buted to the special interposition of Heaven, is said to have, for the time, saved the abbey from demolition. But the place soon after passed out of the possession of the earls of Huntingdon, and has since been successively in that of various other families." When musing amid the broken pillars and mouldering walls of time-worn ruins, surrounded by forest trees, a consciousness of seclusion must be communicated to the mind; but when these trees are found, not only in the immediate neighbourhood of a ruin, but absolutely rooted within the building itself, and lifting up their aspiring heads through the roofless apartments, they tell a tale of yet deeper interest. Thought is compelled by them to retrograde, and reflection is flung back to a distant period. The ruined pile must have been a ruin, long before the trees could have rooted themselves in their deserted floors. It is thus that the gazer on Netley Abbey is affected: he concludes, from the desolation round him, that ages have passed in succession over the mouldering pile; but the tall trees add their living testimony to this truth. This mingling of massy walls with the stems, branches, and foliage of goodly trees, has a strange effect. Nature appears to be asserting her sovereignty once more, and taking possession of what for ages she has been deprived. I could muse here for a day. The place is overgrown with vegetation; the grass is rank beneath the foot. Before me is a goodly and luxuriant shrub, springing from a fissure in the decayed stone wall; from the very bosom of the building, adorning the hoary walls with leaves and flowers. So may we see, what time the sabbath bells Netley is undoubtedly one of the most romantic and picturesque ruins in England; though nothing but its grey stone walls are standing, to tell the tale of what it was in former years. So small a portion of the edifice remains, that it strikes the spectator as an abbey in miniature; and perhaps this circumstance increases, rather than diminishes its influence over the spectator. The eye takes in at once! the entirety of its attractions, and the mind undistracted by a multiplicity of parts, thus brought to a point, more distinctly and more pleasingly indulges its meditations. The poet Bowles has thus addressed the ruin. "Fallen pile! I ask not what has been thy fate; On this world's passing pageant, and the lot They might have sunk, like thee; though thus forlorn They lift their heads, with venerable hairs Standing, as I now am, on a fallen fragment of the ruin, and gazing on that fair eastern window, surrounded by the ivyclad, grey, dilapidated walls, and the branches of goodly trees, I am beckoning from the shadows of long-past ages, the father abbots, and the cowled monks of other days: ay! and they come at fancy's bidding. They are gliding through the gothic arches in procession, telling their beads, and bowing down at an image of the cross. Even now, their chanted matins and requiems are ringing through these rocfless walls. The past is before me; yonder is a nook with a skull and a cross, and here comes a pale-faced, bare-headed, and bare-footed monk, to offer up his Ave Marias, kneeling on the cold flint stone. A visitor has entered the ruin; I see no procession: I hear no chant; the nook, the skull, and the cross are gone; the bare-headed monk has departed; the picture of my imagination is destroyed, and less disposed for company than for meditation, I leave the ruins of Netley. THE CRUSADES.-No. IV. Trembling, I look upon the secret springs THE FOURTH CRUSADE. THE rescue of the holy sepulchre from the hands of the Moslem was not the only motive the pontiffs of Rome had in view when they stirred up Christendom to the strife. While the kings and princes of Europe were spending the best blood of their subjects in the enterprise, they were seeking the establishment of that unhallowed power which they assumed over all the nations of the West. An incident which well illustrates this, occurred on the death of the emperor Frederic Barbarossa. His eldest son, Henry v., required pope Celestine to perform the ceremony of his coronation. After some deliberation, the demand was granted, and Henry was crowned in the church of St. Peter, having previously sworn that he would maintain the rights of the church. The ceremony was scarcely completed, when Celestine raised his foot, and kicked off the crown which he had just placed on the monarch's head, to show that he had the power of depriving him of the imperial dignity, as well as conferring it; and the insult was not resented so towering was the ambition of the pontiffs of Rome at this date-so absolute their power! : The crusades were, therefore, favourable to the ambition of the pontiffs