by Walter Scott 20 страница

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by the destined knight, at whose summons halls and towers, barbican and

battlement, were to roll off like a morning vapour. The Saxons started

from the table, and hastened to the window. But their curiosity was

disappointed; for these outlets only looked upon the court of the

castle, and the sound came from beyond its precincts. The summons,

however, seemed of importance, for a considerable degree of bustle

instantly took place in the castle.

CHAPTER XXII

My daughter--O my ducats--O my daughter!

------O my Christian ducats!

Justice--the Law--my ducats, and my daughter!

--Merchant of Venice

Leaving the Saxon chiefs to return to their banquet as soon as their

ungratified curiosity should permit them to attend to the calls of their

half-satiated appetite, we have to look in upon the yet more severe

imprisonment of Isaac of York. The poor Jew had been hastily thrust into

a dungeon-vault of the castle, the floor of which was deep beneath

the level of the ground, and very damp, being lower than even the moat

itself. The only light was received through one or two loop-holes far

above the reach of the captive's hand. These apertures admitted, even

at mid-day, only a dim and uncertain light, which was changed for utter

darkness long before the rest of the castle had lost the blessing of

day. Chains and shackles, which had been the portion of former captives,

from whom active exertions to escape had been apprehended, hung rusted

and empty on the walls of the prison, and in the rings of one of those

sets of fetters there remained two mouldering bones, which seemed to

have been once those of the human leg, as if some prisoner had been left

not only to perish there, but to be consumed to a skeleton.

At one end of this ghastly apartment was a large fire-grate, over the

top of which were stretched some transverse iron bars, half devoured

with rust.

The whole appearance of the dungeon might have appalled a stouter heart

than that of Isaac, who, nevertheless, was more composed under the

imminent pressure of danger, than he had seemed to be while affected by

terrors, of which the cause was as yet remote and contingent. The lovers

of the chase say that the hare feels more agony during the pursuit of

the greyhounds, than when she is struggling in their fangs. [27]

And thus it is probable, that the Jews, by the very frequency of their

fear on all occasions, had their minds in some degree prepared for

every effort of tyranny which could be practised upon them; so that no

aggression, when it had taken place, could bring with it that surprise

which is the most disabling quality of terror. Neither was it the first

time that Isaac had been placed in circumstances so dangerous. He had

therefore experience to guide him, as well as hope, that he might again,

as formerly, be delivered as a prey from the fowler. Above all, he had

upon his side the unyielding obstinacy of his nation, and that unbending

resolution, with which Israelites have been frequently known to submit

to the uttermost evils which power and violence can inflict upon them,

rather than gratify their oppressors by granting their demands.

In this humour of passive resistance, and with his garment collected

beneath him to keep his limbs from the wet pavement, Isaac sat in a

corner of his dungeon, where his folded hands, his dishevelled hair and

beard, his furred cloak and high cap, seen by the wiry and broken light,

would have afforded a study for Rembrandt, had that celebrated painter

existed at the period. The Jew remained, without altering his position,

for nearly three hours, at the expiry of which steps were heard on the

dungeon stair. The bolts screamed as they were withdrawn--the hinges

creaked as the wicket opened, and Reginald Front-de-Boeuf, followed by

the two Saracen slaves of the Templar, entered the prison.

Front-de-Boeuf, a tall and strong man, whose life had been spent in

public war or in private feuds and broils, and who had hesitated at no

means of extending his feudal power, had features corresponding to his

character, and which strongly expressed the fiercer and more malignant

passions of the mind. The scars with which his visage was seamed,

would, on features of a different cast, have excited the sympathy and

veneration due to the marks of honourable valour; but, in the peculiar

case of Front-de-Boeuf, they only added to the ferocity of his

countenance, and to the dread which his presence inspired. This

formidable baron was clad in a leathern doublet, fitted close to his

body, which was frayed and soiled with the stains of his armour. He

had no weapon, excepting a poniard at his belt, which served to

counterbalance the weight of the bunch of rusty keys that hung at his

right side.

