But, it is not only the actual effects of Almanzor's valour, which
appear to us unnatural, but also the extraordinary principles and
motives by which those exertions are guided. Here also, we must look
back to the Gothic romances, and to those of Scudery and Calprenede.
In fact, the extravagance of sentiment is no less necessary than the
extravagance of achievement to constitute a true knight errant; and
such is Almanzor. Honour and love were the sole deities worshipped by
this extraordinary race, who, though their memory and manners are
preserved chiefly in works of fiction, did once exist in real life,
and actually conducted armies, and governed kingdoms, upon principles
as strained and hyperbolical as those of the Moorish champion. If
Almanzor, at the command of his mistress, aids his hated rival to the
destruction of his own hopes, he only discharges the duty of a good
knight, who was bound to sacrifice himself, and all his hopes and
wishes, at the slightest command of her, to whom he had vowed his
service, and who, in the language of chivalry, was to him as the soul
is to the body. The reader may recollect the memorable invasion of
England by James IV. of Scotland, in which he hazarded and actually
lost his own life, and the flower of his nobility, because the queen
of France, who called him her knight, had commanded him to march three
miles on English ground for her sake.

Less can be said to justify the extravagant language in which Almanzor
threatens his enemies, and vaunts his own importance. This is not
common in the heroes of romance, who are usually as remarkable for
their modesty of language as for their prowess; and still more seldom
does, in real life, a vain-glorious boaster vindicate by his actions
the threats of his tongue. It is true, that men of a fervent and
glowing character are apt to strain their speech beyond the modesty of
ordinary conversation, and display, in their language, the fire which