ter mutually attract attention, and thus trifles ists, it is the result of education and habits of become interesting."

life. From a difference in these originates all the disparity in intellectual powers that can be observed between the two sexes, and which is no longer discoverable when similar circumstances, or equal opportunities, have called female abilities into exertion, and given expansion to their ideas. Females have made a distinguished figure in every situation of life, as well as in every de

The young Clairville here interrupted the sage instructor" Permit me, Sir," said he, 66 to mention a remark which I have frequently made in the course of our excursion: the legends of superstition, the tales of scandal, and all the farrago of absurdities that occupy the minds and exercise the tongues of the people with whom I have of late so frequently conversed, are gene-partment of science and literature; and you are rally represcribed as the topics only of female gossips, and on that account are denominated old women's tales; an expression which seems to indicate their peculiar and exclusive appropriation to that class of beings; but to my ex ceeding great surprize, I have generally found the same ideas equally prevalent, and the same subjects of conversation equally common among the men as among the other sex. Their notions are absurd, and their conversation, for the most part, as uninteresting; and the male and female gossips appear, in this respect, to differ only in sex. In their mutual associations they arc perfectly similar, and both may be included in one general representation."

“This, my dear Sir,” returned M. de Palaise, "ought not to excite your astonishment: Nature has made no difference in the male and female intellect. The mental endowments of the latter are in no respect inferior to those of the former sex, and where any such inferiority ex

not ignorant that the number of those who have
been eminent for their talents, as well as their
virtues, crowd the page of history. In native
vigour of mind, and in understanding, one sex
cannot claim any advantage over the other; and
your own observations in this place, may con-
vince you, that where the education of both is
nearly equal, and the habits of life strikingly si-
milar, their ideas will be confined within the
same circle. Absurd ideas, and scandalous re-
ports, indeed, are held up to ridicule by their
appropriation to old occurrences; but although
custom has established this kind of phraseology,
we are only to consider it as a figurative mode of
expression, indicative of mental debility, or mo-
ral profligacy; for in this signification of the
term, there are old women in breeches as well as
in petticoats; and indeed it is not easy to deter-
mine which are the most numerous.
[To be continued.]

THE CRUSADES.

standing of the feudal system.

FEW expeditions are more extraordinary || regard, and to be connected with a right under. than those which were undertaken for the recovery of the Holy Land from the Turks by the Crusades They took the name of Crusaders, or Croises, from the cross which they wore on their shoulders, in gold, silk, or cloth; in the first crusade all were red, in the third the French alone preserved that colour, while green crosses were adopted by the Flemings, and white by the English; each company likewise bore a standard on which was painted a cross.

If we consider the great number of Europeans who were engaged in them, or their long and ob. stinate perseverance in the same design, notwith. standing numerous hardships, losses, and defeats; || and if we reflect upon the important consequences with which those enterprises were attended, both to themselves and their descendants, the history of the crusades, including a period of one hundred and seventy-five years, from A. D. || 1095 to 1270, will be found to deserve particular

From the æra of the crusades may be traced the diffusion of several kinds of knowledge, and from the communication of the western with the eastern nations, arose a succession of causes, which with different degrees of influence, or with more or less rapidity, contributed to introduce order and improvement into society. Judea, or the Holy Land, was the highest object of veneration to the Christians of the middle ages; there had lived the Son of God, there he had performed the most astonishing miracles, and there he had suffered death for the sins of the world. His holy sepulchre was preserved at Jerusalem; and as a degree of veneration was annexed to this place, nearly approaching to idolatry, a visit to it was regarded as the most meritorious service which could be paid to Heaven, and it was eagerly frequented by crowds of pilgrims from every part of Europe.