The black slaves who attended Front-de-Boeuf were stripped of their

gorgeous apparel, and attired in jerkins and trowsers of coarse linen,

their sleeves being tucked up above the elbow, like those of butchers

when about to exercise their function in the slaughter-house. Each had

in his hand a small pannier; and, when they entered the dungeon, they

stopt at the door until Front-de-Boeuf himself carefully locked and

double-locked it. Having taken this precaution, he advanced slowly up

the apartment towards the Jew, upon whom he kept his eye fixed, as if

he wished to paralyze him with his glance, as some animals are said to

fascinate their prey. It seemed indeed as if the sullen and malignant

eye of Front-de-Boeuf possessed some portion of that supposed power over

his unfortunate prisoner. The Jew sat with his mouth agape, and his

eyes fixed on the savage baron with such earnestness of terror, that his

frame seemed literally to shrink together, and to diminish in size while

encountering the fierce Norman's fixed and baleful gaze. The unhappy

Isaac was deprived not only of the power of rising to make the obeisance

which his terror dictated, but he could not even doff his cap, or utter

any word of supplication; so strongly was he agitated by the conviction

that tortures and death were impending over him.

On the other hand, the stately form of the Norman appeared to dilate

in magnitude, like that of the eagle, which ruffles up its plumage when

about to pounce on its defenceless prey. He paused within three steps

of the corner in which the unfortunate Jew had now, as it were, coiled

himself up into the smallest possible space, and made a sign for one of

the slaves to approach. The black satellite came forward accordingly,

and, producing from his basket a large pair of scales and several

weights, he laid them at the feet of Front-de-Boeuf, and again retired

to the respectful distance, at which his companion had already taken his

station.

The motions of these men were slow and solemn, as if there impended over

their souls some preconception of horror and of cruelty. Front-de-Boeuf

himself opened the scene by thus addressing his ill-fated captive.

" Most accursed dog of an accursed race, " he said, awaking with his deep

and sullen voice the sullen echoes of his dungeon vault, " seest thou

these scales? "

The unhappy Jew returned a feeble affirmative.

" In these very scales shalt thou weigh me out, " said the relentless

Baron, " a thousand silver pounds, after the just measure and weight of

the Tower of London. "

" Holy Abraham! " returned the Jew, finding voice through the very

extremity of his danger, " heard man ever such a demand? --Who ever

heard, even in a minstrel's tale, of such a sum as a thousand pounds

of silver? --What human sight was ever blessed with the vision of such

a mass of treasure? --Not within the walls of York, ransack my house

and that of all my tribe, wilt thou find the tithe of that huge sum of

silver that thou speakest of. "

" I am reasonable, " answered Front-de-Boeuf, " and if silver be scant, I

refuse not gold. At the rate of a mark of gold for each six pounds of

silver, thou shalt free thy unbelieving carcass from such punishment as

thy heart has never even conceived. "

" Have mercy on me, noble knight! " exclaimed Isaac; " I am old, and poor,

and helpless. It were unworthy to triumph over me--It is a poor deed to

crush a worm. "

" Old thou mayst be, " replied the knight; " more shame to their folly who

have suffered thee to grow grey in usury and knavery--Feeble thou mayst

be, for when had a Jew either heart or hand--But rich it is well known

thou art. "

" I swear to you, noble knight, " said the Jew " by all which I believe,

and by all which we believe in common---"

" Perjure not thyself, " said the Norman, interrupting him, " and let not

thine obstinacy seal thy doom, until thou hast seen and well considered

the fate that awaits thee. Think not I speak to thee only to excite thy

terror, and practise on the base cowardice thou hast derived from thy

tribe. I swear to thee by that which thou dost NOT believe, by the

gospel which our church teaches, and by the keys which are given her to

bind and to loose, that my purpose is deep and peremptory. This

dungeon is no place for trifling. Prisoners ten thousand times more

distinguished than thou have died within these walls, and their fate

hath never been known! But for thee is reserved a long and lingering

death, to which theirs were luxury. "

He again made a signal for the slaves to approach, and spoke to them

apart, in their own language; for he also had been in Palestine, where

perhaps, he had learnt his lesson of cruelty. The Saracens produced from

their baskets a quantity of charcoal, a pair of bellows, and a flask

of oil. While the one struck a light with a flint and steel, the other

disposed the charcoal in the large rusty grate which we have already

mentioned, and exercised the bellows until the fuel came to a red glow.

" Seest thou, Isaac, " said Front-de-Boeuf, " the range of iron bars above

the glowing charcoal? -- [28] on that warm couch thou shalt lie, stripped

of thy clothes as if thou wert to rest on a bed of down. One of these

slaves shall maintain the fire beneath thee, while the other shall

anoint thy wretched limbs with oil, lest the roast should burn. --Now,

choose betwixt such a scorching bed and the payment of a thousand pounds

of silver; for, by the head of my father, thou hast no other option. "

" It is impossible, " exclaimed the miserable Jew--" it is impossible that

your purpose can be real! The good God of nature never made a heart

capable of exercising such cruelty! "

" Trust not to that, Isaac, " said Front-de-Boeuf, " it were a fatal error.

