"A woodsman's mark, and at woodsman's distance, I can hit,' answered the yec

man.

"And Wat Tyrrell's mark, at a hundred yards,' said a voice from behind, but by whom uttered could not be discerned.

". This allusion to the fate of William Rufus, his grandfather, at once incensed and alarmed Prince John. He satisfied himself, however, with commanding the men-atarms, who surrounded the lists, to keep an eye on that braggart, pointing to the yeoman. "By St. Grizzel,' he added, we will try his own skill, who is so ready to give his voice to the feats of others.'

" I shall not fly the trial," said the yeoman, with the composure which marked his whole deportment.

" Meanwhile, stand up, ye Saxon churls,' said the fiery Prince; for, by the light of heaven, since I have said it, the Jew shall have his seat amongst ye!'

" By no means, an it please your grace-it is not fit for such as us to sit with the rulers of the land,' said the Jew, whose ambition for precedence, though it had led him to dispute place with the extenuated and impoverished descendant of the line of Montdidier, by no means urged him to an intrusion upon the privileges of the wealthy Saxons.

"" Up, infidel dog, when I command you,' said Prince John, or I will have thy swarthy hide stript off, and tanned for horse-furniture.'

"Thus urged, the Jew began to ascend the steep and narrow steps which led up to the gallery.

" Let me see,' said the Prince, who dare stop him,' fixing his eye on Cedric, whose attitude intimated his intention to hurl the Jew down headlong.

"The catastrophe was prevented by the clown Wamba, who, springing betwixt his master and Isaac, and exclaiming, in answer to the Prince's defiance, Marry, that will I,' opposed to the beard of the Jew a shield of brawn, which he plucked from beneath his cloak, and with which, doubtless, he had furnished himself lest the tournament should have proved longer than his appetite could endure abstinence. Finding the abomination of his tribe opposed to his very nose, while the Jester, at the same time, flourished his wooden sword above his head, the Jew recoiled, missed his footing, and rolled down the steps, an excellent jest to the spectators, who set up a loud laughter, in which Prince John and his attendants heartily joined.

"" Deal me the prize, cousin Prince,' said Wamba; I have vanquished my foe in fair fight with sword and shield,' he added, brandishing the brawn in one hand and the wooden sword in the other.

" Who, and what art thou, noble champion?" said Prince John, still laughing. "A fool by right of descent,' answered the Jester; I am Wamba, the son of Witless, who was the son of Weatherbrain, who was the son of an Alderman.'

"Make room for the Jew in front of the lower ring,' said Prince John, not unwilling perhaps to seize an apology to desist from his original purpose; to place the vanquished beside the victor were false heraldry.'

" Knave upon fool were worse,' answered the Jester, ' and Jew upon bacon worst

of all.'

"Gramercy! good fellow,' cried Prince John, ⚫ thou pleasest me-Here, Isaac, lend me a handful of byzants.'

t

"As the Jew, stunned by the request, afraid to refuse, and unwilling to comply, fumbled in the furred bag which hung by his girdle, and was perhaps endeavouring to ascertain how few coins might pass for a handful, the Prince stooped from his jennet, and settled Isaac's doubts by snatching the pouch itself from his side; and flinging to Wamba a couple of the gold pieces which it contained, he pursued his career round the lists, leaving the Jew to the derision of those around him, and himself receiving as much applause from the spectators as if he had done some honest and honourable action." Pp. 144-156.

An unfeeling insult to the prejudices of the times is attempted by John; were it for nothing, he said, but to mortify the Saxon churls, " For Jew or Saxon, dog or hog, are alike to me"-he proposes that Rebecca the Jewess should be "the Queen of Beauty and of Love!" The capricious and childish prince had

