as to others that I yielded the dominion. If
I have been headstrong in urging bold counsels, I have not, methinks,
spared my own blood or my people's in carrying them into as bold
execution; or if I have, in the hurry of march or battle, assumed a
command over the soldiers of others, such have been ever treated as my
own when my wealth purchased the provisions and medicines which their
own sovereigns could not procure. But it shames me to remind you of what
all but myself seem to have forgotten. Let us rather look forward to
our future measures; and believe me, brethren," he continued, his face
kindling with eagerness, "you shall not find the pride, or the wrath,
or the ambition of Richard a stumbling-block of offence in the path to
which religion and glory summon you as with the trumpet of an archangel.
Oh, no, no! never would I survive the thought that my frailties and
infirmities had been the means to sever this goodly fellowship of
assembled princes. I would cut off my left hand with my right, could my
doing so attest my sincerity. I will yield up, voluntarily, all right to
command in the host--even mine own liege subjects. They shall be led by
such sovereigns as you may nominate; and their King, ever but too apt to
exchange the leader's baton for the adventurer's lance, will serve
under the banner of Beau-Seant among the Templars--ay, or under that of
Austria, if Austria will name a brave man to lead his forces. Or if
ye are yourselves a-weary of this war, and feel your armour chafe your
tender bodies, leave but with Richard some ten or fifteen thousand of
your soldiers to work out the accomplishment of your vow; and when
Zion is won," he exclaimed, waving his hand aloft, as if displaying the
standard of the Cross over Jerusalem--"when Zion is won, we will write
upon her gates, NOT the name of Richard Plantagenet, but of those
generous princes who entrusted him with the means of conquest!"

The rough eloquence and determined expression of the military monarch
at once roused the drooping spirits of the Crusaders, reanimated their
devotion, and, fixing their attention on the principal object of the
expedition, made most of them who were present blush for having been
moved by such petty subjects of complaint as had before engrossed them.
Eye caught fire from eye, voice lent courage to voice. They resumed, as
with one accord, the war-cry with which the sermon of Peter the Hermit
was echoed back, and shouted aloud, "Lead