C H I V 
had a very ferious effe& in refining the manners of the 
European nations. Valour, humanity, courtefy, juftice, 
honour, were its chara&eriltics : and to thefe were added 
religion; which, by infufmg a large portion of enthufi- 
aftic zeal, carried them all to a romantic excefs, wonder¬ 
fully iuited to the genius of the age, and produdlive of 
the greateftand molt permanent effects both upon policy 
and manners. War was carried on with lei's ferocity, 
when humanity no lefs than courage came to. be deemed 
the ornament of knighthood, and knighthood a diftinc- 
tion. fuperior to royalty, and an honour which princes 
were proud to receive from the hands of private gentle¬ 
men : more gentle and poliihed manners were introduced, 
when courtefy was recommended as the molt amiable of 
knightly virtues, and every knight devoted himfelf to 
the iervice of a lady : violence and opprelfion decreafed, 
when it was accounted meritorious to check and to punilh 
them : a l'crupulous adherence to truth, with the molt re¬ 
ligious attention to fulfil every engagement, but particu¬ 
larly thofe between the l'exes as more eafily violated, be¬ 
came the diltinguifhing charadter of a gentleman, becaule 
chivalry was regarded as the lchool of honour, and incul¬ 
cated the molt delicate fenfibility with refpeft to that 
point; and valour, feconded by fo many motives of love, 
religion, and virtue, became altogether irrefutable. 
That the fpirit of chivalry fometimes role to an extra¬ 
vagant height, and had often a pernicious tendency, mult, 
however, be allowed. In Spain, under the influence of a 
romantic gallantry, it gave birth to a l'eries of wild ad¬ 
ventures ; for the ardour of redrelfing wrongs feized 
many knights fo powerfully, that, attended by efquires, 
they wandered about in fearch of objefts whofe misfor¬ 
tunes and mifery required their afliliance and fuccour. 
And, as ladies engaged more particularly their attention, 
the relief of unfortunate damfels was the achievement 
they moll courted. This was the rife of knights-errant, 
whofe adventures produced fo many romantic novels; 
but the love of the marvellous came to interfere; fancy 
was indulged in her wildell exaggerations; and poetry 
gave her charms to the moll monllrous fiftions, and to 
fcenes the molt unnatural and gigantic, until they were 
defervedly ridiculed in the character of Don Quixote, &c. 
Yet in the train of Norman ambition, it extinguilhed the 
liberties of England, and deluged Italy in blood : and at 
the call of fuperftition, and as the engine of papal power, 
it defolated Alia under the banner of the crols. But thefe 
ought not to be confidered as arguments againlt an in- 
ftitution laudable in itl'elf, and neceffary at the time of 
its foundation : and thofe who pretend to defpife it, the 
advocates of ancient barbarilm and ancient rufticity, 
ought to remember, that chivalry not only firft taught 
mankind to carry the civilities of peace into the opera¬ 
tions of war, and to mingle politenels with the ufe of the 
Iword ; but roufed the foul from its lethargy, invigorated 
the human charadler even while it foftened it, and pro¬ 
duced exploits which antiquity cannot parallel. Nor 
ought they to forget* that it gave variety, elegance, and 
pleafure, to the intercourfe of life, by making woman a 
more eflential part of lociety; and is therefore entitled to 
our gratitude, though the point of honour, and the re¬ 
finements in gallantry, its more doubtful effefts, Ihould 
be excluded from the improvement of modern manners. 
Women, among the ancient Greeks,and Romans, feem 
to have been confidered merely as objects of fenfuality, 
or of domeftic convenience : they were devoted to a ftate 
of feclufioh and obfcurily, had few attentions paid them, 
and were permitted to take as little Ihajre. in the conver- 
fation as in the general commerce of life. But the nor¬ 
thern nations, who paid a kind of devotion to the fofter 
lex, even in their native forefts, had no fooner fettled 
themlel.ves in the provinces of the Roman empire, than 
the female chara&er began to affume new confequence. 
