^L^uJ y;^ ^JpMy&. - - . . -i? - - beneficial laws - - . - 19 He represses the retinue of the great - - - 2 1 His conduct towards the church - - - - 22 Panegyric of him by the convocation - - - 24 Art CONTENTS. page His letter to his mother - - - - 26 kindnesses to the ladies of his opponents - - 27 - - other bounties - - - 28 He buries Henry VI. at Windsor - . . 30 His personal tastes and pleasures - - - 31 - - love of music - - - . - 32 - - falconry and hunting - ib. - - bears and apes ------ 33 He encourages architecture - . . . ib- His attention to trade - - - 34 Voyages to Iceland -~ - . 35 His extreme energy - - 36 Inquiry, whether Columbus was in Richard's service 38 CHAP. in. THE REIGN OF HENRY VII. 1485—1509. Henry VI. foretells his elevation - - 47 Birth of Henry VII .48 1470. His imprisonment in Bretagne - - - - 49 1485. His entry into London ro - - first parliament - - - _ . r^ Crown settled on him and his heirs - - 53 i486. He marries Elizabeth - - - - . rr His tour thro England - - - kO Lovel attempts to surprise him - - - ib. His son Arthur born cq Lambert Simnel's pretension - - - fig 1487. Battle at Stoke, June 16 65 Perkin Warbeck ... g„ Examinations of Tyrrel and Dighton - 69 Sir William Stanley's arrest and execution - 71 1495. Perkin goes to Scotland, July 1496. Battle on Blackheath, 22 June - . . . -o 1497. Perkin taken - . _ ' 7d His confession " ' "74 A.D. '2 ib. CONTENTS. vii A,D. _ page His escape, re-capture, and execution - - - 75 State and reforms of the church - - - 76 Vices in the abbey of St. Albans - - - - 79 1494. Old woman burnt for heresy - - - 81 Henry's foreign politics - - .id. Flanders saved from France - - 82 French king gains Bretagne - - - - 83 CHAP. IV. FOREIGN ALLIANCES OF HENRY VII.— HIS CHARACTER PUBLIC VIEWS — DEATH AND BENEFICIAL LAWS. A. D. page His various alliances - - . - - 87 His daughter Margaret marries James IV. - ' - 88 1501. His son ^^rthur marries Catherine - - 89 His queen dies - ----- ib. Sir James Tyrrel beheaded - - - 90 Henry's character - - - - - - ib. Dudley's account of the monies he received - 98 1509. Henry's illness . - - . . 100 - - - - death, 22 April - 101 His regard to trade - - - 102 Substance of his laws - 105 A4 CONTENTS. BOOK VI. THE LITERARY HISTORY OF ENGLAND. CHAP. L REVIEW OF THE CAUSES OF THE DECLINE Of LITERATURE BEFORE THE NOHMAN CONQUEST. 400—1000. page Decline of letters in the Roman Empire - - - -12 Ascribed by Romans to their moral degeneracy - 17 Their manners in the fourth century - - - n8 Gothic nations not unwilling to acquire literature - - 1 2 1 The classical literature become incompetent to improve them, 1 24 Sophistical philosophy of Greece - - - - 127 Rhetorical literature of Rome - - - - 129 Effects of these evils . . - - - 132 The Gothic nations imbibe the rhetorical spirit - - 135 Its injurious effects on the human mind - - - 138 Grecian literature equally declines - - 141 Deterioration of the Roman Judgment - - 144 CHAP. II. HISTORY OF THE REVIVAL OF THE LATIN LITERATURE IN ENGLAND, AFTER THE NORMAN CONQUEST. page Latin literature of the Anglo-Saxons - - - 146 Its decline ----- - - - ib. Revived by Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury - 14^ Abbey of Fleury, flourished in loi 3 - - . jjj. Anselm succeeds Lanfranc in his see - 152 Anglo-Normans become eager for study - - 1^3 A striking instance of this - - - - i*;^ Schools every where established .... 1^5 CONTENTS. ix page Pilgrimages through Greece - - - - 157 Increase the ardour for study - - - -158 Its high patronage - - - - ib. China MSS. multiplied by copies - - - 160 Ignorance became discreditable - - - 161 First produce' of the Anglo-Norman literature ¦ - 162 Latin language attained - - - - ib. Latin versifiers - ..... 163 W. Mapes verses on the ancient authors - - - 165 Alanus Parabolarum or Doctrinale - - - 166 Estimation of the intellectual utility of the Middle Age authors 169 Valuable chronicles of the Anglo-Norman monks - - 1 70 Limited utility of the Roman classics - - - - 171 And of their ancient imitators - 173 The trivium and quadrivium . ib. Improved intellect not formed by study only - - 1 74 Literature declines when society degenerates - - 175 La'tin literature not fitted for popular instruction - 176 Unfavourable to the rise of original genius - - 177 Vernacular literature wanted for the national improvement 181 CHAP. III. HISTORY OF ANGLO-NORMAN JONGLEURS AND MINSTRELS. page Their ancient appellations - . - 1 83 How estimated by some . - 1 84 Described by Brunne --. ---186 Piers Plouhman's satire - - 187 They are discountenanced by the church - - 188 Their customs and performances - - - - 189 Talents of the more respectable - - 192 Attempts to improve them - - ib. Jongleurs sometimes became knights - - - - 193 Their decline - - - - - - 194 Minstrels patronized by Henry V. - - - 195 CONTENTS. CHAP. IV. HISTORY OF THE ANGLO-NORMAN VERNACULAR POETRY. page Universality of the minstrel lays 197 Their corruptions .--- --198 Clergy induced to write vernacular poetry - - 200 In the reign of Henry I. - - - - - 201 Popularity of their works - ¦ ... 202 Adoption of the Patois Latin for the Norman language - 205 Philip du Than's poem - . . - - 206 Theobald's Physiologus - - - 207 His verses de Leone - . - . 209 Marbodius on Gems - - - - 212 Sanson de Nanteuil's proverbs - - 213 Wace's historical poems - ... 215 His Roman de Rou . - - . . 216 Jeffry of Monmouth's British History - - - 218 Its great popularity - - - - - 2 1 9 Wace puts it into verse - - - 223 Gaimar's Estorie des Angles - - - - 223 Beneoit's Trojan poem . - . . 224 - - - - Roman de Normandie - 225 Fictitious romances ¦ 227 Wace's Chevalier au Leon - - 229 Several origins of these three classes of Vernacular poems 230 CHAP. V. ON THE ROMANCES UPON -MITHUR AND THE ROUND TABLE. page Origin of the romances on Arthur - 231 From Bretagne and Wales - 232 Intellectual cultivation of Bretagne . 239 The earliest romance, Tristan 240 Colophons of the ancient romances 241 CONTENTS. CHAP. VI. ON TURPIN's history OF CHARLEMAGNE AND THE ROMANCES UPON THIS EMPEROR AND HIS PEERS, AND ON ALEXANDER. page When Turpin's romance first appeared - - 243 Question as to the person of Roland - . - - 249 Sanctioned and published by Calixtus II. - - - 250 Gestes de Garin and Quatrefils d'Aymon . - - 252 Romances on Alexander .... 254 Appendix i. Evidence and reasonings to shew that Turpin's, History of Charlemagne originated fi-om pope Calixtus II. - - 256 Appendix 2. Inquiry if Jeffry's British History did not originate from the political views of Henry I. - - - - 269 CHAP. VIL ON THE LAYS AND FABLES OF MARIE ON THE STYLE OF THE NORMAN TllOUVEURS, AND ITS PROGRESS INTO THE PRESENT FRENCH. page Account of Marie - - . . . 287 Her lais, all Breton stories - - - - - 289 On their supernatural machinery - 290 On the supernatural fictions of Europe 292 Specimens of the imaginative parts of her tales - 295 Her fables 302 A new supposition as to Mary's rank and person - 304 Lives of Saints in verse - - 307 Style of the Anglo-Saxon poetry - - .. . ib. Its decline - - ... - 309 The simple character of the Anglo-Norman poetry - 310 On the language of the Norman Trouveurs - 311 Facility of its rime - - - - - -316 Its advantage to English poetry - - 318 CONTENTS. CHAP. vm. ON THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF RIME IN THE MIDDLE AGES. page Mental effects of rime - - - - - 320 Its origin -.'... - 322 St. Austin used it in 384 . . - - - 324 Venantius Fortunatus, 570 - 325 Columbanus, 615 - 326 St. Aldhelm, 710 - ib. Aneurin and Tahesin, 550 - . - , 328 Llywarch Hen and Myrddhun, 580 . ib. Boniface, 755 - - - - 329 On Irish rime - 330 Theobaldus Physiologus, 800 - 331 Otfrid, 870 - - - - 332 Hartman, 870 ib. St. Bernard, 1100 - . . . - ib. Anselm, 11 00 - - - 333 Peter, 1140 - . . . - ib. Berterus, 1 150, and Hoveden, 1199 - 334 On Leonine Rime 335 No person named Leo its author - 337 Authors who used it before his reputed time - - ib. Most probable origin of the name - 338 Gower's peculiarly, rimed Latin verses - 339 CHAP. IX. history of the INTRODUCTION OF THE ARABIAN SCIENCES INTO ENGLAND. page Intellectual improvement in England - . - - 340 Apparent destruction of literature from the Gothic irruptions, 342 The aera of its reformation - - - - - ib. Progress of the conquering Arabs ... - 344 Origin and Stock of the Arabs - - - ib. Their utilities and virtues - . - . 346 CONTENTS. xiii page Ancient literature of the Arabs 347 On the alleged destruction of the Alexandrian Library - 348 Ancient Arabic writing 350 Their application to the sciences - - - - 35 1 They neglect the classical authors - - - 353 Al Mamon's encouragement of knowlege - - 354 On the Arabian cultivation of natural philosophy - ib. Causes of its slow advance among the ancients - 355 Ancient mistakes on the causes of things - - 357 Misconceptions of Polytheism - - . 361 Progress of the Arabians - . . . 368 Their works on geometry ' - - . . 360 geography and history . ib. Their literary women - - - - . . 070 Caliphs in Spain who encouraged learning - - 371 Hixem, in 790 ------- ib. AI Hakem, his son . . . 072 Mohamad I. a poet - ' . - 373 Abderahman III. - ' - - ib. Al Hakem II. in 961 - . - . _ . 37^ Intercourseof the Christians with the Spanish Arabs - 376 Sylvester II. - - . ib. Constantino Afer - . 377 Other Christian students of Arabic - . 378 English students - - 370 Athelard's Arabian treatise - - ib. Arabian studies pursued in England - - 382 Studies and use of the Jews in the middle ages - 385 CHAP. X. ARABIAN SUBJECT CONTINUED INTELLECTUAL CHARACTER OF THE AR.4BS AVICENNA's WORKS AL GAZEL's THEIR NATURAL HISTORY USES OF GUNPOWDER PAPER ARA BIAN LOGIC. page Intellectual character of the Arabs - - 390 Al Gazel's works - - - - 393 Arabian studies of natural history - - - 395 Avicenna's works . - - - - - ib. Chronology of their philosophers - - ib. xiv CONTENT S. page Their knowlege of the magnet and its polarity - - 397 ---- gunpowder 398 paper - - - " 40° Their books, on war -..--- 'o. Arabian logic --.----- 401 Averroes ib. Their rhetoric 402 The Arabian fables and romances . - . 403 Al Gazel's logica 406 CHAP. XL INTRODUCTION OF THE ARISTOTELIAN PHILOSOPHY INTO ENGLAND ANALYSIS OF PORPHYRY's ISAGOGE HISTORY AND OPINIONS OF ARISTOTLE ANALYSIS OF ARISTOTLE's CATEGORIES. page Subjects of the Arabian philosophers .... 409 Analysis of Porph3Ty's Isagoge - - 411 History and writings of Aristotle - - - - 418 His ode to virtue - - - - - 419 Their first publication - - - - - 423 Some of his important opinions - ... 427 Analysis of his Categories - - - 433 Their aim and use . - . . 43^ Pere Rapin's remarks on Aristotle's Ethics - 443 CHAP. XIL HISTORV OF THE SCHOLASTIC PHILOSOPHY; JOANNES ERI- GENA; — ABELARD's life and WORKS; THE MOST FAMOUS DOCTORS OF THE SCHOOLMEN; AL GAZEL, DUNS SCOTUS AND OCCHAM ON THE UNIVERSALS. page Origin of the scholastic philosophy - 44^ Joannes Erigena - - aaQ Synopsis of his De Divisione Naturae 447 The studies imported fi*om Spain - - - ^rn Roscelin ... . _ , _g CONTENTS. XV page Abelard's life 458 Introduction to Theology - - 4^3 St. Bernard ... - - - 465 Abelard's latter days - - - - 466 ----- character ... - 468 Peter Lombard's sentences - - - - 470 The most famous Doctors - - - - 472 Their important effects on the mind 473 Attacked by John of Salisbury - - 474 Other Schoolmen ... . 477 Their scepticism - 478 Defects of the Scholastic Logic - - 483 111 effects of logical definitions 488 Al Gazel on the Universals - - -491 Extract from Duns Scotus - - . - 492 W. Occham - . - - - 495 Nominalists and Realists - - - - - 499 Extract fi-om Thomas Aquinas - - " 5°! - - - - Albertus Magnus - - - ¦ 505 HISTORY O F ENGLAND BOOK V. — -^ — CHAP. L Review of the Character, Laws, Causes of Unpopularity, Kindnesses, Tastes, Amusements, and Foreign Trade, of Richard IIL TH E confession of our old chroniclers, who so reign of little favor Richard, that if he had continued to ^'"'•/"•. be lord protector only, and to have suffered his nephew to have lived and reigned, " the realm would have prospered; and he would have been as much praised and beloved, as he is now abhorred and despised ; " * and the declaration of lord Bacon, who has adopted every prejudice against him, that he was yet a king " jealous for the honor of the English nation," "^ are expressive panegyrics, which imply that he must have had some merits, that are inconsistent with that general abuse, by which our elder historians, and their modern copyists, have uniformly defamed him. ' Grafton, 853. ^ Bacon's Hist. Henry VII. p. 2. Vol. IV. B 2 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK Even the philosopher of Verulam, instead of calmly ^- stating to us his laudable qualities and actions, has contented himself with declaring, that " his cruelties and parricides, in the opinion of all men, weighed down his virtues; "* thus admitting the existence of what he will not particularize ; and he is even so un kind to his memory, as to give the king no credit for the reality of what he felt that he possessed ; for he adds, that wise men thought these virtues not to be " ingenerate," but " forced and affected." * So that whatever worth Richard possessed or displayed, he is the only king of England, of whom we are to be lieve, that nothing which seemed good in him could be genuine ; but that he must have been altogether and unceasingly that " malicious, envious, and deep dissembling" demon, which More and Polydore VirgiP have, rather passionately, depicted. Even the little habit of " biting continually his under lip when in deep thought," ® is considered by the latter, to be the mark of a ferocious nature, a human wild beast; as if some of the most harmless and best-principled of men have not had the same habit, or customs as terrific, of knitting, unconsciously, the brow into stern frowns ; or of cutting or biting their nails, till the blood has issued, while absorbed in profound and interesting contemplation. Bacon himself lived to know and prove, that a great and noble mind may, by circumstances, be led to commit some obnoxious deeds, without lessening the merit and utility of many virtues, and of a beneficial life. And Richard may justly complain, if his voice could be heard from his bespattered tomb, that his good actions \vere ^ Bacon's Hist. Henry VII. p. 2. ° More, p. 154, Pol. V. (565 * lb. « Pol. V. 565. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 3 written in water ; but that his bad ones have been CHAP. engraved on monumental brass. The first have been ^- so studiously covered with oblivion, that we can only reign or imperfectly trace them now, by catching some gleams f"^"|^'"-. of a light that has been repressed ; or by inferences and conjectures, from the few materials which time has spared. The latter have been blazoned with a vituperation, which does more honor to the feeling than to the judgment of our historical censors. It is the moral feelings of mankind which he outraged, by one flagitious catastrophe, that have consigned Richard to their indiscriminating detes* tation. He loved, he courted, the applause of his people. He exerted himself to deserve it; and his intelligence, penetration, activity, temperance, patron age of the rising arts, encouragement of commerce, moral demeanor, attention to religion, and desire to reform the abuses of law and power, that were afflict^ ing the country, were calculated to have produced great celebrity to himself, and lasting advantages to the nation. But, by basing his throne on principles which shook every man's safety and comfort, no merit and no benefit could compensate for the moral evil which would have followed thro society, if he could have obtained a peaceful and triumphant reign. He had linked his name arid reign with every pa rent's dread of the chances of evil, from elder kins men to fatherless children, which his successful example had created. We expect selfishness, com petition, and danger from strangers ; but the heart takes refuge in the bosom of natural kinship, as a consecrated home of unquestionable honor and secu rity, if not of affection. We rely on nature as our pledge, that here we shall not be deceived nor dis- In{!;rati- tude lo Ricliard. HISTORY OF ENGLAND, appointed, whatever fraud or violence may be agitat ing society beyond the circle of our affinity. But till mankind were taught, by Richard's downfall, that such unnatural crimes ended in a discomfiture so signal and unexpected as to seem to be judicial, selfishness was losing its curb, and the ties of nature their most commanding security. When he fell a just victim to the safety of the orphan, the ward, the kinsman, and the minor king, human confidence re gained its assurance, and society its sweetest feeling, and most important comfort ; but yet his fate, how ever useful, has been peculiar. Several kings have reigned, even in England, under circumstances that also called for the moral indignation of the country, who were neither de serted nor deposed like Richard HI. Henry I. took the throne, against the right of an elder brother, whom he blinded, and imprisoned till he died, if he did not produce his death/ John seized his nephew's throne, and caused him to be murdered.* Edward III. came to his crown on the deposition of his father, who was soon after put to death." Richard II. and Henry IV. were the sans of two brothers, yet Henry deprived him of his sceptre ; and permitted, if he did not'authorize his assassination." All these kings reigned, till a natural death without violence intro duced new accessions. Why, then, we may ask, was Richard so peculiarly obnoxious ? Did the difference arise, from his ao-e being an era of distinguished virtue ? If we look among the great and well-born at that time, we see rapacity, violencej perjury, rebellion, treachery, and ' See volume I. of this History, p. l8o. Mb. p. 406. s Seevol.'ll. p. iCo. '» Ib. p. 350. RICH. IIJ. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 5 unbridled revenge and licentiousness, always before CIIAP. us. Besides his public conduct, as king, which his ^" enemies have extolled, his liberality to his friends reign of was bounded only by his means of giving, at last, failing from the abundance of his favors. This fact does not rest merely on the general phrases in the chronicler ; " but in the register of his grants, that still remain, we see numerous pardons ; annuities to all classes, and of all sums from 2O00 l. down to twenty shillings, to earls and lords, to yeomen, priests, and anchoresses ; '* perpetual gifts of manors, lands, honors, offices, and pecuniary presents ; ex emptions froi;n taxes and fines ; and several remissions from forfeitures, and revocations of outlawries.*^ The amount of these donations, in a two j^ears' reign, appears to have no parallel; and yet conspiracies multiplied against him during his life, and execration ever since. Those who had partaken of his gene rosities; the Stanleys,'* Northumberland,'^ Kidwelly, " More, after calling him ' malicious and envious,' adds, that he was ' free of dispense, and, above his power, liberal.' p. 154. I am not aware that the malicious and envious are unusually liberal, or freely spending their wealth. The latter qualities are inconsistent with the preceding epithets. . " See the valuable Harl. MS. N" 433, which contains extracts, or copies, of a great quantity of these grants of annuities. I began to select them, but I found them too numerous to be inserted here. Among these are anchoresses; one in Pomfret, p. 28; and one at Westminster, p, 41 ; Their annuities were, forty shillings, and six marcs. To lord Surrey, I observe two annuities, of 1000 /. and liooi. " See the same MS. It contains from 3000 to nearly 2500 official documents (for all of them are not noticed in the printed catalogue,) most of which are the king's beneficial grants. '¦* Lord Stanley was made constable of England. Harl. MS. p. 28. An annuity of 100 /. was granted to him, p. 31 ; many castles, lordships, and manors, p. 70; and farms, 8a. Castle and lordship of Kimbolton, 120. SirWillium Stanley was knight of the body, and chamberlain of the county of Chester. Ib. p. 1 1 5. Several annuities were given to him, p. 32-40; the constableship of Carnarvon, p. 45 ; several castles, towns, and lord ships, p. 88; tlie lordship of Thornbury, 122. '' To Northumberland, besides the Great Powney estate, Richard also B 3 RICH. III. a HISTORY OP ENGLAND, BOOK the Savages, both father and son ; " the Talbots, Hun- ^- gerford, Bourchier, and many others, not only aban- REiGN OF doned, but took the field against him ; and became the persons who, by their combination only, de prived him both of dominion and life. Their hos tility shews that he had not the art of conciliating personal attachment among his nobility : he was feared, not loved. Most of those who overwhelmed him, were in offices of his household, nearly attached to his person ; and yet, like Darius, he was " de serted at his utmost need, by those his former bounty fed;" he did not fall, but was thrown by them, from his high estate. It is obvious that he was unpopular with the great, who, tho their proto type, the renowned earl of Warwick, wag no more, could still, like him, make and unmake kings in England. It is probable, that our great aversion to him has arisen from our throwing back all the elder crimes into barbarous times, where, believing all to be dark and savage, we look for no moral sympathies, and are not injured by their bad examples. But Richard -belonged to an age that was emerging into light and civilized life. Moral criticism was gaining a wel comed existence, and began to look discriminatingly around. Men have been since, no longer estimated for wealth or title, but according to conduct and principle ; and hence, Richard, notwithstanding his granted the lordship of Holderness ; Harl. MS. p. 31 ; and many manors, lordships, lands and offices, in various counties, ib. p. 43 ; and to the Percys, his kinsmen, several lordships and annuities. Ib. 43, 58. "" Grants occur, in this MS. to Savage the younger, as well as to his father ; as, an annuity of 40 marcs, p. 31 ; the ward and marriage of an heir, p. 102, &c. The desertion of sir John Savage, the day before the battle, must have been very detrimental to Richard, as Richmond was advised to give him the command of one of his wings, in the battle. REICN or III. