*** start of the project gutenberg ebook 1377 *** the talisman by sir walter scott introduction to the talisman. the betrothed did not greatly please one or two friends, who thought that it did not well correspond to the general title of the crusaders. they urged, therefore, that, without direct allusion to the manners of the eastern tribes, and to the romantic conflicts of the period, the title of a tale of the crusaders would resemble the playbill, which is said to have announced the t...