Ivanhoe, by Sir Walter Scott

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The upper dress of this personage resembled
that of his companion in shape, being a long monastic
mantle; but the colour, being scarlet, showed
that he did not belong to any of the four regular
orders of monks. On the right shoulder of the
mantle there was cut, in white cloth, a cross of a
peculiar form. This upper robe concealed what at
first view seemed rather inconsistent with its form,
a shirt, namely, of linked mail, with sleeves and
gloves of the same, curiously plaited and interwoven,
as flexible to the body as those which are now
wrought in the stocking-loom, out of less obdurate
materials. The fore-part of his thighs, where the
folds of his mantle permitted them to be seen, were
also covered with linked mail; the knees and feet
were defended by splints, or thin plates of steel,
ingeniously jointed upon each other; and mail hose,
reaching from the ankle to the knee, effectually protected
the legs, and completed the rider's defensive armour.
In his girdle he wore a long and double-edged dagger,
which was the only offensive weapon about his person.

He rode, not a mule, like his companion, but a strong
hackney for the road, to save his gallant war-horse,
which a squire led behind, fully accoutred for battle,
with a chamfrom or plaited head-piece upon his bead,
having a short spike projecting from the front.
On one side of the saddle hung a short battle-axe,
richly inlaid with Damascene carving;
on the other the rider's plumed head-piece
and hood of mail, with a long two-handed sword,
used by the chivalry of the period. A second squire
held aloft his master's lance, from the extremity
of which fluttered a small banderole, or streamer,
bearing a cross of the same form with that embroidered
upon his cloak. He also carried his small triangular shield,
broad enough at the top to protect the breast,
and from thence diminishing to a point.
It was covered with a scarlet cloth,
which prevented the device from being seen.

These two squires were followed by two attendants,
whose dark visages, white turbans, and the
Oriental form of their garments, showed them to
be natives of some distant Eastern country.*

* Note B. Negro Slaves.

The whole appearance of this warrior and his retinue
was wild and outlandish; the dress of his squires
was gorgeous, and his Eastern attendants wore silver
collars round their throats, and bracelets of the
same metal upon their swarthy arms and legs, of
which the former were naked from the elbow, and
the latter from mid-leg to ankle. Silk and embroidery
distinguished their dresses, and marked the
wealth and importance of their master; forming,
at the same time, a striking contrast with the martial
simplicity of his own attire. They were armed
with crooked sabres, having the hilt and baldric
inlaid with gold, and matched with Turkish daggers
of yet more costly workmanship. Each of
them bore at his saddle-bow a bundle of darts or
javelins, about four feet in length, having sharp
steel heads, a weapon much in use among the Saracens,
and of which the memory is yet preserved
in the martial exercise called _El Jerrid_,
still practised in the Eastern countries.

The steeds of these attendants were in appearance
as foreign as their riders. They were of Saracen
origin, and consequently of Arabian descent;
and their fine slender limbs, small fetlocks, thin
manes, and easy springy motion, formed a marked
contrast with the large-jointed heavy horsastic vows.

Yet so loose were the ideas of the times respecting
the conduct of the clergy, whether secular or
regular, that the Prior Aymer maintained a fair
character in the neighbourhood of his abbey. His
free and jovial temper, and the readiness with which
he granted absolution from all ordinary delinquencies,
rendered him a favourite among the nobility
and principal gentry, to several of whom he was allied
by birth, being of a distinguished Norman family.
The ladies, in particular, were not disposed
to scan too nicely the morals of a man who was a
professed admirer of their sex, and who possessed
many means of dispelling the ennui which was too
apt to intrude upon the halls and bowers of an ancient
feudal castle. The Prior mingled in the sports
of the field with more than due eagerness, and was
allowed to possess the best-trained hawks, and the
fleetest greyhounds in the North Riding; circumstances
which strongly recommended him to the
youthful gentry. With the old, be had another
part to play, which, when needful, he could sustain
with great decorum. His knowledge of books, however
superficial, was sufficient to impress upon their
ignorance respect for his supposed learning; and
the gravity of his deportment and language, with
the high tone which he exerted in setting forth the
authority of the church and of the priesthood, impressed
them no less with an opinion of his sanctity.
Even the common people, the severest critics
of the conduct of their betters, had commiseration
with the follies of Prior Aymer. He was generous;
and charity, as it is well known, covereth a multitude
of sins, in another sense than that in which it
is said to do so in Scripture. The revenues of the
monastery, of which a large part was at his disposal,
while they gave him the means of supplying his
own very considerable expenses, afforded also those
largesses which he bestowed among the peasantry,
and with which he frequently relieved the distresses
of the oppressed. If Prior Aymer rode hard in
the chase, or remained long at the banquet,---if
Prior Aymer was seen, at the early peep of dawn,
to enter the postern of the abbey, as he glided home
from some rendezvous which had occupied the hours
of darkness, men only shrugged up their shoulders,
and reconciled themselves to his irregularities, by
recollecting that the same were practised by many
of his brethren who had no redeeming qualities
whatsoever to atone for them. Prior Aymer, therefore,
and his character, were well known to our
Saxon serfs, who made their rude obeisance, and
received his ``_benedicite, mes filz_," in return.

