"Whoever shall call thee Saxon, Sir Baron," replied Cedric, offended
at a mode of expression by which the Normans frequently expressed their
habitual contempt of the English, "will do thee an honour as great as it
is undeserved."
Front-de-Boeuf would have replied, but Prince John's petulance and
levity got the start.
"Assuredly," said be, "my lords, the noble Cedric speaks truth; and
his race may claim precedence over us as much in the length of their
pedigrees as in the longitude of their cloaks."
"They go before us indeed in the field--as deer before dogs," said
Malvoisin.
"And with good right may they go before us--forget not," said the Prior
Aymer, "the superior decency and decorum of their manners."
"Their singular abstemiousness and temperance," said De Bracy,
forgetting the plan which promised him a Saxon bride.
"Together with the courage and conduct," said Brian de Bois-Guilbert,
"by which they distinguished themselves at Hastings and elsewhere."
While, with smooth and smiling cheek, the courtiers, each in turn,
followed their Prince's example, and aimed a shaft of ridicule at
Cedric, the face of the Saxon became inflamed with passion, and
he glanced his eyes fiercely from one to another, as if the quick
succession of so many injuries had prevented his replying to them in
turn; or, like a baited bull, who, surrounded by his tormentors, is at
a loss to choose from among them the immediate object of his revenge.
At length he spoke, in a voice half choked with passion; and, addressing
himself to Prince John as the head and front of the offence which he had
received, "Whatever," he said, "have been the follies and vices of our
race, a Saxon would have been held 'nidering'," [21] (the most emphatic
term for abject worthlessness,) "who should in his own hall, and while
his own wine-cup passed, have treated, or suffered to be treated, an
unoffending guest as your highness has this day beheld me used; and
whatever was the misfortune of our fathers on the field of Hastings,
those may at least be silent," here he looked at Front-de-Boeuf and the
Templar, "who have within these few hours once and again lost saddle and
stirrup before the lance of a Saxon."
"By my faith, a biting jest!" said Prince John. "How like you it,
sirs?--Our Saxon subjects rise in spirit and courage; become shrewd
in wit, and bold in bearing, in these unsettled times--What say ye,
my lords?--By this good light, I hold it best to take our galleys, and
return to Normandy in time."