While Italy was thus lifeless, some seeds from the plant of knowledge, which had been blown to the western extremity of Europe, took root there, and reached a certain maturity. Accordingly, we find it recorded, that two Irishmen, persons incomparably skilled in secular and sacred learning,' had reached the shores of France, and were giving public lectures to the people*. Their fame reached the ears of Charlemagne, who immediately employed them in the education of the youth of Gaul and Italy.

Alcuin, as we have mentioned, enjoyed the honour of affording personal instruction to the emperor and presiding over his Palatine school; and Dungal, another native of Ireland †, has acquired some importance in the history of Italy by the lessons which he delivered in her schools. This eagerness of Charlemagne to avail himself of foreign talent and acquirements evinces his earnestness in the prosecution of his great project, to civilize by the path of knowledge-a project which failed indeed through the perversity of political circumstances and the incapacity of most of his successors; but which, if perseveringly pursued, must generally be successful, because it is in unison with the natural inclinations, and energies, and prospects of the mind of man.

France profited by this conjuncture more rapidly than Italy, as she had not previously fallen quite so low in ignorance: and it would even seem that the schools, which were now instituted in that country, were open to the laity as well as to those intended for the sacred profession, though the office of instruction remained entirely in the hands of the clergy. But it is certain, that very few were found to avail themselves of a privilege of which they knew not the value. Among the numerous names, which adorn the literary annals of France during the ninth century, there are scarcely one or two which are not ecclesiastical. Even Germany outstripped in the race of improvement the languid progress of Italy; and under a sky so splendidly prolific of taste and genius there arose not any one character conspicuous, even in his own day, for intellectual advancement, through a space of more than four centuries. And this extraordinary dearth of merit is not entirely to be charged on the neglect of rulers, whether temporal or spiritual. Italy shared with his other provinces the admirable institutions of Charlemagne and of some of his successors; and there are canons of Roman councils still extant, published in the ninth century, which directed the suspension of any among the priesthood who should be convicted of ignorance, and provided means for the instruction of the rural clergy. But these measures, though they might possibly secure a mediocrity of theological acquirement, were insufficient to call forth any commanding spirit into the field of literature.

The tenth century did not increase the store of knowledge, nor multiply the candidates for fame either in Italy or France. In France, the

*Not gratuitously, it would seem, as literary missionaries, but for money contributed by their hearers.

+ Scotus: a term which was long confined to the sister island. Muratori condescends to employ some pains to ascertain whether or not Dungal was a monk, as were his two compatriots mentioned in the text-a question deemed of some importance to the honour of the monastic order.

Some may consider Pope Nicholas as an exception; and he certainly possessed great talents, and was not devoid of canonical learning, though in both respects probably much inferior to Hincmar. But his character was essentially ecclesiastical; it was not adorned by any recollection purely literary.

§ In the years 826 and 853.

The decree of Pope Leo IV. is cited by Muratori.

The two leading literary heroes of France during this age were (1.) St. Odo, Abbot

depredations of the Normans during the conclusion of the preceding age, destroyed not only the leisure and security, but even the means and food of study. For in their savage incursions, those unlettered pagans directed their rage against the monasteries, as being the principal seats of letters and religion; the buildings were reparable, but the manuscripts which they contained perished irretrievably. Nor was this the only calamity, nor even the most fatal of the injuries, which obstructed the progress of learning: for it was during the same period that the kingdom of France was broken up into small principalities under independent hereditary vassals, who despoiled the people of the few rights and blessings which they had possessed under a single sceptre, and whose rule permitted the license which their example encouraged. In the prostration of human laws the law divine was easily forgotten, and the hand which was accustomed to robbery did not long refrain from sacrilege. In such wild periods the wealth and the weakness of the Clergy have always pointed them out as the earliest victims *; and this domestic anarchy was probably more effectual in arresting the steps of learning and civilization than the more transient tempests of foreign invasion. We shall here only pause to remark, that during the struggles of this frightful period, the defence of the tower of knowledge, as heretofore its construction, was entrusted by Providence to ecclesiastical hands; while its walls were incessantly menaced or violated by a lawless military aristocracy, which had closely wrapped itself in ignorance, and was partly jealous and partly contemptuous of every exertion to improve and enlighten mankind.

We are not surprised to observe that a condition of civil demoralization, such as then existed, should have been attended by corruption in every rank of the clergy. The Bishops were negligent and immoral, and the inferior orders indulged in still grosser vices and more offensive indecencies†; and we may be well assured that the laity were still further debased by the example of deformities, which their own turbulence had so greatly tended to create.

