his behalf, but the dejection of his mind increased to such an extent, that even her insinuating blandishments failed to recall him from his gloomy contemplations. Wearied with fruitless endeavors, she petulantly remarked to Petro-nilla, who now triumphed in the possession of a new lover, the young Count Maurienne, " Fate'has given me the name of queen with the destiny of a nun. Would we were again in our native realm, for I tire of this dull life. Instead of the gay minstrelsy of the sweet southwest, I am jaded with perpetual psalmody, and my attempts to beguile the weary hours with the 'joyous science,' are mocked with the mummery of muttered prayers. I have married a monk rather than â monarch ;" and the mortified queen burst into tears. While this state of feeling subsisted between the con-science-stricken Louis and his discontented consort, news of the fall of Edessa and the conquests of Noureddin reach-ed Europe, and the sagacious Eleanor saw, in the general sympathy which the intelligence excited, the means by Ävhich she might make the melancholy of Louis the instru-ment of her own pleasure. She forsook at once her gay amusements, joined her husband in alms, deeds and prayers, expressed the greatest pity for the misfortunes of their royal cousins, and constantly wished that she might be permitted to lead her brave Provencals to restore the gallant Courte-nays to their lost principality of Edessa. The gracious change in the character of Eleanor delighted the penitent monarch, and he began to listen with interest and pleasure to her oft-repeated suggestion, that a pilgrimage would prove an acceptable penance for the misdeed at Yitry. Animated by a renewed hope, he called a council of the clergy and nobility of his kingdom to deliberate on the propriety of an expedition to the Holy Land, and by their advice despatched deputies to gain the sanction of Pope Eugenius. The vicar of Christ entered readily into the de-sign, and commissioned the famous St. Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux, to preach the Second Cnimde. Louis and his queen, and all their court, attended on the ministry of the 132 HEROINES OF THE CRUSADES.