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REMARKS on the preceding ODE.
I Will not anticipate the reflections that necessarily occur to the Reader on perusing this Poem; but will only observe, that it strongly confirms what I have advanced in the former part of this work, concerning the peculiar sentiments of the northern nations with regard to the fair sex. It has been commonly supposed, that we owe to the Laws of Chivalry, (i. e. to an institution so late as the eleventh century) that spirit of generosity, which formerly rendered the ladies the umpires of the glory and honour of the male sex; which made their favours the object and the reward of virtuous and gallant actions; which caused the care of serving, defending and pleasing them, to be considered as the sweetest and most noble of all duties; and which hath, even to this day, entailed on them a respect and deference, of which there is not the least idea in other climates. But it is certain, that long before the eleventh century, this manner of thinking had been familiar,
