MANNERS IN THE OLDEN TIMES. S% 10 recently even as 1662 the manners of our English ancestors were so unpolished as to require the publication of the following "General and Mixed Precepts as touching Civility among Men," for the edification of the young "gentry" of England: 5. Sing not with thy mouth, humming to thyself, unless thou be alone, in such sort as thou canst not be heard by others. Strike not up a drum with thy fingers or thy feet. 6. Rub not thy teeth nor crash them, nor make anything crack in such a manner that thou disquiet anybody. 7. It is uncivil to stretch out thine arms at length, and writhe them hither and thither. 8. In coughing and sneezing, make not great noise, if it be possible, and send not forth any sign, in such wise that others observe thee, without great occasion. In yawning howl not, and thou shouldst abstain, as much as thou canst, to yawn, especially when thou speakest, for that showeth thee to be weary, and that one little accounted of the company.. 9. When thou blowest thy nose, make not thy nose sound like a trumpet. . . . 11. To sleep when others speak, to sit when others stand, to walk on when others stay, to speak when one should hold his peace or hear others, are all things of ill manners: but it is permitted to a superior to walk in certain places, as a master in his school.... 14. Hearing thy master, or likewise the preacher, wriggle not thyself, as seeming unable to contain thyself within thy skin, making show thyself to be the knowing and sufficient person to the misprice of others. . . . 17. It is not decent to spit upon the fire, much less to lay hands upon the embers, or to put them into the flame to warm oneself, nor is it beseeming to stoop so low as even to crouching, and, as it were, one sate on the ground. If there be any meat on the fire, thou oughtest not to set thy foot thereon to heat it. In the presence of a well-bred company, it is uncomely to turn one's back to the fire, or to approach nigher than others, for one and the other savoreth of preeminence. It is not permitted but to the chief in quality, or to him who hath charge of the fire, to stir up the fire with the fire-fork, or to kindle it, take it away, or put fuel on it. 18. When thou sittest, put not undecently one leg upon the other, but keep them firm and settled; and join thy feet even, cross them not one upon the other. 19. Gnaw not thy nails in the presence of others, nor bite them with thy teeth. 20. Spit not on thy fingers, and draw them not as if it were to make them longer; also sniffle not in the sight of others. 21. Neither shake thy head, feet, or legs; roll not thine eyes. Lift not one of thine eye-brows higher than the other. Wry not thy mouth. Take heed that with thy spittle thou bedew not his face with whom thou speakest, and to that end approach not too nigh him. 22. Spit not far off thee, nor behind thee, but aside, a little distance, and not right before thy companion. Bespit not the windows in the streets. 23. Turn not thy back to others, especially another doth read or write; lean not upon any in speaking; jog not the table, or desk, on which one; pull not him by his cloak to speak to him; put him not with thine elbow. 24. Set not in order at every hand-while thy beard or thy stockings. . . . 25. Puff not up thy cheeks; loll not out thy tongue; rub not thy beard or thy hands; thrust not out thy lips, or bite them, and keep them neither too open nor too shut.... MARRIAGE. BY SCHILLER. WHERE gentleness with strength we find, Smiles the virgin wreath of green, Ends the May of life anon; But love must remain; Fruit comes in their train. Then boundless in torrents comes pouring the gift, The garners o'erflow with the costliest thrift, The prudent wife, The tender mother: With treasures the sweet-smelling wardrobe she stores, And busily over the spinning wheel pores; She hoards in the bright polished presses till full The snowy white linen, the sparkling wool; The bright and the showy to good she disposes, And never reposes. W" THE CRUSADES. THEN the eighth Crusade was brought to an end, to all appearances the holy war had closed. The Christians had entire possession of Jerusalem, Tripoli, Antioch, Edessa, Acre, Jaffa, and, in fact, of nearly all Judea; and, could they have been at peace among themselves, they might have overcome, without great difficulty, the jealousy and hostility of their neighbors. A circumstance, as unforeseen as it was disastrous, blasted this fair prospect, and reillumed, for the last time, the fervor and fury of the Crusades. Gengis Khan and his successors had swept over Asia like a tropical storm, overturning in their progress the landmarks of ages. Kingdom after kingdom was cast down as they issued, innumerably, from the far recesses of the North and East; and, among others, the empire of