Count Robert of Paris. Вальтер Скотт

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СКАЧАТЬ a person of confidence, while an officer of high rank is always in some degree a subject of distrust. "Ha!" said he, "our worthy Anglo-Dane, how fares he?" This unceremonious salutation surprised all but him to whom it was addressed. Hereward answered, accompanying his words with a military obeisance which partook of heartiness rather than reverence, with a loud unsubdued voice, which startled the presence still more that the language was Saxon, which these foreigners occasionally used, "Woes hael, Kaisar mirrig und machtigh!" – that is, Be of good health, stout and mighty Emperor. The Emperor, with a smile of intelligence, to show he could speak to his guards in their own foreign language, replied, by the well-known counter-signal – "Drink hael!"

      Immediately a page brought a silver goblet of wine. The Emperor put his lips to it, though he scarce tasted the liquor, then commanded it to be handed to Hereward, and bade the soldier drink, The Saxon did not wait till he was desired a second time, but took off the contents without hesitation. A gentle smile, decorous as the presence required, passed over the assembly, at a feat which, though by no means wonderful in a hyperborean, seemed prodigious in the estimation of the moderate Greeks. Alexius himself laughed more loudly than his courtiers thought might be becoming on their part, and mustering what few words of Varangian he possessed, which he eked out with Greek, demanded of his life-guardsman – "Well, my bold Briton, or Edward, as men call thee, dost thou. know the flavour of that wine?"

      "Yes," answered the Varangian, without change of countenance, "I tasted it once before at Laodicea" —

      Here his officer, Achilles Tatius, became sensible that his soldier approached delicate ground, and in vain endeavoured to gain his attention, in order that he might furtively convey to him a hint to be silent, or at least take heed what he said in such a presence. But the soldier, who, with proper military observance, continued to have his eye and attention fixed on the Emperor, as the prince whom he was bound to answer or to serve, saw none of the hints, which Achilles at length suffered to become so broad, that Zosimus and the Protospathaire exchanged expressive glances, as calling on each other to notice the by-play of the leader of the Varangians.

      In the meanwhile, the dialogue between the Emperor and his soldier continued: – "How," said Alexius, "did this draught relish, compared with the former?"

      "There is fairer company here, my liege, than that of the Arabian archers," answered Hereward, with a look and bow of instinctive good-breeding; "Nevertheless, there lacks the flavour which the heat of the sun, the dust of the combat, with the fatigue of wielding such a weapon as this" (advancing his axe) "for eight hours together, give to a cup of rare wine."

      "Another deficiency there might be," said Agelastes the Elephant, "provided I am pardoned hinting at it," he added, with a look to the throne, – "it might be the smaller size of the cup compared with that at Laodicea."

      "By Taranis, you say true," answered the life-guardsman; "at Laodicea I used my helmet."

      "Let us see the cups compared together, good friend," said Agelastes, continuing his raillery, "that we may be sure thou hast not swallowed the present goblet; for I thought, from the manner of the draught, there was a chance of its going down with its contents."

      "There are some things which I do not easily swallow," answered the Varangian, in a calm and Indifferent tone; "but they must come from a younger and more active man than you."

      The company again smiled to each other, as if to hint that the philosopher, though also parcel wit by profession, had the worst of the encounter.

      The Emperor at the same time interfered – "Nor did I send for thee hither, good fellow, to be baited by idle taunts."

      Here Agelastes shrunk back in the circle, as a hound that has been rebuked by the huntsman for babbling – and the Princess Anna Comnena, who had indicated by her fair features a certain degree of Impatience, at length spoke – "Will it then please you, my imperial and much-beloved father, to inform those blessed with admission to the Muses' temple, for what it is that you have ordered this soldier to be this night admitted to a place so far above his rank in life? Permit me to say, we ought not to waste, in frivolous and silly jests, the time which is sacred to the welfare of the empire, as every moment of your leisure must be."

      "Our daughter speaks wisely," said the Empress Irene, who, like most mothers who do not possess much talent themselves, and are not very capable of estimating it in others, was, nevertheless, a great admirer of her favourite daughter's accomplishments, and ready to draw them out on all occasions. "Permit me to remark, that in this divine and selected palace of the Muses, dedicated to the studies of our well-beloved and highly-gifted daughter, whose pen will preserve your reputation, our most imperial husband, till the desolation of the universe, and which enlivens and delights this society, the very flower of the wits of our sublime court; – permit me to say, that we have, merely by admitting a single life-guardsman, given our conversation the character of that which distinguishes a barrack."

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      Примечания

      1

      See volume IX. of the New Edition of the Waverley Novels, p. 241, for some circumstances attending this erection.

      2

      Tale of Mirglip the Persian, in the Tales of the Genii

      3

      See Gibbon, Chap. XLVIII., for the origin and early history of the house of the Comneni.

      4

      Bohemond, son of Robert Guisc

Примечания

1

See volume IX. of the New Edition of the Waverley Novels, p. 241, for some circumstances attending this erection.

2

Tale of Mirglip the Persian, in the Tales of the Genii

3

See Gibbon, Chap. XLVIII., for the origin and early history of the house of the Comneni.

4

Bohemond, son of Robert Guiscard, the Norman conqueror of Apulia, Calabria, and Sicily, was, at the time when the first crusade began, Count of Tarentum. Though far advanced in life, he eagerly joined the expedition of the Latins, and became Prince of Antioch. For details of his adventures., death, and extraordinary character, see Gibbon, Chap. LIX., and Mills' History of the Crusades, Vol. I.

5

See Gibbon, Chap. LVI.

6

Note I. p. 50. Constantinople.

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