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The History Of the most Noble Order of the Garter : Wherein is set forth An Account of the Town Castle, Chapel, and College of Windsor; with their several Officers ; The Foundation of the Order by King Edward III. ; With the Statutes, and Annals at large, as they have been altered and amended ; An Account of the Habits, Ensigns and Officers of the Order ... To which is prefix'd, A Discourse of Knighthood in General, and the several Orders extant in Europe
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mance of fome Vertuous or Heroick A£lion, directedfor the publick Good : And as Vertue is either Mili-tary or Civil, fo the Diftribution of Rewards is diffe-rent } either by bellowing Degrees and Titles of Ho-nour, or by Donations of Wealth ; fo that in eitherConftru&ion, Vertue may have its proper and fuitableReward.

But the proper Reward of Military Vertue , is Ho-nour : (to which diflindl Head this Work is confin’d.)Honour, which Hriftotle calls the Greatejl of exteriourGoods : And being an Object of a nobler Ambitionthan the Accumulation of Wealth, is principally theAim of that. Vertue we underlland by Valour , whichfprings from more generous Spirits, and hath been theconftant Foundation of railing Men to the higheftEminence of Glory, and fuperiour Dignity.

But that Fame might not lofe it felf in an unboundedNotion, it was at length thought fit to reduce Honourinto Form and Order, by inverting the Perfon meritingwith fome particular Title or Appellation of Excellence,(the Original of all Nobility $ ) of which Knighthood,as it hath been accounted the moft fuitable Rewardto the greatefl Vertue, fo it hath been efteemed thechief and primary Honour among many Nations. .

The Romans held Honour and Vertue in that Efteem,that they deify’d, and dedicated Temples to them:They made them lo contiguous in their Situation, thatthere was no other Paflage to that of Honour, but thro’the Temple of Vertue, myftically admonifhing, thatHonour was not to be attained by any other Way.

In feveral of the Roman Coins we fee Honour andVertue reprefented together in one Reverfe, and in oneMedal; the Face of Honour fo lhadows that of Vertue,that but a little of it appears, Honour being the more illujiri-oits of the two j and where we behold any Perfon outwardlyadorned with it , we are to judge him inwardly endued withVertue , inafmuch as Honour is his due , and jujlly bcjiowedupon him.

$. i. In tracing the Original of Knighthood, we arenot fo vain to fay, with the French, that S. Michael wasthe premier Chevalier 5 yet thus much we may affert, that’tis near as ancient as Valour and Heroic Vertue, not-withftanding the Ceremonies and Circumftances of ithave varied according to feveral Ages and Nations: Andtherefore, with much Probability, we may derive the

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