If it be natural to the human mind to survey those spots which have been the abodes of illustrious persons, or the scenes of great transactions, with delight, what must have been the veneration with which the Christians of those times, the ruling passion of whose mind was religious enthusiasm, regarded a country which the Almighty had selected as the residence of his beloved Son, and the place where that Son had shed his precious blood to expiate the sins, and accomplish the redemption of mankind. The zealous travellers who made a pilgrimage to Palestine, were long exposed to the insults, extortions, and cruelty of the Infidels; but at length their complaints roused the Europeans to attempt their expulsion.

than their companions, had been defeated; and of the first crusaders very great numbers are said to have perished before a single city was taken from the Infidels. These misfortunes were so far from extinguishing, that they rather tended to increase the enthusiasm of the Christians. The most eminent chieftains of the age, renowned for their prowess in arms, engaged in the crusade without delay. Godfrey of Bouillon, Duke of Brabant, a descendant of the Emperor Charlemagne, with his two brothers, Eustace and Baldwin, Hugh, Count of Vermandoes, brother to the King of France, Robert, Duke of Normandy, eldest son of William the Conqueror, King of England, Robert, Count of Flanders, Steven, Count of Blois, one of the richest and most powerful princes of that age, the number THE FIRST CRUSADE FROM A. D. 1095 to 1099. of whose castles equalled that of the days of the Peter, surnamed the Hermit, a native of year, were the leaders of the French, the NorAmiens, in Picardy, was the most zealous and man, and the English forces. Adhemer the indefatigable promoter of this first expedition; legate of the Pope, and Raimond, Count of he was a man of acute understanding, and keen Thoulouse, took the command of those who observation; in the garb of a pilgrim he had went from the south of France, Lombardy, and visited the holy sepulchre, and had noticed the Spain; Bohemond, and his cousin, the accominsults and hardships to which the Christians plished Tancred, princes of the Norman race, were exposed. He brought letters from the were accompanied by several nobles of that proPatriarch of Jerusalem to Pope Urban II. in vince; they were followed by their numerous which their sufferings were described in the most adherents and vassals, whese services were either pathetic terms; and the Christian states of prompted by zeal and attachment to their reEurope were exhorted to redress their grievances,spective lords, or purchased with rewards and and retaliate upon their Infidel tyrants, from an apprehension that the Turks, more ferocious, and more subtle than the Saracens, were aiming At universal empire. The ambassadors of the Greek Emperor, Alexius Comnenus, represented in the council of Placentia, to the numerous bishops and clergy there assembled, the imminent danger of their master, and his capital, from the vicinity of the Turks.

The Pope afterwards, in a great council held at Clermont, enlarged upon the same topics, and stated, that the desire of the Turks for empire could only be satisfied with the conquest of the whole world. The indignation and ardour of persons of all ranks were excited, and they resolved to commence the expedition to the Holy Land without delay, Peter the Hermit, with sandals on his feet, and a rope round his waist, led the way; a great number of devotees, chiefly peasants, neither furnished with necessaries, nor regulated by discipline, followed his steps; their ignorance magnified their hopes, and lessened the dangers of the undertaking. In the forests of Hungary and Bulgaria, many of them fell a sacrifice to the indignation of the inhabitants, provoked by their rapine and plunder. A pyramid of bones, erected by Solyman, the Emperor of the Turks, near the city of Nice, marked the spot where many of those who penetrated farther

promises.

Their principal force was cavalry, chiefly ccmposed of gentlemen invested with the honour of knighthood. When their collected forces were mustered upon the plains of Bithynia, the knights and their martial attendants amounted to 100,000 fighting men, completely armed with the helmet and coat of mail. The princess Anna, the daughter of the Greek Emperor, compared their numbers, but much in the style of Eastern exaggeration, to locusts, to leaves of trees, or the sands of the sea. Constantinople was at that time the largest, as well as the most beautiful city in Europe; it alone retained the image of ancient manners and arts; it was the place where manufactures of the most curious fabric were wrought, and was the mart of Europe for all the commodities of the East; the seat of empire, elegance, and magnificence, was appointed as a general rendezvous for all the crusaders.

Several contemporary writers were witnesses to this singular assembly of different nations, and they have given a lively picture of the characters and manners of each people. When the polite natives of the metropolis of the East speak of the northern warriors, they describe them as barbarous, illiterate, fierce, and savage; and they sometimes inveigh against them with great severity, and relate instances of their violence in

The conquests acquired in this first crusade were comprised within the small territory of

terms not unlike those which preceding historians had employed in describing the incursions of the Goths and Vandals, when they overturned || Jerusalem, the dominion of which lasted rather

the Roman empire. On the other hand, the crusaders, while they despised the effeminate manners and unwarlike character of the Greeks, were surprised at the wealth and magnificence of their metropolis.

