native of Damascus had been taken prisoner by the Franks and carried to Jerusalem. From the place of his captivity he sent a copy of verses to the Sultan, in which the Holy City was made to address him thus : Just sovereign, mighty monarch ! thou To whom the Crosses' standards bow ! There cometh up before thee now Jerusalem's piteous plaint. " Elsewhere are idols overthrown— Shall I, the Holy House, alone, The Muslim's noblest temple, groan Beneath so foul a taint ? " The verse had its effect, and later on, Saladin rewarded the author with the deanery (if I may so translate the word khatabeh) of the Masjid el Aksa. In the month of March he addressed letters to all parts of his dominions calling on his subjects to rally round his standard, and follow him to the '* Holy War." Setting out from Damascus with such men as he could raise, he began himself to beat up recruits, and persuaded even the most unwilling to take up arms in the cause of their faith. Benaud, Prince of Kerek, had resolved upon attacking the Mohammedan pilgrims on their return from Mecca, and carrying them into captivity ; but Saladin encamped near Bosra until the caravan had passed, and so thwarted his designs. Benaud was one of the fiercest and most implacable antagonists the Muslims had to contend with, and he, knowing that he had little chance of quarter if he fell into Saladin's hands, withdrew into his fortress at Kerek. As the Egyptian contingent for which he was waiting did not arrive so soon as he had expected, Saladin commanded his son, El Melik el Afdhal, to remain at Eds el Ma, and collect an army, while he himself occupied his leisure by plundering and burning the villages in the neighbourhood of Kerek. Here he was at last joined by the Egyptians, and things remained in