Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 1.djvu/70

xliv the termination of the third expedition, toward the close of the twelfth century, this kind of writing was at its height. Chivalry was then followed with a steady devotion, which I am inclined to think, soon afterwards abated; and was rather the undulation of the water, succeeding the tempest, than the tempest itself. The fourth and fifth crusade followed at the distance of about twenty years; but upwards of thirty elapsed before the sixth and last. The blood and coin that had been so uselessly lavished, might well conduce to satisfy the most enthusiastic crusader, and stem the torrent of popular superstition: while the surprizing frenzy that had so long desolated both hemispheres, from its very intensity, was calculated to subside, and introduce a juster mode of thinking, and more rational ideas. Time, which allays all other passions, could not but temper this; and the last of these