CHAPTER XXXVArouse the tiger of Hyrcanian deserts, Strive with the half-starved lion for his prey; Lesser the risk, than rouse the slumbering fire Of wild Fanaticism. Anonymus
Our tale now returns to Isaac of York.---Mounted upon a mule, the
gift of the Outlaw, with two tall yeomen to act as his guard and
guides, the Jew had set out for the Preceptory of Templestowe, for
the purpose of negotiating his daughter's redemption. The Preceptory
was but a day's journey from the demolished castle of Torquilstone,
and the Jew had hoped to reach it before nightfall; accordingly,
having dismissed his guides at the verge of the forest, and rewarded
them with a piece of silver, he began to press on with such speed as
his weariness permitted him to exert. But his strength failed him
totally ere he had reached within four miles of the Temple-Court;
racking pains shot along his back and through his limbs, and the
excessive anguish which he felt at heart being now augmented by
bodily suffering, he was rendered altogether incapable of proceeding
farther than a small market-town, were dwelt a Jewish Rabbi of his
tribe, eminent in the medical profession, and to whom Isaac was well
known. Nathan Ben Israel received his suffering countryman with that
kindness which the law prescribed, and which the Jews practised to
each other. He insisted on his betaking himself to repose, and used
such remedies as were then in most repute to check the progress of
the fever, which terror, fatigue, ill usage, and sorrow, had brought
upon the poor old Jew. |
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"I know it not," said Isaac; "our last letters from our brethren at
Paris advised us that he was at that city, beseeching Philip for aid
against the Sultan Saladine." "He hath since come to England, unexpected by his brethren," said Ben Israel; "and he cometh among them with a strong and outstretched arm to correct and to punish. His countenance is kindled in anger against those who have departed from the vow which they have made, and great is the fear of those sons of Belial. Thou must have heard of his name?" "It is well known unto me," said Isaac; "the Gentiles deliver this Lucas Beaumanoir as a man zealous to slaying for every point of the Nazarene law; and our brethren have termed him a fierce destroyer of the Saracens, and a cruel tyrant to the Children of the Promise." "And truly have they termed him," said Nathan the physician. "Other Templars may be moved from the purpose of their heart by pleasure, or bribed by promise of gold and silver; but Beaumanoir is of a different stamp---hating sensuality, despising treasure, and pressing forward to that which they call the crown of martyrdom---The God of Jacob speedily send it unto him, and unto them all! Specially hath this proud man extended his glove over the children of Judah, as holy David over Edom, holding the murder of a Jew to be an offering of as sweet savour as the death of a Saracen. Impious and false things has he said even of the virtues of our medicines, as if they were the devices of Satan---The Lord rebuke him!" "Nevertheless," said Isaac, "I must present myself at Templestowe, though he hath made his face like unto a fiery furnace seven times heated." He then explained to Nathan the pressing cause of his journey. The Rabbi listened with interest, and testified his sympathy after the fashion of his people, rending his clothes, and saying, "Ah, my daughter!---ah, my daughter!---Alas! for the beauty of Zion!---Alas! for the captivity of Israel!" "Thou seest," said Isaac, "how it stands with me, and that I may not tarry. Peradventure, the presence of this Lucas Beaumanoir, being the chief man over them, may turn Brian de Bois-Guilbert from the ill which he doth meditate, and that he may deliver to me my beloved daughter Rebecca." "Go thou," said Nathan Ben Israel, "and be wise, for wisdom availed Daniel in the den of lions into which he was cast; and may it go well with thee, even as thine heart wisheth. Yet, if thou canst, keep thee from the presence of the Grand Master, for to do foul scorn to our people is his morning and evening delight. It may be if thou couldst speak with Bois-Guilbert in private, thou shalt the better prevail with him; for men say that these accursed Nazarenes are not of one mind in the Preceptory ---May their counsels be confounded and brought to shame! But do thou, brother, return to me as if it were to the house of thy father, and bring me word how it has sped with thee; and well do I hope thou wilt bring with thee Rebecca, even the scholar of the wise Miriam, whose cures the Gentiles slandered as if they had been wrought by necromancy." |
