hat he
was burned so severely, that he never recovered, and, after lingering
for some days, he expired in great agony.

Most of the soldiers were suffering either from wounds, disease, or
weariness, and it was resolved by Godfrey,--the tacitly acknowledged
chief of the enterprize,--that the army should have time to refresh
itself ere they advanced upon Jerusalem. It was now July, and he
proposed that they should pass the hot months of August and September
within the walls of Antioch, and march forward in October with renewed
vigour, and numbers increased by fresh arrivals from Europe. This
advice was finally adopted, although the enthusiasts of the army
continued to murmur at the delay. In the mean time the Count of
Vermandois was sent upon an embassy to the Emperor Alexius at
Constantinople, to reproach him for his base desertion of the cause,
and urge him to send the reinforcements he had promised. The Count
faithfully executed his mission, (of which, by the way, Alexius took no
notice whatever,) and remained for some time at Constantinople, till
his zeal, never very violent, totally evaporated. He then returned to
France, sick of the Crusade, and determined to intermeddle with it no
more.

The chiefs, though they had determined to stay at Antioch for two
months, could not remain quiet for so long a time. They would, in all
probability, have fallen upon each other, had there been no Turks in
Palestine upon whom they might vent their impetuosity. Godfrey
proceeded to Edessa, to aid his brother Baldwin in expelling the
Saracens from his principality, and the other leaders carried on
separate hostilities against them as caprice or ambition dictated. At
length the impatience of the army to be led against Jerusalem became so
great that the chiefs could no longer delay, and Raymond, Tancred, and
Robert of Normandy marched forward with their divisions, and laid siege
to the small but strong town of Marah. With their usual improvidence,
they had not food enough to last a beleaguering army for a week. They
suffered great privations in consequence, till Bohemund came to their
aid and took the town by storm. In connexion with this siege, the
chronicler, Raymond d'Agilles, (the same Raymond, the chaplain, who
figured in the affair of the Holy Lance,) relates a legend, in the
truth of which he devoutly believed, and upon which Tasso has founded
one of the most beautiful passages of his poem. It is worth preserving,
as showing t