and received from the
fatal scroll which accompanied each dish the sad assurance that this
resemblance was not imaginary. They sat in torpid silence, anticipating
their own fate in that of their countrymen; while their ferocious
entertainer, with fury in his eyes, but with courtesy on his lips,
insulted them by frequent invitations to merriment. At length this first
course was removed, and its place supplied by venison, cranes, and other
dainties, accompanied by the richest wines. The king then apologized to
them for what had passed, which he attributed to his ignorance of their
taste; and assured them of his religious respect for their characters as
ambassadors, and of his readiness to grant them a safe-conduct for their
return. This boon was all that they now wished to claim; and

"King Richard spake to an old man,
'Wendes home to your Soudan!
His melancholy that ye abate;
And sayes that ye came too late.
Too slowly was your time y-guessed;
Ere ye came, the flesh was dressed,
That men shoulden serve with me,
Thus at noon, and my meynie.
Say him, it shall him nought avail,
Though he for-bar us our vitail,
Bread, wine, fish, flesh, salmon, and conger;
Of us none shall die with hunger,
While we may wenden to fight,
And slay the Saracens downright,
Wash the flesh, and roast the head.
With 0 [One] Saracen I may well feed
Well a nine or a ten
Of my good Christian men.
King Richard shall warrant,
There is no flesh so nourissant
Unto an English man,
Partridge, plover, heron, ne swan,
Cow ne ox, sheep ne swine,
As the head of a Sarazyn.
There he is fat, and thereto tender,
And my men be lean and slender.
While any Saracen quick be,
Livand now in this Syrie,
For meat will we nothing care.
Abouten fast we shall rare,
And every day we shall eat
All as many as we may get.
To England will we nought gon,
Till they be eaten every one.'"

ELLIS'S SPECIMENS OF EARLY ENGLISH METRICEL ROMANCES.

The reader may be curious to know owing to what circumstances so
extraordinary an invention as that which imputed cannibalism to the King
of England should have found its way into his history. Mr. James, to
whom we owe so much that is curious, seems to have traced the origin of
this extraordinary rumour.

"With the army of the cross also was a multitud