"Nothing at all," he replied. "It was a silly thing, and fit to be laughed at for the very reason that it was a sham, as Lycion says. As Digby himself tells us," he went on, taking the Book, and rapidly turning over the leaves-"Here it is"- and he read: "The error that leads men to doubt of this first proposition'—that is, you know, that Chivalry is not a thing past, but, like all things of Beauty, eternal- the error that leads men to doubt of this first proposition consists of their supposing that Tournaments, steel Panoply, and Coat arms, and Aristocratic institutions, are essential to Chivalry; whereas, these are, in fact, only accidental attendants. upon it, subject to the influence of Time, which changes all such things.'"

"I suppose," said Lycion, "your man- whatever his name is would carry us back to the days of King Arthur, and the Seven Champions, whenever they were- that one used to read about when a Child? I thought Don Quixote had put an end to all that long ago."

'Well, he, at any rate," said Euphranor, "did not depend on fine Accoutrement for his Chivalry." "Nay," said I, "but did he not believe in his rusty armour-perhaps even the paste-board Visor he fitted. as impregnable as the Cause

to it

"And some old Barber's bason as the Helmet of Mambrino," interposed Lycion

"And his poor Rocinante not to be surpass'd by the Bavieca of the Cid; believed in all this, I say, as really

as in the Windmills and Wine-skins being the Giants and Sorcerers he was to annihilate ?"

"To be sure he did," said Lycion; "but Euphranor's Round-table men- many of them great rascals, I believe-knew a real Dragon, or Giant-when they met him better than Don Quixote."

"Perhaps, however," said I, who saw Euphranor's colour rising, "he and Digby would tell us that all such Giants and Dragons may be taken for Symbols of certain Forms of Evil which his Knights went about to encounter and exterminate."

"Of course," said Euphranor, with an indignant snort, "every Child knows that: then as now to be met with and put down in whatsoever shapes they appear as long as Tyranny and Oppression exist.”

"Till finally extinguisht, as they crop up, by Euphranor and his Successors," said Lycion.

"Does not Carlyle somewhere talk to us of a 'Chivalry of Labour'?" said I; "that henceforward not 'Arms and the Man,' but Tools and the Man,' are to furnish the Epic of the world."

66

'Oh, well," said Lycion, "if the 'Table-Round' turn into a Tailor's Board-Charge, Chester, charge!' say I only not exorbitantly for the Coat you provide for us which indeed, like true Knights, I believe you should provide for us gratis."

"Yes, my dear fellow," said I, laughing, "but then You must not sit idle, smoking your cigar, in the midst of it; but, as your Ancestors led on mail'd troops at

Agincourt, so must you put yourself, shears in hand, at the head of this Host, and become what Carlyle calls 'a Captain of Industry,' a Master-tailor, leading on a host of Journeymen to fresh fields and conquests new."

"Besides," said Euphranor, who did not like Carlyle, nor relish this sudden descent of his hobby, "surely Chivalry will never want a good Cause to maintain, whether private or public. As Tennyson says, King Arthur, who was carried away wounded to the island valley of Avilion, returns to us in the shape of a 'modern Gentleman'; and, the greater his Power and oppor tunity, the more demanded of him."

"Which you must bear in mind, Lycion," said I, "if ever you come to legislate for us in your Father's Borough."

"Or out of it, also," said Euphranor," with something other than the Doctor's Shears at your side; as in case of any National call to Arms."

To this Lycion, however, only turn'd his cigar in his mouth by way of reply, and look'd somewhat superciliously at his Antagonist. And I, who had been looking into the leaves of the Book that Euphranor had left open, said:

"Here we are, as usual, discussing without having yet agreed on the terms we are using. Euphranor has told us, on the word of his Hero, what Chivalry is not: let him read us what it is that we are talking about."

I then handed him the Book to read to us, while Lycion, lying down on the grass, with his hat over his

eyes, composed himself to inattention. And Euphranor read:

"Chivalry is only a name for that general Spirit or state of mind which disposes men to Generous and Heroic actions; and keeps them conversant with all that is Beautiful and Sublime in the Intellectual and Moral world. It will be found that, in the absence of conservative principles, this Spirit more generally prevails in Youth than in the later periods of men's life: and, as the Heroic is always the earliest age in the history of nations, so Youth, the first period of life, may be considered as the Heroic or Chivalrous age of each separate Man; and there are few so unhappy as to have grown up without having experienced its influence, and having derived the advantage of being able to enrich their imagination, and to soothe their hours of sorrow, with its romantic recollections. The Anglo-Saxons distinguished the period between Childhood and Manhood by the term Cnihthad,' Knighthood: a term which still continued to indicate the connexion between Youth and Chivalry, when Knights were styled Children,' as in the historic song beginning

"Childe Rowlande to the dark tower came,"

an excellent expression, no doubt;- for every Boy and Youth is, in his mind and sentiment, a Knight, and essentially a Son of Chivalry. Nature is fine in him. Nothing but the circumstances of a singular and most degrading system of Education can ever totally destroy

the action of this general law. Therefore, so long as there has been, or shall be, a succession of sweet Springs in Man's Intellectual World; as long as there have been, or shall be, Young men to grow up to maturity; and until all Youthful life shall be dead, and its source withered up for ever; so long must there have been, and must there continue to be, the spirit of noble Chivalry. To understand therefore this first and, as it were, natural Chivalry, we have only to observe the features of the Youthful age, of which examples surround us. For, as Demipho says of young men :

"Ecce autem similia omnia: omnes congruunt:
Unum cognoris, omnes noris."

Mark the courage of him who is green and fresh in the Old world. Amyntas beheld and dreaded the insolence of the Persians; but not so Alexander, the son of Amyntas, ἅτε νέος τε ἐὼν καὶ κακῶν ἀπαθὴς (says Herodotus) οὐδαμῶς ἔτι κατέχειν διός τε ἦν. When Jason had related to his companions the conditions imposed by the King, the first impression was that of horror and despondency; till Peleus rose up boldly, and said,

Ωρη μητιάασθαι ὅ χ ̓ ἔρξομεν· οὐ μὲν ἔολπα

Βουλῆς εἶναι ὄνειαρ, ὅσον τ' ἐπὶ κάρτεῖ χειρῶν.

'If Jason be unwilling to attempt it, I and the rest will undertake the enterprise; for what more can we suffer than death?' And then instantly rose up Telamon and Idas, and the sons of Tyndarus, and Enides, although οὐ δέ περ ὅσσον ἐπανθιόωντας ἰούλους Αντέλλων.