The characteristic virtues of chivalry bear so much resemblance to those
which eastern writers of the same period extol, that I am a little
disposed to suspect Europe of having derived some improvement from
imitation of Asia. Though the crusades began in abhorrence of infidels,
this sentiment wore off in some degree before their cessation; and the
regular intercourse of commerce, sometimes of alliance, between the
Christians of Palestine and the Saracens, must have removed part of the
prejudice, while experience of their enemy's courage and generosity in
war would with those gallant knights serve to lighten the remainder. The
romancers expatiate with pleasure on the merits of Saladin, who actually
received the honour of knighthood from Hugh of Tabaria, his prisoner. An
ancient poem, entitled the Order of Chivalry, is founded upon this
story, and contains a circumstantial account of the ceremonies, as well
as duties, which the institution required.[778] One or two other
instances of a similar kind bear witness to the veneration in which the
name of knight was held among the eastern nations. And certainly the
Mohammedan chieftains were for the most part abundantly qualified to
fulfil the duties of European chivalry. Their manners had been polished
and courteous, while the western kingdoms were comparatively barbarous.

[Sidenote: Evils produced by the spirit of chivalry.]

The principles of chivalry were not, I think, naturally productive of
many evils. For it is unjust to class those acts of oppression or
disorder among the abuses of knighthood, which were committed in spite
of its regulations, and were only prevented by them from becoming more
extensive. The licence of times so imperfectly civilized could not be
expected to yield to institutions, which, like those of religion, fell
prodigiously short in their practical result of the reformation which
they were designed to work. Man's guilt and frailty have never admitted
more than a partial corrective. But some bad consequences may be more
fairly ascribed to the very nature of chivalry. I have already mentioned
the dissoluteness which almost unavoidably resulted from the prevailing
tone of gallantry. And yet we sometimes find in the writings of those
times a spirit of pure but exaggerated sentiment; and the most fanciful
refinements of passion are mingled by the same poets with the coarsest
immorality. An undue thirst for military renown was another fault that
chiva