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send a man of religion, to receive their confession, and reconcile them

with God; since it is our fixed intention to execute them this morning

before noon, so that their heads being placed on the battlements,

shall show to all men how lightly we esteem those who have bestirred

themselves in their rescue. Wherefore, as above, we require you to send

a priest to reconcile them to God, in doing which you shall render them

the last earthly service. "

This letter being folded, was delivered to the squire, and by him to

the messenger who waited without, as the answer to that which he had

brought.

The yeoman having thus accomplished his mission, returned to the

head-quarters of the allies, which were for the present established

under a venerable oak-tree, about three arrow-flights distant from the

castle. Here Wamba and Gurth, with their allies the Black Knight and

Locksley, and the jovial hermit, awaited with impatience an answer to

their summons. Around, and at a distance from them, were seen many a

bold yeoman, whose silvan dress and weatherbeaten countenances showed

the ordinary nature of their occupation. More than two hundred had

already assembled, and others were fast coming in. Those whom they

obeyed as leaders were only distinguished from the others by a feather

in the cap, their dress, arms, and equipments being in all other

respects the same.

Besides these bands, a less orderly and a worse armed force, consisting

of the Saxon inhabitants of the neighbouring township, as well as

many bondsmen and servants from Cedric's extensive estate, had already

arrived, for the purpose of assisting in his rescue. Few of these were

armed otherwise than with such rustic weapons as necessity sometimes

converts to military purposes. Boar-spears, scythes, flails, and the

like, were their chief arms; for the Normans, with the usual policy

of conquerors, were jealous of permitting to the vanquished Saxons the

possession or the use of swords and spears. These circumstances rendered

the assistance of the Saxons far from being so formidable to the

besieged, as the strength of the men themselves, their superior numbers,

and the animation inspired by a just cause, might otherwise well have

made them. It was to the leaders of this motley army that the letter of

the Templar was now delivered.

Reference was at first made to the chaplain for an exposition of its

contents.

" By the crook of St Dunstan, " said that worthy ecclesiastic, " which hath

brought more sheep within the sheepfold than the crook of e'er another

saint in Paradise, I swear that I cannot expound unto you this jargon,

which, whether it be French or Arabic, is beyond my guess. "

He then gave the letter to Gurth, who shook his head gruffly, and passed

it to Wamba. The Jester looked at each of the four corners of the paper

with such a grin of affected intelligence as a monkey is apt to assume

upon similar occasions, then cut a caper, and gave the letter to

Locksley.

" If the long letters were bows, and the short letters broad arrows, I

might know something of the matter, " said the brave yeoman; " but as the

matter stands, the meaning is as safe, for me, as the stag that's at

twelve miles distance. "

" I must be clerk, then, " said the Black Knight; and taking the letter

from Locksley, he first read it over to himself, and then explained the

meaning in Saxon to his confederates.

" Execute the noble Cedric! " exclaimed Wamba; " by the rood, thou must be

mistaken, Sir Knight. "

" Not I, my worthy friend, " replied the knight, " I have explained the

words as they are here set down. "

" Then, by St Thomas of Canterbury, " replied Gurth, " we will have the

castle, should we tear it down with our hands! "

" We have nothing else to tear it with, " replied Wamba; " but mine are

scarce fit to make mammocks of freestone and mortar. "

" 'Tis but a contrivance to gain time, " said Locksley; " they dare not do

a deed for which I could exact a fearful penalty. "

" I would, " said the Black Knight, " there were some one among us who

could obtain admission into the castle, and discover how the case stands

with the besieged. Methinks, as they require a confessor to be sent,

this holy hermit might at once exercise his pious vocation, and procure

us the information we desire. "

" A plague on thee, and thy advice! " said the pious hermit; " I tell thee,

Sir Slothful Knight, that when I doff my friar's frock, my priesthood,

my sanctity, my very Latin, are put off along with it; and when in my

green jerkin, I can better kill twenty deer than confess one Christian. "

" I fear, " said the Black Knight, " I fear greatly, there is no one here

that is qualified to take upon him, for the nonce, this same character

of father confessor? "

All looked on each other, and were silent.

" I see, " said Wamba, after a short pause, " that the fool must be still

the fool, and put his neck in the venture which wise men shrink from.

