mercy would be sbown in an especial manner, and be finished by exhorting the Sultan to resign peacefully, a country which was a source of more inconvenience than profit to the Moslems. As the dignified Saracen made no overtures of capitula-tion, the pope found it necessary to put this boasted mercy to the proof, and the Sixth Crusade was accordingly preach-ed in every church of Europe. A general council was held in the palace of the Lateran, A.D. 1215, for the im-portant but dissimilar purposes of crowning Frederic II. grandson of Frederic Barbarossa, and for chastising vice in its various forms and condemning heresy in all its phases, and also, for the sake of inducing princes and people to join the expedition to the Holy Land. " There were present the Patriarchs of Constantinople and Jerusalem, the ambassador of the Patriarch of Antioch, seventy-four metropolitan primates, and three hundred and forty bishops. The abbots and friars numbered eight hundred, but the representatives of the higher clergy could not be calculated. The Emperor of Constantinople, the Kings of France, England, Hungary, Jerusalem, Arragon, and the sovereigns of many other countries, were repre-sented in the assembly." After the general interests of the church had been con-sidered and the heretics summarily given over to all the miseries of this life, and the pains of that to come, war against the Saracens, was declared to be the most sacred dnty of the European world. The usual privileges and in-dulgences were accorded to the pilgrims, all tournaments during the three years appointed'for the crusade, were pro-hibited, and universal peace was decreed, to all christian kingdoms for the same period. Frederic II. was crowned on condition of joining the expedition. The troubadours again took down their harps, and the voice of song echoing through castle and hall aroused the enthusiasm of youth, and awoke the slumbering energies of age. The pontiff himself declared his intention of visit-ing the Holy Land, and the warriors said one to another, VIOLANTE. S15