the blood of the unbelievers. The
ordinary motives which rouse the ambition, or awaken the passions of
men, were to them unknown. One only passion warmed every bosom, one only
desire was felt in every heart. To rescue the Holy Sepulchre from the
hands of the Infidels--to restore the heritage of Christ to his
followers--to plant the Cross again on Mount Calvary--was the sole
object of their desires. For this they lived, for this they died. For
this, millions of warriors abandoned their native seats, and left their
bones to whiten the fields of Asia. For this, Europe, during two
centuries, was precipitated on Asia. To stimulate this astonishing
movement, all the powers of religion, of love, of poetry, of romance,
and of eloquence, during a succession of ages, were devoted. Peter the
Hermit shook the heart of Europe by his preaching, as the trumpet rouses
the war-horse. Poetry and romance aided the generous illusion. No maiden
would look at a lover who had not served in Palestine; few could resist
those who had. And so strongly was the European heart then stirred,--so
profound the emotions excited by those events, that their influence is
felt even at this distant period. The highest praise yet awarded to
valour is, that it recalls the lion-hearted Richard; the most envied
meed bestowed on beauty, that it rivals the fascination of Armida. No
monument is yet approached by the generous and brave with such emotion
as those now mouldering in our churches, which represent the warrior
lying with his arms crossed on his breast, in token that, during life,
he had served in the Holy Wars.

The Crusades form the true heroic age of Europe--the _Jerusalem
Delivered_ is its epic poem. Then alone its warriors fought and died
together. Banded together under a second "King of men," the forces of
Christendom combated around the Holy City against the strength of Asia
drawn to its defence. The cause was nobler, the end greater, the motives
more exalted, than those which animated the warriors of the Iliad.
Another Helen had not fired another Troy; the hope of sharing the spoils
of Phrygia had not drawn together the predatory bands of another Greece.
The characters on both sides had risen in proportion to the magnitude
and sanctity of the strife in which they were engaged. Holier motives,
more generous passions were felt, than had yet, from the beginning of
time, strung the soldier's arm. Saladin was a mightier prince than
Hector; Godfrey a nob