You must know, my dear cousins and countrymen, that I wore russet before

I wore motley, and was bred to be a friar, until a brain-fever came

upon me and left me just wit enough to be a fool. I trust, with the

assistance of the good hermit's frock, together with the priesthood,

sanctity, and learning which are stitched into the cowl of it, I shall

be found qualified to administer both worldly and ghostly comfort to our

worthy master Cedric, and his companions in adversity. "

" Hath he sense enough, thinkst thou? " said the Black Knight, addressing

Gurth.

" I know not, " said Gurth; " but if he hath not, it will be the first time

he hath wanted wit to turn his folly to account. "

" On with the frock, then, good fellow, " quoth the Knight, " and let thy

master send us an account of their situation within the castle. Their

numbers must be few, and it is five to one they may be accessible by a

sudden and bold attack. Time wears--away with thee. "

" And, in the meantime, " said Locksley, " we will beset the place so

closely, that not so much as a fly shall carry news from thence. So

that, my good friend, " he continued, addressing Wamba, " thou mayst

assure these tyrants, that whatever violence they exercise on the

persons of their prisoners, shall be most severely repaid upon their

own. "

" Pax vobiscum, " said Wamba, who was now muffled in his religious

disguise.

And so saying he imitated the solemn and stately deportment of a friar,

and departed to execute his mission.

CHAPTER XXVI

The hottest horse will oft be cool,

The dullest will show fire;

The friar will often play the fool,

The fool will play the friar.

--Old Song

When the Jester, arrayed in the cowl and frock of the hermit, and having

his knotted cord twisted round his middle, stood before the portal of

the castle of Front-de-Boeuf, the warder demanded of him his name and

errand.

" Pax vobiscum, " answered the Jester, " I am a poor brother of the Order

of St Francis, who come hither to do my office to certain unhappy

prisoners now secured within this castle. "

" Thou art a bold friar, " said the warder, " to come hither, where, saving

our own drunken confessor, a cock of thy feather hath not crowed these

twenty years. "

" Yet I pray thee, do mine errand to the lord of the castle, " answered

the pretended friar; " trust me it will find good acceptance with him,

and the cock shall crow, that the whole castle shall hear him. "

" Gramercy, " said the warder; " but if I come to shame for leaving my

post upon thine errand, I will try whether a friar's grey gown be proof

against a grey-goose shaft. "

With this threat he left his turret, and carried to the hall of the

castle his unwonted intelligence, that a holy friar stood before the

gate and demanded instant admission. With no small wonder he received

his master's commands to admit the holy man immediately; and, having

previously manned the entrance to guard against surprise, he obeyed,

without further scruple, the commands which he had received. The

harebrained self-conceit which had emboldened Wamba to undertake this

dangerous office, was scarce sufficient to support him when he found

himself in the presence of a man so dreadful, and so much dreaded, as

Reginald Front-de-Boeuf, and he brought out his " pax vobiscum", to which

he, in a good measure, trusted for supporting his character, with

more anxiety and hesitation than had hitherto accompanied it. But

Front-de-Boeuf was accustomed to see men of all ranks tremble in his

presence, so that the timidity of the supposed father did not give him

any cause of suspicion.

" Who and whence art thou, priest? " said he.

" 'Pax vobiscum', " reiterated the Jester, " I am a poor servant of St

Francis, who, travelling through this wilderness, have fallen among

thieves, (as Scripture hath it, ) 'quidam viator incidit in latrones',

which thieves have sent me unto this castle in order to do my ghostly

office on two persons condemned by your honourable justice. "

" Ay, right, " answered Front-de-Boeuf; " and canst thou tell me, holy

father, the number of those banditti? "

" Gallant sir, " answered the Jester, " 'nomen illis legio', their name is

legion. "

" Tell me in plain terms what numbers there are, or, priest, thy cloak

and cord will ill protect thee. "

" Alas! " said the supposed friar, " 'cor meum eructavit', that is to

say, I was like to burst with fear! but I conceive they may be--what of

yeomen--what of commons, at least five hundred men. "

" What! " said the Templar, who came into the hall that moment, " muster

the wasps so thick here? it is time to stifle such a mischievous brood. "

Then taking Front-de-Boeuf aside " Knowest thou the priest? "

" He is a stranger from a distant convent, " said Front-de-Boeuf; " I know

him not. "

" Then trust him not with thy purpose in words, " answered the Templar.

