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strangers on the second day of the tournament at Ashby. "

" And what follows if you guess truly, good yeoman? " replied the knight.

" I should in that case hold you, " replied the yeoman, " a friend to the

weaker party. "

" Such is the duty of a true knight at least, " replied the Black

Champion; " and I would not willingly that there were reason to think

otherwise of me. "

" But for my purpose, " said the yeoman, " thou shouldst be as well a

good Englishman as a good knight; for that, which I have to speak of,

concerns, indeed, the duty of every honest man, but is more especially

that of a true-born native of England. "

" You can speak to no one, " replied the knight, " to whom England, and the

life of every Englishman, can be dearer than to me. "

" I would willingly believe so, " said the woodsman, " for never had this

country such need to be supported by those who love her. Hear me, and

I will tell thee of an enterprise, in which, if thou be'st really

that which thou seemest, thou mayst take an honourable part. A band

of villains, in the disguise of better men than themselves, have made

themselves master of the person of a noble Englishman, called Cedric

the Saxon, together with his ward, and his friend Athelstane of

Coningsburgh, and have transported them to a castle in this forest,

called Torquilstone. I ask of thee, as a good knight and a good

Englishman, wilt thou aid in their rescue? "

" I am bound by my vow to do so, " replied the knight; " but I would

willingly know who you are, who request my assistance in their behalf? "

" I am, " said the forester, " a nameless man; but I am the friend of my

country, and of my country's friends--With this account of me you must

for the present remain satisfied, the more especially since you yourself

desire to continue unknown. Believe, however, that my word, when

pledged, is as inviolate as if I wore golden spurs. "

" I willingly believe it, " said the knight; " I have been accustomed

to study men's countenances, and I can read in thine honesty and

resolution. I will, therefore, ask thee no further questions, but aid

thee in setting at freedom these oppressed captives; which done, I trust

we shall part better acquainted, and well satisfied with each other. "

" So, " said Wamba to Gurth, --for the friar being now fully equipped, the

Jester, having approached to the other side of the hut, had heard the

conclusion of the conversation, --" So we have got a new ally? --l trust

the valour of the knight will be truer metal than the religion of the

hermit, or the honesty of the yeoman; for this Locksley looks like a

born deer-stealer, and the priest like a lusty hypocrite. "

" Hold thy peace, Wamba, " said Gurth; " it may all be as thou dost guess;

but were the horned devil to rise and proffer me his assistance to

set at liberty Cedric and the Lady Rowena, I fear I should hardly have

religion enough to refuse the foul fiend's offer, and bid him get behind

me. "

The friar was now completely accoutred as a yeoman, with sword and

buckler, bow, and quiver, and a strong partisan over his shoulder. He

left his cell at the head of the party, and, having carefully locked the

door, deposited the key under the threshold.

" Art thou in condition to do good service, friar, " said Locksley, " or

does the brown bowl still run in thy head? "

" Not more than a drought of St Dunstan's fountain will allay, " answered

the priest; " something there is of a whizzing in my brain, and of

instability in my legs, but you shall presently see both pass away. "

So saying, he stepped to the stone basin, in which the waters of

the fountain as they fell formed bubbles which danced in the white

moonlight, and took so long a drought as if he had meant to exhaust the

spring.

" When didst thou drink as deep a drought of water before, Holy Clerk of

Copmanhurst? " said the Black Knight.

" Never since my wine-butt leaked, and let out its liquor by an illegal

vent, " replied the friar, " and so left me nothing to drink but my

patron's bounty here. "

Then plunging his hands and head into the fountain, he washed from them

all marks of the midnight revel.

Thus refreshed and sobered, the jolly priest twirled his heavy partisan

round his head with three fingers, as if he had been balancing a reed,

exclaiming at the same time, " Where be those false ravishers, who carry

off wenches against their will? May the foul fiend fly off with me, if I

am not man enough for a dozen of them. "

" Swearest thou, Holy Clerk? " said the Black Knight.

" Clerk me no Clerks, " replied the transformed priest; " by Saint George

and the Dragon, I am no longer a shaveling than while my frock is on my

back--When I am cased in my green cassock, I will drink, swear, and woo

a lass, with any blithe forester in the West Riding. "

" Come on, Jack Priest, " said Locksley, " and be silent; thou art as noisy

as a whole convent on a holy eve, when the Father Abbot has gone to

bed. --Come on you, too, my masters, tarry not to talk of it--I say, come

on, we must collect all our forces, and few enough we shall have, if we

are to storm the Castle of Reginald Front-de-Boeuf. "

" What! is it Front-de-Boeuf, " said the Black Knight, " who has stopt on

the king's highway the king's liege subjects? --Is he turned thief and

oppressor? "

" Oppressor he ever was, " said Locksley.

