afterwards became Count of Boulogne, was the third. And his sister, Matilda, was the wife of our king Stephen. The story of Godfrey, who is the real hero of the First Crusade, is made up of facts, visions, and legends. Let us tell them altogether. At an early age he was once playing with his two brothers, when his father entered the room. At that moment the children were all hiding in the folds of their mother's dress. Count Eustace, seeing the dress shaken, asked who was behind it, " There," replied the Lady Ida, in the spirit of prophecy, " are three great princes. The first shall be a duke, the second a king, and the third a . count," a prediction which was afterwards exactly fulfilled. Unfortunately, no record exists of this prophecy till nearly a hundred years after it was made. Godfrey was adopted by his uncle, the Duke of Lorraine, and, at the age of sixteen, joined the fortunes of the emperor Henry IV. He fought in all the campaigns of that unquiet sovereign ; he it was who, at the battle of Malsen, carried the Imperial banner, and signalized himself by killing Budolph of Swabia with his own hand. He was present when, after three years' siege, Henry succeeded in wresting Borne from Hildebrand in 1083, and in reward for his bravery on that occasion, he received the duchy of Lorraine when it was forfeited by the defection of Conrad. An illness, some time after, caused him to vow a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and until the Crusade started Godfrey had no rest or peace. ' During this period of expectation, a vision, related by Albert of Aix, came to one of his servants. He saw, like Jacob, a ladder which was all pure gold, ascending from earth to heaven. Godfrey, followed by his servant Eothard, was mounting this ladder. Bothard had a lamp in his hand ; in the middle of the ascent the lamp went out suddenly. Dismayed at this accident, Bothard came down the ladder, and declined to_relight his lamp