in hath heard our Christian teachers," said the Bishop, somewhat
evasively--"my unworthy self, and others--and as he listens with
patience, and replies with calmness, it can hardly be but that he be
snatched as a brand from the burning. MAGNA EST VERITAS, ET PREVALEBIT!
moreover, the hermit of Engaddi, few of whose words have fallen
fruitless to the ground, is possessed fully with the belief that there
is a calling of the Saracens and the other heathen approaching, to which
this marriage shall be matter of induction. He readeth the course of
the stars; and dwelling, with maceration of the flesh, in those divine
places which the saints have trodden of old, the spirit of Elijah the
Tishbite, the founder of his blessed order, hath been with him as it was
with the prophet Elisha, the son of Shaphat, when he spread his mantle
over him."

King Richard listened to the Prelate's reasoning with a downcast brow
and a troubled look.

"I cannot tell," he said, "How, it is with me, but methinks these cold
counsels of the Princes of Christendom have infected me too with a
lethargy of spirit. The time hath been that, had a layman proposed such
alliance to me, I had struck him to earth--if a churchman, I had spit at
him as a renegade and priest of Baal; yet now this counsel sounds not
so strange in mine ear. For why should I not seek for brotherhood and
alliance with a Saracen, brave, just, generous--who loves and honours
a worthy foe, as if he were a friend--whilst the Princes of Christendom
shrink from the side of their allies, and forsake the cause of Heaven
and good knighthood? But I will possess my patience, and will not think
of them. Only one attempt will I make to keep this gallant brotherhood
together, if it be possible; and if I fail, Lord Archbishop, we will
speak together of thy counsel, which, as now, I neither accept nor
altogether reject. Wend we to the Council, my lord--the hour calls
us. Thou sayest Richard is hasty and proud--thou shalt see him humble
himself like the lowly broom-plant from which he derives his surname."

With the assistance of those of his privy chamber, the King then hastily
robed himself in a doublet and mantle of a dark and uniform colour; and
without any mark of regal dignity, excepting a ring of gold upon his
head, he hastened with the Archbishop of Tyre to attend the Council,
which waited but his presence to commence its sitting.

The pavilion of the Council was an ample tent, having before