Poor Isaac was hurried off accordingly, and expelled
from the preceptory; all his entreaties, and even
his offers, unheard and disregarded. He could
do not better than return to the house of the Rabbi,
and endeavour, through his means, to learn how his
daughter was to be disposed of. He had hitherto
feared for her honour, he was now to tremble for her
life. Meanwhile, the Grand Master ordered to
his presence the Preceptor of Templestowe.
Say not my art is fraud—–all live
by seeming.
The beggar begs with it, and the gay courtier
Gains land and title, rank and rule, by seeming;
The clergy scorn it not, and the bold soldier
Will eke with it his service.—–All
admit it,
All practise it; and he who is content
With showing what he is, shall have small credit
In church, or camp, or state—–So
wags the world.
Old Play
Albert Malvoisin, President, or, in the language of
the Order, Preceptor of the establishment of Templestowe,
was brother to that Philip Malvoisin who has been
already occasionally mentioned in this history, and
was, like that baron, in close league with Brian de
Bois-Guilbert.
Amongst dissolute and unprincipled men, of whom the
Temple Order included but too many, Albert of Templestowe
might be distinguished; but with this difference from
the audacious Bois-Guilbert, that he knew how to throw
over his vices and his ambition the veil of hypocrisy,
and to assume in his exterior the fanaticism which
he internally despised. Had not the arrival of
the Grand Master been so unexpectedly sudden, he would
have seen nothing at Templestowe which might have
appeared to argue any relaxation of discipline.
And, even although surprised, and, to a certain extent,
detected, Albert Malvoisin listened with such respect
and apparent contrition to the rebuke of his Superior,
and made such haste to reform the particulars he censured,
—–succeeded, in fine, so well in giving
an air of ascetic devotion to a family which had been
lately devoted to license and pleasure, that Lucas
Beaumanoir began to entertain a higher opinion of
the Preceptor’s morals, than the first appearance
of the establishment had inclined him to adopt.
But these favourable sentiments on the part of the
Grand Master were greatly shaken by the intelligence
that Albert had received within a house of religion
the Jewish captive, and, as was to be feared, the
paramour of a brother of the Order; and when Albert
appeared before him, he was regarded with unwonted
sternness.
“There is in this mansion, dedicated to the
purposes of the holy Order of the Temple,” said
the Grand Master, in a severe tone, “a Jewish
woman, brought hither by a brother of religion, by
your connivance, Sir Preceptor.”
Albert Malvoisin was overwhelmed with confusion; for
the unfortunate Rebecca had been confined in a remote
and secret part of the building, and every precaution
used to prevent her residence there from being known.
He read in the looks of Beaumanoir ruin to Bois-Guilbert
and to himself, unless he should be able to avert
the impending storm.
