The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1853-12-29

Lem would be washed away. Well, never
mind, it's all over now, and I'm glad OF il. Ii
was wonderful adventure. Not many can
say they were robbed in the Alps by brigands.
Lem, dear, where is that courier! We can't
talk French, and he don't know much Eoglish,
| must say Where do you stay, dear Bell7p
For tho National Era.
THE SAXON SeRf:
A TALE OF ENGLISH SLAVERY, IN THE
TWELFTH CENTURY.
BY HENRY WILLIAM HERBERT
CHAP v.
| As they sat in Englyshe wood,
Under the Greenwood tree,
They thought thcy heard a woman wepe,
But her they mought not soc.
| -Ada1. Bell As.
Leaving the wander lc'iVtiry listlessly at his
post, AS In well.settled district and in piping
times OF peace" with no fendal enemies at HAND,
and no outlaws IN the vicinity, mono at least 30
numerous as to render any quarrel necessary,
except as matter OF dignity and decorum the
two knights strolled down the sandy lane to ward
the village, or quarter OF the serfs; who were
not admitted generally to reside within the
walls, partly as n precautioD, lest in case of
some national ARRAY, they might SO far cut
| number the Norman men at arms as to become
dangerous, partly because they were not Deem
| ed fitting associates for the meaDest of the
ieudal serytors.
The two gentlemen in question were excel
lent specimens of the Norman Baron OF the
day, without, however, being heroes OF genius
es, or 10 any particular-except perhaps for
good temper and the lack Of especial tempta-
ton toward evil-superior to others of their
class, caste, and period. Neither of them was
in any respect tyrant, Individually cruel, or
Intentionally an oppressor; but both were, as
every one OF us is at this day, used to look at
things as we find them through our own glass
es, and TO seek rather for what is the custom,
than for what is right and therefore ought to
be; for what it suits US, and is permitted to us
| by la to do 10 Others, than for what We should
desire others to do unto us
| Reckless Of life themselves, brought up from
their cradles to regard pain As thing below
| consideration, and death one to be rlsked
daily, they were not like to pay much regard
to the mere physical suferings Of others, or to
set human life at Il value, such as to render it
worth the preserving, when great stakes were
| to be won OF lost on it's hazard. Accustomed
| to set their own lives on the die for the most
| fantastic whm of honor, or az the first call OF
| their feudal suzerains, accustomed to see their
Norman vassals fall under shield, and deem
such death honorable and joyous at their own
slightest bidding, how should they have thought
much OF the lite, far more Of the physical or
mental sufierings Of the Saxon serf, whom they
had found on their arrival in their newly Con-
quered England, a thing debased below the
value in current coin OF an OK, dog or war
horse--a thing, the taking Of whose Life was
compensated by trivial fine, and whom they
naturally came to regard ~ u dull ,>soulless
inanimate stupid, senseless animal, with the
passions only, but without tho intellect OF the
man. OF the two baronu, Six Eoquerrand do
Senlis was the superior, both i'll intellect and
culture; he was IN easy circumstances also,
while his far younger friend Sir ALI eric de Nor
temar, was embarrassed by the res angus,a domi
asd by the impogtunaey of relentless creditors,
which often drives men 10 do, as well rs 70
suffer, extremes.
Ii was no hardness Of nature or cruelty Of
disposition, therefore, which led either Of these
noble men, for they were noble, not in birth
only, bat in sentiment and soul, according t.
the notions Of their age, which were necessa.
rily their notions, and to the lights vouchsaied
to them, TO speak concerning the Saxon serfs
and act towards them rather as if they were
beast Of burden, worthy of care, kindness and
some degree of physical consideration, rather
than like men, AZ themselves endowed with
hearts to feel and souls to comprehend Had
they been other than they we're, they had been
monsters; as it was, they were excellent men
as men went then and go new, fully up to the
spirit OF their own times, and to the strain OF
morality and justice understood thereby, but no,
one whit above it, Therefore, Sir Epouerrand
de Senlis, finding himself indebted for bis
daughters life TO the herdihood and courage
Of the Saxon serf whom he regarded much as
be would have done his charger or his hound
desired a. Il point Of honor rather than OF
gratitude, to secure to the serf An indemnity
from toll, punishment or want, during the rest
of his life, just as he would have ASA gned a
stall, with free rack and manger, to the super-
annuated charger, which had saved his own
life in battle; or given the ruo of kitchen, but
terry and hall, to the hound which had run the
foremost of his pack. The seusiblities Of the
Saxon were as ineomprehensible tn him as
those of the charger or the staghound, and he
thought no more Of considering him in his So
cal or family relations than the animals to
which, in some sort he lkened him
| He would not, it s true, if asked az a phlo-
sophical truth, whether the life of a Saxon serf
and Of an Andalusan charger were equva.
| lent, have replied in the affirmative; for he
wae, according to his lights a Christian, and
knew that Saxon had u soul to be saved nor
| would he have answered that the colt of the
| high.bred mare, or the whelp of the generous
brach, stood exactly in the same relation as the
child Of the serf TO ix human parent but use
had mad Al
tnction; and the impasslve and stolid insensi
bilty OF the Saxon race, imbruted and d.
graded by ages Of seridom, caused him TO over
look the FAINT and rarely seen displays of hu.
man sensibiii,ies, which would have led him
less to undervalue the sense and sentiment Of
his bel pless fellow-countryman. As it was, he
would a. soon have expected his favorite
charger or best brood mare to pine hopeessly,
and grieve as one who could not be c0nsoled,
at beng liberated from spur and saddle, and
turned out to grazc at liberty forever in free
and fertile pasture while its colts should re-
main in lifelong bondage, as he would have
supposed II possible for the Saxon serf 10 be
affected beyond consolation b. the death the
deportation OF the disasters Of his family.
Nor, again did he regard liberty or servi-
tnde in an abstract sense, apart from ideas Of
ihc"rcerabion, tortuIci VI cAucmc Pri'aton, as
great and inherent right or wrong
The serf owed him absolute service the
free laborer, or village service, in some sort,
lees absolute; his vassals, man-servico accord
ing to their degree, either in the field Of daily
labor, the hunting field, or the battle. field he
himself owed service TO his suzcrsin his su-
zeran 10 the King II was all service, and the
difference WA but in the degree; and if the
service of the serf was degraded, it was a usual,
habtusl degradation, to which, it might be
presumed, he was 10 we'll accustomed that he
felt it not, more than tho charger his demi-
pique or tho hawk his bells and jesscs; and,
for the most part, he did not foel it more nor
regret it nor know the lack Of liberty, save rs
connected with the absence Of tho letters or
tho lash.