Comets, and eclipses, and earthquakes were fearful prodigies and sure prognostics of disaster, and the most penetrating astronomers of the day shared (or pretended to share) the common solicitude. Enchantments, auguries, and divinations were ardently sought after, and commanded implicit belief. The forms of trial called the Judgments of God,' were of the same description, and scarcely less remote from the precincts of reason; and yet these degrading superstitions, though never canonically received as a part of Church discipline, and even continually combated by the more enlightened ecclesiastics, were both respected and practised among the lower Clergy during this and the three following ages.

of Cluni, who wrote some theological works and a Life of St. Gregory of Tours-he died in 942-and (2.) Frodoard, Canon of Rheims, who composed the History of the Church of Rheims, and a Chronicle, extending from 919 to 966, the year of his death.

Most of the monasteries which escaped destruction fell into the hands of lay Abbots, who used them as residences or castles, or usually as hunting-seats. On the other hand, the foundation of Cluni, in the same age, compensated the loss of many old, and probably corrupt, establishments.

+In the enumeration of these by the truly Catholic compilers of the Hist. Litt. de la France, it is mentioned, as not the lightest scandal, that there were priests who dared to marry publicly.'

Astrologers, we should rather say. Muratori (Dissert. 44) attributes the introduction of these vanities to the study of Arabic literature. But was that study generally in fashion before the time of Pope Sylvester ?

Howbeit, even in the dreary records of this century we find traces of parochial schools for the instruction of children of both sexes*; and we read a long list of literary worthies whose names have in many cases survived their works, and whose works were chiefly remarkable for the meanness of their subjects, and the perplexed or puerile manner in which they are treated. And yet even these are sufficient to exhibit to us the spirit of improvement striving against the casual torrents which threatened to wash it away; and though it unquestionably receded during the calamitous interval between the death of Hincmar and the end of the tenth century †, still, if we look somewhat farther back, and confine our attention to the country about which we are best informed, we need not hesitate to pronounce that the literary condition of France was, upon the whole, more prosperous when Sylvester II. ascended the chair, than when Charlemagne mounted the throne of Rome.

As to Italy, the spell which had bound her genius during the preceding centuries seemed to be confirmed and riveted in the tenth. It is true, that some schools were yet found scattered through the towns and villages, which may have raised the character of the clergy somewhat above the degradation of the seventh and eighth centuries, to which the Lombard conquest had reduced it; but the industry of those schools appears still to have been confined to the study of grammar and some necessary knowledge of canonical law; and it is complained that the nobles, who sent their sons to them, had rather in view the episcopal dignities for which they thus became qualified, than the spiritual fruits of religious education. It is very probable that they were attended by none of any class excepting those intended for some branch of the ministry.

These remarks sufficiently explain, to what extremely narrow limits was confined, both in respect to its character and diffusion, the learning of those ages which immediately followed the subversion of the Western Empire. From civil, it had passed under ecclesiastical superintendence; but the Church which undertook the charge was itself corrupted and barbarized by contact with the profound ignorance and rude character and institutions of the conquerors: so that the immortal models were neglected, the precepts of the ancient masters forgotten, and the whole light of literature, properly so called, extinguished. Nevertheless, we are not to suppose that the ecclesiastics of those days offered to their contemporaries no substitute for those treasures which they had not the means or the inclination to dispense. On the contrary, their productions were at some periods extremely abundant in number, and in character far from unprofitable: and on this last point there is one important observation, which it is here proper to make, and which we press the more seriously, because it is not very commonly urged. These writings were almost wholly confined to theological matters, and their object (however faultily it may sometimes have been pursued) was practical. Instructions, sermons,

According to the regulations of that at Toul the children were admissible at seven years of age, and received their first lessons in the Psalms; and it was provided that the boys and girls should be taught separately. The parochial curés appear (as in Italy) to have had the charge of such establishments.

About this time the establishment of some Greek commonalties took place in Lorraine, introducing a partial knowledge of that language. And these Orientals were there encountered by certain emigrants from Ireland, a country which appears never to have forfeited the affections, nor to have secured the residence, of its sons. Nationem Scotorum quibus consuetudo peregrinandi jam pæne in naturam conversa est,' Walafridus Strabus (liv. ii., c. 27, de vita Sancti Galli), apud Murat. Diss. 37.

homilies, interpretations and illustrations of scripture, were published in great profusion, and furnished to the people the only means of intellectual instruction. It is true that they were rude and unskilfully composed ; but they were addressed to rude assemblies, and were for the most* part directed to the moral improvement of those who read and heard them; and moreover, their effect to that end, whatsoever it may have been, was at least not counteracted by any other description of literature: the whole mass had one object only, and that, upon the whole, beneficial. Even the Lives of the Saints,' and other legends of those days, may have conduced, though by a different and more doubtful path, to the same purpose; for among the swarms of those compositions which were then produced, and of which so many had a tendency to mere superstition, some may be found unquestionably calculated to move the real devotion and amend the moral principles of a barbarous people. Thus was there much even in the effusions of the most illiterate times which must have persuaded, influenced, and profited the generation to which they were addressed; but their action was confined to their own day, to the moment of their delivery; they were not associated with any of the stable wisdom of former ages; nor were they qualified, nor were they indeed intended, to fix the attention of posterity.

Scarcity of Manuscripts.

