nce been
effaced from the mind of the man of peace, I visited him in his venerable
hall, and partook of the hospitality of his hearth. And there I saw his
gentle partner, and his fair children, and on the morrow he showed me the
books of which he had spoken years before, by the side of the stream. In
the low quiet chamber, whose one window, shaded by a gigantic elm, looks
down the slope towards the pleasant stream, he took from the shelf his
learned books, Zohar and Mishna, Toldoth Jesu and Abarbenel. "I am fond
of these studies," said he, "which, perhaps, is not to be wondered at,
seeing that our people have been compared to the Jews. In one respect I
confess we are similar to them; we are fond of getting money. I do not
like this last author, this Abarbenel, the worse for having been a money-
changer. I am a banker myself, as thou knowest."

And would there were many like him, amidst the money-changers of princes!
The hall of many an earl lacks the bounty, the palace of many a prelate
the piety and learning, which adorn the quiet Quaker's home!

CHAPTER XVI

Fair of Horses--Looks of Respect--The Fast Trotter--Pair of Eyes--Strange
Men--Jasper, Your Pal--Force of Blood--Young Lady with Diamonds--Not
Quite so Beautiful.

I was standing on the Castle Hill in the midst of a fair of horses.

I have already had occasion to mention this castle. It is the remains of
what was once a Norman stronghold, and is perched upon a round mound or
monticle, in the midst of the old city. Steep is this mound and scarped,
evidently by the hand of man; a deep gorge, over which is flung a bridge,
separates it, on the south, from a broad swell of open ground called "the
hill"; of old the scene of many a tournament and feat of Norman chivalry,
but now much used as a show-place for cattle, where those who buy and
sell beeves and other beasts resort at stated periods.

So it came to pass that I stood upon this hill, observing a fair of
horses. {152}

The reader is already aware that I had long since conceived a passion for
the equine race; a passion in which circumstances had of late not
permitted me to indulge. I had no horses to ride, but I took pleasure in
looking at them; and I had already attended more than one of these fairs:
the present was lively enough, indeed horse fairs are seldom dull. There
was shouting and whooping, neighing and braying; there was galloping and
trotting; fellows with highlows and white stoc