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Isaac accordingly bade his friend farewell, and about an hour's
riding brought him before the Preceptory of Templestowe. This establishment of the Templars was seated amidst fair meadows and pastures, which the devotion of the former Preceptor had bestowed upon their Order. It was strong and well fortified, a point never neglected by these knights, and which the disordered state of England rendered peculiarly necessary. Two halberdiers, clad in black, guarded the drawbridge, and others, in the same sad livery, glided to and fro upon the walls with a funereal pace, resembling spectres more than soldiers. The inferior officers of the Order were thus dressed, ever since their use of white garments, similar to those of the knights and esquires, had given rise to a combination of certain false brethren in the mountains of Palestine, terming themselves Templars, and bringing great dishonour on the Order. A knight was now and then seen to cross the court in his long white cloak, his head depressed on his breast, and his arms folded. They passed each other, if they chanced to meet, with a slow, solemn, and mute greeting; for such was the rule of their Order, quoting thereupon the holy texts, "In many words thou shalt not avoid sin," and "Life and death are in the power of the tongue." In a word, the stern ascetic rigour of the Temple discipline, which had been so long exchanged for prodigal and licentious indulgence, seemed at once to have revived at Templestowe under the severe eye of Lucas Beaumanoir. Isaac paused at the gate, to consider how he might seek entrance in the manner most likely to bespeak favour; for he was well aware, that to his unhappy race the reviving fanaticism of the Order was not less dangerous than their unprincipled licentiousness; and that his religion would be the object of hate and persecution in the one case, as his wealth would have exposed him in the other to the extortions of unrelenting oppression. Meantime Lucas Beaumanoir walked in a small garden belonging to the Preceptory, included within the precincts of its exterior fortification, and held sad and confidential communication with a brother of his Order, who had come in his company from Palestine. The Grand Master was a man advanced in age, as was testified by his long grey beard, and the shaggy grey eyebrows overhanging eyes, of which, however, years had been unable to quench the fire. A formidable warrior, his thin and severe features retained the soldier's fierceness of expression; an ascetic bigot, they were no less marked by the emaciation of abstinence, and the spiritual pride of the self-satisfied devotee. Yet with these severer traits of physiognomy, there was mixed somewhat striking and noble, arising, doubtless, from the great part which his high office called upon him to act among monarchs and princes, and from the habitual exercise of supreme authority over the valiant and high-born knights, who were united by the rules of the Order. His stature was tall, and his gait, undepressed by age and toil, was erect and stately. His white mantle was shaped with severe regularity, according to the rule of Saint Bernard himself, being composed of what was then called Burrel cloth, exactly fitted to the size of the wearer, and bearing on the left shoulder the octangular cross peculiar to the Order, formed of red cloth. No vair or ermine decked this garment; but in respect of his age, the Grand Master, as permitted by the rules, wore his doublet lined and trimmed with the softest lambskin, dressed with the wool outwards, which was the nearest approach he could regularly make to the use of fur, then the greatest luxury of dress. In his hand he bore that singular "abacus", or staff of office, with which Templars are usually represented, having at the upper end a round plate, on which was engraved the cross of the Order, inscribed within a circle or orle, as heralds term it. His companion, who attended on this great personage, had nearly the same dress in all respects, but his extreme deference towards his Superior showed that no other equality subsisted between them. The Preceptor, for such he was in rank, walked not in a line with the Grand Master, but just so far behind that Beaumanoir could speak to him without turning round his head. "Conrade," said the Grand Master, "dear companion of my battles and my toils, to thy faithful bosom alone I can confide my sorrows. To thee alone can I tell how oft, since I came to this kingdom, I have desired to be dissolved and to be with the just. Not one object in England hath met mine eye which it could rest upon with pleasure, save the tombs of our brethren, beneath the massive roof of our Temple Church in yonder proud capital. O, valiant Robert de Ros! did I exclaim internally, as I gazed upon these good soldiers of the cross, where they lie sculptured on their sepulchres,---O, worthy William de Mareschal! open your marble cells, and take to your repose a weary brother, who would rather strive with a hundred thousand pagans than witness the decay of our Holy Order!" |
