit both

air and light to his uncomfortable cell. He then started up, and after

repeating his matins, and adjusting his dress, he left it, and entered

that of Isaac the Jew, lifting the latch as gently as he could.

The inmate was lying in troubled slumber upon a couch similar to that on

which the Palmer himself had passed the night. Such parts of his dress

as the Jew had laid aside on the preceding evening, were disposed

carefully around his person, as if to prevent the hazard of their

being carried off during his slumbers. There was a trouble on his brow

amounting almost to agony. His hands and arms moved convulsively, as

if struggling with the nightmare; and besides several ejaculations in

Hebrew, the following were distinctly heard in the Norman-English, or

mixed language of the country: " For the sake of the God of Abraham,

spare an unhappy old man! I am poor, I am penniless--should your irons

wrench my limbs asunder, I could not gratify you! "

The Palmer awaited not the end of the Jew's vision, but stirred him with

his pilgrim's staff. The touch probably associated, as is usual, with

some of the apprehensions excited by his dream; for the old man started

up, his grey hair standing almost erect upon his head, and huddling some

part of his garments about him, while he held the detached pieces with

the tenacious grasp of a falcon, he fixed upon the Palmer his keen black

eyes, expressive of wild surprise and of bodily apprehension.

" Fear nothing from me, Isaac, " said the Palmer, " I come as your friend. "

" The God of Israel requite you, " said the Jew, greatly relieved; " I

dreamed--But Father Abraham be praised, it was but a dream. " Then,

collecting himself, he added in his usual tone, " And what may it be your

pleasure to want at so early an hour with the poor Jew? "

" It is to tell you, " said the Palmer, " that if you leave not this

mansion instantly, and travel not with some haste, your journey may

prove a dangerous one. "

" Holy father! " said the Jew, " whom could it interest to endanger so poor

a wretch as I am? "

" The purpose you can best guess, " said the Pilgrim; " but rely on this,

that when the Templar crossed the hall yesternight, he spoke to his

Mussulman slaves in the Saracen language, which I well understand, and

charged them this morning to watch the journey of the Jew, to seize upon

him when at a convenient distance from the mansion, and to conduct

him to the castle of Philip de Malvoisin, or to that of Reginald

Front-de-Boeuf. "

It is impossible to describe the extremity of terror which seized upon

the Jew at this information, and seemed at once to overpower his whole

faculties. His arms fell down to his sides, and his head drooped on his

breast, his knees bent under his weight, every nerve and muscle of his

frame seemed to collapse and lose its energy, and he sunk at the foot of

the Palmer, not in the fashion of one who intentionally stoops, kneels,

or prostrates himself to excite compassion, but like a man borne down on

all sides by the pressure of some invisible force, which crushes him to

the earth without the power of resistance.

" Holy God of Abraham! " was his first exclamation, folding and elevating

his wrinkled hands, but without raising his grey head from the pavement;

" Oh, holy Moses! O, blessed Aaron! the dream is not dreamed for nought,

and the vision cometh not in vain! I feel their irons already tear my

sinews! I feel the rack pass over my body like the saws, and harrows,

and axes of iron over the men of Rabbah, and of the cities of the

children of Ammon! "

" Stand up, Isaac, and hearken to me, " said the Palmer, who viewed

the extremity of his distress with a compassion in which contempt was

largely mingled; " you have cause for your terror, considering how your

brethren have been used, in order to extort from them their hoards, both

by princes and nobles; but stand up, I say, and I will point out to you

the means of escape. Leave this mansion instantly, while its inmates

sleep sound after the last night's revel. I will guide you by the secret

paths of the forest, known as well to me as to any forester that ranges

it, and I will not leave you till you are under safe conduct of some

chief or baron going to the tournament, whose good-will you have

probably the means of securing. "

As the ears of Isaac received the hopes of escape which this speech

intimated, he began gradually, and inch by inch, as it were, to raise

himself up from the ground, until he fairly rested upon his knees,

throwing back his long grey hair and beard, and fixing his keen black

eyes upon the Palmer's face, with a look expressive at once of hope and

fear, not unmingled with suspicion. But when he heard the concluding

part of the sentence, his original terror appeared to revive in full

force, and he dropt once more on his face, exclaiming, " 'I' possess the

means of securing good-will! alas! there is but one road to the favour

of a Christian, and how can the poor Jew find it, whom extortions have

already reduced to the misery of Lazarus? " Then, as if suspicion had

overpowered his other feelings, he suddenly exclaimed, " For the love of

God, young man, betray me not--for the sake of the Great Father who

made us all, Jew as well as Gentile, Israelite and Ishmaelite--do me no

treason! I have not means to secure the good-will of a Christian beggar,

were he rating it at a single penny. " As he spoke these last words, he

raised himself, and grasped the Palmer's mantle with a look of the

most earnest entreaty. The pilgrim extricated himself, as if there were

contamination in the touch.

