------There I throw my gage,
To prove it on thee to the extremest point
Of martial daring.
-Richard II-.
Even Lucas Beaumanoir himself was affected
by the mien and appearance of Rebecca. He was
not originally a cruel or even a severe man; but
with passions by nature cold, and with a high,
though mistaken, sense of duty, his heart had been
gradually hardened by the ascetic life which he
pursued, the supreme power which he enjoyed, and
the supposed necessity of subduing infidelity and
eradicating heresy, which he conceived peculiarly
incumbent on him. His features relaxed in their
usual severity as he gazed upon the beautiful creature
before him, alone, unfriended, and defending
herself with so much spirit and courage. He crossed
himself twice, as doubting whence arose the unwonted
softening of a heart, which on such occasions
used to resemble in hardness the steel of his
sword. At length he spoke.
"Damsel," he said, "if the pity I feel for thee
arise from any practice thine evil arts have made
on me, great is thy guilt. But I rather judge it
the kinder feelings of nature, which grieves that so
goodly a form should be a vessel of perdition. Repent,
my daughter---confess thy witchcrafts---turn
thee from thine evil faith---embrace this holy emblem,
and all shall yet be well with thee here and
hereafter. In some sisterhood of the strictest order,
shalt thou have time for prayer and fitting penance,
and that repentance not to be repented of. This do
and live---what has the law of Moses done for thee
that thou shouldest die for it?"
"It was the law of my fathers," said Rebecca;
"it was delivered in thunders and in storms upon
the mountain of Sinai, in cloud and in fire. This,
if ye are Christians, ye believe---it is, you say, recalled;
but so my teachers have not taught me."
"Let our chaplain," said Beaumanoir, "stand
forth, and tell this obstinate infidel---"
"Forgive the interruption," said Rebecca, meekly;
"I am a maiden, unskilled to dispute for my
religion, but I can die for it, if it be God's will.---
Let me pray your answer to my demand of a champion."
"Give me her glove," said Beaumanoir. "This
is indeed," he continued, as he looked at the flimsy
texture and slender fingers, "a slight and frail gage
for a purpose so deadly!---Seest thou, Rebecca, as
this thin and light glove of thine is to one of our
heavy steel gauntlets, so is thy cause to that of
the Temple, for it is our Order which thou hast
defied."
"Cast my innocence into the scale," answered
Rebecca, "and the glove of silk shall outweigh the
glove of iron."
"Then thou dost persist in thy refusal to confess
thy guilt, and in that bold challenge which
thou hast made?"
"I do persist, noble sir," answered Rebecca.
"So be it then, in the name of Heaven," said
the Grand Master; "and may God show the
right!"
"Amen," replied the Preceptors around him,
and the word was deeply echoed by the whole assembly.
"Brethren," said Beaumanoir, "you are aware
that we might well have refused to this woman the
benefit of the trial by combat---but though a Jewess
and an unbeliever, she is also a stranger and defenceless,
and God forbid that she should ask the
benefit of our mild laws, and that it should be refused
to her. Moreover, we are knights and soldiers
as well as men of religion, and shame it were to us
upon any pretence, to refuse proffered combat.
Thus, therefore, stands the case. Rebecca, the
daughter of Isaac of York, is, by many frequent
and suspicious circumstances, defamed of sorcery
practised on the person of a noble knight of our
holy Order, and hath challenged the combat in
proof of her innocence. To whom, reverend brethren,
is it your opinion that we should deliver the
gage of battle, naming him, at the same time, to
be our champion on the field?"
"To Brian de Bois-Guilbert, whom it chiefly
concerns," said the Preceptor of Goodalricke, "and
who, moreover, best knows how the truth stands
in this matter."
"But if," said the Grand Master, "our brother
Brian be under the influence of a charm or a spell
---we speak but for the sake of precaution, for to
the arm of none of our holy Order would we more
willingly confide this or a more weighty cause."
"Reverend father," answered the Preceptor of
Goodalricke, "no spell can effect the champion who
comes forward to fight for the judgment of God."
"Thou sayest right, brother," said the Grand
Master. "Albert Malvoisin, give this gage of battle
to Brian de Bois-Guilbert.---It is our charge to
thee, brother," he continued, addressing himself to
Bois-Guilbert, "that thou do thy battle manfully,
nothing doubting that the good cause shall triumph.
---And do thou, Rebecca, attend, that we assign
thee the third day from the present to find a champion."
