nd. When the news of
the misfortunes of Palestine, and the awful massacres at Jerusalem and
Jaffa, arrived in Europe, St. Louis remembered him of his dream. More
persuaded than ever that it was an intimation direct from heaven, he
prepared to take the cross at the head of his armies, and march to the
deliverance of the Holy Sepulchre. From that moment he doffed the royal
mantle of purple and ermine, and dressed in the sober serge becoming a
pilgrim. All his thoughts were directed to the fulfilment of his design,
and although his kingdom could but ill spare him, he made every
preparation to leave it. Pope Innocent IV. applauded his zeal and afforded
him every assistance. He wrote to Henry III. of England to forward the
cause in his dominions, and called upon the clergy and laity all over
Europe to contribute towards it. William Longsword, the celebrated Earl of
Salisbury, took the cross at the head of a great number of valiant knights
and soldiers. But the fanaticism of the people was not to be awakened
either in France or England. Great armies were raised, but the masses no
longer sympathised. Taxation had been the great cooler of zeal. It was no
longer a disgrace even to a knight if he refused to take the cross.
Rutebeuf, a French minstrel, who flourished about this time (1250),
composed a dialogue between a Crusader and a non-Crusader, which the
reader will find translated in Way's _Fabliaux_. The Crusader uses every
argument to persuade the non-Crusader to take up arms, and forsake every
thing, in the holy cause; but it is evident from the greater force of the
arguments used by the non-Crusader, that he was the favourite of the
minstrel. To a most urgent solicitation of his friend the Crusader, he
replies:

"I read thee right, thou holdest good
To this same land I straight should hie,
And win it back with mickle blood,
Nor gaine one foot of soil thereby;
While here dejected and forlorn
My wife and babes are left to mourn;
My goodly mansion rudely marred,
All trusted to my dogs to guard.
But I, fair comrade, well I wot
An ancient saw of pregnant wit
Doth bid us keep what we have got;
And troth I mean to follow it."

This being the general feeling, it is not to be wondered at that Louis IX.
was occupied fully three years in organising his forces, and in making the
necessary preparations for his departure. When all was ready he set sail
for Cyprus, accompa