Korasmin was overrun by these all-conquering hordes. The Korasmins, a fierce, uncivilized race, thus driven from their homes, spread themselves, in their turn, over the south of Asia with fire and sword, in search of a resting-place. In their impetuous course they directed themselves toward Egypt, whose sultan, unable to withstand the swarm that had cast their longing eyes on the fertile valleys of the Nile, endeavored to turn them from their course. For this purpose, he sent emissaries to Barbaquan, their leader, inviting them to settle in Palestine; and the offer being accepted by the wild horde, they entered the country before the Christians received the slightest intimation of their coming. It was as sudden as it was overwhelming. Onward, like the simoom, they came, burning and slaying, and were at the walls of Jerusalem before the inhabitants had time to look around them. They spared neither life nor property; they slew women and children, and priests at the altar, and profaned even the graves of those who had slept for ages. They tore down every vestige of the Christian faith, and committed horrors unparalleled in the history of warfare. About seven thousand of the inhabitants of Jerusalem sought safety in retreat; but before they were out of sight, the banner of the cross was hoisted upon the walls by the savage foe to decoy them back. The artifice was but too successful. The poor fugitives imagined that help had arrived from another direction, and turned back to regain their homes. Nearly the whole of them were massacred, and the streets of Jerusalem ran with blood. The Templars, Hospitallers, and Teutonic knights forgot their long and bitter animosities, and joined hand in hand to rout out this desolating foe. They intrenched themselves in Jaffa with all the chivalry of Palestine that yet remained, and endeavored to engage the sultans of Emissa and Damascus to assist them against the common enemy. The aid obtained from the Moslems amounted at first to only four thousand men, but with these reinforcements Walter of Brienne, the lord of Jaffa, resolved to give battle to the Korasmins. The conflict was as deadly as despair on the one side, and unmitigated ferocity on the other, could make it. It lasted with varying fortune for two days, when the sultan of Emissa fled to his fortifications, and Walter of Brienne fell into the enemy's hands. The brave knight was suspended by the arms to a cross in sight of the walls of Jaffa, and the Korasminian leader declared that he should remain in that position until the city surrendered. Walter raised his feeble voice, not to advise surrender, but to command his soldiers to hold out to the last. But his gallantry was unavailing. So great had been the slaughter, that out of the grand array of knights, there now remained but sixteen Hospitallers, thirtythree Templars, and three Teutonic cavaliers. These, with the sad remnant of the army, fled to Acre, and the Korasmins were masters of Palestine. The sultans of Syria preferred the Christians to this fierce horde for their neighbors. Even the sultan of Egypt began to regret the aid he had given to such barbarous foes, and united with those of Emissa and Damascus to root them from the land. The Korasmins amounted to but twenty thousand men, and were unable to resist the determined hostility which encompassed them on every side. The sultans defeated them in several engagements, and the peasantry rose up in masses to take vengeance upon them. Gradually their numbers were diminished. No mercy was shown them in defeat. Barbaquan their leader was slain; and after five years of desperate struggles, they were extirpated, and Palestine became again the territory of the Mussulmans. tilential disease made its appearance, to which many hundreds fell victims. It was in consequence found necessary to remain in Cyprus until the spring. Louis then embarked for Egypt with his whole host; but a violent tempest separated his fleet, and he arrived before Damietta with only a few thousand men. They were, however, impetuous and full of hope; and although the Sultan Melick Shah was drawn up on the shore with a force infinitely superior, it was resolved to attempt a landing without waiting the arrival of the rest of the army. Louis himself, in wild impatience, sprung from his boat, and waded on shore; while his army, inspired by his enthusiastic bravery, followed, shouting the old war-cry of the first Crusaders, Dieu le veut! Dieu le veut! A panic seized the Turks. A body of their cavalry attempted to bear down upon the Crusaders, but the knights fixed their large shields deep in the sands of the shore, and rested their lances upon them, so that they projected above, and formed a barrier so imposing, that the Turks, afraid to breast it, turned round and fairly took to flight. At