colleague was more vigilant and
successful; the enemies were driven by his archers from the rampart;
the draw-bridge was let down; and on a Friday, at three in the
afternoon, the day and hour of the passion, Godfrey of Bouillon stood
victorious on the walls of Jerusalem. His example was followed on every
side by the emulation of valor; and about four hundred and sixty years
after the conquest of Omar, the holy city was rescued from the Mahometan
yoke. In the pillage of public and private wealth, the adventurers had
agreed to respect the exclusive property of the first occupant; and the
spoils of the great mosque, seventy lamps and massy vases of gold
and silver, rewarded the diligence, and displayed the generosity, of
Tancred. A bloody sacrifice was offered by his mistaken votaries to the
God of the Christians: resistance might provoke but neither age nor sex
could mollify, their implacable rage: they indulged themselves three
days in a promiscuous massacre; and the infection of the dead bodies
produced an epidemical disease. After seventy thousand Moslems had
been put to the sword, and the harmless Jews had been burnt in their
synagogue, they could still reserve a multitude of captives, whom
interest or lassitude persuaded them to spare. Of these savage heroes of
the cross, Tancred alone betrayed some sentiments of compassion; yet
we may praise the more selfish lenity of Raymond, who granted a
capitulation and safe-conduct to the garrison of the citadel. The holy
sepulchre was now free; and the bloody victors prepared to accomplish
their vow. Bareheaded and barefoot, with contrite hearts, and in an
humble posture, they ascended the hill of Calvary, amidst the loud
anthems of the clergy; kissed the stone which had covered the Savior of
the world; and bedewed with tears of joy and penitence the monument of
their redemption. This union of the fiercest and most tender passions
has been variously considered by two philosophers; by the one, as easy
and natural; by the other, as absurd and incredible. Perhaps it is too
rigorously applied to the same persons and the same hour; the example
of the virtuous Godfrey awakened the piety of his companions; while they
cleansed their bodies, they purified their minds; nor shall I believe
that the most ardent in slaughter and rapine were the foremost in the
procession to the holy sepulchre.

Eight days after this memorable event, which Pope Urban did not live to
hear, the Latin chiefs