Thofe fierce barbarians, who feeroed to thirft only for 
blood, who involved in one undillinguilhed ruin the mo¬ 
numents of ancient grandeur and ancient ingenuity, and 
A L R Y. 507 
who devoted to the flames the knowledge of ages, always 
forbore to offer any violence to the women. They brought 
along with them the refpe&ful gallantry of the north, 
which had power even to reftrain their lavage ferocity ; 
and they introduced into the welt of Europe a generofity 
of fentiment, and a complaifance toward the ladies, to 
which the molt poliihed nations of antiquity vvereltrangers. 
Thefe fentiments of generous gallantry were foftered by 
the inftitution of chivalry, which lifted woman yet higher 
in the fcale of life. Inllead of being nobody in fociety, 
flie became its primum mobile. Every knight devoting 
himfelf to danger, declared himfeif the humble fervant of 
fome lady, and that lady was often the objeft of his love. 
Her honour was fuppoled to be intimately connefted with 
his, and her l'mile was the reward of his valour : for her 
he attacked, for her he defended, and for her he Iheddiis 
blood. Courage, animated by fo powerful a motive, loll 
fight of every thing but enterprize : incredible toils were 
cheerfully endured, incredible adtions were performed, 
and adventures feemingly fabulous were more than real¬ 
ized. The effedl was reciprocal. Women, proud ol their 
influence, became worthy of the heroifin which they had 
inlpired: they were not to be approached but by the 
high-minded and the brave; and men then could only 
be admitted to the bofom of the chalie fair, after proving 
their fidelity and affedtion by years of perfeverance and 
of peril. 
As to the change which took place in the operations 
of war, it may be obferved, that the perfedt hero of an¬ 
tiquity was luperior to fear, but he made ufe of every 
artifice to annoy his enemy: impelled by animolity and 
hoftile palfion, like the favage in the American woods, 
he was only anxious of attaining his end, without re¬ 
garding whether fraud or force were the means. But 
the true knight or hero of chivalry, who feems in all his 
rencounters to have had his eye on the judicial combat, 
had an equal contempt for llratagem and danger. He 
difdained to take advantage of his enemy: he defired 
only to fee him, and to combat him upon equal terms, 
truliing that heaven would declare in behalf of the juft j 
and as he profefl'ed only to vindicate the caufe of reli¬ 
gion, of injured beauty, or opprefied innocence, he was 
further confirmed in this enthuftaftic opinion by his own 
imagination. Strongly perfuaded that the decifion mull 
be in his favour, he fought as if under the influence of 
divine infpiration rather than of military ardour. Thus 
the fyftem of chivalry, by a Angular combination of man¬ 
ners, blended the heroic and lanftified charailers, united 
devotion and valour, zeal and gallantry, and reconciled 
the love of heaven with the love of the ladies. 
At the court of every prince, count, or baron, joufts 
and tournaments, the military evolutions of chivalry, 
became the favourite amufements. Inllead of the gladi¬ 
ators and naked fpeflacles which corrupted the manners 
of the Greeks and Romans, and banilhed from the lla- 
dium the virgins and matrons, the pompous decora¬ 
tions of the lilts was crowned with the prelence of chafte 
and high-born beauty, from whole hands the conqueror 
received the prize of his dexterity and courage. The 
Ikill and ftrength that were exerted in wreftling and box¬ 
ing bear a diftant and doubtful relation to the merit of a' 
foldier; but the tilts and tournaments, as they were in¬ 
vented in France, and pra&ifed in England, and eagerly 
adopted both in the eaft and weft, prefented a lively image 
of the bufineis of the field. The Angle combats, the ge¬ 
neral Ikirmilh, the defence of a pals or caltle, were re- 
hearfed as in aftual battle; and the contell, but in real 
and mimic war, was decided by the luperior manage¬ 
ment of the horfe and lance. At thefe entertainments, 
Ikill in arms, devotion to the fair, and generous courtefy, 
were all at once cultivated. The afperity of national pre¬ 
judice was foftened ; and the community of religion and 
arms fpread a limilar. colour and generous emulation over 
the face of Chriftendom. Abroad, in enterprize and pil¬ 
grimage j at home, in. martial, exercife, the warriors of 
eyery 
