University of Virginia Library

4. CHAPTER IV.

The lips of the king moved. The nobleman who stood behind
his throne, and whom I conceived to be his favorite, bent
down and received his orders; then disappeared behind one of
the columns whose richly-decorated, but slender shafts, rose up
directly behind him, like some graceful stems of the forest, over
which the wildering vine, and the gaudy parasite clambers with
an embrace that kills. But a few moments elapsed when the
favorite reappeared. He was accompanied by a person, whose
peculiar form and aspect will deserve especial description.

In that hall, in the presence of princes, surrounded by knights
and nobles of the proudest in the land, the person newly come—
though seemingly neither knight nor noble—was one of the most

lofty in his carriage, and most imposing and impressive in his
look and manner. He was not only taller than the race of men
in general, but he was obviously taller than any in that select
circle by which he was surrounded. Nor did his features misbeseem
his person. These were singularly noble, and of Italian
cast and character. His face was large, and of the most perfect
oval. Though that of a man who had probably seen and suffered
under sixty winters, it still bore the proofs of a beauty once
remarkable. It still retained a youthful freshness, which spoke
for a conscience free from remorse and self-reproach. His eyes
were of a mild, but holily expressive blue; and beneath their
rather thin white brows, were declarative of more than human
benevolence. His forehead was very large and lofty, of great
breadth and compass, in the regions of ideality and sublimity,
as well as causality; while his hair, thick still, and depending
from behind his head in numerous waving curls, was, like his
beard, of the most silvery whiteness. This was spread, massively,
upon his breast, which it covered almost to the waist. His
complexion was very pale, but of a clear whiteness, and harmonized
sweetly with the antique beauty and power of his head.
His costume differed in style, texture and stuff, entirely from
that which prevailed in the assembly. A loose white robe, which
extended from his shoulders to the ground, was bound about his
body by a belt of plain Spanish leather, and worn with a grace
and nobleness perfectly majestical. His feet were clothed in
Jewish sandals. But there was nothing proud or haughty in his
majesty. On the contrary, it was in contrast with the evident
humility in his eye and gesture, that his dignity of bearing betrayed
itself. This seemed to be as much the fruit of pure and
elevated thoughts, calm and resigned, as of that superior physical
organization which made this aged man tower as greatly above
the rest, in person, as he certainly did in air and manner.

He advanced, as he appeared, to the foot of the throne, gracefully
sunk before it, then rising, stood in quiet, as awaiting the
royal command to speak. His appearance seemed to fill the
assembly with eager curiosity. A sudden hush prevailed as he
approached, the natural result of that awe which great superiority
usually inspires in the breast of ignorance. There was but
one face among the spectators that seemed to betray no curiosity

as he came in sight. This was that of the accused. With the
first coming of the ancient man, I had instinctively fixed my
gaze upon the countenance of the nobleman. I could easily
discern that his lips were compressed as if by sudden effort,
while his usually florid features were covered with a momentary
paleness. This emotion, with the utter absence of that air of
curiosity which marked every other visage, struck me, at once,
as somewhat significant of guilt.

“Behold thy accuser!” exclaimed the sovereign.

“He! the bookworm! — the dreamer! — the madman! — sorcerer
to the vulgar, but less than dotard to the wise! Does your
majesty look to a star-gazer for such evidence as will degrade
with shame the nobles of your realm? Sire! — if no sorcerer,
this old man is verily distraught! He is lunatic or vile — a
madman, or a bought servitor of Satan!”

The venerable man thus scornfully denounced, stood, meanwhile,
looking sorrowful and subdued, but calm and unruffled, at
the foot of the dais. His eye rested a moment upon the speaker,
then turned, as if to listen to that speech, with which the favorite,
behind the throne of the monarch, appeared to reply to the
language of the accused. This I did not hear, nor yet that
which the sovereign addressed to the same person. But the
import might be divined by the answer of the accused.

“And I say, your majesty, that what he hath alleged is false
— all a false and bitter falsehood, devised by cunning and malice
to work out the purposes of hate. My word against his — my
gauntlet against the world. I defy him to the proof! I defy all
my accusers!”

“And he shall have the truth, your majesty,” was the firm,
clear answer with which the venerable man responded to this
defiance. His tones rang through the assembly like those of a
sweet bell in the wilderness.—“My life, sire, is sworn to the
truth! I can speak no other language. That I have said
nothing falsely of this lord, I invoke the attestation of the Lord
of all. I have had his sacred volume brought into this presence.
You shall know, sire, what I believe, by what I swear!”

He made a step aside, even while he spoke, to a little girl whom
I had not before seen, but who had evidently followed him into
the assembly. She now approached, bearing in her hands one

of those finely illuminated manuscripts of an early day of Christian
history in Europe, which are now worth their weight in
gold. I could just perceive, as he opened the massive volume,
by its heavy metallic clasps, that the characters were strange,
and readily conjectured them to be Hebrew. The work, from
what he said, and the use to which he applied it, I assumed to
be the Holy Scriptures. He received it reverently from the
child, placed it deliberately upon one of the steps of the dais,
then knelt before it, his venerable head for a moment, being
bowed to the very floor. Then raising his eyes, but without
rising from his position, he placed one hand upon this volume,
raised the other to heaven, and, with a deep and solemn voice,
called upon God and the Holy Evangelists, to witness that what
he had spoken, and was about to speak, was “the truth, and the
truth only — spoken with no malice — no wicked or evil intent
— and rather to defeat and prevent the evil designs of the person
he accused.” In this posture, and thus affirming, he proceeded
to declare that “the accused had applied to him for a
potent poison which should have the power of usurping life
slowly, and without producing any of those striking effects upon
the outward man, as would induce suspicion of criminal practice.”
He added, with other particulars, that “the accused had invited
him, under certain temptations, which had been succeeded by
threats, to become one of a party to his designs, the victim of
which was to be his majesty then sitting upon the throne.”