Ivanhoe, Walter Scott [the lemonade war series txt] 📗
- Author: Walter Scott
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Damian, clothed in the garments of Christian humility, thus
appear with reverend silence before his Superior, than but two
days since, when the fond fool was decked in a painted coat, and
jangling as pert and as proud as any popinjay?---Speak, Damian,
we permit thee---What is thine errand?”
“A Jew stands without the gate, noble and reverend father,” said
the Squire, “who prays to speak with brother Brian de
Bois-Guilbert.”
“Thou wert right to give me knowledge of it,” said the Grand
Master; “in our presence a Preceptor is but as a common compeer
of our Order, who may not walk according to his own will, but to
that of his Master---even according to the text, ‘In the hearing
of the ear he hath obeyed me.’---It imports us especially to know
of this Bois-Guilbert’s proceedings,” said he, turning to his
companion.
“Report speaks him brave and valiant,” said Conrade.
“And truly is he so spoken of,” said the Grand Master; “in our
valour only we are not degenerated from our predecessors, the
heroes of the Cross. But brother Brian came into our Order a
moody and disappointed man, stirred, I doubt me, to take our vows
and to renounce the world, not in sincerity of soul, but as one
whom some touch of light discontent had driven into penitence.
Since then, he hath become an active and earnest agitator, a
murmurer, and a machinator, and a leader amongst those who impugn
our authority; not considering that the rule is given to the
Master even by the symbol of the staff and the rod---the staff to
support the infirmities of the weak---the rod to correct the
faults of delinquents.---Damian,” he continued, “lead the Jew to
our presence.”
The squire departed with a profound reverence, and in a few
minutes returned, marshalling in Isaac of York. No naked slave,
ushered into the presence of some mighty prince, could approach
his judgment-seat with more profound reverence and terror than
that with which the Jew drew near to the presence of the Grand
Master. When he had approached within the distance of three
yards, Beaumanoir made a sign with his staff that he should come
no farther. The Jew kneeled down on the earth which he kissed in
token of reverence; then rising, stood before the Templars, his
hands folded on his bosom, his head bowed on his breast, in all
the submission of Oriental slavery.
“Damian,” said the Grand Master, “retire, and have a guard ready
to await our sudden call; and suffer no one to enter the garden
until we shall leave it.”---The squire bowed and retreated.
---“Jew,” continued the haughty old man, “mark me. It suits not
our condition to hold with thee long communication, nor do we
waste words or time upon any one. Wherefore be brief in thy
answers to what questions I shall ask thee, and let thy words be
of truth; for if thy tongue doubles with me, I will have it torn
from thy misbelieving jaws.”
The Jew was about to reply, but the Grand Master went on.
“Peace, unbeliever!---not a word in our presence, save in answer
to our questions.---What is thy business with our brother Brian
de Bois-Guilbert?”
Isaac gasped with terror and uncertainty. To tell his tale might
be interpreted into scandalizing the Order; yet, unless he told
it, what hope could he have of achieving his daughter’s
deliverance? Beaumanoir saw his mortal apprehension, and
condescended to give him some assurance.
“Fear nothing,” he said, “for thy wretched person, Jew, so thou
dealest uprightly in this matter. I demand again to know from
thee thy business with Brian de Bois-Guilbert?”
“I am bearer of a letter,” stammered out the Jew, “so please your
reverend valour, to that good knight, from Prior Aymer of the
Abbey of Jorvaulx.”
“Said I not these were evil times, Conrade?” said the Master. “A
Cistertian Prior sends a letter to a soldier of the Temple, and
can find no more fitting messenger than an unbelieving Jew.
---Give me the letter.”
The Jew, with trembling hands, undid the folds of his Armenian
cap, in which he had deposited the Prior’s tablets for the
greater security, and was about to approach, with hand extended
and body crouched, to place it within the reach of his grim
interrogator.
“Back, dog!” said the Grand Master; “I touch not misbelievers,
save with the sword.---Conrade, take thou the letter from the
Jew, and give it to me.”
Beaumanoir, being thus possessed of the tablets, inspected the
outside carefully, and then proceeded to undo the packthread
which secured its folds. “Reverend father,” said Conrade,
interposing, though with much deference, “wilt thou break the
seal?”
“And will I not?” said Beaumanoir, with a frown. “Is it not
written in the forty-second capital, ‘De Lectione Literarum’ that
a Templar shall not receive a letter, no not from his father,
without communicating the same to the Grand Master, and reading
it in his presence?”
He then perused the letter in haste, with an expression of
surprise and horror; read it over again more slowly; then
holding it out to Conrade with one hand, and slightly striking it
with the other, exclaimed---“Here is goodly stuff for one
Christian man to write to another, and both members, and no
inconsiderable members, of religious professions! When,” said he
solemnly, and looking upward, “wilt thou come with thy fanners to
purge the thrashing-floor?”
Mont-Fitchet took the letter from his Superior, and was about to
peruse it.
“Read it aloud, Conrade,” said the Grand Master,---“and do thou”
(to Isaac) “attend to the purport of it, for we will question
thee concerning it.”
