ORIGIN OF THE PEOPLE. 439 



softening mark on the features of a rude and barbarous age. Educa- 

 tion, whose power is sufficient to tame the most savage breast, had 

 not yet shed her influence over mankind ; and chivalry, the only 

 barrier able to withstand the incessant and violent approaches of 

 barbarism, was yet only in its infancy. 



Here, then, was a fair field, a wide range for the development of 

 one of those moral impulses whose province it is to excite the spirit 

 of the age, to effect a revolution in the condition of man, and rouse 

 unknown powers into action. The master-spring was soon touched, 

 which set in motion one of these, and laid the foundation for that 

 superstructure of society which is at present our blessing and our 

 boast. 



The history of Peter the Hermit is too well known to be dwelt 

 upon. Obscure and humble as he was^ of confined education, though 

 of great natural pov/ers, and animated by a fervent and enthusiastic 

 zeal for the interests of Christianity, he was the lowly instrument of 

 that great moral change in the condition of man, the effects of which, 

 though at first of slow growth, will be felt to distant times. Imagin- 

 ing himself inspired by a call from Heaven, he conceived the project 

 of preaching throughout Europe a crusade against the infidels, and 

 having detailed his scheme to the Pope, obtained every facility for 

 putting it into execution. He travelled on foot through Europe, and 

 endeavoured, by his bold and energetic harangues, to excite in all 

 classes that zeal, and that fervour which he himself really felt. 



Inspired with a sincere and heart-felt belief in the truths of reli- 

 gion, and animated with feelings of veneration and respect for that 

 land, every foot of which was rendered sacred in their eyes, could 

 they hear unmoved those bursts of untaught and unpremeditated 

 eloquence which flowed from his lips, or listen without emotion to 

 his appeals ? In fine, his glowing and highly-painted descriptions 

 of the glory the honour, attached to such expeditions, roused the 

 spirit of enterprise and adventure the characteristics of the age. 



It produced an effect almost miraculous, roused a preternatural 

 courage, excited an enthusiasm which scorned all difficulties, brooked 

 no delays. The old and the young, the weak and the strong, men 

 and even children demanded, with loud and eager cries, to be 

 invested with the sacred symbol of the cross to be enrolled as 

 soldiers of Christ ! 



The deeds of past ages must not be measured with the cold and 

 critical spirit too often assumed in the examination of history. We 

 must divest ourselves of those prejudices which the refinements of 

 civilization, and the all- prevailing spirit of gain, are too apt to teach ; 

 we must abtract ourselves from our present philosophy, and imagine 

 ourselves seven centuries back in the age of the world, ere we can pro- 

 perly appreciate the motives of the soldiers of the cross. Again, 

 however mistaken to our minds may appear the motives of the people 

 of those times, ought we not more especially to regard that epoch as 

 the ameliorating cause of the present social state of our existence ; 

 for the effects produced by the crusades on the condition of society in 

 all its various classes, from the noble who inhabited his castle to the 