"That is but brief space," answered Rebecca,
"for a stranger, who is also of another faith, to find
one who will do battle, wagering life and honour
for her cause, against a knight who is called an approved
soldier."
"We may not extend it," answered the Grand
Master; "the field must be foughten in our own
presence, and divers weighty causes call us on the
fourth day from hence."
"God's will be done!" said Rebecca; "I put
my trust in Him, to whom an instant is as effectual
to save as a whole age."
"Thou hast spoken well, damsel," said the Grand
Master; "but well know we who can array himself
like an angel of light. It remains but to name a
fitting place of combat, and, if it so hap, also of execution.
---Where is the Preceptor of this house?"
Albert Malvoisin, still holding Rebecca's glove
in his hand, was speaking to Bois-Guilbert very
earnestly, but in a low voice.
"How!" said the Grand Master, "will he not
receive the gage?"
"He will---he doth, most Reverend Father,"
said Malvoisin, slipping the glove under his own
mantle. "And for the place of combat, I hold the
fittest to be the lists of Saint George belonging to
this Preceptory, and used by us for military exercise."
"It is well," said the Grand Master.---"Rebecca,
in those lists shalt thou produce thy champion; and
if thou failest to do so, or if thy champion shall be
discomfited by the judgment of God, thou shalt
then die the death of a sorceress, according to
doom.---Let this our judgment be recorded, and the
record read aloud, that no one may pretend ignorance."
One of the chaplains, who acted as clerks to the
chapter, immediately engrossed the order in a huge
volume, which contained the proceedings of the
Templar Knights when solemnly assembled on such
occasions; and when he had finished writing, the
other read aloud the sentence of the Grand Master,
which, when translated from the Norman-French
in which it was couched, was expressed as follows.---
"Rebecca, a Jewess, daughter of Isaac of York,
being attainted of sorcery, seduction, and other damnable
practices, practised on a Knight of the most
Holy Order of the Temple of Zion, doth deny
the same; and saith, that the testimony delivered
against her this day is false, wicked, and disloyal;
and that by lawful _essoine_* of her body as being
* _Essoine_ signifies excuse, and here relates to the appellant's
* privilege of appearing by her champion, in excuse of her own
* person on account of her sex.
unable to combat in her own behalf, she doth offer,
by a champion instead thereof, to avouch her case,
he performing his loyal _devoir_ in all knightly sort,
with such arms as to gage of battle do fully appertain,
and that at her peril and cost. And therewith
she proffered her gage. And the gage having been
delivered to the noble Lord and Knight, Brian de
Bois-Guilbert, of the Holy Order of the Temple of
Zion, he was appointed to do this battle, in behalf
of his Order and himself, as injured and impaired
by the practices of the appellant. Wherefore the
most reverend Father and puissant Lord, Lucas
Marquis of Beaumanoir, did allow of the said challenge,
and of the said _essoine_ of the appellant's body,
and assigned the third day for the said combat, the
place being the enclosure called the lists of Saint
George, near to the Preceptory of Templestowe.
And the Grand Master appoints the appellant to
appear there by her champion, on pain of doom, as
a person convicted of sorcery or seduction; and
also the defendant so to appear, under the penalty
of being held and adjudged recreant in case of default;
and the noble Lord and most reverend Father
aforesaid appointed the battle to be done in
his own presence, and according to all that is commendable
and profitable in such a case. And may
God aid the just cause!"
"Amen!" said the Grand Master; and the word
was echoed by all around. Rebecca spoke not, but
she looked up to heaven, and, folding her hands,
remained for a minute without change of attitude.
She then modestly reminded the Grand Master,
that she ought to be permitted some opportunity
of free communication with her friends, for the purpose
of making her condition known to them, and
procuring, if possible, some champion to fight in
her behalf.
"It is just and lawful," said the Grand Master;
"choose what messenger thou shalt trust, and he
shall have free communication with thee in thy
prison-chamber."
"Is there," said Rebecca, "any one here, who,
either for love of a good cause, or for ample hire,
will do the errand of a distressed being?"
All were silent; for none thought it safe, in the
presence of the Grand Master, to avow any interest
in the calumniated prisoner, lest he should be suspected
of leaning towards Judaism. Not even the
prospect of reward, far less any feelings of compassion
alone, could surmount this apprehension.
Rebecca stood for a few moments in indescribable
anxiety, and then exclaimed, "Is it really thus?
---And, in English land, am I to be deprived of
the poor chance of safety which remains to me, for
want of an act of charity which would not be refused
to the worst criminal?"
