people, but when as God wyll send it; yf it fortune that this journey be ours, we shall be the most honoured people of all the world; and if we dye in our right quarrel, I have the king my father and bretheren, and also ye have good friends and kynsmen, these shall revenge us therefore, sirs, for Goddesake, I requyre you to do your devoyrs this day; for, if God be pleased and Saint George, this day ye shall see me a good knygt." The Earl of Foix had a custom of celebrating the feast of St. Nicholas with great solemnity, upon which occasion the earl used to departe all afote fro his castell, and go with the clergy in processyon to the churche, where they sange a psalme of the Psalter, Benedictus Dominus Deus meus, qui docet manus meas ad prælium, et digitos meos ad bellum." The Dame des Belles Cousines, in the Petit Jean de Saintré, who was no imaginary person, but the sister of King John of France, teaches the young page, saying to him, "Remember, that whenever you are going to set out, whether on foot or on horseback, you seriously, and with attention, make the sign of the cross, and say, Benedicat mihi Dominus et custodiat me, Ostendat mihi faciem suam Dominus et misereatur mei. Et lors partez seurement, et faictes vertueusement ce que devez faire; car par ainsi, ne pourrez faire chose, gaigne ou perte, que tout ne soit à honneur." So we read in the romance of Gerard de Rousillon, "a knight performs every thing as by the hand of God and in his name, without ever celebrating himself; for his praise out of his own mouth is an insult to others: he, on the contrary, who praises not himself, but God, adds renown to honour. The empty love of fame is a load which annihilates the merit, the plumes, and the good deeds of chivalry." Roger de Hauteville used to bear on his ensigns and shield the following device, "Dextera Domini fecit virtutem, dextera Domini exaltavit me." An interesting emblem of this reliance was displayed in the coat-armour of the high and mighty Prince Duke Albertus de Alasca of Polanda, which bore the hull of a ship having only a main-mast and a top without any tackling, with the motto, "Deus dabit vela," shewing that heavenly guidance is that whereby worldly affairs are governed. And Andrew Doria, who was admiral to Charles V., bore a ship with masts and canvass under full sail, with the motto, "Non dormit qui custodit." The uncertainty of all human prosperity had taught this lesson in all ages to heroic men. Our Christian chivalry was familiar with the words of Rodrigo : Last night I was the king of Spain; to-day no king am I: To-night not one I call mine own, not one pertains to me. A belief in the superintendence of Providence, accompanied by a trust in divine protection, has been characteristic of the hero in all ages. What sentence of antiquity is more memorable than this in the Iliad? ὅττι μάλ' οὐ δηναιὸς, ὃς ἀθανάτοισι μάχοιτο, Thus, again, Æneas says to Achilles, Ζεὺς δ ̓ ἀρετὴν ἄνδρεσσιν ὀφέλλει τε, μινύθει τε, And Hector expressed it more forcibly in these affecting words, οἶδα δ ̓, ὅτι σὺ μὲν ἐσθλὸς, ἐγὼ δὲ σέθεν πολὺ χείρων. ἀλλ ̓ ἦτοι μὲν ταῦτα θεῶν ἐν γούνασι κεῖται, αἴ κέ σε χειρότερός περ ἐὼν ἀπὸ θυμὸν ἕλωμαι δουρὶ βαλών. XIII. The hardy, temperate, and often abstemious life, recommended and required by religion, was in agreement with the inclination and pursuits of chivalry. Thus, among the four especial things which Hue de Tabarie prescribed to Saladin as proper for a knight, one is Que abstinence doit avoir, Que Jhesu Cris fu de la lanche Doit jeuner pour nostre Signor Et s'il ne puet por chon juner D'aumosne fere, ou d'autre cose.1 This duty was faithfully observed. It is recorded of the Mareschal de Boucicaut, in the old memoirs of his life, that "he held Friday in great reverence: on that day he would eat nothing which had suffered death, and he would be dressed all in black, in honour of the passion of our Lord." Beaumanoir, who commanded the thirty Bretons in the famous combat against thirty English, had even fasted that day. In the heat of battle, being oppressed with thirst, he asked to drink: "Bois ton sang, Beaumanoir," replied Geoffroy du Bois, "ta soif se passera. L'honneur de cette journée nous restera; chacun y gagnera vaillante renommée, dont le souvenir ne s'effacera jamais." In the Chroniques de St. Denis, it is said of Charlemagne, that he did not love fast-days. However, he was most simple in his ordinary diet. The monk of St. Gaul says, that on one of his voyages he stopped at a bishop's house on a Friday. The prelate had no fish, so he served him up some platter of miserable fry, and a cheese. The emperor eat the cheese, but took care to pick out the green spots with his knife. The bishop, who stood near the table, took the liberty of representing that he threw away the best part. Charles tasted, and agreed that it was. He then begged his host to send him every year two cases of such cheese to Aix-laChapelle. The bishop replied, "that he would send the cases, but could not answer for the cheeses being green, because it was only on opening them that he could be sure." "Very well," said the emperor, "cut them in