turn the assembled multitudes. Soon, before the resistless might of that gifted preacher's warm but most simple eloquence, were the hearts of that vast multitude swayed and bowed, " even as the heart of one man." A simultaneous cry of "Crosses, crosses," burst forth; and band after band pressed forward to receive the badge, that pledged them not merely to a long and wearisome pilgrimage, but to a fierce and deadly warfare beneath the burning sun of Palestine. Ladies, the fairest and noblest, stretched forth a joyful hand to receive the scrip and staff of the pilgrim; and when the gifted preacher, having distributed all the crosses which had been prepared, looked anxiously round upon the still crowding company,-in the eager enthusiasm of the moment, vests and mantles were swiftly offered regardless of their value, that they might be formed into crosses to supply the demands of the multitude. "It is unnecessary to describe the miracles which took place after this," continues the wondering chronicler; mistaking the wonders which strongly excited feelings have so frequently produced for visible interpositions of Heaven in support of a cause, in which he adds, "it was evidently seen that God was well pleased."

If the self-denying mind of that most excellent though often mistaken man, St. Bernard, could have admitted feelings of earthly pride, in the contemplation of the proud list of knights and nobles, and high-born dames, who on the plain of Vizila pledged themselves "to advance the banner of our Lord in his own land," that feeling had found ample

scope; for on it might be read the names of the king, the queen, the king's mother, the count of Tholouse, the count de Nevers, the counts of Ponthieu and of Flanders, and many an illustrious scion of the de Coucis, the de Bourbons, the de Lusignans, and the de Courtenayes.

From Vizila the king returned to Paris; and at Pentecost, having first visited the various religious houses and hospitals, he proceeded to St. Denis, where, after dining with the monks in the common refectory, and receiving and bestowing on each the kiss of peace, the royal pilgrim proceeded to the church, and received the staff and scrip, sent by pope Eugenius; and that precious banner, beneath whose protecting guidance each king of France deemed himself secure of victory-the "oriflamme."* A king so devout could not but be considered worthy of all success. The united eulogies of every churchman in the kingdom fanned the enthusiastic flame which St. Bernard had first awakened; and never perhaps did Croise brace on his mail with more certain anticipations of victory, than did "the glorious king Louis. Eagerly too, though not so devoutly, did the fair Elinor prepare for her eventful journey. Bands of minstrels and troubadours were summoned to attend her progress; and like some lady of romance, with a splendid train of knights, pages, and attendant damsels, she quitted the "good city of Paris."

Nor had the overmastering eloquence of St. Bernard been less successful in other lands: Conrad the Third

* Vita Lud. VII. Vide Recueil des IIistoriens de France, tome 12.

of Germany, with a numerous host, also set forth; and the united forces of the royal leaders of the second crusade, has been estimated at 200,000 men. But the ardent-minded, visionary abbot of Clairvaux was inspired by no spirit of prophecy, when he assured to that vast army abundant success: their bones whitened the mountains of Cappadocia, and the plains of Nice; for the emperor Manuel, although brother-in-law to Conrad, exerted every energy, with a perfidy unexampled save in the annals of the lower empire, to destroy the hapless army. Deleterious ingredients were mixed with their bread, the wells and cisterns were poisoned, and, on their departure from Constantinople, they were placed in the hands of guides, who, instead of leading them into Anatolia, betrayed them in those mountainous passes to the scimetars of the Paynim. Meanwhile, with the characteristic duplicity of the Greek, Manuel successively welcomed both Conrad and Louis with marks of the highest respect; nor, until the wearied and wasted remains of that once splendid French army overtook, on the plains near Nice, the mere handful of the German host, which the treachery of the Greek and the rage of the Turk had spared, was the atrocious perfidy of the Greek emperor revealed. Combining their forces on the banks of the Meander, the small company of the united Croises now gave battle to the infidel, and obtained the victory. But their triumph was not long the Paynim rallied-the Christians were defeated, and had not the friendly towers of Antioch stood near, the worn and exhausted army had been

annihilated, and Louis had ended his pilgrimage with his life, on an obscure battle-field.

Thus, at length, arrived in safety at Antioch, Elinor, to whom the dangers and privations of the way gave new zest to the repose and pleasures of the luxurious court of Antioch, seems to have yielded herself up to the full enjoyment of her so greatly changed condition, and, well content with her reception in this the loveliest city of the East, evinced no anxiety to proceed. Far different were the feelings of Louis: the kind attentions of the prince of Antioch, who was his wife's uncle, could not prevail with him to forego his determination to march on to Jerusalem, where the emperor Conrad had already arrived; and by the time that his expected succours from Italy had landed, he percmptorily arranged to quit Antioch. This determination was most distasteful to the queen ;-she was naturally unwilling to leave the court of an uncle, who treated her with singular kindness and attention, and a city in which she enjoyed every comfort, and even every luxury, for a second wearisome and perhaps perilous journey; and yet this reluctance, on the part of the fair and haughty Elinor, has been placed by some of the French chroniclers to the account of her having there become attached to another; while the only chronicler, who is specific in his statements, declares, that the queen, having "greatly offended the king in many things, irritated him in this most of all, "that secretly arranging to quit him, she chose to adhere to a certain Turk." The stupid extravagance of this charge is alone sufficient to prove its falsehood.

a

That there was much in Elinor's conduct to excite censure, is very probable; but that attachment to " Turk," or, as some modern writers have advanced, to her uncle, was the cause of dispute, the conduct of Louis himself amply disproves. What can be thought of this "greatly offended king," whose indignation slept for three whole years, during which time Elinor received all the homage of a queen, and who, when at length he sued for a divorce, offered as the reason the convenient plea of consanguinity.*

Meanwhile Louis, irritated at the obstacles which prince Raymond still continued to cast in the way of his advance to Jerusalem, (for the politic prince of Antioch wished to secure the aid of the French army, to forward his ambitious projects), determined to proceed onward without delay; and while Elinor still lingered, unwilling to quit her uncle's court, Louis, with a sudden decision which he had seldom before manifested, seized one of the gates of the city, and taking the queen and her attendants by night from the palace, sent her on before him with a strong escort to Jerusalem, while he followed with his whole army.

* Matthew Paris mentions Elinor's "attachment to a certain Turk,” in words almost borrowed from the anonymous French chronicler, and thence he probably derived it. When Louis arrived at Jerusalem, he sent a confidential letter, respecting his differences with Elinor, to his chief minister and adviser, abbot Suger. This letter is probably lost, but the answer is preserved among Suger's epistles, and in it is this passage: "With regard to the queen, your consort, I presume to recommend to you, to conceal the rancour of your mind, if any there be, 'till God shall give you a safe return to your kingdom, when you may take the most proper measures in this and other affairs." "Upon the whole," says Lord Lyttelton, in his Life of Henry II., and he is no advocate of Elinor, "it is probable that the jealousy of the king had no other object than prince Raymond himself, and was ill founded."