Italy had suffered to a certain extent from calamities similar to those which suspended the progress of France, and which were there followed by the same moral degeneracy; but these causes would scarcely have been adequate to so general an extinction, not of learning only, but almost of the curiosity and wish to learn, had they not been powerfully aided by another circumstance, which is less regarded by historians: this was no other than the extreme scarcity and dearness of manuscripts. This misfortune was not entirely, nor even mainly, attributable either to the destruction of monasteries or the indolence of monks: a more general and substantial cause existed in the absolute deficiency of the material. The ancients had obtained from the shores of the Nile, through easy and continual intercourse with Alexandria, sufficient supplies of papyrus to satisfy at a slight expense their literary wants; but after the conquest of Egypt by the Saracens, the communication became less frequent and secure, and the fabric of an implement of peace was probably discouraged by the warlike habits of the conquerors. At least it is certain, that about that period the papyrus began to be disused throughout Europe, and that the monuments, which remain of the seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries, are invariably composed of parchment. It was not possible, when the material was so expensive, that manuscripts could multiply very rapidly, or even that the losses occasioned by decay or devastation could be repaired with any facility; and thus the libraries of the cathedrals and monasteries, to which all the treasures of former ages were at this period confided, were gradually impoverished or destroyed. The records of the time abound with complaints of this general penury of books, as well as with facts in proof of it, one of which is the following:-In the year_855, Lupus, of Ferrara, wrote from his abbey, in France, to Pope Bene

* It is unquestionable that these writings contained a vast deal calculated to mislead, many errors of an absurd and superstitious tendency; but these evils were probably more than counterbalanced, in their immediate effect upon the people, by the expositions of sound doctrine and lessons of practical piety, which are even more abundant. We refer as a fair example, to the passage of St. Eligius, cited at the conclusion of the last chapter.

dict III., praying for the loan of the concluding part of St. Jerome's Commentary on Jeremiah, with the promise that it should be rapidly copied and returned for in our regions nothing is to be found later than the Sixth Book, and we pray to recover through you, that which is wanting to our own insignificance.' In addition to this, he ventured to solicit the use of three books of profane writers-the Treatise of Cicero de Oratore, the Institutions of Quintilian, and Donatus's Commentary on Terence.

Muratori considers the zealous Abbot's request as unreasonable and immoderate, and we do not learn whether the Pope consented to grant it; but if the resources of France were really unable to supply him with the books in question, we need not distrust him when he laments the general scarcity of ancient and valuable compositions. This consideration will prevent the disdainful feeling which is almost necessarily roused, when we observe a succession of generations plunged in torpid ignorance, without an effort to extricate themselves from shame, or to let loose the human mind on its natural career of advancement: it disposes us much more nearly to compassion-especially if we reflect how frequently the energy of a vigorous and enterprising soul, secluded in the hermitage or the cloister, must have exhausted itself on the most contemptible subjects, or pined away from the mere dearth of literary sustenance. We shall find little reason to be astonished that genius itself was so seldom able to emerge out of the noisome mist and rise into light and vigour, since its infancy was chilled by prejudices, unexcited by any wholesome exercise, and famished by the positive destitution of intellectual nourishment.

The cause of literary stagnation which we have last mentioned was removed in the eleventh century by the invention of paper,* and accordingly we find that the number of MSS. was greatly multiplied after that time. But the fury of civil dissension was not mitigated; and under governments at the same time feeble and arbitrary, there was little encouragement for studious application, as indeed there was little honour, or even security, except in the profession of arms. And in sad truth, during the earlier years of this age, the wildest disorders were of such ordinary perpetration, misery had such universal prevalence, and injustice walked abroad so boldly and triumphantly, that there were those who held the persuasion that the millenarian prophecy had been already accomplished; that Satan had shaken off his fetters at the one thousandth year, and was actually directing the evil destinies of the human race.

At the same time, let us recollect that great exertions were made by the higher ecclesiastical orders to apply an indirect but very Exertions of powerful remedy to these excesses, by re-establishing the Ecclesiastics. discipline of the Church. For this purpose, about eighty councils were held in France alone during the eleventh century.‡ We have already related how zealously the authority of

* A very interesting account of the progress of paper-making, writing, printing, &c. may be found in the Life of Caxton published by this Society.

f Still it was in the eleventh age that a Countess of Anjou is recorded to have purchased the Homilies of Haimon, at the price of 200 sheep, besides a very large payment in wheat, barley, skins, and other valuable articles. Hist. Litt. de la France, xi. siècle.

The zeal which was applied in the beginning of this age to the building and restora tion of churches, basilicæ, monasteries, and other holy edifices, is warmly praised by ecclesiastical writers. Erat enim instar ac si mundus ipse excutiendo semet, rejecta vetustate, passim candidarum ecclesiarum vestem indueret-Glabrus Rodolph. apud Du Chesne, Script. Franc., lib. xiv., cap. 4, cited by Muratori.