The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1879-01-27
rFspm the Norfolk Landfnark.l
THE DAYS OF g,HIY RE- r

from Tue XEaCS1uL y ~ =
Eso. % sn,ithGeid. which gre commend TO
the notice or our readers. It combines q
sure Felicity OF Illustration with much cfif
rious learning. and will be received with
nnpsause by all who echo the lament Oh
Burke. We regret that our space prevents
orr giving an extended account OF the les.
fsyities which attended the tournament az
which Mr.. Thomas delivered his address,
which, witbout.f her preface, we give 70
our readers: 81.
Sir Knights,--He who looks upon the
field or ripened grain thinks but little OF
the hours, and days, and weeks, and months
OF pstient toll that have been spent in sts
cultivation. He who sits beneath the VINE
and the fg-tree rarely ever thinks OF inc
hand that planted, or OF the years that rolea
by before the spreading tendriis ana ever
hanging boughs gave their generous lo,t W.
and their delicious fruit. he Wno mus n.ln'
seH safely and securely housed in the beau
t;ful and commodious dwellings OF the pres
ens. INT seldom reeurs to that past when man
struggled. by slow and hard degrees, from
fine cave to the retreat Of branches and OF
bongbs upon the sheltered hilIsides from It
to fie hut of logs, and thence TO the one
of slabs. with It's hole in the top Tor the
ESCAPE OF smoke and for the admission OF
TIGHT. from il to the rude houses OF the
Fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, with
their n,ear, cnimneys and contracted win.
dows. and thence on downwards to those
zof The present time, with all their rich aud
marvellous architecture. He who behoids
the swelling river, pouring its rushing tIde
into the wide and boundless ocean, fareiy
ever thinks Of that rilI, hid far away in the
mountain, that at first struggles ana fumes
and frets with the tiny pebble that obstruc;s
its course, until, gathering strength as IL
advances, it comes gurelins,. spiashing,
roaring down, huge volume OF waters. 30
II is with the laws, the customs, the usages,
tbe nractices. the sentiments, the institu-
tions OF the present. We have them. We
see them. We feel them. We enjoy them.
But we rarely eyer think whence or how
they came.
man was once the slave OF man. The cap
tured was once the property OF the capters.
Engagements were once kept or broken at
Sfhe pleasure OF either OF the contracting
parties. Why are they not now Why are
all these things changed? 1t is because OF
the potent and powerful influences, that
have been at work toillng slowly. 1mper-
ceptibly, but surely, for the freedom OF
man, the elevation OF woman, and the adj
vancement Of society; and the chief Of
these, by universal acknowledgement are
liberty, religion, and chiyalry.
RunneDede, Jamestown, and Plymouth
Rock tell the tale OF liberty. GalliIee and
Judea, Bethlehem and Nazareth, Gethse-
name and Calvary, tell the story Of the
Cross.
With the consideration OF these we are
not today engaged. We deal now only
with chivalry, and we hazard nothing, Sir
knights, in saying that of all human instf-
tutions chivaIry has been the best and the
most useful in originating and in dissent
mating those ideas that have lifted society
to its present place. It ineulcated in man
the highest aud most chivaIric notions OF
honor, integrity, courtesy, courage, gene
rosity; and 1t made woman the idol OF the
heart OF man.
In the East she was his slave; In the most
cultivated and refined communities OF the
ancient world she was honored; but she
was honored politically, not socially hon
oIed as the mother Of the Gracchi, as the
sister OF Brutus, as the wife OF Cesar.
But in the Middle Ages, when chiyalrY
arose, she was honored as woman-and
honored because she was woman. In all
OF the Teutonic races, and their branches,
she became an object OF worship. In Ger
many she was honored as the faithful wife
OF the loving husband. In gayer France
and In liyelier Spain she was honored with
all the enhancing romance OF companion,
friend, and sweetheart, until, assuming all
Oriental cast, she ceased to be OF mortal
birth, and became Peri OF Heaven. In.
sturdier and statelier England, with its
colder cline, she lost some OF the bright ro-
nance, but retained all the strong ardor, Of
love. c.S.s
But whether chivalry began In Germany
or France, Provence was its home. Its rich
pastures and its romantic valleys, its VINE
clad hills and its lovely shores kissed by the
blue waters Of the Mediterranean, its balmy
airs: aud soft skies gave voluptuous beauty
to the country and pleasure-loving cha
Tacter to the people. There Love held his
courts-not only in the homes Of the beau
tiful mistresses Of the gallant knights; not
only in the fragrant groves and upon the
enamelled meadows, musical with the song
of the bird and the murmur Of the sea.
but in public, and at stated places: at PIr
refew and Ramagny, at AK and Ayignon,
where the princess sat in her circle of ladies
witnessing the skill OF the knight in his
feat OF arms, and listening to bis melodycof
love, ready to award the prize to him who
should best ,acquit himself with lance and
song. There first sang Abellard Off his
Eioise until the whole world resounded with
the fame Of his passion, as it does with that
Of Petrareh and his Laura, OF Burns and
his Highland Mary. And there, too, the
other troubadours,f enyying the fame OF
AbelIard, with love as strong but with
verse not SO sweet, each sang of the sur
passing beauty and loyeliness Of her who
first kindled the fires Of their hearts
:. And awoke TO ecstacy The living lyre.p
From Provence It passed through Lam.
squedoc and GasconY into Spain, where the
hest blood OF CASTLE and Of Aragon wed
with that Of France in the grace OF verse
and IN the glory OF arms. ..s,ssa
And thus, while the knights and the trou-
badours of France and Spain were each pro-
claiming the superior beauty OF the mistress
OF his heart, and OF the fair ladiesof his
country, the knights and the MINISTRIES OF
England, and the knights and the mime
singers Of Germany, were each denying the
claim and challenging the whole world to
contest and to competition. And as no
knight and no country could permit the
challenge to pass unheeded, the tournament
became the field OF contest, and whether it
was at Camelot, or at Ashby, or upon. tie
Field Of the Cloth OF Gold, thither came
lovely woman till
$ The giided parapets were crowned wi faces
And the great tower filed with eyes
Up to the summit. ts a45f. fs
aT6 rain influence and 10 adjudge the prize, !"
thitber came Enid and Elaine, Rebecca and
Rowena, and the Queens Of England and Of
France, with aH their splendid retinue, like
"a sun-burst from the Storm 8, Z
giving splendor to the contest and enchant-
ment to the scene. 500 ~: r
And TINS. as woman,s smile became the