" Let him carry a written order to De Bracy's company of Free Companions,

to repair instantly to their master's aid. In the meantime, and that the

shaveling may suspect nothing, permit him to go freely about his task of

preparing these Saxon hogs for the slaughter-house. "

" It shall be so, " said Front-de-Boeuf. And he forthwith appointed a

domestic to conduct Wamba to the apartment where Cedric and Athelstane

were confined.

The impatience of Cedric had been rather enhanced than diminished by his

confinement. He walked from one end of the hall to the other, with the

attitude of one who advances to charge an enemy, or to storm the breach

of a beleaguered place, sometimes ejaculating to himself, sometimes

addressing Athelstane, who stoutly and stoically awaited the issue of

the adventure, digesting, in the meantime, with great composure, the

liberal meal which he had made at noon, and not greatly interesting

himself about the duration of his captivity, which he concluded, would,

like all earthly evils, find an end in Heaven's good time.

" 'Pax vobiscum', " said the Jester, entering the apartment; " the blessing

of St Dunstan, St Dennis, St Duthoc, and all other saints whatsoever, be

upon ye and about ye. "

" Enter freely, " answered Cedric to the supposed friar; " with what intent

art thou come hither? "

" To bid you prepare yourselves for death, " answered the Jester.

" It is impossible! " replied Cedric, starting. " Fearless and wicked as

they are, they dare not attempt such open and gratuitous cruelty! "

" Alas! " said the Jester, " to restrain them by their sense of humanity,

is the same as to stop a runaway horse with a bridle of silk thread.

Bethink thee, therefore, noble Cedric, and you also, gallant Athelstane,

what crimes you have committed in the flesh; for this very day will ye

be called to answer at a higher tribunal. "

" Hearest thou this, Athelstane? " said Cedric; " we must rouse up our

hearts to this last action, since better it is we should die like men,

than live like slaves. "

" I am ready, " answered Athelstane, " to stand the worst of their malice,

and shall walk to my death with as much composure as ever I did to my

dinner. "

" Let us then unto our holy gear, father, " said Cedric.

" Wait yet a moment, good uncle, " said the Jester, in his natural tone;

" better look long before you leap in the dark. "

" By my faith, " said Cedric, " I should know that voice! "

" It is that of your trusty slave and jester, " answered Wamba, throwing

back his cowl. " Had you taken a fool's advice formerly, you would not

have been here at all. Take a fool's advice now, and you will not be

here long. "

" How mean'st thou, knave? " answered the Saxon.

" Even thus, " replied Wamba; " take thou this frock and cord, which are

all the orders I ever had, and march quietly out of the castle, leaving

me your cloak and girdle to take the long leap in thy stead. "

" Leave thee in my stead! " said Cedric, astonished at the proposal; " why,

they would hang thee, my poor knave. "

" E'en let them do as they are permitted, " said Wamba; " I trust--no

disparagement to your birth--that the son of Witless may hang in a chain

with as much gravity as the chain hung upon his ancestor the alderman. "

" Well, Wamba, " answered Cedric, " for one thing will I grant thy request.

And that is, if thou wilt make the exchange of garments with Lord

Athelstane instead of me. "

" No, by St Dunstan, " answered Wamba; " there were little reason in that.

Good right there is, that the son of Witless should suffer to save

the son of Hereward; but little wisdom there were in his dying for the

benefit of one whose fathers were strangers to his. "

" Villain, " said Cedric, " the fathers of Athelstane were monarchs of

England! "

" They might be whomsoever they pleased, " replied Wamba; " but my neck

stands too straight upon my shoulders to have it twisted for their sake.

Wherefore, good my master, either take my proffer yourself, or suffer me

to leave this dungeon as free as I entered. "

" Let the old tree wither, " continued Cedric, " so the stately hope of the

forest be preserved. Save the noble Athelstane, my trusty Wamba! it is

the duty of each who has Saxon blood in his veins. Thou and I will abide

together the utmost rage of our injurious oppressors, while he, free and

safe, shall arouse the awakened spirits of our countrymen to avenge us. "

" Not so, father Cedric, " said Athelstane, grasping his hand, --for, when

roused to think or act, his deeds and sentiments were not unbecoming his

high race--" Not so, " he continued; " I would rather remain in this hall

a week without food save the prisoner's stinted loaf, or drink save

the prisoner's measure of water, than embrace the opportunity to escape

which the slave's untaught kindness has purveyed for his master. "

