volume one

. we
PEEFACE.
passions of man in undisguised, full play, from the noblest
aspirations of true religion and pure honour, to the most
degraded abasements of superstition, hypocrisy, and sen-
suality. He will contemplate some exalted characters, like
that of Tancred, the mirror of knighthood, able equally to
support success and disasters—never forgetful of mercy in
the hour of victory, or abandoned by Christian resignation
in the deepest misery ; sincere in religion, unblemished in
honour, and, though valiant as their own good swords, yet
overflowing with kindliest charities. But of these he will
find but few ; for, generally, he will easily trace the wicked-
ness of the ends desired in the means employed to obtain
them. And yet he will close the book with the pious and
cheering reflection, that however horrible in plan and exe-
cution the Crusades may appear to us, there is no doubt
that, as regards the whole of the Creator's great scheme,
they considerably advanced the happiness of mankind. The
European world never stood in greater need of having its
scum removed than at the periods of the Crusades, particu-
larly the first ; and if, as vfQ shudder at the catastrophe of
Lisbon, we hope that the added welfare of the globe was at
least commensurate with the calamity, so, when we remember
that six millions of human beings lost their lives by sword
fire, disease, famine, and shipwreck in these disastrous wars,
trust and believe that the advantages we derive from
them may be equal to the sacrifice.
For the poet and the novelist the Crusades are rich
sources of wealth ; for imagination can scarcely soar above
the characters and scenes, nor can fiction exceed the won-
ders of the events.
But to no class will the great lesson of the Crusades be
more profitable than to the citizens of our own country and
times. Gibbon says : " Some deep reasoners have suspe6ted
that the whole enterprise, from the synod of Placentia, was