him with a coat of mail, a cuirafs, bracelets, cuiffes, and gauntlets.

Being thus armed cap-a-pee, the knight who dubbed him ftruck him three times over the fhoulder with the flat fide of his fword, in the name of God, St. Michael, and St. George. He was then obliged to watch all night in his armour, with his fword girded, and his lance in his hand. From this time the knight devoted himself to the redrefs of those wrongs which "patient merit of the unworthy takes; fecure merchants from the rapacious cruelty of banditti, and women from ravifhers, to whofe power they were, by the particular confufion of the times, continually expofed.

to

From this view of the origin of chivalry, it will be eafy to account for the caftle, the moat, and the bridge, which are found in romances; and as to the dwarf, he was a conftant appendage to the rank and fortune of thofe times, and no caftle therefore could be without him. The dwarf and the buffoon were then introduced to kill time, as the card table is at prefent. It will also be easy to account for the multitude of captive ladies whom the knights, upon feizing a caftle, fet at liberty; and for the prodigious quantities of useless gold and filver veffels, rich stuffs, and other merchandise, with which many apartments in thefe caftles are faid to have been filled,

The principal lords who entered into the confraternity of knights, ufed to fend their fons to each other to be educated, far from their parents, in the mystery of chivalry. These youths, before they arrived at the of 21, were called bachelors, or bas chevaliers, inferior knights, and at that age were qualified to receive the order.

age

So honourable was the origin of an inftitution, commonly confidered as the result of caprice and the fource of extravagance; but which, on the contrary, rofe naturally from the state of fociety in those times,

and

from the hands of private gentlemen: more gent polished manners were introduced, when courte recommended as the most amiable of knightly vi and every knight devoted himself to the fervic lady: violence and oppreffion decreased, when accounted meritorious to check and to punish 1 a fcrupulous adherence to truth, with the mof gious attention to fulfil every engagement, but cularly those between the fexes as more eafily vic became the distinguishing character of a gentl because chivalry was regarded as the fchool of ho and inculcated the most delicate fenfibility with r to that point; and valour, feconded by fo many tives of love, religion, and virtue, became altog irrefiftible.

That the spirit of chivalry fometimes rofe to a travagant height, and had often a pernicious tend must however be allowed. In Spain, under the ence of a romantic gallantry, it gave birth to a of wild adventures; for the ardour of redrefling w feized many knights fo powerfully, that, attend efquires, they wandered about in fearch of objects misfortunes and mifery required their affiftance an cour. And as ladies engaged more particularly attention, the relief of unfortunate damfels wa atchievement they moft courted. This was th

of knights-errant, whofe adventures produced fo many romantic novels; but the love of the marvellous came to interfere; fancy was indulged in her wildeft exaggerations; and poetry gave her charms to the most monstrous fictions, and to fcenes the most unnatural and gigantic, until they were defervedly ridiculed in the character of Don Quixote, &c.

In the train of Norman ambition, it extinguished the liberties of England, and deluged Italy in blood and at the call of fuperftition, and as the engine of papal power, it defolated Afia under the banner of the crofs. But thefe ought not to be confidered as arguments against an inftitution laudable in itself, and neceffary at the time of its foundation: and those who pretend to defpife it, the advocates of ancient barbarifm and ancient rufticity, ought to remember, that chivalry not only first taught mankind to carry the civilities of peace into the operations of war, and to mingle politenefs with the ufe of the fword; but roufed the foul from its lethargy, invigorated the human character even while it softened it, and produced exploits which antiquity cannot parallel. Nor ought they to forget, that it gave variety, elegance, and pleasure, to the intercourfe of life, by making woman a more effential part of fociety; and is therefore intitled to our gratitude, though the point of honour, and the refinements in gallantry, its more doubtful effects, fhould be excluded from the improvement of

modern manners.

To illuftrate this topic more particularly, we may obferve, that women, among the ancient Greeks and Romans, feem to have been confidered merely as objects of fenfuality, or of domestic conveniency: they were devoted to a state of feclufion and obfcurity, had few attentions paid them, and were permitted to take as little fhare in the converfation as in the general commerce of life. But the northern nations, who paid a kind of devotion to the fofter sex, eyen in their native forests,

forefts, had no fooner fettled themselves in the provinces of the Roman empire, than the female character began to affume new confequence. Those fierce barbarians, who seemed to thirst only for blood, who involved in one undistinguishing ruin the monuments of ancient grandeur and ancient ingenuity, and who devoted to the flames the knowledge of ages, always forbore to offer any violence to the women. They brought along with them the respectful gallantry of the north, which had power even to restrain their favage ferocity; and they introduced into the weft of Europe a generofity of fentiment, and a complaifance toward the ladies, to which the most polished nations of antiquity were ftrangers.---Thefe fentiments of generous gallantry were foftered by the inftitution of chivalry, which lifted woman yet higher in the scale of life. Instead of being nobody in fociety, fhe became its primum mobile. Every knight devoting himself to danger, declared himself the humble fervant of fome lady, and that lady was often the object of his love. Her honour was fupposed to be intimately connected with his, and her fmile was the reward of his valour: for her he attacked, for her he defended, and for her he shed his blood. Courage, animated by fo powerful a motive, loft fight of every thing but enterprife: incredible toils were chearfully endured, incredible actions were performed, and adventures feemingly fabulous were more than realifed. The effect was reciprocal. Women, proud of their influence, became worthy of the heroifm which they had infpired: they were not to be approached but by the high-minded and the brave; and men then could only be admitted to the bofom of the chafte fair, after proving their fidelity and affection by years of perfeverance and of peril.

Again, as to the change which took place in the operations of war, it may be observed, that the perfect hero of antiquity was fuperior to fear, but he made use of VOL. I. No. I. C

every.

every artifice to annoy his enemy: impelled by animofity and hoftile paffion, like the favage in the American woods, he was only anxious of attaining his end, without regarding whether fraud or force were the means. But the true knight or modern hero of the middle ages, who feems in all his rencounters to have had his eye on the judicial combat or judgment of God, had an equal contempt for ftratagem and danger. He difdained to take advantage of his enemy: he defired only to fee him, and to combat him upon equal terms, trufting that heaven would declare in behalf of the juft; and as he profeffed only to vindicate the cause of religion, of injured beauty, or oppreffed innocence, he was further confirmed in this enthufiaftic opinion by his own imagination. Strongly perfuaded that the decifion muft be in his favour, he fought as if under the influence of divine infpiration, rather than of military ardour. Thus the fyftem of chivalry, by a fingular combination of manners, blended the heroic and fanctified characters, united devotion and valour, zeal and gallantry, and reconciled the love of God and of the ladies.

At the court of every prince, count, or baron, jousts and tournaments became the favourite amusements. Inftead of the gladiators and naked fpectacles which corrupted the manners of the Greeks and Romans, and banished from the ftadium the virgins and matrons, the pompous decoration of the lifts was crowned with the presence of chaste and high-born beauty, from whofe hands the conqueror received the prize of his dexterity and courage. The fkill and ftrength that were exerted in wrestling and boxing, bear a diftant and doubtful relation to the merit of a foldier; but the tilts and tournaments, as they were invented in France, and practifed in England, and eagerly adopted both in the east and weft, prefented a lively image of the bufiness of the field. The fingle combats, the general fkirmish, the defence of a pafs or caftle, were rehearfed as in actual battle; and the conteft, both in real and mimic

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