Dost thou think that I, who have seen a town sacked, in which thousands

of my Christian countrymen perished by sword, by flood, and by fire,

will blench from my purpose for the outcries or screams of one single

wretched Jew? --or thinkest thou that these swarthy slaves, who have

neither law, country, nor conscience, but their master's will--who use

the poison, or the stake, or the poniard, or the cord, at his slightest

wink--thinkest thou that THEY will have mercy, who do not even

understand the language in which it is asked? --Be wise, old man;

discharge thyself of a portion of thy superfluous wealth; repay to the

hands of a Christian a part of what thou hast acquired by the usury thou

hast practised on those of his religion. Thy cunning may soon swell

out once more thy shrivelled purse, but neither leech nor medicine can

restore thy scorched hide and flesh wert thou once stretched on these

bars. Tell down thy ransom, I say, and rejoice that at such rate thou

canst redeem thee from a dungeon, the secrets of which few have returned

to tell. I waste no more words with thee--choose between thy dross and

thy flesh and blood, and as thou choosest, so shall it be. "

" So may Abraham, Jacob, and all the fathers of our people assist me, "

said Isaac, " I cannot make the choice, because I have not the means of

satisfying your exorbitant demand! "

" Seize him and strip him, slaves, " said the knight, " and let the fathers

of his race assist him if they can. "

The assistants, taking their directions more from the Baron's eye and

his hand than his tongue, once more stepped forward, laid hands on the

unfortunate Isaac, plucked him up from the ground, and, holding him

between them, waited the hard-hearted Baron's farther signal. The

unhappy Jew eyed their countenances and that of Front-de-Boeuf, in

hope of discovering some symptoms of relenting; but that of the Baron

exhibited the same cold, half-sullen, half-sarcastic smile which had

been the prelude to his cruelty; and the savage eyes of the Saracens,

rolling gloomily under their dark brows, acquiring a yet more sinister

expression by the whiteness of the circle which surrounds the pupil,

evinced rather the secret pleasure which they expected from the

approaching scene, than any reluctance to be its directors or agents.

The Jew then looked at the glowing furnace, over which he was presently

to be stretched, and seeing no chance of his tormentor's relenting, his

resolution gave way.

" I will pay, " he said, " the thousand pounds of silver--That is, " he

added, after a moment's pause, " I will pay it with the help of my

brethren; for I must beg as a mendicant at the door of our synagogue ere

I make up so unheard-of a sum. --When and where must it be delivered? "

" Here, " replied Front-de-Boeuf, " here it must be delivered--weighed it

must be--weighed and told down on this very dungeon floor. --Thinkest

thou I will part with thee until thy ransom is secure? "

" And what is to be my surety, " said the Jew, " that I shall be at liberty

after this ransom is paid? "

" The word of a Norman noble, thou pawn-broking slave, " answered

Front-de-Boeuf; " the faith of a Norman nobleman, more pure than the gold

and silver of thee and all thy tribe. "

" I crave pardon, noble lord, " said Isaac timidly, " but wherefore should

I rely wholly on the word of one who will trust nothing to mine? "

" Because thou canst not help it, Jew, " said the knight, sternly. " Wert

thou now in thy treasure-chamber at York, and were I craving a loan of

thy shekels, it would be thine to dictate the time of payment, and the

pledge of security. This is MY treasure-chamber. Here I have thee at

advantage, nor will I again deign to repeat the terms on which I grant

thee liberty. "

The Jew groaned deeply. --" Grant me, " he said, " at least with my own

liberty, that of the companions with whom I travel. They scorned me as

a Jew, yet they pitied my desolation, and because they tarried to aid me

by the way, a share of my evil hath come upon them; moreover, they may

contribute in some sort to my ransom. "

" If thou meanest yonder Saxon churls, " said Front-de-Boeuf, " their

ransom will depend upon other terms than thine. Mind thine own concerns,

Jew, I warn thee, and meddle not with those of others. "

" I am, then, " said Isaac, " only to be set at liberty, together with mine

wounded friend? "

" Shall I twice recommend it, " said Front-de-Boeuf, " to a son of Israel,

to meddle with his own concerns, and leave those of others alone? --Since

thou hast made thy choice, it remains but that thou payest down thy

ransom, and that at a short day. "

" Yet hear me, " said the Jew--" for the sake of that very wealth which

thou wouldst obtain at the expense of thy---" Here he stopt short,

afraid of irritating the savage Norman. But Front-de-Boeuf only laughed,

and himself filled up the blank at which the Jew had hesitated.