" Wert thou loaded with all the wealth of thy tribe, " he said, " what

interest have I to injure thee? --In this dress I am vowed to poverty,

nor do I change it for aught save a horse and a coat of mail. Yet think

not that I care for thy company, or propose myself advantage by it;

remain here if thou wilt--Cedric the Saxon may protect thee. "

" Alas! " said the Jew, " he will not let me travel in his train--Saxon or

Norman will be equally ashamed of the poor Israelite; and to travel

by myself through the domains of Philip de Malvoisin and Reginald

Front-de-Boeuf--Good youth, I will go with you! --Let us haste--let

us gird up our loins--let us flee! --Here is thy staff, why wilt thou

tarry? "

" I tarry not, " said the Pilgrim, giving way to the urgency of his

companion; " but I must secure the means of leaving this place--follow

me. "

He led the way to the adjoining cell, which, as the reader is apprised,

was occupied by Gurth the swineherd. --" Arise, Gurth, " said the Pilgrim,

" arise quickly. Undo the postern gate, and let out the Jew and me. "

Gurth, whose occupation, though now held so mean, gave him as much

consequence in Saxon England as that of Eumaeus in Ithaca, was offended

at the familiar and commanding tone assumed by the Palmer. " The Jew

leaving Rotherwood, " said he, raising himself on his elbow, and looking

superciliously at him without quitting his pallet, " and travelling in

company with the Palmer to boot--"

" I should as soon have dreamt, " said Wamba, who entered the apartment at

the instant, " of his stealing away with a gammon of bacon. "

" Nevertheless, " said Gurth, again laying down his head on the wooden log

which served him for a pillow, " both Jew and Gentile must be content to

abide the opening of the great gate--we suffer no visitors to depart by

stealth at these unseasonable hours. "

" Nevertheless, " said the Pilgrim, in a commanding tone, " you will not, I

think, refuse me that favour. "

So saying, he stooped over the bed of the recumbent swineherd, and

whispered something in his ear in Saxon. Gurth started up as if

electrified. The Pilgrim, raising his finger in an attitude as if to

express caution, added, " Gurth, beware--thou are wont to be prudent. I

say, undo the postern--thou shalt know more anon. "

With hasty alacrity Gurth obeyed him, while Wamba and the Jew followed,

both wondering at the sudden change in the swineherd's demeanour. " My

mule, my mule! " said the Jew, as soon as they stood without the postern.

" Fetch him his mule, " said the Pilgrim; " and, hearest thou, --let me have

another, that I may bear him company till he is beyond these parts--I

will return it safely to some of Cedric's train at Ashby. And do

thou" --he whispered the rest in Gurth's ear.

" Willingly, most willingly shall it be done, " said Gurth, and instantly

departed to execute the commission.

" I wish I knew, " said Wamba, when his comrade's back was turned, " what

you Palmers learn in the Holy Land. "

" To say our orisons, fool, " answered the Pilgrim, " to repent our sins,

and to mortify ourselves with fastings, vigils, and long prayers. "

" Something more potent than that, " answered the Jester; " for when would

repentance or prayer make Gurth do a courtesy, or fasting or vigil

persuade him to lend you a mule? --I trow you might as well have told his

favourite black boar of thy vigils and penance, and wouldst have gotten

as civil an answer. "

" Go to, " said the Pilgrim, " thou art but a Saxon fool. "

" Thou sayst well, " said the Jester; " had I been born a Norman, as I

think thou art, I would have had luck on my side, and been next door to

a wise man. "

At this moment Gurth appeared on the opposite side of the moat with the

mules. The travellers crossed the ditch upon a drawbridge of only two

planks breadth, the narrowness of which was matched with the straitness

of the postern, and with a little wicket in the exterior palisade, which

gave access to the forest. No sooner had they reached the mules, than

the Jew, with hasty and trembling hands, secured behind the saddle

a small bag of blue buckram, which he took from under his cloak,

containing, as he muttered, " a change of raiment--only a change of

raiment. " Then getting upon the animal with more alacrity and haste

than could have been anticipated from his years, he lost no time in so

disposing of the skirts of his gabardine as to conceal completely from

observation the burden which he had thus deposited " en croupe".