But the singular appearance of his companion
and his attendants, arrested their attention and excited
their wonder, and they could scarcely attend
to the Prior of Jorvaulx' question, when he demanded
if they knew of any place of harbourage in the
vicinity; so much were they surprised at the half
monastic, half military appearance of the swarthy
stranger, and at the uncouth dress and arms of his
Eastern attendants. It is probable, too, that the
language in which the benediction was conferred,
and the information asked, sounded ungracious,
though not probably unintelligible, in the ears of
the Saxon peasants.

``I asked you, my children,'' said the Prior,
raising his voice, and using the lingua Franca, or
mixed language, in which the Norman and Saxon
races conversed with each other, ``if there be in
this neighbourhood any good man, who, for the love
of God, and devotion to Mother Church, will give
two of her humblest servants, with their train, a
night's hospitality and refreshment?''

This he spoke with a tone of conscious importance,
which formed a strong contrast to the modest
terms which he thought it proper to employ.

``Two of the humblest servants of Mother
Church!'' repeated Wamba to himself,---but, fool
as he was, taking care not to make his observation
audible; ``I should like to see her seneschals, her
chief butlers, and other principal domestics!''

After this internal commentary on the Prior's
speech, he raised his eyes, and replied to the question
which had been put.

``If the reverend fathers,'' he said, ``loved good
cheer and soft lodging, few miles of riding would
carry them to the Priory of Brinxworth, where their
quality could not but secure them the most honourable
reception; or if they preferred spending
a penitential evening, they might turn down yonder
wild glade, which would bring them to the hermitage
of Copmanhurst, where a pious anchoret
would make them sharers for the night of the shelter
of his roof and the benefit of his prayers.''

The Prior shook his head at both proposals.

``Mine honest friend,'' said he, ``if the jangling
of thy bells bad not dizzied thine understanding,
thou mightst know _Clericus clericum non decimat_;
that is to say, we churchmen do not exhaust each
other's hospitality, but rather require that of the
laity, giving them thus an opportunity to serve God
in honouring and relieving his appointed servants.''

``It is true,'' replied Wamba, ``that I, being but
an ass, am, nevertheless, honoured to hear the bells
as well as your reverence's mule; notwithstanding,
I did conceive that the charity of Mother Church
and her servants might be said, with other charity,
to begin at home.''

``A truce to thine insolence, fellow,'' said the
armed rider, breaking in on his prattle with a high
and stern voice, ``and tell us, if thou canst, the road
to---How call'd you your Franklin, Prior Aymer?''

``Cedric,'' answered the Prior; ``Cedric the Saxon.
---Tell me, good fellow, are we near his dwelling,
and can you show us the road?''

``The road will be uneasy to find,'' answered
Gurth, who broke silence for the first time,
``and the family of Cedric retire early to rest.''

``Tush, tell not me, fellow,'' said the military
rider; ``'tis easy for them to arise and supply the
wants of travellers such as we are, who will not
stoop to beg the hospitality which we have a right
to command.''

``I know not,'' said Gurth, sullenly, ``if I should
show the way to my master's house, to those who
demand as a right, the shelter which most are fain
to ask as a favour.''

``Do you dispute with me, slave!'' said the soldier;
and, setting spurs to his horse, he caused him
make a demivolte across the path, raising at the
same time the riding rod which he held in his hand,
with a purpose of chastising what he considered as
the insolence of the peasant.

Gurth darted at him a savage and revengeful
scowl, and with a fierce, yet hesitating motion, laid
his hand on the haft of his knife; but the interference
of Prior Aymer, who pushed his mule betwixt
his companion and the swineherd, prevented
the meditated violence.

