agnifies the exploits of the Latins.]

For their salvation and victory, they were indebted to the same
fanaticism which had led them to the brink of ruin. In such a cause, and
in such an army, visions, prophecies, and miracles, were frequent and
familiar. In the distress of Antioch, they were repeated with unusual
energy and success: St. Ambrose had assured a pious ecclesiastic, that
two years of trial must precede the season of deliverance and grace; the
deserters were stopped by the presence and reproaches of Christ himself;
the dead had promised to arise and combat with their brethren; the
Virgin had obtained the pardon of their sins; and their confidence was
revived by a visible sign, the seasonable and splendid discovery of
the Holy Lance. The policy of their chiefs has on this occasion been
admired, and might surely be excused; but a pious baud is seldom
produced by the cool conspiracy of many persons; and a voluntary
impostor might depend on the support of the wise and the credulity of
the people. Of the diocese of Marseilles, there was a priest of low
cunning and loose manners, and his name was Peter Bartholemy. He
presented himself at the door of the council-chamber, to disclose an
apparition of St. Andrew, which had been thrice reiterated in his sleep
with a dreadful menace, if he presumed to suppress the commands of
Heaven. "At Antioch," said the apostle, "in the church of my brother
St. Peter, near the high altar, is concealed the steel head of the lance
that pierced the side of our Redeemer. In three days that instrument
of eternal, and now of temporal, salvation, will be manifested to his
disciples. Search, and ye shall find: bear it aloft in battle; and that
mystic weapon shall penetrate the souls of the miscreants." The
pope's legate, the bishop of Puy, affected to listen with coldness and
distrust; but the revelation was eagerly accepted by Count Raymond, whom
his faithful subject, in the name of the apostle, had chosen for the
guardian of the holy lance. The experiment was resolved; and on the
third day after a due preparation of prayer and fasting, the priest
of Marseilles introduced twelve trusty spectators, among whom were the
count and his chaplain; and the church doors were barred against the
impetuous multitude. The ground was opened in the appointed place; but
the workmen, who relieved each other, dug to the depth of twelve feet
without discovering the object of their search. In the evening, when