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 348 THE DECLINE AND FALL fleet was allowed to enter the harbour of Tyre ; but the chain was suddenly drawn, and five galleys were either sunk or taken ; [Siege raised, a tliousand Turks were slain in a sally ; and Saladin, after burn- A.D. UBS] ing his engines, concluded a glorious campaign by a disgraceful retreat to Damascus. He was soon assailed by a more formidable tempest. The pathetic narratives, and even the pictures, that represented in lively colours the servitude and profanation of Jerusalem, awakened the torpid sensibility of Europe ; the emperor, Frederic Barbarossa, and the kings of France and England assumed the cross ; and the tardy magnitude of their armaments was anticipated by the maritime states of the Mediterranean and the Ocean. The skilful and provident Italians first embarked in the ships of Genoa, Pisa, and Venice. They were speedily followed by the most eager pilgrims of France, Normandy, and the Western Isles. The powerful succour of Flanders, Frise, and Denmark filled near an hundred vessels ; and the northern warriors were distinguished in the field by a lofty stature and a ponderous battle-axe."^ Their increasing multitudes could no longer be confined within the walls of Tyre, or remain obedient to the voice of Conrad. They pitied the misfortunes, and revered the dignity, of Lusignan, who was re- leased from prison, perhaps to divide the army of the Franks. He proposed the recovery of Ptolemais, or Acre, thirty miles to the south of Tyre : and the place was first invested by two thousand horse and thirty thousand foot under his nominal command. I shall not expatiate on the storj' of this memorable siege, which lasted near two years, and consumed, in a narrow Siege of Acre. Space, the forccs of Europe and Asia. Never did the flame of juiy-A.i). enthusiasm burn with fiercer and more destructive rage ; nor 1191, July could the true believers, a common appellation, who consecrated their own martyrs, refuse some applause to the mistaken zeal and courage of their adversaries. At the sound of the holy trumpet, the Moslems of Egypt, Syria, Arabia, and the Oriental provinces assembled under the servant of the prophet : '^ his camp was pitched and removed within a few miles of Acre ; and he laboured, night and day, for the relief of his brethren and 'SNorthmanni et Gothi, et caeteri populi insularum qua; inter occidentem et septemtrionem sita; sunt, gentes bellicoste, corporis proceri, mortis intrepidas, bipennibus armatas, navibus rotundis quas Ysnachias [= esnecca, va-KKo] dicuntur advectae. ™The historian of Jerusalem (p. 1108) adds the nations of the East from the Tigris to India, and the swarthy tribes of Moors and GetuUans, so that Asia and Africa fought against Europe.