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.”
