AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FRENCH LITERATURE. lll 
than compensated for the toils and perils of war, and served but to 
feed his passion for arms. The dominion conceded to the ladies was 
by them deeply felt. Open to public admiration, they studied to 
deserve it; and intent on the fame of their lovers, and the glory of 
their country, their sentiments, their affections, were aroused, and as 
they were deemed worthy of consultation in great and important af- 
fairs, their sensibility mingled with courage, and they largely partook 
in the greatness which they communicated. To be ungallant to a 
lady was an unpardonable offence; the uncourteous offender was 
driven from the society of the brave, and the interposition of the in- 
jured fair one was frequently necessary to preserve him from death. 
The rank, duties, and cares of a knight, made him aim at perfection ; 
his honour was as incontestible as his valour; his adherence to jus- 
tice and his truth undeniably scrupulous. The utterance of a false- 
hood was an offence the infamy of which was indelible; and the 
offender was degraded from the rank of a knight. The public and 
solemn deprivation of all the badges of knighthood, such as the 
sword, the golden spurs, and the tearing from the body the different 
pieces of armour, which afterwards were bruised and crushed, appear 
to have constituted the principal ceremonies of the much dreaded de- 
gradation. Religion, however, lent her aid; and after a multitude of 
symbolic ceremonies, the recreant was dragged on a hurdle to the 
church, and the prayers and offices which are used for the dead 
were recited over his body.* 
But these pure and stately manners were not to flourish long, and 
when, in the twelfth century, chivalry fell as a military institution, its 
punctilious honour and scrupulous principles were not to remain in force, 
nor was the brilliant purity of the knightly virtues to remain untar- 
nished. A general relaxation of principles, and a shameful depravity 
of morals, prevailed; the women ceased to be the idols of worship, 
and, falling “from their high estate,” they became the mere objects 
of incontinent desire. The talents which erewhile celebrated the 
achievements of war, and recorded the valorous deeds of the great 
and good, were now solely devoted to the passion of love ; and it is to 
be regretted that few, very few, of the strventes of the Troubadours, 
or the fabliaux of the Trouvéres, can be read without a blush. The 
Jadies, who did not appear in public until after marriage, vied with 
each other in the merits of their Troubadours. A handsome figure, 
as well as the talent for lyrical composition, was necessary to the 
* Selden, Tit. Hon. part 2, chap. 5, sect. 38; St. Palaye, tome i. p. 320. 