" And for thief, " said the priest, " I doubt if ever he were even half so

honest a man as many a thief of my acquaintance. "

" Move on, priest, and be silent, " said the yeoman; " it were better you

led the way to the place of rendezvous, than say what should be left

unsaid, both in decency and prudence. "

CHAPTER XXI

Alas, how many hours and years have past,

Since human forms have round this table sate,

Or lamp, or taper, on its surface gleam'd!

Methinks, I hear the sound of time long pass'd

Still murmuring o'er us, in the lofty void

Of these dark arches, like the ling'ring voices

Of those who long within their graves have slept.

Orra, a Tragedy

While these measures were taking in behalf of Cedric and his companions,

the armed men by whom the latter had been seized, hurried their captives

along towards the place of security, where they intended to imprison

them. But darkness came on fast, and the paths of the wood seemed but

imperfectly known to the marauders. They were compelled to make several

long halts, and once or twice to return on their road to resume the

direction which they wished to pursue. The summer morn had dawned upon

them ere they could travel in full assurance that they held the right

path. But confidence returned with light, and the cavalcade now moved

rapidly forward. Meanwhile, the following dialogue took place between

the two leaders of the banditti.

" It is time thou shouldst leave us, Sir Maurice, " said the Templar to

De Bracy, " in order to prepare the second part of thy mystery. Thou art

next, thou knowest, to act the Knight Deliverer. "

" I have thought better of it, " said De Bracy; " I will not leave thee

till the prize is fairly deposited in Front-de-Boeuf's castle. There

will I appear before the Lady Rowena in mine own shape, and trust that

she will set down to the vehemence of my passion the violence of which I

have been guilty. "

" And what has made thee change thy plan, De Bracy? " replied the Knight

Templar.

" That concerns thee nothing, " answered his companion.

" I would hope, however, Sir Knight, " said the Templar, " that this

alteration of measures arises from no suspicion of my honourable

meaning, such as Fitzurse endeavoured to instil into thee? "

" My thoughts are my own, " answered De Bracy; " the fiend laughs, they

say, when one thief robs another; and we know, that were he to spit fire

and brimstone instead, it would never prevent a Templar from following

his bent. "

" Or the leader of a Free Company, " answered the Templar, " from dreading

at the hands of a comrade and friend, the injustice he does to all

mankind. "

" This is unprofitable and perilous recrimination, " answered De Bracy;

" suffice it to say, I know the morals of the Temple-Order, and I will

not give thee the power of cheating me out of the fair prey for which I

have run such risks. "

" Psha, " replied the Templar, " what hast thou to fear? --Thou knowest the

vows of our order. "

" Right well, " said De Bracy, " and also how they are kept. Come,

Sir Templar, the laws of gallantry have a liberal interpretation in

Palestine, and this is a case in which I will trust nothing to your

conscience. "

" Hear the truth, then, " said the Templar; " I care not for your blue-eyed

beauty. There is in that train one who will make me a better mate. "

" What! wouldst thou stoop to the waiting damsel? " said De Bracy.

" No, Sir Knight, " said the Templar, haughtily. " To the waiting-woman

will I not stoop. I have a prize among the captives as lovely as thine

own. "

" By the mass, thou meanest the fair Jewess! " said De Bracy.

" And if I do, " said Bois-Guilbert, " who shall gainsay me? "

" No one that I know, " said De Bracy, " unless it be your vow of celibacy,

or a cheek of conscience for an intrigue with a Jewess. "

" For my vow, " said the Templar, " our Grand Master hath granted me a

dispensation. And for my conscience, a man that has slain three hundred

Saracens, need not reckon up every little failing, like a village girl

at her first confession upon Good Friday eve. "

" Thou knowest best thine own privileges, " said De Bracy. " Yet, I would

have sworn thy thought had been more on the old usurer's money bags,

than on the black eyes of the daughter. "

