In vain with foes each neighbouring height was

crowned;

In vain Saphæddin's warriors hovered round;
The fiery Bedouin's spear is knapt in twain,
And Egypt's scourges strew the cumbered plain.
Why sleeps the minstrel's spirit-stirring voice,

8

Nor bids as erst the conquering host rejoice?

What mean the whispered murmurs of the crowd? Why lowers on Richard's brow care's gathering cloud?

And wilt thou, perjured Philip, hasten home,
Heedless of Sion 10 and thy Saviour's tomb ?

2. And onward speeds the Christian host. Their way
No power may check, their soul no risk dismay.
Mark where, half-veiled by morning's leaden haze,11
Jaffa's time-honoured watch-towers meet their gaze
But see those sand-clouds borne along the sky-
The countless host of Saladin is nigh.

From many a clime his gathering squadrons flow,
To crush the Christians in one 'whelming blow.
Hark! the deep music of the Eastern drum:
On like the thunder's rolling voice they come-
They close-they mingle-but what boots to tell12
How the Cross triumphed, and the Crescent 13 fell?

3. And many a day speeds on: while on their way
Fainting they toil beneath the sun's fierce ray;
Till seen at length against the evening sky,
Thy beauty, Salem, meets their longing eye.

And must they, baffled, turn them back again,
Each toil endured, each danger passed in vain?

Must the loved summons- "Save the Sepulchre !"
At starlit eve ring idly on their ear?

Still must they see the tall mosque tower14 on high,
And point in mockery to the clear blue sky:
While the muezzin's 15 evening call to prayer
Swells wildly by on Sion's sainted air.
Alas! 'tis so! slowly with starting tear

They leave those scenes, to Christian memory dear.

RICHARD IN SIGHT OF JERUSALEM.

Yet stays the lion-hearted king to cast
One lingering look, the longest, and the last;
Then veils his face, unworthy all to see
That hallowed 16 spot he vainly sighed to free.

4. Bright land, farewell! war's maddening din is o'er;
No longer armèd myriads 17 throng thy shore.
And Albion's king, last of that Red-Cross band,
His work unfinished, sorrowing, quits thy strand.18

E'en now, their white sails shaken to the wind,
His bounding galleys leave the shore behind :
And glancing gaily in the morning ray,
Skim lightly, Acre, o'er thy smiling bay.
But see! he turns to take one last look more-
A moment lingers on thy craggy shore;
Thy rocks, woods, waters, wildly blending, sees,
And feels the cool gush of thy balmy breeze.
Hark! while he gazes on the scene so fair,
Bursts from his swelling breast the struggling prayer:
"Most holy land, may Israel's God incline
His pitying ear, and raise His trampled vine;
And oh in mercy, may He grant to me

Life to return again, and set thee free !"

8.-ANARCHY1 IN ENGLAND.

1. Meanwhile, things had not been going on well in England. William Longchamp was a very clever man, and he was faithful to his absent King. But he was very much disliked in England. In the first place he was a Norman, and could not speak any English. He despised the English. And although he was proud of being a Norman, the other Norman nobles thought him an upstart. He was a very proud man, and he had great power, which he used in a disagreeable way. For as he was Justiciar and Chancellor, as well as Legate, he was head of both the Church and the State. He also made himself very unpopular by putting his relatives into high places in the State.

Soon

2. Longchamp was so powerful, that for some time he had no rivals in England; but at last the three years during which John had promised to keep away from England came to an end, and so he returned, and took possession of some of the castles Richard had given him. John soon grew to dislike Longchamp, because Longchamp set up young Arthur as heir to the throne. This Arthur was the son of Geoffrey, John's elder brother, who had died some time before. there followed open quarrelling between John and Longchamp. Some of the royal castles in England had fallen into the hands of men who could not be trusted, and Longchamp knew that this was very dangerous for the authority of the King. So he tried to recover possession of these castles, to keep them for Richard. But some of the barons who held the castles refused to give them up, and asked John to

2

assist them against Longchamp. Both parties took up arms, but there was no actual battle, because Richard, who was then at Messina, sent to England the Archbishop of Rouen, and told him to settle the dispute. Longchamp became more and more unpopular, and at last was obliged to give up his castles and go away into exile.

3. The fall of the Chancellor greatly increased the power of John, and when he heard that Richard was a prisoner, he began to plot with Philip of France (who had returned from the Holy Land) to keep Richard out of the throne altogether, and to make himself King. The Emperor demanded that, before he set Richard free, he should have a large sum of money as ransom. A great statesman called Hubert Walter, who had been to the Crusade with Richard, saw Richard in prison on his Richard way back to England from the Crusade. had made Hubert Walter Archbishop of Canterbury, and told him to come to England and raise the ransom. The whole country came forward with money to release their King from prison. John pretended to collect money for the ransom, but kept a great deal of it for himself. At last the money was collected, and Richard was released and returned to England. He found the country at war, for Archbishop Hubert had been compelled to lead an army against John. But all John's friends deserted him as soon as Richard came back, and there was not much more fighting.

4. Richard stayed only a few months in England, but he did a great deal of work in that time. He punished many of his enemies, but forgave John,