ly came the Governor, and demanded
admission. 'How can we give it thee, O Governor!' said the Jews upon the
walls, 'when, if we open the gate by so much as the width of a foot, the
roaring crowd behind thee will press in and kill us?'

Upon this, the unjust Governor became angry, and told the people that he
approved of their killing those Jews; and a mischievous maniac of a
friar, dressed all in white, put himself at the head of the assault, and
they assaulted the Castle for three days.

Then said JOCEN, the head-Jew (who was a Rabbi or Priest), to the rest,
'Brethren, there is no hope for us with the Christians who are hammering
at the gates and walls, and who must soon break in. As we and our wives
and children must die, either by Christian hands, or by our own, let it
be by our own. Let us destroy by fire what jewels and other treasure we
have here, then fire the castle, and then perish!'

A few could not resolve to do this, but the greater part complied. They
made a blazing heap of all their valuables, and, when those were
consumed, set the castle in flames. While the flames roared and crackled
around them, and shooting up into the sky, turned it blood-red, Jocen cut
the throat of his beloved wife, and stabbed himself. All the others who
had wives or children, did the like dreadful deed. When the populace
broke in, they found (except the trembling few, cowering in corners, whom
they soon killed) only heaps of greasy cinders, with here and there
something like part of the blackened trunk of a burnt tree, but which had
lately been a human creature, formed by the beneficent hand of the
Creator as they were.

After this bad beginning, Richard and his troops went on, in no very good
manner, with the Holy Crusade. It was undertaken jointly by the King of
England and his old friend Philip of France. They commenced the business
by reviewing their forces, to the number of one hundred thousand men.
Afterwards, they severally embarked their troops for Messina, in Sicily,
which was appointed as the next place of meeting.

King Richard's sister had married the King of this place, but he was
dead: and his uncle TANCRED had usurped the crown, cast the Royal Widow
into prison, and possessed himself of her estates. Richard fiercely
demanded his sister's release, the restoration of her lands, and
(according to the Royal custom of the Island) that she should have a
golden chair, a golden table, four-and-twenty silver cup