Baudouin
de Bouillon, conducted themselves with proper courtesy on this
occasion, but were not able to restrain the insolence of their
followers, who did not conceive themselves bound to keep any terms with
a man so insincere as he had shown himself. One barbarous chieftain,
Count Robert of Paris, carried his insolence so far as to seat himself
upon the throne, an insult which Alexius merely resented with a sneer,
but which did not induce him to look with less mistrust upon the hordes
that were still advancing.

It is impossible, notwithstanding his treachery, to avoid feeling some
compassion for the Emperor, whose life at this time was rendered one
long scene of misery by the presumption of the crusaders, and his not
altogether groundless fears of the evil they might inflict upon him,
should any untoward circumstance force the current of their ambition to
the conquest of his empire. His daughter, Anna Comnena, feelingly
deplores his state of life at this time, and a learned German, [M.
Wilken's Geschichte der Kreuzzuge.] in a recent work, describes it, on
the authority of the Princess, in the following manner:--

"To avoid all occasion of offence to the Crusaders, Alexius complied
with all their whims, and their (on many occasions) unreasonable
demands, even at the expense of great bodily exertion, at a time when
he was suffering severely under the gout, which eventually brought him
to his grave. No crusader who desired an interview with him was refused
access: he listened with the utmost patience to the long-winded
harangues which their loquacity or zeal continually wearied him with:
he endured, without expressing any impatience, the unbecoming and
haughty language which they permitted themselves to employ towards him,
and severely reprimanded his officers when they undertook to defend the
dignity of the Imperial station from these rude assaults; for he
trembled with apprehension at the slightest disputes, lest they might
become the occasion of greater evil. Though the Counts often appeared
before him with trains altogether unsuitable to their dignity and to
his--sometimes with an entire troop, which completely filled the Royal
apartment--the Emperor held his peace. He listened to them at all
hours; he often seated himself on his throne at day-break to attend to
their wishes and requests, and the evening twilight saw him still in
the same place. Very frequently he could not snatch time to refresh
himself with meat