But in the capture of Jerusalem by the Crusaders the brains of young children were dashed out against the walls, infants were thrown over the battlements, men and women were tortured that they might be compelled to disclose hidden wealth, the Jews were driven into their synagogue and there burnt. A massacre of seventy thousand persons took place, and the pope's especial ambassador was seen "partaking in the triumph." Such were the exploits of the first Crusade. The second was barren of results except the inhuman butchery of thousands of unoffending Jews. The third produced no permanent effects, but a halo of false glory is shed around it, from the {61} exploits of Richard the Lion-heart, king of England, who was connected with it, and whose adventures have stirred to enthusiasm even the dullest of historians. With great difficulty, Pope Innocent III., succeeded in preparing the fourth Crusade, A. D. 1202. The government of Venice agreed to furnish ships to carry them to Palestine, but, actuated by a love of plunder, and a desire to gratify the bitter feeling which existed between the popes of Rome and the bishops of Constantinople, they turned aside to vent their rage on their fellow-Christians. Constantinople was taken by storm A. D. 1204. On the night of its capture more houses were burned than could be found in any three of the largest cities of France. The treasures of the churches were carried away, and even the tombs of the ancient emperors were rifled in the mad search for relics. Thus, Crusade followed Crusade for more than one hundred and fifty years, until nine armies, comprising more than three millions of men, laid their bodies down to decay and their bones to whiten on the plains and hill-sides of the East. Among all the enterprises, none were more wild and wicked than those which are called the "Crusades of the children." Emissaries from Rome went throughout Western Europe, preaching and declaring that God would only give the Holy Land into the hands of innocent children. Pope Innocent III. applauded their wild enthusiasm. "These children," said he, "are a reproach to us of riper age. While they hurry to Palestine, we are asleep." {62} [Image: Ancient Vessels.] A few words will suffice to tell the story how twenty thousand children, under the boy Stephen, encamped around Vendome. In less than a month ten thousand of them had perished or strayed away. When they reached Marseilles, they lingered near the shore, expecting the Mediterranean to divide, and, like the Red Sea in ancient times, give them a dry passage to Palestine. At length two merchants offered to convey them there in ships, without charge; but at the end of their journey they found themselves, not in Palestine, but in the slave markets of Alexandria and Algiers.