by Walter Scott
CHAPTER THE FOURTH.
We heard the Tecbir, so these Arabs call Their shout of onset, when with loud acclaim They challenged Heaven, as if demanding conquest. The battle join'd, and through the barb'rous herd, Fight, fight! and Paradise was all their cry. THE SIEGE OF DAMASCUS.
The voice of the northern soldier, although modified by feelings ofrespect to the Emperor, and even attachment to his captain, had more ofa tone of blunt sincerity, nevertheless, than was usually heard by thesacred echoes of the imperial palace; and though the Princess AnnaComnena began to think that she had invoked the opinion of a severejudge, she was sensible, at the same time, by the deference of hismanner, that his respect was of a character more real, and hisapplause, should she gain it, would prove more truly flattering, thanthe gilded assent of the whole court of her father. She gazed with somesurprise and attention on Hereward, already described as a veryhandsome young man, and felt the natural desire to please, which iseasily created in the mind towards a fine person of the other sex. Hisattitude was easy and bold, but neither clownish nor uncourtly. Histitle of a barbarian, placed him at once free from the forms ofcivilized life, and the rules of artificial politeness. But hischaracter for valour, and the noble self-confidence of his bearing,gave him a deeper interest than would have been acquired by a morestudied and anxious address, or an excess of reverential awe.
In short, the Princess Anna Comnena, high in rank as she was, and bornin the imperial purple, which she herself deemed the first of allattributes, felt herself, nevertheless, in preparing to resume therecitation of her history, more anxious to obtain the approbation ofthis rude soldier, than that of all the rest of the courteous audience.She knew them well, it is true, and felt nowise solicitous about theapplause which the daughter of the Emperor was sure to receive withfull hands from those of the Grecian court to whom she might choose tocommunicate the productions of her father's daughter. But she had now ajudge of a new character, whose applause, if bestowed, must havesomething in it intrinsically real, since it could only be obtained byaffecting his head or his heart.
It was perhaps under the influence of these feelings, that the Princesswas somewhat longer than usual in finding out the passage in the rollof history at which she purposed to commence. It was also noticed, thatshe began her recitation with a diffidence and embarrassment surprisingto the noble hearers, who had often seen her in full possession of herpresence of mind before what they conceived a more distinguished, andeven more critical audience.
Neither were the circumstances of the Varangian such as rendered thescene indifferent to him. Anna Comnena had indeed attained her fifthlustre, and that is a period after which Grecian beauty is understoodto commence its decline. How long she had passed that critical period,was a secret to all but the trusted ward-women of the purple chamber.Enough, that it was affirmed by the popular tongue, and seemed to beattested by that bent towards philosophy and literature, which is notsupposed to be congenial to beauty in its earlier buds, to amount toone or two years more. She might be seven-and-twenty.
Still Anna Comnena was, or had very lately been, a beauty of the veryfirst rank, and must be supposed to have still retained charms tocaptivate a barbarian of the north; if, indeed, he himself was notcareful to maintain an heedful recollection of the immeasurabledistance between them. Indeed, even this recollection might hardly havesaved Hereward from the charms of this enchantress, bold, free-born,and fearless as he was; for, during that time of strange revolutions,there were many instances of successful generals sharing the couch ofimperial princesses, whom perhaps they had themselves rendered widows,in order to make way for their own pretensions. But, besides theinfluence of other recollections, which the reader may learn hereafter,Hereward, though flattered by the unusual degree of attention which thePrincess bestowed upon him, saw in her only the daughter of his Emperorand adopted liege lord, and the wife of a noble prince, whom reason andduty alike forbade him to think of in any other light.
It was after one or two preliminary efforts that the Princess Annabegan her reading, with an uncertain voice, which gained strength andfortitude as she proceeded with the following passage from a well-knownpart of her history of Alexius Comnenus, but which unfortunately hasnot been republished in the Byzantine historians. The narrative cannot,therefore, be otherwise than acceptable to the antiquarian reader; andthe author hopes to receive the thanks of the learned world for therecovery of a curious fragment, which, without his exertions, mustprobably have passed to the gulf of total oblivion.