and twenty thousand foot, were capable of immediate service. Their easy march was continued between Mount Libanus and the sea-shore: their wants were liberally supplied by the coasting traders of Genoa and Pisa; and they drew large contributions from the emirs of Tripoli, Tyre, Sidon, Acre, and Cæsarea, who granted a free passage, and promised to follow the example of Jerusalem. From Cæsarea they advanced into the midland country; their clerks recognized the sacred geography of Lydda, Ramla, Emmaus, and Bethlem, and as soon as they descried the holy city, the crusaders forgot their toils and claimed their reward.104

Jerusalem has derived some reputation from the number and importance of her memorable sieges. It was not till after a long and obstinate contest that Babylon and Rome could prevail against the obstinacy of the people, the craggy ground that might supersede the necessity of fortifications, and the walls and towers that would have fortified the most acces. sible plain.105 These obstacles were diminished in the age of the crusades. Tne bulwarks had been completely destroyed and imperfectly restored: the Jews, their nation, and worship, were forever banished; but nature is less changeable than man, and the site of Jerusalem, though somewhat softened and somewhat removed, was still strong against the assaults of an enemy. By the experience of a recent siege and a three years' possession, the Saracens of Egypt had been taught to discern, and in some degree to remedy, the defects of a place, which religion as well as honor forbade them to resign. Aladin, or Iftikhar, the caliph's lieutenant, was intrusted with the defence: his policy strove to restrain the native Christians by the dread of their own ruin and that of the holy sepulchre; to animate the Moslems by the assurance

104 The greatest part of the march of the Franks is traced, and most accurately traced, in Maundrell's Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, (p. 11-67;) un des meilleurs morceaux, sans contredit qu'on ait dans ce genre, (D'Anville, Mémoire sur Jerusalem, p. 27.)

105 See the masterly description of Tacitus, (Hist. v. 11, 12, 13,) who supposes that the Jewish lawgivers had provided for a perpetual state of hostility against the rest of mankind.†

Scarcely of Bethlehem, to the south of Jerusalem.-M.

This is an exaggerated inference from the words of Tacitus, who "peaks of the founders of the city, not the lawgivers Præviderant conditores, ex diversitate morum, crebra bella; inde cuncta quamvis adversus 'ongum obsidium - M

of temporal and eternal rewards. His garrison is said to have consisted of forty thousand Turks and Arabians; and if he could muster twenty thousand of the inhabitants, it must be confessed that the besieged were more numerous than the besieging army. 106 Had the diminished strength and numbers of the Latins allowed them to grasp the whole circumference of four thousand yards, (about two English miles and a half,107) to what useful purpose should they have descended into the valley of Ben Hinnom and torrent of Cedron, 108 or approached the precipices of the south and east, from whence they had nothing either to hope or fear? Their siege was more reasonably directed against the northern and western sides of the city. Godfrey of Bouillon erected his standard on the first swell of Mount Calvary to the left, as far as St. Stephen's gate, the line of attack was continued by Tancred and the two Roberts; and Count Raymond established his quarters from the citadel to the foot of Mount Sion, which was no longer included within the precincts of the city. On the fifth day, the crusaders made a general assault, in the fanatic hope of battering down the walls without engines, and of scaling them without ladders. By the dint of brutal force, they burst the first barrier; but they were driven back with shame and slaughter to the camp: the influence of vision and prophecy was deadened by the too frequent abuse of those

106 The lively scepticism of Voltaire is balanced with sense and erudition by the French author of the Esprit des Croisades, (tom. iv. p. 386-388,) who observes, that, according to the Arabians, the inhabitants of Jerusalem must have exceeded 200,000; that in the siege of Titus, Josephus collects 1,300,000 Jews; that they are stated by Tacitus himself at 600,000; and that the largest defalcation, that his accepimus can justify, will still leave them more numerous than the Roman army.

107 Maundrell, who diligently perambulated the walls, found a circuit of 4630 paces, or 4167 English yards, (p. 109, 110:) from an authentic plan, D'Anville concludes a measure nearly similar, of 1960 French toises, (p. 23—29,) in his scarce and valuable tract. For the topography of Jerusalem, see Reland, (Palestina, tom. ii. p. 832860.)

109 Jerusalem was possessed only of the torrent of Kedron, dry in summer, and of the little spring or brook of Siloe, (Reland, tom. i. p. 294, 300.) Both strangers and natives complained of the want of water, which, in time of war, was studiously aggravated. Within the city, Tacitus mentions a perennial fountain, an aqueduct and cisterns for rain water. The aqueduct was conveyed from the rivulet Tekoe o Etham, which is likewise mentioned by Bohadin, (in Vit. Saladin p. 238.)

PR stratagems; and time and labor were found to be the only means of victory. The time of the siege was indeed fulfilled in forty days, but they were forty days of calamity and anguish. A repetition of the old complaint of famine may be imputed in some degree to the voracious or disorderly appetite of the Franks; but the stony soil of Jerusalem is almost destiture of water; the scanty springs and hasty tor rents were dry in the summer season; nor was the thirst of the besiegers relieved, as in the city, by the artificial supply of cisterns and aqueducts. The circumjacent country is equally destitute of trees for the uses of shade or building; but some large beams were discovered in a cave by the crusaders a wood near Sichem, the enchanted grove of Tasso,109 was cut down the necessary timber was transported to the camp by the vigor and dexterity of Trancred; and the engines were framed by some Genoese artists, who had fortunately landed in the harbor of Jaffa. Two movable turrets were constructed at the expense, and in the stations, of the duke of Lorraine and the count of Tholouse, and rolled forwards with devout labor, not to the most accessible, but to the most neglected, parts of the fortification. Raymond's Tower was reduced to ashes by the fire of the besieged, but his colleague was more vigilant and successful; the enemies were driven by his archers from the rampart; the draw-bridge was let down; and on a Friday, at three in the afternoon, the day and hour of the Passion, Godfrey of Bouillon stood victorious on the walls of Jerusalem. His example was followed on every side by the emulation of valor; and about four hundred and sixty years after the conquest of Omar, the holy city was rescued From the Mahometan yoke. In the pillage of public and pri vate wealth, the adventurers had agreed to respect the exclusive property of the first occupant; and the spoils of the great mosque, seventy lamps and massy vases of gold and silver, rewarded the diligence, and displayed the generosity, of Tancred. A bloody sacrifice was offered by his mistaken votaries to the God of the Christians: resistance might provoke,