two, and you can then judge if they are what I like; then lay the two pieces together, and pack them up." Such was the simplicity of his table, that a good cheese was a great luxury. In general, what is said of Perceforest was true of all knights. Nul plaisir n'avoient en manger fors pour le corps soustenir." It used to be one of the dreadful traits of character ascribed to Robert le Diable, that he never fasted on Fridays. The rules of fasting have varied in different ages and countries, as may be seen in Socrates, Nicephorus, and other ecclesiastical writers. The example L'Orderie de Chevalerie. of our Saviour and his apostles, sanctioning a practice of the highest antiquity, was a law to the first Christians. In the primitive Church, prayer and fasting were prescribed to all who embraced Christianity. It falls not to my province to shew the advantage respecting religion which followed from men not feasting sumptuously every day; but no man can fail to admire that discipline which contributed so greatly to the formation of temperate and knightly men, and to eradicate that swinish luxury which Tacitus calls "epularum fœda et inexplebilis libido:"2 and although some temporal men, of riches and power, in various ages, may have sought to reconcile obedience to the church with the gratification of sensuality, nevertheless, were the distinction of days ever so slight, that distinction still was existing, to remind others of the affecting fact intended to be commemorated, and of the spirit which had originally required it. There is something in the contrary practice which has the air of ingratitude, or forgetfulness and indifference. It is a night of holy week. The Catholics are celebrating the death of the Saviour of the world in silence and fasting. The tower of a temple, dedicated to the new discipline, is sending out the merry music from a peal of bells, and the smoke of nocturnal banquets invades the poor stranger's garret. It is to be remembered, however, that the great object in view was the cultivation of general habits of temperance, and the rendering even scenes of conviviality subservient to the glory of God. What a contrast between those who began their meals with that form of grace, "Oculi omnium in te sperant, Domine," and those who "ne'er look to heaven, but with besotted base ingratitude cram and blaspheme their feeder !" "Quant les seigneurs se lievent de la table, ils doibvent ouyr graces reverentement et paisiblement, et ne doibvent a nully parler jusques a tant quelles soient finées. Et doibvent en leurs cœurs rendre graces a Dieu, et dire auscunes devotes oraisons en lieu de graces en rendant a Dieu mercy." This is what Gilles de Rome lays down in his Mirror; and again, "Vaillant homme ne doibt menger se non une fois ou deux le jour; car menger plusieurs fois est maniere d'enfant ou de beste." The sentiments of the ancients upon St. Just. Martyr. Ap. 2. 2 Hist. ii. 62. the advantage of abstinence may be seen in Athenæus.! Cicero remarked, that the mind was strongly affected by the food of the body.2 Lycurgus even ordained, that the Spartan youth should not be without experience of a want of food, that so, when occasion required it, they might be more able ἀσιτήσαντας ἐπιπονῆσαι. Indeed, the Spartan discipline and manners came near in many points to that of our gallant ancestors, only the Christian religion ennobled their object and refined their expression. The simple, abstemious, and hardy life which Socrates led preserved him from the great plague which raged in the beginning of the Peloponnesian war;4 and if the Romans boasted of the glories of their country, their wise men with Livy remarked, that in no city were temperance and poverty so long held in honour as in Rome.5 The Christian Church, by teaching men to honour poverty and temperance, conferred an inestimable benefit upon the world. What Pliny says, alluding to Ariosto, seems intended to apply to some Catholic knight or baron: “Quam parcus in victu! quam modicus in cultu! soleo ipsum cubiculum ejus, ipsumque lectum, ut imaginem quandam priscæ frugalitatis, adspicere." We can hardly believe that Xenophon is not describing some veteran hero of our own chivalry, when he says, If any one will not believe what I affirm of the simplicity and temperance of Agesilaus, let him only view his house, and look at the doors, for they seem to be the very same which were put up by Aristodemus, the descendant of Hercules let him examine the furniture and the arrangement within ;" and that Nepos does not allude to the same, "Domo eadem fuit contentus qua Eurysthenes progenitor majorum suorum fuerat usus: quam qui intraret, nullum signum libidinis, nullum luxuriæ videre poterat, contra ea plurima patientiæ atque abstinentiæ." 66 : XIV. We have now seen the zeal with which chivalry protected religion, the respect which it evinced for the clergy, the willingness with which it discharged the ordinary religious duties of men; it remains for us to mark that profound and solemn spirit of devotion, which so ii. 6. Xen. de Repub. Laced. c. ii. 5 Præfat. 2 De Nat. Deorum, ii. 16. 4 Aul. Gell. ii. 2. 6 Agesilai Encom. 8. |