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 7 shining crown and robes, has been considered but as chap the murderer of his orphaned nephews: and this _^ fact has driven into oblivion all the rest of his con duct, however laudable. ^ But we may now safely censure the criminal, with out injustice to the man or to the king. Let us then review, dispassionately, the whole of his mixed cha racter. Our Shakspeare has fixed a gloomy cele brity, as durable as his own genius, upon him. It will be, therefore, no unworthy task, if we endeavor to contemplate him, in his fair proportions of authen tic history. That Richard, during his life, endeavored to make Richard's the " amende honorable " to society, by repentina: '"'^P''"'" . Ill- ance. of his great crime, and by shewmg the world that he did so, instead of proudly and stubbornly deny ing or vindicating it, in defiance of human censure, has been already intimated ; " and so notorious was his indication of these feelings, that he is represented as having told his army on the morning of his dis astrous battle, " Altho in the adoption or obtain ing of the garlandj I was seduced and provoked by sinister counsel to commit a detestable act; yet^ I trust I have, by strait penance and salt tears, purged the offence. This abominable crime, I re quire you, of friendship, as clearly to forget, as I daily do remember to lament the same. " '* But tho this obvious remorse may have pleased and satisfied many, it could not, by the piiblic at large, be deemed true or sufficient, while he con tinued to profit by his crime. He never threw down the crown and sceptre and royal robes, as evidence of his interior compunction, or as an atonement to " See before, vol. 3. " Grafton, 846. B 4 RICH, III. 8 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK society for his bad example. He resolved to live ^' king and to die king ; and he kept his diadem as reigk op continually upon his head, as if it bad been his palladium and paradise ; instead of viewing it as the radiant tempter, which had seduced and degraded him. He could not, therefore, have been compas sionated as the humbled, heart-broken, and sorrowing penitent, regretting that, by one foul action, he had sullied a heart that could feel, and a soul that aspired to better wishes and deeds. His continual osten tatious display of his crown and full regal state, to his last hour, prove, that if he experienced remorse for having murdered his nephew, he never repented that he had seized his crown ; nor could any one suppose that he would have recalled Edward V. into life, if he had possessed the power, upon the terms pf abandoning his heart-loved dignity ; and yet it became every day more evident, that he could not keep it without new bloodshed and severities, from the hostility that rose against him. He chose to coinmit these additional, tho not illegal violences, and to reign ; and, therefore, his penitential agita tions were but indications of a spirit formed for worthier things, yet incapable of sacrificing ambition to virtue, and self-doting pride to honor or duty — to man or to God. He preferred, and in the very crisis of the mortal agony, when the alternative of flight and life was offered him, and even true friendship had lost its hope of altering this result, he declared that he preferred death to dethronement; and he fought and perished, as he had so much lived, with the guilty crown upon his brow. That Buckingham and Catesby, at different in tervals, for their own purposes, gpaded his high DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, 9 self-estimating egotism, to usurp the crown, was both chap. known and believed. Some may have discerned, ^- that if he had not attained it, he might have perished reign of from the violence of others ; and hence, have allowed, ""^°;"'-. that safety, vanity and persuasion, led him to his crime, and that to his fate. But mankind are too experienced, and too jealous of their social welfare, to allow it to be to any one an excuse for crime, to say, that he was tempted to commit it ; we all feel, that a man must tempt himself, before he can be successfully tempted by others ; where the previous self-seduction has not occurred, the offered induce ment to wrong is resisted as soon as proposed. The honorable bosom spurns dishonor. The hesitating dally with it till it masters them. It is by coinciding with the secret wish and beginning hope, that it pre vails, not so much as a seducing tempter, but as a welcomed auxiliary. Buckingham and Catesby would have urged Richard in vain, if the previous inclination of his egotism had not given persuasion to their voice, and a listening ear to their counsel. There is no good evidence that Richard was, from the beginning, planning for the crown ; but it is not improbable, that he was secretly envying its pos sessor, and wishing that he had been as fortunately born. The wish may at last have been father to the act. One public method which. Richard took to ex press his penitence, arid appease his own remorse, tho it might please the church and its less enlightened supporters, and suited his own prepossessions, and the religious fashion of the day, was certain of dis satisfying many. He directed looo masses to be RICH. III. 10 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK said for his brother;" and he now went to the ex- V- pense of founding i oo singing priests at York, to RF.10N OF chant for mercy upon himself.''" So at Northamp ton, the place where he had arrested Rivers, his first act of wrong, he paid a priest to sing for him." At Sheriff's Hutton, where he had imprisoned Rivers, we find another chantry priest of our Lady chapel there, allowed ten pounds a year for his salary.** Others were paid for singing elsewhere.*' The king's anxiety for his future state, or for the better opinion of his contemporaries, urged him also to endow a dean and several canons at Berking ;*" and to rebuild a house and chapel, for an anchoress at Pomfret,^ the town where the queen's brother and son were beheaded. A pilgrimage to St. James, of Galicia in Spain, being at this time in great vogue, ^ for its " He signed a warrant for paying the friars of Richmond 12 marcs, and 6s. 8fl!. for these masses, at York, 27 May 1484. Harl. MS. p. 176. ^ Rous mentions this, p. 2l6 ; and the grants about it are in the Harl. MS. pp. 72. 80. 90, &c. He had an early taste for this species of expia tion ; for when he petitioned his brother, as king, in full parliament, on the partition, with Clarence, of his wife's property, and for leave to grant in mortmain, he added, ' And I, your said suppliant, purpose to edify, found, endowe, and make a college, of a dean, and twelve priests, to sing and pray for the prosperous estate of you, sovereign lord, the queen, your issue, and my lady and mother : the welfare of me, Anne my wife, and my issue, while we live in this present world, and for the souls of us when we be departed out of this world; the souls of my lord my father, my brethren and sisters, and of all Christian souls ! ' Rolls Pari. 6. p. 173. , " ' Warrant to pay 10 marcs, yearly, to sir John Perty, to sing for the king, in a chapel before the holy rood at Northampton,' dated 28 March 1484. Harl. MS. l68. " The order to pay him lOO shillings, for half a year, is dated Windsor, 15 Jan. 1485. MS. ib. 201. , ^ P. 217; p. l66. It seems to have been a great fashion to found chantries ; for several, established by other persons, are mentioned in this MS. ; as one by the chief justice of the king's bench, p. 30 ; by the bishop, the tutor of Edward V. p. 79 ; and by other persons, pp. 34. 49. 95. 100. 208. &c. =* Harl. MS. pp. 102. 104. == Ib. p. 193. * See several commissions for ships, with these pilgrims, in the Harl. MS, pp. 171, 172. 175, &c. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 11 anodyne effects, the king licensed sir Bryan Stapleton and a chaplain to go over, " and there to fulfil cer tain his vows and pilgrimages." ^ But altho, two centuries before him, acts like these might have been deemed sufficient expiation for sins, and have even procured for him the character of a pious prince, they then must have revolted as many as they satisfied. The new spirit that was per vading every part of England, in religion, already thought that there was too much singing, and too little edification, in the chapels and cathedrals ; and deemed pilgrimages worse than useless.*^ Many in heritors of the new wisdom of Wickliffe, were teach ing, that as it was the duty and the interest of guilt to be penitent ; and as the regretting offender would find it sweet and balmy, to be so ; yet that rites, sighs, tears, phrases, gifts, masses, alms, chanting, pilgrimages, and all the mechanical drama of bodily sorrow, were not to be substituted for that self- condemning humiliation for the crime, and that de position of the splendid advantages for which it had been committed, which Richard's spirit could never brook. It was becoming obvious, that if a theatrical compromise of this sort could be effectual, crime would be as frequent as the inclination to en joy its fruits ; and earth would become uninhabitable. Hence Richard was, by many, but more suspected of hypocrisy for his penitential actions. This was hard measure ; but it was natural. He could not be wiser than the legal and established directors of the conscience of his age. They taught the delusive " Harl. MS. p. 143. Dated 23Jan. 1484. Theletter of recommendation for Thomas Rouloat, ' who hath vowed to doo diverse pilgrimages within this realm,' 29 Jan, 1484, looks like a deputy for the king, lb, p, 146, '' See before, vol. 3. RICH, III. 12 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK theory of the benefit of ceremonial penance, and ^' built their affluence upon its belief; and he, like all REIGN OF his contemporaries, who did not adopt the new opi- ¦ nions of the Lollards, cherished the doctrine of pur- chaseable expiation and ritual penitence ; and would have deemed it heresy, worse than his own misdeeds, to have questioned their efficaciousness. Yet, who could accredit his sincerity, while he wore his blood- earned crown ! ' Another of the means, by which Richard endea vored to manifest his repentance, to alone for his crime, and to regain the good opinion of society, was by becoming an active instrument to suppress vice in his kingdom, in all classes, and to urge them to rectitude and morality. On the loth of March 1484, he addressed a circular letter to all his bishops.** In this he mentions, " Our principal intent and fervent desire, is, to see virtue and cleanness of living to be advanced, increased and multiplied ; and vices, and all other things repugnant to virtue, provoking the displeasure of God, to be repressed and annulled; and this perfectly followed, and put in execution, by persons of high estate, pre-eminence and dignity, not only induces persons of lower degree, to take thereof ensample, and to insure the same.'"" — He adds, " and as it is notarily knovi^n, that in every jurisdiction, as well in their pastoral care, as other, there be many as well of the spiritual party, as of the temporal, delyring from the true way of virtue and good living, to the pernicious example of others, and lothsomeness =» Hari. MS. p. 281. *¦ He alpo subjoins, I think, with an allusion to his private deprecating supplications, ' but also thereby, the great and infinite goodness of God is made placable, and graciously inclined to the exaudition q/' our petitions and prayers.' Ib. RICH. III. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. i:} of every well-disposed people ; — We, therefore, de- chap. sire and require you, that according to the charge of your profession, ye see, within the authority of your ^-^-^'^^ "^ jurisdiction, all such persons as set apart virtue, and promote the damnable execution of sin and vices, to be reformed, repressed and punished ; not sparing for any love or favor, whether the offender be tem poral or spiritual," '' With this avowed desire of impartial reformation, when he visited Kent, he published a patriotic pro clamation, in which he stated, " The king's highness is fully determined to see administration of justice to be had throughout his realm, and to reform and punish all extortion and oppressions in the same. Therefore he wills, at his coming into Kent, that every person dwelling therein, that findeth himself grieved, oppressed, or unlawfully wronged, make a bill of his complaint, and put it to his highness, and he shall be heard ; and without delay have such convenient remedy as shall accord with the laws." He adds, " for his grace is utterly determined, that all his true subjects shall live in rest and quiet, and peaceably enjoy their lands and goods according to the laws. He therefore chargeth, that no man, of whatever condition, trouble, hurt, or spoil any of his said subjects, or their bodies or goods, on pain of death ; that none make or contrive quarrels ; nor take any victuals without paying for them, nor vex any farmer," &c.'* ^' Harl. MS. p. 281. ^ Harl. MS. This, and the preceding, have been printed in the notes' to Kennet's Hist. v. 1. p. 576. So in his proclamation for the apprehen sion of several who had taken arms against him, he declared his intent to administer strict justice to all his subjects : and forbidding several evil practices. MS. ib. p. 128. 14 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, On these principles he also acted, when, on re ceiving information that a constable had been griev ously maimed at Gloucester, by three riotous gen tlemen, he dispatched a mandate from London, on the 6th of December 1484, directing the imprison ment of the assailants ; and prohibiting retainers, liveries and their insignia, which united men into bands, following great leaders.^' He even extended his reforms to the offices of his ministers ; and would not allow their minor situations to be purchased, to the prejudice of the fair system of rising by seniority.^ These were all laudable acts, beneficial to his sub jects, and fairly announcing his own desire to con tribute to the happiness and to increase the morality of his people ; but they were not likely, as he was cir cumstanced, to add to his popularity. Reformation of political grievances, whether real or imaginary, is always a source of reputation, because it affects the distant govei^nment, with which few are in immediate contact ; while it leaves the individual critic and sup porter untouched. But reformation of the private conduct and manners is never popular, unless it ori ginates from the most unquestionable and command ing virtue. It interferes too much with our daily habits, tempers, interests, pursuits, amusements, and inclinations, to be cordially welcomed ; and from a man of one great and known crime, would be always suspected to be hypocrisy and art. The rudest mind could say, what all would feel, " Murderer of your ^ Hari. MS. p. 127. =* Thus, he ordered a person to be discharged ' from his place in the office of the privy seal, to which he had been admitted by giving of great gifts, and other sinister and ungodly ways, to the great discouraging of the uuder-clerks, which have long continued therein, to see a stramrer never brought up in the said office, put them bv from their promotion.' MS. ib. p. 123. ' RICH. III. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 15 nephews! do you preach to us!" And when the chap. powerful found him to be repressing their injustice J^_ and oppressions, would they not think or ask, What reign of wrongs they had done or could do, which he had not exceeded ! They could but seize lands or goods, or one heiress, maid, or widow; but he had usurped from its lawful possessor a throne ; and even while he lectured and coerced them, was only able to do so, by keeping the mighty spoil which he had seized. Hypocrisy would be the general charge upon him for all his efforts, however sincere, to produce those moral amendments in society, by which he endea vored to atone for his own errors. He had brought himself into the dilemma, that all his wrong actions would be deemed tyrannical, and his good ones hypocritical ; and this evil has pursued his memory, - as it abridged his life. The strong outcry of tyranny, which has been why raised aojainst Richard, and under reisrns, when the '^^"^'^ " ° ° tyrant. liberties of the subject were little respected, seems to have arisen not so much from actual cruelties committed, which, in common language, convert a king into a tyrant, but rather from those severe and repeated exertions of legal power, by which he en deavored to crush and extinguish discontent.^' Not exceeding some former precedents of kingly autho rity, he often used its antient privileges, with a pre cipitation,^® a frequency, a publicity, an unqualified *" Thus, when after the rebellion in the west, he indicted four persons of distinction, as principals in treason, and above five hundred others, as accessories, of whom only two were taken and suffered, and the rest fled, he is said, by the chronicler, to have ' tyrannically persecuted them.' HoUing. 746. It was unwise severity, but not tyranny. ^ Thus, he beheaded Buckingham, without arraignment or judgment. Holling. 744; but Edward IV. and queen Margaret had done so with many revolting nobles. reign of RICH. III. 16 HISTORY OF ENGL.AND7 BOOK display, and a rigorous impartiality, which, tho not 2_ contrary to the prior and permitted practice of the crown, was justly becoming offensive to the im proving reason, the more observing sense of justice, the rising prosperity, and the wonted privileges of the nation. Arbitrary government, even for good purposes, was neither expedient nor palatable. No one desired to abase the local despotisms of the aristocracy, to set up that of the monarchy instead. Hence, when Richard sent his mandates to seize ships, mariners, soldiers, artificers, artists, victuals, materials, conveyances and goods, whenever he wanted them for his purposes, public or private ;^'^ — when he, even in his earnestness to have proper persons in the provincial magistracies, charged the bailiffs, &c. of Tamworth to have no regard to a custom of choosing their bailiffs out of their burgesses and freeholders, but to regard the suffisaunce of the person's goods only;'* — when in pursuance of his habit of acting vigorously, on the first moment of any alarm, he signed a command to assist a yeoman of the crown, in attacking certain persons in sundry places of the west parts of England, " which he de tected of certain things that they should do and at tempt, against their natural duty and liegance ; " '" when what he wanted for gunpowder, was thus " As 'Warrant to aid and assist the king's clerk and counseller, A. L. in taking up all vitaille, souldeoui-s, mariners, artificers, labourers, carts, boats, and all other stuff; as horses, waynes, and all such timber and stones as he shall think necessary, for the king's use;' dated 31 July 1485. Harl. MS. p. 179. And ' Warrant to aid and assist J. P. in taking up, at the king's price, suche and as many mariners, souldeours, &c. to do the king service in certayne of his shippes ; and vitaille, and other things behoveful for the same;' dated Scarborough, 30 June 1484. Ib. These kind of mandates abound in this volume, and for all kinds of purposes. == Hari. MS. p. 190; dated at Nottingham, 12 Oct. 1484. '^ Ib. p. 1O9. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 17 forcibly taken,'" the nation was displeased at this peremptory use of the royal authority. So his quick and immediate pursuit and orders to seize all who attempted any insurrections against him ; and his unhesitating confiscation and granting away their possessions, without waiting for legal sentences or parliamentary attainders, occasioned great reproba tion to him.** The number of respectable men, crowded into one proclamation, startled the reader ; and by such formidable enmity being displayed, his own government was arraigned and endangered."'* His policy outshot its own object, in confessing, that so many men of their character and importance, had combined against him. The number of thinking minds and feeling hearts, which began to perceive what good government ought to be, and' of what evils this manner of ruling would be productive, were increasing every year. They perceived, that such despotic powers were grievances, which no tempo- 40 i Warrant to assist J. C. yeoman of the crown, to take, in the king's name, all manner of stuff necessary for making of certain great stuff of gunpowder, which John Bramburgh, a stranger-born, had covenanted with the king to make for him ; and for the same to agree and make prices with the owners.' 28 Jan. 1484. p. 145- ¦" There are many commissions and warrants of this sort, in the Hari. MS.; as those to lord Stanley, to seize, to the king's use, the lands of St. Leger,p. 134; others, to seize the lands and goods of sir W. Brandon, 143; of bishop Morton, 137; sir Roger Tocot, 145; and a great many more. They were sometimes so general, as ' Warrant for the delivery of all manner of sheep, horses, oxen, kine, swyne, and other cattle, to the king, appertaining by the forfeiture of his rebels and traitors, within the counties of Somerset and Dorset;' 6 Jan. 1484, p. 137; and ' Warrant for selling the hay and corn, except wheat, of the said rebels,' 1 38. Wliat a latitude for oppression, in the execurion of these mandates, must there have been ! " Thus, a proclaraarion was issued for the taking of sir John Gilforde, sir Thomas Lewknor, sir William Hawte, sir William Cheyney, Richard Gilforde, Reynold Pympe, sir Edward Poynings, sir Thomas Feuys, sir William Brandon, John Wingfelde, Anthony Kene, Nicholas Gaynesforde, and several others, the king's rebels and traitors ; offering 300 marcs, or 10/. of land, for taking any of the first six, and lool. or ten marcS of land, for any of the rest. Hari. MS. p. 128. Vol, IV. C 18 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK rary benefit ought to sanction ; and as Richard, by ^^' ever moving in the shortest path to his desired ends, was repeatedly enforcing them, the charge of tyranny was fastened upon his reign ; and by the useful cla mor, many future repetitions of it have been prevented. If England were ever to be free and prosperous, it was certainly time that such mandates of state should be discountenanced and disused. His use of them had the unintending merit of making former oppres sions discreditable; and shewed to all administra tions, that power reigns more safely by concealing than by displaying its own extent.*^ His forced Qur ablest lawyers have acknowleged, that his loans and . „ ° laws. statutes were wise and useful. In the enactment, that his subjects should be no more charged by the exactions or impositions called Benevolences," a mode of raising money without parliament, he gra tified the country. But altho, unfortunately for him self, he destroyed his own popularity, and irritated the country, by having recourse, in his future exi gencies, to the very measure he had abrogated; it is probable, that like all our sovereigns who have at tempted to obtain supplies, by exerting their pre rogative, he was afraid to summon a parliament, when discontent increased upon him. He was too " One instance, how unfairly Richard has been charged with tvr-.nmy, appears in the imputation transmitted by More, and copied by all, that he had Collingbourne executed for a satirical distich. See before, vol. 3. last chap. But the truth was, that this man was arraigned for treasonable at Michaelmas ; and to assure them, that, if Richmond would land at Poole, he, and others, would cause the people lo rise in arras for him. Also, to advise Richmond to send Cheney, to inform the French king that Richard meant only to dally with his ambassadors till the winter was over, and then to attack France ; and therefore, that it was Charies's interest to aid Richmond immediately. Holling. 746. ¦" Stilt, of Realm, v. 2. p. 478. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 19 liberal, to be personally rapacious ; for when the corporations of London, Gloucester and Worcester, offered him money, he magnanimously refused it, telling them he would rather have their hearts than their property.*^ There was nothing mean or sordid about him. But having emptied his exchequer by his bounties to men, who were enabled by his own generosity more effectually to betray him ; and pressed by Richmond's impending invasion and the domestic conspiracies which it excited, he allowed himself to use his power to extort money on the plea of necessity — the tyrant plea — which contri buted to fix that character upon him, and its conse quential evils.*® Besides some beneficial regulations on those im portant modes of transferring landed property, which are called fines and feoffments, and others, to rectify abuses in the petty but useful temporary courts called Pie-powdre, held during fairs ; besides annulling certain patents to Edward's queen ; and some statutes on manufactures and trade f he sanctioned three most serviceable enactments for the relief of his subjects, from the oppression of their superiors. One was, that on arrest for suspicion of felony, every justice of the peace should have power to bail ;** another, that the property of persons imprisoned for felony, should not be seized before conviction ;*' a law, which, in treason, his own conduct sometimes counteracted ; and the third, which directed that none should be returned for juries, but those who had ¦•* We learn this from Rous, Hist. p. 2l6. ^ More says, that, being ' obliged to pill and spoil in other places, this got him stedfast Itatred.' p. 154. •" Stat. Realm, v. 2. pp. 477. 