the moment of this panic, a false report was spread in the Saracen host, that the sultan had been slain. The confusion immediately became general-the déroute was complete: Damietta itself was abandoned, and the same night the victorious Crusaders fixed their A short time previous to this devastating eruption, Louis IX. fell sick in Paris, and dreamed, in the delirium of his fever, that he saw the Christian and Moslem host fighting before Jerusalem, and the Christians defeated with great slaughter. The dream made a great impression on his superstitious mind, and he made a solemn vow, that if ever he recovered his health, he would make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. When the news of the misfortunes of Palestine, and the awful massacres at Jerusalem and Jaffa, arrived in Europe, St. Louis remembered him of his dream. More persuaded than ever that it was an intimation direct from Heaven, he prepared to take the cross at the head of his armies, and march to the deliverance of the Holy Sepulcher. From that moment he doffed the royal mantle of purple and ermine, and dressed in the sober serge becoming a pilgrim. All his thoughts were directed to the fulfillment of his design; and although his kingdom could but ill spare him, he made every preparation to leave it. Pope Innocent IV. applauded his zeal, and afforded him every assistance. He wrote to Henry III. of England, to forward the cause in his dominions, and called upon the clergy and laity all over Europe to contribute toward it. William Longsword, the celebrated Earl of Salisbury, took the cross at the head of a great number of valiant knights and soldiers. But the fanaticism of the peo-head-quarters in that city. The soldiers ple was not to be awakened either in France or England. Great armies were raised, but the masses no longer sympathized. Taxation had been the great cooler of zeal. It was no longer a disgrace even to a knight if he refused to take the cross. This being the general feeling, it is not to be wondered at that Louis IX. was occupied fully three years in organizing his forces, and in making the necessary preparations for his departure. When all was ready he set sail for Cyprus, accompanied by his queen, his two brothers, the Counts d'Anjou and d'Artois, and a long train of the noblest chivalry of France. His third brother, the Count de Poitiers, remained behind to collect another corps of Crusaders, and followed him in a few months afterward. The army united at Cyprus, and amounted to fifty thousand men, exclusive of the English Crusaders under William Longsword. Again, a pes who had been separated from their chief by the tempest, arrived shortly afterward; and Louis was in a position to justify the hope, not only of the conquest of Palestine, but of Egypt itself. But too much confidence proved the bane of his army. They thought, as they had accomplished so much, that nothing more remained to be done, and gave themselves up to ease and luxury. When, by the command of Louis, they marched toward Cairo, they were no longer the same men; success, instead of inspiring, had unnerved them; debauchery had brought on disease, and disease was aggravated by the heat of a climate to which none of them were accustomed. Their progress toward Massoura, on the road to Cairo, was checked by the Thanisian canal, on the banks of which the Saracens were drawn up to dispute the passage. Louis gave orders that a bridge should be thrown across and the operations commenced under cover of two cat-castles, or high movable towers. The Saracens soon destroyed them by throwing quantities of Greek fire, the artillery of that day, upon them, and Louis was forced to think of some other means of effecting his design. A peasant agreed, for a considerable bribe, to point out a ford where the army might wade across, and the Count d'Artois was dispatched with fourteen hundred men to attempt it, while Louis remained to face the Saracens with the main body of the army. The Count d'Artois got safely over, and defeated the detachment that had | been sent to oppose his landing. Flushed with the victory, the brave count forgot the inferiority of his numbers, and pursued the panic-stricken enemy into Massoura. He was now completely cut off from the aid of his brother Crusaders, which the Moslems perceiving, took courage and returned upon him, with a force swollen by the garrison of Massoura, and by reinforcements from the surrounding districts. The battle now became hand to hand. The Christians fought with the energy of desperate men; but the continually increasing numbers of the foe surrounded them completely, and cut off all hope, either of victory or escape. The Count d'Artois was among the foremost of the slain; and when Louis arrived to the rescue, the brave advanced-guard was nearly cut to