" At the expense of my conscience, thou wouldst say, Isaac; speak it

out--I tell thee, I am reasonable. I can bear the reproaches of a loser,

even when that loser is a Jew. Thou wert not so patient, Isaac, when

thou didst invoke justice against Jacques Fitzdotterel, for calling thee

a usurious blood-sucker, when thy exactions had devoured his patrimony. "

" I swear by the Talmud, " said the Jew, " that your valour has been

misled in that matter. Fitzdotterel drew his poniard upon me in mine own

chamber, because I craved him for mine own silver. The term of payment

was due at the Passover. "

" I care not what he did, " said Front-de-Boeuf; " the question is, when

shall I have mine own? --when shall I have the shekels, Isaac? "

" Let my daughter Rebecca go forth to York, " answered Isaac, " with your

safe conduct, noble knight, and so soon as man and horse can return, the

treasure---" Here he groaned deeply, but added, after the pause of a few

seconds, --" The treasure shall be told down on this very floor. "

" Thy daughter! " said Front-de-Boeuf, as if surprised, --" By heavens,

Isaac, I would I had known of this. I deemed that yonder black-browed

girl had been thy concubine, and I gave her to be a handmaiden to Sir

Brian de Bois-Guilbert, after the fashion of patriarchs and heroes of

the days of old, who set us in these matters a wholesome example. "

The yell which Isaac raised at this unfeeling communication made the

very vault to ring, and astounded the two Saracens so much that they let

go their hold of the Jew. He availed himself of his enlargement to throw

himself on the pavement, and clasp the knees of Front-de-Boeuf.

" Take all that you have asked, " said he, " Sir Knight--take ten times

more--reduce me to ruin and to beggary, if thou wilt, --nay, pierce

me with thy poniard, broil me on that furnace, but spare my daughter,

deliver her in safety and honour! --As thou art born of woman, spare the

honour of a helpless maiden--She is the image of my deceased Rachel,

she is the last of six pledges of her love--Will you deprive a widowed

husband of his sole remaining comfort? --Will you reduce a father to wish

that his only living child were laid beside her dead mother, in the tomb

of our fathers? "

" I would, " said the Norman, somewhat relenting, " that I had known

of this before. I thought your race had loved nothing save their

moneybags. "

" Think not so vilely of us, Jews though we be, " said Isaac, eager to

improve the moment of apparent sympathy; " the hunted fox, the tortured

wildcat loves its young--the despised and persecuted race of Abraham

love their children! "

" Be it so, " said Front-de-Boeuf; " I will believe it in future, Isaac,

for thy very sake--but it aids us not now, I cannot help what has

happened, or what is to follow; my word is passed to my comrade in arms,

nor would I break it for ten Jews and Jewesses to boot. Besides, why

shouldst thou think evil is to come to the girl, even if she became

Bois-Guilbert's booty? "

" There will, there must! " exclaimed Isaac, wringing his hands in agony;

" when did Templars breathe aught but cruelty to men, and dishonour to

women! "

" Dog of an infidel, " said Front-de-Boeuf, with sparkling eyes, and not

sorry, perhaps, to seize a pretext for working himself into a passion,

" blaspheme not the Holy Order of the Temple of Zion, but take thought

instead to pay me the ransom thou hast promised, or woe betide thy

Jewish throat! "

" Robber and villain! " said the Jew, retorting the insults of his

oppressor with passion, which, however impotent, he now found it

impossible to bridle, " I will pay thee nothing--not one silver penny

will I pay thee, unless my daughter is delivered to me in safety and

honour! "

" Art thou in thy senses, Israelite? " said the Norman, sternly--" has thy

flesh and blood a charm against heated iron and scalding oil? "

" I care not! " said the Jew, rendered desperate by paternal affection;

" do thy worst. My daughter is my flesh and blood, dearer to me a

thousand times than those limbs which thy cruelty threatens. No silver

will I give thee, unless I were to pour it molten down thy avaricious

throat--no, not a silver penny will I give thee, Nazarene, were it to

save thee from the deep damnation thy whole life has merited! Take my

life if thou wilt, and say, the Jew, amidst his tortures, knew how to

disappoint the Christian. "

" We shall see that, " said Front-de-Boeuf; " for by the blessed rood,

which is the abomination of thy accursed tribe, thou shalt feel the

extremities of fire and steel! --Strip him, slaves, and chain him down

upon the bars. "

In spite of the feeble struggles of the old man, the Saracens had

already torn from him his upper garment, and were proceeding totally to

disrobe him, when the sound of a bugle, twice winded without the castle,

penetrated even to the recesses of the dungeon, and immediately

after loud voices were heard calling for Sir Reginald Front-de-Boeuf.