The Pilgrim mounted with more deliberation, reaching, as he departed,

his hand to Gurth, who kissed it with the utmost possible veneration.

The swineherd stood gazing after the travellers until they were lost

under the boughs of the forest path, when he was disturbed from his

reverie by the voice of Wamba.

" Knowest thou, " said the Jester, " my good friend Gurth, that thou art

strangely courteous and most unwontedly pious on this summer morning? I

would I were a black Prior or a barefoot Palmer, to avail myself of thy

unwonted zeal and courtesy--certes, I would make more out of it than a

kiss of the hand. "

" Thou art no fool thus far, Wamba, " answered Gurth, " though thou arguest

from appearances, and the wisest of us can do no more--But it is time to

look after my charge. "

So saying, he turned back to the mansion, attended by the Jester.

Meanwhile the travellers continued to press on their journey with a

dispatch which argued the extremity of the Jew's fears, since persons at

his age are seldom fond of rapid motion. The Palmer, to whom every path

and outlet in the wood appeared to be familiar, led the way through the

most devious paths, and more than once excited anew the suspicion of

the Israelite, that he intended to betray him into some ambuscade of his

enemies.

His doubts might have been indeed pardoned; for, except perhaps the

flying fish, there was no race existing on the earth, in the air, or

the waters, who were the object of such an unintermitting, general, and

relentless persecution as the Jews of this period. Upon the slightest

and most unreasonable pretences, as well as upon accusations the most

absurd and groundless, their persons and property were exposed to every

turn of popular fury; for Norman, Saxon, Dane, and Briton, however

adverse these races were to each other, contended which should look with

greatest detestation upon a people, whom it was accounted a point of

religion to hate, to revile, to despise, to plunder, and to persecute.

The kings of the Norman race, and the independent nobles, who followed

their example in all acts of tyranny, maintained against this devoted

people a persecution of a more regular, calculated, and self-interested

kind. It is a well-known story of King John, that he confined a wealthy

Jew in one of the royal castles, and daily caused one of his teeth to

be torn out, until, when the jaw of the unhappy Israelite was half

disfurnished, he consented to pay a large sum, which it was the tyrant's

object to extort from him. The little ready money which was in the

country was chiefly in possession of this persecuted people, and the

nobility hesitated not to follow the example of their sovereign, in

wringing it from them by every species of oppression, and even personal

torture. Yet the passive courage inspired by the love of gain, induced

the Jews to dare the various evils to which they were subjected, in

consideration of the immense profits which they were enabled to realize

in a country naturally so wealthy as England. In spite of every kind

of discouragement, and even of the special court of taxations already

mentioned, called the Jews' Exchequer, erected for the very purpose of

despoiling and distressing them, the Jews increased, multiplied, and

accumulated huge sums, which they transferred from one hand to another

by means of bills of exchange--an invention for which commerce is said

to be indebted to them, and which enabled them to transfer their wealth

from land to land, that when threatened with oppression in one country,

their treasure might be secured in another.

The obstinacy and avarice of the Jews being thus in a measure placed

in opposition to the fanaticism that tyranny of those under whom they

lived, seemed to increase in proportion to the persecution with which

they were visited; and the immense wealth they usually acquired in

commerce, while it frequently placed them in danger, was at other times

used to extend their influence, and to secure to them a certain

degree of protection. On these terms they lived; and their character,

influenced accordingly, was watchful, suspicious, and timid--yet

obstinate, uncomplying, and skilful in evading the dangers to which they

were exposed.

When the travellers had pushed on at a rapid rate through many devious

paths, the Palmer at length broke silence.

