Ivanhoe, Walter Scott [the lemonade war series txt] 📗
- Author: Walter Scott
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that Philip Malvoisin who has been already occasionally mentioned
in this history, and was, like that baron, in close league with
Brian de Bois-Guilbert.
Amongst dissolute and unprincipled men, of whom the Temple Order
included but too many, Albert of Templestowe might be
distinguished; but with this difference from the audacious
Bois-Guilbert, that he knew how to throw over his vices and his
ambition the veil of hypocrisy, and to assume in his exterior the
fanaticism which he internally despised. Had not the arrival of
the Grand Master been so unexpectedly sudden, he would have seen
nothing at Templestowe which might have appeared to argue any
relaxation of discipline. And, even although surprised, and, to
a certain extent, detected, Albert Malvoisin listened with such
respect and apparent contrition to the rebuke of his Superior,
and made such haste to reform the particulars he censured,
---succeeded, in fine, so well in giving an air of ascetic
devotion to a family which had been lately devoted to license and
pleasure, that Lucas Beaumanoir began to entertain a higher
opinion of the Preceptor’s morals, than the first appearance of
the establishment had inclined him to adopt.
But these favourable sentiments on the part of the Grand Master
were greatly shaken by the intelligence that Albert had received
within a house of religion the Jewish captive, and, as was to be
feared, the paramour of a brother of the Order; and when Albert
appeared before him, he was regarded with unwonted sternness.
“There is in this mansion, dedicated to the purposes of the holy
Order of the Temple,” said the Grand Master, in a severe tone, “a
Jewish woman, brought hither by a brother of religion, by your
connivance, Sir Preceptor.”
Albert Malvoisin was overwhelmed with confusion; for the
unfortunate Rebecca had been confined in a remote and secret part
of the building, and every precaution used to prevent her
residence there from being known. He read in the looks of
Beaumanoir ruin to Bois-Guilbert and to himself, unless he should
be able to avert the impending storm.
“Why are you mute?” continued the Grand Master.
“Is it permitted to me to reply?” answered the Preceptor, in a
tone of the deepest humility, although by the question he only
meant to gain an instant’s space for arranging his ideas.
“Speak, you are permitted,” said the Grand Master---“speak, and
say, knowest thou the capital of our holy rule,---‘De
commilitonibus Templi in sancta civitate, qui cum miserrimis
mulieribus versantur, propter oblectationem carnis?’”*
The edict which he quotes, is against communion with women of light character.“Surely, most reverend father,” answered the Preceptor, “I have
not risen to this office in the Order, being ignorant of one of
its most important prohibitions.”
“How comes it, then, I demand of thee once more, that thou hast
suffered a brother to bring a paramour, and that paramour a
Jewish sorceress, into this holy place, to the stain and
pollution thereof?”
“A Jewish sorceress!” echoed Albert Malvoisin; “good angels guard
us!”
“Ay, brother, a Jewish sorceress!” said the Grand Master,
sternly. “I have said it. Darest thou deny that this Rebecca,
the daughter of that wretched usurer Isaac of York, and the pupil
of the foul witch Miriam, is now---shame to be thought or spoken!
---lodged within this thy Preceptory?”
“Your wisdom, reverend father,” answered the Preceptor, “hath
rolled away the darkness from my understanding. Much did I
wonder that so good a knight as Brian de Bois-Guilbert seemed so
fondly besotted on the charms of this female, whom I received
into this house merely to place a bar betwixt their growing
intimacy, which else might have been cemented at the expense of
the fall of our valiant and religious brother.”
“Hath nothing, then, as yet passed betwixt them in breach of his
vow?” demanded the Grand Master.
“What! under this roof?” said the Preceptor, crossing himself;
“Saint Magdalene and the ten thousand virgins forbid if I
have sinned in receiving her here, it was in the erring thought
that I might thus break off our brother’s besotted devotion to
this Jewess, which seemed to me so wild and unnatural, that I
could not but ascribe it to some touch of insanity, more to be
cured by pity than reproof. But since your reverend wisdom hath
discovered this Jewish queen to be a sorceress, perchance it may
account fully for his enamoured folly.”
“It doth!---it doth!” said Beaumanoir. “See, brother Conrade,
the peril of yielding to the first devices and blandishments of
Satan! We look upon woman only to gratify the lust of the eye,
and to take pleasure in what men call her beauty; and the Ancient
Enemy, the devouring Lion, obtains power over us, to complete, by
talisman and spell, a work which was begun by idleness and folly.
It may be that our brother Bois-Guilbert does in this matter
deserve rather pity than severe chastisement; rather the support
of the staff, than the strokes of the rod; and that our
admonitions and prayers may turn him from his folly, and restore
him to his brethren.”
“It were deep pity,” said Conrade Mont-Fitchet, “to lose to the
Order one of its best lances, when the Holy Community most
requires the aid of its sons. Three hundred Saracens hath this
Brian de Bois-Guilbert slain with his own hand.”
“The blood of these accursed dogs,” said the Grand Master, “shall
be a sweet and acceptable offering to the saints and angels whom
they despise and blaspheme; and with their aid will we counteract
the spells and charms with which our brother is entwined as in a
net. He shall burst the bands of this Delilah, as Sampson burst
the two new cords with which the Philistines had bound him, and
shall slaughter the infidels, even heaps upon heaps. But
concerning this foul witch, who hath flung her enchantments over
a brother of the Holy Temple, assuredly she shall die the death.”