480-498. " Ib. 478. <* Stat. Realm, v. 2, p. 479. c 2 20 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK forty shillings a-year freehold; because so many ^- untrue verdicts had been given by persons " of no substance or behaviour, and not dreading God or worldly shame :" and thereby several had, thro the excitation of their evil willers, been wrongfully in dicted, and others improperly spared.^" It was the weakness of Richard's mind, to let the urgencies of the moment defeat the provisions of his deliberate judgment. His good laws" gave the people that knowlege and taste of a better system, which made them resent, more indignantly, his own subsequent breaches of it ; as he then assumed a dispensing right, which no common sense could approve. While such masses of military retainers and badged followers obeyed the orders of the great nobility and gentry, it was of small avail to a king to be popular among the nation, if the aristocracy were either in different or averse to him. Till the full use of artil lery made armor either useless or prejudicial to its wearers, none without it, could stand in battle against the mailed assailants, or who had not learnt to act in it with strength and agility, or who were not powerful in archery. Hence, the common population who had not been trained by a due military education, were but a mob, that was sure to be broken as soon as attacked ; and this state of warfare made the antient aristocracy of the country the terror of the crown, whenever its feelings united against the reigning sovereign. It was the number of followers which the nobility ^ Stat. Realm, v. 2. p. 479. =' But as Richard could gain no favor for any thing, even ' his pohtic and wholesome laws,' (Bacon says, and without a word of counteraction) ' were interpreted to be but the brocage of an usurper, thereby to woo and win the hearts of the people.' Hist. Hen. \'II. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 21 and gentry retained or could assemble and exhibit, chap. under the family insignia of their crest or other J^ device, which gave them the power of thus endan- reign of gering the throne, and of doing much sudden mis- ^J^ chief, and many oppressions. To abate this evil Hisrepres- in the country; Richard was steady in discounte- re°thiueot^ nancing the antient custom of giving liveries, badges, ^^^ s^at. ensigns, cognizances or other distinctive clothing or ornaments to any. He issued several prohibitions of this sort, very necessary to the peace and improve- ment of the country, but very displeasing to those who had the means of conferring what they could make so useful to their violences. The sheriffs of various counties, and mayors of various cities and towns, were instructed to forbid both the granting or wearing this dangerous costume, and. also the re ceiving them from any person whomsoever.'^ This was an attack on the pride and power of the great and rich, as bold as it was patriotic.^' But all his measures to lessen their oppressions, altho wise of themselves, and kind to the people at large, neces sarily displeased the aristocracy ; and may be con sidered as a far more active cause of its enmity against him, than their moral sympathies on his nephews'fate. Noclass surrenders accustomed power, without enmity to the hand that exacts the loss. In these public benefits of Richard, we see the real cause of his unpopularity with the higher orders. Hence, his reign is truly characterized by Polydore =» See Hari. MS. pp. Ul, 138, 210, 188, and many other places. One example may suffice. The mayor of Bedford was commanded to make open proclamation, that none of the inhabitants take or receive any re tainers, liveries, clothings, or cognizance, of any person whatsoevei-; 26 Sept. 1484. p. 188. " Ib. Lord Bacon admits, that he was ' a good lawyer for the eqae and solace of the common people.' Hist, p, 2. c 3 22 BOOK V. His con duct to wards the church. HISTORY OF ENGLAND, Virgil, in two words, " nobilium defectionem," the disaffection of his nobility.'* He was becoming too good a king, to suit their interests ; and yet his life might have given the crown a disproportionate authority instead. The constitutional balance was perhaps best maintained, by the events that were permitted or directed to occur. His fastidious use and display of his regal state, revealed too large a personal vanity to create attach ment.'* Every one has too much of this weakness to endure it from another ; and as the pomp of Richard was too expensive for the less affluent of the gentry, and too self-prominent not to make the wealthier feel a great comparative diminution in his presence, it increased, instead of abating, his personal unpopularity. He seems to have discovered the impropriety of his long desertion of his metropolis, for he was chiefly in it during the last twelve months of his life.'* His position, as to the church establishment, com pelled him to make enemies, whatever course of conduct he should adopt. To shield it, was to dis satisfy all those who desired a participation of its wealth, a reduction of its luxury, a relaxation of its ''* Pol. Virg. 565. '^ His wardrobe, and love of finery, has been already noticed. He gave his queen 4^ yards of purple cloth of gold, upon damask. Hari. MS. p. 130. He licensed a merchant of Genoa to bring to England, ' dya- mount and other gemmys, or pretious stones, that if they be for the king's pleasure, he may have the first purchase thereof before all other.' g Dec. 1484. Ib. He authorized Alderman Shaw to bring out of France, &c. ' all manner of gold and silver, and pretious stones, without paying cus tom.' Ib. p. 210. These were apparently for the king. Divers pieces of his rich plate are mentioned in the receipt for them, p. 212, to be used in the north. ™ Excepting one short excursion to Canterbury, in November 1484, and occasional visits to Windsor, in December, January, February, April and May, he was in the metropolis from the beginning of November 1484, to the June preceding his fall, as appears by the grants ill the Harl MS. RICH. in. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 2a doctrinal despotism,, and a diminution of its temporal chap, powers ; and who would expect an usurped reign to ^• be most adverse to antient bigotry. To favor the reign of opponents of the possessioned church, was to ensure its enmity ; and even his warlike brother, who at first inclined against it, had at length bent, from his love of ease and quiet, to its power. In September, he may have still hesitated ; " but on the 2d of October 1 484, he publicly shewed, that he had de cided to uphold it ; for he issued a mandate, com manding that twenty acres of pasture, which had been taken from the convent at Pomfret, should be restored to it ; and he took the occasion to tell the nation in it, that he had called " to remembrance the dreadful sentence of the church against all those persons who wilfully attempt to usurp unto them selves, against good conscience, possessions or other things of right belonging to the church; and the great peril of soul which might ensue by the same.'"* It is extraordinary that he should so far forget his own usurpation as to suppose that this language could have any other effect than to make its readers indignant at its hypocrisy, or self-delusion, and to ensure its being contemptuously retorted upon himself. Whether he felt this result, cannot be affirmed ; but he seems to have paused awhile on this subject, tho he received the archbishop of Canterbury into his favor, in the December following.'" In February 1484, the clergy of England met in "On the 23d of September 1484, he seized on the bishop of Salisbury's temporalities. Harl. MS. p. 117. »« Ilari. MS. 121. ^ On the Bth of December 1484, he stated this to his grace's tenants, and ordered them to pay him their rents. Ib. 128. c 4 24 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK convocation; and from that addressed to him a pe- V- tition, complaining that churchmen were cruelly, reign of grievously, and daily troubled, vexed, indicted, and RjcH^^n^ arrested ; drawn out of church, and without due re verence, even from the altar, by malicious and evil- disposed persons, notwithstanding all the censures, anathematizations and curses, yearly promulgated and fulmined by the holy father the pope, and in all the churches of England ; so that they could not be resident on their benefices, to execute duly and de voutly their office."" This complaint shews, that both the law and the laity were steadily attacking the ecclesiastical pro perty and privileges. They proceed to express to him a most emphatical compliment, some months after the circulated ac count of his nephews' deaths, which, as coming from the dignified representatives of the whole body of the English clergy, becomes a kind of sacred testi mony to his character ; it must either have been a phrase of the most consummate hypocrisy, or must be allowed to counterbalance, in no small degree, the defamation that has pursued him. They say, ^' in eschewing whereof, seeing your most noble and BLESSED DISPOSITION IN ALL OTHER THINGS, we beseech you to take tender respect and consideration unto the premises, and of yourself, as a most ca tholic prince, to see such remedies, that under your most gracious letters patents, the liberties of the church may be confirmed, and sufficiently authorized by your high court of parliament, rather .enlarged than diminished.""' ™ See the document in these words, in Wilk. Concil. v. 3. p. 614. The convocation met on the 3d of February 1484. "' Wilk. Con. V. 3. p. 614. OF RICH. iir. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 25 The clergy appear to have persuaded him to chap become their patron and protector ; for there is an _^ official document addressed to them, declaring, that reign the king had confirmed all their liberties to them, as in their patent made by Edward IV."^ He also re leased the dean of York and others, from paying tenths or fifteenths, during their lives;"' but it was not till the 1st of March 1484, that he wrote to pope Sextus IV. promising to do him obedience, by the bishop of St. David's ; and excusing his not having done it before, on account of the conspiracies he had to suppress,"* altho that of Buckingham's was ended in the October preceding. But now, having fixed his determination to uphold the church as it was, he sent the prelate to him, as the ambassador of his sub mission ; and solicited the pontiff to give a cardinal's hat to his bishop of Durham."' In the following December, he sent both these bishops to give his obedience to the new pope Innocent IV."" Yet, while he offended all the liberalizing minds of the country, by upholding the superstitions and systems which so many wished to modify, he was soon compelled to alter his conduct; for in March 1485, we find him invading one of their most stoutly-claimed privileges, by issuing a warrant to take up sir Lewis Deyken, priest, for certain great murders, robberies, and other detestable offences, which he had committed ; "^ and in May such differences had arisen between him and St. Peter's chair, that he signed a commission to «2 Hari. MS. 44. «' Hari. MS. 53. "' Rym.Foed. 12. p. 214; and Hari. MSS. "5 Rym. Feed 12. p. 216. "« Ib. p. 253. '" Hari. MS. 210. This person seems to have escaped from Radnor castle ; for there is a pardon to his keeper for it. Ib. 94. 2G HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK examine if the pope's bull, sent into Guernsey, was ^" hurtful to his interests."* Richard had so turned the eye of public criticism upon his actions, that he could do nothing that would be deemed unobjectionable, or that would not be objected to. Other sovereigns, by indolence, retiring conduct, or by management, put all the public re sponsibility of their conduct on their ministers; but Richard, unfortunately for himself, was so personally active, and so fond of shewing that he. was so, that he was supposed to do every thing; and therefore blamed for whatever occurred. He would have been more effectively and more safely the king, if he had striven less to be so ; but he loved to feel his power, and to exert it himself, and to be seen to do so. He had too gross a sense of royalty. He did not confine himself to the interior and more exquisite enjoyment of it, which usually attends native and habitual great ness. He wanted the vulgar and animal gratification from it, which a man, raised suddenly from the dust to the throne, may be supposed to crave ; but which the brother of a king, accustomed all his life to courtly splendor, ought neither to have valued nor demanded. Without stretching flattery so far, as to assert that he had a most blessed disposition, some new facts may be adduced, to shew that he was not an unna tural anomaly. His letter to his mother, after he became king, is expressed in an attentive and affec tionate style."" But the register of his official acts, ^' Rym. Feed, 12. p. 269. •^ It was written in June 1484. Harl. MS. ' Madam, ' I recommend me to you as heartily as is to me possible, beseeching you, in my most humble and affectuouse wise, of your daily blessing, to my singular comfort and defence in my need. And, madam, I heartily beseech you, that I may often hear from you, to my comfort. And such DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 27 shews many personal civilities to the ladies of his chap. political enemies, from which, as they have never ^' been noticed, he has not had his deserved praise. J^eign op Altho lord Oxford was his implacable enemy to > — !„ — j his last breath, yet he granted his lady a pension of lOo/. a year, during the earl's exile and hostility.™ To lady Hastings, the widow of the peer he had de stroyed, he intrusted, with a generous magnanimity, the keeping of all her castles, and presented her with the wardship and marriage of her son and heir ; ^^ altho this latter must have been a most valuable pecuniary favor, that many were suing for; and tho it gave her the power of educating her son with the revengeful spirit of hostility against him : from this youth he took off the attainder. Nothing could be a greater act of atoning kindness to her, and of liberal confidence, unless it was another official instrument, which he signed at Reading, on the 13th of July, a month after he had made her a widow, by which he covenanted to her to protect her and her children in all their possessions, wardships, and other just rights ; to suffer none to do them wrong, and to assist them upon all occasions, as their good and gracious sovereign lord.^* Sir Thomas More says, that he loved Hastings. These documents prove an unusual regard, and great good feeling, that he should news as be here, my servant, Thomas Brian, this bearer, shall show you, to whom please it yon to give credence unto. ' And, Madam, I beseech you to be good and gracious lady to my lord, my chamberlain, to be your officer in Wiltshire, in such as Colingbourne had. I trust he shall therein do you good service : and that, if it please you, by this bearer, I may understand your pleasure in this behalf. And I pray God send you the accomplishment of your noble desires. ' yyritten at Pomfret, the 3d day of June, with the hand of ' Your most humble Son, ' Ricardus Rex,' '° Hari. MS, p. 53. ¦" Ib. 27. '= Ib. 108. 28 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK have taken such a zealous care of his family after- ^- wards. To the widowed duchess of Buckingham he gave an annuity of 200 marcs." He sent her permission to come, with her servants and children, to London. '^* He gave a safeguard to Florence, the wife of Alexander Cheyney ; and expressed in it, that " for her good and virtuous disposition, he had taken her into his protection, and granted to her the custody of her husband's lands and property, tho, being confederated with certain rebels and traitors, he had intended and compassed the utter destruction of the king's person." " He ordered the officers and tenants of the estates, which had been settled on lady Rivers, as her jointure, to pay to her all their rents and duties ; '^" and he took off the sequestration he had put on the lands of an outlaw, that his wife might have the benefit of them." He seems, by their number, to have taken pleasure in doing acts of good nature and courtesy to the female sex. He settled an nuities on many widows, and other ladies.'^* He paid one, the arrears of a pension given to her by Edward IV.™ tho future kings rarely heed their predecessors debts or bounties. He granted to lady Dynham four tons of wine yearly.^" He confirmed an annual allowance, which he had made as duke of Gloucester ; " and settled a small one on the widow of an herald ; *^ and a larger one on the sister of lord Lovel.^' All these were acts of kindness, which, if he had been of that malicious, envious and brutal nature, " Harl. MS. p. 77. " lb. 1.35. « Ib. 126. '" lb. 166. " lb. 77. " For many of these, see Hari. MS. pp. 37, 41, 46, 58, 71, 76, 170, &c. &c. '" I'^ 205. «» Ib. 89. 81 lb. 200. =Mb.9l. 83 lb. reign op RICH. £ir. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 29 which has been ascribed to him, he would not have chap. performed. A gift to the monks of an abbey burnt J__ down ; ** and to a merchant, towards his losses in trade ; *' a protection for requiring alms to a man, whose dwelling-house and property, with his thir teen tenements, had been all consumed by fire, to his utter undoing ; and his recommendation of him, as having kept a good household, by which many poor creatures had been refreshed;®" his payment of Buckingham's debts ; *' and of the bishop of Exeter's, who pursued him with hostility to his last hour;®® and his commission to the hermit of the chapel of Reculver, that had been ordained for the burial of those who should perish by storms, to receive alms to rebuild its roof; *" the grant of an annuity, for good service done to his father:'" — ^all these attentions display a temper of the same good feelings which we desire to see in every well-directed mind. There is nothing of the common, cruel, crook-backed Richard about them. It is clear that he had a heart and sympathies much like our own, tho at one inter val he fiirgot their claims. It is a petty circumstance, but it tends to the same point, of shewing that he possessed a common nature of urbanity with the rest of his species, that he did not neglect the custom then in use, of 'presenting his friends with new year's gifts."' He may have been wrathful, as More inti- niates,"^ which we may understand to mean, that he was irritable, peremptory and impatient of delay, hesitation or opposition to his plans or of his wishes ; »* Hari. MS. p. 153. «' Ib. 101. «« Ib. 148. " Ib. 64, 97. «8 Ib 208. '^ Ib. 215. * lb. 120. " There is a warrant to pay alderman Shaw ' 200 marcs, for certene hewe yeres giftes, bought of him, against the fest of Cristymesse.' Ib. p. 148. « More, p. 154. 30 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK and this temper, arising from energy and excitability, V- may have constituted that feritas naturae, that fierce- REiGN OF ness of nature, which has been charged upon him. RicH^^ But if the imperfections and exacerbations of human sensibility are crimes, who is there that is unsinning? He buries It is a remarkable instance of the jaundiced eye, ri'eSilthS ^^^^ which even the laudable actions of this king Windsor, have been wilfully contemplated, that altho one con temporary historian, who was no flatterer of him, has mentioned to his praise, that in August 1484, he caused the body of Henry VI. which had been obscurely buried at Chertsey, to be brought to Wind sor, with great solemnity,"^ and to be interred with his royal predecessors there ; an act of respectful kindness to the memory of this inoffensive king, and very creditable to his own feelings ; yet the clergy, who, in his lifetime, had extolled " his noble and blessed disposition,"®* in February 1484, when all his worst actions had been committed ; ten years only afterwards, in 1494, under the reign of his successor, when it had become loyal to abuse him, mentions this removal from Chertsey to Windsor, with an invective against him, and as an instance of his malignity of nature, that had extinguished all piety and humanity in him.®' They declare, that he transferred the corpse to Windsor, because he en vied Henry's name, and desired to stop the eon- course of people that flocked to his former tomb ; ®" and yet but ten lines before, they had described Chertsey as a place " certainly hidden, and remote P Rous, p, 218. " See before, p. 24. ?* In their address to the pope, to remove Henry VI. to Westminster, they say of Richard, on his re-interment, ' in quern feritas naturae, animae- que malignitas, omnem pietatem atque humanitatem penitus extinxerat.' Wilk. Concil. 3. p. 635. "« Ib. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 31 from the common access of the public, and not fit for C li ap. the sepulchre of so great a king."®^ These gross _L inconsistencies shew, that the most calumnious mis- '^"^^ "f representations pursued even the most honorable > — , — ^ actions of this defamed sovereign. It was magna nimous in Richard, after the slanderous imputafions he had suffered about Henry's death,®® to bring the subject again full before the contemplation of the nation by his state removal and funeral, after the old king had been thirteen years in his royal grave ; and it is inconceivable how even party rage could distort a royal interment at Windsor, a place of high cele brity and great public resort, into an envious desire of committing the corpse to oblivion and neglect. It was an act of generous attention to the conve nience of his people, that altho Edward IV. had for his own hunting gratification annexed a great circuit of country to the forest of Wichwood, and appro priated it to his own use, yet Richard, notwithstand ing his attachment to the chase, to please the people, disforested it, and threw it open to the public.®® But his popular actions procured him no favor from the lordly aristocracy, which sought only the continuance of its own oppressive bondage. Among the amusements of Richard's leisure hours. His per- he seems to have been attached to music ; but to have tastes and gratified his taste for it by exertions of authority pleasures- more suitable to that age than to our own. He '¦'' Wilk. Concil, 3. p, 635. '^ This same document, written in 1494, gives important evidence, that Richard did not, in their opinion, kill king Henry. For tho they strive, obviously, by their epithets, to blacken him ; yet, instead of charg ing this murder upon him, they expressly impute it to Edward IV. Their words are, that llenry, ' in miseranda fata concesserat jussu Edwardi, tunc Angliae regis.' Ib. *> Rous, 216. RICH. III. 32 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK empowered one of the gentlemen of his chapel, "to • take and seize for the king, all such singing men and REIGN OF children, expert in the science of music, as he could find, and think able to do the king service, in all places in the kingdom, whether cathedrals, colleges, chapels, monasteries, or any other franchised places, except Windsor.""" Such an arbitrary order as this, may shew his passion for this fascinating art, but must have offended wherever it was executed. He was visited by minstrels from foreign countries, and to several other minstrels he gave annuities ; *"' and also, perhaps, from his fondness for their sonorous state music, to several trumpeters.'"'' Falconry and hawking appear to have been favorite pastimes to him. There is a grant to the master of the king's hawks, and the keeper of the mews near Charing Cross ;"^ and he issued a commission to take at reasonable price, such goshawks, tarcells, falcons, lanerettes and other hawks, as could be gotten in Wales or its marches, as should be neces sary for the king's disports."