Arouse 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.
On the morrow, when Isaac proposed to arise and pursue his
journey, Nathan remonstrated against his purpose, both as his
host and as his physician. It might cost him, he said, his life.
But Isaac replied, that more than life and death depended upon
his going that morning to Templestowe.
"To Templestowe!" said his host with surprise again felt his
pulse, and then muttered to himself, "His fever is abated, yet
seems his mind somewhat alienated and disturbed."
"And why not to Templestowe?" answered his patient. "I grant
thee, Nathan, that it is a dwelling of those to whom the despised
Children of the Promise are a stumbling-block and an abomination;
yet thou knowest that pressing affairs of traffic sometimes carry
us among these bloodthirsty Nazarene soldiers, and that we visit
the Preceptories of the Templars, as well as the Commanderies of
the Knights Hospitallers, as they are called." *
* The establishments of the Knight Templars were called
Preceptories, and the title of those who presided in the
Order was Preceptor; as the principal Knights of Saint
John were termed Commanders, and their houses
Commanderies. But these terms were sometimes, it would
seem, used indiscriminately.
"I know it well," said Nathan; "but wottest thou that Lucas de
Beaumanoir, the chief of their Order, and whom they term Grand
Master, is now himself at Templestowe?"
"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."
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!"
"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'.*
* In the ordinances of the Knights of the Temple, this
phrase is repeated in a variety of forms, and occurs in
almost every chapter, as if it were the signal-word of the
Order; which may account for its being so frequently put
in the Grand Master's mouth.
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.*
* See the 13th chapter of Leviticus.
The soldiers of the Cross, who should shun the glance of a woman
as the eye of a basilisk, live in open sin, not with the females
of their own race only, but with the daughters of the accursed
heathen, and more accursed Jew. Beaumanoir, thou sleepest; up,
and avenge our cause!---Slay the sinners, male and female!---Take
to thee the brand of Phineas!---The vision fled, Conrade, but as
I awaked I could still hear the clank of their mail, and see the
waving of their white mantles.---And I will do according to their
word, I WILL purify the fabric of the Temple! and the unclean
stones in which the plague is, I will remove and cast out of the
building."
"Yet bethink thee, reverend father," said Mont-Fitchet, "the
stain hath become engrained by time and consuetude; let thy
reformation be cautious, as it is just and wise."
"No, Mont-Fitchet," answered the stern old man---"it must be
sharp and sudden---the Order is on the crisis of its fate. The
sobriety, self-devotion, and piety of our predecessors, made us
powerful friends---our presumption, our wealth, our luxury, have
raised up against us mighty enemies.---We must cast away these
riches, which are a temptation to princes---we must lay down that
presumption, which is an offence to them---we must reform that
license of manners, which is a scandal to the whole Christian
world! Or---mark my words---the Order of the Temple will be
utterly demolished---and the Place thereof shall no more be known
among the nations."
"Now may God avert such a calamity!" said the Preceptor.
"Amen," said the Grand Master, with solemnity, "but we must
deserve his aid. I tell thee, Conrade, that neither the powers
in Heaven, nor the powers on earth, will longer endure the
wickedness of this generation---My intelligence is sure---the
ground on which our fabric is reared is already undermined, and
each addition we make to the structure of our greatness will only
sink it the sooner in the abyss. We must retrace our steps, and
show ourselves the faithful Champions of the Cross, sacrificing
to our calling, not alone our blood and our lives---not alone our
lusts and our vices---but our ease, our comforts, and our natural
affections, and act as men convinced that many a pleasure which
may be lawful to others, is forbidden to the vowed soldier of the
Temple."
At this moment a squire, clothed in a threadbare vestment, (for
the aspirants after this holy Order wore during their noviciate
the cast-off garments of the knights,) entered the garden, and,
bowing profoundly before the Grand Master, stood silent, awaiting
his permission ere he presumed to tell his errand.
"Is it not more seemly," said the Grand Master, "to see this
Damian, clothed in the garments of Christian humility, thus
appear with reverend silence before his Superior, than but two
days since, when the fond fool was decked in a painted coat, and
jangling as pert and as proud as any popinjay?---Speak, Damian,
we permit thee---What is thine errand?"
"A Jew stands without the gate, noble and reverend father," said
the Squire, "who prays to speak with brother Brian de
Bois-Guilbert."
"Thou wert right to give me knowledge of it," said the Grand
Master; "in our presence a Preceptor is but as a common compeer
of our Order, who may not walk according to his own will, but to
that of his Master---even according to the text, 'In the hearing
of the ear he hath obeyed me.'---It imports us especially to know
of this Bois-Guilbert's proceedings," said he, turning to his
companion.
