whole of the feudal system, with all its laws, its ideas, and its limitations. The news of the recovery of Jerusalem, and the return of the triumphant Crusaders, revived the flame of crusading enthusiasm, which in the space of four years had somewhat subsided. Those who had not followed the rest in taking the Cros3 reproached themselves with apathy ; those who had deserted the Cros-j were the object of contempt and scorn. More signs appeared in heaven ; flames of fire in the east—probably at daybreak ; passage of insects and birds—emblematic of the swarms of pilgrims which were to follow. Only when the preachers urged on their hearers to take the Cross it was no longer in the minor key of plaint and suffering ; they had risen and left the waters of Babylon ; they had taken down their harps from the trees and tuned them afresh ; they sang, now, a song of triumph ; and in place of suffering, sorrow, and humiliation, they proclaimed victory, glory, and riches. . It seemed better to a European knight to be Baron of Samaria than lord of a western state ; imagination magnified the splendour of Baldwin and Tancred ; things far off assumed such colours as the mind pleased ; and letters read from the chiefs in Palestine spoke only of spoils won in battle, of splendid victories, and of conquered lands. Again the cry was raised of Dieu le veut, and again the pilgrims, but this time in a very different spirit, poured eastwards in countless thousands. The way was led by Hugh, Count of Vermandois and the unfortunate Stephen of Blois, whose lives had been a mere burden to them since their desertion of the Cross ; the latter, who had little inclination for fighting of any kind, and still less for more hardships in the thirsty East, followed at the instigation of his wife Adela, daughter of William the Conqueror. Neither of them ever returned. William of Poitiers, like Stephen of Blois, a poet and scholar, mortgaged his estates to William Bufus, the scoffer, who,