The Talisman | Page 4

a European sovereign, whilst each contended
which should excel the other in the knightly qualities of bravery and
generosity. This singular contrast afforded, as the author conceived,
materials for a work of fiction possessing peculiar interest. One of the
inferior characters introduced was a supposed relation of Richard Coeur
de Lion--a violation of the truth of history which gave offence to Mr.
Mills, the author of the "History of Chivalry and the Crusades," who
was not, it may be presumed, aware that romantic fiction naturally
includes the power of such invention, which is indeed one of the
requisites of the art.
Prince David of Scotland, who was actually in the host, and was the
hero of some very romantic adventures on his way home, was also
pressed into my service, and constitutes one of my DRAMATIS
PERSONAE.
It is true I had already brought upon the field him of the lion heart. But
it was in a more private capacity than he was here to be exhibited in the
Talisman--then as a disguised knight, now in the avowed character of a
conquering monarch; so that I doubted not a name so dear to
Englishmen as that of King Richard I. might contribute to their
amusement for more than once.
I had access to all which antiquity believed, whether of reality or fable,
on the subject of that magnificent warrior, who was the proudest boast
of Europe and their chivalry, and with whose dreadful name the
Saracens, according to a historian of their own country, were wont to
rebuke their startled horses. "Do you think," said they, "that King
Richard is on the track, that you stray so wildly from it?" The most
curious register of the history of King Richard is an ancient romance,
translated originally from the Norman; and at first certainly having a
pretence to be termed a work of chivalry, but latterly becoming stuffed
with the most astonishing and monstrous fables. There is perhaps no
metrical romance upon record where, along with curious and genuine
history, are mingled more absurd and exaggerated incidents. We have
placed in the Appendix to this Introduction the passage of the romance
in which Richard figures as an ogre, or literal cannibal.
A principal incident in the story is that from which the title is derived.
Of all people who ever lived, the Persians were perhaps most
remarkable for their unshaken credulity in amulets, spells, periapts, and

similar charms, framed, it was said, under the influence of particular
planets, and bestowing high medical powers, as well as the means of
advancing men's fortunes in various manners. A story of this kind,
relating to a Crusader of eminence, is often told in the west of Scotland,
and the relic alluded to is still in existence, and even yet held in
veneration.
Sir Simon Lockhart of Lee and Gartland made a considerable figure in
the reigns of Robert the Bruce and of his son David. He was one of the
chief of that band of Scottish chivalry who accompanied James, the
Good Lord Douglas, on his expedition to the Holy Land with the heart
of King Robert Bruce. Douglas, impatient to get at the Saracens,
entered into war with those of Spain, and was killed there. Lockhart
proceeded to the Holy Land with such Scottish knights as had escaped
the fate of their leader and assisted for some time in the wars against
the Saracens.
The following adventure is said by tradition to have befallen him:--
He made prisoner in battle an Emir of considerable wealth and
consequence. The aged mother of the captive came to the Christian
camp, to redeem her son from his state of captivity. Lockhart is said to
have fixed the price at which his prisoner should ransom himself; and
the lady, pulling out a large embroidered purse, proceeded to tell down
the ransom, like a mother who pays little respect to gold in comparison
of her son's liberty. In this operation, a pebble inserted in a coin, some
say of the Lower Empire, fell out of the purse, and the Saracen matron
testified so much haste to recover it as gave the Scottish knight a high
idea of its value, when compared with gold or silver. "I will not
consent," he said, "to grant your son's liberty, unless that amulet be
added to his ransom." The lady not only consented to this, but
explained to Sir Simon Lockhart the mode in which the talisman was to
be used, and the uses to which it might be put. The water in which it
was dipped operated as a styptic, as a febrifuge, and possessed other
properties as a medical talisman.
Sir Simon Lockhart, after much experience of the wonders which it
wrought, brought it to his own country, and left it