"In woods, in waves, in wars she wont to dwell, And will be found with peril and with pain; Nor can the man that moulders in idle cell, Unto her happy mansion attain. Before her gate high God did sweat ordain, And wakeful watchers ever to abide: But easy is the way and passage plain To pleasure's palace: it may soon be spide, And day and night her doors to all stand open wide."[165] [Sidenote: Knightly independence consistent with discipline.] It has often been supposed[166] that the chivalric array must have been inconvenient to the feudal and national disposition of armies, and that knightly honours would be continually striving with other distinctions for pre-eminence. But this supposition has arisen from a want of attention to chivalric principles. Chivalry was not opposed to national institutions; it was a feeling of honour that pervaded without disturbing society; and knightly distinctions were altogether independent of ranks in the state. As every lord was educated in chivalry, he was of course a knight; but he led his troops into the field in consequence of his feudal possessions; and any that were attached to his knighthood, it would be in vain to enquire after. The array of an army was always formed agreeably to the sageness and imagination of the constable, or marshal, or whatever other officer of the nation was commander, without the slightest reference to chivalry. A squire frequently led knights, certainly not on account of his chivalric title, but by reason of favour or merit, or any other of the infinity of causes that occasion advancement. * * * * * [Sidenote: Religion of the knight.] [Sidenote: His devotion.]