THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS. sulmen. Their miserable situation is thus portrayed iu a melan- Evnunn choly letter from the treasurer of the order, written to the nARHBa, η 1149, Master, Everard des Barres, during his sojourn at the court ofΑ·· the king of France. '· Since we have been deprived of your beloved presence, we have had the misfortune to lose in battle the prince of Antioch* and all his nobility. To this catastrophe has succeeded another. The infidels invaded the territory of Antioch ; they drove all before them, and threw garrisons into several strong places, On the first intelligence of this disaster, our brethren assembled in arms, and in concert with the king of Jerusalem went to the succour of the desolated province. We could only get together tor tins expedition one hundred and twenty knights and one thousand serving brothers and hired soldiers, for whose equipment we expended seven thousand crowns at Acre, and one thousand at Jerusalem. Your paternity knows on what condition we assented to your departure, and our extreme want of money, of cavalry, and of infantry. W e earnestly implore you to rejoin us as soon as possible, with all the necessary succours for the Eastern Church, our common mother. " . . . . Scarce had we arrived in the neighbourhood of Antioch, ere we were hemmed in by the Turcomans on the one side, and the sultau of Aleppo (Noureddin) on the other, who blockade us in the environs of the town, whilst our vineyards are destroyed, and our harvests laid waste. Overwhelmed with grief at the pitiable condition to which we are reduced, we conjure you to abandon everything, and embark without delay. Never was your presence more necessary to your brethren ;—at no con juncture could your return be more agreeable to God. . . . The * His head and right hand were cut off by Noureddin, and seat to the caliph at Bagdad.—Aia(ferag.Ckren,Sgr.p. 33S.