The Knights Templars.

hundred being foot soldiers belonging to the tAvo Orders . With this small but gallant band , Gerard and Roger departed in quest of the Saracens , aud had proceeded about seven miles from Nazareth , iu the direction of the Jordan , when they came upon a large body of the Musselmen , ivho Avere ivaterino- their horses at the brook Kedron . The O

Musselmen numbered seven thousand strong , the -flower of Salaclin ' s army . Undismayed by their numbers , and Avithout Avaiting to count the odds against him , Gerard de Ridefort , Avho commanded the Christians , ordered Jacques de Maillie , the

valiant Marshal , to unfurl the " Beausaut . " Thereupon the Knights of the Temple and the Hospital placing their lances in the rest , dashed CIOAA ' II like a , ivhirlwind upon the surprised ancl alarmed Saracens , dealing among them , in the emphatic

language of the rare old chronicler , Rodolph , Abbot of Coggleshale , " death and damnation . " At first the Musselmen , completely taken by surprise , were trampled down and slaughtered ; but , according to their military tactics , they broke

their ranks and fled . The Knights eagerly followed in pursuit , leaving the infantry totallyunprotected . The g-eneral of the enemy perceiving this , sent fonvard a body of troops to attack the infantry , ivhich , debouching- from a i alley , rushed upon the defenceless footmen and utterly destroyed them . The shrieks of the surrounded footmen ,

the cries of the triumphant Musselmen , and the clan of the battle , warn eel Gerard of his mistake . He ordered a halt , and returned to the assistance of the infantry Avith his Knights ; but the tide of victory flowed strongly in favour of the Infidel .

The ground was broken and narroiv , the Knights could not place their lances in rest nor bring their chargers to the career , ivhile the enemy rained dowoi upon them from the heights clouds of darts and other missiles . The old chroniclers revel in

delight Avhile relating the courage displayed by the Templars on this occasion . They Avere to be seen bathed ivith blood and siveat , trembling Avith fatigue , ivith their sivords and lances broken , closing Avith the Infidels , and rolling headlong

ivith them in the dust . Some tore the darts , with AA'hich they had been transfixed , from their bodies aud hurled them back ivith a convulsive energy npon their enemies . Pressed by fatigue and heat , they drank their own blood , and renewed their

strength by the very means which must have weakened it ; and others , having lost all their ¦ weapons in the affray , clung around the necks of \

their opponents , dragged them from their horses , and strangled them under the feet of the combatants . With their latest breaths threatening their enemies , they died , their brows rigidly marbled into a scoivl of defiance of those they contemned in life and scorned even in death .

Others , making ramparts of their horses , for along Avhile withstood the attacks of the Infidels , and when they did fall before their legions of foes , the heaps of slain that surrounded them , told how terrible had been the conflict ere those valiant

champions of the Cross had succumbed . Were these facts not so ivell authenticated , we ivould be apt to doubt their truth . Tha battles resemble more those of the fable Titans , than of mere mortals .

Conspicuous in this fight above the rest , valiant Ai'here all ivere brave , appear two Knights—Henry , a Hospitaller , and Jacques de Maillie , the Grand Marshal of the Templars . De Maillie was a German by birth , nobly born , and of matchless

bravery . So pre-eminent was his valour , that even among the Templars he ivas early marked out for important commands , and in the discharge of these duties he ever showed the nobility of his origin and the greatness of his native proivess .

When all had fallen , for all the Christian army perished except Gerard de Ridefort and two of his officers , AVIIO , ivhen the battle ivas lost , cut

their Avay through the dense ranks of the Musselmen , and escaped to Nazareth , Henry and de Maillie maintained the couibat , but at length the Hospitaller fell . His extraordinary valour now dreAV upon the Templar the attacks of the AA'hole

of the Infidel . Alone he sustained the wei ght of the battle , a glorious champion for God ' s IEAV . The horse ivhich he rode , worn out by fatigue and exhausted by Avounds , sunk under him , and dragged him to the earth ; but the intrepid Knight freeing

himself from his dying charger , arose , lance in hand , covered ivith dust aud blood , bristling like a porcupine ivith arrows , and rushed upon the ranks of the enemy , ivho fell back in compassion , astonished and confounded by his audacious

bravery . At length this brave man , hemmed in on every side by the enemy ' s troops , and all human aid or deliverance alike impossible , seeing so many thousands pressing iu upon him from every direction , neired himself up for one dying

effort , aud like the blind Samson in the hands of the Philistines , resolved that with him should die many of his enemies . He thmv aside his lance