king; now that I am eighty-four, I shall not want. courage to mount the scaffold for my God." Let us also mark well how prepared this spirit would be to suffer no affections of nature to prevail over its loyalty to Christ, who declared that whoever loved father, or mother, or children, more than him, was not worthy of him. Alonso de Guzman, duke of Medina, was governor of Tarifa in 1294, when it was besieged by a great army of the Moors. He was summoned to surrender; but he refused to open the gates. Then the Moors threatened to kill in his presence his young son, who had fallen into their hands. The voice of nature could not overcome his honour. With his own hands Alonso threw a dagger to the enemy from the top of the walls, pronouncing these generous words, which have become the motto of the house of Guzman, "Mas pesa el rey que la sangre," the king prevails over blood. If the spirit of chivalry could cherish such sentiments towards an earthly sovereign, how would it be ready to abandon all that was dear to it in the world, when its adorable King and Saviour, Jesus Christ, should call upon it to make such a sacrifice; or should intimate that it was necessary, by a look like that which was sufficient to strike St. Peter to the heart, and to make his soul dissolve in tears of penitence!

The spirit of chivalry seems to have even a previous disposition to follow all the circumstances of piety. While the proud sensualist at Alstat is composing his book against monastic vows, the heroic knight of Biscay retires to Montserrat, consecrates himself to God in solitude, and, in his retreat at Manreza, frames those spiritual exercises which served to form one of the most illustrious companies that ever followed the standard of the cross of Jesus.

1 Mazas, Vies des grands Capitaines Français du Moyen Age, tom. III, p. 220.

While disabled by his wound, in the castle of Loyola, this celebrated soldier was first awakened to the ardour of sanctity, by considering the love of the saints for solitude. May it not be affirmed that this love entered into the character of chivalry? Witness even the champions of romance, who are often represented like St. Ignatius in the ruined chapel, which he found on the road-side between Sienna and Rome. "Thenne Syr Galahad came unto a mountayne, where he found an old chappel, and fond there no body, for alle was desolate, and there he kneled to fore the aulter, and besought God of holsome council." From the recesses of forests that seem interminable, their desire is always to reach the monastery ere the bat hath flown his cloistered flight. Sir Galahad, says the romance, rode four days, and on the fourth day, after evensong, he came to a white abbey, and there he was received with great reverence and led to a chamber, and there he was unarmed, and then he was told of two knights of the Round Table who were in the church; and when they heard of his arrival, they came up to him and made him great solace. What a scene was that in the monastery of St. Just, when St. Francis Borgia came to visit the Emperor Charles V., who had not seen him since the time that he used to attend his court as Duke of Gandia! Thomas says that monks must aim at perfection, or else they deceive the generous and heroic men who constructed such venerable asylums for those who sought retirement and sanctity. It was chivalry which founded and endowed and protected these houses of religion, in which, as St. Bernard says, men lived with greater purity, fell less often, rose again more quickly, walked with more prudence,

Bouhours, Vie de St. Ignace, 12.

2 Morte d'Arthur, II, 221.

3 I, IV, 29.

St.

were more constantly refreshed with the spiritual dew of heaven, rested with less danger, died with greater hope.1

It was to these asylums that even temporal chivalry repaired for renovation and strength. In the college of the Jesuits at Spires, a celebrated minister of the imperial court, no less famed for deeds of arms than for wisdom in council, used to assist frequently during the times of spiritual retreat; and, on one occasion, while thus employed, despatches arriving, addressed to him, from the Emperor Ferdinand, he refused to open them till the exercises were at an end; sending back answer, that, as he was engaged in communication with the King of kings, he could take no thought for the affairs of an earthly monarch.2

This inclination of the spirit of chivalry to follow all the circumstances of piety might be traced through a long detail. The youthful mind is predisposed to love and admire everything that belongs to the Church,-the angelic occupations which she assigns to the young in the service of her altars, her ceremonies, her models of beauty and grace, her flowing vestments, her approved manners, her hours; for it is her holy fathers who are pleased with the salutation of an early tongue, and it is always some young observer of the morning sky who hears their first benedicite.

Chivalry required that youth should be trained to perform the most laborious and humble offices with cheerfulness and grace. How easy was the transition from this to feel the force of that sentence in the Imitation of Christ, "magnus honor, magna gloria, tibi servire, et omnia propter te contemnere. The Duke of Gandia had been accus

1 Hom. de Marg.

Bellecius, Exercitia Spiritualia S. P. Ignatii de Loyola: Monita, p. 14.

tomed, according to the practice of his ancestors, to entertain a certain number of poor people every month in his castle, and to wait upon them, serving them with his own hands.' In like manner, it might be shewn that the spirit of chivalry, which abhorred a delicate and luxurious life, would be admirably prepared for obeying the commands of the Church, and for observing her discipline with strictness. Disdaining every unjust subjection, and therefore rejecting every authority but that of God, and that which is derived from him, the only motives which can command chivalry are drawn from religion. When the Duc de Bourbon and the Constable, in the name of the King of France, begged pardon of Philippe duke of Burgundy, for the death of his father, before the Cardinal of Sainte-Croix, Philippe replied, "qu'il pardonnoit pour l'amour de Dieu;" meaning to say, that no earthly inducement could have drawn such a promise from him. And when St. Ludovico di Gonzaga had succeeded in persuading the Duke of Mantua to be reconciled with his brother the Marquis Alfonso di Gonzaga, there were persons of great authority who suggested to the duke, that, since he was resolved to testify his reconciliation, he ought, at least, not to appear as having been induced to it solely by the persuasion of the young Ludovico, but that he ought to defer it to another time, in order to give satisfaction to the princes who had, from the first, been anxious to prevent the discord. But the duke replied, that he was resolved to finish the affair that moment, because he was induced to act so only by the arguments of the saintly child. Not that the spirit of chivalry is contrary to that of forgiveness. One of the first traits recorded of Sir Tristan is his petition that the life might be

Vie de St. François de Borgia, II, 297.

spared of his step-mother, who had twice attempted to poison him: "he kneled before the kyng and besought him a bone: I byseech you of your mercy that ye will forgive it her. God forgyve it her and I doo; for Goddes love, I requyre you to graunt me my bone."1 This noble sentiment tended to confirm men in the true principles of all Christian government. St. Ludovico di Gonzaga used to say, that it was characteristic of a mean and dastardly mind to obey any man from merely human motives, however they might be made to appear dignified.2

In its religion, chivalry would not be full of selfish views and crafty calculation. This is the spirit which the great St. Augustin so ardently desired to witness: "quæritis me, quia manducastis ex panibus meis. Propter carnem me quæritis, non propter spiritum." "How many only seek Jesus that they may derive temporal advantage!" These are the words of the holy father. "One has business, he secks the intercession of clerks; another is oppressed by a person in power, he flies to the Church; one for this cause, another for that. With such men the Church is daily filled. Vix quæritur Jesus propter Jesum."3 Chivalry is drawn to Christ because it loves "truth, happiness, justice, eternal life, all which is Christ," adds St. Augustin. "The soul is drawn by love. Da amantem, et sentit quod dico. Da desiderantem, da esurientem, da in ista solitudine peregrinantem atque sitientem et fontem æternæ patriæ suspirantem; da talem, et scit quod dicam. Si autem frigido loquor, nescit quid loquor."4 This is not the spirit which prompts men to say, like those whom St. Bonaventura censures, "if I knew that I should die within a short period, I

1 Morte d'Arthur, I, 249.

2 Vie de St. Louis de Gonzague, par Cepari, p. 142. 3 S. August. in Johan. Tractat. XXV, § 10. * Id. XXVI, § 4.