"Report speaks him brave and valiant," said Conrade.
"And truly is he so spoken of," said the Grand Master; "in our
valour only we are not degenerated from our predecessors, the
heroes of the Cross. But brother Brian came into our Order a
moody and disappointed man, stirred, I doubt me, to take our vows
and to renounce the world, not in sincerity of soul, but as one
whom some touch of light discontent had driven into penitence.
Since then, he hath become an active and earnest agitator, a
murmurer, and a machinator, and a leader amongst those who impugn
our authority; not considering that the rule is given to the
Master even by the symbol of the staff and the rod---the staff to
support the infirmities of the weak---the rod to correct the
faults of delinquents.---Damian," he continued, "lead the Jew to
our presence."
The squire departed with a profound reverence, and in a few
minutes returned, marshalling in Isaac of York. No naked slave,
ushered into the presence of some mighty prince, could approach
his judgment-seat with more profound reverence and terror than
that with which the Jew drew near to the presence of the Grand
Master. When he had approached within the distance of three
yards, Beaumanoir made a sign with his staff that he should come
no farther. The Jew kneeled down on the earth which he kissed in
token of reverence; then rising, stood before the Templars, his
hands folded on his bosom, his head bowed on his breast, in all
the submission of Oriental slavery.
"Damian," said the Grand Master, "retire, and have a guard ready
to await our sudden call; and suffer no one to enter the garden
until we shall leave it."---The squire bowed and retreated.
---"Jew," continued the haughty old man, "mark me. It suits not
our condition to hold with thee long communication, nor do we
waste words or time upon any one. Wherefore be brief in thy
answers to what questions I shall ask thee, and let thy words be
of truth; for if thy tongue doubles with me, I will have it torn
from thy misbelieving jaws."
The Jew was about to reply, but the Grand Master went on.
"Peace, unbeliever!---not a word in our presence, save in answer
to our questions.---What is thy business with our brother Brian
de Bois-Guilbert?"
Isaac gasped with terror and uncertainty. To tell his tale might
be interpreted into scandalizing the Order; yet, unless he told
it, what hope could he have of achieving his daughter's
deliverance? Beaumanoir saw his mortal apprehension, and
condescended to give him some assurance.
"Fear nothing," he said, "for thy wretched person, Jew, so thou
dealest uprightly in this matter. I demand again to know from
thee thy business with Brian de Bois-Guilbert?"
"I am bearer of a letter," stammered out the Jew, "so please your
reverend valour, to that good knight, from Prior Aymer of the
Abbey of Jorvaulx."
"Said I not these were evil times, Conrade?" said the Master. "A
Cistertian Prior sends a letter to a soldier of the Temple, and
can find no more fitting messenger than an unbelieving Jew.
---Give me the letter."
The Jew, with trembling hands, undid the folds of his Armenian
cap, in which he had deposited the Prior's tablets for the
greater security, and was about to approach, with hand extended
and body crouched, to place it within the reach of his grim
interrogator.
"Back, dog!" said the Grand Master; "I touch not misbelievers,
save with the sword.---Conrade, take thou the letter from the
Jew, and give it to me."
Beaumanoir, being thus possessed of the tablets, inspected the
outside carefully, and then proceeded to undo the packthread
which secured its folds. "Reverend father," said Conrade,
interposing, though with much deference, "wilt thou break the
seal?"
"And will I not?" said Beaumanoir, with a frown. "Is it not
written in the forty-second capital, 'De Lectione Literarum' that
a Templar shall not receive a letter, no not from his father,
without communicating the same to the Grand Master, and reading
it in his presence?"
He then perused the letter in haste, with an expression of
surprise and horror; read it over again more slowly; then
holding it out to Conrade with one hand, and slightly striking it
with the other, exclaimed---"Here is goodly stuff for one
Christian man to write to another, and both members, and no
inconsiderable members, of religious professions! When," said he
solemnly, and looking upward, "wilt thou come with thy fanners to
purge the thrashing-floor?"
Mont-Fitchet took the letter from his Superior, and was about to
peruse it.
"Read it aloud, Conrade," said the Grand Master,---"and do thou"
(to Isaac) "attend to the purport of it, for we will question
thee concerning it."
