him at once. He leaped up from his bed as one beside himself, and looking round him with a quick troubled glance exclaimed, "Is it true that John, my very heart, the best beloved of all my sons, for whose advancement I have brought upon me all this misery, has forsaken me?" The reader had no other answer to make than to repeat the name. Henry saw that it was on the list, and threw himself back on the couch. He turned his face to the wall, and groaned deeply. "Now," he said, "let all things go what way they may; I care no more for myself nor for the world." His heart was broken, and his deathblow struck.

He could not, however, remain at Azai. His people carried him in a litter to Chinon,5 where Geoffrey was waiting for him. It was the fifth day of the fever, and in all probability he was delirious with the excitement of the morning. It was remembered and reported in England that after he was brought to Chinon he cursed the day on which he was born, and implored God's malison 6 on his sons: the bishops and priests about him implored him to revoke the curse, but he refused. But Giraldus, bitter enemy as he was, somewhat softened by his misfortune, tells a different tale. He draws the picture of the dying King leaning on Geoffrey's shoulder whilst one of his knights held his feet in his lap. Geoffrey was fanning the flies from the King's face, as he seemed to be sleeping. As they watched, the King revived and opened his eyes. He looked at Geoffrey and blessed him. "My son," he said, "my dearest, for that thou hast ever striven to show towards me such faithfulness and gratitude as son could show to father, if by God's mercy I shall recover of this sickness, I will of a

brought about Richard's revolt. secretly joined in the conspiracy. the Vienne, south of the Loire.

5

In spite of this John had A town and castle on 7 A historian

6 Curse.

of the time, who hated Henry and his sons.

surety do to thee the duty of the best of fathers, and I will set thee among the greatest and mightiest men of my dominion. But if I am to die without requiting thee, may God, who is the author and rewarder of all good, reward thee, because in every fortune alike thou hast shown thyself to me so true a son." Geoffrey, of whose sincere sorrow there can be no doubt, was overwhelmed with tears; he could but reply that all he prayed for was his father's health and prosperity. Another day passed, and the King's strength visibly waned. He kept crying at intervals, "Shame, shame on a conquered king." At last, when Geoffrey was again. by his side, the poor King kept telling him how he had destined him for the see of York, or, if not York, Winchester; but now he knew that he was dying. He drew off his best gold ring with the device of the panther, and bade him send it to his son-in-law, the King of Castile; and another very precious ring, with a sapphire of great price and virtue, he ordered to be delivered out of his treasure. Then he desired that his bed should be carried into the chapel, and placed before the altar. He had strength still to say some words of confession, and received "the Communion of the Body and Blood of the Lord with devotion." And so he died, on the seventh day of the fever, on the sixth of July, the octave of the Apostles Peter and Paul.

8

8 Geoffrey afterwards became Archbishop of York.

XIX.

KING RICHARD IN THE HOLY LAND.

MISS YONGE.

[Richard, who succeeded his father as King of England, only visited his realm to gather money for a Crusade, or war for the rescue of Jerusalem from the Mahommedans, which he had vowed to undertake with King Philip of France. Philip and he, however, quarrelled at their first exploit, the siege of Acre; and on the capture of the city the French King returned home. Richard then led his troops to the siege of Jerusalem.]

Ar the end of August, 1191, Richard led his crusading troops from Acre into the midst of the wilderness of Mount Carmel, where their sufferings were terrible; the rocky, sandy, and uneven ground was covered with bushes full of long sharp prickles, and swarms of noxious insects buzzed in the air, fevering the Europeans with their stings; and in addition to these natural obstacles, multitudes of Arab horsemen harassed them on every side, slaughtering every straggler who dropped behind from fatigue, and attacking them so unceasingly that it was remarked that throughout their day's track there was not one space of four feet without an arrow sticking in the ground. Richard fought indefatigably, always in the van and ready to reward the gallant exploits of his knights. A young knight who bore a white shield in hopes of gaining some honourable bearing so distinguished himself that Richard thus greeted him at the close of the day: "Maiden knight, you have borne yourself as a lion, and

done the deed of six croisés; "1 and granted him a lion between six crosses on a red field with the motto, "Tinctus crurore Saraceno," tinted with Saracen blood, whence his family are said to have assumed the name of Tynte.

3

At Arsaaf, on the 7th of September, a great battle was fought. Saladin 2 and his brother had almost defeated the two Religious Orders, and the gallant French knight, Jacques d'Avesne, after losing his leg by a stroke from a scimitar, fought bravely on, calling on the English King until he fell overpowered by numbers. Cœur de Lion and Guillaume des Barres retrieved the day, hewed down the enemy on all sides, and remained masters of the field. It is even said that Richard and Saladin met hand to hand, but this is uncertain. This victory opened the way to Joppa, where the Crusaders spent the next month in the repair of the fortifications, while the Saracen forces lay at Ascalon. While here Richard often amused himself with hawking, and one day was asleep under a tree when he was aroused by the approach of a party of Saracens, and springing on his horse Frannelle, which had been taken at Cyprus, he rashly pursued them and fell into ah ambush. Four knights were slain, and he would have been seized had not a Gascon knight, named Guillaume des Parcelets, called out that he himself was the Malek Rik,5 and allowed himself to be taken. Richard offered ten noble Saracens in exchange for this generous knight, whom Saladin restored, together with a valuable horse that had been captured at the same time. A present of another Arab steed accompanied them; but Richard's half-brother, William Longsword, insisted on trying

1 Crusaders: so called from their bearing the mark of a cross on their shoulders. 2 The Sultan of Egypt, who was in possession of the Holy Land. 3 The Templars and Hospitallers; orders formed for defence of the Holy Land. Richard, so called from his lion-like courage. 5 Great King, or Richard.

the animal before the King should mount it. No sooner was he on its back than it dashed at once across the country, and before he could stop it he found himself in the midst of the enemy's camp. The two Saracen princes were extremely shocked and distressed lest this should be supposed a trick, and instantly escorted Longsword back with a gift of three chargers which proved to be more manageable.

From Joppa the Crusaders marched to Ramla, and thence on New Year's Day, 1192, set out for Jerusalem through a country full of greater obstacles than they had yet encountered. They were too full of spirit to be discouraged until they came to Bethany, where the two Grand Masters" represented to Richard the imprudence of laying siege to such fortifications as those of Jerusalem at such a season of the year, while Ascalon was ready in his rear for a post whence the enemy would attack him.

He yielded and retreated to Ascalon, which Saladin had ruined and abandoned, and began eagerly to repair the fortifications so as to be able to leave a garrison there. The soldiers grumbled, saying they had not come to Palestine to build Ascalon, but to conquer Jerusalem; whereupon Richard set the example of himself carrying stones, and called on Leopold to do the same. The sulky reply, "He was not the son of a mason," so irritated Richard that he struck him a blow; Leopold straightway quitted the army and returned to Austria.

It was not without great grief and many struggles that Cœur de Lion finally gave up his hopes of taking Jerusalem. He again advanced as far as Bethany; but a quarrel with Hugh of Burgundy and the defection of the Austrians made it impossible for him to proceed, and he turned back to Ramla. While riding out with a party of knights, one of

6 The masters of the two orders of religious knighthood, the Templars and Hospitallers. 7 The Duke of Austria.