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"It is but true," answered Conrade Mont-Fitchet; "it is but too
true; and the irregularities of our brethren in England are even
more gross than those in France." "Because they are more wealthy," answered the Grand Master. "Bear with me, brother, although I should something vaunt myself. Thou knowest the life I have led, keeping each point of my Order, striving with devils embodied and disembodied, striking down the roaring lion, who goeth about seeking whom he may devour, like a good knight and devout priest, wheresoever I met with him---even as blessed Saint Bernard hath prescribed to us in the forty-fifth capital of our rule, 'Ut Leo semper feriatur'. But by the Holy Temple! the zeal which hath devoured my substance and my life, yea, the very nerves and marrow of my bones; by that very Holy Temple I swear to thee, that save thyself and some few that still retain the ancient severity of our Order, I look upon no brethren whom I can bring my soul to embrace under that holy name. What say our statutes, and how do our brethren observe them? They should wear no vain or worldly ornament, no crest upon their helmet, no gold upon stirrup or bridle-bit; yet who now go pranked out so proudly and so gaily as the poor soldiers of the Temple? They are forbidden by our statutes to take one bird by means of another, to shoot beasts with bow or arblast, to halloo to a hunting-horn, or to spur the horse after game. But now, at hunting and hawking, and each idle sport of wood and river, who so prompt as the Templars in all these fond vanities?
They are forbidden to read, save what their
Superior permitted, or listen to what is read, save such holy things
as may be recited aloud during the hours of refaction; but lo! their
ears are at the command of idle minstrels, and their eyes study
empty romaunts. They were commanded to extirpate magic and heresy.
Lo! they are charged with studying the accursed cabalistical secrets
of the Jews, and the magic of the Paynim Saracens. Simpleness of
diet was prescribed to them, roots, pottage, gruels, eating flesh
but thrice a-week, because the accustomed feeding on flesh is a
dishonourable corruption of the body; and behold, their tables groan
under delicate fare! Their drink was to be water, and now, to drink
like a Templar, is the boast of each jolly boon companion! This very
garden, filled as it is with curious herbs and trees sent from the
Eastern climes, better becomes the harem of an unbelieving Emir,
than the plot which Christian Monks should devote to raise their
homely pot-herbs. ---And O, Conrade! well it were that the
relaxation of discipline stopped even here!---Well thou knowest that
we were forbidden to receive those devout women, who at the
beginning were associated as sisters of our Order, because, saith
the forty-sixth chapter, the Ancient Enemy hath, by female society,
withdrawn many from the right path to paradise. Nay, in the last
capital, being, as it were, the cope-stone which our blessed founder
placed on the pure and undefiled doctrine which he had enjoined, we
are prohibited from offering, even to our sisters and our mothers,
the kiss of affection---'ut omnium mulierum fugiantur oscula'. --I
shame to speak---I shame to think---of the corruptions which have
rushed in upon us even like a flood. The souls of our pure founders,
the spirits of Hugh de Payen and Godfrey de Saint Omer, and of the
blessed Seven who first joined in dedicating their lives to the
service of the Temple, are disturbed even in the enjoyment of
paradise itself. I have seen them, Conrade, in the visions of the
night---their sainted eyes shed tears for the sins and follies of
their brethren, and for the foul and shameful luxury in which they
wallow. Beaumanoir, they say, thou slumberest---awake! There is a
stain in the fabric of the Temple, deep and foul as that
left by the streaks of leprosy on the walls of the
infected houses of old. |