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English chivalry hath not suffered in my hands."

"And I," said Gurth, "for a Saxon swineherd, have not ill played the
personage of a Norman squire-at-arms."

"Yea, but," answered the Disinherited Knight, "thou hast ever kept me in
anxiety lest thy clownish bearing should discover thee."

"Tush!" said Gurth, "I fear discovery from none, saving my playfellow,
Wamba the Jester, of whom I could never discover whether he were most
knave or fool. Yet I could scarce choose but laugh, when my old master
passed so near to me, dreaming all the while that Gurth was keeping his
porkers many a mile off, in the thickets and swamps of Rotherwood. If I
am discovered---"

"Enough," said the Disinherited Knight, "thou knowest my promise."

"Nay, for that matter," said Gurth, "I will never fail my friend for
fear of my skin-cutting. I have a tough hide, that will bear knife or
scourge as well as any boar's hide in my herd."

"Trust me, I will requite the risk you run for my love, Gurth," said the
Knight. "Meanwhile, I pray you to accept these ten pieces of gold."

"I am richer," said Gurth, putting them into his pouch, "than ever was
swineherd or bondsman."

"Take this bag of gold to Ashby," continued his master, "and find out
Isaac the Jew of York, and let him pay himself for the horse and arms
with which his credit supplied me."

"Nay, by St Dunstan," replied Gurth, "that I will not do."

"How, knave," replied his master, "wilt thou not obey my commands?"

"So they be honest, reasonable, and Christian commands," replied Gurth;
"but this is none of these. To suffer the Jew to pay himself would be
dishonest, for it would be cheating my master; and unreasonable, for it
were the part of a fool; and unchristian, since it would be plundering a
believer to enrich an infidel."

"See him contented, however, thou stubborn varlet," said the
Disinherited Knight.

"I will do so," said Gurth, taking the bag under his cloak, and leaving
the apartment; "and it will go hard," he muttered, "but I content him
with one-half of his own asking." So saying, he departed, and left the
Disinherited Knight to his own perplexed ruminations; which, upon more
accounts than it is now possible to communicate to the reader, were of a
nature peculiarly agitating and painful.

We must now change the scene to the village of Ashby, or rather to a
country house in its vicinity belonging to a wealthy Israelite, with
whom Isaac, his daughter, and retinue, had taken up their quarters; the
Jews, it is well known, being as liberal in exercising the duties of
hospitality and charity among their own people, as they were alleged to
be reluctant and churlish in extending them to those whom they
termed Gentiles, and whose treatment of them certainly merited little
hospitality at their hand.

In an apartment, small indeed, but richly furnished with decorations of
an Oriental taste, Rebecca was seated on a heap of embroidered cushions,
which, piled along a low platform that surrounded the chamber, served,
like the estrada of the Spaniards, instead of chairs and stools. She
was watching the motions of her father with a look of anxious and
filial affection, while he paced the apartment with a dejected mien
and disordered step; sometimes clasping his hands together--sometimes
casting his eyes to the roof of the apartment, as one who laboured under
great mental tribulation. "O, Jacob!" he exclaimed--"O, all ye twelve
Holy Fathers of our tribe! what a losing venture is this for one who
hath duly kept every jot and tittle of the law of Moses--Fifty zecchins
wrenched from me at one clutch, and by the talons of a tyrant!"

"But, father," said Rebecca, "you seemed to give the gold to Prince John
willingly."

"Willingly? the blotch of Egypt upon him!--Willingly, saidst thou?--Ay,
as willingly as when, in the Gulf of Lyons, I flung over my merchandise
to lighten the ship, while she laboured in the tempest--robed the
seething billows in my choice silks--perfumed their briny foam with
myrrh and aloes--enriched their caverns with gold and silver work! And
was not that an hour of unutterable misery, though my own hands made the
sacrifice?"

"But it was a sacrifice which Heaven exacted to save our lives,"
answered Rebecca, "and the God of our fathers has since blessed your
store and your gettings."

"Ay," answered Isaac, "but if the tyrant lays hold on them as he did
to-day, and compels me to smile while he is robbing me?--O, daughter,
disinherited and wandering as we are, the worst evil which befalls our
race is, that when we are wronged and plundered, all the world laughs
around, and we are compelled to suppress our sense of injury, and to
smile tamely, when we would revenge bravely."

"Think not thus of it, my father," said Rebecca; "we also have
advantages. These Gentiles, cruel and oppressive as they are, are in
some sort dependent on the dispersed children of Zion, whom they despise
and persecute. Without the aid of our wealth, they could neither furnish
forth their hosts in war, nor their triumphs in peace, and the gold

English chivalry hath not suffered in my hands."

