The historian evidently does not approve of this new dispensation, and indeed all through his writings displays that ancient deep-seated scorn for the sex he calls frail which chivalry itself has not banished from the heart of man.
The new ideals, it is to be remarked, applied only to the knight and the noble. We have moved a little farther in regarding chivalry as an attribute of the man, though the mediæval notion still lingers that its qualities pertain par excellence to the "gentleman." We have yet further to go in making them extend in their full range to the womanly character. The notion seems to be fairly widespread that it is feminine to be at least a little treacherous!
CHURCH AT BARBENTANE.
By E. M. Synge.
All advance has been, and apparently must be made along the lines of chivalry. There is not a noble deed or a generous thought that does not, in its essence, belong to this wonderful tradition which we accept so unquestioningly that we do not even remember to ask whence it came. Yet so fundamental is it in our most intimate thoughts as well as in our public judgments that one can scarcely conceive any further progress that should not consist in a steady extension of the knightly sentiment, a generous widening of the wisdom of the heart, till every living being capable of joy and of suffering, the greatest and the least, shall be gathered together under the great "Cloak of Friendship."
The early poetry of Provence, like that of every other country, celebrates the wars and exploits of heroes, inspired in this case by the long conflicts with the Barbarians and with the Saracens.
One must not forget that for centuries the people of Gaul had enjoyed the civilisation of the Romans, more especially in the attractive South, where those great colonists had built splendid villas and settled down to a cultured and luxurious life.
The Gallo-Roman society was cultivated in a high degree, after the Roman model. The Gauls had shown from the first great quickness in adapting themselves to the new order, and the country had become truly and completely Romanised, almost the only instance in history of such an achievement. There were schools of grammar and rhetoric in all the towns, and a Gallo-Roman literature had sprung up, which continued to exist for a considerable time, almost a century, after the Barbarian invasions.
In the fifth century in Gaul men were violently discussing the question of Materialism versus Spiritualism in philosophy, and there is a treatise on the "Nature of the Soul" of this period in which the author undertakes to "demonstrate the immateriality of this substance in opposition to those who believe it inherent in the bodily organs and as being merely a certain state or modification of those organs." The twentieth century finds us still busy with the question.