seeing the armed forces of Christendom embroiled in a bloody war to decide her title to the crown matrimonial of England. . The forebodings of Elsiebede did not increase her equa-nimity. " It is all the work of the fatal ring," said the superstitious maiden. " Did I not tell thee it would thwart his dearest wish ?" Berengaria could reply only by her tears. Other circumstances made her apprehensive con-cerning the fate of the expedition. The Emperor Frederic Barbarossa was among the first of those whose grief arose to indignation at the fall of Jerusalem. He wrote letters to Saladin demanding restitution of the city, and threaten-ing vengeance in the event of non-compliance. The cour-teous Infidel replied, that if the Christians would give up to him Tyre, Tripoli and Antioch, he would restore to them the piece of wood taken at the battle of Tiberias, and per-mit the people of the west to visit Jerusalem as pilgrims. The chivalry of Germany were exasperated at this haughty reply, and the emperor, though advanced in age, with his son the Duke of Suabia, the Dukes of Austria and Moravia, sixty-eight temporal and spiritual lords, and innumerable hosts of crusaders, drawn out of every class, from honora-ble knighthood down to meanest vassalage, set out from Eatisbon for the East. The virtuous Barbarossa conducted the march with prudence and humanity. Avoiding as much as possible the territories of the timid and treacher-ous Greek Emperor, Isaac Angelus, he crossed the Helles-pont, passed through Asia Minor, defeated the Turks in a general engagement at Iconium, and reached the Taurus Ridge, having accomplished the difficult journey with more honor and dignity and success than had fallen to the lot of any previous crusaders. When the army approached the river Cydrius, the gallant Frederic, emulating the example of Alexander, desired to bathe in its waters. His attendants sought to dissuade him, declaring that the place had been marked by a fatality from ancient times ; and to give weight to their arguments, pointed to this inscription upon an adjacent rock, " Here 222 HEROINES OF THE CRUSADES.