These features, however, in the manners of the Celtic tribes, are very general, and by no means sufficient to establish a striking and undisputed resemblance between them and the institutions of chivalry ; much less to prove that chivalry originated with the people of Armorica, or the Celtic inhabitants of NVales and Cornwall. There is, however, another circumstance on which the ingeni ous and learned supporter of this hypothesis rests, in order to establish his position, which, though not im mediately connected with our present subject, ought not to be passed over. He contends, and with much felici ty and strength of illustration, that the oldest romances of chivalry arc of Armorican origin. The steps by which he endeavours to make good his position are, 1st, that all the European nations take their romances of chi valry from the French ; 2d, that the French romances originate in the north of France; and, 3d, that the older romances of chivalry have especially celebrated the he• roes of Greater or Lesser Brittany, and are therefore of Armorican origin. But it is evident, that it by no means follows, because romances of chivalry are of Armorican origin, that chivalry itself sprung from the same coun try. This circumstance might strengthen other argu ments, but it cannot of itself constitute an irrefragable and conclusive argument. Another position of the same writer is certainly unsupported by fact, and even were it true and well founded, it is not easy to perceive how it could strengthen his hypothesis. In order to prove that chivalry is not Scandinavian, but of Armorican ori gin, he asserts, that " the whole ritual of chivalry, the military exercises, the fortified palaces, its very religi osity, imply an advanced state in:society, to which the Scandinavians could not have attained ;" and the obliga tions of the knight, to which his oath bound him, he con siders as the reliques of a receding., rather than the tokens of a growing civilization. This opinion is sin gular, and seems utterly void of foundation ; but were it correct, what proof is there that the people of Armo rica exhibited symptoms of a receding civilization, at the time when the people of Scandinavia were only ad vancing in civilization But in the manners and institutions of the Celtic na tions, there is no proof of the existence of those peculiar qualities of chivalry :—a high sense of honour, courtesy of manners, and a refined and respectful gallantry ; with regard to the latter, the Celtic nations, from every evi dence, were far behind the Gothic tribes.
From the preceding investigation into the manners and institutions of the eastern, northern, and Celtic nations, so far as they appeared to hear a resemblance to the man ners and institutions of chivalry, several inferences may be drawn, which will be of use in fixing its origin and tracing its causes.
In the first place, the high estimation in which valour was held by the eastern, northern, and Celtic nations, and their fondness for feats of arms, proves neither that these nations sprung from a conunon stock, nor that either of them gave birth to chivalry. The very consti tution and circumstances of society, at the period to which our investigations referred, rendered valour indis pensably necessary, and of paramount importance and honour ; while the desire of keeping alive and improving their skill in fighting, and the habits they had acquired in actual warfare, naturally gave rise to feats of arms.
These features in chivalry, therefore, were rather fea tures of the age, and were exhibited with more promi nence by those who had become knights, only because their rank and station in society called for greater skill and courage.
In the second place, the same remark will not apply with equal propriety and force to the more peculiar cha racteristics of chivalry—a high sense of honour, courte sy of manners, and especially delicate and respectful at tention to the female sex. These are not to be found among most nations during that stage of society, in which they appeared among the Gothic tribes. It may be urged, indeed, that the violence and rapine of those barbarous ages required that especial protection should be shewn to the female sex ; but this protection would not have been shewn, unless their character had previ ously stood much higher with the men of this nation, than it did among the Greeks, Romans, and the people of thc East. Besides, among the Gothic tribes, and in the days of chivalry, the female sex was not merely protect ed from violence, but they possessed a station of high im portance and influence, and were regarded as the most proper and honourable rcwarders of that valour, on which the men most highly prided themselves.
In the third place, chivalry, strictly and properly so called, cannot be traced among the institutions of any of the different nations whom we have considered. It no where appears as a whole, embodied into form, and in fused with an active and animating spirit ; the disjecta membra may be found, but even these are not complete ; nor of that due proportion which they assumed, when chivalry was reduced to a system.
Lastly, in order to gain a clearer insight into the pe riod and the nation that gave rise to chivalry, properly so called, it is necessary carefully to distinguish between a similarity of forms, ceremonies, and amusements, and a similarity in character, and in the nature of the princi ples and duties of the times, wheu chivalry actually flou rished, and when it is supposed first to have appeared. In this, as in all other questions of antiquarian research, recourse must be had, in the first instance, to direct his torical evidence, if it is to be found ;—if this dots not exist, internal and collateral evidence must be had re course to, which divides itself into two species ; that which consists in the nature of the amusements and ce remonies, and that which consists in the character and habits of nations. On the question of the origin of chi valry, direct historical evidence fails us. Among differ ent nations, very far removed from each other in position, as well as in general habits, we can trace many of the amusements, and some features of the character of chi valry ; but these, as has been already observed, were the necessary consequence of the circumstances, in which, at a certain stage of society, almost all nations are plac ed ;—it is only among the people of one tribe, and among them from the earliest notice we possess respecting them, that those characteristics of chivalry, which strike us as the most singular and uncommon, arc to be clearly traced.