Many of them died ; many more turned away without having been able to enter the city ; famine, thirst, nakedness, and the sword of the infidel, constantly thinned their ranks, which were as constantly renewed. Even if they got within the walls, they were not much safer : the monasteries could do little for them, though they did what they could ; in the streets they were insulted, mocked, spat upon, and sometimes beaten. And in the very churches, and during the celebration of services, they were diable, as we have seen, to the attacks of a fanatic crowd, who would sometimes break in upon them, and outrage the most sacred ceremonies. Among all the indignant and pious crowd of worshippers none was more indignant or more devout than Peter. He paid a visit to Simeon, the aged patriarch, and wept with him over the misfortunes of the Christians. " When," said Simeon, " the cup of our sufferings is full, God will send the Christians of the West to the help of the Holy City." Peter pressed him to write urgent letters to the sovereign powers of Europe : he himself promised to exhort the people to arm for the recovery of Jerusalem and to testify to the statements of Simeon. And then, to the fiery imagination of the Hermit, strange voices began to whisper, and strange forms began to be seen. "Arise, Peter," cried our Lord Himself to him, when he was worshipping at the Holy Sepulchre, " Arise, Peter. Hasten to announce the tribulations of my people. It is time that my servants were succoured and my sacred places delivered." Peter arose and departed to obey what he believed to be a divine command. The pope Urban, who certainly saw in this an opportunity for strengthening himself against the anti-pope, received him with ardour, real or assumed, and authorized him to preach the Crusade over the whole of Europe. He crossed the Alps, and began first to preach in France. His appearance was mean and unprepossessing, his stature