The ages, we call barbarous, present us with many a subject of curious
speculation. What, for instance, is more remarkable than the _Gothic_
CHIVALRY? or than the spirit of ROMANCE, which took its rise from that
singular institution?
Nothing in human nature, my dear friend, is without its reasons. The
modes and fashions of different times may appear, at first sight,
fantastic and unaccountable. But they, who look nearly into them,
discover some latent cause of their production.
“Nature once known, no prodigies remain,”
as sings our philosophical bard; but to come at this knowledge, is the
difficulty. Sometimes a close attention to the workings of the human
mind is sufficient to lead us to it: sometimes more than that, the
diligent observation of what passes without us, is necessary.
This last I take to be the case here. The prodigies we are now
contemplating, had their origin in the barbarous ages. Why then, says
the fastidious modern, look any further for the reason? Why not resolve
them at once into the usual caprice and absurdity of barbarians?
This, you see, is a short and commodious philosophy. Yet barbarians
have their _own_, such as it is, if they are not enlightened by our
reason. Shall we then condemn them unheard, or will it not be fair to
let them have the telling of their own story?
Would we know from what causes the institution of _Chivalry_ was
derived? The time of its birth, the situation of the barbarians amongst
whom it arose, must be considered: their wants, designs, and policies,
must be explored: we must inquire when, and where, and how, it came to
pass that the Western world became familiarized to this _prodigy_,
which we now start at.
Another thing is full as remarkable, and concerns us more nearly. The
spirit of Chivalry was a fire which soon spent itself: but that of
_Romance_, which was kindled at it, burnt long, and continued its light
and heat even to the politer ages.
The greatest geniuses of our own and foreign countries, such as ARIOSTO
and TASSO in _Italy_, and SPENSER and MILTON in _England_, were seduced
by these barbarities of their forefathers; were even charmed by the
_Gothic_ Romances. Was this caprice and absurdity in them? Or, may
there not be something in the _Gothic_ Romance peculiarly suited to
the views of a genius, and to the ends of poetry? And may not the
philosophic moderns have gone too far in their perpetual ridicule and
contempt of it?
To form a judgment in the case, the rise, progress, and genius of
_Gothic_ Chivalry must be explained.
The circumstances in the _Gothic_ fictions and manners, which are
proper to the ends of poetry (if any such there be) must be pointed
out.
Reasons, for the decline and rejection of the _Gothic_ taste in later
times, must be given.
You have in these particulars both the Subject and the PLAN of the
following Letters.