Ivanhoe

Emboldened by these considerations, the Jew pursued his point, and

jostled the Norman Christian, without respect either to his descent,

quality, or religion. The complaints of the old man, however, excited

the indignation of the bystanders. One of these, a stout well-set

yeoman, arrayed in Lincoln green, having twelve arrows stuck in his

belt, with a baldric and badge of silver, and a bow of six feet length

in his hand, turned short round, and while his countenance, which his

constant exposure to weather had rendered brown as a hazel nut, grew

darker with anger, he advised the Jew to remember that all the wealth

he had acquired by sucking the blood of his miserable victims had but

swelled him like a bloated spider, which might be overlooked while he

kept in a comer, but would be crushed if it ventured into the light.

This intimation, delivered in Norman-English with a firm voice and

a stern aspect, made the Jew shrink back; and he would have probably

withdrawn himself altogether from a vicinity so dangerous, had not the

attention of every one been called to the sudden entrance of Prince

John, who at that moment entered the lists, attended by a numerous and

gay train, consisting partly of laymen, partly of churchmen, as light in

their dress, and as gay in their demeanour, as their companions. Among

the latter was the Prior of Jorvaulx, in the most gallant trim which a

dignitary of the church could venture to exhibit. Fur and gold were not

spared in his garments; and the points of his boots, out-heroding

the preposterous fashion of the time, turned up so very far, as to

be attached, not to his knees merely, but to his very girdle, and

effectually prevented him from putting his foot into the stirrup. This,

however, was a slight inconvenience to the gallant Abbot, who,

perhaps, even rejoicing in the opportunity to display his accomplished

horsemanship before so many spectators, especially of the fair sex,

dispensed with the use of these supports to a timid rider. The rest

of Prince John's retinue consisted of the favourite leaders of his

mercenary troops, some marauding barons and profligate attendants upon

the court, with several Knights Templars and Knights of St John.

It may be here remarked, that the knights of these two orders were

accounted hostile to King Richard, having adopted the side of Philip

of France in the long train of disputes which took place in Palestine

betwixt that monarch and the lion-hearted King of England. It was the

well-known consequence of this discord that Richard's repeated victories

had been rendered fruitless, his romantic attempts to besiege Jerusalem

disappointed, and the fruit of all the glory which he had acquired had

dwindled into an uncertain truce with the Sultan Saladin. With the same

policy which had dictated the conduct of their brethren in the Holy

Land, the Templars and Hospitallers in England and Normandy attached

themselves to the faction of Prince John, having little reason to desire

the return of Richard to England, or the succession of Arthur, his

legitimate heir. For the opposite reason, Prince John hated and

contemned the few Saxon families of consequence which subsisted in

England, and omitted no opportunity of mortifying and affronting them;

being conscious that his person and pretensions were disliked by them,

as well as by the greater part of the English commons, who feared

farther innovation upon their rights and liberties, from a sovereign of

John's licentious and tyrannical disposition.