Roger de Backbite sneeringly told the King that
Sir Wilfrid had offered to bet an equal bet that he would kill more men
than Richard himself in the next assault: Peter de Toadhole said that
Ivanhoe stated everywhere that his Majesty was not the man he used to
be; that pleasures and drink had enervated him; that he could neither
ride, nor strike a blow with sword or axe, as he had been enabled to do
in the old times in Palestine: and finally, in the twenty-fifth assault,
in which they had very nearly carried the place, and in which onset
Ivanhoe slew seven, and his Majesty six, of the sons of the Count de
Chalus, its defender, Ivanhoe almost did for himself, by planting his
banner before the King's upon the wall; and only rescued himself from
utter disgrace by saving his Majesty's life several times in the course
of this most desperate onslaught.
Then the luckless knight's very virtues (as, no doubt, my respected
readers know,) made him enemies amongst the men--nor was Ivanhoe liked
by the women frequenting the camp of the gay King Richard. His young
Queen, and a brilliant court of ladies, attended the pleasure-loving
monarch. His Majesty would transact business in the morning, then fight
severely from after breakfast till about three o'clock in the afternoon;
from which time, until after midnight, there was nothing but jigging
and singing, feasting and revelry, in the royal tents.
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