" I can admire both, " answered the Templar; " besides, the old Jew is but

half-prize. I must share his spoils with Front-de-Boeuf, who will not

lend us the use of his castle for nothing. I must have something that I

can term exclusively my own by this foray of ours, and I have fixed on

the lovely Jewess as my peculiar prize. But, now thou knowest my drift,

thou wilt resume thine own original plan, wilt thou not? --Thou hast

nothing, thou seest, to fear from my interference. "

" No, " replied De Bracy, " I will remain beside my prize. What thou

sayst is passing true, but I like not the privileges acquired by

the dispensation of the Grand Master, and the merit acquired by the

slaughter of three hundred Saracens. You have too good a right to a free

pardon, to render you very scrupulous about peccadilloes. "

While this dialogue was proceeding, Cedric was endeavouring to wring out

of those who guarded him an avowal of their character and purpose. " You

should be Englishmen, " said he; " and yet, sacred Heaven! you prey

upon your countrymen as if you were very Normans. You should be my

neighbours, and, if so, my friends; for which of my English neighbours

have reason to be otherwise? I tell ye, yeomen, that even those among ye

who have been branded with outlawry have had from me protection; for I

have pitied their miseries, and curst the oppression of their tyrannic

nobles. What, then, would you have of me? or in what can this violence

serve ye? --Ye are worse than brute beasts in your actions, and will you

imitate them in their very dumbness? "

It was in vain that Cedric expostulated with his guards, who had too

many good reasons for their silence to be induced to break it either

by his wrath or his expostulations. They continued to hurry him along,

travelling at a very rapid rate, until, at the end of an avenue of huge

trees, arose Torquilstone, now the hoary and ancient castle of Reginald

Front-de-Boeuf. It was a fortress of no great size, consisting of a

donjon, or large and high square tower, surrounded by buildings of

inferior height, which were encircled by an inner court-yard. Around the

exterior wall was a deep moat, supplied with water from a neighbouring

rivulet. Front-de-Boeuf, whose character placed him often at feud with

his enemies, had made considerable additions to the strength of his

castle, by building towers upon the outward wall, so as to flank it at

every angle. The access, as usual in castles of the period, lay through

an arched barbican, or outwork, which was terminated and defended by a

small turret at each corner.

Cedric no sooner saw the turrets of Front-de-Boeuf's castle raise their

grey and moss-grown battlements, glimmering in the morning sun above the

wood by which they were surrounded, than he instantly augured more truly

concerning the cause of his misfortune.

" I did injustice, " he said, " to the thieves and outlaws of these woods,

when I supposed such banditti to belong to their bands; I might as

justly have confounded the foxes of these brakes with the ravening

wolves of France. Tell me, dogs--is it my life or my wealth that your

master aims at? Is it too much that two Saxons, myself and the noble

Athelstane, should hold land in the country which was once the patrimony

of our race? --Put us then to death, and complete your tyranny by taking

our lives, as you began with our liberties. If the Saxon Cedric cannot

rescue England, he is willing to die for her. Tell your tyrannical

master, I do only beseech him to dismiss the Lady Rowena in honour and

safety. She is a woman, and he need not dread her; and with us will die

all who dare fight in her cause. "

The attendants remained as mute to this address as to the former, and

they now stood before the gate of the castle. De Bracy winded his horn

three times, and the archers and cross-bow men, who had manned the wall

upon seeing their approach, hastened to lower the drawbridge, and admit

them. The prisoners were compelled by their guards to alight, and were

conducted to an apartment where a hasty repast was offered them, of

which none but Athelstane felt any inclination to partake. Neither had

the descendant of the Confessor much time to do justice to the good

cheer placed before them, for their guards gave him and Cedric to

understand that they were to be imprisoned in a chamber apart from

Rowena. Resistance was vain; and they were compelled to follow to a

large room, which, rising on clumsy Saxon pillars, resembled those

refectories and chapter-houses which may be still seen in the most

ancient parts of our most ancient monasteries.

The Lady Rowena was next separated from her train, and conducted, with

courtesy, indeed, but still without consulting her inclination, to

a distant apartment. The same alarming distinction was conferred on

Rebecca, in spite of her father's entreaties, who offered even money,

in this extremity of distress, that she might be permitted to abide with

him. " Base unbeliever, " answered one of his guards, " when thou hast seen

thy lair, thou wilt not wish thy daughter to partake it. " And, without

farther discussion, the old Jew was forcibly dragged off in a different

direction from the other prisoners. The domestics, after being carefully

searched and disarmed, were confined in another part of the castle;

and Rowena was refused even the comfort she might have derived from the

attendance of her handmaiden Elgitha.