* A similar warrant was applied to the same object in England ; "' he dispatched a person to parts beyond the sea, to purvey hawks for him ; "" and he had a sergeant of the falcons in England."' Hunting was also his amusement; we find his '»" Hari. MS. p. 189. '"' As, to Robert Green, minstrel, ten marcs ; the same to J, Hawkyns, Hari. MS. p. 46. Two minstrels had come from the duke of Austria, p. 190 ; and two from the duke of Bavaria, p. 210. "" Three of them are mentioned, to each of whom he gave a yearly payment of ten marcs. Hari. MS. pp. 78,96, 104. '" Hari. MS. p. 53. '"' Ib. p. 214. It is dated 27 March 1485. ""' Dated at Westminster, 8 March 1485. Ib. '°= Dated 1 1 March. Ib. '"' The grant of this is in the same MS. p. 103. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, 33 payments to a knight, the master of his hart-hounds, CHAP, and a regular establishment of dogs and servants ; "® J^ and persons were restrained from hunting in the park reign of of Sheynsham, in Worcestershire, without special ,^^f^^;_J^ leave ; because the king desired to have this park replenished with game, and kept for his disport against his resorting into those parts,"® Besides these amusements, less refined pleasures sometimes interested his notice ; for there is a letter to all the mayors and sheriffs of the island, command ing them not to vex or molest John Browne, whom be calls, " our trusty servant and bear-ward ;" and whom he says, " we have made master-guider and ruler of all our bears and apes, to us appertaining," within England and Wales; he speaks of them in the phrases of strong attachment.'" He was commended by a contemporary, for his encouragement of architectuue"'; and there are many of his grants which prove his attention to it. His works in the Tower,"^ and at Windsor castle,'" "^ Harl. MS. p. 19,5. The appointments were, I2rf. a day for himself; 7J d. a day for a servant ; 8d. for two yeoman riders ; id. for two yeoman vantrers ;*8rf. for two yeomen on foot; 6d. for two grooms; and 6\d. a Jay for the keeping and expense of two horses, in the said office ; and 3.?. 4.d. for the meat of forty dogs and twelve greyhounds, MS p, 49. i<» P. 178. "° Ib. p. 139. It is dated 6 Jan, 1484, He adds a charge, that no one ' unquiet, vex, or trouble him or his servants, keepers of our said bears and apes ; but to him, and the keepers of our said game, for our pleasure, ye show loving benevolence and favor, and them courteously receive and intreat; to you reasonable money paying; and not suffering any manner of person, in that ye goodly may, otherwise to vex, molest, or grieve them.' '" Rous refers to Westminster, Nottingham, Warwick, York, Middle- ham, and other places, as justifying his epithets, ' in edificiis laudandus.' p. 216. '" His warrant for those, vfas to his Serjeant carpenter, to take carpen ter's timber,&c. for the hasty speed of his works there. MS. p. 227. '" Ib. 211, Vol, IV, D 34 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK and in the palace of Westminster,"* at Barnard ^'- castle, at a palace in London, called The Ewer ; at REIGN OF the castles of Killingworth, Rockingham, Sudely, .^l!!^ Nottingham, Tutbury, Somerhall and York ; '" and in his palace at the latter city ; "" a stone cross at Brecon, a bridge in Somerset, churches at King's college, Cambridge ; "' and in Wales, are also no ticed. Nor did he spare trouble and expense to procure the best materials ; for there is a licence to a person to go to France and Normandy, and to buy there, for the king, certain tons of Caen stone, and also plaster and glass for his works."® But he pur sued his taste with the full exertion of the royal authority as then claimed ; for he signed a warrant to take up all artificers, stuff, and carriages, as should be necessary for the furtherance and accomplish ment of the works at York castle."® His aiten- Foreign trade experienced his attention and pro- trade, tection. The merchants of Italy and theHanse Towns had their privileges confirmed.'^" Several foreigners were made denizens.'^' One merchant received a gift of 40/. in alleviation of the losses he had suffered. '^^ Leave was given to transport wool beyond the "^ Hail, MS. p. 204. This warrant is dated 17 Dec. 1484. It was, therefore, distinct from his fortifications there. "* Ib. 175. 187, igo. 192, 193. 203. 207. 218. "« Ib, 179. '" Ib. 190. 209,210. "" Ib. 213. "" Ib. 187. He had, before this warrant, authorized the dean of York and Ratcliffe ' to take all manner of workmen and stuff, for the hasty expedition of his works,' Ib .183. There are several of these peremptory, and, as they would now be, arbitrary and illegal orders. '» Ib. 85. "' A goldsmith of EastFriesland, p. 28; three Dutchmen, 28,34,56; a booker of Florence, 74; other persons, 36, &c. It is curious, that a Welshman was then deemed, in law, so much !^n alien foreigner, as to be made atlenizen, MS. p. 85. "" Ib. 101. DURING THE MIDDLE AG'ES. 35 Straits of Morocco.'*^ The Spanish procurator of CHAP. Biscay, had such confidence in his stability, as to ^ covenant to pay him 1600/. in eight years;'" and appears to have advanced him so much money as to have a warrant to receive 8000 crowns of gold from the customs on imported Spanish goods. '^' He con firmed to the foreign manufacturers of cloths, the liberty of dwelling in Wales, Ireland, or England ; '^" but compelled foreign importers to sell their goods wholesale, and if not disposed of within a certain time, to take them out of the country.""' The mer chants of Spain appear to have had many transactions with him.'^® Several licences were granted for ships to sail to Iceland. This volcanic rock of snow and ice above, and fire below, seems to have been much frequented •in Richard's time, and to have drawn his particular attention, tho licences were required for the voyages and their freights.'^® '^ Harl, MS. p. 104. From Venice, there is an entry of 11,000 bow- staves, and another of 7000, and afterwards of 185,000. Ib. p. 71. "' Ib. p. 100. ™ lb. '^ Ib. 65, '" Stat, of Realm, v, 2. '^ The substance of two documents in the Harl. MS. implies this. One is, that ' Petre de Salamanca, Petre de Valiadolet, Diego de Castro, Sancio de Valinafedo, Fernando de Carion, Johan Pardo, Diego de Cada- go, Alfonso de Lyon, Martino de Cordova, Gonsalo de Salamanca, mer chants of Spain, should have 200 i. of the customs and subsidies coming of whatsoever clothes, grayned or ungrayned, and of other merchandizes whatsoever, by them charged in the port of IjOndon, or elsewhere in England.' p, 76. The other directs, that ' Petre Salamanca, Sanchei de Valmazeda, Johan Pardo, Diego de Cadagna, Fernand de Carrion, Mar tyn de Ordogna, Diego de Castro, Peter de Valdsliyt, and Martyn de Malverda, have licence to perceeve 400 marks of the customs and sub sidies, coming of all manner of woollen cloths, grayned or ungrayned; of lede, tynne, alum, wyne, yron, to be shipped in the ports of London and Southampton.' p. 99. '® One licence is, to a name like that of Jane Shore's husband. ' Wil. liam Shore, merchant of London, and Robert Chapman, of Kingston- upon-HoU, have a licence to pass to Island, vvith two shipps of the por tage of iiii tonnes. The licence during a year.' p. 88, A fuller account of two others will give an idea of the intercourse allowed to this place. D 2 RICH. 111. 3? HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK Weak in body, afflicted by sickness, but powerful ^- in mind, it was on that mind Richard necessarily REIGN OF relied ; and by exerting the faculties, which he felt to be vigorous within him, he endeavored to accom plish all he wished. In personal strength, he could not compete with his enemies. This was a gift of nature, and of its author, which was not subject to his command. But his reason, his conceptions, his resolution, his power of foreseeing, combining and deciding thought; his quickness to act, and his energy of action ; these were within the compass of his own power, and obedient to his ambitious and aspiring soul. Hence, the infirmities of the exterior man, made his interior spirit more essential to his use, and more precious in his estimation. He felt that he towered in mind, tho he had not the ad vantage of body; and when he added to it the au thority and means of royal power, he was delighted ' To all owners, masters, and mariners of the navye, of the counties of Norfolk, and Suffolk, as well fishers as others intending to depart to the ports of Island : ' As we understand, that certain of you intend hastely to depart to wards Island, not purveyed of waught for your surety in that behalve. We charge you, that none of you depart out of any of the havens in this our realm, without our licence; and that you gather and assemble you, in such of our havens of Norfolk and Suffolk as ye shall think most conve nient, well harnyssed and apparellyd, for your own suretie; and so de part altogether toward Hunibre, to attend there upon our ships of Hull, as your waughters for the surety of you all ; and that you keep together.' ' 23 Feb. Anno 1,' 159, ' To all merchants, fishermen, masters, mariners and other our subjects, now being in the parties of Island. We have granted and commanded William Combresliall, captain ofourship named the Elizabeth, to depart with the same towards you, and to be your conveyor and master, to such place as he shall think convenient, as well for your suretie as for other great causes. We will that ye dispose you to be ordered and guided by him, and in no wise to depart from him, unto such time as the whole fleet of you shall come to anchor, and meet with others of our army upon the sea, on pain of forfeiting your ships and goods,' ' 6 July. A" 2°.' 180. DUllING THE MIDDLE AGES. 37 to exert acquisitions, in which he knew that he sur passed all surrounding competition. Hence flowed what one author calls his horrible vigilance and celerity,"" because his intellect alwaj^s rushed to anticipating and decisive energies. Hence, a contemporary also gives to this quality and habit of action, the epithet of excessive.'" He was too rapid, too decisive, too violent, too impatient. He struck before others saw the emerging danger, or felt the necessity of the precautionary rigor. His brother's error had been careless negligence ; and his fault was a preventive activity, which was mis construed to be remorseless tyranny. By leaving nothing undone that could be done, he was always doing too much for his own quiet, or for the appro bation of his contemporaries. Every one dreaded a perspicacity and a precipitation, which left no time for recollecting repentance, and no hope of mercy. His little habit, deemed so horrible, of always play ing, or we may say, fidgetting with his dagger, pul ling it continually half in and out with his right hand,'*^ was but a mark of a restless impatience of spirit, which could not even let its fingers be quiet. It is unnecessary to ascribe it to any ferocious na ture ; the mildest men have many unmeaning habits of such moving dumb-show. Richard would have reigned more happily, with less talent, or with greater apathy,'^^ It is oftener the safest wisdom to leave the course of things to ¦™ Pol. Virg. 552, "' ' Nimis,' Croyl, '^ Pol. Virg. 565. '33 The proclamation of Perkin Warbeck, being addressed to popular feeling, may be considered as expressing the general estimate of Richard's reign. ' Tho desire of rule did bind him, yet, in his other acrions, he was noble; and loved the honor of the realm, and the contentment and comfort of his nohles and people.' Bacon's Hist, p, 615.. D 3 38 BOOK V. REIGN OF RICH. lU. WhetherColumbus was in Richard's HISTORY OF ENGLAND, their own results, and to make their own remedies, than by anticipating or precipitating measures, to attempt to control them, or to prevent those conse quences which we dread or dislike. Many appre hended evils never occur, and many that are pro duced, disappear of themselves, which hasty or too precautionary interference only aggravate or change into worse. But Richard was too prone to think, that human vigilance could not be too active and foreseeing ; nor the exertions of human policy too immediate, vigorous, and decisive. Hence, he tended to out-run the tardier perceptions of his friends ; and created alarm instead of security, dread instead of attachments, and the desire of a less wakeful and strenuous master, instead of that confiding regard and personal affection which he coveted, and by which alone he could be secure. The more he punished, the more he found he had to punish ; till he diffused an indifference to his government, and a secret approbation of the plans of others to have a milder dynasty. He did not wait to let time do, imperceptibly and inoffensively, much of what he wished to have done ; and his forcing violence exasperated his contemporaries, and ruined himself.'^* "' Some grants of Richard in the Harl. MS. N° 433, have induced me to consider whether they related to the celebrated Columbus. I cannot satisfy myself that they do, and yet the possibility is so interesting, that r think it right to note the facts on which that surmise occurred, and leave them to the chance of future confirmation or refutal. If he be the person alluded to, some other documents may occur 10 some future en quirer, that will elucidate the point; or others may shew that they do not concern him. Observing some grants to Christopher Colyns, I thought they meant the common name of Collins, and passed them over. But remembering that the name with which Columbus chose to go into Spain, was Cliris- lopher Colon ; and seeing, in the same MS., deacon spelt dekyn, as in p. 238, and Cologne, Coleyn, p. 19(1; and that Caxton spells this town Colen, (Dest. Troy, 2nd. p, 134,) I could not avoidasking myself, if this Christopher Colyns could have, been but u varying orlhography for Chris- REIGN OP RICH. III. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. »S> topher Colon. Names and words are frequently spelt in the MS. with CHAP. as much variation, as Tyddor for Tudor ; Rauffe for Ralph ; Herry for rr Henry, Wolstre for Ulster, weire for wur, &c. '__ The notices of the grants to which I refer in the Harleian MS. are as follows: — 1. ' Christofre Colyns hath the ship called the Barbara, of Fowey, which was taken with staple ware, and forfeauted, given to him of the king's rewarde.' 94. a. ' Christofre Colyns hath a privie seale to sir Thomas Thwayt, tresourer of Calais, to content him 20 1, which he deliveredWilliam Bolton, to content certain souldiours in Guysnes.' Ib. 3. ' Christofre Colyns hath a privie seale to the treasourer and chamberlaine, to content unto him 128 Z. 4.S. 2d. in redy money ; and make unto him assignment of the same, by the said Christofrei paid for the wages of 200 men.' 100. 4. ' Christofre Colyns hath a warrant, directed to the sheriff and escheator of Kent, charging them to deliver unto him, or the bringer thereof, as muche tymbre to be taken out of the fielde called Huntyngdon fielde, beside Feversham, as his workmen shall think will serve for fence grattes, and the posts of a drawbridge, at the castell of Quenesburgh ; and for the flores in the porter's lodge there ; and also for an axiltre for a mille. Given the 16th day of February, an. 2°.' 207. 5. ' A commission to al maires and others, showing, that Christofir Colyns, constable of the castell of Quynsburgh, or William Constable, his brother, hath auctoritie and power to take masons, stones, carcases, tylers and dawbers, vessails, and othre necessaries for the ^vorks in the said castell. Given at Lond. the loth of April, an. 2°.' 512. 6. ' Christofre Colyns hath a warrant to the treasourer and chamberlayn of the exchequer, to make assignment unto him, by taille or tallies, in due form, at the receipt of the exchequer, to him and Thomas Cotton, as collector of the subsidie in London, of the some of 3 1, appointed to the said Cristofre for his reward, and 27 1, for his habiliments of warre, &c.' 63. ' Christofer Colyns, th' office of constable of the castell of Queneburgh, and the mylne to the said castle adjoining, during his life, with the wages of 20 marks yearely, to be perceived of the issues of the counties of Essex and Hertford, by the hands of the sheriff.' 74. 7. ' Cristofre Colyns, squier, an annuytie of 100^. fro Estre, an" primo, to the ende and terme of 20 years, of the subsidie of 3 .s. per ton, and 12 d. per lb. &c. in the port of London.' 76. If these grants relate to Columbus, they shew that he was em ployed by Richard, as the constable or military commandant of the castle of Queenborough, in the isle of Shepey, in February and April 1485; for as the king assumed the crown in June 1483, the February and April of his second year, would be those of 1485. The commission directed and empowered him to constiiict 04 40 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, works for strengthening that castle, which was one of the points of the coast which was guarded against Richmond's invasion. The grants also imply that he had taken a ship, which was deemed forfeited, and given to him ; that he had paid the soldiers at the English castle of Guynes, near Calais, on the French coast : that money was given him for his habiliments in war ; and that an annuity of looZ. was assigned to him by the king, and as this was to begin from Easter 1484, we may presume that to have been the period when his services to Richard commenced. Hence if these donations relate to Columbus, he was in England, and in Richard's service, from Easter 1484, till this king fell at Bosworth, in August 1485. To ascertain or disprove this curious fact, it becomes important to inquire whether any fact known of his true biography is incon sistent with his being in England during this period. That he had been in England, and on the English coasts and seas, in an earlier part of his life, appears to be certain; and therefore he might have sought employment here afterwards, when Richard invited and received such foreigners as could be useful to him in repelling Richmond's threatened invasion. Columbus was born, according to some, in 1442, according to others, in 1447. He says of himself, in the memorandum, (printed in Churchill's and also in Kerr's Voyages,) ' In February 1467, I sailed 100 leagues beyond Iceland. To this island, which is as large as England, the English carry on trade, especially from the port of Bristol.' This passage shews, that he was in our seas seventeen years before the time of the grant ; and in another place, he implies, that at some time he had been in England, for he says, as quoted by his son, ' I had seen all the countries of the east and west, and towards the north, especially England.' No account mentions at what period he was in England, or how long he stayed in it ; but he mentions it elsewhere, as if it was a place that he was well acquainted with. Thus speaking of one of his discovered islands, he says, ' It is larger than England and Scotland together.' On the subsequent movements or stations of Columbus, after 1467, we have a little further information. His son remarks, that he has no perfect knowlege of his father's early years. ' I was so young at his death, that o'.\'ing to filial respect, I had not boldness to ask an account from him of the incidents of his youth; besides, I was not then interested in such inquiries.' His son also men tions, that Colon or Columbus, in one place of his writings, says, that he had been at sea twenty-three years, without being on shore for any length of time ; and in another part, that he went first to sea at fourteen years of age. But whether he was born in 1442 or 1447, these passages are not inconsistent with his being one Or two years on shore in England, in 1484 and 1485. From the historical memoirs of Columbus, by D.G.B. Sportono, DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 41 of Genoa, lately published, and the original documents in the c H A P, Appendix, it appears that Columbus was born at Genoa in 1446 u. o"" 1447> that his father Dominico, was a wool -carder ; that Co- - lumbus learnt reading, writing and arithmetic, and the occupation of carding wool there, and at fourteen went to sea. That he became captain of a ship of war, in the service of Ren6 d'Anjeir, the ex-king of Naples, and about 1475 commanded a squadron of Genoese ships and galleys ; that his name stands registered in a book of losses by sea, in the year ] 476 ; that he went to Lisbon ; that in February 1477 tnot 1467) he was on the voyage beyond Iceland ; that he undertook several other voyages, especially to Guinea, to England, and to the islands possessed by Sp.ain and Portugal, in the Western Ocean, and married at Lisbon, and that his proposal to Genoa for his voyage of discovery, was probably made in 1477, before he went on his Iceland voyage. That Columbus fought, as well as navigated, is evident from two facts. In a letter, written in '1495, he mentions that he was formerly sent to Tunis, by king Reynier, to take the galeasse called Fernandina ; and at another time, his son states, that he entered, into the service of a famous captain of his own name, who com manded a fleet against the infidels, and in his service attacked four large Venetian galleys; but his vessel taking fire, he leapt into the sea, and swam to the shore near Lisbon. He might, there fore, have been taken into Richard's service, to command an English fort on the sea coast, and to defend the maritime castle of Guynes, on the French shore, which often had foreign soldiers as part of its garrison. The acknowleged poverty of his parents, must have made his life that of an adventurer, seeking service and employment where he could get them ; and as Richard, being threatened by Rich mond's invasion, and not knowing where he would land, was obliged to keep every accessible point watched and fortified, it was natural for him to retain and use an active and experienced foreigner. Such persons were likely to be more trusty to him than many of his own subjects. He had several foreigners in his ser vice, and may have had Christopher Colon. Cabot, who dis covered Newfoundland, came from Venicf! to settle in England, at that time. That there was one foreigner here, at that time, of the name of Colyn, appears from another entry in the same MS. It is this : ' Heme Colyn hath a letter of passage, to passe unto the due of Burgoyne, and to convey thither an hobyie ; and John le Heure, with another hobie.' West. 4 March, An" 2° [1485.) p. 210. The son of Columbus says, that his father assumed or revived the name of Colon to himself, and caused himself to be so called in Spain. He may, therefore, have also been so named in Eng land. His Italian Life calls him Colon. Mariana names him Christoval Colon, v. g. p. 197. 