The loves of chivalric times must often have been shaded with gloom, and so convulsed was the state of Europe, so distant were its parts often thrown from each other, that the course of true love seldom ran smoothly, and affianced knights and damsels more frequently breathed the wish of annihilating time and space than is necessary in the happier monotony of modern times. In almost every case of attachment absence was unavoidable, and constancy, therefore, became a necessary virtue of love in chivalry. "Young knight whatever, that dost arms profess, And through long labours huntest after fame, Beware of fraud, beware of fickleness, In choice, and change, of thy dear loved dame; Least thou of her believe too lightly blame, And rash misweening do thy heart remove; For unto knight there is no greater shame Than lightness and inconstancy in love."[233] * * * * * His mistress was ever present to his imagination, and he felt there would be a witness to his disloyalty. Even if he could dismiss her picture from his mind, his own sense of honour preserved his virtue, and the reply of a knight to a beautiful temptress, that though his sovereign-lady might never know of his conduct, yet his heart, which was constantly near her, could not be ignorant, was conceived in the purest spirit of chivalry. [Sidenote: Absence of jealousy.] The troubadours, who were the teachers of the art of love, refined upon this respectful passion of the knight in a very amusing manner. They were wont to affirm, that though a knight saw cause for jealousy, yet if his lady-love were to deny the circumstances, he was to reply that he was convinced of the verity of her assertions; but he really did believe he had witnessed such and such matters.[234] [Sidenote: Knights asserted by arms their mistress' beauty.]