The Talisman | Page 5

to his heirs, by whom,
and by Clydesdale in general, it was, and is still, distinguished by the
name of the Lee-penny, from the name of his native seat of Lee.
The most remarkable part of its history, perhaps, was that it so

especially escaped condemnation when the Church of Scotland chose to
impeach many other cures which savoured of the miraculous, as
occasioned by sorcery, and censured the appeal to them, "excepting
only that to the amulet, called the Lee-penny, to which it had pleased
God to annex certain healing virtues which the Church did not presume
to condemn." It still, as has been said, exists, and its powers are
sometimes resorted to. Of late, they have been chiefly restricted to the
cure of persons bitten by mad dogs; and as the illness in such cases
frequently arises from imagination, there can be no reason for doubting
that water which has been poured on the Lee-penny furnishes a
congenial cure.
Such is the tradition concerning the talisman, which the author has
taken the liberty to vary in applying it to his own purposes.
Considerable liberties have also been taken with the truth of history,
both with respect to Conrade of Montserrat's life, as well as his death.
That Conrade, however, was reckoned the enemy of Richard is agreed
both in history and romance. The general opinion of the terms upon
which they stood may be guessed from the proposal of the Saracens
that the Marquis of Montserrat should be invested with certain parts of
Syria, which they were to yield to the Christians. Richard, according to
the romance which bears his name, "could no longer repress his fury.
The Marquis he said, was a traitor, who had robbed the Knights
Hospitallers of sixty thousand pounds, the present of his father Henry;
that he was a renegade, whose treachery had occasioned the loss of
Acre; and he concluded by a solemn oath, that he would cause him to
be drawn to pieces by wild horses, if he should ever venture to pollute
the Christian camp by his presence. Philip attempted to intercede in
favour of the Marquis, and throwing down his glove, offered to become
a pledge for his fidelity to the Christians; but his offer was rejected, and
he was obliged to give way to Richard's impetuosity."--HISTORY OF
CHIVALRY.
Conrade of Montserrat makes a considerable figure in those wars, and
was at length put to death by one of the followers of the Scheik, or Old
Man of the Mountain; nor did Richard remain free of the suspicion of
having instigated his death.
It may be said, in general, that most of the incidents introduced in the
following tale are fictitious, and that reality, where it exists, is only

retained in the characters of the piece.
ABBOTSFORD, 1st July, 1832
*
APPENDIX TO INTRODUCTION.
While warring in the Holy Land, Richard was seized with an ague.
The best leeches of the camp were unable to effect the cure of the
King's disease; but the prayers of the army were more successful. He
became convalescent, and the first symptom of his recovery was a
violent longing for pork. But pork was not likely to be plentiful in a
country whose inhabitants had an abhorrence for swine's flesh; and
"Though his men should be hanged, They ne might, in that countrey,
For gold, ne silver, ne no money, No pork find, take, ne get, That King
Richard might aught of eat. An old knight with Richard biding, When
he heard of that tiding, That the kingis wants were swyche, To the
steward he spake privyliche-- "Our lord the king sore is sick, I wis,
After porck he alonged is; Ye may none find to selle; No man be hardy
him so to telle! If he did he might die. Now behoves to done as I shall
say, Tho' he wete nought of that. Take a Saracen, young and fat; In
haste let the thief be slain, Opened, and his skin off flayn; And sodden
full hastily, With powder and with spicery, And with saffron of good
colour. When the king feels thereof savour, Out of ague if he be went,
He shall have thereto good talent. When he has a good taste, And eaten
well a good repast, And supped of the BREWIS [Broth] a sup, Slept
after and swet a drop, Through Goddis help and my counsail, Soon he
shall be fresh and hail.' The sooth to say, at wordes few, Slain and
sodden was the heathen shrew. Before the king it was forth brought:
Quod his men, 'Lord, we have pork sought; Eates and sups of the
brewis SOOTE,[Sweet] Thorough grace of God it shall be your boot.'
Before King Richard carff a knight, He ate faster than he carve might.