52 ON THE INFLUENCE OF FEUDALISM. 



class of tenants by knight's service, which, if not productive of, at 

 least contributed mainly to, the establishment of the system of 

 chivalry which tended to the most important results in Europe. 

 Yes ; it was that spirit which, responding to the cry of the Hermit, 

 led forth its millions to war for the Holy Sepulchre, and which, in 

 the name of the Crusades (so disastrous in themselves) was the pre- 

 cursor and promoter of the regeneration and civilization of Europe : 

 for it brought the valiant yet semi-barons' hosts of Christendom in 

 contact with nations superior to themselves in arts, learning, and re- 

 finement ; and in intercourse with the East, the West received those 

 rudiments of enlightenment and courtesy which have softened and 

 harmonized our species. Aye, whilst Europe despised the Saracen 

 and cursed the Infidel, she little thought that she was warring with 

 nations infinitely superior to her own, in almost every worldly attain- 

 ment from whom she might, and must, derive the most incalculable 

 benefits ; and the descendants of myriads of warriors whose bones 

 were bleached on the sands of Africa or the plains of Syria, may 

 now really bless the day on which a furious fanatic roused Feudalism 

 in its power to rescue the Pilgrim of the Cross from the thraldom of 

 the oppressor; and those who have been led to view this system 

 solely as a national evil, as an institution adapted only to a state of 

 barbarism, or as a mere engine of power for a despot or his princely 

 few, may trace in its existence, or deduce from its continuance, 

 some of the highest tempoial privileges and blessings which the 

 many are now enabled to enjoy. 