4-2 BOOK V. REIGN OF RICH. III. HISTORY :OF ENGLAND, His son states, that he went to Lisbon, and taught his brother Bartholomew to construct sea charts, globes, and nautical instru ments ; and sent his brother to England to Henry VII. to make proposals to this king, of his desired voyage. He presented to Henry a map of the world, with a Latin inscription, dating his application, 13 February 1488. Altho the Latin lines clearly mention 1488, in these words, yet both in some English and Italian translations, the date is printed 1480; and 1484 is mentioned as the year when his brother returned to him. It is so in the Italian Life, c. 1 2. p. 63. This is a mistake. Bartholomew's return must have been after 1488, and seems to be more rightly placed, by Hackluyt, in 1494. His son says, that his wife being dead, he resolved to go to Castile ; but lest the king of Castile might not consent to his proposal, he dispatched his brother Bartholomew from Lisbon to England. This would date his going into Spain, some time before February 1488 ; but, as the year was then reckoned, in England, to begin from the 25th of March, it is probable, that Bartholomew's date of the 13th February 1488, was in reality 1489. The recent work of M. Navarette (Collecion de los Voyages) furnishes us with some other important particulars. According to his documents and inferences, Columbus went to settle at Lisbon about the year 1470, where he married the daughter of Bartolome, who was attached to the household of the Infant Don Juan, of Portugal, and who was also a navigator, and went with a colony to the island of Puerto Santo. The widow of Bartolome, after his death, gave the use of his papers, charts and instruments to Columbus, who visited the island of Madeira, and from the information which these papers afforded him, Columbus offered his services to the court of Portugal, for undertaking further dis coveries to the West. That he was at Lisbon in 1474, we perceive by a letter dated 25 June 1474, from Pablo Toscanelli, a celebrated astronomer at Florence, to him at Lisbon, in which he states his opinion, that the direct tract westward from Lisbon to the Spice Island, must be shorter than that from Lisbon to the coast of Guinea. He accompanied his assertion by a chart of his own making, with the track marked upon it. He says, ' Do not be surprised that I call the place in the west the lands where the spices.grow, which country is called Levante or East, because those who sail to the west will find those places in that direction, while they who pro ceed eastward by land will meet them in the east.' Columbus did not succeed with the court of Portugal, for he was obliged to escape precipitately from that country about the year 1484; the reason of which is not stated. He retired then at first to Andalusia, where he became acquainted with the duke of Medina Cell. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, 43 On 20th March 1488, the king of Portugal, of whom he had CHAP. asked a safe conduct to return to Lisbon, wrote to him at Seville II. a kind letter, saying, that he would be pleased to see him, having . acquiesced with his zeal for his service, and that affairs should reign op be settled to his satisfaction. We are not able to assert whether kich- hi. he accepted of this invitation ; but we find him at Seville in the ' '' ' years 1487, 8, and g, where it appears by several documents, that various sums of money were paid him at different periods by order of queen Isabella, till the year 1492, apparently for his support and encouragement. By the recommendation of the duke of Medina Cell, Columbus was, in the year i486, taken into the service of the queen Isabella, and received a salary from her. Tliese facts leave a vacancy in his biography for the years 1484 and 1485, which comprise the period in which Christopher Colyns was in Richard's service. M. Navarette thinks he went to the duke of Medina in 1484. He might have gone in the beginning of that year; but that he remained with him from that time till i486, is a supposition not proved by any document, and not consistent with the mode of his public re-appearance in that year. Mr. Washington Irving, in his excellent Life of Columbus, states that, in 1484, he thinks, towards the end of the year, ' Co lumbus departed secretly from Lisbon, taking with him his son Diego. The reason he assigned for leaving the kingdom thus privately, was, that he feared being prevented by the king. Another reason appears to have arisen from his poverty. His affairs had run to ruin : he was even in danger of being arrested for debt. A letter has been lately discovered, which was written by the king of Portugal to Columbus some years afterwards. This letter ensures him against any arrest on account of any process, civil or criminal, which might be pending against him.' .See it in Nava rette, V. 2. Dec. 3. Mr. Irving adds, ' an interval now occurs of about a year, during which the movements of Columbus are involved in uncertainty. A modern Spanish historian thinks he departed immediately for Genoa. (Memor. Hist. Novo Mundo. L. 2.) Thus all that we know for certain of Columbus during the years 1484, 1485 and i486, is, that in some part of 1484 he departed suddenly and secretly from Lisbon ; but that the place to which he went is uncertain. Navarette thinks it was to Andalusia ; Munez, to Genoa. But if our documents relate to him, it was to England that he went for employment, and there obtained it in Richard's service. Nothing is known or disclosed of him by any of his biographers in the year 1485, until at the end of that year he suddenly ap peared in great poverty in a little sea-port of Andalusia. This interesting fact is thus stated by Mr, Irving : — 44 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK ' The first trace we have of him in Spain, is in the testimony V. furnished a few years after his death, in a law-suit, by Garcia : Fernandez, a physician, resident in the little sea-port of Palos, in Andalusia. ' About half a league from that town stood an ancient convent of Franciscan friars. According to the testimony of the physi cian, a stranger on foot, accompanied by a young boy, stopped one day at the gate of the convent, and asked of the porter a little bread and water for his child. While receiving this humble refreshment, the prior of the convent happening to pass by, was Struck with the appearance of the stranger ; and observing from his air and accent that he was a foreigner, entered into conversa tion with him. This stranger was Columbus, accompanied by his young son Diego. Whence he had come from does not clearly appear : that he was in destitute circumstances is evident from the mode of his way-faring. He was on his way to the neigh boring town of Huebra, to seek his brother-in-law, who had married a sister of his deceased wife. ' The prior was greatly interested by the conversation of Co lumbus, and struck with the grandeur of his views. He detained him as a guest, and diffident of his own judgment, sent for a scientific friend, Garcia Fernandez, to converse with him. He remained at the convent until the spring of i486, when the court arrived at the city of Cordova.' 'The prior gave him a letter to the queen's confessor, and Columbus leaving his child, ' set out full of spirits for the court of Castile.' Irving Columb. v. 1. p. 96- 100. This is the only authentic account we have of Columbus, from the time of his secret departure from Lisbon, sometime in 1484, until his public appearance at Cordova, in the spring of i486, the precise interval in which Christopher Colyns was employed by Richard in England ; and from this statement we learn, that in the winter before the spring of i486, he suddenly appeared in a little sea-port town in the bay of Biscay, or on the coast of Spain, like a destitute person, asking for bread and water for his child. To be in such poverty at a sea-port as to call at a convent for food, and this sea-port being one of those in Spain, which a ship from England would be likely to touch at, gives Columbus the appearance of having recently landed there from some other country, and would fully suit a passage thither from England in the end of 14S5, The visible poverty also suits the circum stances in which Columbus would have fallen after Richard's death, if he had been the Christopher Colyns above alluded to. For Richard III. fell at the end of August 1485 ; from that time the military friends of Richard, and especially his foreign officers, would receive no favor or pay from Henry VII. Having by his appointment to tlie command of the castle of the Isle of Shepey, to defend the Medway against Henry's invasion, it is DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 45 most probable that he would be dismissed, on this king's victory CHAP. and accession, early in September. From that time his pecuniary II, resources here would be taken from him, and the act passed in — the following November (1485,) by which all Richard's grants reign of were reversed and invalidated (6 Rolls Pari. j). 336-84.) would rich, hi. annul, without hope, the annuity of 100/. granted by Richard to ^^ " ¦* Christopher Colyns, because his name is not among those who were exempted from the deprivation. Thus in November 1485, he would be totally unprovided in England of all maintenance, and had probably been so since Richard's fall in the preceding August. Thus Columbus, in December 1485, would have been in the necessitous state in which he appeared about that time at Palos : and Palos is such a sea-port in Spain as he was likely to have then landed at from England. Hence the authentic account of his being so circum stanced at Palos, in the winter before the spring of i486; his secret retreat from Lisbon in the fear of arrest or detention some time in 1484 ; and the absence of all other certain account how he passed the interval, not only have no inconsistency with his em ployment by Richard III. in 1484 and 1485, but have a singular coincidence with them. He has not given any contrary statement in any of his own writings. He says in one letter to the king and queen of Spain, ' To serve your highnesses, I was not inclined to involve myself with France, or with England, or with Portugal.' This is true. The engagement with Richard III. was only to assist in the defence of England against Henry ; not to sail upon a voyage of discovery. The true date of his first application to the court of Spain, we have in his own letter to the nurse of the prince Don John, written when he arrived in 1500 as a prisoner; for, in mentioning it, he says that all were incredulous, but that the queen supported him. He adds, ' Seven years were passed in treaty, and nine in execution.' p. 224. Now he sailed on his voyage 3d August 1492, and his agreement for it with Ferdinand was signed 17 April 1492. Therefore seven years of treaty would make his first application to have been in 1485; in the last part of which he was at Palos, interesting the prior to assist his voyage, after he must have left England on Richard's fall. The prior had become determined to befriend his scheme ; ' He offered to give Columbus a favorable introduction at coart, advised him to repair thither, and to make his proposition to his Spanish sovereigns : he gave him a letter, strongly recommending him and his enter- prize,' but kept him at Palos, till the court reached Cordova. Irving, p. 99. These facts suit the surmise that Columbus may have served Richard as Christofre Colyns. It also accords with that person's acting as a military commandant for Richard ; that Co lumbus says of himself, ' I ought to be judged as a captain, who for a length of time, up to this very dayy have borne arms, without 4G HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK ever quitting them, and by real warriors such as myself, and not V, by lawyers.' Memorial of Columbus, p. 239. During the seven . years that he was soliciting Spain, between 1485 and 1492, he reign op went to France himself, and sent his brother, Bartholomew, to RICH. HI. England, who presented to HenryVII. the map dated 13 February 1488. p. xliii. That WiUiam Constable was the brother of Christopher Colyns seems at first sight an objection to the alleged identity with Co lumbus. But it is obvious that this person could only be his bro ther by marriage, and to have been so, Columbus must have married Constable's sister, or the sister of Columbus must have been wedded to Constable. Neither of these possibilities is in consistent wifh the known history of the former. Columbus had lost his first wife before 1484, and therefore was at liberty to have married an English lady, when in England ; or, on the other hand, in the continual intercourse which was then taking place between English knights, adventurers and merchants, and the coasts of Spain, Genoa and the Mediterranean, William Constable might have made the Genoese lady his wife. Columbus had sisters. The whole e£Fect of all the above facts is rather favorable than otherwise, to the possibility that he was the Christofre Colyns, whom Richard HI. appointed his constable of the castle of Queenborough. We have therefore thought it our duty to submit the possibility to the consideration of the reader. It is not presented as certain history, but merely as a reasonable probability, which the coincidences that we have collected, induce us not to omit to state as a fair subject for future investigation ; at the same time we acknowlege that probabilities are not ascertained facts ; nor are coincidences alone, historic proof. They are only collateral cimfirmations of other more direct testimony, and while this is wanting, must not be mistaken for it. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 47 CHAP. III. The Reign of Henry VII. 1485—1509. 1 HIS prince had never been in London since that reign of boyish age in which Henry VI. had mentioned, that 'if^^^ he would 'have the crown they were fighting for.' This ^'^^°" remark of his maternal uncle may have arisen, from the good king's perception of the Lancastrian line having then no nearer heir, after his own ; and from his belief, or wish, that the York family might not be permanently successful.^ It indicates how early the eyes of the Lancastrian party were turned to Richmond ; and how far men, at that time, looked forward to the possibilities of the future accessions. This seems to have been a favorite, altho a dangerous subject of their political speculations. His grandfather, Ov^en Tudor, a private Welsh gentleman, in the service of the widow of Henry V, ' This circumstance is mentioned by Henry's earliest biographer, Bernard Andreas, p. 136. His work is in MS. in the Cotton, library, Doinit. XVIII. All the chroniclers allude to it. Andreas intimates, also, that the duke of Bretagne had heard, from others, that Richmond would reign, p. 140; which shews, that Henry's remark had fixed the public eye early on him. Perhaps Henry had meant, in case of his own son's death, to have appointed the earl his successor; and, from this feeling, uttered the prognostication alluded to. Henry VII. himself countenanced and circulated it. ' It is not improbable, that when the duke of York claimed to be the heir 10 the crown, before the birth of Henry's son, the secret politics of the Lancastrian court, in their extreme enmity to their rivals, may have projected the setting up of Richmond, from his maternal relation to the crown, as the antagonist interest. 1456. 48 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK had married her; and had been imprisoned for that ^- marriage, in Newgate, and at Wallingford castle.' reign of This French lady survived her self-degrading nup- HEN.^vii^ tials only nine years ; * but in that time had three sons, of whom the youngest became a monk ; the second was Jasper, the indefatigable earl of Pem broke; and the third, Edmund, whom Henry VL created earl of Richmond,' and who, marrying Mar garet, the heiress of the Somerset line, then only ten years old,* died himself at the age of twenty-five;' leaving one son, Henry, whom the events, already recorded, raised to be the founder of a new dynasty * on the English throne. Born^in Henry VII. was born at Pembroke castle, in 1456, a few months before his father died. His infancy was sickly ; * but he was carefully nursed by his mother, a, child herself. He was afterwards com mitted by Edward IV. to the care of the lady of sir W illiam Herbert, to be educated in a state of friendly •¦' Rym. Feed. 10. p. 686. He is there called, Owen ap Tedyr, but, in another document, he is named Meredith ap Tydier, lb, 828, * She had married Owen in 1428; she died in 1437. Rym. Feed. 10. p. 662. On 4 January, Fab. 433. ' He was made so in March 1453. Rolls Pari. 5. p. 250-4. In 1436, we find Edmund, and his brother Jasper, under the care of the abbess of Berkyng, from 27 July 1437 to ^8 February 1439, for which she was paid 17 /. and afterwards to November 1441, for 52 A 12 s. more. Rym.Foed, 10. p. 828. ^ Holling. p. 678, who mentions her, at that age, to have become Richmond's mother. This is hardly credible; yet her funeral sermon states, that Henry VI. procured her marriage with his maternal brother, when she was only nine years old. p. 8. The duke of Suffolk wanted her for his son. Ib. ' He died the 3d of November, in 14 56, and was huried at St. David's, leaving his son Henry VII. but fifteen weeks old. Inquis. ap. Dugd, Bar. 2. p. 237. This would place Henry's birth in July 1456; so that he was not quite fouryears younger than Richard HI. ' ' In tenella setate saepe valetudinarius fuit.' Bern. And. MS. p. 134. He was born, according to this author, on St. Agnes' day, which was the 3lst of January. This makes him six months older than the inquisition mentioned in Dugdale. UEN. VII. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 49 and liberal custody ; and he owed to her the founda- chap. tion of his manly accomplishments.® The best in- ^ structors were provided for him ; his mind was reign of active, and his improvement rapid.'" He acquired that attachment to religion which never left him : and his behaviour was interesting. Herbert falling in 1470, at Banbury, Jasper, the prince's uncle, during the short restoration of Henry VI. obtained possession of his person, and carrying him to London, introduced him to the king, who was pleased with his countenance, and expressed the idea of his possible elevation." The battle of Tewkesbury compelling Jasper to fly, he thought it prudent that Henry, then in his fifteenth year, should leave the country with him.'^ His mother suggested, that Wales had many castles in which he could be safe; but his uncle advised her not to take the chance, as his life would be aimed at ; and promised to regard him as his son.'* The observation of Henry VI. had made him a mark of dangerous attention, and she assented to his temporary exile. Jasper meant that France should be his asylum, as Henry's grandmother had been the sister of the French king's father ; but a storm driving them on Bretagne, the duke received them courteously, yet detained them. Here they remained above twelve years, as actual prisoners, but kindly treated.'* The efforts of Edward IV. to " Pol. Virg. 522. ' Well and honorably educated, and in all kind of civility brought up, by the lady Herbert.' Hall, 287. '° B. Andreas says, that he was told by Andreas Scot, of Oxford, Henry's preceptor, that he never heard a boy of that age so capable and so quick in learning. MS. ib. 135. " Pol. V. 522. Hall, 287. '- Pol. V. 531. " Bern. And. MS. 136-40. '¦* Coraines, v. I. p. 514, who adds, ' The earl of Richmond told me, that, from the time he was five years old, he had been always a fugitive or a prisoner. I was at the court of the duke Francis at the time they were seized, and the duke treated them very handsomely for prisoners,' Ib, Vol, IV. E reign of iirN, vn. r>o HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK get them within his power, had the effect of making ^- . the duke more vigilant in watching them ; but also more alive to the policy of keeping them in his dominions, »47o. j|. ^j^g extraordinary, that the proud nobility of England should choose for their sovereign a young man so unknown to Englishmen, and whose paternal ancestry was so obscure. But their party feelings urging them to oppose the throne, and their safety requiring a leader of some nominal pretensions at least, they sacrificed their inveterate prejudices of birth to political expediency ; and, perhaps, they thought they could govern, more easily, a king who would owe his crown, not to legal right, but to their selection and support. Hence, they combined in his favor against Richard ; and allowed Stanley to put the crown on his head, in the field of Bosworth. 1485, Resting two days at Leicester, after this victory, to settle his immediate measures, Henry sent a pro clamation, as king, into York, to inform its citizens of Richard's death ; '° and that no one might set up the young earl Warwick, the son of the late duke of Clarence, and the next heir to the throne, if Edward's daughters, who had been incapacitated, were passed by, their leader and his competitor for the throne, he ordered sir Robert Willoughby to take him from Sheriff's Hutton castle in Yorkshire, and to lodge him, then an unbefriended lad of fifteen, in the ominous Tower of London.'® Henry advanced td the metropolis by easy journeys, amid much popular applause. The feelings of the country were suffi ciently divided, to ensure to every successful leader " See it in Drake's Ebor. p. 122. " Pol. Virg. 565, Graft. 853. August, HEN, VI r. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, 51 a satisfying quantity of public acclamations. As he chap. approached London, he was met by the city autho- ^^ rities, with the usual gratulations, in their usual reign of costume. They had been liberal of these to all the chiefs who had approached them from the field of victory. The peers greeted him at Shoreditch. He entered in a close chariot," which was not liked ; but he may have thought it necessary for his safety. He went to St. Paul's church, offered his three standards,'* and joined in the Te Deum ; and took up his first residence, like Edward V. in the Bishop's palace. While he rested there, plays, pastimes and pleasures, were exhibited in every part of the city ; and on the 30th of October, he proceeded in great state to Westminster, and vi'as crowned." It was amid many circumstances connected with his future disquietude that Henry came to his throne. A stranger to most of those who had crowned him, except from the short acquaintance of the last few hurried days, he could not but perceive that they had exalted him by ungratefully abandoning a libe-' ral master, whom they had dethroned and killed. Like Richard, he had to reign among conflicting interests, in a stormy age of new opinions, and over an aristocracy both humorsome and dictatorial ; jea lous of privileges, which the welfare of the increasing population required to be abated ; easily affronted ; and whose resentment, the depositions and fate of " Bacon, B. Andreas says, ' latenter.' MS. " Graft. 854. One had the image of St. George. In the second was a fiery dragon, beaten upon white and green sarsenet. The third had a dun cow, painted on yellow tarterne. Ib. '» Graft. 854, 5. B. Andreas gives Elizabeth a pretty speech on Henry's successes, which Speed has translated in his history, p. 741 ; but which it is not likely the royal biographer could have heard, tho he was present at Heni-y's entrance into the metropolis. E 2 52 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK four sovereigns had shewn to be most deadly. What ^- security could he obtain for their continuing fidelity; reign of and how must he shape his conduct to escape those !^I!!:, rebellions and evils which had pursued the throne of '''^^' England from the accession of Richard II. to the downfal of his late namesake ? The errors of the last king pointed out many things that were to be avoided. But as all the contending interests which had been agitating the country since the reign of Henry V. continued still subsisting and unappeased, it was a natural impossibility that his reign could be long tranquil, or universally or per manently popular. Whichever way he moved, he, like the reprobated Richard, must dissatisfy many. New enemies would start up, from impatient selfish ness, every year of his reign ; and no wisdom or virtue could save him either from abuse or hostility. Happily, however, for our comfort, hope is more active than foresight ; and the tempests that are to afflict us, are rarely believed possible till their ravages are felt. The king trod warily, and had a na turalized equanimity of temper, and a magnanimity of mind, which, being unconquerable by adversity, kept him from either exciting or deserving it. His two first objects were, to obtain a parliamen tary sanction for his crown, and to reward his friends. The parliament met in September. The bishop who had been preceptor to Edward V. opened it with a speech, which, quoting both Ovid and the Bible, assured the nation that a golden age was coming to it under their new Joshua, who would strive with all his might to extirpate or amend the wicked ; and ended with exhorting the land to hail him as the Jews did their Solomon, with " God save the king ! " " May DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 53 the king live for ever!"