Unwilling to be found engaged in his hellish occupation, the savage

Baron gave the slaves a signal to restore Isaac's garment, and, quitting

the dungeon with his attendants, he left the Jew to thank God for

his own deliverance, or to lament over his daughter's captivity,

and probable fate, as his personal or parental feelings might prove

strongest.

CHAPTER XXIII

Nay, if the gentle spirit of moving words

Can no way change you to a milder form,

I'll woo you, like a soldier, at arms' end,

And love you 'gainst the nature of love, force you.

--Two Gentlemen of Verona

The apartment to which the Lady Rowena had been introduced was fitted

up with some rude attempts at ornament and magnificence, and her being

placed there might be considered as a peculiar mark of respect not

offered to the other prisoners. But the wife of Front-de-Boeuf, for whom

it had been originally furnished, was long dead, and decay and neglect

had impaired the few ornaments with which her taste had adorned it.

The tapestry hung down from the walls in many places, and in others

was tarnished and faded under the effects of the sun, or tattered and

decayed by age. Desolate, however, as it was, this was the apartment of

the castle which had been judged most fitting for the accommodation

of the Saxon heiress; and here she was left to meditate upon her fate,

until the actors in this nefarious drama had arranged the several parts

which each of them was to perform. This had been settled in a council

held by Front-de-Boeuf, De Bracy, and the Templar, in which, after

a long and warm debate concerning the several advantages which each

insisted upon deriving from his peculiar share in this audacious

enterprise, they had at length determined the fate of their unhappy

prisoners.

It was about the hour of noon, therefore, when De Bracy, for whose

advantage the expedition had been first planned, appeared to prosecute

his views upon the hand and possessions of the Lady Rowena.

The interval had not entirely been bestowed in holding council with his

confederates, for De Bracy had found leisure to decorate his person

with all the foppery of the times. His green cassock and vizard were

now flung aside. His long luxuriant hair was trained to flow in quaint

tresses down his richly furred cloak. His beard was closely shaved, his

doublet reached to the middle of his leg, and the girdle which secured

it, and at the same time supported his ponderous sword, was embroidered

and embossed with gold work. We have already noticed the extravagant

fashion of the shoes at this period, and the points of Maurice de

Bracy's might have challenged the prize of extravagance with the gayest,

being turned up and twisted like the horns of a ram. Such was the dress

of a gallant of the period; and, in the present instance, that effect

was aided by the handsome person and good demeanour of the wearer, whose

manners partook alike of the grace of a courtier, and the frankness of a

soldier.

He saluted Rowena by doffing his velvet bonnet, garnished with a golden

broach, representing St Michael trampling down the Prince of Evil. With

this, he gently motioned the lady to a seat; and, as she still retained

her standing posture, the knight ungloved his right hand, and motioned

to conduct her thither. But Rowena declined, by her gesture, the

proffered compliment, and replied, " If I be in the presence of

my jailor, Sir Knight--nor will circumstances allow me to think

otherwise--it best becomes his prisoner to remain standing till she

learns her doom. "

" Alas! fair Rowena, " returned De Bracy, " you are in presence of your

captive, not your jailor; and it is from your fair eyes that De Bracy

must receive that doom which you fondly expect from him. "

" I know you not, sir, " said the lady, drawing herself up with all the

pride of offended rank and beauty; " I know you not--and the insolent

familiarity with which you apply to me the jargon of a troubadour, forms

no apology for the violence of a robber. "

" To thyself, fair maid, " answered De Bracy, in his former tone--" to

thine own charms be ascribed whate'er I have done which passed the

respect due to her, whom I have chosen queen of my heart, and lodestar

of my eyes. "

" I repeat to you, Sir Knight, that I know you not, and that no man

wearing chain and spurs ought thus to intrude himself upon the presence

of an unprotected lady. "

" That I am unknown to you, " said De Bracy, " is indeed my misfortune;

yet let me hope that De Bracy's name has not been always unspoken, when

minstrels or heralds have praised deeds of chivalry, whether in the

lists or in the battle-field. "

" To heralds and to minstrels, then, leave thy praise, Sir Knight, "

replied Rowena, " more suiting for their mouths than for thine own; and

tell me which of them shall record in song, or in book of tourney, the

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