Page:Tales and Historic Scenes.pdf/203

 Not only the place of Richard's confinement," (when thrown into prison by the Duke of Austria) "if we believe the literary history of the times, but even the circumstance of his captivity, was carefully concealed by his vindictive enemies: and both might have remained unknown but for the grateful attachment of a Provençal bard, or minstrel, named Blondel, who had shared that prince's friendship, and tasted his bounty. Having travelled over all the European continent to learn the destiny of his beloved patron, Blondel accidentally got intelligence of a certain castle in Germany, where a prisoner of distinction was confined, and guarded with great vigilance. Persuaded by a secret impulse that this prisoner was the King of England, the minstrel repaired to the place; but the gates of the castle were shut against him, and he could obtain no information relative to the name or quality of the unhappy person it secured. In this extremity, he bethought himself of an expedient for making the desired discovery. He chanted, with a loud voice, some verses of a song which had been composed partly by himself, partly by Richard; and, to his unspeakable joy, on making a pause, he heard it re-echoed and continued by the royal captive—(Hist. Troubadours.) To this discovery the English monarch is said to have eventually owed his release."—See Russell's Modern Europe, vol. i. p. 369.