BIRD, BEAST AND HUNTER. 



25 



so far as habits went. But habits are not all the man, and 

 they were most sublime rites, the incense of which went up 

 from beneath those truest temples — the sacred forests ! At 

 such a period the strong contrasts are exhibited. The brute- 

 man literally wrestles with his brute prototype for glory, 

 "spoyle," and food; while the higher man sits with grey 

 venerable poll beneath the leafy shadows of his sacred place, 

 musing beside a rude stone altar ; or on the plain, upturns 

 the white calm of his time-beleagured front towards the stars, 

 in still communion with their mysteries. 



Then comes that finer union of the animal and spiritual lives, 

 when the science of Eld Egypt — the God-revealed legislation 

 of the Hebrew — the magic of the far wondrous East — the 

 Ionian polish, and the Roman sternness, had, in their gradual 

 progress towards the West, so greatly modified human devel- 

 opment, that, out of such combinations, chivalry sprung forth. 

 This is that most generous balance of the two natures, which 

 even at the present day more nearly appeals to our nobler 

 instincts; and 



"In rough magnificence arrayed, 

 When ancient chivalry displayed 



