victory would have been almost equally disgraceful to his
character. ^33 Yet, after the calamitous event, the abbot of
Clairvaux was loudly accused as a false prophet, the author of
the public and private mourning; his enemies exulted, his friends
blushed, and his apology was slow and unsatisfactory. He
justifies his obedience to the commands of the pope; expatiates
on the mysterious ways of Providence; imputes the misfortunes of
the pilgrims to their own sins; and modestly insinuates, that his
mission had been approved by signs and wonders. ^34 Had the fact
been certain, the argument would be decisive; and his faithful
disciples, who enumerate twenty or thirty miracles in a day,
appeal to the public assemblies of France and Germany, in which
they were performed. ^35 At the present hour, such prodigies will
not obtain credit beyond the precincts of Clairvaux; but in the
preternatural cures of the blind, the lame, and the sick, who
were presented to the man of God, it is impossible for us to
ascertain the separate shares of accident, of fancy, of
imposture, and of fiction.

[Footnote 28: The most authentic information of St. Bernard must
be drawn from his own writings, published in a correct edition by
Pere Mabillon, and reprinted at Venice, 1750, in six volumes in
folio. Whatever friendship could recollect, or superstition
could add, is contained in the two lives, by his disciples, in
the vith volume: whatever learning and criticism could ascertain,
may be found in the prefaces of the Benedictine editor]
[Footnote *: Gibbon, whose account of the crusades is perhaps the
least accurate and satisfactory chapter in his History, has here
failed in that lucid arrangement, which in general gives
perspicuity to his most condensed and crowded narratives. He has