of Rome. Palestine was a field to which they could send men bold and ambitious like themselves; and, while they were thus employed, they could sit in the Vatican void of fear. Hence it was not to be expected that, while the holy sepulchre remained in the hands of the infidel, they would forego their ambitious and doubtful line of policy. "Human glory's erring path Is tracked with desolating woe; No sooner had the truce between Richard and Saladin expired, than a fourth crusade was called into existence by the ambitious pope Celestine, and Henry vi. of Germany, whom he had so grossly insulted. Before this occurred, the brave and generous Saladin had passed off the stage of life, leaving directions that, on the day of his funeral, a shroud should be borne on the point of a spear, and a herald proclaim, in a loud voice, "Saladin, the conqueror of Asia, out of all the fruits of his victories, carries with him only this piece of linen cloth!" a humbling lesson to the sons of ambition. On the death of Saladin, his army rallied round his brother Saphadin, whom they raised to the throne. Like Saladin, the new monarch was renowned for his wisdom and valour; and, by his skill and policy, he had so strengthened the go | vernment committed to his hands, that, when the period of the truce expired, he was prepared to meet the combined forces of Christendom. A.D. 1197. The new champions of the cross arrived at Acre. Saphadin, who was informed of their hostile intentions, anticipated them in the field; and before they could advance to Jaffa, he had dismantled the town, and put thousands of the inhabitants to the sword. An action took place soon after, in which the strength and discipline of the Germans secured the victory; but, turning aside from the path to Jerusalem, to reduce the minor fortress of Thoron, they met with a signal overthrow. Foes, also, prevailed within the camp of the crusaders. Faction and insubordination broke down the rules of restraint and order; and, while thus distracted, the crusaders were informed that the sultans of Egypt and Syria were confederating together for their destruction. The German princes now deserted their forces in the night, and fled to Tyre. The army followed in the same direction, in indescribable confusion. As they pursued their march, another contest took place in the neighbourhood of Jaffa, which was favourable to the crusaders; but the death of the emperor Henry again disconcerted their measures. Many returned into Europe, to assist in the election of a successor, and the remainder were destroyed by a body of Turks, as they were commemorating what they considered the virtues and abstinence of St. Martin in the midst of unseemly revels. THE FIFTH CRUSADE. As with the stream our voyage we pursue, At the close of the fourth crusade, the people of Europe were impressed with a belief, that either the difficulties of the enterprise had been concealed, or that the time fixed in the councils of Providence for the deliverance of Palestine was not yet come. This was a feeling that required all the energies of the church to surmount. Eloquent harangues were uttered to call Europe again to arms, and the power of oratory was now seconded by pretended miracles. Foulkes of Neuilly was the chief preacher of the fifth crusade. This man equalled Peter the hermit in the ardour of his address, and Bernard in oratorical talents. He was aided in his attempts to raise an army by pope Innocent III., and the call of the church was eventually listened to with a ready obedience. France and the Low Countries chiefly supplied the force which composed the armies of the fifth crusade. But the crusaders turned aside from the path leading to Jerusalem. Venice had undertaken to convey the armies into Asia, and Arrigo Dandolo, an old man of upwards of ninety years of age, who had almost lost his sight, and who was doge of Venice, was the soul of the enterprise. Arrigo Dandolo, however, saw more deeply than most of his contemporaries into political intrigues, and he persuaded the crusaders to conquer Zara, a Dalmatian city, for the Venetians. After this exploit, they entered into a treaty with young Alexis Commenus, for restoring his father to the throne of Constantinople, and finally, they seized upon the Greek empire for themselves, and placed one of their captains, Baldwin, count of Flanders, upon the throne. The crusaders, to escape the bann of the pope, for the non-fulfilment of their enterprise, sent him a letter, stating that they apprehended so great a multitude would be burdensome to the Holy Land; that they thought it expedient to settle the disquiets that existed in Constantinople, in order to secure for themselves the necessary supplies and assistance