or Menerbe, famed no less for its natural strength than for the courage and fidelity of its lord, Giraud, one of the bravest and most loyal knights owning fealty to the viscount of Carcassonne. To Raymond Roger he had been ardently attached; and now that the grave had closed over that champion of the oppressed, Giraud indignantly rejected the assumed authority of his murderer, and held the castle as a duteous vassal of Raymond Trencavel, the infant son of the viscount, and lawful inheritor of his possessions. The faith of the gospel was, perhaps, more extensively and openly professed here than in any place that de Montfort had yet assailed; and the prize was, in every point of view, a most tempting one, alike to priest and warrior. The siege was commenced with vigour, and seven weeks of unsuccessful assault had not abated either the fury of the crusaders or the constancy of the garrison; but that which in one aspect formed their greatest strength, in another proved the worst disadvantage of the besieged. Their rock repelled the enemy; but it yielded no waterspring to them; their sole dependence was on cisterns, which at length failed them; and Giraud under a flag of truce proceeded to the camp to treat on the best terms that he could for capitulation. De Montfort, dreading the diminution of his host, from which at the end of every forty days many withdrew, while he depended solely on the recruiting brothers of Citeaux for adequate supplies in their room, and exceedingly anxious to proceed on his march, granted terms that satisfied Giraud; and the latter was about to make preparations for surrendering, when the legate, who had been absent during the treaty, suddenly returned to the camp; and de Montfort, alarmed at his own boldness, no less suddenly announced that nothing agreed upon during the absence

of the legate could be considered binding until ratified by him. We cannot but cite the language of the monk Peter, in describing the trouble of Arnold on being thus appealed to for the approval of conditions comparatively just and rational. "The abbot was much afflicted. In truth it was his desire that every enemy of Christ should be slain; but in his character of monk and priest he could not undertake to pronounce their condemnation himself.' Here we see, most clearly, the use to which the Romish Church puts its miserable slaves; among whom were then numbered most of the kings and mighty men of Christendom. With the full devevelopment of the dragon's character upon it, still as a nominally religious system it is compelled to assume the lamblike aspect that prevents its tearing with its own teeth the prey set apart for destruction. Wonderful and fearful is the craft which, to meet the difficulty, has brought such troops of wolves into perfect subjection; so that on a signal they obey, (and count it meritorious obedience too) no less their own carnivorous propensities than the will of their masked director!

Arnold Amalric immediately hit on a device for the attainment of his object. Knowing that the agreement entered into between the chiefs was as yet only verbal, he directed them to sit down apart, and each to furnish him with a correct written statement of every item in it. Of course, without a miracle some discrepancy would appear; and on this the unprincipled legate founded a pretext for declaring the whole agreement void, seeing that they were not fully of the same mind as to the terms. Giraud, anxious to succour his people, now suffering from the extremity of thirst, offered to waive his own version, and to accept that of de Montfort; and this again brought the council of war to a

stand. The articles of capitulation, as stated by Simon, were read; and, here another instance occurred of the deadly spirit animating the breasts of those who assumed the spiritual leadership of men's consciences, as a sure means of commanding their unlimited submission in things temporal; and of the utter opposition of that spirit to every thing that savours of the gospel of peace. The incident is related by the monk of VauxCernay, with admiring approval of the holy zeal manifested. When that article was read which provided for the safety of any among the Albigensic professors who should renounce their faith, a French nobleman, Robert de Mauvaison, mindful of the terms on which his salvation was guaranteed by the church, exclaimed that the pilgrims would never consent to such a clause; for they had taken the cross, not to shew mercy to heretics, but to exterminate them. He spoke, no doubt, the real feeling of the whole host; but one which it might be supposed the ecclesiastical leaders would, for decency's sake, have appeared to disavow. Far from it: the legate Arnold, immediately soothed the indignant knight, not by representing to him the blessedness of bringing wanderers back to the fold; not by reminding him that our Lord has pronounced, "Blessed are the merciful," but by bidding him not fear; for he was satisfied that very few of the heretics would be converted! This tacit approval on Arnold's part of the agreement, together with the comfortable hope which it held out of no limit being placed on the work of blood, decided the matter: the articles were signed; and with a heavy heart the gallant Giraud delivered up his fortress to those who thirsted for the slaughter of its defenders. They entered with great solemnity, preceded by the cross and the banners of de Montfort; while

the whole army, led by the priestly choir who in full canonical pomp formed their vanguard, chaunted in grand and overwhelming chorus the magnificent Te Deum, every sublime verse of which speaks condemnation to those who could so fearfully misapply the language of believing prayer and praise. Alas for those, the light within whom is darkness! how great, how awfully great is that darkness!

Meanwhile, the servants of the Lord, who had indeed tasted the redemption afforded by his most precious blood, and who knew that their happy lot was to be numbered with his saints in glory everlasting, abundantly verified the prediction of the cruel legate. Not one among them entertained a thought of renouncing the faith of their Redeemer. Calm and cheerful in the assured hope of meeting again ere night should have closed upon the earth, in that happy place where night never comes, husbands embraced their wives, fathers their daughters, sons their aged mothers, and brothers their blooming sisters, and parted: the males repaired to one large mansion, the females to another; and thus self-accused of their denounced faith, voluntarily separated from their sympathizing fellow-townsmen, prepared as sheep to the slaughter, they kneeled down, confessing their sins to the Most High, pleading the allprevailing merits of the Lord Jesus Christ, and, with fervent thanksgivings for having been brought to the saving knowledge of Him who of God was made to them wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption, they besought the grace that alone could keep them stedfast, unmoveable, faithful unto death, and meet for the crown of everlasting life.

And now the heavy tramp, the loud clang of mailed hosts, almost drowned in the thundering hymn of such

praise as must be an abomination to the holy and merciful One, whose Name they dared so to blaspheme, bespoke the approach of the dragon's progeny. First of the motley band of assailants, came the Abbot Guy de Vaux-Cernay, still active in the fulfilment of that mission which he undertook in the recesses of the Vatican

seventeen years before. He appeared as a preacher of the faith to men who had fallen into damnable heresies,' and commenced the formal exhortation which the terms of the capitulation rendered necessary, thundering forth the terrors of the Church's ban on all who dared to dispute her supremacy, and requiring an instant recantation of what the Albigenses held to be, as indeed it was, the doctrine of eternal life. He was not allowed to proceed far in his sermon: a general cry burst from the indignant hearers, who felt that he was speaking blasphemy against the holy Name whereby they were called: 'We will have none of your faith; we have renounced the doctrines of your Roman Church. You labour in vain to move us from the truth which we have embraced, and from which nothing either in life or in death can move us.' Satisfied that no victims

would escape from among these devoted believers, Guy left them, and proceeded to the house where the females were in like manner awaiting their fate; and here he was even more quickly and resolutely cut short in his discourse they would not hear him; they were full of hope and joy, and eager to lay down their lives for the Gospel. While this was going on, de Montfort, fully partaking in the legate's assurance, collected an immense quantity of fire-wood, piling it in the most open space of the town. He then visited in turn the two assemblies, addressing them more briefly than the Abbot had done, in words that could not be misunderstood. He