^" The parliament first chap. granted a subsidy, and then enacted the inheritance ^"" of the crown to be " in the most royal person of king reign of Harry VII. and the heirs of his body, and on none ?'^'^\ '> other." '" The attainders of his friends were reversed,''^ and similar measures were retorted on the chief sup porters of Richard.^ A general amnesty was then wisely proclaimed to all others who should submit themselves, and swear fealty within forty days. A great number came from their sanctuaries, and ac cepted the offered grace.^^ He made his uncle Pem broke, duke of Bedford; and Stanley, earl Derby; and Chandos, a gentleman of Bretagne, earl of Bath. He raised sir Giles Daubeny and Willoughby to the baronial peerage ; and restored Buckingham's eldest son to his father's dukedom and possessions. He named a numerous privy council from his most valued or important adherents; but, tho kind to them all, he selected those to be his confidential ministers and friends, who had been his earliest and most continuous assistants and advisers,''^ They who had =" Pari. Rolls, 6. p, 267. ¦" Ib. 268-70. 'This statute vested a new pariiamentary right in his posterity, and took it away from Edward's line; for, if Elizabeth had died childless, this act fixed it in Henry's issue by any other wife. '^ Ib,373. As the king himself had been attainted, it was consulted, by the judges, what was to be done in this respect. They unanimously agreed, ' That the crown takes away all defects and stops in blood ; and that, from the time the king assumed the crown, the fountain was cleared, and all attainders and corruptions of blood discharged.' But the records of the attainders against him were ordered, by parliament, to be de stroyed. Bacon's Hist. 581. ""' Pari. Rolls, p. 275-8. The attainders of Richard's supporters were much censured, as these gentlemen were obliged to obey his mili tary summons, as king, on pain of forfeiting their own lands or lives. Croyl. 581. , , , . J " Pol. V. 566. Graft. 855. Stillington, the bishop who had assisted to make Edward V. illegitimate, was at first imprisoned at York, ' sore erased, by reason of his trouble.' Drake's Ebor, 123. But he obtiuned " Pol. Virg. 567. Bray, to whose activity and prudence Henry owed E3 reign op IIEN. Vll. 54 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK served Richard, and at last betrayed him, were rather ^- rewarded than trusted by Henry ; and it was pro bably from this reason, that lord Stanley, while al lowed to remain constable of England, was not placed 1485. in his household, nor much befriended, tho, for the sake of his mother, the king occasionally visited him. The chamberlainship was presented to sir William, who had really given Henry the victory and the crown. Anxious to adopt such measures as should improve the kingdom, in laws, institutions and manners, he endeavored to raise hopes in all, that a better order of things would be established, where- ever the national welfare required the melioration.''* He introduced a new means of personal safety, by appointing, like the king of France, a body guard of fifty archers;*^ and tho he delayed his covenanted marriage with Elizabeth, perhaps deliberating on the policy of preferring the heiress of Bretagne, till the nation became uneasy, he yielded at length to the general desire of extinguishing all future civil wars of rival dynasty, by uniting her line with his own, in their marriage on the 18th of January i486. Bon fires, dancing, songs and banquets, pervaded the so much, was made Sir Reginald, and appointed one of his privy council. Throughout his reign, Morton, Fox, Bray, and Daubeny, seem to have been his most trusted advisers. =« Pol. Virg. 567. Hall, 425. Graft. 857. It was at the end of au tumn in this year, that the new kind of sickness came on in England, called The Sweating Sickness. It began with a burning perspiration, with such a violent heat in the head and stomach, that the sufferers could bear no clothes. It was very mortal ; but they who survived and transpired for twenty-four hours usually escaped. In eight days, two lord mayors and six aldermen became victims to it. Graft. 857, 8. Pol,V. 567, 8, " Their name, ' yeomen of the guard,' was not new. The king was too wise not to soften an obnoxious measure, by connecting it with exist ing titles. The novelty was, in the personal appropriation of them to the royal security, and in their fixed locality about his apartments. Their state effect has occasioned them to be continued in the dresses of their first institution. HEN. Vll. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. .55 metropolis. It seemed the consummation of the na- chap. tion's happiness.'^ She was beautiful and gentle. ^^^" But whether from her previous conduct, or from more reign of personal causes than we can now discover, no cordial affection subsisted at first between her and Henry.''" The king sent for his two clerical friends, Morton and Fox, in whom he placed the highest confidence.'" Morton was appointed archbishop of Canterbury and chancellor; and Fox, a bishop and his privy seal. It was the sanguine belief of the nation, that the union with Elizabeth closed the fountain of all future factions. It would have done so if the conflict had been merely a personal contest; but the contending leaders being the representatives of the continuing hostile interests, the materials of commotion continued ready to explode, whenever any new man of influence chose to become turbulent. Of these hostile interests, many became embodied in attachment to the York family; because Henry, having come forward on a Lancastrian title, all that opposed government In clined to favor the antagonist line. The battle of Bosworth had destroyed the most distinguished adherents of Richard III. but left the animosity of his friends to the new sovereign, and his treacherous supporters, unabated. Yet the pre ceding tempests had swept away the men of most name and importance ; and no person of active con sequence existed at the moment of the new accession, disposed to resist the change, excepting lord Level, M Bern, And. MS. Dom. ,.,,:, ,o tj ii. „ fi•^ »« Bacon o. fs82. Yet he settled on her a liberal dower (P. Rolls, i . o,; and seems to have become more attached to her after sh'^^J^^^.^^/J'^f from her mother, and had exhibited her own P'<^ty/"'i ¦;".^'!;"dT,,. Bou'r- » Morton was raised to the primacy on ^e death of caid.al Boor chier, (Pol. V. 576.) who was descended from hdward HI. thio his son Thomas, duke of Gloucester. Croyl. 581. E 4 56 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK It has been seen that Catesby, by his dying will, ^- recommended that this friend of Richard should be reign OF taken into Henry's favor. Instead of using this HEN, vii.^ policy, the king excepted him out of the general amnesty. i486. In the spring, Henry resolved, like Richard, to make a tour of popularity and policy to the northern counties." As they cherished so warmly the me mory of Richard, this visit had the appearance of danger; and Lovel thought it would enable him to avenge his fallen master. He left his sanctuary, and attempted a sudden insurrection against Henry.*^ The king, on horseback, nobly accompanied, pro ceeded by Waltham to Cambridge, where the Univer sity received him with honor ; and passed on to Lincoln, where he kept his Easter, attending fre quently at the cathedral during the solemnity. Turn ing off to Nottingham, he went, the next week, into Yorkshire, where the Stanleys took their leave of him ; and he moved thro Doncaster to Pomfret." It was the plan of Lovel to destroy him by surprise. The king had heard that he was exciting disturbance, and had disregarded the rumor ; but as the stately train was advancing towards York, the rebels sud denly appeared about Rippon and Middleham;'* and if Henry had not been, at this crisis, joined at Barnes- dale, by the earl of Northumberland, " with a right great and noble company," Lovel might have effected his purpose. The king was almost intercepted, when the earl appeared.^" He could only send, at the " There is a full account of Henry's progresses in the Hari. MS. N" 7, 408. Hearne has printed the present one, from the pen of a spec tator, in his Leland's Collectanea, v. 4. p. 185. " Pol. Vir. 568. ^ Hearne, p. 186, '' lb. 187. " So CroyUmd states, p. 582, DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 67 moment, against the insurgents, 3000 men, several CHAP. armed only with leather instead of mail, under the ^ duke of Bedford. But this nobleman, on consulting reign of with his knightly companions, deeming it advisable """"• J"- . to allure them to submission, without a conflict that must be doubtful, sent to them an offer of grace and pardon to all who would lay down their arms. As their plan of surprise had failed, and had not been seconded, and they were too few to wage a protracted war with the king, they accepted the judicious pro posal ; and Lovel withdrew, in the night, into Lan cashire,'* and afterwards sailed to Flanders, to Mar garet, the dowager duchess of Burgundy,''^ whose affection for her brother, Edward IV. led her to sup port all who chose to become inimical to Henry. The two Staffbrds, who had been co-operating with Lovel, were taken, and the elder one executed.'* The king approaching York, was received, three miles from its gates, by the corporation and citizens, on horseback ; and near the walls, by processions of friars ; and within the city, by the general assemblage from all the parish churches ; the whole population vociferously acclaiming him.'" Pageants of crowned kings and minstrels were ready with their long speeches ; and Solomon, David, and the Virgin, were also conjured up to welcome him. His devout atten dances attheminster were followed by state banquets, which united the hearts of the subjects to their king ; and he then crossed the country ; and having, at =« Pol. Virg. 569, =7 Bacon, 582. ™ Pol. Virg. Grafton, 860. This was the Humphrey who had so actively assisted to surround Buckingham. ^ The popular cry of ' the mervellous great nomber of men, women, and children, on foote, was, ' King Henry ! king Henry ! Our Lord pre serve us that sweet and well-savored face.' Hearne, 187. 58 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK Whitsun evening, reached Worcester, he visited Glou- V- cester and Hereford, with the same congratulations reign OP from the municipal authorities, friars, clergy, and •^J^ people ; and from their oratorical pageants,*" which so i486, much delighted the emerging and simple literary taste of our ancestors. He paused awhile at Bristol, where the William Canyng*' of our too early-flowering, and too impatient Chatterton, had then recently been mayor ; and where some Rowley taught king Brem- mius at the town gate, and Prudence at the high cross, and Justice, with her maiden children, at St. John's, to address the king with humble good sense, tho not with the poetry that breathes in Ella and Sir Charles.*^ The inventive genius of the city was dis played in pageants that were praised ; *' and the king, having conversed with the citizens to their hearts delight,** returned to Sheen, visited by the nobles as he passed ; and receiving, from the great towns and '" All these our author describes with careful remembrance and visible pleasure. 188-201. ¦" This merchant is frequently mentioned in W. Wyrcestre's Itiner. ¦" See the speeches to Henry, in Hearne, 199-201, I have no doubt that Chatterton found much that was ancient ; but like Macpherson with Ossian, he seems to have made his originals but themes for his own genius to compose upon, and has given us himself instead of his ancestors. It is a misfortune to the world, that he found any thing to excite his talents so prematurely, and to suggest their exertion in the path he chose, *' After mentioning that a baker's wife, in her joy, cast out of a win dow a great quantity of wheat, exclaiming, ' Welcome, and good luck ! ' the author adds, from his own taste, ' There was a pageant called The Shipvvright's pageant, with praty conceits pleying in the same; and a litle farther, an olifaunte, with a castle on his back, curiously wrought; and the resurrection in the highest tower of it, with certain imagery smiting bells. All went by weights, merveolously zoele done.' p. 202. " The king asked theni; ' the cause of their poverty ; and they showed his grace, for the great loss of ships and goods within five years. The king comforted them, that they should set on and make new ships, and exercise their merchandize as they were wont to do ; and he should so help them, by divers means, as he showed them,' The effect of his kind manners, the author thus expresses : ' The mayor of the town told me, .they heard not, this hundred years, of no king so good a comfort ; where fore they thanked Almighty God, that had sent them so good and gracious a sovereign lord.' Hearne, p. 202. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 59 abbeys, complimentary presents of gold, silver, wine, CHap. beads, and mittens. The lord mayor of London, with ^^i- all the city companies, in their barges, rowed up to reign op Putney, to accompany him in state down the Thames "'^''•J"-. to Westminster. At all the cities, the bishops read the pope's bull, declaring the king and queen's title to the crown,*^ the foundation for the anathemas of the church, that were subsequently issued against thosewho opposed it. Henry soon afterwards visited Winchester, where his son Arthur was born ; ** whose christening was contemplated and provided for by the countess of Richmond, the king's mother, with a ceremonial soli- citude,*'^ and was afterwards performed with a deli berate pomp,*® which shew how fondly the age was attached to the dramatic parade, as well as the happy directress.*" '* Hearne, 200-3. *^ On St, Eustachius' day. Ib. 204. In September i486. Speed, 742. Our venerable chronicler was absurd enough tb say, on the. prince being christened Arthur, ' of which name outward nations and foreign princes trembled and quaked, so much was that name to all terrible arid fearful.' Graft, p. 860. So Hall, 428. They forgot that the Arthur of romance was not the Arthur of history.' *" His minute preparatory ordinances, from the Hari. MS. N° 6079, are printed by Hearne, p. 179. ¦" Hearne has also printed the full detail of this stately baptism, and the consequent festivities, 204-8. ¦" This lady survived her son king Hetiry. Her life iS' a favorable pic ture of the high female nobility of those times. Her funeral sermon states, that her father was John Duke of Somerset; her mother, Mar garet, That she was right studious in books, which she had in great number, both in English and in French ; and she translated several tracts of devotion from French into English'; among these, the Mirror of Gold, atid the last book of Thomas-a-Reflapis, She lamented that she had not applied to Latin, tho she knew enough of it to understand well her prayer-book. By lineage and affinity, she had thirty kings and queens within four degrees of marriage to her, besides earls, mafquisses, dukes and princes. She was temperate in food, ' eschewing banquets, rere- suppers and joucrys betwixt meles.' She rose about five o'clock, at tended her public and private prayers, dined at ten. She had written regulations for her household, which she had read to them four times a-year. She frequently exhorted them to do well. She was very kind in 60 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK As Henry had been as much seated by violence on ^- his throne as Richard HI, tho by battle, instead of reign of the scaffold, he was not, for some time, popular be- HEN^vH^ yond his own immediate party, that had enthroned I486, ijijn_ The general body of the nation was still greatly affected to the house and memory of York. Richard was remembered with regret, especially in the northern counties.^" Henry was hated for his suc cess ; and charged with having put to death, in the Tower, the young earl he had imprisoned.^' The king's general demeanor, from the difficulties surrounding him, was not adapted to lessen the adverse humor. He was mysterious and impenetrable. More says, that one thing was so often pretended, and another meant, that nothing was so plain and openly proved, but from the custom of close dealing, men inwardly suspected it;''* and Bacon remarks, that he had a fashion rather to create doubts than assurance.^' Having prospered so much by the treachery of others to Richard, and being afterwards compelled to keep the traitors as his friends ; while, from his strange- entertaining strangers. She daily fed, lodged, and visited in her house, twelve poor persons ; ministered to them in their sickness, and saw them on their death-beds that she might learn to die. See her funeral sermon, printed by Wynkyn de Worde, at the Sun in Fleet-street. After her first husband (Richmond's) death, she married the eldest son of the duke of Buckingham, and uncle of the one who favored Richard. Surviving him, she chose for her third and last husband, lord Stanley, at the end of the reign of Edward IV, then a widower. She had no children by her two last nuptials. But this lady demands our grateful remembrance for the benefits she has occasioned to learning and religion. She founded a per petual lecture of divinity at Oxford, and another at Cambridge, at which some of our ablest divines have emerged to deserved reputation-; also, a perpetual public preacher at Cambridge, which has been altered into the delivery of one sermon to the clergy every Easter. She also founded Christ's college, and likewise St. John's, at Cambridge. She was ad mitted into the fraternity of several religious houses, which entitled her to their prayers, and to a share in what they deemed their meritorious penances and good works. See Preface to her sermon, ed. 1708. '" Bacon, 595. *¦ Pol. V. 569, 570, Speed, 74a, " More, 245, 6, «^ Hist. 583, DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. CI ness to the nation, and from its resentment at his chap. victory, he had such a necessity for their support, ^^ and yet from their previous conduct, such an uncer tainty as to their stability, Henry was like a man sleeping near a precipice, or living amid surrounding ambushes. He knew not where he was really safe, nor in whom he could fully confide, nor for what duration. Hence, caution and alarm produced that doubting, and wary secrecy, which, causing suspi cion and uneasiness in others, prevented them from being cordial, and him from being popular or happy. All crowns obtained by violence and treachery must be pursued by these disquietudes. But altho the nation was full of discontent, and of unemployed soldiers, and turbulent men without livelihood, who sought subsistence or advancement in disturbance,^* the disaffected had no great leader to organize, em body, and direct them. The Stanleys, if disposed to revolt, could never be trusted again. Buckingham was too young ; and the son of Clarence was se cluded in prison. From this want of actual chiefs^ and yet, from the necessity of having one of name as a nucleus for successful insurrection, it became a remarkable feature in this reign, that impostors should be set up to supply the deficiency, and to be come the desired leaders. They were the creatures of the disaffection, and of the exigencies of the day. They failed, from their being deceptions ; but their temporary impressions shew how transitory Henry's sceptre might have been, if a Warwick, or Hastings, or Buckingham, had been alive to have excited and combined the nobility and gentry into a confidential co-operation against it. " Pol. V. 569. REIGN OF HEN. Vll, G2 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK The first that was started against Henry, was a boy V- of ten years old."*' At his emerging, some contra dictions confused the character which the adventurer was reported to have assumed. According to the '487- earliest rumor, the young duke of York had arrived in Ireland.'" The king sent messengers into different parts to ascertain every circumstance as, to his origin, education, previous residence, and present friends ;" and had the Pope's bull in his favor again read in the churches, and all his enemies excommunicated.'* It was at last declared, that the new competitor of the king was Warwick, the son of the duke of Cla rence, the attainted brother of Edward IV. ; and that he had escaped from the Tower. It does not seem that this lad was first lanched into his adventure by the duchess of Burgundy, tho she afterwards adopted him. It was a priest at Oxford, who began the delusion ;'" and others who had flou rished under Edward IV. combined to prompt his sprightly nature, and to give him that information which enabled him to mislead others so ingeniously, that many would have died in his defence.*" The earl of Lincoln, whom Richard III. had declared heir to his crown, was so infatuated by his own resent ments as to accredit him. »= Rolls Pari. 6, p. 397. «« Bern. And. MS. p. 185. " Ib. '" Hearne, Lei, p, 209. The Pope's bull, dated 6 kal, April i486, states, that he approves and confirms Henry's succession, and requires the obedience of all his subjects, and forbids any from raising tumults ; and if Elizabeth should die childless, settles the succession in his issue by any other wife, la Rym. Foed. 297. To have recourse to such an authority, implies great doubts in Henry's mind as to his permanency. ^ Bern. And, 186, This author calls him tbe son of a baker or cobbler; the Parliament Roll says, of a joiner, 6, p. 397. William Syraonds, the contriving priest, was but twenty-eight years of age; and on being ex amined before the convocation, after his capture, confessed the impos ture. See the document in Wilkin's Coilc, 3. p. 618, °° Bern. And, 186, Polydore says, the priest was suborned by tlie chiefs of his faction, p. 571, HEN. VII. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 63 As his partisans had no force in England, sufficient C H A P. to make a safe point for the assembling of those who ^ were to support him, the pretended prince was first reign of exhibited in Ireland, in Lent,*" with all the success "'" "" that could be expected from warm hearts and excited imaginations. The Irish nobility believed all his tales. Even the lord chancellor received him into his castle. Thus patronized, the duchess Margaret added her impressive sanction, and he prepared to land in Endand.*"* Alarmed at the popular favor that began to be friend this unexpected competitor, Henry drew the real earl of Warwick out of the Tower, paraded him thro the streets of London ; and satisfied the great body of the nobility and gentry, that the other was an impostor. To allay, as far as possible, all resentful feelings against himself, he had a general amnesty •" Hearne, 209, Graft, 862-5, Pol- V. 570. He was crowned with a diadem, taken from a statue of the Virgin. The viceroy, chancellor and treasurer, sanctioned the coronation; and the bishop of Meath preached at it. Ware Hib. *' This lady, who seconded every plot to dethrone the man that had driven her own family from the sovereignty of England, was, in Henry VII's time by a classical allusion, occasioned by her pertinacious enmity to him, called his persecuting Juno. B. Andreas, MS. Dom, A. 18, She had her brother Edward's taste for martial romances. Caxton says, he translated his Destruction of Troy, out of French into English, at her commandment and request, and called her his lady and mistress. If printing circulates books, let us recollect, that it was the demand for them which chiefly created printing. It was the demand, exceeding what copyists could supply, that led the mind to the invention of the typo graphic art, far more than any accident. Caxton shews this, in his own confession as to this work : ' Forasmuch as I am weary of tedious writing, and worn in years, being not able to write out several books for all gen tlemen, and such others as are desirous of the same, I have caused this book to be printed ; that, being published the more plenteously, men's turns may be more easily served.' Dest. Troy, p. 120, 3d book. He sayS of the two first books, that, by her commandment, he began the transla tion at Bruges, continued it in Ghent, and finislied' it in Cologne, in 1471J and that he was at Cologne, when he began the third book for her contemplation. 