im possession of all Richard's transmarine dominions; and had not
the authority of Queen Eleanor, and the menaces of the English council,
prevailed over the inclinations of that turbulent prince, he was ready
to have crossed the seas, and to have put in execution his criminal
enterprises.

The jealousy of Philip was every moment excited by the glory which the
great actions of Richard were gaining him in the east, and which, being
compared to his own desertion of that popular cause, threw a double
lustre on his rival. His envy, therefore, prompted him to obscure
that fame which he had not equalled; and he embraced every pretence of
throwing the most violent and most improbable calumnies on the king of
England. There was a petty prince in Asia, commonly called the Old Man
of the Mountain, who had acquired such an ascendant over his fanatical
subjects, that they paid the most implicit deference to his commands;
esteemed assassination meritorious when sanctified by his mandate;
courted danger, and even certain death, in the execution of his orders;
and fancied, that when they sacrificed their lives for his sake, the
highest joys of paradise were the infallible reward of their devoted
obedience.[*] It was the custom of this prince, when he imagined
himself injured, to despatch secretly some of his subjects against the
aggressor, to charge them with the execution of his revenge, to instruct
them in every art of disguising their purpose; and no precaution was
sufficient to guard any man, however powerful, against the attempts of
these subtle and determined ruffians. The greatest monarchs stood in awe
of this prince of the assassins, (for that was the name of his people.
whence the word has passed into most European languages,) and it was the
highest indiscretion in Conrade, marquis of Montferrat, to offend
and affront him. The inhabitants of Tyre, who were governed by that
nobleman, had put to death some of this dangerous people: the prince
demanded satisfaction; for as he piqued himself on never beginning any
offence,[**] he had his regular and established formalities in requiring
atonement: Conrade treated his messengers with disdain: the prince
issued the fatal orders: two of his subjects, who had insinuated
themselves in disguise among Conrade's guards, openly, in the streets
of Sidon, wounded him mortally; and when they were seized and put to the
most cruel tortures, they triumphed amidst their agonies, and rejoiced
that