The works of Richard Hurd, volume 4 (of 8)

The wonders of Chivalry were still in the memory of men, were still existing, in some measure, in real life, when CHAUCER undertook to expose the barbarous relaters of them.

And yet (so slippery is the ground, on which we system-makers stand) from what I observed of the spirit, with which the Crusades were carried on, a hint may be taken, which thre...

_Chi non sa che cosa sia Italia?_—If this question could ever be reasonably asked on any occasion, it must surely be when the wit and poetry of that people were under considerat...

But you are weary of hearing so much of these exploded fancies; and are ready to ask, if there be any truth in this representation, “Whence it has come to pass, that the classic...

It is certain, much light might be thrown on that singular work, were an able critic to consider it in this view. For instance, he might go some way towards explaining, perhaps...

So far as the heroic and _Gothic_ manners are the same, the pictures of each, if well taken, must be equally entertaining. But I go further, and maintain that the circumstances,...

No doubt, SPENSER might have taken one single adventure, of the TWELVE, for the subject of his Poem; or he might have given the principal part in every adventure to Prince ARTHU...

If the conjecture, I advanced, of the rise of Chivalry, from the circumstances of the feudal government, be thought reasonable, it will not be difficult to account for the sever...

sanctuary, as it has been called, whither the subject is to run for shelter and protection. Had not Mr. ST. JOHN then much reason for saying, as he did on that occasion, “We hav...

The purpose of the casual hints, suggested in my last letter, was only to shew that the resemblance between the Heroic and _Gothic_ ages is great: so great that the observation...

But nothing shews the difference of the two systems under consideration more plainly, than the effect they really had on the Two greatest of our Poets; at least the two which an...

I look upon Chivalry, as on some mighty river, which the fablings of the poets have made immortal. It may have sprung up amidst rude rocks, and blind deserts. But the noise and...

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 ROMA...