"And I," said Gurth, "for a Saxon swineherd, have not ill played the

personage of a Norman squire-at-arms."

"Yea, but," answered the Disinherited Knight, "thou hast ever kept me in

anxiety lest thy clownish bearing should discover thee."

"Tush!" said Gurth, "I fear discovery from none, saving my playfellow,

Wamba the Jester, of whom I could never discover whether he were most

knave or fool. Yet I could scarce choose but laugh, when my old master

passed so near to me, dreaming all the while that Gurth was keeping his

porkers many a mile off, in the thickets and swamps of Rotherwood. If I

am discovered---"

"Enough," said the Disinherited Knight, "thou knowest my promise."

"Nay, for that matter," said Gurth, "I will never fail my friend for

fear of my skin-cutting. I have a tough hide, that will bear knife or

scourge as well as any boar's hide in my herd."

"Trust me, I will requite the risk you run for my love, Gurth," said the

Knight. "Meanwhile, I pray you to accept these ten pieces of gold."

"I am richer," said Gurth, putting them into his pouch, "than ever was

swineherd or bondsman."

"Take this bag of gold to Ashby," continued his master, "and find out

Isaac the Jew of York, and let him pay himself for the horse and arms

with which his credit supplied me."

"Nay, by St Dunstan," replied Gurth, "that I will not do."

"How, knave," replied his master, "wilt thou not obey my commands?"

"So they be honest, reasonable, and Christian commands," replied Gurth;

"but this is none of these. To suffer the Jew to pay himself would be

dishonest, for it would be cheating my master; and unreasonable, for it

were the part of a fool; and unchristian, since it would be plundering a

believer to enrich an infidel."

"See him contented, however, thou stubborn varlet," said the

Disinherited Knight.

"I will do so," said Gurth, taking the bag under his cloak, and leaving

the apartment; "and it will go hard," he muttered, "but I content him

with one-half of his own asking." So saying, he departed, and left the

Disinherited Knight to his own perplexed ruminations; which, upon more

accounts than it is now possible to communicate to the reader, were of a

nature peculiarly agitating and painful.

We must now change the scene to the village of Ashby, or rather to a

country house in its vicinity belonging to a wealthy Israelite, with

whom Isaac, his daughter, and retinue, had taken up their quarters; the

Jews, it is well known, being as liberal in exercising the duties of

hospitality and charity among their own people, as they were alleged to

be reluctant and churlish in extending them to those whom they

termed Gentiles, and whose treatment of them certainly merited little

hospitality at their hand.

In an apartment, small indeed, but richly furnished with decorations of

an Oriental taste, Rebecca was seated on a heap of embroidered cushions,

which, piled along a low platform that surrounded the chamber, served,

like the estrada of the Spaniards, instead of chairs and stools. She

was watching the motions of her father with a look of anxious and

filial affection, while he paced the apartment with a dejected mien

and disordered step; sometimes clasping his hands together--sometimes

casting his eyes to the roof of the apartment, as one who laboured under

great mental tribulation. "O, Jacob!" he exclaimed--"O, all ye twelve

Holy Fathers of our tribe! what a losing venture is this for one who

hath duly kept every jot and tittle of the law of Moses--Fifty zecchins

wrenched from me at one clutch, and by the talons of a tyrant!"

"But, father," said Rebecca, "you seemed to give the gold to Prince John

willingly."

"Willingly? the blotch of Egypt upon him!--Willingly, saidst thou?--Ay,

as willingly as when, in the Gulf of Lyons, I flung over my merchandise

to lighten the ship, while she laboured in the tempest--robed the

seething billows in my choice silks--perfumed their briny foam with

myrrh and aloes--enriched their caverns with gold and silver work! And

was not that an hour of unutterable misery, though my own hands made the

sacrifice?"

"But it was a sacrifice which Heaven exacted to save our lives,"

answered Rebecca, "and the God of our fathers has since blessed your

store and your gettings."

"Ay," answered Isaac, "but if the tyrant lays hold on them as he did

to-day, and compels me to smile while he is robbing me?--O, daughter,

disinherited and wandering as we are, the worst evil which befalls our

race is, that when we are wronged and plundered, all the world laughs

around, and we are compelled to suppress our sense of injury, and to

smile tamely, when we would revenge bravely."

"Think not thus of it, my father," said Rebecca; "we also have

advantages. These Gentiles, cruel and oppressive as they are, are in

some sort dependent on the dispersed children of Zion, whom they despise

and persecute. Without the aid of our wealth, they could neither furnish

forth their hosts in war, nor their triumphs in peace, and the gold