ABSTRACT
The encounter between the Latin and the Moslem world, which for several centuries darkened the moral and political aspect of society, is relieved by few glimmerings of intellectual light. Nature recoils with horror from the cruelties, and with shame from the habitual folly and senselessness, which marked the prosecution of the sanguinary and vain-glorious contest. Yet, in wandering over the gloomy expanse of fanaticism and crime, the diligent historian may discover some fairer traces of the human mind; and his philosophic eye will contemplate with pleasure at least one episode in the first crusade. I imitate, with pride and satisfaction, the example of a great authority / in rescuing from oblivion the early fortunes of a noble house, whose foundations were planted on the shores of Asia. But I am, in one respect, happier than my great precursor 1 in the subject of the present digression, which I propose to append to the next edition of my work: I am not called upon to blush for the degeneracy of the family whose founder has engaged my attention. My labours are refreshed by the conviction, that while his achievements ennoble my task, the immortality of my pages will neither be sullied nor depreciated by the disgrace and decay of his illustrious descendants.
