'Sirs,' said he, 'I thank very much all those who have counselled me to get me gone to France, and likewise those who have counselled me to bide.

But I have bethought me that, if I bide, I see no danger lest my kingdom of France be lost, for the queen, my mother, hath a many folk to defend it.

I have noted likewise that the barons of this land do say that, if I go hence, the kingdom of Jerusalem is lost.

At no price will I suffer to be lost the kingdom of Jerusalem, which I came to guard and conquer.

My resolve, then, is, that I bide for the present.