2d book, p. 134. Here we see the places that connected him with the art of printing. 64 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK of all offences proclaimed, without any exception. Z_ This had a salutary effect ; but did not suit the inte- REiGN OF rests of the York party, nor reconcile its general iiEN^vir^ friends. The earl of Lincoln, his queen's nephew, "^^"' and the next male heir of York, after Warwick, de termined to take advantage of the insurrection of the Irish ; and left England to join Margaret in Flanders, where he met lord Lovel. It was settled, that they should foment the rebellion in Ireland, land in England, release the real earl of Warwick, and make him their Yorkist king."' The impostor was only to be used as a convenient instrument for exciting the opposing spirit of the English nation into an effective co-operation. Henry, endangered and angered by this serious plot, dispossessed his queen's mother, the widow of Edward IV. of all her possessions. Her residence had been the seed-bed of the conspiracies in his own favor, and would naturally be the centre of all that would attack him. To prevent this again, he confined her to a residence in Bermondsey abbey .*^ Then, uneasy at Lincoln's flight, and fearful that others would follow him, and make Flanders and Brussels to be a scene of conspiracy against him, as Bretagne and Paris had been for him, against Richard, the king went to Essex and Suffolk, but could not gain any certainty where his enemies would land."' He caused the eastern ports to be closed, and the coast <» Graft. 864, 5. «* ' Where ' says Grafton, ' she lived a miserable and wretched life.' p. 864. - So Hall, 431. There is an account of her funeral, and of her many daughters' last attentions to her, in a MS. in the library of the Royal Society. This lady, in her prosperity, had the merit of complering the foundation of Queen's College, Cambridge, (Pol, V, 571 .) which queen Margaret had begun, "' Hearne, aog. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 05 to be guarded ; sent the former queen's son Dorset to CHAP, theTower;^ and prepared to encounter the invasion ^^'^• that he was certain would take place. These measures reiTT'of of energy were of the same character of violence ^''•/"•. which Richard had used against Rivers, and others. But Henry avoided his most revolting error, by ab staining from their blood. Lincoln and Lovel sailed to Ireland, with 2000 1487, able German soldiers, under a commander of high ^'''^¦ birth, and great talent and experience, Martin Swart; and landed at Dublin on the 24th of May, where the boy was again proclaimed king. This select force, accompanied by a multitude of savage Irishmen, armed only with " skaynes and mantels," under lord Gerardine, arrived on the 4th of June at Furnes, near Lancaster;*^ projecting to pass into Yorkshire, and there concenter all the friends of the York dynasty. The king assembled at Kennilworth castle his army, which lord Oxford petitioned to command ; and, issuing a judicious proclamation,"* marched thro Coventry and Loughborough,"" to Nottingham, where lord Strange brought him a powerful body. Swart 16th June. moved toward Newark. The king, after hearing ftoki^"'^ divine service, intercepted them at Stoke, a mile beyond Newark.'^" Lincoln, by Swart's advice, drew up his men in an advantageous station on the brow of a hill. Henry made three divisions, but filled the «6 Graft. 866. Pol. V, 572. " Rolls Pari. 6 p. 397. Pol. V, 573. Graft, °° It forbad any to rob churches or individuals, or to molest any one ; or to take provisions without paying for them, on pain of death ; or to lodge themselves but as the king's officers directed ; or to make any quar rel; or to impede the bringing of supplies to the army. Hearne,2lo,2li, ^ All vagabonds and common women were driven from the army, and those who remained were put into the stocks and prisons of Lough borough. Ib. 212. "• Hearne, 213-215. Vol. IV. F 66 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK foremost with his best troops, and placed the others '^- as their supporting wings. After an address to his RtiGN OF army, the battle began. It lasted three hours, and HEN, VII. ^ was at one time doubtful.'^' The skill and valor of 1487.. Svvart deserved a better cause. He fell with Lincoln, Lovel, and Gerardine ; and their deaths, with 4000 others,"* ended the only conflict that seriously en dangered Henry after his accession. The impostor, Capture of and the priest who had taught and moved him, were Sirauel! taken. The latter was committed to " perpetual prison and miserable captivity." The former was too insignificant a puppet to be any longer dangerous ; and, as the wisest depreciation of his claims and of his followers, he was made the king's falconer, and afterwards sent to turn the spits in his kitchen.'^' Happily for Henry, this dangerous invasion was made too precipitately by Lincoln and Lovel. Much national feeling was with their enterprise ; but the evils of attainder and confiscation were too great to be risked, without a greater probability of success than they presented. If they had won this their first battle, they might have been numerously joined, but their defeat extinguished all hopes of any present change of dynasty. Henry had again an interval of tranquillity; he made a truce of seven years with Scotland; received ambassadors from the French king, and endeavored to mediate between him and Bretagne. He released the marquis Dorset from the Tower, and received him into his friendship ; and perceiving how deeply the nation was interested in " Bernard Andreas says, that, at one time, Henry's friends were thought to be defeated. ' Dum preliarentur, nostii qui putabantur supe- rati, illos denique subjecerunt.' MSS. Dom. p. 189. " Hearne, 214. Bern. And. Pol. V. 574. Hall, 434. " Pol. V. 574. Graft. 867. Bern, And, MS. 189. DURING THE MIDDLE .AGES, 67 the house of York, he gratified the public feeling by chap. a coronation of his queen." in. The imposition of a tax which the parliament rei^f enacted to defray the expense of the king's aid to f^^-J"-, Bretagne, excited the northern counties into a revolt. The king directed the earl of Northumberland to en force the payment of the assessment; and the people, who had borne this lord a continual grudge for his treachery to Richard in the battle of Bosworth, vin dictively attacked and killed him ;" and then assem bled in rebellion under sir John Egremont. Henry intrusted the earl of Surrey with an army to suppress it ; and as it was not otherwise supported, he discom fited them with ease. Their popular leader was be headed ; and Egremont fled to the court of Margaret in Flanders.'^" The next great ebullition of discontent appeared in Perkin the countenance given to the youth, who pretended ^ete'^n-'^'' * to be the young duke of York, brother of Edward V. sions. It was hoped, or believed by many, that this prince had not been put to death by Richard, but had escaped; and a young man of his age, who had " Graft. 871, 2. Hall, 438. The admirers of grand ceremonials may see a detailed account of her splendid coronation, 4 Lei. Coll. 216-33. She is thus described, in her procession, the day before : ' She had a kirtle of white cloth of gold of Damascus, and a mantle of the same suit, furred with ermine, fastened before her breast with a great lace, curiously Wrought of gold and silk, and rich knobs of gold, tasselled at the end. Her fair yellow hair hung down, plain, behind her back, with a calle of pipes over it. She had a circlet of gold, richly garnished with precious stones, on her head,' p. 219. At her coronation, she wore a kirtle and mantle of purple velvet, furred with ermine, with a lace for the mantle. p. 222. Her sister Cecil bore her train. " Graft. 877. Hall, 443. Bern, And. MSS. 183. Pol. Vjrg. 579- Sir John Savage, who had also deserted Richard, just before the battle, did not long survive the earl. Riding out of his pavilion at Boulogne, he was suddenly trapped and taken ; and, disdaining ' to be taken of such vileyne,' he endeavored to defend himself, and was killed. Graft, p. 895. « Graft. 878. Pol. V. 580, Gil HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK travelled much abroad, golng'jrst into Portugal; V- suddenly appeared in Ireland; asserting that he was REIGN OF the youthful son of the still-lamented Edward IV. ^^ The Irish credulously welcomed him. The French ''*^7- king^ then at variance with Henry, sent for him; as signed him a guard, and treated him as a prince. The English exiles that were abroad, hastened to him at Paris ; and expeditions, that alarmed Henry into a hasty pacification with the French king, were publicly projected ; but this treaty separating Charles from his interests, the pretending duke of York retired to the duchess Margaret. She received him with full recog nition ; gave him also a guard of honor, and called him The White Rose, prince of England.'^'^ This countenance, and the plausibility of his con versation, and the suitableness of his appearance to his pretensions,'^ made such an impression in his favor, that it was received in England as an un doubted truth, that he was the real prince ; and therefore, anterior in right to the crown, to his sister Elizabeth. Not only the common people, but divers noble and worshipful men, believed and affirmed it to be true.'" Seditions began now to spring up on " Graft. 896-8. Hall, 462, 3. She pretended to be delighted to hear him, again and again, repeat the well-arranged story of his escape from the intended murderers ; his wanderings in foreign lands, and his happy arrival in her dominions. Pol. V. 589. '* The account of Bernard Andrea is, that the king's French secretary, influenced by the duchess of Burgundy, became unfaithful to him ; and, joining her faction, assisted her to set up this new adventurer, a native of Tournay, to whom Edward IV. had been godfather ; and who had been educated in the kingdom, and was, therefore, well qualified to pass for his younger son. Hence, he was able to narrate, from his own observa tion and memory, the habit and actions of Edward IV. and of the king's friends and domestics, whom he had known in his childhood ; and many true circumstances of times and places, besides what he also learnt from the information of others. MS. Doniit. p. 210. So that no impostor could have been more judiciously selected. '" The statement which this person gave of his pretended escape from the Tower, and subsequent flight to the king of Scotland, was, ' In my HEN. VII. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 69 every side. Many assembled in companies, and passed chap. over to him in Flanders. Some, from real conviction, ^^^- excited others to befriend him : Many, from dissa- reign of tisfaction to Henry, by whom, they thought, they had not been sufficiently rewarded ; and not a few, from a desire to benefit by change and commotion.*" Two persons only were now surviving of the murderers of the young princes, sir James Tyrrel and John Dighton. The king committed them to the Tower ; subjected them to examination, and circulated their confessions among the public." tender age, I was secretly conveyed over sea ; where, after a time, the party that bad me in charge, suddenly forsook me. I was forced thereby to wander abroad, and to seek mean conditions for the sustaining of my life.' Bacon's Hist. p. 615. Speed, p. 757. «° Pol. V. 590. Graft. 899. Sir Robert Clifford and sir William Burley went over, to apprize the duchess of the feelings and intentions of the English friends to the new claimant. *' I do not find, that a verbatim and official copy of their statements was published. Bacon says, ' They agreed both in a tale, as the king gave out to this effect ;' and then adds the narrative already stated in the reign of Richard III. Vol. 3. His lordship adds, ' Thus much was then delivered abroad, to the effect of those examinations. But the king, nevertheless, made no use of them in any of his declarations, whereby, as it seems, those examinations left the business somewhat more perplexed. John Dighton, who, it seemeth, spake best for the king, was forthwith set at liberty, and was the principal means of divulging this tradition.' p. 608. The withholding from the public, of their exact confessions, is something extraordinary, but may have arisen thus : Tyrrel, as a gentleman, would have as little to do with the actual manual murder, as possible. That he planned the deed, employed and sent in the agents, and glanced on the bodies, and then set off to Richard, was, probably, all he did. The disposal of the bodies, and the actual killing, he may have left to the men ; and Miles Forrest, as the professional ruflaan, may have been the one most acrive in burying the corpses. Dighton, less used to murder, may, like Macbeth, have been afraid, or averse, to look again on what he had done, and left the burial to the rugged Forrest. On these suppositions, Dighton would not be able to have pointed out the exact spot where Forrest had buried them ; and the inability to produce the bodies, at that important crisis, may have alarmed Henry. Perkin said, he had been saved and conveyed away by one of the employed assassins. As the king, from the death of Forrest, could not produce the evidence of both tblise, that the princes were killed; the single evidence of Dighton, without the production of the remains, left a defect, that was not irrecon cilable with Perkin's pretensions. Hence, the King was afraid of ex posing to the verbal criticism of the public, at that moment, when so many were eager and interested to point out the smallest imperfection, F 3 70 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK Henry placed vessels of war, and soldiers he could ^- trust, to guard his coasts ; and employed every agency and means to discover who this princely pretender really was. The result of his inquiries his ambassa- '487- dors communicated to the Austrian duke of Burgundy-; and solicited him to discountenance the imposture. His final answer to Henry, without deciding on the genuineness of the pretender, was, that he would not assist, him, but could not prevent the lady Mar garet from exercising her own discretion oh. the occasion.** Henry, with great wisdom, endeavored to defeat the conspiracy by the gentlest means. He persuaded Clifford to abandon it. He offered pardon and reward to all who would do the same; and obtaining the names of its supporters in England, he arrested lord Fitzwalter, two knights, four gentlemen, and six clergymen of rank,*' who abetted it. He forbad all trading to Flanders ; and astonished the world, by arresting, on the accusation of Clifford, his former preserver, sir William Stanley, to whom he owed his throne. Stanley was confined to his own chamber in the Tower. The charge against him was, that he the actual confessions. Unable then to find the bodies, he thought it better to circulate the substance of the depositions, and to add a report, which the murderers could not swear to, nor personally know, as they did not assist, That a priest had afterwards moved the bodies to another place. They who know, by experience, how written documents may be commented on by parties interested to support a particular case, and hovy much they may be perverted to mean something very different from their intended import, will best understand Henry's judgment, in not then submitting them to the inspection of his enemies. " Graft, 900-2. Pol. V, 592, '^ These were, sir WiUiam Rochford, doctor of divinity, and sir Thomas Poynes, both Dominicans; doctor William Sutton; sir William Worsley, dean of St. Paul's; and two others. Graft. 902. The two knights, and another, were beheaded ; and the lord pardoned, till, attempting to escape to Perkin,. he suffered also. Ib. Doctor Sutton was the parson of St. Stephen Walbrook, Fabian, 530. ON OF HEN. VII. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 71 was secretly abetting the imposture, altho in the con- chap. fidential post of lord Chamberlain to Henry.** Henry, j^ at first, would not believe it. When the truth became rei evident, he arrested sir William, who ingenuously confessed it.*' For this treachery he was arraigned at Westminster, adjudged to death, and suffered at Tower-hill on the 1 6th of February.*" The king now inflicted severities like those for which Richard had been reprobated. He caused divers persons to suffer condign punishment in Eng land for their seditious or disloyal expressions ; and then sent an army into Ireland, under sir Edward Poynings, to destroy the supporters of his youthful competitor. Poynings assembled the Irish nobility, who gave him fair promises; but dreading his threats, " B. Andreas' information on sir William's alleged conspiracy, is, ' There were then living very learned and very religious men, who were taken up, as in the conspiracy with the chamberlain. Among these, was one who excelled in the knowlege of sacred literature, the provincial of the Dominicans ; also, the dean of St. Paul's, doctor of divinity, and some others. All these either gave money to Perkin, or privately sent it to him, from others. But the chamberlain, the richest of all, possessed great heaps of treasure, by which he had promised to bring him into the kingdom, and to defend him in it. Sir Robert Clifford communicated these facts to the king, who, as his wisecustom was, first, most prudently investigated, whether what this person told him was true ; and, having ascertained it to be so, then consigned his chamberlain to be punished by the laws. MS. Dom. 1 8. p. 216,217. This direct and decisive evidence shews, that sir William was planning to deal with Henry, as his brother, lord Stanley, had with Richard. Pol, Virgil mentions, that Clifford charged Stanley with being one of Perkin's allies, p. 593. ^ Pol. V. 593. It is not probable, that sir William's declaration. That, if he were certain that Perkin was the son of Edward, he would never bear arms against him, was the only ground of Henry's severity, tho this might be all that sir William chose publicly to say. Yet this speech implies, sufficiently, his adverse mind to Henry, No man, in Stanley's situation, and after Lambert's imposture, would have said so much, if he had not desired the success of the new plot, and to con tribute to its prosecution. '« Graft. 905. Pol. V. 563. He is included in the act of attainder, (Stat, of the Realm, 2. p. 63,3) without a detail of his offence. It is mentioned, that sir William had collected a treasure of 40,000 marcs, in liis castle at Holt-Stpwe; and, from his tenantry, could have brought a large force iiilo the field against the king. -:2 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK withdrew into the woods and marshes of the country. V- Sir Edward attempted a vigorous pursuit, but found his force insufficient to act against them, in their fastnesses and retreats. He surprised the earl of Kildare ; yet Henry thought it politic not only to release him, but to appoint him the lord lieutenant of the island.*^ The young adventurer at length sailed from Flan ders ; and on the 3d of July attempted to land at Deal in Kent.** But finding that a party, which he landed, was attacked as enemies, he returned to Flanders, to consult on his further enterprise.*" He sailed to Ireland, and thence passed into Scot land, where the young king James decided to receive him with honor, as the genuine duke of York ; and to encourage his adherents, and evince his own con viction, he married him to his near kinswoman, the earl of Huntley's daughter ; and supplied him with an army to enter England by the northern borders."" His army plundered and ravaged in Northumber land ; but, satisfied with their booty, would advance no further. No Englishmen welcomed the pretend ing prince ; and on his return to Scotland, the king began to question his reality, and to relax in his behalf."' In January 149G, Henry apprised his par liament of the Scotch aggression."^ " Graft. 907, 8. Pol. V. 594, 5. ^ Stat, Realm, 2. p. 633, ^ Graft, 909. Pol. V. 596. Five captains, and 160 men, were taken. B. Andreas says, about 40O. The king's speech, or rather prayer, on this advantage, which he adds, was an expression of gratitude and resignation to the Supreme, ending, ' No prosperity, no adversity, no chance, no lime, no place, shall ever make us unmindful of Thee.' MS. ^o Graft. 912. Pol. V. 597. In this year died the duchess of York, mother of Edward IV. and Richard III. Hall, 472. "' Graft. 912-14. Pol. V. 598. On Perkin's transacUons in Scotland, see Bernard Andreas' MS. History, p. 218; and Hall, 473-6. "' Rolls Pari. 6. p. 509. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 7:J Lord Daubeny was dispatched with an army to- chap. wards Scotland ; but the people of Cornwall, resent- ^ ing a new taxation, assembled in a rebellion, formi dable for its numbers, tho not for their efficiency. They chose captains, and moved to Taunton. The king was alarmed to hear, that Lord Audley and several of the minor nobility had joined them ; and that they were marching to London. He called back lord Daubeny from the north, to meet them ; while he commissioned the earl of Surrey to defend Durham and the Scottish borders."^ The king, choosing to let their first impetuosity waste itself, the rebels marched, unopposed, to Wells, to Salisbury, to Winchester, and thence into Kent, and reached Blackheath. They were meditating to enter the metropolis, and attack the Tower ; when June 22d, the king, sending the earl of Oxford, with a select S?"!^ ™ body of archers and men at arms, to take them in the beath. rear, marched out of the city, to attack them in front. In the first assault at Deptford bridge, they took lord Daubeny prisoner; but unexpectedly released him. The king had come upon them on the 2 2d of June, two days earlier than he had threatened. They could not long resist his forces. They were soon dispersed ; many killed, more taken, and Audley was hanged."* The invasion of the Scots was re pelled, and retaliated, by the earl of Surrey, till the king of Scotland agreed to a truce, and to convey Perkin Warbeck out of his dominions."' Perkin retired to Ireland, and endeavored to re- '^ Graft. 916, 17, Pol, V. 599, 600. During the quarrel with Scot land, all Scots, not denizens, were ordered to depart out of England within forty days. Stat. Realm, 2. p. 553. "' Graft. 920-2. Pol. V. 601-3. Stat. Realm, 2. p. 684. "5 Perkin's volunteered statement to the Scottish king, and implied in his proclamation, that Edward V. was murdered, seems a deciding cir- 74 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK vive the rebellion in Cornwall."" He called himself ^- Richard IV. obtained some support, and assaulted reign of Exeter. Repulsed there, he attempted Taunton : ^i!^;J!^ the Cornish men talked of being desperate ; but when 1495- Henry's army was assembled under his most trusty noblemen, Perkin, afraid of risking a battle, sud denly destroyed all his own hopes, by flying at midnight, with sixty horsemen, over the country to Sonthampton. There he sought the shelter of the church at Bewdley abbey ; and soon, with subdued and desponding mind, submitted to the king, and was taken to London. He was carefully watched, but not harshly treated, till he escaped out of custody, and reached the sea coast. Closely pursued, he retraced his steps ; and solicited an asylum in the priory of Sheen^ near Richmond. From this refuge he was taken to London ; set in the stocks a whole day, before the door of Westminster hall ; exposed to the reproaches and insult of a deriding populace ; and was carried through London the next day, to the same degradation at the standard in Cheapside, where he read a confession of his imposture, from a copy of his own writing."'