It still retained, indeed, the fanciful and voluptuous character which it had possessed among the southern nations of antiquity.

But it was tinged with the superstitious veneration with which the northern warriors had been accustomed to regard women.

Devotion and war had imparted to it their most solemn and animating feelings.

It was sanctified by the blessings of the Church, and decorated with the wreaths of the tournament.

Venus, as in the ancient fable, was again rising above the dark and tempestuous waves which had so long covered her beauty.