Higg, the son of Snell, at length replied, "I am
but a maimed man, but that I can at all stir or move
was owing to her charitable assistance.---I will do
thine errand," he added, addressing Rebecca, "as
well as a crippled object can, and happy were my
limbs fleet enough to repair the mischief done by
my tongue. Alas! when I boasted of thy charity,
I little thought I was leading thee into danger!"
"God," said Rebecca, "is the disposer of all.
He can turn back the captivity of Judah, even by
the weakest instrument. To execute his message
the snail is as sure a messenger as the falcon. Seek
out Isaac of York---here is that will pay for horse
and man---let him have this scroll.---I know not if
it be of Heaven the spirit which inspires me, but
most truly do I judge that I am not to die this
death, and that a champion will be raised up for
me. Farewell!---Life and death are in thy haste."
The peasant took the scroll, which contained only
a few lines in Hebrew. Many of the crowd would
have dissuaded him from touching a document so
suspicious; but Higg was resolute in the service
of his benefactress. She had saved his body, he
said, and he was confident she did not mean to peril
his soul.
"I will get me," he said, "my neighbour Buthan's
good capul,* and I will be at York within as
* _Capul_, i.e. horse; in a more limited sense, work-horse.
brief space as man and beast may."
But as it fortuned, he had no occasion to go so
far, for within a quarter of a mile from the gate of
the Preceptory he met with two riders, whom, by
their dress and their huge yellow caps, he knew to
be Jews; and, on approaching more nearly, discovered
that one of them was his ancient employer,
Isaac of York. The other was the Rabbi Ben Samuel;
and both had approached as near to the Preceptory
as they dared, on hearing that the Grand
Master had summoned a chapter for the trial of a
sorceress.
"Brother Ben Samuel," said Isaac, "my soul
is disquieted, and I wot not why. This charge of
necromancy is right often used for cloaking evil
practices on our people."
"Be of good comfort, brother," said the physician;
"thou canst deal with the Nazarenes as one
possessing the mammon of unrighteousness, and
canst therefore purchase immunity at their hands
---it rules the savage minds of those ungodly men,
even as the signet of the mighty Solomon was said
to command the evil genii.---But what poor wretch
comes hither upon his crutches, desiring, as I think,
some speech of me?---Friend," continued the physician,
addressing Higg, the son of Snell, "I refuse
thee not the aid of mine art, but I relieve not
with one asper those who beg for alms upon the
highway. Out upon thee!---Hast thou the palsy
in thy legs? then let thy hands work for thy livelihood;
for, albeit thou best unfit for a speedy post,
or for a careful shepherd, or for the warfare, or for
the service of a hasty master, yet there be occupations
---How now, brother?" said he, interrupting
his harangue to look towards Isaac, who had but
glanced at the scroll which Higg offered, when,
uttering a deep groan, he fell from his mule like a
dying man, and lay for a minute insensible.
The Rabbi now dismounted in great alarm, and
hastily applied the remedies which his art suggested
for the recovery of his companion. He had even
taken from his pocket a cupping apparatus, and was
about to proceed to phlebotomy, when the object
of his anxious solicitude suddenly revived; but it
was to dash his cap from his head, and to throw
dust on his grey hairs. The physician was at first
inclined to ascribe this sudden and violent emotion
to the effects of insanity; and, adhering to his original
purpose, began once again to handle his implements.
But Isaac soon convinced him of his
error.
"Child of my sorrow," he said, "well shouldst
thou be called Benoni, instead of Rebecca! Why
should thy death bring down my grey hairs to the
grave, till, in the bitterness of my heart, I curse
God and die!"
"Brother," said the Rabbi, in great surprise,
"art thou a father in Israel, and dost thou utter
words like unto these?---I trust that the child of
thy house yet liveth?"
"She liveth," answered Isaac; "but it is as
Daniel, who was called Beltheshazzar, even when
within the den of the lions. She is captive unto
those men of Belial, and they will wreak their
cruelty upon her, sparing neither for her youth nor
her comely favour. O! she was as a crown of green
palms to my grey locks; and she must wither in a
night, like the gourd of Jonah!---Child of my love!
---child of my old age!---oh, Rebecca, daughter of
Rachel! the darkness of the shadow of death hath
encompassed thee."
"Yet read the scroll," said the Rabbi; "peradventure
it may be that we may yet find out a way
of deliverance."
"Do thou read, brother," answered Isaac, "for
mine eyes are as a fountain of water."