no reference to her transcendent merit, equally unknown and unintelligible to him. He meant to shock the feelngs of all around, in that age of Jewish degradation; and the author, by the incident, gives another glowing touch to the lineaments of that Prince's character, both in the attempt itself, and in the sneaking and pettish manner in which it is abandoned, when several barons around-thereby giving earnest of more stern remonstrance, to come in proper time and place-boldly cry down the poor attempt. " I did but jest," he said, "and you turn upon me like so many adders. Name whom you will, in the fiend's name, and please yourselves." De Bracy, a knight in attendance on the Prince, of a free and joyous spirit, but profligate character, proposes to leave the throne vacant, and let the victor for the first day name the Queen for the whole tournament. This is agreed to, and the business begins. The heralds proclaim the laws of the tournament, and there is much interest in their minute and pointed detail. The largesse is poured, in golden showers from the brilliant galleries, upon the heralds. "Love of ladies-death of Champions-honour to the generous-glory to the brave"-are shouted through the lists; while cheers from the multitude, and flourishes of trumpets, awaken all the enthusiasm of the occasion. The marshals of the lists remain alone at the opposite extremities, armed cap-a-pee, motionless as statues; and all is silence and expectation. Five knights advance in all the pride and trappings of chivalry. The author excuses himself from naming them, by a very striking allusion to the oblivion of six centuries which has covered them, and many a succeeding gallant race; to them in distant futurity, in remote antiquity to us. Of this recked not the five knights when they advanced into the lists; and it is impossible to imagine human bosoms more intensely excited than theirs at that moment, or having so many overpowering feelings contending for the mastery; the alternative was splendid, renown or miserable disgrace, and the decision was to be instantaneous. The five knights, to the great disappointment of the ladies, choose the bloodless encounter, in token of which the shield was struck with the reverse of the lance, and the weapons were rendered harmless by a piece of wood fixed on the point. They are worsted by the five challengers, except in one instance, where lances are shivered, and the luck is equal. The four defeated knights make a very sorry figure, having forfeited horses and arms to the victors. Several fresh parties of knights enter the lists, but victory rests with the challengers on the whole. A pause in the tournament is still uninterrupted, exrept by the heralds exclaiming" Love of ladies, splintering of lances! stand forth, gallant knights! fair eyes look upon your deeds." The music of the challengers becomes louder, and more and more in defiance. Brian de Bois-Guilbert has overthrown two knights, and foiled a third, with the same spear. The Prince is giving orders for the banquet, and talks of adjudging the prize, when,

"At length, as the Saracenic music of the challengers concluded one of those long and high flourishes with which they had broken the silence of the lists, it was answered by a solitary trumpet, which breathed a note of defiance from the northern extremity. All eyes were turned to see the new champion which these sounds announced, and no sooner were the barriers opened than he paced into the lists. As far as could be judged of a man sheathed in armour, the new adventurer did not greatly exceed the middle size, and seemed to be rather slender than strongly made. His suit of armour was formed of steel, richly inlaid with gold, and the device on his shield was a young oak-tree pulled up by the roots, with the Spanish word Desdichado, signifying Disinherited. He was mounted on a gallant black horse, and as he passed through the lists, he gracefully saluted the Prince and the ladies by lowering his lance. The dexterity with which he managed his horse, and something of youthful grace which he displayed in his manner, won him the favour of the multitude, which some of the lower classes expressed by crying, Touch Ralph de Vipont's shield-touch the Hospitaller's shield; he has the least sure seat, he is your cheapest bargain.'

"The champion, moving onward amid these well-meant hints, ascended the platform by the sloping alley which led to it from the lists, and, to the astonishment of all present, riding straight up to the central pavilion, struck with the sharp end of his spear the shield of Brian de Bois-Guilbert until it rung again. All stood astonished at his presumption, but none more than the redoubted Knight whom he had thus defied to mortal combat.

"Have you confessed yourself, brother,' said the Templar, and have you heard mass this morning, that you peril your life so frankly?"

" I am fitter to meet death than thou art,' answered the Disinherited Knight, for by this name the stranger had recorded himself in the books of the tourney.

" Then take your place in the lists,' said De Bois-Guilbert, and look your last upon the sun; for this night thou shalt sleep in paradise.'

"Gramercy for thy courtesy, replied the Disinherited Knight, and to requite it, I advise thee to take a fresh horse and a new lance, for by my honour you will need both.'

Having expressed himself thus confidently, he reined his horse backwards down the slope which he had ascended, and compelled him in the same manner to move backwards through the lists, till he reached the northern extremity, where he remained stationary, in expectation of his antagonist. This feat of horsemanship again attracted the applause of the multitude." Vol. I. p. 164-166.

The first close is equal, the lances are shivered-but in the second the proud Templar rolls on the ground. Springing to his feet, he draws his sword; the unknown knight likewise dismounts and draws; but the marshals forbid that species of encounter. "We shall meet again, I trust," said the Templar, " and where there are none to separate us." " If we do not," answered the Disinherited Knight, " the fault shall not be mine." Bois-Guilbert retired to his tent, and remained there the rest of the day, in an agony of despair. The unknown knight now rings the shields of the other four knights challengers; defeats them one by one,-Front-de-Bœuf, Malvoisin, Grant-Mesnil, Vipont; and amid the acclamations of thousands, is declared the victor of the day. He receives the prize from Prince John, who has some fears lest the unknown should answer " in the awful accents of his brother, Richard." The knight receives, on the point of his lance, the chaplet or coronet, which he is to lay at the feet of her whom he shall name the Queen of Beauty and of Love; and the Prince hints, that as he is a stranger, he could not choose better than the daughter of Waldemar Fitzurse; whose father is a favourite of his own, and a zealous abettor of his treason to Richard. The knight, however, does not take the hint. The following is highly characteristic.