109 Gierusalomme Liberata, canto xiii. It is pleasant enough to observe how Tasso has copied and embellished the minutest details of the siege.

This does not appear by Wilken's account, (p. 294.) They ough; in vain the whole of the Thursday.-M.

but neither age nor sex could mollify, their implacable rage they indulged themselves three days in a promiscuous massacre; 110 and the infection of the dead bodies produced an epidemical disease. After seventy thousand Moslems had been put to the sword, and the harmless Jews had been burnt in their synagogue, they could still reserve a multitude of captives, whom interest or lassitude persuaded them to spare Of these savage heroes of the cross, Tancred alone betrayed some sentiments of compassion; yet we may praise the more selfish lenity of Raymond, who granted a capitulation and safe-conduct to the garrison of the citadel. The holy sepulchre was now free; and the bloody victors prepared to accomplish their vow. Bareheaded and barefoot, with contrite hearts, and in an humble posture, they ascended the hill of Calvary, amidst the loud anthems of the clergy; kissed the stone which had covered the Savior of the world; and bedewed with tears of joy and penitence the monument of their redemption. This union of the fiercest and most tender passions has been variously considered by two philosophers; by the one,112 as easy and natural; by the other,113 as absurd and incredible. Perhaps it is too rigorously applied to the same persons and the same hour: the example of the virtuous Godfrey awakened the piety of his companions; while they cleansed their bodies, they purified their minds; nor shall I believe that the most ardent in slaughter and rapine were the foremost in the procession to the holy sepulchre.

Eight days after this memorable event, which Pope Urban did not live to hear, the Latin chiefs proceeded to the election of a king, to guard and govern their conquests in Palestine. Hugh the Great, and Stephen of Chartres, had retired with some loss of reputation, which they strove to regain by a second crusade and an honorable death. Baldwin was estab

110 Besides the Latins, who are not ashamed of the massacre, see Elmacin, (Hist. Saracen. p. 363,) Abulpharagius, (Dynast. p. 243,) and M. De Guignes, tom. ii. p. ii. p. 99, from Aboulmahasen.

The old tower Psephina, in the middle ages Neblosa, was named Castellum Pisanum, from the patriarch Daimbert. It is still the citadel, the residence of the Turkish aga, and commands a prospect of the Dead Sea, Judea, and Arabia, (D'Anville, p. 13-23.) It was Likewise called the Tower of David, πυργὸς παμμεγεθέστατος.

11 Hume, in his History of England, vol. i. p. 311, 312, octavC edition.

113 Voltaire, in his Essai sur l'Histoire Générale, tom ii. c. 54 p. 345, 346.

:shed at Edessa, and Bohemond at Antioch; and two Rob. erts, the duke of Normandy 114 and the court of Flanders, preferred their fair inheritance in the West to a doubtful competition or a barren sceptre. The jealousy and ambition of Raymond were condemned by his own followers, and the free, the just, the unanimous voice of the army proclaimed Godfrey of Bouillon the first and most worthy of the chainpions of Christendom. His magnanimity accepted a trust as full of danger as of glory; but in a city where his Savior had been crowned with thorns, the devout pilgrim rejected the name and ensigns of royalty; and the founder of the kingdom of Jerusalem contented himself with the modest title of Defender and Baron of the Holy Sepulchre. His government of a single year,115 too short for the public happiness, was interrupted in the first fortnight by a summons to the field, by the approach of the vizier or sultan of Egypt, who had been too slow to prevent, but who was impatient to avenge, the loss of Jerusalem. His total overthrow in the battle of Asca. lon sealed the establishment of the Latins in Syria, and signalized the valor of the French princes who in this action bade a long farewell to the holy wars. Some glory might be derived from the prodigious inequality of numbers, though I shall not count the myriads of horse and foot* on the side of the Fatimites; but, except three thousand Ethiopians or Blacks, who were armed with flails or scourges of iron, the Barbarians of the South fled on the first onset, and afforded a pleasing comparison between the active valor of the Turks and the sloth and effeminacy of the natives of Egypt. After suspending before the holy sepulchre the sword and standard of the sultan, the new king (he deserves the title) embraced his departing companions, and could retain only with the gal lant Tancred three hundred knights, and two thousand footsoldiers for the defence of Palestine. His sovereignty was

114 The English ascribe to Robert of Normandy, and the Provincials to Raymond of Tholouse, the glory of refusing the crown; but the honest voice of tradition has preserved the memory of the ambition hud revenge (Villehardouin, No. 136) of the count of St. Giles. Ha died at the siege of Tripoli, which was possessed by his descendants. 15 See the election, the battle of Ascalon, &c., in William of Tyre, 1. ix. c. 1-12, and in the conclusion of the Latin historians of the first orusade.

• 20,000 Franks, 300,000 Mussulmen, according to Wilken, (vol ii. p. 9.) -M.