guard upon their native impetuosity of disposition, and at the
same time a sense of his own dignity, which seemed to impose a
certain formality of behaviour in him who entertained it.

This haughty feeling of superiority was perhaps equally
entertained by his new European acquaintance, but the effect was
different; and the same feeling, which dictated to the Christian
knight a bold, blunt, and somewhat careless bearing, as one too
conscious of his own importance to be anxious about the opinions
of others, appeared to prescribe to the Saracen a style of
courtesy more studiously and formally observant of ceremony.
Both were courteous; but the courtesy of the Christian seemed to
flow rather from a good humoured sense of what was due to others;
that of the Moslem, from a high feeling of what was to be
expected from himself.

The provision which each had made for his refreshment was simple,
but the meal of the Saracen was abstemious. A handful of dates
and a morsel of coarse barley-bread sufficed to relieve the
hunger of the latter, whose education had habituated them to the
fare of the desert, although, since their Syrian conquests, the
Arabian simplicity of life frequently gave place to the most
unbounded profusion of luxury. A few draughts from the lovely
fountain by which they reposed completed his meal. That of the
Christian, though coarse, was more genial. Dried hog's flesh,
the abomination of the Moslemah, was the chief part of his
repast; and his drink, derived from a leathern bottle, contained
something better than pure element. He fed with more display of
appetite, and drank with more appearance of satisfaction, than
the Saracen judged it becoming to show in the performance of a