many fond adieus he and his gallant hand quitted the cliffy coast of Dover, and, landing at Calais, joined the King of France, where, after arranging for the peace and safety of their kingdoms during their absence, the friendly monarchs mustered a host of mighty warriors, and proceeded to Palestine, with the inspiring purpose of wresting Jerusalem from the grasp of the illustrious Saladin, nephew of the Sultan of Egypt, who, in 1187,, had taken the holy city, and made prisoner its sovereign, Guy of Lusignan. After several unavoidable delays, Richard and his mighty fleet reached Messina, in Sicily, the appointed rendezvous of the croises, on the twenty-third of September, 1190. His arrival and landing are thus described :— " Oh, Holy Mary 1 No man ever saw Such galleys, such dromonds, Such transports before ; Rowing on, rowing on, Across the deep sea, Rowing on, rowing on, To fair Sicily. What pinions and banners From the tops of their spears To the fair winds are streaming, All graceful and proud ; What a great host of warriors, Whose breasts know no fears, Pace the decks whilst the oarsmen Are chaunting aloud— Row on, lads, row on, lads, Across the deep sea, Crowd the sail and row on, lads, To fair Sicily. Hark, hark ! to the voice Of their trumpets so clear, As they enter the harbour And make for the pier ; See what bright gilded beaks, What finely wrought bows, And what thousands of shields Hang ont on the prows. Oh such α staunch licet Never sailed on the sea. As this armament Anchored off fair Sicily. And now from his trim galley, Named * Cut the Sea,' The proud Richard lands Amidst uproarious glee ; Clad in bright scale-linked mail, With his axe in his hand, He, the chief of his hero band, Paces the strand ; Whilst the people and warriors, In wild ecstacy, Shout hurrah for King Richard, And fair Sicily 1" I On landing, Richard learned to hia sorrow that immediately after the death of his brother-in-law, William the Good, Tancred had usurped the throne of Sicily, and thrown the widowed Sicilian Queen Joanna—Richard's sister—into prison. Cœur de Lion, who never threatened without a good purpose, sent messengers to Tancred, informing him that if Joanna was not instantly released, and her wrongs righted, the English would ravage the land with fire and sword. On receiving this message, Tancred prudently released the Dowager Queen, and restored to her all her costly furniture and equipage, and her forfeited dower land. Rut those concessions by no means satisfied the wounded pride of the high-spirited Joanna j and now that she was backed by the overwhelming forces of her lion-hearted brother, she determined to take signal vengeance on the author of the humiliating injuries she had so lately received. Accordingly, after Richard had forcibly possessed himself of Messina, he, by her connivance, demanded of Tancred certain legacies which it was pretended had been left him by the will of her late husband, WiRiam the Good. These presumed bequests,which Cœur de Lion had the audacity to claim from the astonished Tancred, were certainly neither few nor valueless. Amongst other articles, were enumerated a large table twelve feet long, of solid gold, and an armchair, and a number of footstools, vases, cups, and other articles of tho same precious metal, also sixty thousand measures of corn, and the like quantity of barley and of wine, besides a tent capable of accommodating two hundred soldiers, made of the richest silk, and one hundred well-stored and appointed galleys of war. In vain did poor Tancred appeal against this extravagant demand, in vain did he announce the well-known fact that the late Sicilian Monarch had died without leaving a will. Richard would listen to no such reasoning ; he possessed the might, and he determined to make that his right. However, aftor some delay in négociations, the matter was arranged by Tancred paying to Richard forty thousand ounces of gold, which so