l fortified, a point never neglected
by these knights, and which the disordered state of England rendered
peculiarly necessary. Two halberdiers, clad in black, guarded the
drawbridge, and others, in the same sad livery, glided to and fro upon
the walls with a funereal pace, resembling spectres more than soldiers.
The inferior officers of the Order were thus dressed, ever since their
use of white garments, similar to those of the knights and esquires, had
given rise to a combination of certain false brethren in the mountains
of Palestine, terming themselves Templars, and bringing great dishonour
on the Order. A knight was now and then seen to cross the court in his
long white cloak, his head depressed on his breast, and his arms folded.
They passed each other, if they chanced to meet, with a slow, solemn,
and mute greeting; for such was the rule of their Order, quoting
thereupon the holy texts, "In many words thou shalt not avoid sin," and
"Life and death are in the power of the tongue." In a word, the
stern ascetic rigour of the Temple discipline, which had been so long
exchanged for prodigal and licentious indulgence, seemed at once to have
revived at Templestowe under the severe eye of Lucas Beaumanoir.

Isaac paused at the gate, to consider how he might seek entrance in the
manner most likely to bespeak favour; for he was well aware, that to his
unhappy race the reviving fanaticism of the Order was not less dangerous
than their unprincipled licentiousness; and that his religion would be
the object of hate and persecution in the one case, as his wealth
would have exposed him in the other to the extortions of unrelenting
oppression.

Meantime Lucas Beaumanoir walked in a small garden belonging to the
Preceptory, included within the precincts of its exterior fortification,
and held sad and confidential communication with a brother of his Order,
who had come in his company from Palestine.

The Grand Master was a man advanced in age, as was testified by his long
grey beard, and the shaggy grey eyebrows overhanging eyes, of which,
however, years had been unable to quench the fire. A formidable warrior,
his thin and severe features retained the soldier's fierceness of
expression; an ascetic bigot, they were no less marked by the emaciation
of abstinence, and the spiritual pride of the self-satisfied devotee.
Yet with these severer traits of physiognomy, there was mixed somewhat
striking and noble, arising, doubtless, from