``Nay, by St Mary, brother Brian, you must
not think you are now in Palestine, predominating
over heathen Turks and infidel Saracens; we islanders
love not blows, save those of holy Church, who
chasteneth whom she loveth.---Tell me, good fellow,''
said he to Wamba, and seconded his speech
by a small piece of silver coin, ``the way to Cedric
the Saxon's; you cannot be ignorant of it, and it
is your duty to direct the wanderer even when his
character is less sanctified than ours.''

``In truth, venerable father,'' answered the Jester,
``the Saracen head of your right reverend companion
has frightened out of mine the way home---I
am not sure I shall get there to-night myself.''

``Tush,'' said the Abbot, ``thou canst tell us if
thou wilt. This reverend brother has been all his
life engaged in fighting among the Saracens for the
recovery of the Holy Sepulchre; he is of the order
of Knights Templars, whom you may have heard
of; he is half a monk, half a soldier.''

``If he is but half a monk,'' said the Jester, ``he
should not be wholly unreasonable with those whom
he meets upon the road, even if they should be in
no hurry to answer questions that no way concern
them.''

``I forgive thy wit,'' replied the Abbot, ``on
condition thou wilt show me the way to Cedric's
mansion.''

``Well, then,'' answered Wamba, ``your reverences
must hold on this path till you come to a
sunken cross, of which scarce a cubit's length remains
above ground; then take the path to the left,
for there are four which meet at Sunken Cross, and
I trust your reverences will obtain shelter before
the storm comes on.''

The Abbot thanked his sage adviser; and the
cavalcade, setting spurs to their horses, rode on as
men do who wish to reach their inn before the
bursting of a night-storm. As their horses' hoofs
died away, Gurth said to his companion, ``If they
follow thy wise direction, the reverend fathers will
hardly reach Rotherwood this night.''

``No,'' said the Jester, grinning, ``but they may
reach Sheffield if they have good luck, and that is
as fit a place for them. I am not so bad a woodsman
as to show the dog where the deer lies, if I
have no mind he should chase him.''

``Thou art right,'' said Gurth; ``it were ill that
Aymer saw the Lady Rowena; and it were worse,
it may be, for Cedric to quarrel, as is most likely
he would, with this military monk. But, like good
servants let us hear and see, and say nothing.''

We return to the riders, who had soon left the
bondsmen far behind them, and who maintained the
following conversation in the Norman-French language,
usually employed by the superior classes,
with the exception of the few who were still inclined
to boast their Saxon descent.

``What mean these fellows by their capricious
insolence?'' said the Templar to the Benedictine,
``and why did you prevent me from chastising it?''

``Marry, brother Brian,'' replied the Prior,
``touching the one of them, it were hard for me
to render a reason for a fool speaking according
to his folly; and the other churl is of that savage,
fierce, intractable race, some of whom, as I have
often told you, are still to be found among the descendants
of the conquered Saxons, and whose supreme
pleasure it is to testify, by all means in their
power, their aversion to their conquerors.''

``I would soon have beat him into courtesy,''
observed Brian; ``I am accustomed to deal with
such spirits: Our Turkish you shall soon be
judge; and if the purity of her complexion, and
the majestic, yet soft expression of a mild blue eye,
do not chase from your memory the black-tressed
girls of Palestine, ay, or the houris of old Mahound's
paradise, I am an infidel, and no true son
of the church.''

``Should your boasted beauty,'' said the Templar,
``be weighed in the balance and found wanting,
you know our wager?''

``My gold collar,'' answered the Prior, ``against
ten buts of Chian wine;---they are mine as securely
as if they were already in the convent vaults,
under the key of old Dennis the cellarer.''

``And I am myself to be judge,'' said the Templar,
``and am only to be convicted on my own
admission, that I have seen no maiden so beautiful
since Pentecost was a twelvemonth. Ran it not
so?---Prior, your collar is in danger; I will wear
it over my gorget in the lists of Ashby-de-la-Zouche.''
``Win it fairly,'' said the Prior, ``and wear it
as ye will; I will trust your giving true response,
on your word as a knight and as a churchman.
Yet, brother, take my advice, and file your tongue
to a little more courtesy than your habits of predominating
over infidel captives and Eastern bondsmen
have accustomed you. Cedric the Saxon, if
offended,---and he is noway slack in taking offence,
---is a man who, without respect to your knighthood,
my high office, or the sanctity of either,
would clear his house of us, and send us to lodge
with the larks, though the hour were midnight.
And be careful how you look on Rowena, whom
he cherishes with the most jealous care; an he take
the least alarm in that quarter we are but lost men.
It is said he banished his only son from his family
for lifting his eyes in the way of affection towards
this beauty, who may be worshipped, it seems, at
a distance, but is not to be approached with other
thoughts than such as we bring to the shrine of the
Blessed Virgin.''

