[137] This is a valuable hint for poets, painters, and novelists.—Trans.
[138] This may appear improbable; but there is no doubt Richard was a perfect horseman; and we very well remember Mr. Goldham, of the London and Westminster volunteer light-horse, performing the broad sword exercise with a sword in each hand, and his horse at speed, before George III., in Hyde Park.—Trans.
[139] Although our chronicler does not tell us so, we may presume that when one of Richard’s troop cut down a Turkish horseman, he did not leave his saddle long empty, and that such accessions enabled the Christians to make an effective pursuit.—Trans.
[140] If any limner had the skill to paint Richard’s countenance at parting with such a friend as his “good sword,” this would make a fine picture. The feelings, which must have nearly suffocated his lion heart, would furnish matter for a poem.—Trans.
[141] We give a translation of this extract because it is very curious; but we have no faith in it with respect to the date; it appears to us to be much more modern, and some parts of the language inconsistent with others.—Trans.
[142] But, as in most such cases, religion was rather the cloak than the basis of ambition. The Mussulman empire, after the three first caliphs, became too large and too complicated to be governed by a simple Arab; and the miraculous conquests of the sect naturally made the generals who achieved them ambitious of governing what they conquered. The religious feud was but an excuse.—Trans.
[143] This doctrine prevailed among the Ismaëlians of Persia during nearly fifty years; but Djelah-ed Din, grandson of Hassan, reëstablished the worship in its purity.
[144] Dai, an Arabian participle, signifies properly him who calls,—advocans; and by extension it designates a person who preaches to men, and invites them to embrace some doctrine. The title of dai was common in the first century of Islamism. Every sect had its own.
[145] A passage of the historian Mirkhoud supports this account; he informs us that Hassan, after getting possession of the castle of Altamont, caused a canal to be dug, and brought water from a great distance to the foot of his castle. Fruit-trees were planted round it, and he encouraged the inhabitants to sow the land. It was thus that the air of this place, which had been unwholesome, became pure and salubrious.
[146] M. Jourdain, who addressed this interesting letter to me, has published a work entitled La Perse, ou le Tableau de l’Histoire du Gouvernement, de la Littérature, de cet Empire, des Mœurs et Coutumes des Habitants. This work, in five vols. in 18mo., contains many new notions and curious details, and does honour to the talent as well as to the erudition of the Orientalist.