he burst into tears at the sight, and, covering his face
with his buckler, declared he was unworthy to contemplate the Holy
City which his arms could not deliver."--_Hist. des Croisades_, ii.
399.

As a specimen of the magnitude of the battles fought in this Crusade, we
take that of Assur, near Ptolemais--

"Two hundred thousand Mussulmans were drawn up in the plains of
Assur, ready to bar the passage of the Christian army, and deliver
a decisive battle. No sooner did he perceive the Saracen array,
than Richard divided his army into five corps. The Templars formed
the first; the warriors of Brittany and Anjou the second; the king,
Guy, and the men of Poitou the third; the English and Normans,
grouped round the royal standard, the fourth; the Hospitallers the
fifth; and behind them marched the archers and javelin men. At
three o'clock in the afternoon, the army was all arranged in order
of battle, when all at once a multitude of Saracens appeared in
rear, who descended from the mountains which the Crusaders had just
crossed. Amongst them were Bedouin Arabs, bearing bows and round
bucklers; Scythians with long bows, and mounted on tall and
powerful horses; Ethiopians of a lofty stature, with their sable
visages strangely streaked with white. These troops of barbarians
advanced on all sides against the Christian army with the rapidity
of lightning. The earth trembled under their horses' feet. The din
of their clarions, cymbals, and trumpets, was so prodigious, that
the loudest thunder could not have been heard. Men were in their
ranks, whose sole business it was to raise frightful cries, and
excite the courage of the Mussulman warriors by chanting their
national songs. Thus stimulated, their battalions precipitated
themselves upon the Crusaders, who were speedily assailed at once
in front, both flanks, and rear--enveloped by enemies, say the old
chronicles, as the eyelashes surround the EYE. After their arrows
and javelins were discharged, the Saracens commenced the attack
with the lance, the mace, and the sword. An English chronicle aptly
compares them to smiths, and the Crusaders to the anvil on which
their hammers rang. Meanwhile, the Franks did not for a moment
intermit their march towards Assur, and the Saracens, who sought in
vain to shake their ste