" That large decayed oak, " he said, " marks the boundaries over which

Front-de-Boeuf claims authority--we are long since far from those of

Malvoisin. There is now no fear of pursuit. "

" May the wheels of their chariots be taken off, " said the Jew, " like

those of the host of Pharaoh, that they may drive heavily! --But leave me

not, good Pilgrim--Think but of that fierce and savage Templar, with

his Saracen slaves--they will regard neither territory, nor manor, nor

lordship. "

" Our road, " said the Palmer, " should here separate; for it beseems not

men of my character and thine to travel together longer than needs must

be. Besides, what succour couldst thou have from me, a peaceful Pilgrim,

against two armed heathens? "

" O good youth, " answered the Jew, " thou canst defend me, and I know thou

wouldst. Poor as I am, I will requite it--not with money, for money, so

help me my Father Abraham, I have none--but---"

" Money and recompense, " said the Palmer, interrupting him, " I have

already said I require not of thee. Guide thee I can; and, it may be,

even in some sort defend thee; since to protect a Jew against a Saracen,

can scarce be accounted unworthy of a Christian. Therefore, Jew, I will

see thee safe under some fitting escort. We are now not far from the

town of Sheffield, where thou mayest easily find many of thy tribe with

whom to take refuge. "

" The blessing of Jacob be upon thee, good youth! " said the Jew; " in

Sheffield I can harbour with my kinsman Zareth, and find some means of

travelling forth with safety. "

" Be it so, " said the Palmer; " at Sheffield then we part, and

half-an-hour's riding will bring us in sight of that town. "

The half hour was spent in perfect silence on both parts; the Pilgrim

perhaps disdaining to address the Jew, except in case of absolute

necessity, and the Jew not presuming to force a conversation with a

person whose journey to the Holy Sepulchre gave a sort of sanctity to

his character. They paused on the top of a gently rising bank, and the

Pilgrim, pointing to the town of Sheffield, which lay beneath them,

repeated the words, " Here, then, we part. "

" Not till you have had the poor Jew's thanks, " said Isaac; " for I

presume not to ask you to go with me to my kinsman Zareth's, who might

aid me with some means of repaying your good offices. "

" I have already said, " answered the Pilgrim, " that I desire no

recompense. If among the huge list of thy debtors, thou wilt, for my

sake, spare the gyves and the dungeon to some unhappy Christian who

stands in thy danger, I shall hold this morning's service to thee well

bestowed. "

" Stay, stay, " said the Jew, laying hold of his garment; " something

would I do more than this, something for thyself. --God knows the Jew

is poor--yes, Isaac is the beggar of his tribe--but forgive me should I

guess what thou most lackest at this moment. "

" If thou wert to guess truly, " said the Palmer, " it is what thou canst

not supply, wert thou as wealthy as thou sayst thou art poor. "

" As I say? " echoed the Jew; " O! believe it, I say but the truth; I am

a plundered, indebted, distressed man. Hard hands have wrung from me my

goods, my money, my ships, and all that I possessed--Yet I can tell thee

what thou lackest, and, it may be, supply it too. Thy wish even now is

for a horse and armour. "

The Palmer started, and turned suddenly towards the Jew: --" What fiend

prompted that guess? " said he, hastily.

" No matter, " said the Jew, smiling, " so that it be a true one--and, as I

can guess thy want, so I can supply it. "

" But consider, " said the Palmer, " my character, my dress, my vow. "

" I know you Christians, " replied the Jew, " and that the noblest of you

will take the staff and sandal in superstitious penance, and walk afoot

to visit the graves of dead men. "

" Blaspheme not, Jew, " said the Pilgrim, sternly.

" Forgive me, " said the Jew; " I spoke rashly. But there dropt words from

you last night and this morning, that, like sparks from flint, showed

the metal within; and in the bosom of that Palmer's gown, is hidden a

knight's chain and spurs of gold. They glanced as you stooped over my

bed in the morning. "

The Pilgrim could not forbear smiling. " Were thy garments searched by as

curious an eye, Isaac, " said he, " what discoveries might not be made? "

" No more of that, " said the Jew, changing colour; and drawing forth his

writing materials in haste, as if to stop the conversation, he began to

write upon a piece of paper which he supported on the top of his

yellow cap, without dismounting from his mule. When he had finished, he

delivered the scroll, which was in the Hebrew character, to the Pilgrim,

saying, " In the town of Leicester all men know the rich Jew, Kirjath

Jairam of Lombardy; give him this scroll--he hath on sale six Milan

harnesses, the worst would suit a crowned head--ten goodly steeds, the

worst might mount a king, were he to do battle for his throne. Of these

he will give thee thy choice, with every thing else that can furnish

thee forth for the tournament: when it is over, thou wilt return them

safely--unless thou shouldst have wherewith to pay their value to the

owner. "

" But, Isaac, " said the Pilgrim, smiling, " dost thou know that in these

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