" You are called wise men, sirs, " said the Jester, " and I a crazed fool;

but, uncle Cedric, and cousin Athelstane, the fool shall decide this

controversy for ye, and save ye the trouble of straining courtesies any

farther. I am like John-a-Duck's mare, that will let no man mount

her but John-a-Duck. I came to save my master, and if he will not

consent--basta--I can but go away home again. Kind service cannot be

chucked from hand to hand like a shuttlecock or stool-ball. I'll hang

for no man but my own born master. "

" Go, then, noble Cedric, " said Athelstane, " neglect not this

opportunity. Your presence without may encourage friends to our

rescue--your remaining here would ruin us all. "

" And is there any prospect, then, of rescue from without? " said Cedric,

looking to the Jester.

" Prospect, indeed! " echoed Wamba; " let me tell you, when you fill my

cloak, you are wrapped in a general's cassock. Five hundred men are

there without, and I was this morning one of the chief leaders. My

fool's cap was a casque, and my bauble a truncheon. Well, we shall see

what good they will make by exchanging a fool for a wise man. Truly, I

fear they will lose in valour what they may gain in discretion. And so

farewell, master, and be kind to poor Gurth and his dog Fangs; and let

my cockscomb hang in the hall at Rotherwood, in memory that I flung away

my life for my master, like a faithful---fool. "

The last word came out with a sort of double expression, betwixt jest

and earnest. The tears stood in Cedric's eyes.

" Thy memory shall be preserved, " he said, " while fidelity and affection

have honour upon earth! But that I trust I shall find the means of

saving Rowena, and thee, Athelstane, and thee, also, my poor Wamba, thou

shouldst not overbear me in this matter. "

The exchange of dress was now accomplished, when a sudden doubt struck

Cedric.

" I know no language, " he said, " but my own, and a few words of their

mincing Norman. How shall I bear myself like a reverend brother? "

" The spell lies in two words, " replied Wamba--" 'Pax vobiscum' will

answer all queries. If you go or come, eat or drink, bless or ban, 'Pax

vobiscum' carries you through it all. It is as useful to a friar as a

broomstick to a witch, or a wand to a conjurer. Speak it but thus, in a

deep grave tone, --'Pax vobiscum! '--it is irresistible--Watch and ward,

knight and squire, foot and horse, it acts as a charm upon them all.

I think, if they bring me out to be hanged to-morrow, as is much to

be doubted they may, I will try its weight upon the finisher of the

sentence. "

" If such prove the case, " said the master, " my religious orders are soon

taken--'Pax vobiscum'. I trust I shall remember the pass-word. --Noble

Athelstane, farewell; and farewell, my poor boy, whose heart might make

amends for a weaker head--I will save you, or return and die with you.

The royal blood of our Saxon kings shall not be spilt while mine beats

in my veins; nor shall one hair fall from the head of the kind knave

who risked himself for his master, if Cedric's peril can prevent

it. --Farewell. "

" Farewell, noble Cedric, " said Athelstane; " remember it is the true part

of a friar to accept refreshment, if you are offered any. "

" Farewell, uncle, " added Wamba; " and remember 'Pax vobiscum'. "

Thus exhorted, Cedric sallied forth upon his expedition; and it was not

long ere he had occasion to try the force of that spell which his Jester

had recommended as omnipotent. In a low-arched and dusky passage, by

which he endeavoured to work his way to the hall of the castle, he was

interrupted by a female form.

" 'Pax vobiscum! '" said the pseudo friar, and was endeavouring to

hurry past, when a soft voice replied, " 'Et vobis--quaso, domine

reverendissime, pro misericordia vestra'. "

" I am somewhat deaf, " replied Cedric, in good Saxon, and at the same

time muttered to himself, " A curse on the fool and his 'Pax vobiscum! ' I

have lost my javelin at the first cast. "

It was, however, no unusual thing for a priest of those days to be deaf

of his Latin ear, and this the person who now addressed Cedric knew full

well.

" I pray you of dear love, reverend father, " she replied in his own

language, " that you will deign to visit with your ghostly comfort a

wounded prisoner of this castle, and have such compassion upon him and

us as thy holy office teaches--Never shall good deed so highly advantage

thy convent. "

" Daughter, " answered Cedric, much embarrassed, " my time in this castle

will not permit me to exercise the duties of mine office--I must

presently forth--there is life and death upon my speed. "

" Yet, father, let me entreat you by the vow you have taken on you, "

replied the suppliant, " not to leave the oppressed and endangered

without counsel or succour. "

" May the fiend fly away with me, and leave me in Ifrin with the souls of

Odin and of Thor! " answered Cedric impatiently, and would probably

have proceeded in the same tone of total departure from his spiritual

character, when the colloquy was interrupted by the harsh voice of

Urfried, the old crone of the turret.

