om the time when the
use of fire-arms became tolerably perfect the weapons of former warfare
lost their efficacy, and physical force was reduced to a very
subordinate place in the accomplishments of a soldier. The advantages of
a disciplined infantry became more sensible; and the lancers, who
continued till almost the end of the sixteenth century to charge in a
long line, felt the punishment of their presumption and indiscipline.
Even in the wars of Edward III., the disadvantageous tactics of chivalry
must have been perceptible; but the military art had not been
sufficiently studied to overcome the prejudices of men eager for
individual distinction. Tournaments became less frequent; and, after the
fatal accident of Henry II., were entirely discontinued in France.
Notwithstanding the convulsions of the religious wars, the sixteenth
century was more tranquil than any that had preceded; and thus a large
part of the nobility passed their lives in pacific habits, and if they
assumed the honours of chivalry, forgot their natural connexion with
military prowess. This is far more applicable to England, where, except
from the reign of Edward III. to that of Henry VI., chivalry, as a
military institution, seems not to have found a very congenial
soil.[793] To these circumstances, immediately affecting the military
condition of nations, we must add the progress of reason and literature,
which made ignorance discreditable even in a soldier, and exposed the
follies of romance to a ridicule which they were very ill calculated to
endure.

The spirit of chivalry left behind it a more valuable successor. The
character of knight gradually subsided in that of gentleman; and the one
distinguishes European society in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, as much as the other did in the preceding ages. A jealous
sense of honour, less romantic, but equally elevated, a ceremonious
gallantry and politeness, a strictness in devotional observances, a high
pride of birth and feeling of independence upon any sovereign for the
dignity it gave, a sympathy for martial honour, though more subdued by
civil habits, are the lineaments which prove an indisputable descent.
The cavaliers of Charles I. were genuine successors of Edward's knights;
and the resemblance is much more striking, if we ascend to the civil
wars of the League. Time has effaced much also of this gentlemanly, as
it did before of the chivalrous character. From the latter part of the
s