The progress of the crusaders was attended with many flattering instances of their success;|| they took Nice, at that time the capital of the Turkish empire, the seat of Sultan Solyman in Asia Minor, and they defeated him in two pitched battles. After crossing mount Taurus, they besieged Antioch, a place of great strength. Before the capture of that important place, many of their troops were lost by famine, and after it, many perished by pestilence; but undismayed by these misfortunes they continued their zealous career. The lofty walls of Jerusalem at length struck their eyes; and as soon as they beheld this hallowed object of their affections, they raised a general shout of joy, and then devoutly fell prostrate on their faces, and kissed the ground whereon the Redeemer of mankind had deigned to tread. The city was strong both by nature and art, and defended by the Saracen Caliph of Egypt, at the head of a garrison well appointed, and more numerous than the Christian army.

Forty days were employed in the siege, at the end of which they took the city by storm; in the ardour of rage and victory they put multitudes of Jews and Turks to the sword; and such was their thirst for the extirpation of the Infidels, that according to the candid account which God frey himself gives of the transaction, so great was the slaughter of the enemy in the Temple of Solyman, that his men stood in blood above the ancles. They then walked with naked feet in solemn procession to the holy sepulchre, there to return thanks for so great a victory. The Arabian writers assert, that they continued the massacre of the Turks, in the adjacent country, for several weeks together, and assembling all the Jews, burned them in their temple. The Latin historians are very far from contradicting these statements, nor do they relate any instances of clemency on this occasion. On Robert, Duke of Normandy, declining the honour, Godfrey of Bouillon, the most worthy of the champions of Christendom, was proclaimed King of Jerusalem. In imitation of his Saviour, he was crowned with thorns; he rejected the appendages of royalty, and contented himself with the modest title of Defender and Baron of the Holy Sepulchre (1099). Many of his companions returned to Europe; and his short reign, which continued only one year, did not give him time to establish his new kingdom.

longer than fourscore years; the principality of Antioch and Edessa, extending over Mesopotamia, possessed by Bohemond, and retained about forty years; and the Tiberiad, assigned to Tancred. Encouraged by such delusive prospects of establishing a Christian empire in the Holy Land, the Pope and the clergy continued to recommend this sacred war with increased ardour. It was still represented to the people as the cause of God and of Christ, in which death would confer the merit of martyrdom, and paradise would be equally the reward of defeat or | victory.

THE SECOND CRUSADE, A. D. 1147.

Forty eight years after the deliverence of Jeru salem the second crusade was undertaken.→→ St. Bernard, famed for his eloquence and piety, and the great influence which he obtained amongst the people, flourished at the beginning of the twelfth century; armed with the authority of the Pope, Eugine III. he fanned the flame of military fanaticism with a voice which was in every place obeyed without delay, he called the nations to the protection of the holy sepulchre. The fame of his pretended miracles and predictions removed every doubt of success from the minds of his credulous hearers; insomuch, that all who were able to bear arms were eager to participate in the glory of this warfare. Bernard was invited by the bishops and nobles of France, to become a leader in the expedition, which he so zealously recommended, but the Pope would not allow him to accept the flattering office.

The event proved him more fortunate in advancing the interests of the church than in the success of his projects, or the fulfilment of his predictions. The court of Rome profited by his labours, and canonized his memory. Conrad III. Emperor of Germany, and Louis VII. King of France, were the principal leaders in the second crusade; from the hands of Bernard they received the cross, with assurances, that he had authority from Heaven to promise them victory. Their cavalry was composed of one hundred and forty thousand knights, and their immediate attendants; and if even the light armed troops, the women, and children, the priests and monks, be excluded from the computation of their effective forces, their number will amount to four hundred thousand souls. Manuel the Emperor of the. Greeks was accused by his own subjects of giving intelligence of the plans of the crusaders to the Turkish Sultan, and of providing them with treacherous guides. The conduct of the Christian leaders was dictated by no sound policy, or vigorous