ABEY. I.]

ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM.

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presenting Conrad’s father in chains; but the valiantyoung prince, whom Saracens call the most vora-cious of wolves, the sliest of all Christian dogs , 1 choserather to be a martyr’s son than a traitor. So theMoslem had to remove to Tripoli, where the greenknight rendered all in vain . 2 And the besiegers ofAcre kept increasing in numbers every day. Thedesultory had soon to become sanguinary, andthat small detachment grew up into an army.

Not only religious exasperation—a sort ofdespair—but likewise the spirit of every descrip-tion of patriots, had been much changed by theremodelling of Palestine. Latin or Moslem despot-ism—the Hospitallers wished for neither. Yetthey now had to choose; and which worst, wasevident. Their affections, forced to become iso-lated, grew stronger. So they attached themselvesentirely to what seemed possible; but, alas! was tobaffle all their efforts. Inscrutable are the secretsof the Lord! They for the future saw no otherrefuge than the cross! Their only triumph was toplant the cross! The softener of the heart—theenlightener of the mind—Christianity! To themall the rest was dross! The present world was aglimpse—of nonsense; if they could not ascend

1 Michaud: Hist., ii. 238.

2 Id.: Id., 239. All known of the green lenight is, that he

was a Portuguese.