The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-09-24
THE OHIvABRtO DAYS

In the old feudal times, which IL plcase5 many
Of our more imaginative young people 70 believe
were rs far superior 10 these days Of modern
degeneBcy real heroes are superior to carpet
knights, one or two little points Of morality,
which we are accustomed TO think rather seriously
Of were on very unsatisfactory footing. Not
the least unsatisfactory Of them all was the con.
diion Of women in those grim baronial halls,
where rOmaucers and prc.Raphaelites would
have us believe they passed their time in the per-
petual reception of incense going up from the
knights and warriors assembled, and were held
in the same hieh honor as now.
We could not make greater mistake. In
those old ieudal times, when wives were divorced
without scruple OF Ofcuse, handed aboHt from
baron to baron, as "A man would now hand over
his hunter or his rucer-for a consdcratou-mar.
Iiage had neither sanc,ity nor surety il was mere
personal possession and lcgalized brutality when
nohcrs were regarded only as the appointed
UoJtishCIs Of their SONS, like any uthCc form Of
hCtcul creature, maternity had no holiness and
brought with It no respect; when maluus
were the prey of the strongest and the prize
OF the most daring, wOuCu, worn, and cast
OIL without love- without regard, aud without
regret, maiden honor wa. q fable, aud virgin
modcsty "a dream while as for love- what there
Wgs of II in wumaus nature grew only round her
own heart IN sOuOwiul dream, ami pUusiyc long.
iugs Tor an impossible ideal notu fibre Of 10 went
TO that hairy brute who drank ana gained and
swore and fought In the hall, and he'd his lady
in her bower as no better, and not go pleasant as
his gentle tapel' on It's perch or his horse within
its stall. No; the w0mauhOOd Of the fuulai times
sat in darkness and humiliation, possessed and
dCspsed; and it was from this degraded con-
ditiOn, with all its savage instincts and traditions
that chiv.ilry came like a new Pyrscus, to rescue
the helpless Audromeda Of the human world.
Chiyalry gave women the two things denied in
their tcudal marriagc-rcspcct and love it gave
them poetry aud purity in place OF passion and
posse s,iOn, and allowed them their choice of a
kuight-the friend who was to defend them
honor, celebrate, and lOvc-as some cOnsol itiln
against the husband VINO held them like any
other of his baronal tiCts and Chattels, and with
rs little regard.
The civilized custom Of the adoption Of
knight, or friend freely chosen aud publicly
maintained, who was to be all and 20 do all that
his LADY desired or demanded was as a recent
writer justly says, the moral protest of women
against the humiliation of their legal condition.
Very solemn was that choice, hallOwed by the
most sacred forms used in the hottest ceremonies
OF the times, and blessed by priest or bishop as
contract binding on their souls, and of heavenly
value in their lives. Never lightly dealt with, nor
losing itself in dishOnorng familiarity the stain
of sense, il was a woman's badge OF loving purity,
ana her first attempt to set herself on an equality
with man.
Her knight devoted himself to redress her
wrongs, as he devoted himself to redress the
wrongs of all the Oppressed-cOnseCratCd to that
office by the Church, which preached cei1aCy as
one OF the gateways to heaven, and granted the
San Graal only to the pure in heart and the
chastc in lite and 1t would have been impOs-
sible, according 70 the morality of the times that
his love should have any unsecmly meaning or
elimination. Tho most solemn, as well as the
most passionate pledge of that love, was the kiss
the lady gave him, when, kneeling before her, his
hands casped between hers, he devoted himself to
harg fba npf
blessed the union, and bore witness to its Cclebra
tiOn. Then giving him ring as the sign of
their everlasting union, the lady raised him with
that one holy kiss, which was the last and
dearest and highest cOnsecratiOn of their love.
So thoroughly spiritualized was the knightly
union of friend and lady that a woman was
assumed to have lost her lover If by chance she
married him; for 1t was impossible, according to
the ideas of the times, that the knight and the
husband, the lover and the possessor, should be
one and the same person.
Wherefore the lady who married her knight,
but who had promised another aspirant that if
ever she changed her friend she would take him
in his stead, was held by Eleanor &c Guienne,
presiding over the Cours dAmour, to be bound
by her promise, seeing that she had lost her
knight when she became his wife-an anecdote
sufficiently expressive of the spirit of these chv
alric unions, and the sharp line drawn between
marriage and love.
There were four degrees or stages in the pro-
gress of this knghtly love. When desrOus of
pleasing, but afraid to speak and paying only
mute court, the knight was then a hesitant; when
encouraged SO far as to humbly express his feel
ings otherwise than by dumb show, he was u
priant; when retained as knight, and given a
slken cord, gloves, or sash to wear-hcr Colors,
in iaCt-he was then an eCOute, knight who had
the right to maintain the supremacy of his lady s
charms against all comers and wear her faYors
In his helmet; but if after this she pledged her
love to him, and gave him a kiss, then he was
her d1nt- or ami, her friend, dearer TO her than
any other human being for whom was reserved
ali the ineiiable love of her SOUL all the gracious
| tenderness of her heart and fancy.
| This was the boon which fair and fruitful
| Provence gave to the women of the Middle Ages
the effects of which felt at the furthest cor
| ner of the then civilized world, and which have
| not entirely died away, even to this day. Dante
| is full of this chiYalric, or what we sholGn nov
call passionate and patonic, love for Beatrice
| and in many of the older poets before Dante tht
| same exalted state of spiritual ecstasy Is TO be
traced, the same rendering up of heart and soul
| with never q trace of grOsser longing than fol
| that divine charity of love- that noble pity o.
| womanhood, which would give back thought fo
thought, and gracious acceptance for faithful ser
| vice.
| 'Trustful In servtude
have been and VIII be-
| hundred fcid Of good
| Hath he not Euerdoned me
| For what have endured Of grbef and woe3
Since he hath giyen me unto one OF whom
| Another Of such worth, so beausous.
In this Gy ny !PS5SsI Ses that aI hst SssP Syod 50 we'll
| MeseemS / scarce could dwell
| Ever In weary life or I'm dlsmay,
HnO true service still my heart gave ROOM
These chiyalrlc unions never throye heartily il
England. A less imaginative race, with thicke
Senses It was scarcely possible for us 70 subtitle
and refine on this subject; perhaps well for us, il
one sense, since 1t led earlier than NEST other
to the perception OF the fact that the truest low
| is contained in the happiest marriage, and tina
the lady does not always lose her friend when sh
transforms him into her husband.
In France, that earlier chiyalrous respect TO
women, which acknowledged their moral supe
| riority, and besought grace and guidance ut thei
hands, still exists in modernized form--ess dis
tinctly than couple Of centuries ago, but witt
marked emphasis yet, and undeniable social an
legal results. The notable facts, that womei
possess half the capital of France that they ar
habitually employed in many of the callings de
voted here solely TO men; that they are consid
cred intellectually capable Of managing larg
commercial concerns, and are always associate
| with the husbands business as he would associat
any ether intelligent and trustY friend; thei
wide social influence, and the moral hold, which
as mothers, they retain on every man to the enI
of his life and the allowance of strong persona
friendships between them and men without scan
dal necessarily accruing, so long as persona
respect is maintained and the world sees NJ
familiarity; all these circumstances Of social lif
in France are remnants of chvalrc time0S .ilteret
through the salons of the sixteenth century.
| What those salons were. the hest of on