Connecticut western news., 1920-12-09
than if they were thistledown or feath-

couch, "methought there was but one man in England who might do such deedp s5
 Ivanhoe was right; the Black Knight of the Fetterlock was Richard Plantag- anet of the Lion Heart, king of Eng land, only just returned to his king dom from the Holy Land, though but few knew of his arrival as yet. In his absence England had been under the selfish rule of the kings younger brother John, who was planning to usurp the kingdom.
 The great story teller gathers his characters together at the tournament of Ashby. There come for the sports of chivalry Rowena, heiress of the Saxon rulers, now dispossessed by the Normans, accompanied by her sturdy uncle, Cedric; Rebecca, beautiful Jew ish maiden, whose fate is constantly joined with that of Ivanhoe, disinher- ited son of Cedric, father who will have naught to do with a Saxon son who is willing to accept the Normans and their ways, and even to be de vout follower of Richard the king; Isaac of York, Rebecca's father, wan dering Jew of vast wealth, who is constantly the prey of the ruthless Norman. nOb1es, who would wiring his riches from him by torture and i'm prisonment; Robin Hood and his mer- ry men of the forest glades, not for getting the redoutable Friar Tuck, equally adept in the ways of the clerk, the yeoman or the roisterer. To them are. added of sNorman stock the re- doutable Front-de-Beeuf, Brian de Bois-Guilbert, the prior of Jorvaulx, and, Prince John; Athelstane, Saxon lord, destined by Cedric for the hand of Rowena Curtin the swine-herd, and Wamba, the jester; and the mysterious Black Prince, who, like Ivanhoe, makes his appearance incognito till he shall discover how things have gone in his absence. @ msE . Sir Walter prided himself on his mastery of what he called "the big bow-wow' style; no other of the Wa verly novels illustrates his power bet ter than "Ivanhoe." One stately and
  Ing the reader rapt in thrills, but none quite as much as the siege of the cas- tie of Front-de-Boeuf by Richard and h.s Saxon friends. ,Rebecca from the lattice recounting to the wounded Ivan- hoe the fortunes of the battle stands out in the memory of many reader as Sir Walters greatest success in the sfx1Ja An hn mold in which the characters are cast, they yet surpass in the hold they gain upon the reader. Few. have closed the book without sigh of regret that the hero had to make choice between Re becca and Rowena and in our day and country few can fail to see the Ike ness in many respects between Rith- ard of the Lion Heart and the presL dent so lately gone. The knights are Cugz
 And their good swords s=s s-%,
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 In the passage at arms st Ashby ap- pears the Mysterious Knight, whom the reader knows to be Ivanhoe, fresh
  in the contests of chivalry he valiant ly defeats the Norman champions, and bestows the prize of Queen of Beauty upon his youthful love, Rowena; the reader gets but glimpse of a still more mysterious knight, whom we can only suspect to be the king. From the jousts all Journey on their several ways, but in the forest the Normans plan a lawless ambuscade and carry off to the castle of Front-de-Boeuf for motives of revenge, or passion, or greed, Ivanhoe, who had been wounded at Ashby; Rebecca, Rowena and Isaac of York. The mysterious Knight of the Fetterlock appears as the timely lead CT of the merry men of the greenwood, who besiege the castle, to the great disaster of the lordly brigands. After the rescue of the prisoners, all save Rebecca, there follows the joyous cele- bration of the forest outlaws, happy interlude between the scenes of der ring-do. -rs'>
 The strenuous king departed for still more strenuous struggles in winning his kingdom; Rowena and Cedric sought their home; Ivanhoe followed his chief; Brian de Bois- Guilbert, Templar though he was and pledged to holy practices, bore off his unhappy prisoner, Rebecca. But he was dis covered in his wicked designs by the austere head of his order. In an as- sembly of the Templars, however, Re becca was condemned to death as a sorceress- who has seduced from the paths of virtue an unwilling knight Her only chance for life lies in the ordealby battle.~ Her one champion is Ivanhoe, far away though he is, whom she had cured of the wound received at Ashby. Brian de. Bois-Guilbert, by the irony of chiyalry, Is the champion of his order and of virtue in distress. At the last possible moment Ivanhoe comes spurring to the lists, to a vic A. N La III AM n