The apartment in which the Saxon chiefs were confined, for to them

we turn our first attention, although at present used as a sort of

guard-room, had formerly been the great hall of the castle. It was now

abandoned to meaner purposes, because the present lord, among other

additions to the convenience, security, and beauty of his baronial

residence, had erected a new and noble hall, whose vaulted roof was

supported by lighter and more elegant pillars, and fitted up with that

higher degree of ornament, which the Normans had already introduced into

architecture.

Cedric paced the apartment, filled with indignant reflections on the

past and on the present, while the apathy of his companion served,

instead of patience and philosophy, to defend him against every thing

save the inconvenience of the present moment; and so little did he feel

even this last, that he was only from time to time roused to a reply by

Cedric's animated and impassioned appeal to him.

" Yes, " said Cedric, half speaking to himself, and half addressing

himself to Athelstane, " it was in this very hall that my father feasted

with Torquil Wolfganger, when he entertained the valiant and unfortunate

Harold, then advancing against the Norwegians, who had united themselves

to the rebel Tosti. It was in this hall that Harold returned the

magnanimous answer to the ambassador of his rebel brother. Oft have

I heard my father kindle as he told the tale. The envoy of Tosti was

admitted, when this ample room could scarce contain the crowd of

noble Saxon leaders, who were quaffing the blood-red wine around their

monarch. "

" I hope, " said Athelstane, somewhat moved by this part of his friend's

discourse, " they will not forget to send us some wine and refactions at

noon--we had scarce a breathing-space allowed to break our fast, and

I never have the benefit of my food when I eat immediately after

dismounting from horseback, though the leeches recommend that practice. "

Cedric went on with his story without noticing this interjectional

observation of his friend.

" The envoy of Tosti, " he said, " moved up the hall, undismayed by the

frowning countenances of all around him, until he made his obeisance

before the throne of King Harold.

" 'What terms, ' he said, 'Lord King, hath thy brother Tosti to hope, if

he should lay down his arms, and crave peace at thy hands? '

" 'A brother's love, ' cried the generous Harold, 'and the fair earldom of

Northumberland. '

" 'But should Tosti accept these terms, ' continued the envoy, 'what lands

shall be assigned to his faithful ally, Hardrada, King of Norway? '

" 'Seven feet of English ground, ' answered Harold, fiercely, 'or, as

Hardrada is said to be a giant, perhaps we may allow him twelve inches

more. '

" The hall rung with acclamations, and cup and horn was filled to

the Norwegian, who should be speedily in possession of his English

territory. "

" I could have pledged him with all my soul, " said Athelstane, " for my

tongue cleaves to my palate. "

" The baffled envoy, " continued Cedric, pursuing with animation his tale,

though it interested not the listener, " retreated, to carry to Tosti and

his ally the ominous answer of his injured brother. It was then that

the distant towers of York, and the bloody streams of the Derwent,

[26] beheld that direful conflict, in which, after displaying the most

undaunted valour, the King of Norway, and Tosti, both fell, with ten

thousand of their bravest followers. Who would have thought that upon

the proud day when this battle was won, the very gale which waved the

Saxon banners in triumph, was filling the Norman sails, and impelling

them to the fatal shores of Sussex? --Who would have thought that Harold,

within a few brief days, would himself possess no more of his kingdom,

than the share which he allotted in his wrath to the Norwegian

invader? --Who would have thought that you, noble Athelstane--that you,

descended of Harold's blood, and that I, whose father was not the worst

defender of the Saxon crown, should be prisoners to a vile Norman, in

the very hall in which our ancestors held such high festival? "

" It is sad enough, " replied Athelstane; " but I trust they will hold us

to a moderate ransom--At any rate it cannot be their purpose to starve

us outright; and yet, although it is high noon, I see no preparations

for serving dinner. Look up at the window, noble Cedric, and judge by

the sunbeams if it is not on the verge of noon. "