``Well, you have said enough,'' answered the
Templar; ``I will for a night put on the needful
restraint, and deport me as meekly as a maiden;
but as for the fear of his expelling us by violence,
myself and squires, with Hamet and Abdalla, will
warrant you against that disgrace. Doubt not
that we shall be strong enough to make good our
quarters.''

``We must not let it come so far,'' answered the
Prior; ``but here is the clown's sunken cross, and
the night is so dark that we can hardly see which
of the roads we are to follow. He bid us turn, I
think to the left.''

``To the right,'' said Brian, ``to the best of my
remembrance.''

``To the left, certainly, the left; I remember his
pointing with his wooden sword.''

``Ay, but he held his sword in his left hand,
and so pointed across his body with it,'' said the
Templar.

Each maintained his opinion with sufficient obstinacy,
as is usual in all such cases; the attendants
were appealed to, but they had not been near
enough to hear Wamba's directions. At length
Brian remarked, what had at first escaped him in
the twilight; ``Here is some one either asleep, or
lying dead at the foot of this cross---Hugo, stir him
with the but-end of thy lance.''
This was no sooner done than the figure arose,
exclaiming in good French, ``Whosoever thou art,
it is discourteous in you to disturb my thoughts.''

``We did but wish to ask you,'' said the Prior,
``the road to Rotherwood, the abode of Cedric the
Saxon.''

``I myself am bound thither,'' replied the stranger;
``and if I had a horse, I would be your guide,
for the way is somewhat intricate, though perfectly
well known to me.''

``Thou shalt have both thanks and reward, my
friend,'' said the Prior, ``if thou wilt bring us to
Cedric's in safety.''

And he caused one of his attendants to mount
his own led horse, and give that upon which he had
hitherto ridden to the stranger, who was to serve
for a guide.

Their conductor pursued an opposite road from
that which Wamba had recommended, for the purpose
of misleading them. The path soon led deeper
into the woodland, and crossed more than one brook,
the approach to which was rendered perilous by
the marshes through which it flowed; but the stranger
seemed to know, as if by instinct, the soundest
ground and the safest points of passage; and by
dint of caution and attention, brought the party
safely into a wilder avenue than any they had yet
seen; and, pointing to a large low irregular building
at the upper extremity, he said to the Prior,
``Yonder is Rotherwood, the dwelling of Cedric
the Saxon.''

This was a joyful intimation to Aymer, whose
nerves were none of the strongest, and who had
suffered such agitation and alarm in the course of
passing through the dangerous bogs, that he had
not yet had the curiosity to ask his guide a single
question. Finding himself now at his ease and
near shelter, his curiosity began to awake, and he
demanded of the guide who and what he was.

``A Palmer, just returned from the Holy Land,''
was the answer.

``You had better have tarried there to fight
for the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre,'' said the
Templar.

``True, Reverend Sir Knight,'' answered the
Palmer, to whom the appearance of the Templar
seemed perfectly familiar; ``but when those who
are under oath to recover the holy city, are found
travelling at such a distance from the scene of their
duties, can you wonder that a peaceful peasant like
me should decline the task which they have abandoned?''

The Templar would have made an angry reply,
but was interrupted by the Prior, who again expressed
his astonishment, that their guide, after
such long absence, should be so perfectly acquainted
with the passes of the forest.

``I was born a native of these parts,'' answered
their guide, and as he made the reply they stood
before the mansion of Cedric;---a low irregular
building, containing several court-yards or enclosures,
extending over a considerable space of ground,
and which, though its size argued the inhabitant to
be a person of wealth, differed entirely from the
tall, turretted, and castellated buildings in which
the Norman nobility resided, and which had become
the universal style of architecture throughout
England.

