f Tancred
we discover all the virtues of a perfect knight, the true spirit of
chivalry, which inspired the generous sentiments and social offices of
man far better than the base philosophy, or the baser religion, of the
times.

Chapter LVIII: The First Crusade.--Part III.

Between the age of Charlemagne and that of the crusades, a revolution
had taken place among the Spaniards, the Normans, and the French,
which was gradually extended to the rest of Europe. The service of the
infantry was degraded to the plebeians; the cavalry formed the strength
of the armies, and the honorable name of _miles_, or soldier, was
confined to the gentlemen who served on horseback, and were invested
with the character of knighthood. The dukes and counts, who had usurped
the rights of sovereignty, divided the provinces among their faithful
barons: the barons distributed among their vassals the fiefs or
benefices of their jurisdiction; and these military tenants, the peers
of each other and of their lord, composed the noble or equestrian
order, which disdained to conceive the peasant or burgher as of the same
species with themselves. The dignity of their birth was preserved by
pure and equal alliances; their sons alone, who could produce four
quarters or lines of ancestry without spot or reproach, might legally
pretend to the honor of knighthood; but a valiant plebeian was sometimes
enriched and ennobled by the sword, and became the father of a new race.
A single knight could impart, according to his judgment, the character
which he received; and the warlike sovereigns of Europe derived more
glory from this personal distinction than from the lustre of their
diadem. This ceremony, of which some traces may be found in Tacitus
and the woods of Germany, was in its origin simple and profane; the
candidate, after some previous trial, was invested with the sword and
spurs; and his cheek or shoulder was touched with a slight blow, as an
emblem of the last affront which it was lawful for him to endure. But
superstition mingled in every public and private action of life: in
the holy wars, it sanctified the profession of arms; and the order of
chivalry was assimilated in its rights and privileges to the sacred
orders of priesthood. The bath and white garment of the novice were
an indecent copy of the regeneration of baptism: his sword, which he
offered on the altar, was blessed by the ministers of religion: his
solemn reception was preceded by f