“But the laws of England,”---said the Preceptor, who, though
delighted that the Grand Master’s resentment, thus fortunately
averted from himself and Bois-Guilbert, had taken another
direction, began now to fear he was carrying it too far.
“The laws of England,” interrupted Beaumanoir, “permit and enjoin
each judge to execute justice within his own jurisdiction. The
most petty baron may arrest, try, and condemn a witch found
within his own domain. And shall that power be denied to the
Grand Master of the Temple within a preceptory of his Order?
---No!---we will judge and condemn. The witch shall be taken out
of the land, and the wickedness thereof shall be forgiven.
Prepare the Castle-hall for the trial of the sorceress.”
Albert Malvoisin bowed and retired,---not to give directions for
preparing the hall, but to seek out Brian de Bois-Guilbert, and
communicate to him how matters were likely to terminate. It was
not long ere he found him, foaming with indignation at a repulse
he had anew sustained from the fair Jewess. “The unthinking,” he
said, “the ungrateful, to scorn him who, amidst blood and flames,
would have saved her life at the risk of his own! By Heaven,
Malvoisin! I abode until roof and rafters crackled and crashed
around me. I was the butt of a hundred arrows; they rattled on
mine armour like hailstones against a latticed casement, and the
only use I made of my shield was for her protection. This did I
endure for her; and now the self-willed girl upbraids me that I
did not leave her to perish, and refuses me not only the
slightest proof of gratitude, but even the most distant hope that
ever she will be brought to grant any. The devil, that possessed
her race with obstinacy, has concentrated its full force in her
single person!”
“The devil,” said the Preceptor, “I think, possessed you both.
How oft have I preached to you caution, if not continence? Did I
not tell you that there were enough willing Christian damsels to
be met with, who would think it sin to refuse so brave a knight
‘le don d’amoureux merci’, and you must needs anchor your
affection on a wilful, obstinate Jewess! By the mass, I think
old Lucas Beaumanoir guesses right, when he maintains she hath
cast a spell over you.”
“Lucas Beaumanoir!”---said Bois-Guilbert reproachfully---“Are
these your precautions, Malvoisin? Hast thou suffered the dotard
to learn that Rebecca is in the Preceptory?”
“How could I help it?” said the Preceptor. “I neglected nothing
that could keep secret your mystery; but it is betrayed, and
whether by the devil or no, the devil only can tell. But I have
turned the matter as I could; you are safe if you renounce
Rebecca. You are pitied---the victim of magical delusion. She
is a sorceress, and must suffer as such.”
“She shall not, by Heaven!” said Bois-Guilbert.
“By Heaven, she must and will!” said Malvoisin. “Neither you nor
any one else can save her. Lucas Beaumanoir hath settled that
the death of a Jewess will be a sin-offering sufficient to atone
for all the amorous indulgences of the Knights Templars; and thou
knowest he hath both the power and will to execute so reasonable
and pious a purpose.”
“Will future ages believe that such stupid bigotry ever existed!”
said Bois-Guilbert, striding up and down the apartment.
“What they may believe, I know not,” said Malvoisin, calmly; “but
I know well, that in this our day, clergy and laymen, take
ninety-nine to the hundred, will cry ‘amen’ to the Grand Master’s
sentence.”
“I have it,” said Bois-Guilbert. “Albert, thou art my friend.
Thou must connive at her escape, Malvoisin, and I will transport
her to some place of greater security and secrecy.”
“I cannot, if I would,” replied the Preceptor; “the mansion is
filled with the attendants of the Grand Master, and others who
are devoted to him. And, to be frank with you, brother, I would
not embark with you in this matter, even if I could hope to bring
my bark to haven. I have risked enough already for your sake. I
have no mind to encounter a sentence of degradation, or even to
lose my Preceptory, for the sake of a painted piece of Jewish
flesh and blood. And you, if you will be guided by my counsel,
will give up this wild-goose chase, and fly your hawk at some
other game. Think, Bois-Guilbert,---thy present rank, thy future
honours, all depend on thy place in the Order. Shouldst thou
adhere perversely to thy passion for this Rebecca, thou wilt give
Beaumanoir the power of expelling thee, and he will not neglect
it. He is jealous of the truncheon which he holds in his
trembling gripe, and he knows thou stretchest thy bold hand
towards it. Doubt not he will ruin thee, if thou affordest him a
pretext so fair as thy protection of a Jewish sorceress. Give
him his scope in this matter, for thou canst not control him.
When the staff is in thine own firm grasp, thou mayest caress the
daughters of Judah, or burn them, as may best suit thine own
humour.”
“Malvoisin,” said Bois-Guilbert, “thou art a cold-blooded---”
“Friend,” said the Preceptor, hastening to fill up the blank, in
which Bois-Guilbert would probably have placed a worse word,
---“a cold-blooded friend I am, and therefore more fit to give
thee advice. I tell thee once more, that thou canst not save
Rebecca. I tell thee once more, thou canst but perish with her.
Go hie thee to the Grand Master---throw thyself at his feet and
tell him---”
“Not at his feet, by Heaven! but to the dotard’s very beard will
I say---”
“Say to him, then, to his beard,” continued Malvoisin, coolly,
“that you love this captive Jewess to distraction; and the more
thou dost enlarge on thy passion,
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