nts of
his horse were peculiarly unfit for the traveller in such a country. A
coat of linked mail, with long sleeves, plated gauntlets, and a steel
breastplate, had not been esteemed a sufficient weight of armour; there
were also his triangular shield suspended round his neck, and his barred
helmet of steel, over which he had a hood and collar of mail, which
was drawn around the warrior's shoulders and throat, and filled up the
vacancy between the hauberk and the headpiece. His lower limbs were
sheathed, like his body, in flexible mail, securing the legs and thighs,
while the feet rested in plated shoes, which corresponded with the
gauntlets. A long, broad, straight-shaped, double-edged falchion, with
a handle formed like a cross, corresponded with a stout poniard on the
other side. The knight also bore, secured to his saddle, with one end
resting on his stirrup, the long steel-headed lance, his own proper
weapon, which, as he rode, projected backwards, and displayed its little
pennoncelle, to dally with the faint breeze, or drop in the dead calm.
To this cumbrous equipment must be added a surcoat of embroidered cloth,
much frayed and worn, which was thus far useful that it excluded the
burning rays of the sun from the armour, which they would otherwise have
rendered intolerable to the wearer. The surcoat bore, in several places,
the arms of the owner, although much defaced. These seemed to be a
couchant leopard, with the motto, "I sleep; wake me not." An outline of
the same device might be traced on his shield, though many a blow had
almost effaced the painting. The flat top of his cumbrous cylindrical
helmet was unadorned with any crest. In retaining their own unwieldy
defensive armour, the Northern Crusaders seemed to set at defiance the
nature of the climate and country to which they had come to war.

The accoutrements of the horse were scarcely less massive and unwieldy
than those of the rider. The animal had a heavy saddle plated with
steel, uniting in front with a species of breastplate, and behind with
defensive armour made to cover the loins. Then there was a steel axe,
or hammer, called a mace-of-arms, and which hung to the saddle-bow. The
reins were secured by chain-work, and the front-stall of the bridle was
a steel plate, with apertures for the eyes and nostrils, having in the
midst a short, sharp pike, projecting from the forehead of the horse
like the horn of the fabulous unicorn.

But habit had made the