s being a man of a hot and fiery nature,
that he had sworn, by Saint George, on the next provocation, he would
make the city of Liege like to the desolation of Babylon and the
downfall of Tyre, a hissing and a reproach to the whole territory of
Flanders.

[Babylon: taken by Cyrus in 538 B. C. See Revelation xviii, 21: "A
mighty angel took up a stone... and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus
with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be
found no more."]

[Tyre: conquered by Alexander the Great in 332 B. C. "I will make thee
a terror, and thou shalt be no more... yet shalt thou never be found
again, saith the Lord God." Ezekiel xxvi, 21.]

"And he is a prince by all report likely to keep such a vow," said
Quentin, "so the men of Liege will probably beware how they give him
occasion."

"It were to be so hoped," said the Prior, "and such are the prayers of
the godly in the land, who would not that the blood of the citizens
were poured forth like water, and that they should perish, even as utter
castaways, ere they make their peace with Heaven. Also the good Bishop
labours night and day to preserve peace, as well becometh a servant
of the altar, for it is written in Holy Scripture, Beati pacifici.
But"--Here the good Prior stopped, with a deep sigh.

Quentin modestly urged the great importance of which it was to the
ladies whom he attended, to have some assured information respecting the
internal state of the country, and what an act of Christian charity it
would be, if the worthy and reverend Father would enlighten them upon
that subject.

"It is one," said the Prior, "on which no man speaks with willingness,
for those who speak evil of the powerful, etiam in cubiculo [even in the
bed chamber], may find that a winged thing shall carry the matter to his
ears. Nevertheless, to render you, who seem an ingenuous youth, and your
ladies, who are devout votaresses accomplishing a holy pilgrimage, the
little service that is in my power, I will be plain with you."

He then looked cautiously round and lowered his voice, as if afraid of
being overheard.

"The people of Liege," he said, "are privily instigated to their
frequent mutinies by men of Belial [in the Bible this term is used as
an appellative of Satan], who pretend, but, as I hope, falsely, to have
commission to that effect from our most Christian King, whom, however,
I hold to deserve that term better than were consistent with his thus
d