CHIVALRY. 



345 



'Chivalry. 



Duties and 

 virtues 



txecise. 



Regard to 

 truth. 



Callantrv. 



about debts he had power to expel, but not to adjudge 

 to loss of limb or to death. It was his duty to see that 

 the kt.ights behared to each other with friendship, cour- 

 tesy, and decorum ; and to maintain among them per- 

 fect order and good discipline. 



" The virtues and endowments that were necessary to 

 form an accomplished knight in the flourishing times of 

 which the chivalry, were such as these : beauty, strength, and agi- 

 kntghts j; t y Q f body ; great dexterity in dancing, wrestling, hunt- 

 ' ing, hawking, riding, tilting, and every other manly ex- 

 ercise ; the virtues of piety, chastity, modesty, cour- 

 tesy, loyalty, liberality, sobriety ; and, above all, an in- 

 violable attachment to truth, and an invincible courage." 

 Henry's Hist. ofEngl. book. iii. ch. 7. 



The oath taken by the knight consisted of twenty-six 

 articles ; and no point, next to courage, was more in- 

 sisted upon, than a regard to truth. He was even ex- 

 pected to relate the wliole truth, when, by this means, 

 he might expose his own misfortune or cowardice in 

 combat. On his return from any expedition or enter- 

 prise on which he might have been engaged, he was 

 bound to give in a full and minute account of all his ad- 

 ventures, honourable or dishonourable, fortunate or un- 

 fortunate, that they might be registered by the heralds, 

 and cited to animate or to console his companions. No 

 disgrace was reckoned so indelible as that which was 

 received by the imputation of falsehood, or by doubting. 

 the word of a knight. Such firm reliance was placed 

 on what he promised, that if taken prisoner, he was 

 permitted frequently to go at liberty, on the condition 

 that he returned and surrendered himself on the appoint- 

 ed day. The most solemn oatfr that a sovereign could 

 take, was on his character, and on the word of a knight. 

 B UC his love of truth, however great and predomi- 

 nating, was in some cases not cquivak-nt to the power 

 and influence of gallantry. A Provencal poet, who 

 gives a chevalier instructions in the art of love, express- 

 ly tells him to prefer his mistress's favour to his regard 

 for truth, where, by expressing that truth, he might in- 

 jure her character, or weaken her passion for him. Hi 

 gallantry was even to lead him to disbelieve the evidence 

 of his own senses, if they informed him that his mis- 

 tress had given him just reason to be jealous. Gallantry, 

 indeed, as has been already observed, entered into the 

 earliest lessons, impressions, and habits, of a chevalier. 

 No motive or command, not even the safety of his coun- 

 try, the preservation of his own life, or the orders of 

 his sovereign, could animate him to such exertions, and 

 to such display of valour, as the hope and desire of ob- 

 taining the favour of his mistress, and the determina- 

 tion to render her fame and beauty known and acknow- 

 ledged throughout Christendom. His highest aid most 

 valued title was that of the Servant of Love ; the por- 

 trait, the device, the livery, or even the most tnflmg 

 gift of his mistress, was received and cherished with the 

 utmost fondness and reverence : the sight of these routed 

 and preserved alive his resolution and courage in tne 

 midst of the greatest dangers and perils. He thought 

 he established the superior and unparalleled beauty of- 

 his mistress, if he excelled his companions in feats of 

 arms : when he challenged them to si:>gle combat, it was 

 in the name of his mistress ; when the sovereign or ge- 

 ueral led hi. army to the attack, " Let every one think 

 on his mistress," was the usual and the nevcr-faiKng in- 

 junction. The approbation of his commander or his 

 comrades was but a secondary consideration the source 

 of inft rior joy. Ah I si ma Dame me voyoit, was the 

 exclamation of the knigiit when performing a feat of 

 ralour. 



OL. YI, PART I. 



Nor was it only in the time of war that the spirit and Chivalry, 

 influence of gallantry pervaded the mind and the actions 

 of the chevalier : in times of peace, he either devoted 

 himself entirely to the enjoyment of her presence ; or, 

 what was more congenial to his taste, and a more certain 

 mode of obtaining her favour, he went from court to 

 court, from tournament to tournament, proclaiming her 

 superior beauty, and challenging the proof of his asser- 

 tion by all kinds of feats of arms. 



Such was the usual character and effects of the gal- 

 lantry of the age of chivalry ; but many knights carried 

 it to a most extravagant length : forming to themselves 

 most fantastical ideas of love, and creating the image of 

 a female perfect in beauty' and in virtue, they became 

 enamoured of the offspring of their own imagination. 

 Others less spiritualized, but scarcely less absurd, pro- 

 claimed their love for ladies, whom they had never seen, 

 but only read or heard of. 



As the laws of chivalry forbade a knight to speak ill 

 of the ladies, or tamely to hear them spoKen ill of, it be- 

 came his duty to warn them from the commission of 

 every thing, that might lower them in his opinion : strict- 

 ly decorous and respectful in his behaviour towards 

 them, he expected that they should never forfeit their 

 claim to such behaviour. If, however, they transgressed 

 the laws of modesty or prudence, the knight did not 

 fail to stigmatize their failings or their vices in the most 

 public and severe manner ; if he passed the castle of one 

 of this character, he marked, in such a manner as could 

 not be mistaken, the dwelling of a lady, unfit to receive 

 a true chevalier. Even at the great feasts or the tour- 

 naments, if he perceived those of bad or suspicious cha- 

 racter mixed with such as were honourable and virtu- 

 ous, he immediately led the latter to the more honour- 

 able seat ; and by this indirect reproof, or by less amb'i- 

 guous means, brought the blush of shame on the coun- 

 tenances of the forn-.er. 



The hospitality of chivalry has already been inciden- Hospita- 

 tally noticed, when we treated on the insignia of rank '"')' 

 that were placed on the summit of the castles of the 

 knights ; these insignia, however, were not deemed suf- 

 ficient proofs, that the dwelling belonged to a chevalier, 

 ready and desirous to entertain all his brethren, who 

 chanced to travel that way. Every true and loyal knight 

 was also expected to have the door of his castle constant- 

 ly open : if it were found shut, his character for hospi- 

 tality, and therefore for true knighthood, was stained. 

 As soon as a knight entered the ca-tleof another, he 

 considered himself, and he was treated, as if he were at 

 home ; every thing that could minister to his comfort 

 and his luxury was at his commnnd. So much a part of 

 the regular domestic economy was the reception and en- 

 tertainment of strangers, that, let their number be ever so 

 great, and their coming be ever so sudden and unex- 

 pected, they found every thing prepared for them. 



Closely allied to the gallantry and hospitality of chi- Humanity., 

 valry, were its humanity and courtesy: to the vanquish- 

 ed toe, these were exhibited with the greatest care, 

 and with the most scrupulous and delicate attention. 

 Nothing that could wound his feelings, or call to mind 

 his misfortunes, was uttered before him, or brought into 

 his presence. He was treated rather like the conqueror 

 than the vanquished. The courtesy of knighthood even 

 extended to interiors: the Chevalier De la Tour, in his 

 Inslru lions to his Daughters, quoted by St Palaye, 

 (i. +3.), expressly recommends to them the display of an 

 equal degree of courtesy to those of an inferior and of 

 the highest rank ; and quotes the example and the reply 

 of a lady of high quality, who, when she was asked, 

 2x 



