asts and vigils; and he was created
a knight in the name of God, of St. George, and of St. Michael the
archangel. He swore to accomplish the duties of his profession;
and education, example, and the public opinion, were the inviolable
guardians of his oath. As the champion of God and the ladies, (I blush
to unite such discordant names,) he devoted himself to speak the
truth; to maintain the right; to protect the distressed; to practise
_courtesy_, a virtue less familiar to the ancients; to pursue the
infidels; to despise the allurements of ease and safety; and to
vindicate in every perilous adventure the honor of his character. The
abuse of the same spirit provoked the illiterate knight to disdain the
arts of industry and peace; to esteem himself the sole judge and avenger
of his own injuries; and proudly to neglect the laws of civil society
and military discipline. Yet the benefits of this institution, to
refine the temper of Barbarians, and to infuse some principles of faith,
justice, and humanity, were strongly felt, and have been often observed.
The asperity of national prejudice was softened; and the community of
religion and arms spread a similar color and generous emulation over
the face of Christendom. Abroad in enterprise and pilgrimage, at home
in martial exercise, the warriors of every country were perpetually
associated; and impartial taste must prefer a Gothic tournament to the
Olympic games of classic antiquity. Instead of the naked spectacles
which corrupted the manners of the Greeks, and banished from the stadium
the virgins and matrons, the pompous decoration of the lists was crowned
with the presence of chaste and high-born beauty, from whose hands the
conqueror received the prize of his dexterity and courage. The skill and
strength that were exerted in wrestling and boxing bear a distant and
doubtful relation to the merit of a soldier; but the tournaments, as
they were invented in France, and eagerly adopted both in the East and
West, presented a lively image of the business of the field. The single
combats, the general skirmish, the defence of a pass, or castle, were
rehearsed as in actual service; and the contest, both in real and mimic
war, was decided by the superior management of the horse and lance. The
lance was the proper and peculiar weapon of the knight: his horse was
of a large and heavy breed; but this charger, till he was roused by the
approaching danger, was usually led by an attendant, an