the disturbing classes of society.  Only time and the slow march of civilization could calm the restlessness and the martial spirit of the powerful, but chivalry introduced into warfare knightly honor and generosity, and into social life a courtesy and gallantry which formed a strong ally to religion in bringing out the better sentiments of humanity.  At a time when force was greater than law, when the weak and defenceless were at the mercy of the powerful, when women were never safe from the attacks of the brutal, a body of men who were sworn to redress wrongs, to succor the oppressed, and to protect women and children, could not fail to be highly beneficial and to win the reverence of mankind.  To be a good knight was to be the salt of the earth.  The church gave easy absolution to the champion of the weak,—­the soldier of God.  Women smiled upon the cavalier whose profession was her service, and whose deeds, as well as the glitter of his arms and the fascination of his martial appearance, flattered her pride and gratified her imagination.

Yet, in considering the period of chivalry, we must not yield too much to the attraction of its brilliant show, its high flown sentiments, and knightly valor.  Beneath religion there ever lurked a bigoted superstition; beneath valor, cruelty; beneath love, mere brutal passion.  The sympathies of the order were much confined to the higher classes, and there was little feeling for the sufferings of the common people.  The reign of Edward the Third embraces the most brilliant days of chivalry.  About that period is spread a mist of manly gallantry and feminine charms which conceals the darkness beneath.  The Black Prince, after winning his spurs at Cressy, carried fire and sword among the peaceful and defenceless inhabitants of Garonne, gratifying a greed of gain by blood and rapine.  The gallant deeds of Sir Walter de Manny, of Sir John Chandos, the fame of Edward himself, only make darker by contrast the desolation and suffering by which their glory was purchased.  The poetic illusion inspired by Froissart’s chronicles of knightly deeds and manners is rudely torn when we read Petrarch’s description of France after the battle of Poitiers; “I could not believe that this was the same France which I had seen so rich and flourishing.  Nothing presented itself to my eyes but a fearful solitude, land uncultivated, houses in ruins.  Even the neighborhood of Paris showed everywhere the marks of desolation and conflagration.  The streets are deserted, the roads overgrown with weeds, the whole is a vast solitude."[4]

It is among the Northern conquerors that we must look for the origin of the spirit of chivalry, which consisted first and chiefly in manly valor exerted to obtain the favor of woman.  Of this there is no trace in any ancient civilization.  Among the barbarous tribes of the North, physical strength and military prowess were the qualities most essential in a man, and woman naturally looked upon them as the merit