Conrade read the letter, which was in these words: “Aymer, by
divine grace, Prior of the Cistertian house of Saint Mary’s of
Jorvaulx, to Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert, a Knight of the holy
Order of the Temple, wisheth health, with the bounties of King
Bacchus and of my Lady Venus. Touching our present condition,
dear Brother, we are a captive in the hands of certain lawless
and godless men, who have not feared to detain our person, and
put us to ransom; whereby we have also learned of
Front-de-Boeuf’s misfortune, and that thou hast escaped with that
fair Jewish sorceress, whose black eyes have bewitched thee. We
are heartily rejoiced of thy safety; nevertheless, we pray thee
to be on thy guard in the matter of this second Witch of Endor;
for we are privately assured that your Great Master, who careth
not a bean for cherry cheeks and black eyes, comes from Normandy
to diminish your mirth, and amend your misdoings. Wherefore we
pray you heartily to beware, and to be found watching, even as
the Holy Text hath it, ‘Invenientur vigilantes’. And the wealthy
Jew her father, Isaac of York, having prayed of me letters in his
behalf, I gave him these, earnestly advising, and in a sort
entreating, that you do hold the damsel to ransom, seeing he will
pay you from his bags as much as may find fifty damsels upon
safer terms, whereof I trust to have my part when we make merry
together, as true brothers, not forgetting the wine-cup. For
what saith the text, ‘Vinum laetificat cor hominis’; and again,
‘Rex delectabitur pulchritudine tua’.
“Till which merry meeting, we wish you farewell. Given from this
den of thieves, about the hour of matins,
“Aymer Pr. S. M. Jorvolciencis.
“‘Postscriptum.’ Truly your golden chain hath not long abidden
with me, and will now sustain, around the neck of an outlaw
deer-stealer, the whistle wherewith he calleth on his hounds.”
“What sayest thou to this, Conrade?” said the Grand Master---“Den
of thieves! and a fit residence is a den of thieves for such a
Prior. No wonder that the hand of God is upon us, and that in
the Holy Land we lose place by place, foot by foot, before the
infidels, when we have such churchmen as this Aymer.---And what
meaneth he, I trow, by this second Witch of Endor?” said he to
his confident, something apart. Conrade was better acquainted
(perhaps by practice) with the jargon of gallantry, than was his
Superior; and he expounded the passage which embarrassed the
Grand Master, to be a sort of language used by worldly men
towards those whom they loved ‘par amours’; but the explanation
did not satisfy the bigoted Beaumanoir.
“There is more in it than thou dost guess, Conrade; thy
simplicity is no match for this deep abyss of wickedness. This
Rebecca of York was a pupil of that Miriam of whom thou hast
heard. Thou shalt hear the Jew own it even now.” Then turning
to Isaac, he said aloud, “Thy daughter, then, is prisoner with
Brian de Bois-Guilbert?”
“Ay, reverend valorous sir,” stammered poor Isaac, “and
whatsoever ransom a poor man may pay for her deliverance------”
“Peace!” said the Grand Master. “This thy daughter hath practised
the art of healing, hath she not?”
“Ay, gracious sir,” answered the Jew, with more confidence; “and
knight and yeoman, squire and vassal, may bless the goodly gift
which Heaven hath assigned to her. Many a one can testify that
she hath recovered them by her art, when every other human aid
hath proved vain; but the blessing of the God of Jacob was upon
her.”
Beaumanoir turned to Mont-Fitchet with a grim smile. “See,
brother,” he said, “the deceptions of the devouring Enemy!
Behold the baits with which he fishes for souls, giving a poor
space of earthly life in exchange for eternal happiness
hereafter. Well said our blessed rule, ‘Semper percutiatur leo
vorans’.---Up on the lion! Down with the destroyer!” said he,
shaking aloft his mystic abacus, as if in defiance of the powers
of darkness---“Thy daughter worketh the cures, I doubt not,” thus
he went on to address the Jew, “by words and sighs, and periapts,
and other cabalistical mysteries.”
“Nay, reverend and brave Knight,” answered Isaac, “but in chief
measure by a balsam of marvellous virtue.”
“Where had she that secret?” said Beaumanoir.
“It was delivered to her,” answered Isaac, reluctantly, “by
Miriam, a sage matron of our tribe.”
“Ah, false Jew!” said the Grand Master; “was it not from that
same witch Miriam, the abomination of whose enchantments have
been heard of throughout every Christian land?” exclaimed the
Grand Master, crossing himself. “Her body was burnt at a stake,
and her ashes were scattered to the four winds; and so be it with
me and mine Order, if I do not as much to her pupil, and more
also! I will teach her to throw spell and incantation over the
soldiers of the blessed Temple.---There, Damian, spurn this Jew
from the gate---shoot him dead if he oppose or turn again. With
his daughter we will deal as the Christian law and our own high
office warrant.”
Poor Isaac was hurried off accordingly, and expelled from the
preceptory; all his entreaties, and even his offers, unheard and
disregarded. He could do not better than return to the house of
the Rabbi, and endeavour, through his means, to learn how his
daughter was to be disposed of. He had hitherto feared for her
honour, he was now to tremble for her life. Meanwhile, the Grand
Master ordered to his presence the Preceptor of Templestowe.
CHAPTER XXXVI
Say not my art is fraud---all live by seeming.
The beggar begs with it, and the gay courtier
Gains land and title, rank and rule, by seeming;
The clergy scorn it not, and the bold soldier
Will eke with it his service.---All admit it,
All practise it; and he who is content
With showing what he is, shall have small credit
In church, or camp, or state---So wags the world.
Old Play
Albert Malvoisin, President, or, in the language of the Order,
Preceptor of the establishment of Templestowe, was
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