The Intelligencer, & Petersburg Commercial Advertiser

THE CRUSADERS.

From the 'Betrothed,' one of the 'Tales of the Crusaders, by the author of Waverly.'

After a few preliminary touches on the chords of his lute, the minstrel requested of the Constable to name the subject on which he desired the exercise of his powers.

'The truth of woman,' answered Hugo de Lacy, as he laid his head upon his pillow.

After a short prelude, the minstrel obeyed, by singing nearly as follows:

Woman's faith, and woman's trust—
Write the characters in dust;
Stamp them on the running stream,
Print them on the Moon's pale beam,
And each evanescent letter
Shall be clearer, firmer, better,
And more permanent, I ween,
Than the things those letters mean.

I have strained the spider's thread
Gainst the promise of a maid;
I have weighed a grain of sand
Gainst her plight of heart and hand;
I told my true love of the token,
How her faith proved light, and her word was broken;
Again her word and troth she plight,
And I believed them again ere night.

'How now, sir knave,' said the Constable, raising himself on his elbow, 'from what drunken rhymer did you learn that half-witted satire?'

'From an old, ragged, cross-grained friend of mine, called Experience,' answered Vidal. 'I pray heaven he may never take your Lordship, or any other worthy man under his tuition.'