The physician read, but in their native language,
the following words:---
"To Isaac, the son of Adonikam, whom the
Gentiles call Isaac of York, peace and the blessing
of the promise be multiplied unto thee!---My
father, I am as one doomed to die for that which
my soul knoweth not---even for the crime of witchcraft.
My father, if a strong man can be found to
do battle for my cause with sword and spear, according
to the custom of the Nazarenes, and that
within the lists of Templestowe, on the third day
from this time, peradventure our fathers' God will
give him strength to defend the innocent, and her
who hath none to help her. But if this may not be,
let the virgins of our people mourn for me as for
one cast off, and for the hart that is stricken by the
hunter, and for the flower which is cut down by
the scythe of the mower. Wherefore look now
what thou doest, and whether there be any rescue.
One Nazarene warrior might indeed bear arms in
my behalf, even Wilfred, son of Cedric, whom the
Gentiles call Ivanhoe. But he may not yet endure
the weight of his armour. Nevertheless, send the
tidings unto him, my father; for he hath favour
among the strong men of his people, and as he was
our companion in the house of bondage, he may find
some one to do battle for my sake. And say unto
him, even unto him, even unto Wilfred, the son of
Cedric, that if Rebecca live, or if Rebecca die, she
liveth or dieth wholly free of the guilt she is charged
withal. And if it be the will of God that thou
shalt be deprived of thy daughter, do not thou tarry,
old man, in this land of bloodshed and cruelty;
but betake thyself to Cordova, where thy brother
liveth in safety, under the shadow of the throne,
even of the throne of Boabdil the Saracen; for
less cruel are the cruelties of the Moors unto the
race of Jacob, than the cruelties of the Nazarenes
of England."
Isaac listened with tolerable composure while
Ben Samuel read the letter, and then again resumed
the gestures and exclamations of Oriental sorrow,
tearing his garments, besprinkling his head with
dust, and ejaculating, "My daughter! my daughter!
flesh of my flesh, and bone of my bone!"
"Yet," said the Rabbi, "take courage, for this
grief availeth nothing. Gird up thy loins, and seek
out this Wilfred, the son of Cedric. It may be he
will help thee with counsel or with strength; for
the youth hath favour in the eyes of Richard, called
of the Nazarenes Cur-de-Lion, and the tidings
that he hath returned are constant in the land. It
may be that be may obtain his letter, and his signet,
commanding these men of blood, who take
their name from the Temple to the dishonour
thereof, that they proceed not in their purposed
wickedness."
"I will seek him out," said Isaac, "for he is a
good youth, and hath compassion for the exile of
Jacob. But he cannot bear his armour, and what
other Christian shall do battle for the oppressed of
Zion?"
"Nay, but," said the Rabbi, "thou speakest as
one that knoweth not the Gentiles. With gold
shalt thou buy their valour, even as with gold thou
buyest thine own safety. Be of good courage, and
do thou set forward to find out this Wilfred of
Ivanhoe. I will also up and be doing, for great sin
it were to leave thee in thy calamity. I will hie
me to the city of York, where many warriors and
strong men are assembled, and doubt not I will
find among them some one who will do battle for
thy daughter; for gold is their god, and for riches
will they pawn their lives as well as their lands.---
Thou wilt fulfil, my brother, such promise as I may
make unto them in thy name?"
"Assuredly, brother," said Isaac, "and Heaven
be praised that raised me up a comforter in my misery.
Howbeit, grant them not their full demand
at once, for thou shalt find it the quality of this
accursed people that they will ask pounds, and peradventure
accept of ounces---Nevertheless, be it as
thou willest, for I am distracted in this thing, and
what would my gold avail me if the child of my
love should perish!"
"Farewell," said the physician, "and may it be
to thee as thy heart desireth."
They embraced accordingly, and departed on
their several roads. The crippled peasant remained
for some time looking after them.
"These dog-Jews!" said he; "to take no more
notice of a free guild-brother, than if I were a bond
slave or a Turk, or a circumcised Hebrew like themselves!
They might have flung me a mancus or
two, however. I was not obliged to bring their unhallowed
scrawls, and run the risk of being bewitched,
as more folks than one told me. And
what care I for the bit of gold that the wench gave
me, if I am to come to harm from the priest next
Easter at confession, and be obliged to give him
twice as much to make it up with him, and be called
the Jew's flying post all my life, as it may hap,
into the bargain? I think I was bewitched in earnest
when I was beside that girl!---But it was always
so with Jew or Gentile, whosoever came
near her---none could stay when she had an errand
to go---and still, whenever I think of her, I would
give shop and tools to save her life."
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