for future proceedings; extolling the riches of Constantinople, and the fertility of the country which they were led to appropriate to themselves; and finally, they concluded with entreating his holiness to hold a council at Constantinople, as his predecessors had done in ancient times. Pope Innocent knew too well what belonged to the pontifical character not to publish the bann against the crusaders, who, instead of conquering the infidels, deposed those called Christian princes; but, in considering the circumstances, as he said, he again absolved them. He saw, in truth, that the capture of Constantinople promised greater advantages than any victory over the Mohammedans could confer; for it opened a way to the establishment of the supremacy of the Romish see over the churches of the East. Innocent, however, declined visiting Constantinople. Notwithstanding the French had failed The sound of war was not long hushed to peace. The armies of the cross and the crescent soon met again on the fields of Palestine. Where the feet of the Redeemer of mankind had walked, where he had published peace and salvation to a guilty world, there superstition and infidelity again raised the war cry-again strove for empire. Before the truce with Saphadin had expired, Mary, the daughter of Isabella, by Conrad of Tyre, was acknowledged queen of Jerusalem, and Philip Augustus of France brought about her marriage with John de Brienne, who was held in high estimation among the knights of Europe, both for his wisdom in council and experience in war. The hopes of the Christians in Palestine were so exalted by this union, that they refused to prolong the truce with Saphadin, upon which the Sultan marched an army to the neighbourhood of Tripoli, and threatened hostilities. John de Brienne opposed the Moslem with great bravery, and saved his states from the annihilation with which they were threatened but he foresaw the future overthrow of the Christian kingdom in Palestine, and appealed to Rome for succour. Honorius III., who had succeeded to pope Innocent, did not lightly regard this appeal. Bent on a crusade, he sent his commands to every European sovereign. He forbade the king of France to aid his son in the conquest of England, threatened the king of Scotland if he wavered in his allegiance to the English crown, summoned the Greek emperor of Thessalonica to liberate his prisoners, and required both the king of Arragon, and the young count of Toulouse to purchase a reconciliation with the church by aiding against the Saracens. Nor was an appeal to the conscience overlooked. Honorius reminded the several monarchs that the time was come | irregularities. Wandering over the counwhen a successful effort might be made to rescue Palestine out of the hands of the infidel, and that, while those who should fight faithfully under the banners of the cross would obtain a crown of glory, such as refused to enlist under those banners would be subjected to everlasting torments. It is remarkable that Honorius used one argument in favour of the crusades which has been often urged by Protestant writers against his own church. "The_Mohammedan heresy," said he, "the Beast foretold by the Spirit, will not live for ever; its age is 666.' He concluded with an assurance that the Saviour would condemn those for gross ingratitude and infidelity, who neglected to march to his succour, at a time when he was in danger of being driven from the kingdom which he had purchased with his blood. as try, they committed the greatest enormities, and were cut off in parties by the suffering and incensed inhabitants. The king of Hungary, moreover, was so disgusted with the campaign, that he refused to remain in Palestine; and the consequence of this defection was, that the king of Jerusalem, the duke of Austria, and the master of the hospitallers took up a defensive position on the plain of Cesarea; while the Templar and Teutonic knights seized upon Mount Carmel, where they surrounded themselves with fortifications for fear of the Saracens. During the next spring, their fears were relieved by the arrival of a reinforcement of crusaders from the upper parts of Germany. The chiefs of the crusades, however, now resolved to withdraw their troops from Palestine, and to carry on the war in Egypt. Damietta was the first object of attack, and the castle or fortress, which was supposed to command the town, soon fell into their hands. In the mean time, some of the best soldiery of Europe appeared at the mouth of the Nile, to aid them in their operations. Italy sent thither her choicest soldiers, under the legates Pelagius and de Courcon; France sent her valiant sons, under the counts of Nevers and Le March, the archbishop of