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dle of May, p. 413. Another fight between an Egyptian army and the Patriarch of Jerusalem, near Ascalon, in this month, p. 432.

In consequence of a general meeting at Acco, all the troops of the kingdom of Jerusalem were assembled at Tiberias the twenty-fifth of May, from whence they marched against Damascus, and after some time returned unsuc

cessful, p. 910,-914.

JUNE.

Baldwin I. set out for the relief of Edessa, besieged by the Turks, p. 362; and again for the relief of a place near Mount Tabor, in the end of June, p. 372.

Baldwin III. after having raised the siege of Paneas, fell into an ambush, and had his army routed with great slaughter, the 19th of June, p. 941.

JULY.

A successful expedition of Godfrey king of Jerusalem against some Arabs in this month, p. 775.

Baldwin II. crossed Jordan with his army against the king of Damascus, and some Arabs allied with him, p. 430.

A battle between Baldwin III. and Noradine, on the fifteenth day of it, p. 946.

And in the reign of Amalric, Saladine came against him with a great army out of Egypt in July, whither he returned the end of the following September, p. 993.

AUGUST.

Baldwin II. gained a great victory over a powerful Turk, the king of Damascus and the prince of the Arabs, on the fourteenth of August, p. 123.

Noradine gained a great victory over the Christian prince of Antioch, &c. on the tenth of this month, p. 960, 961.

Baldwin IV. assembled his troops on the first of this month, and marched into the territories of the kingdom of Damascus, p. 1003.

The beginning of this month Saladine besieged Berytus, and his Egyptian troops besieged a place in the southern border of the kingdom of Jerusalem, p. 1029.

SEPTEMBER.

Great fight between Baldwin I. and the Egyptians on the 8th of September, p. 313. Amalric assembled a great army against Egypt, and on the first of September went down thither, p. 958.

OCTOBER.

The same prince, having assembled his forces, set out again for Egypt about the middle of October, and besieging Pelusium, took it the third of November, p. 978.

NOVEMBER,

Baldwin I. set out from Jerusalem to besiege Tyre, on the eve of St. Andrew, (November 29,) p. 370.

Baldwin IV. gave Saladine a great overthrow on the twenty-fifth of this month, not far from Ascalon, p. 1010.

DECEMBER.

Baruth besieged by Baldwin I. in December, p. 362.

Balwin II. marched with a view to take Damascus, but soon after his arrival in its neighbourhood, he was obliged to return home by the violence of the rains, which fell about the sixth of December, p. 849.

Saladine having assembled his Egyptian forces, and those of the kingdom of Damascus, attacked a place belonging to the king of Jerusalem in this month, against whom Amalric marched from Ascalon on the eighteenth of December, p. 986.

An expedition undertaken in December, 1182, under the conduct of the Count of Tripoli, for which they prepared provisions and forage for fifteen days; and on the fifteenth of this month the king of Jerusalem himself set out against Damascus, and ravaged the country about it, p. 1033.

We meet then, in these historians, with expeditions or battles in every month of the year. There is, however, one story which the Archbishop of Tyre tells us, that seems to confirm Sir John Chardin's account, and to shew, that though the active and superstitious I i

VOL. III.

zeal of those times might not regard it, the summer was no proper time for war in those countries; and that is where he tells us, that in a battle fought between Baldwin IV. and Saladine in Galilee, as many perished in both armies by the violence of the heat as by the sword. But I must add, that it is observed by the historian, that the violence of the heat, which proved so deadly to the soldiers of Baldwin and Saladine, was much greater than usual.

OBSERVATION LXXIII.

Farther Particulars on the same Subject.

THE account of that expedition of Baldwin II. in December, mentioned under that month in the preceding article, when given more at large, is this. That Baldwin, with other princes, marching to Damascus, fully resolved to take it by surrender or storm, met with a check in foraging, which enraged the army so much, that they immediately flew to their arms, to chastise the affront without more delay: "when suddenly GoD, against whose will men can do nothing, sent such violent showers, such darkness in the sky, such difficulty in the roads, by means of the vast quantities of water in them, that scarce any one Gesta Dei, p. 1028.

could hope for life. Which the darkness of the air, and thickness of the clouds, the irregular blowing of the winds, also the thunders and continual lightnings, signified before-hand. But as the human mind is ignorant of futurity, they did not attend to the Divine patience calling to desist, but, on the contrary, strove to proceed in an impossible attempt." The intemperateness of the weather however obliged them, this author observes, to desist; and made them, who had been at first such a terror to their enemies that they had no hopes of escaping, look upon it as a particular providence to be able to get back again.'

I cite this long account from William of Tyre, because it may be considered as a comment on 1 Sam. vii. 10, 11, The Philistines drew near to the battle against Israel: but the LORD thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them, and they were smitten before Israel; and the men of Israel went out of Mizpeh, and pursued the Philistines, and smote them until, &c. In this however they differed, that the people of Damascus did not improve the advantage with the vigour that Israel did.

Gesta Dei, &c. p. 849,

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