" How, minion, " said she to the female speaker, " is this the manner

in which you requite the kindness which permitted thee to leave thy

prison-cell yonder? --Puttest thou the reverend man to use ungracious

language to free himself from the importunities of a Jewess? "

" A Jewess! " said Cedric, availing himself of the information to get

clear of their interruption, --" Let me pass, woman! stop me not at your

peril. I am fresh from my holy office, and would avoid pollution. "

" Come this way, father, " said the old hag, " thou art a stranger in this

castle, and canst not leave it without a guide. Come hither, for I would

speak with thee. --And you, daughter of an accursed race, go to the sick

man's chamber, and tend him until my return; and woe betide you if you

again quit it without my permission! "

Rebecca retreated. Her importunities had prevailed upon Urfried to

suffer her to quit the turret, and Urfried had employed her services

where she herself would most gladly have paid them, by the bedside of

the wounded Ivanhoe. With an understanding awake to their dangerous

situation, and prompt to avail herself of each means of safety which

occurred, Rebecca had hoped something from the presence of a man of

religion, who, she learned from Urfried, had penetrated into this

godless castle. She watched the return of the supposed ecclesiastic,

with the purpose of addressing him, and interesting him in favour of

the prisoners; with what imperfect success the reader has been just

acquainted.

CHAPTER XXVII

Fond wretch! and what canst thou relate,

But deeds of sorrow, shame, and sin?

Thy deeds are proved--thou know'st thy fate;

But come, thy tale--begin--begin.

* * * * *

But I have griefs of other kind,

Troubles and sorrows more severe;

Give me to ease my tortured mind,

Lend to my woes a patient ear;

And let me, if I may not find

A friend to help--find one to hear.

--Crabbe's Hall of Justice

When Urfried had with clamours and menaces driven Rebecca back to the

apartment from which she had sallied, she proceeded to conduct the

unwilling Cedric into a small apartment, the door of which she heedfully

secured. Then fetching from a cupboard a stoup of wine and two flagons,

she placed them on the table, and said in a tone rather asserting a

fact than asking a question, " Thou art Saxon, father--Deny it not, " she

continued, observing that Cedric hastened not to reply; " the sounds of

my native language are sweet to mine ears, though seldom heard save from

the tongues of the wretched and degraded serfs on whom the proud

Normans impose the meanest drudgery of this dwelling. Thou art a

Saxon, father--a Saxon, and, save as thou art a servant of God, a

freeman. --Thine accents are sweet in mine ear. "

" Do not Saxon priests visit this castle, then? " replied Cedric; " it

were, methinks, their duty to comfort the outcast and oppressed children

of the soil. "

" They come not--or if they come, they better love to revel at the boards

of their conquerors, " answered Urfried, " than to hear the groans of

their countrymen--so, at least, report speaks of them--of myself I can

say little. This castle, for ten years, has opened to no priest save

the debauched Norman chaplain who partook the nightly revels of

Front-de-Boeuf, and he has been long gone to render an account of his

stewardship. --But thou art a Saxon--a Saxon priest, and I have one

question to ask of thee. "

" I am a Saxon, " answered Cedric, " but unworthy, surely, of the name of

priest. Let me begone on my way--I swear I will return, or send one of

our fathers more worthy to hear your confession. "

" Stay yet a while, " said Urfried; " the accents of the voice which thou

hearest now will soon be choked with the cold earth, and I would

not descend to it like the beast I have lived. But wine must give me

strength to tell the horrors of my tale. " She poured out a cup, and

drank it with a frightful avidity, which seemed desirous of draining the

last drop in the goblet. " It stupifies, " she said, looking upwards as

she finished her drought, " but it cannot cheer--Partake it, father, if

you would hear my tale without sinking down upon the pavement. " Cedric

would have avoided pledging her in this ominous conviviality, but the

sign which she made to him expressed impatience and despair. He complied

with her request, and answered her challenge in a large wine-cup; she

then proceeded with her story, as if appeased by his complaisance.

" I was not born, " she said, " father, the wretch that thou now seest me.

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