" It may be so, " answered Cedric; " but I cannot look on that stained

lattice without its awakening other reflections than those which concern

the passing moment, or its privations. When that window was wrought, my

noble friend, our hardy fathers knew not the art of making glass, or

of staining it--The pride of Wolfganger's father brought an artist from

Normandy to adorn his hall with this new species of emblazonment, that

breaks the golden light of God's blessed day into so many fantastic

hues. The foreigner came here poor, beggarly, cringing, and subservient,

ready to doff his cap to the meanest native of the household. He

returned pampered and proud, to tell his rapacious countrymen of the

wealth and the simplicity of the Saxon nobles--a folly, oh, Athelstane,

foreboded of old, as well as foreseen, by those descendants of Hengist

and his hardy tribes, who retained the simplicity of their manners. We

made these strangers our bosom friends, our confidential servants;

we borrowed their artists and their arts, and despised the honest

simplicity and hardihood with which our brave ancestors supported

themselves, and we became enervated by Norman arts long ere we fell

under Norman arms. Far better was our homely diet, eaten in peace and

liberty, than the luxurious dainties, the love of which hath delivered

us as bondsmen to the foreign conqueror! "

" I should, " replied Athelstane, " hold very humble diet a luxury at

present; and it astonishes me, noble Cedric, that you can bear so truly

in mind the memory of past deeds, when it appeareth you forget the very

hour of dinner. "

" It is time lost, " muttered Cedric apart and impatiently, " to speak

to him of aught else but that which concerns his appetite! The soul of

Hardicanute hath taken possession of him, and he hath no pleasure save

to fill, to swill, and to call for more. --Alas! " said he, looking at

Athelstane with compassion, " that so dull a spirit should be lodged in

so goodly a form! Alas! that such an enterprise as the regeneration of

England should turn on a hinge so imperfect! Wedded to Rowena, indeed,

her nobler and more generous soul may yet awake the better nature which

is torpid within him. Yet how should this be, while Rowena, Athelstane,

and I myself, remain the prisoners of this brutal marauder and have

been made so perhaps from a sense of the dangers which our liberty might

bring to the usurped power of his nation? "

While the Saxon was plunged in these painful reflections, the door of

their prison opened, and gave entrance to a sewer, holding his white rod

of office. This important person advanced into the chamber with a grave

pace, followed by four attendants, bearing in a table covered

with dishes, the sight and smell of which seemed to be an instant

compensation to Athelstane for all the inconvenience he had undergone.

The persons who attended on the feast were masked and cloaked.

" What mummery is this? " said Cedric; " think you that we are ignorant

whose prisoners we are, when we are in the castle of your master?

Tell him, " he continued, willing to use this opportunity to open

a negotiation for his freedom, --" Tell your master, Reginald

Front-de-Boeuf, that we know no reason he can have for withholding our

liberty, excepting his unlawful desire to enrich himself at our expense.

Tell him that we yield to his rapacity, as in similar circumstances we

should do to that of a literal robber. Let him name the ransom at which

he rates our liberty, and it shall be paid, providing the exaction is

suited to our means. " The sewer made no answer, but bowed his head.

" And tell Sir Reginald Front-de-Boeuf, " said Athelstane, " that I send

him my mortal defiance, and challenge him to combat with me, on foot or

horseback, at any secure place, within eight days after our liberation;

which, if he be a true knight, he will not, under these circumstances,

venture to refuse or to delay. "

" I shall deliver to the knight your defiance, " answered the sewer;

" meanwhile I leave you to your food. "

The challenge of Athelstane was delivered with no good grace; for a

large mouthful, which required the exercise of both jaws at once, added

to a natural hesitation, considerably damped the effect of the bold

defiance it contained. Still, however, his speech was hailed by Cedric

as an incontestible token of reviving spirit in his companion, whose

previous indifference had begun, notwithstanding his respect for

Athelstane's descent, to wear out his patience. But he now cordially

shook hands with him in token of his approbation, and was somewhat

grieved when Athelstane observed, " that he would fight a dozen such men

as Front-de-Boeuf, if, by so doing, he could hasten his departure from

a dungeon where they put so much garlic into their pottage. "

Notwithstanding this intimation of a relapse into the apathy of

sensuality, Cedric placed himself opposite to Athelstane, and soon

showed, that if the distresses of his country could banish the

recollection of food while the table was uncovered, yet no sooner were

the victuals put there, than he proved that the appetite of his Saxon

ancestors had descended to him along with their other qualities.

The captives had not long enjoyed their refreshment, however, ere their

attention was disturbed even from this most serious occupation by the

blast of a horn winded before the gate. It was repeated three times,

with as much violence as if it had been blown before an enchanted castle

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