Rotherwood was not, however, without defences;
no habitation, in that disturbed period, could have
been so, without the risk of being plundered and
burnt before the next morning. A deep fosse, or
ditch, was drawn round the whole building, and
filled with water from a neighbouring stream. A
double stockade, or palisade, composed of pointed
beams, which the adjacent forest supplied, defended
the outer and inner bank of the trench. There
was an entrance from the west through the outer
stockade, which communicated by a drawbridge,
with a similar opening in the interior defences.
Some precautions had been taken to place those
entrances under the protection of projecting angles,
by which they might be flanked in case of need by
archers or slingers.

Before this entrance the Templar wound his horn
loudly; for the rain, which had long threatened,
began now to descend with great violence.

CHAPTER III

Then (sad relief!) from the bleak coast that hears
The German Ocean roar, deep-blooming, strong,
And yellow hair'd, the blue-eyed Saxon came.

Thomson's _Liberty_.

In a hall, the height of which was greatly disproportioned
to its extreme length and width, a
long oaken table, formed of planks rough-hewn
from the forest, and which had scarcely received
any polish, stood ready prepared for the evening
meal of Cedric the Saxon. The roof, composed of
beams and rafters, had nothing to divide the apartment
from the sky excepting the planking and
thatch; there was a huge fireplace at either end of
the hall, but as the chimneys were constructed in
a very clumsy manner, at least as much of the
smoke found its way into the apartment as escaped
by the proper vent. The constant vapour which
this occasioned, had polished the rafters and beams
of the low-browed hall, by encrusting them with a
black varnish of soot. On the sides of the apartment
hung implements of war and of the chase,
and there were at each corner folding doors, which
gave access to other parts of the extensive building.

The other appointments of the mansion partook
of the rude simplicity of the Saxon period, which
Cedric piqued himself upon maintaining. The
floor was composed of earth mixed with lime, trodden
into a hard substance, such as is often employed
in flooring our modern barns. For about one
quarter of the length of the apartment, the floor
was raised by a step, and this space, which was called
the dais, was occupied only by the principal members
of the family, and visitors of distinction. For
this purpose, a table richly covered with scarlet cloth
was placed transversely across the platform, from
the middle of which ran the longer and lower board,
at which the domestics and inferior persons fed,
down towards the bottom of the hall. The whole
resembled the form of the letter T, or some of those
ancient dinner-tables, which, arranged on the same
principles, may be still seen in the antique Colleges
of Oxford or Cambridge. Massive chairs and settles
of carved oak were placed upon the dais, and
over these seats and the more elevated table was
fastened a canopy of cloth, which served in some
degree to protect the dignitaries who occupied that
distinguished station from the weather, and especially
from the rain, which in some places found its
way through the ill-constructed roof.

The walls of this upper end of the hall, as far as
the dais extended, were covered with hangings or
curtains, and upon the floor there was a carpet, both
of which were adorned with some attempts at tapestry,
or embroidery, executed with brilliant or
rather gaudy colouring. Over the lower range of
table, the roof, as we have noticed, had no covering;
the rough plastered walls were left bare, and
the rude earthen floor was uncarpeted; the board
was uncovered by a cloth, and rude massive benches
supplied the place of chairs.

In the centre of the upper table, were placed two
chairs more elevated than the rest, for the master
and mistress of the family, who presided over the
scene of hospitality, and from doing so derived their
Saxon title of honour, which signifies ``the Dividers
of Bread.''

To each of these chairs was added a footstool,
curiously carved and inlaid with ivory, which mark
of distinction was peculiar to them. One of these
seats was at present occupied by Cedric the Saxon,
who, though but in rank a thane, or, as the Normans
called him, a Franklin, felt, at the delay of
his evening meal, an irritable impatience, which
might have become an alderman, whether of ancient
or of modern times.

It appeared, indeed, from the countenance of this
proprietor, that he was of a frank, but hasty and
choleric temper. He was not above the middle
stature, but broad-shouldered, long-armed, and
powerfully made, like one accustomed to endure
the fatigue of war or of the chase; his face was
broad, with large blue eyes, open and frank features,
fine teeth, and a well formed head, altogether expressive
of that sort of good-humour which often
lodges with a sudden and hasty temper. Pride and
jealousy there was in his eye, for his life had been
spent in asserting rights which were constantly
liable to invasion; and the prompt, fiery, and resolute
disposition of the man, had been kept constantly
upon the alert by the circumstances of his situation.
His long yellow hair was equally divided on
the top of his head and upon his brow, and combed
down on each side to the length of his shoulders;
it had but little tendency to grey, although Cedric
was approaching to his sixtieth year.