pieces. Of the fourteen hundred but three hundred remained. The fury of the battle was now increased threefold. The French king and his troops performed prodigies of valor, and the Saracens, under the command of the Emir Ceccidun, fought as if they were determined to exterminate, in one last decisive effort, the new European swarm that had settled upon their coast. At the fall of the evening dews the Christians were masters of the field of Massoura, and flattered themselves that they were the victors. Self-love would not suffer them to confess that the Saracens had withdrawn, and not retreated; but their leaders were too woefully convinced that that fatal field had completed the disorganization of the Christian army, and that all hopes of future conquest were at an end. Impressed with this truth, the Crusaders sued for peace. The sultan insisted upon the immediate evacuation of Damietta, and that Louis himself should be delivered as hostage for the fulfillment of the con dition. His army at once refused, and the negotiations were broken off. It was now resolved to attempt a retreat; but the agile Saracens, now in the front and now in the rear, rendered it a matter of extreme difficulty, and cut off the stragglers in great numbers. Hundreds of them were drowned in the Nile; and sickness and famine worked sad ravages upon those who escaped all other casualties. Louis himself was so weakened by disease, fatigue, and discouragement, that he was hardly able to sit upon his horse. In the confusion of the flight he was separated from his attendants, and left a total stranger upon the sands of Egypt, sick, weary, and almost friendless. One knight, Geffry de Sergines, alone attended him, and led him to a miserable hut in a small village, where for several days he lay in the hourly expectation of death. He was at last discovered and taken prisoner by the Saracens, who treated him with all the honor due to his rank and all the pity due to his misfortunes. Under their care his health rapidly improved, and the next consideration was that of his ransom. The Saracens demanded, beside money, the cession of Acre, Tripoli, and other cities of Palestine. Louis unhesitatingly refused, and conducted himself with so much pride and courage, that the sultan declared he was the proudest infidel he had ever beheld. After a good deal of haggling, the sultan agreed to wave these conditions, and a treaty was finally concluded. The city of Damietta was restored; a truce of ten years agreed upon; and ten thousand golden bezants paid for the release of Louis and the liberation of all the captives. Louis then withdrew to Jaffa, and spent two years in putting that city, and Cesarea, with the other possessions of the Christians in Palestine, in a proper state of defense. He then returned to his own country, with great reputation as a saint, but very little as a soldier. Matthew Paris informs us that, in the year 1250, while Louis was in Egypt, "thousands of the English were resolved to go to the holy war, had not the king strictly guarded his ports and kept his people from running out of doors." When the news arrived of the reverses and captivity of the French king, their ardor cooled; and the Crusade was sung of only, but not spoken of. In France, a very different feeling was the result. The news of the king's capture spread consternation through the country. A fanatic monk of Citeaux suddenly appeared in the villages, preaching to the people, and announcing that the Holy Virgin, accompanied by a whole army of saints and martyrs, had appeared to him, and commanded him to stir up the shepherds and farm-laborers to the defense of the cross. To them only was his discourse addressed; and his eloquence was such, that thousands flocked around him, ready to follow wherever he should lead. The pastures and the corn-fields were deserted, and the shepherds, or pastoureaux, as they were termed, became at last so numerous as to amount to upward of fifty thousand, -Millot says one hundred thousand men. The Queen Blanche, who governed as regent during the absence of the king, encouraged at first the armies of the pastoureaux; but they soon gave way to such vile excesses that the peaceably disposed were driven to resistance. Robbery, murder, and violation, marked their path; and all good men, assisted by the government, united in putting them down. They were finally dispersed, but not before three thousand of them had been massacred. Many authors say that the slaughter was still greater. VOL. V.-27 The ten years' truce concluded in 1264, and St. Louis was urged by two powerful motives to undertake a second expedition for the relief of Palestine. These were, fanaticism on the one hand, and a desire of retrieving his military fame on the other, which had suffered more than his WILLIAM LONGSWORD. |
