Ivanhoe: A Romance
leading part of Cedric’s plan to extinguish that which already existed,
by promoting a marriage betwixt Rowena and Athelstane. An obstacle
occurred to this his favourite project, in the mutual attachment of his
ward and his son and hence the original cause of the banishment of
Wilfred from the house of his father.
This stern measure Cedric had adopted, in hopes that, during Wilfred’s
absence, Rowena might relinquish her preference, but in this hope he
was disappointed; a disappointment which might be attributed in part to
the mode in which his ward had been educated. Cedric, to whom the name
of Alfred was as that of a deity, had treated the sole remaining scion
of that great monarch with a degree of observance, such as, perhaps,
was in those days scarce paid to an acknowledged princess. Rowena’s
will had been in almost all cases a law to his household; and Cedric
himself, as if determined that her sovereignty should be fully
acknowledged within that little circle at least, seemed to take a pride
in acting as the first of her subjects. Thus trained in the exercise
not only of free will, but despotic authority, Rowena was, by her
previous education, disposed both to resist and to resent any attempt
to control her affections, or dispose of her hand contrary to her
inclinations, and to assert her independence in a case in which even
those females who have been trained up to obedience and subjection, are
not infrequently apt to dispute the authority of guardians and parents.
The opinions which she felt strongly, she avowed boldly; and Cedric,
who could not free himself from his habitual deference to her opinions,
felt totally at a loss how to enforce his authority of guardian.
It was in vain that he attempted to dazzle her with the prospect of a
visionary throne. Rowena, who possessed strong sense, neither
considered his plan as practicable, nor as desirable, so far as she was
concerned, could it have been achieved. Without attempting to conceal
her avowed preference of Wilfred of Ivanhoe, she declared that, were
that favoured knight out of question, she would rather take refuge in a
convent, than share a throne with Athelstane, whom, having always
despised, she now began, on account of the trouble she received on his
account, thoroughly to detest.
Nevertheless, Cedric, whose opinions of women’s constancy was far from
strong, persisted in using every means in his power to bring about the
proposed match, in which he conceived he was rendering an important
service to the Saxon cause. The sudden and romantic appearance of his
son in the lists at Ashby, he had justly regarded as almost a death’s
blow to his hopes. His paternal affection, it is true, had for an
instant gained the victory over pride and patriotism; but both had
returned in full force, and under their joint operation, he was now
bent upon making a determined effort for the union of Athelstane and
Rowena, together with expediting those other measures which seemed
necessary to forward the restoration of Saxon independence.
On this last subject, he was now labouring with Athelstane, not without
having reason, every now and then, to lament, like Hotspur, that he
should have moved such a dish of skimmed milk to so honourable an
action. Athelstane, it is true, was vain enough, and loved to have his
ears tickled with tales of his high descent, and of his right by
inheritance to homage and sovereignty. But his petty vanity was
sufficiently gratified by receiving this homage at the hands of his
immediate attendants, and of the Saxons who approached him. If he had
the courage to encounter danger, he at least hated the trouble of going
to seek it; and while he agreed in the general principles laid down by
Cedric concerning the claim of the Saxons to independence, and was
still more easily convinced of his own title to reign over them when
that independence should be attained, yet when the means of asserting
these rights came to be discussed, he was still “Athelstane the
Unready,” slow, irresolute, procrastinating, and unenterprising. The
warm and impassioned exhortations of Cedric had as little effect upon
his impassive temper, as red-hot balls alighting in the water, which
produce a little sound and smoke, and are instantly extinguished.
If, leaving this task, which might be compared to spurring a tired
jade, or to hammering upon cold iron, Cedric fell back to his ward
Rowena, he received little more satisfaction from conferring with her.
For, as his presence interrupted the discourse between the lady and her
favourite attendant upon the gallantry and fate of Wilfred, Elgitha
failed not to revenge both her mistress and herself, by recurring to
the overthrow of Athelstane in the lists, the most disagreeable subject
which could greet the ears of Cedric. To this sturdy Saxon, therefore,
the day’s journey was fraught with all manner of displeasure and
discomfort; so that he more than once internally cursed the tournament,
and him who had proclaimed it, together with his own folly in ever
thinking of going thither.
At noon, upon the motion of Athelstane, the travellers paused in a
woodland shade by a fountain, to repose their horses and partake of
some provisions, with which the hospitable Abbot had loaded a sumpter
mule. Their repast was a pretty long one; and these several
interruptions rendered it impossible for them to hope to reach
Rotherwood without travelling all night, a conviction which induced
them to proceed on their way at a more hasty pace than they had
hitherto used.
CHAPTER XIX
A train of armed men, some noble dame
Escorting, (so their scatter’d words discover’d,
As unperceived I hung upon their rear,)
Are close at hand, and mean to pass the night
Within the castle.
