1300.] On the increafing Debility of Mankind. 25

and in which of conſequence the colic of Poitou began to extend its ravages in all zivilized nations*.

When individual warriors, or whole warlike nations, who placed a great part of their renown in perſonal vigeur and in- defatigable endurance of the toils of battle, laid aſide their heavy- armour, laid aſide the helmet, cuiraſs, ſhield and broad-ſword, Which hitherto were accounted the charaderiſtic tokens of the Vigour and dignity of knighthood, it is not to be expected thac they ſhould themſelves acknowledge a want of perſonal vigour to have- been the cauſe of this procedure; and yet nothing is more probable, than that this was actually the caſe.

And here let me aſk: Were our ancient knights heavy as was their armour, ſo eaſily exhauſted with fatigue? Far from it. We need only peruſe the hiſtory of their batties, their broils, &c. to ſee how indefatigable and rapid their evolutions were in this armour; how a number of theſe heavy-armed knights would conftantly, to a certainty, overcome a ſuperior number of light cavalry. We need only view in our arſenals their cuirailes, their broad-ſwords, the whole of their armour both for man and horſe. In theſe coats of mail, the weight of which the ſtrongeſt of our cotemporaries can with difficulty ſuſtain a couple of hours, they performed the longeſt, the moſt forced marches z laid about them manfully therein for weeks, months, and y ears together; undertook expeditions in every quarter of the. globe, even to the Paleſtine itſelf, and that not in ſtraggling parties of individuals,—not- ſele companies, whom Nature, departing from the ordinary courſe of things, had endowed with more than FHerculean ſtrength; but in whole troops, in myriads, in nu- merous armies; whole nations of warriors, and more eſpecially the higher orders, from whom, according to the preſent ſyſtem of things, we ſhould expe leſs inurance from hard Jabour, more delicacy, and of courſe leſs nerve and vigor.“ Princes and knights made it almoſt their exclufive duty and boaſt to wear, what at preſent would be, the inſupportable weight of theſe heavy arms: and there is no doubt but the ſervants of theſe knights,-their vaſſals and ſerfs, very nearly poſſeſſed equal ſtrength with their lords and matters, the knights themſelves; from whence we may infer, that the whole nation at large was in- finitely ſtronger and more robuſt than we are. This is however the caſe, not only with us, but with every civilized nation.—

* It is very remarkable, that under Charles VIII. king of France, about thé: Yea 1495; Tétaly firſt gave the other warring fates the idea, though irideed at that time a-very imperfe& one, of regular troops of light cavalry. Now, about the ſame time, the art of glazing earthen-ware likewiſe was in its cradle în Italy; a hundred years prior to this period, the inventor of this art, an-Italian born, having fitſt practiſed it in Majorca.

CoM. AG. MAG. E