heraldryofyorkmi01custuoft

INTRODUCTION. 25
" rude and stormy social state, attracting the view and commanding the
" respect even of men whose lives are little conformable to it.
" Christianity must undoubtedly be ranked amongst
the causes of this
" fact. But, whatever the cause, the fact is indubitable. We find it
every-
" where in the Middle Ages in the ;
popular poetry as well as in the
" exhortations of the priests. At no period, perhaps, has the intercourse
" between the sexes been more licentious than in the age of chivalry ; yet
"never was purity of manners more strongly enjoined or more feelingly
"described; and perhaps the fantastic elevation given to the female sex
" by the laws of chivalry may have tended ultimately to place woman in
" her true position as the equal companion of man.
" Nor was purity of manners a theme for poetic eulogy alone. We
"find, from a multitude of testimonies, that the public thought in this
"particular as the poet spoke, that the prevailing moral notions were pure
" and noble, amidst all the rudeness and licentiousness of conduct."
This, then, was the grand moral characteristic of chivalry which entitles
it to an important place in the history of modern civilization.
Is it too much to say that without it men would have lapsed into
mere savages, or rather,
never have been emancipated from the condition
of savages and if people in the present day, instead of thoughtlessly
;
adopting the outward and visible signs, would study and endeavour to
cultivate the things signified, the principles which underlay every sign
therein (and which are just as necessary and as practical for our every-day
life in this generation as they were in those), they would do much to
remedy the evils which tarnish our social and individual life, and which
we are so perplexed to control.
The issues of life are too momentous, and the dangers besetting
humanity too many and complex, to allow of our ridiculing or ignoring
any honest effort to grapple with them, even if it be, in our estimation, a
little out of date. No doubt none are perfect, but at least they are worthy
of our respectful attention, and of our endeavour to discover and disentangle
the legitimate motive and purpose from the abuses with which they may
have become surrounded, or the follies into which they may have degenerated,
or the misconceptions and exaggerations which may have been
circulated about them. I venture, as an old Freemason, to claim as much
for Freemasonry and, as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, I ask the
;
same for Heraldry. The aims of both were similar, though they adopted
different illustrations ; and, if quaint in conception, they are equally sound
in principle, though the latter, from the far more modern date of its
foundation, is
more exclusively and distinctly Christian.
I know that it is the habit of many to regard chivalry as something
frivolous while it lasted, and utterly effete now ;
but some at least, and