ORRA, A TRAGEDY
The travellers had now reached the verge of the wooded country, and
were about to plunge into its recesses, held dangerous at that time
from the number of outlaws whom oppression and poverty had driven to
despair, and who occupied the forests in such large bands as could
easily bid defiance to the feeble police of the period. From these
rovers, however, notwithstanding the lateness of the hour Cedric and
Athelstane accounted themselves secure, as they had in attendance ten
servants, besides Wamba and Gurth, whose aid could not be counted upon,
the one being a jester and the other a captive. It may be added, that
in travelling thus late through the forest, Cedric and Athelstane
relied on their descent and character, as well as their courage. The
outlaws, whom the severity of the forest laws had reduced to this
roving and desperate mode of life, were chiefly peasants and yeomen of
Saxon descent, and were generally supposed to respect the persons and
property of their countrymen.
As the travellers journeyed on their way, they were alarmed by repeated
cries for assistance; and when they rode up to the place from whence
they came, they were surprised to find a horse-litter placed upon the
ground, beside which sat a young woman, richly dressed in the Jewish
fashion, while an old man, whose yellow cap proclaimed him to belong to
the same nation, walked up and down with gestures expressive of the
deepest despair, and wrung his hands, as if affected by some strange
disaster.
To the enquiries of Athelstane and Cedric, the old Jew could for some
time only answer by invoking the protection of all the patriarchs of
the Old Testament successively against the sons of Ishmael, who were
coming to smite them, hip and thigh, with the edge of the sword. When
he began to come to himself out of this agony of terror, Isaac of York
(for it was our old friend) was at length able to explain, that he had
hired a body-guard of six men at Ashby, together with mules for
carrying the litter of a sick friend. This party had undertaken to
escort him as far as Doncaster. They had come thus far in safety; but
having received information from a wood-cutter that there was a strong
band of outlaws lying in wait in the woods before them, Isaac’s
mercenaries had not only taken flight, but had carried off with them
the horses which bore the litter and left the Jew and his daughter
without the means either of defence or of retreat, to be plundered, and
probably murdered, by the banditti, who they expected every moment
would bring down upon them. “Would it but please your valours,” added
Isaac, in a tone of deep humiliation, “to permit the poor Jews to
travel under your safeguard, I swear by the tables of our law, that
never has favour been conferred upon a child of Israel since the days
of our captivity, which shall be more gratefully acknowledged.”
“Dog of a Jew!” said Athelstane, whose memory was of that petty kind
which stores up trifles of all kinds, but particularly trifling
offences, “dost not remember how thou didst beard us in the gallery at
the tilt-yard? Fight or flee, or compound with the outlaws as thou dost
list, ask neither aid nor company from us; and if they rob only such as
thee, who rob all the world, I, for mine own share, shall hold them
right honest folk.”
Cedric did not assent to the severe proposal of his companion. “We
shall do better,” said he, “to leave them two of our attendants and two
horses to convey them back to the next village. It will diminish our
strength but little; and with your good sword, noble Athelstane, and
the aid of those who remain, it will be light work for us to face
twenty of those runagates.”
Rowena, somewhat alarmed by the mention of outlaws in force, and so
near them, strongly seconded the proposal of her guardian. But Rebecca
suddenly quitting her dejected posture, and making her way through the
attendants to the palfrey of the Saxon lady, knelt down, and, after the
Oriental fashion in addressing superiors, kissed the hem of Rowena’s
garment. Then rising, and throwing back her veil, she implored her in
the great name of the God whom they both worshipped, and by that
revelation of the Law upon Mount Sinai, in which they both believed,
that she would have compassion upon them, and suffer them to go forward
under their safeguard. “It is not for myself that I pray this favour,”
said Rebecca; “nor is it even for that poor old man. I know that to
wrong and to spoil our nation is a light fault, if not a merit, with
the Christians; and what is it to us whether it be done in the city, in
the desert, or in the field? But it is in the name of one dear to many,
and dear even to you, that I beseech you to let this sick person be
transported with care and tenderness under your protection. For, if
evil chance him, the last moment of your life would be embittered with
regret for denying that which I ask of you.”
The noble and solemn air with which Rebecca made this appeal, gave it
double weight with the fair Saxon.
“The man is old and feeble,” she said to her guardian, “the maiden
young and beautiful, their friend sick and in peril of his life—Jews
though they be, we cannot as Christians leave them in this extremity.
Let them unload two of the sumpter-mules, and put the baggage behind
two of the serfs. The mules may transport the litter, and we have led
horses for the old man and his daughter.”
Cedric readily assented to what she proposed, and Athelstane only added
the condition, “that they should travel in the rear of the whole party,
where Wamba,” he said, “might attend them with his shield of boar’s
brawn.”
“I have left my shield in the tilt-yard,” answered the Jester, “as has
been the fate of many a better knight than myself.”
Athelstane coloured deeply, for such had been his own fate on the last
day of the tournament; while Rowena, who was pleased in the same
proportion, as if to make amends for the brutal jest of her unfeeling
suitor, requested Rebecca to ride by her side.