ures which seemed necessary to
forward the restoration of Saxon independence.

On this last subject, he was now labouring with Athelstane, not without
having reason, every now and then, to lament, like Hotspur, that he
should have moved such a dish of skimmed milk to so honourable an
action. Athelstane, it is true, was vain enough, and loved to have
his ears tickled with tales of his high descent, and of his right
by inheritance to homage and sovereignty. But his petty vanity was
sufficiently gratified by receiving this homage at the hands of his
immediate attendants, and of the Saxons who approached him. If he had
the courage to encounter danger, he at least hated the trouble of going
to seek it; and while he agreed in the general principles laid down by
Cedric concerning the claim of the Saxons to independence, and was still
more easily convinced of his own title to reign over them when that
independence should be attained, yet when the means of asserting these
rights came to be discussed, he was still "Athelstane the Unready,"
slow, irresolute, procrastinating, and unenterprising. The warm and
impassioned exhortations of Cedric had as little effect upon his
impassive temper, as red-hot balls alighting in the water, which produce
a little sound and smoke, and are instantly extinguished.

If, leaving this task, which might be compared to spurring a tired jade,
or to hammering upon cold iron, Cedric fell back to his ward Rowena, he
received little more satisfaction from conferring with her. For, as his
presence interrupted the discourse between the lady and her favourite
attendant upon the gallantry and fate of Wilfred, Elgitha failed not to
revenge both her mistress and herself, by recurring to the overthrow of
Athelstane in the lists, the most disagreeable subject which could greet
the ears of Cedric. To this sturdy Saxon, therefore, the day's journey
was fraught with all manner of displeasure and discomfort; so that
he more than once internally cursed the tournament, and him who had
proclaimed it, together with his own folly in ever thinking of going
thither.

At noon, upon the motion of Athelstane, the travellers paused in a
woodland shade by a fountain, to repose their horses and partake of some
provisions, with which the hospitable Abbot had loaded a sumpter mule.
Their repast was a pretty long one; and these several interruptions
rendered it impossible for them to hope to reach Rotherwood without
travelling al