Note 359 — BOOK VIII. (continued 2)

Although, happily, the time is gone by in which an English writer would break a lance in defence of the entire character of Richard, much as I admire the general reflections and spirit of my author, I cannot but think he has scarcely done him justice. His faults are always thrown into high relief, whilst his good qualities,—for he had some,—are either shaded or entirely concealed. In the disputes which his position naturally drew him into, his antagonists are always made to be in the right, Richard in the wrong. Not a single act is recorded before Ptolemaïs, and yet Richard had five thousand prisoners; most authors say three thousand, but the larger number is assumed, for the sake of the massacre. The more eminent the exploits of Richard, in an army constituted like that of the Crusaders, the greater were sure to be the envy and hatred of his fellow-leaders. Richard is no worse than other heroes of the sword, from Achilles downward. I greatly fear it is his successful rivalry with the more astute French monarch that is the cause of this bias. Against the comparison with Saladin I say nothing—Saladin was a greater man than Richard.—Trans.