Ivanhoe

Nay, if the gentle spirit of moving words

Can no way change you to a milder form,

I'll woo you, like a soldier, at arms' end,

And love you 'gainst the nature of love, force you.

--Two Gentlemen of Verona

The apartment to which the Lady Rowena had been introduced was fitted

up with some rude attempts at ornament and magnificence, and her being

placed there might be considered as a peculiar mark of respect not

offered to the other prisoners. But the wife of Front-de-Boeuf, for whom

it had been originally furnished, was long dead, and decay and neglect

had impaired the few ornaments with which her taste had adorned it.

The tapestry hung down from the walls in many places, and in others

was tarnished and faded under the effects of the sun, or tattered and

decayed by age. Desolate, however, as it was, this was the apartment of

the castle which had been judged most fitting for the accommodation

of the Saxon heiress; and here she was left to meditate upon her fate,

until the actors in this nefarious drama had arranged the several parts

which each of them was to perform. This had been settled in a council

held by Front-de-Boeuf, De Bracy, and the Templar, in which, after

a long and warm debate concerning the several advantages which each

insisted upon deriving from his peculiar share in this audacious

enterprise, they had at length determined the fate of their unhappy

prisoners.

It was about the hour of noon, therefore, when De Bracy, for whose

advantage the expedition had been first planned, appeared to prosecute

his views upon the hand and possessions of the Lady Rowena.

The interval had not entirely been bestowed in holding council with his

confederates, for De Bracy had found leisure to decorate his person

with all the foppery of the times. His green cassock and vizard were

now flung aside. His long luxuriant hair was trained to flow in quaint

tresses down his richly furred cloak. His beard was closely shaved, his

doublet reached to the middle of his leg, and the girdle which secured

it, and at the same time supported his ponderous sword, was embroidered

and embossed with gold work. We have already noticed the extravagant

fashion of the shoes at this period, and the points of Maurice de

Bracy's might have challenged the prize of extravagance with the gayest,

being turned up and twisted like the horns of a ram. Such was the dress

of a gallant of the period; and, in the present instance, that effect

was aided by the handsome person and good demeanour of the wearer, whose

manners partook alike of the grace of a courtier, and the frankness of a

soldier.