"The Disinherited Knight passed the gallery close to that of the Prince, in which the Lady Alicia was seated in the full pride of triumphant beauty, and, pacing forwards as slowly as he had hitherto rode swiftly around the lists, he seemed to exercise his right of examining the numerous fair faces which adorned that splendid circle.

"It was worth while to see the different conduct of the beauties who underwent this examination, during the time it was going forward. Some blushed, some assumed an air of pride and dignity, some looked straight forward, and essayed to seem utterly unconscious of what was going on, some endeavoured to forbear smiling, and there were two or three who laughed outright. There were also some who dropped their veils over their charms; but, as the Wardour Manuscript says these were beauties of ten years' standing, it may be supposed that, having had their full share of such vanities, they were willing to withdraw their claim, in order to give a fair chance to the rising beauties of the age." Vol. I. p. 182, 103.

It is needless to say that the Lady Rowena was preferred. The knight is not unvizored till the next day, when he is likewise the victor in what is called the mêlée; where a number of knights on each side have a tremendous encounter; a scene narrated with matchless spirit by the author. The Disinherited Knight is left alone against Bois-Guilbert, Front-deBœuf, and Athelstane, who chose that side for reasons which he gave, and there is a general cry, that the Prince should drop his truncheon and put an end to the combat, to save so brave a knight from being overcome by odds.

"Not I, by the light of heaven!" said the mean-spirited tyrant. This same springal, who conccals his name, and despises our proffered hospitality, hath already gained one prize, and may now let others have their turn.' As he spoke thus, an unexpected incident changed the fortune of the day." Vol. I. p. 250.

A knight in black armour, who has been inactive in the fight, and is called by the spectators Le Noir Faineant, or the Black Sluggard, comes to the assistance of the Disinherited Knight like a thunderbolt, and in an instant discomfits Front-de-Bœuf and Athelstane, and again resumes his manner of indifference. The Disinherited then closes with Bois-Guilbert, and casts man and horse to the ground. The victor springs from horseback, and commands the Templar to yield, when Prince John, in his

own little way, then sees fit to stop the conflict. The same paltry spirit induces him to deny to the Disinherited Knight the prize, and to declare for the Black Knight, without whom, he said, the other must have been vanquished; although he had overthrown six champions, and among them the leader of the opposite party. The Black Knight, however, is nowhere to be found, and the Prince is constrained to declare the Disinherited the conqueror. He is led to Rowena's throne. The laws of the tournament require him to take off his casque; and Ivanhoe, pale and wounded, is revealed to the applauding multitude, while he lies senseless at the Lady's feet.

The yeomen now shoot for the prize of archery. Prince John renews his paltry quarrel with the bold Locksley, but all his attempts to perplex him are foiled by the yeoman's inimitable selfpossession, and consummate skill in archery. If the other archers miss the white, he transfixes it; if they hit it, he shivers their arrow; and having obtained leave to erect a mark of his own, a peeled willow wand, at five-score yards distance, he splits it with his arrow. To him the unwilling Prince must give the baldric and bugle-horn, There is great spirit in this picture of Robin Hood. A trait of generosity in that gallant outlaw occurred the night before. Gurth finds out Ivanhoe, and is of great service to him. The faithful serf is sent into Ashby after the first day's success, to pay the value of steed and armour to Isaac, who tells every coin into his pouch with Judaical precision, nothing anticipating that his daughter Rebecca had the whole sum, and more, ready in another bag to commit to Gurth for Ivanhoe's use. Gurth in his way home is seized and pinioned by robbers; and is soon in the presence of Robin Hood, He tells the tale of the generosity of the Jewess, and that the money belongs to the victor of the day, the Disinherited Knight. This last circumstance secures its safety; but the outlaw humorously puts it to the account of the marvel that a Jew or Jewess should be liberal, and truly he must not be outdone by them. If Gurth will fight his way with one of the outlaws at quarter-staff, he shall go free. This singular art is then described, for nothing is omitted. Gurth overcomes his antagonist, who, from the rapidity of the swine-herd's swing or twirl of his staff, cannot touch him. He is dismissed with safe-conduct to the meadow where Ivanhoe's tent stood and no notice is taken of a pretty knock-down blow which he gave to Robin Hood himself when off his guard.

Cedric and Athelstane accept the Prince's invitation to the banquet, where they are of course insulted, and leave the hall in wrath and disdain. A plan is laid by Front-de-Bœuf, Bois