THE VAilANGIANS. 197 



was fitted alike for strength and activity; and so happy was his 

 constitution, that he speedily became inured to any change of cli- 

 mate, so that his vigour was but little impaired by the influence of 

 a southern sun, which, together with the luxurious manners of the 

 Greek court and city, had begun to manifest itself in the debilitated 

 minds 'as well as the bodies of many of his companions. His soul 

 was formed of the same hardy and enduring materials as his body, 

 combining the highest degrees of active and passive courage (a junc- 

 tion for which his countrymen have ever been justly celebrated) he 

 possessed the rarer quality of moral fortitude, which, aided as it was 

 by a pure and elevating passion, enabled him to set at nought all 

 the allurements of a corrupt capital. His soul, naturally lofty, had 

 been expanded by a far greater degree of literature than was com- 

 mon in those ages, and his correct judgment (an endowment, 

 without a natural share of which study is, at the best, of little avail) 

 enabled him mentally to reject many of the absurdities presented to 

 him as truths, without presuming on his superior sagacity, and to 

 pardon the weaknesses of his less gifted associates. It enabled him 

 also to restrain the vehemence of a temper which was naturally, per- 

 haps, somewhat too irascible. Ambitious of honour, and fond to 

 enthusiasm of his profession, with all its high hopes and excitement, 

 he was desirous of war, without being insensible to its evils ; he 

 loved it as a soldier, not as a bandit or an assassin, and his ear was 

 never insensible to the voice of humanity. In fine, perhaps he may 

 be said to have united the most valuable characteristics of a later 

 period, with the hardy and primitive manliness of his own. 



Of all his brethren in arms, Austin, a youth of nearly his own 

 age, Redwald prized the most. He was of a melancholy cast of 

 mind by nature, and detesting the Greeks, their city, and their cli- 

 mate, which had enfeebled his limbs, previously very athletic, 

 he had become weary of existence. In this mood, the firmer mind 

 and nerves of Redwald were to him as a prop and stay. But that 

 warrior's soul was, as we have said, possessed by a warmer senti- 

 ment than friendship. Soon after his arrival, one of the most aged 

 veterans of the band had, in his last moments, implored him to pro- 

 tect his orphan daughter ; and her beauty, and mental as well as 

 personal grace, soon determined Redwald to seek her as his 

 bride. His suit was successful ; but their intended union was for a 

 while deferred, by the news of the approaching invasion, which ren- 

 dered unintermitting attention to the somewhat relaxed discipline of 

 his soldiers necessary on the part of the young chieftain. Mean- 

 time Evadne was, through the interest of her lover, placed under 

 the care of a lady of rank a circumstance which tended, however, 

 eventually greatly to embarrass Redwald. The mother of Evadne 

 had been a Greek, and her child resembled her greatly in person. 

 She was about the 'middle size, formed in perfect symmetry, 

 with the dark eyes and hair, and somewhat pale complexion, slightly 

 tinged with brown, characteristic of their mutual country ; but her 

 natural liveliness of disposition had been in some degree restrained 

 by early misfortune ; and the calmness, modesty, and strength of 

 mind, for which the daughters of Britannia have been distinguished, 



