Throngs of knights
           and barons bold,
    In weeds
           of peace high triumphs hold,
    With store of ladies,
           whose bright eyes
    Rain influence
          and judge the prize.

    MILTON.

 
  PART I. KING ARTHUR AND
       HIS KNIGHTS.

 
  CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION.

    ON the decline
           of the Roman power,
         about five centuries after Christ,
         the countries of Northern Europe
            were left almost destitute
                   of a national government.

    Numerous chiefs,
           more or less powerful,
         held local sway,
           as far as each
            could enforce his dominion,
         and occasionally those chiefs
            would unite
                   for a common object;
        but,
           in ordinary times,
         they were much more likely
              to be
                  found in hostility
                       to one another.

    In such a state
           of things,
         the rights
               of the humbler classes
                   of society
            were at the mercy of
                   every assailant;
        and it is plain that,
           without some check
               upon the lawless power
                   of the chiefs,
      society must have relapsed
               into barbarism.

    Such checks were found,
           first,
         in the rivalry
               of the chiefs themselves,
           whose mutual jealousy
              made them restraints
                   upon one another;
        secondly,
           in the influence
               of the Church,
         which,
           by every motive,
         pure or selfish,
           was pledged
              to interpose
                   for the protection
                       of the weak;
        and lastly,
           in the generosity
               and sense of right which,
         however crushed
               under the weight of passion
                   and selfishness,
           dwell naturally
               in the heart of man.

    From this last source
        sprang Chivalry,
           which framed an ideal
               of the heroic character,
         combining invincible strength
               and valor,
           justice,
         modesty,
           loyalty to superiors,
         courtesy to equals,
           compassion to weakness,
         and devotedness to the Church;
        an ideal which,
           if never
              met with in real life,
         was acknowledged
               by all
                as the highest model
                      for emulation.

    The word Chivalry
        is derived
               from the French cheval,
           a horse.

    The word knight,
           which originally
              meant boy or servant,
         was particularly
              applied to
                   a young man after
             he was
                  admitted to the privilege
                       of bearing arms.

    This privilege was
         conferred on youths of family
               and fortune only,
           for the mass
               of the people
            were not furnished with arms.

    The knight then
        was a mounted warrior,
           a man of rank,
         or in the service
               and maintenance of
                   some man of rank,
           generally possessing
               some independent means of support,
         but often relying mainly
               on the gratitude of
                   those whom
             he served
                   for the supply
                       of his wants,
           and often,
         no doubt,
           resorting to the means
              which power
                confers on its possessor.

    In time
           of war the knight was,
         with his followers,
         in the camp
               of his sovereign,
           or commanding in the field,
         or holding
               some castle for him.

    In time of peace
         he was of ten
               in attendance
             at his sovereign's court,
           gracing with
               his presence
             the banquets
               and tournaments
             with which princes
                  cheered their leisure.

    Or he
        was traversing the country
               in quest of adventure,
           professedly bent on redressing
               wrongs and enforcing rights,
         sometimes in fulfilment of
               some vow of religion
              or of love.

    These wandering knights
        were called knights-errant;
           they were welcome guests
               in the castles
                   of the nobility,
           for their presence
              enlivened the dulness of
                   those secluded abodes,
         and they
            were received
                   with honor
                 at the abbeys,
           which often
              owed the best
                   part of their revenues
                       to the patronage
                           of the knights;
        but if no castle
              or abbey or hermitage
            were at hand,
           their hardy habits