• CHAPTER XVIII. THE CHRONICLE OF SIX HUNDRED YEARS. " Oh ! yet we trust that somehow good Will be the final goal of ill, To pangs of nature, sins of will, Defects of doubt, and taint of blood." In Memoriam. THE Christian kingdom, reduced after Saladin's conquest to a strip of land along the coast, with a few strong cities, depended no longer on the annual reinforcement of pilgrims, hut on the strength and wealth of the two military orders. Unfortunately these quarrelled, and the whole of Syria became divided, Mohammedans as well as Christians, into partisans of Knights Templars, or of Knights Hospitallers. Henry of Champagne, the titular king, was only anxious to get away, while Bohemond, the Prince of Antioch, was only anxious to extend his own territories. In Germany alone the crusading spirit yet lingered, and a few Germans flocked yearly to the sacred places. Germany did more. The emperor, with forty thousand men, went to Palestine by way of Italy. When he arrived, he found, to his amazement, that the Christians did not want him—the truce concluded with the Mohammedans being not yet broken. The barons and princes had resolved not to break it at all ; but rather to seek its renewal. But the Germans had not accomplished their long journey for