Conrade read the letter, which was in these words: "Aymer, by
divine grace, Prior of the Cistertian house of Saint Mary's of
Jorvaulx, to Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert, a Knight of the holy
Order of the Temple, wisheth health, with the bounties of King
Bacchus and of my Lady Venus. Touching our present condition,
dear Brother, we are a captive in the hands of certain lawless
and godless men, who have not feared to detain our person, and
put us to ransom; whereby we have also learned of
Front-de-Boeuf's misfortune, and that thou hast escaped with that
fair Jewish sorceress, whose black eyes have bewitched thee. We
are heartily rejoiced of thy safety; nevertheless, we pray thee
to be on thy guard in the matter of this second Witch of Endor;
for we are privately assured that your Great Master, who careth
not a bean for cherry cheeks and black eyes, comes from Normandy
to diminish your mirth, and amend your misdoings. Wherefore we
pray you heartily to beware, and to be found watching, even as
the Holy Text hath it, 'Invenientur vigilantes'. And the wealthy
Jew her father, Isaac of York, having prayed of me letters in his
behalf, I gave him these, earnestly advising, and in a sort
entreating, that you do hold the damsel to ransom, seeing he will
pay you from his bags as much as may find fifty damsels upon
safer terms, whereof I trust to have my part when we make merry
together, as true brothers, not forgetting the wine-cup. For
what saith the text, 'Vinum laetificat cor hominis'; and again,
'Rex delectabitur pulchritudine tua'.
"Till which merry meeting, we wish you farewell. Given from this
den of thieves, about the hour of matins,
"Aymer Pr. S. M. Jorvolciencis.
"'Postscriptum.' Truly your golden chain hath not long abidden
with me, and will now sustain, around the neck of an outlaw
deer-stealer, the whistle wherewith he calleth on his hounds."
"What sayest thou to this, Conrade?" said the Grand Master---"Den
of thieves! and a fit residence is a den of thieves for such a
Prior. No wonder that the hand of God is upon us, and that in
the Holy Land we lose place by place, foot by foot, before the
infidels, when we have such churchmen as this Aymer.---And what
meaneth he, I trow, by this second Witch of Endor?" said he to
his confident, something apart. Conrade was better acquainted
(perhaps by practice) with the jargon of gallantry, than was his
Superior; and he expounded the passage which embarrassed the
Grand Master, to be a sort of language used by worldly men
towards those whom they loved 'par amours'; but the explanation
did not satisfy the bigoted Beaumanoir.
"There is more in it than thou dost guess, Conrade; thy
simplicity is no match for this deep abyss of wickedness. This
Rebecca of York was a pupil of that Miriam of whom thou hast
heard. Thou shalt hear the Jew own it even now." Then turning
to Isaac, he said aloud, "Thy daughter, then, is prisoner with
Brian de Bois-Guilbert?"
"Ay, reverend valorous sir," stammered poor Isaac, "and
whatsoever ransom a poor man may pay for her deliverance------"
"Peace!" said the Grand Master. "This thy daughter hath practised
the art of healing, hath she not?"
"Ay, gracious sir," answered the Jew, with more confidence; "and
knight and yeoman, squire and vassal, may bless the goodly gift
which Heaven hath assigned to her. Many a one can testify that
she hath recovered them by her art, when every other human aid
hath proved vain; but the blessing of the God of Jacob was upon
her."
Beaumanoir turned to Mont-Fitchet with a grim smile. "See,
brother," he said, "the deceptions of the devouring Enemy!
Behold the baits with which he fishes for souls, giving a poor
space of earthly life in exchange for eternal happiness
hereafter. Well said our blessed rule, 'Semper percutiatur leo
vorans'.---Up on the lion! Down with the destroyer!" said he,
shaking aloft his mystic abacus, as if in defiance of the powers
of darkness---"Thy daughter worketh the cures, I doubt not," thus
he went on to address the Jew, "by words and sighs, and periapts,
and other cabalistical mysteries."
"Nay, reverend and brave Knight," answered Isaac, "but in chief
measure by a balsam of marvellous virtue."
"Where had she that secret?" said Beaumanoir.
"It was delivered to her," answered Isaac, reluctantly, "by
Miriam, a sage matron of our tribe."
"Ah, false Jew!" said the Grand Master; "was it not from that
same witch Miriam, the abomination of whose enchantments have
been heard of throughout every Christian land?" exclaimed the
Grand Master, crossing himself. "Her body was burnt at a stake,
and her ashes were scattered to the four winds; and so be it with
me and mine Order, if I do not as much to her pupil, and more
also! I will teach her to throw spell and incantation over the
soldiers of the blessed Temple.---There, Damian, spurn this Jew
from the gate---shoot him dead if he oppose or turn again. With
his daughter we will deal as the Christian law and our own high
office warrant."
Poor Isaac was hurried off accordingly, and expelled from the
preceptory; all his entreaties, and even his offers, unheard and
disregarded. He could do not better than return to the house of
the Rabbi, and endeavour, through his means, to learn how his
daughter was to be disposed of. He had hitherto feared for her
honour, he was now to tremble for her life. Meanwhile, the Grand
Master ordered to his presence the Preceptor of Templestowe.
