BIRD, BEAST AND HUNTER. 25 



80 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 cahn of his time-beleagured front towards the stars, 

 in stiU 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, 

 Wien ancient chivalry displayed 



