labours to enforce. Imposture, deceit, and malice had not yet crept
in, and imposed themselves unbribed upon mankind in the disguise of
truth: justice, unbiassed either by favour or interest, which now so
fatally pervert it, was equally and impartially dispensed; nor was the
judge's fancy law, for then there were neither judges nor causes to be
judged. The modest maid might then walk alone. But, in this degenerate
age, fraud and a legion of ills infecting the world, no virtue can be
safe, no honour be secure; while wanton desires, diffused into the
hearts of men, corrupt the strictest watches and the closest retreats,
which, though as intricate, and unknown as the labyrinth of Crete,
are no security for chastity. Thus, that primitive innocence being
vanished, the oppression daily prevailing, there was a necessity
to oppose the torrent of violence; for which reason the order of
knighthood errant was instituted, to defend the honour of virgins,
protect widows, relieve orphans, and assist all that are distressed.
Now I myself am one of this order, honest friends and though all
people are obliged by the law of nature to be kind to persons of my
character, yet since you, without knowing anything of this obligation,
have so generously entertained me, I ought to pay you my utmost
acknowledgment, and accordingly return you my most hearty thanks."

'There,' said Herbert, as he closed the book. 'In my opinion, Don
Quixote was the best man that ever lived.'

'But he did not ever live,' said Lady Annabel, smiling.

'He lives to us,' said Herbert. 'He is the same to this age as if he
had absolutely wandered over the plains of Castile and watched in the
Sierra Morena. We cannot, indeed, find his tomb; but he has left us
his great example. In his hero, Cervantes has given us the picture
of a great and benevolent philosopher, and in his Sancho, a complete
personification of the world, selfish and cunning, and yet overawed
by the genius that he cannot comprehend: alive to all the material
interests of existence, yet sighing after the ideal; securing his four
young foals of the she-ass, yet indulging in dreams of empire.'

'But what do you think of the assault on the windmills, Marmion?' said
Lady Annabel.

'In the outset of his adventures, as in the outset of our lives, he
was misled by his enthusiasm,' replied Herbert, 'without which, after
all, we can do nothing. But the result is, Don Quixote was a redresser
of wrongs, and there