offended at a mode of expression by which the Normans frequently
expressed their habitual contempt of the English, "will do thee
an honour as great as it is undeserved."

Front-de-Boeuf would have replied, but Prince John's petulance
and levity got the start.

"Assuredly," said be, "my lords, the noble Cedric speaks truth;
and his race may claim precedence over us as much in the length
of their pedigrees as in the longitude of their cloaks."

"They go before us indeed in the field---as deer before dogs,"
said Malvoisin.

"And with good right may they go before us---forget not," said
the Prior Aymer, "the superior decency and decorum of their
manners."

"Their singular abstemiousness and temperance," said De Bracy,
forgetting the plan which promised him a Saxon bride.

"Together with the courage and conduct," said Brian de
Bois-Guilbert, "by which they distinguished themselves at
Hastings and elsewhere."

While, with smooth and smiling cheek, the courtiers, each in
turn, followed their Prince's example, and aimed a shaft of
ridicule at Cedric, the face of the Saxon became inflamed with
passion, and he glanced his eyes fiercely from one to another, as
if the quick succession of so many injuries had prevented his