Bourdeaux, the bishops of Meaux, Autun, and Paris; while England sent her chivalrous troops under the celebrated warriors, the earls of Arundel, Chester, and Salisbury. This crusade was preached by Robert de Courcon, whose fanaticism was fervid as that of the hermit and Foulkes; but whose eloquence fell short of both. De Courcon invited all to assume the cross, and enrolled among the list of adventurers in this enterprise, men, women, and children, and even the old, the blind, the lame, and the diseased. The multitude of crusaders was very great, and the offerings of money_to carry on the war were immense. The crusade was sanctioned by the emperor of Constantinople, the kings of France, England, Hungary, Jerusalem, Arragon, and other countries, who, by their repreThe loss of Damietta now appeared insentatives in the council of Lateran, de- evitable, and Khamel, the sultan of Syria, clared war against the infidels, and pro-apprehensive that the crusaders would nounced it to be the sacred duty of Chris- advance to Jerusalem, issued orders to tendom to take up arms against them. destroy the fortifications, to prevent its As an attraction, the usual privileges, dis-retention as a place of defence. At the pensations, and indulgences, were grant- same time, the Saracen leaders proposed ed to the crusaders, and Honorius con- terms of peace. They offered to rebuild tributed thirty thousand pounds towards the walls of Jerusalem, and to liberate all defraying the expenses. the prisoners in Syria and Egypt. They proposed, also, to retain only the castles of Karac and Monetreale as necessary for the safe passage of pilgrims and merchants in their intercourse with Mecca; while, as an equivalent for these concessions, they only required the immediate evacuation of Egypt. At the period of the arrival of the crusaders in Asia (A.D. 1216) the sons of Saphadin were at the head of affairs in Syria, their father having retired from the fatigues of royalty. They chiefly consisted of Hungarians and the soldiers of Lower Germany. They landed at Acre. Although unprepared to encounter so formidable a force, the Saracen chiefs advanced to Naplosa, the ancient Shechem. It required, however, but a small force to resist the crusaders. They were already, indeed, half conquered by their Success had made the crusaders arrogant. They refused to listen to terms of peace, however advantageous to their cause, and resolved to prosecute the siege with vigour. Damietta was taken by them after they had besieged it for a year and a half, and they found only three inhabitants out of the seventy thousand they had originally shut up within the town so resolute had been their defence, so devoted their patriotism. A.D. 1218. A treaty of peace was again proposed by the Saracen chiefs, and again scornfully refused by the crusaders. Depending on their prowess, they resolved on an immediate attack upon Grand Cairo, and they dreamed of reducing the whole of Egypt, and finally, of subjecting all the Mohammedan states on the shores of the Mediterranean. It was but a dream. A few months' campaign on the shores of the Nile dispersed their visions of future conquest. They were reduced to the necessity of asking permission to return into Palestine, and to purchase their safety by giving up all their acquisitions in Egypt. On their arrival in Palestine, the barons of Syria and the military orders retired to Acre, where they awaited an attack from the enraged Saracens, and the crusaders returned into Europe. The Holy Land was still possessed by the Moslems! E. F. ENGLISH HISTORY. CHARLES I. CHARLES I. succeeded his father as monarch of Great Britain, March 27, 1625, being then twenty-four years old. If the reader calls to mind the principal circumstances of the late reign, he will be aware that king James left no easy task to his successor. The crown was pressed with debts, and in need of pecuniary supplies, which the parliament was unwilling to grant; the people, and the leaders in parliament, desired the removal of abuses, with the confirmation of certain privileges which the late king was unwilling to bestow. His successor had not only been educated with the same high ideas of his personal prerogative; but possessed a firmness of temper, strengthened by the warmth natural to youth, which rendered him still more likely, than his father, to come into collision with his subjects, while his superior regard to moral character gave him increased influence. There was not that change in the measures of government which is usual at the beginning of a new reign. The duke of Buckingham possessed the full confidence of the new monarch, and had still greater influence over him than over his father. The course of policy pursued S |