sade. The King of France was
sagacious, wise, deliberate in council, steady and calm in action,
seeing clearly, and steadily pursuing, the measures most for the
interest of his kingdom--dignified and royal in his deportment, brave in
person, but a politician rather than a warrior. The Crusade would
have been no choice of his own; but the spirit was contagious, and the
expedition was enforced upon him by the church, and by the unanimous
wish of his nobility. In any other situation, or in a milder age, his
character might have stood higher than that of the adventurous Coeur de
Lion. But in the Crusade, itself an undertaking wholly irrational, sound
reason was the quality of all others least estimated, and the chivalric
valour which both the age and the enterprise demanded was considered as
debased if mingled with the least touch of discretion. So that the merit
of Philip, compared with that of his haughty rival, showed like the
clear but minute flame of a lamp placed near the glare of a huge,
blazing torch, which, not possessing half the utility, makes ten times
more impression on the eye. Philip felt his inferiority in public
opinion with the pain natural to a high-spirited prince; and it cannot
be wondered at if he took such opportunities as offered for placing his
own character in more advantageous contrast with that of his rival. The
present seemed one of those occasions in which prudence and calmness
might reasonably expect to triumph over obstinacy and impetuous
violence.

"What means this unseemly broil betwixt the sworn brethren of the
Cross--the royal Majesty of England and the princely Duke Leopold? How
is it possible that those who are the chiefs and pillars of this holy
expedition--"

"A truce with thy remonstrance, France," said Richard, enraged inwardly
at finding himself placed on a sort of equality with Leopold, yet not
knowing how to resent it. "This duke, or prince, or pillar, if you will,
hath been insolent, and I have chastised him--that is all. Here is a
coil, forsooth, because of spurning a hound!"

"Majesty of France," said the Duke, "I appeal to you and every sovereign
prince against the foul indignity which I have sustained. This King of
England hath pulled down my banner-torn and trampled on it."

"Because he had the audacity to plant it beside mine," said Richard.

"My rank as thine equal entitled me," replied the Duke, emboldened by
the presence of Philip.

"Assert such equality for thy