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degree of interest and attention which they excite, and 

 the favour and encouragement which they attract to them- 

 selves, in preference to others, more conducive, perhaps, 

 to the real comfort of Hfe. It is thus that poetry and 

 music came to be cultivated with enthusiasm, and some 

 degree of success, among martial and rude people, while 

 the other Jine arts were little known or regarded. The 

 reason was, these arts contributed to record their military 

 exploits, and concurred to complete the entertainment of 

 their moments of festivity. To shew the continued and 

 harmonized correspondence, between the energy of charac- 

 ter, and a proficiency in the fine arts, it is observed, that 

 the productions of Chaucer, the great parent of English 

 poetry, began to appear, at the time that the English 

 arms triumphed in France: his Court of Love, it seems, 

 being written in the year of the battle of Crecy.* At that 

 time the spirit of chivalry was at the height, in England 

 and France. The institution of the order of the Garter 

 took place early in Chaucer's time. This spirit had incal- 

 culable effects on the general mind. It is to be ascribed 

 to the spirit of chivalry, which then prevailed, and filled 

 all Europe with exalted sentiments of love and honour, 

 that the sentiments of Chaucer's lovers are so fine and de- 

 licate. The spirit of chivalry influenced the general state 

 of society and manners. Chaucer was the chosen friend 

 and companion of John of Gaunt, king of Castile. 



Another 



* It was in the year 1329, when the plague was raging in London, 