^ On that night, June cumstance, to prove both his own imposture, and Richard's guilt. If, as spme have surmised, Edward had died of illness and grief, and his brother had been conveyed away, by his uncle's orders, to foreign parts, Perkin, for the credit of the family, would have been taught so to state. But his calling Richard, in his proclamation, ' our unnatural uncle,' and adding to the same epithet, in Scotland, the additional charge that the king employed an instrument to murder them both ; and that the assassin had cruelly slain Edward, but had preserved him ; satisfac torily shew, that no one then believed that Edward V. died a natural death, find leave no doubt as to his own imposture ; because, Richard and Tyrrel having, by his own statement, determined on their deaths, would have taken care to be sure, that the catastrophe they planned had been effected. ^ He landed at Whitsun-bay there, 7 September 1497. Stat. Realm, 684. SeeBern. And. MS. 219. ^ Pol. Virg. 608, Graft. The substance of the Gonfession was, that he was born at Tournay ; his father's name, John Osbecke, a controller of that town. That his mother placed him with a cousin, at Antwerp, DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 75 the 15th, he was committed to the Tower. There chap. Warwick, the son of Clarence, had been confined for ^ fifteen years, by Henry, so continually secluded from reign op all society, that his mind sank into such a state of "™- J"' . fatuity, as to be unable, says the old chronicler, " to discern a goose from a capon." Yet, an Augustine friar, attempting to engraft on his name a new con spiracy against Henry, persuaded one of his scholars to personate him. in Kent. But the friar and his pup pet were soon apprehended ; the latter was hanged on Shrove Tuesday ; the other doomed to perpetual imprisonment."* Perkin was enabled, by means unexplained, to bribe and interest three of his keepers, to let him and Warwick escape from the Tower. They were taken. Perkin was drawn to Tyburn, and there executed ;"" and the son of Clarence, for having endeavored to escape with- him from an unjust confinement, was arraigned for high treason,'"" con- to learn Flemish. Returning home, a merchant of Tournay took him again to Antwerp, where he became ill, and put him under a tradesman at Middleburgh. That he went afterwards to Portugal, in an English^ ship, and entered a knight's service'at Lisbon; and that, attaching him self while there to a Breton, he went to Cork, where, because he wore silk clothes, the Irish would believe he was one of the Plantagenets ; and urged him to pretend to be so. This confession makes no mention of his having been in England, under Edward IV.; nor of the duchess Margaret's concern with him. It seems to be a factitious paper, meant to throw the whole imposture on the Irish ; and is not reconcilable with the other facts about him, unless by supposing that they were inten tionally suppressed. The end seems to have been, that, having ruined his character by his flight, even his foimer friends cared for him no more. This confession could only increase the public contempt for' him, as an unsteady dastard, and as a juvenile impostor, 58 Graft. 931. PoLV, 608, 9. ^-' The discovery of the bones of children in the Tower, and the other facts mentioned in the preceding pages, remove, so satisfactorily, to my own judgment, all doubt of Richard's murder of his nephews, that I have no question, that Perkin was as complete an adventurer as Lambert Simnel. '* Therpoor helpless eari was charged with attempting to rescue Peter, and to make him king. Stat. Realm, 2. p. 684. 76 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK fessed his effort to release himself; and for this ^- offence, was beheaded on the 28th of November iiEiGN op J4yg.'"' This act too much resembles the worst HEN. VII. ^ deeds of Richard III. The earl's imprisonment was '497- an act of violent injustice ; and the execution of one so debilitated by it, was little less than legal murder. The private comforts of Henry afterwards began to lessen. His eldest son soon died ; his own health gave way, and he was in his grave at fifty-two. But who can wear a crown gained in battle, and contested afterwards by disaffection, with innocence or happiness ? Virtue and felicity are the guests of other homes. State and It is remarkable, that in all the three impostures Ihe^ciTurch ag^inst Henry, there were literally a priest and a plot. A priest at Oxford trained Lambert Simnel ; two Dominican friars, a dean of St. Paul's,'"* a doctor of divinity, and other clergymen, were active supporters of Perkin Warbeck ; and an Augustine friar brought out the last pretender in Kent.'"^ These facts indicate an hostility in a part of the church against Henry ; '"' Graft. 933. It was said that the king of Spain had refused to wed his daughter with the king's eldest son Arthur, while this heir to the house of York was alive, ib. A reason for his execution which doubles its guilt. Two years afterwards she came, and the nuptials took place; ib. 935 ; but the prince scarcely survived them a year. '"' This dean was, on the 13th November 1494, attainted of treason, but afterwards pardoned. Stat. Realm, 2. p. 619. Fabian calls him ' a famous doctor and preacher; the provincial of the Black Friars.' p. 530. : '"' Besides these, we have other indications of some part of the clergy persecuting Henry with conspiracies. The abbot of Abingdon connected himself with Simnel's imposture, and Lincoln's rebellion ; and, the 1st of January 1487, concerted, that J. Mayne should go to the eari abroad, and give him money for those purposes. This Mayne, on the 1st of Decem ber 1490, consulted with a priest, T. R., in London, to release Warwick from the Tower ; and the priest went down to the abbot, to shew him .' the clearness (that is, the innocence) of the said compassed treason.' After the abbot had seen this man, he told Mayne that he was light witted ; but he would reveal his mind to another person. They were all charged with conspiring to levy war against the king, on the 20th of December, and were attainted. Rolls Pari. 6. p. 346, 7, DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. :7 and lead the mind to inquire by what circumstances it was occasioned. Three questions early pressed upon Henry's at tention, as to the church establishment. Was it to be permitted to keep its great property, which the laity wished to diminish and to share? Were its luxuries and the display of its affluence, so criticised by the rest of society, to continue? Should its doctrines, discipline, authority and exerted power, remain unaltered ? Of these momentous subjects, Henry did not venture to meddle with the first ; he left the property of the church to be regulated by his successor : on the third, tho he did not suppress, he did not encourage persecution ; but on the second, the luxury and manners of the clergy, he felt himself strong enough, from the support of some of their wisest chiefs, to interfere, by positive and reforming regulations. Sincerely attached to religion himself, it was offensive to his own feelings and judgment, to see it connected with luxury and immorality, in its appointed teachers. One of the first statutes of the king was made " for the more sure and likely reformation of priests, clerks and religious meii ;" and authorized all bishops to punish them for any incontinence, by such impri sonment as they should think expedient.'"* The pope, Innocent VIII. applauding Henry's anxiety for the increase of religion in his realm, complained very early in his reign, of the application of the strong hand of law to the clergy. He assured the king, that it was not without grief of heart he heard, that >«• Stat, of Realm, v. 2. p. 501. The additional P'".^''''°"±'^^J^-' That the prelates could not be chargeable with an ««.on of false impu- ronment, FoTso doing, implies, that before this act passed, the offending clergy resisted the right of their superiors to correct them. 78 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK they had been sentenced by secular judges, to tor- ^- ture, to stripes, and even to the gibbet ; and that the REIGN OF possessions of cathedrals, and the lands, not feudally ?^'''- J"- , held, of the bishops, had been confiscated, and this 1497- by the royal authority.'"' We have not the sove reign's answer. But as in all instances of the trea sonable priests, already alluded to, he took none of their lives, but was content with their being consigned to perpetual imprisonment ; it is manifest that he yielded that deference to their asserted privileges, as to allow their order to exempt them from the pu nishment of death.'"" But in the first convocation after Lambert's im posture, measures were begun for the reformation of the church. It was stated, that many presbyters badly conducted themselves; that they took their repasts in taverns, and sat there almost all the day.'"'^ The rebuking letter of Morton, Henry's confidential archbishop,'"* besides forbidding these practices, cen sured also their mode of wearing their hair, so as to conceal their tonsure ; and also their having their garments open in front, so as to make little distinc tion between themselves and laymen in their dress. He also prohibited their having swords, daggers or belts, or gold purses, or any ornaments of this pre cious metal. Their non-residences on their benefices were also.remarked and reprobated.'"" Yet he ob- "" See his letter, dated 7 May, in Wilk. Concilia, 3. p. 616, 617. "* Grafton remarks. At that time, here, in England, so much rever ence was attributed to the holy orders, that although a priest had com mitted high treason against his sovereign lord, and to all others, offenders in murder, rape, or theft, yet the life was given, and the punishment of death released, p. 93!. '"^ See the proceedings in convocation, 3 Wilk. Cone. 618, 619. . "" It is dated 16 March i486, in 3 Wilk. Cone. 619. ™ 3 Wilk.Conc. 619, 620. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 79 tained the grant of a subsidy for the king, and Chap. another in the following year."" ^^i- In 1489, Innocent VHI. granted the king an im- reI^of portant bull for the reformation of the monasteries. '."""•J"-. In this he stated, that he had heard that some mo nasteries, the Clugny, the Cistercians, the Premon- stratenses, and various other orders, had relaxed their mode of living, and their appointed rules of ob servances, and their pious contemplations, and were leading a lascivious and too dissolute life. He there fore authorized the king to direct the archbishop to cause them all to be visited, and to reduce them to their true and ancient customs, all excuses set apart ; and to cut off and punish all that should prove re bellious.'" In the next year, Morton exerted his intrusted powers on the celebrated abbey of St. Albans. It has been doubted if the monks, before their dissolu tion, were so profligate as they have been often de picted. The letter of Morton to the abbot of St. Albans, must end all doubt on this subject."* He tells the abbot, that he has been accused of simony, "" Tb, 621, 630. The king sanctioned an act, which made void all letters patent that exempted abbots, &c. from paying tenths, Stat, Realm, 2. p. 530. Another act, enforcing the same measure, annulled the instrument of EdwardlV. that discharged any spiritual persons from paying their tenths or fifteenths, Ib, 552. '" Wilkins has printed this bull, p. 631. Henry also obtained from the Pope, in 1487, ahull, which Alexander VI, in June 1493, confirmed, for lessening the privileges of sanctuaries. If criminals ever left them to commit fresh offences, the sanctuaries might be entered. They were to protect persons only, not goods; and the king might send keepers to watch traitors in them, 12 Rym, 541, Henry afterwards acted with less scruple towards these abused asylums, some of whose privileges lasted even to our own times. In 1504, Julius II, granted a bull, that persons suspected of high treason might be taken out to be judged, if not con victed before, 13 Rym. Foed. 104. "2 It is dated in 1490, and printed in Wilkins, p. 632. In this he calls himself ' visitor, reformer, inquisitor, and judge.' Ib. HEN. VII. 80 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK usury, the dilapidations of the goods and possessions ^- of the monasteries; and was noted for some other REIGN OF enormous crimes ; that not only he the abbot, but not a few also of his fellow monks, were leading a vicious life, and frequently profaned the sacred places, by shedding of blood, and unchastity. He specifies the loose women, whom he had introduced as nuns into the convent, and the profligate practices that he and others were pursuing,"' He commands him to make an eflfective reformation within sixty days, on pain of further proceedings, in case he should be disobedient or contumacious. Morton was strenuous in pursuing his ecclesiastical reformations. Differ ences arose between him and his brother prelates"* upon them, and his life was endangered.'" But after Morton's death, in 1500, the ecclesiastical luxury was still repressed ; for a year afterwards, " the Gray Friars were compelled to wear their old russet habit, as the sheep doth dye it.""" Other dissensions prevailed among the clergy.'"^ The king, venturing upon these innovations on a body so powerful, will fully account for the impostors that were sent abroad to dethrone him, being countenanced or contrived by members of I" Wilkins, 632. The privilege claimed by the church was also re stricted by the benefit of clergy being ordered to be allowed only once to persons not in actual orders. Stat. Realm, 538. '" Fabian remarks, that in July I494, Dr. Draper was borne by force out of St. Paul's, ' for a variance that there was between the bishops of Canterbury and London.' p. 530. '"' The statute on conspiracies by the king's servants, to murder his counsellors or great officers, (Stat. Realm, 2. p. 521) is said to have been passed, from Morton's danger from some ' mortal enemies in court.' Lord Bacon, p. 594. >'« Fab. 533. '" Thus, in 1494, ' Dr. Hill, bishop of London, pursued grievously the prior of Christ Church in London.' Fab. 529. And in March 1502, ' the prior of the Chartreux at Sheen, with another monk of that house, was murdered by the sinister means of a monk of the same place, and other mischievous persons.' Ib. 534. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 81 the church. But the spirit of improvement had chap. awakened ; and another instance of it was the papal .^ limitation of the power of making saints. By his re'cn op bull on this subject, in 1494, the Pope confines it to ^If^^ the pontifical chair alone ; and specifies the regula tions under which they were from that time to be created."* Yet Henry found it necessary not to prevent the church from occasional persecutions of heresy. In April 1494, he suffered an old woman to be burnt for heresy ; "" and two years afterwards we read, that many lollards stood with faggots at St. Paul's cross.'*" As it is not said that they were destroyed, the king may have compromised with the establish ment to permit this exhibition, to deter, without al lowing them to be killed. This ceremony of menace was repeated in 1498, with twelve persons accused of heresy ; '*' but in the next year, " an old heretic" was, in Smithfield, consumed by the flames.'** In the Lent of 1 505, a prior, with five other heretics, were exposed, with indignity, at St. Paul's.'*^ The two great objects of foreign policy which oc- His foreign cupied the anxious attention of Henry, were, the P""^"^^' preservation of Flanders and Bretagne from being united with France. The French government pressed zealously forwards to both these objects ; and the hostilities maintained by the towns of Ghent and Bruges, against their duke Maximilian, assisted this ambition. Charles VIII. sent an army of 8000 men from France, under the lord Cordes, to assist the "' See all the rules laid down by the Pope, in thedocument printed in Wilkins, v. 3. p. 63G-9. ¦'» Fabian, 529. '» Ib. 53I. "' Ib. 532. "= Ib. "' lb. 535- Vol. IV. G 82 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK revolting towns, and to conquer Flanders. Henry ^- reinforced lord Daubeny, his governor at Calais, with 1 000 archers and soldiers, who, with the flower of the garrison, joined the troops of Maximilian at New- 1497- port. Their united force, not 3000 men, marched towards the French intrenchments at Dixmude, which 4000 of the disaffected Flemings had reinforced. The English were conducted, unperceived, to one point of the fortified encampment ; and moving rapidly to the part where the artillery was posted, immediately attacked it This policy was to discharge, with a steady effect, their arrows, and then fall prostrate while the ordnance fired over them ; to rise again, and shoot while the cannon was re-loading ; and then to charge before the foe recovered from the fatal effects of the arrows. Another division of the English waded the ditch, which the Germans leapt over with their Moorish pikes ; and after suffering a loss of 8000 men, the French party abandoned their guns and camp. Cordes, to balance this defeat, with 20,000 troops, attempted Newport, and carried the tower ; but a bark, with eighty fresh English archers arriving at a critical moment, the besieged rallied, and recovered the tower; and the French believing that a great English army had landed, abandoned their enter prise in despair.'** As Maximilian was the son of the emperor of Germany, the policy of Henry was ena bled, in this quarter, to counteract effectually the French ambition. By sir Edward Pownings, he took Sluys, " the den of thieves to those who traversed the seas towards the east parts," or the German ocean, and the Baltic ; and by his co-operation, the '" Graft, 880-2. Hall, 446. Pol. V. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. B3 province of Flanders was reduced to the authority of CHAP. Maximilian.'*' ^ The efforts of Henry to prevent Bretagne from keign of being incorporated with the French monarchy, were > — '-., — ^ less successful. When Charles VIII. with whom Henry had made friendly truces,'*" in 1487, pursued his quarrel with this duchy, with the hope of master ing it, Henry endeavored to act as the mediator ; '*'^ and unwilling, as well from gratitude to Charles, as from his wise system of peace with other countries, to plunge into a serious war with France, he dis countenanced sir Edward, now lord Woodville, the valiant and chivalric brother of lord Rivers, who at tempted, unauthorized, with 400 men, to assist the Breton duke, by whom, in his necessities, he had been so kindly entertained.'** Losing this opportunity of securing the attachment of the Bretons, and of de feating the French project, he left the forces of Bre tagne to fight, unsupported by him, an unequal battle with the power of Charles, and to be defeated.'*" The duke dying, Henry perceived his error, and re solved to assist the young duchess, his daughter, now the sovereign of Bretagne, with troops;'^" but not •^ Graf. 890. Hall, 452. Pol, V, On Henry's transactions with France and Maximilian, see B, Andreas' contemporary account. MS, Dom. 193—202, For a minute, detail of all the circumstances, I would refer the reader to Rapin's History of England ; and for a more succinct and correct one, to his Abr^g^ Historique des Actes Publics, v, 2, p, 516-20. "* See them, in Rymer's Foed, 12. pp. 277. 281. 344, dated 12 Oct. 1485, and 17 Jan. i486, and 14 July 1488. The last extended to 17 Jan. 1490' '" Henry's mediatorial commissions are dated 7 March and 1 1 De cember 1488, Rymer, 12. pp, 337, 347. "» Hall, 439- Pnl- Vir, '» This was the battle of St, Aubin tin Cormier, fought 27 July 1488, in which lord Woodville fell. Hall, 441, i3» On 23d December 1488, Henry issued the order to raise troops for her succor, which is in Rymer, v. 12, p. 355; and on 10 Feb. 1489, hecove- o 2 84 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK really pledging the force and vigor ofEngland in V- the effort, he preferred negotiations,'^' to defer what reign of he could not prevent ; and amid this hesitating de- HEN^vii^ fence, the French obtained an ascendency in the M97- country, which they never lost,''* Charles amused Henry with ambassadors; and the Pope's legate, by attempting a mediation, paralyzed the arm of England. The French king was, in the meantime, bribing the Breton nobility, and paying assiduous attentions to Anne, the heiress of the province.'^' Maximilian also wooed, and was privately contracted or married to her by proxy ; '^'' but after some vacil lations she decided the competition, by annulling her engagement with Maximiliari, and giving her hand, and with that, the duchy, to Charles.'^' Henry nanted, by a treaty, to send her 6000 men, for which she was to pay, and to give two towns as a pledge for their payment. She was not to make peace without his consent, nor he to renew a peace with France, without comprising her in it. See the treaty in Rym. p. 362. "' See the commissions and documents on these, during 1.490, 1491, in Rymer, v. 12. pp. 449. 453 431- 435. "' There seems 10 bave been too much anxiety in Henry to be repaid his expenses, and too much caution in the government of Bretagne against him. Before his troops were admitted into Nantz, an oath was exacted from him, that they should go out at the first request, Rym. p. 452 ; and she agreed to deliver to him Morlaix, but to have its revenues, on paying him 6000 gold crowns a year. p. 488, '» Graft, 872-6, Hall, 449. '^' This was in November 1489. It was not communicated to Henry till the ensuing February 1491, on which he issued new commissions of negotiation, Rym, 12. p, 435~8. In the last she is called queen of the Romans; so that there was too much Machiavelian politics used on all sides. I suspect, that the Breton government thought. Henry wanted to ally the duchy to England, as much as Charles sought to add it to France ; while Maximilian wished to annex it to his dominions. All the four parties were finessing with each other, till Charles VIII. won both the golden apple and the Venus. '« Graft, 885-8, Hall, 451. He married her 16 Dec. 1491, The only effectual means by wbicli Henry could have defeated Charles VIII.'s annexation of Bretagne to France, was by marrying the heiress himself ; and Bernard Andreas says, that before he left Bretagne, Frances had often proposed this to him; ' sepius orando contendisset.' — MSS. Dom. A, 18. p. l68. But on this subject Henry's hand was tied. His nuptials with Elizabeth were the price of his English crown ; and the nation called upon him to sacrifice all foreign interest to their domestic policy. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 85 attempted in vain, to prevent its absorption into the chap. French monarchy. In 1491 he raised an army, ex- ^^^- pecting a coinciding force from Maximilian ; but this prince was unable to raise one. Disappointed of his concurrence, Henry resolved to make a descent on France himself; and on the 6th of October passed over with his army to Calais, and there encamped. Charles again had recourse to embassies and nego tiations. Henry put on a warlike semblance, and besieged Boulogne ; but the prize was gone. The marriage of the heiress had united it irrecoverably with the French crown. Nothing could sever them, but battles like those of Poitiers and Agincourt, and campaigns as successful afterwards as those of Henry V. ; and what he could accomplish, with the aid of Burgundy, against discontented France, in its then inferior state, was impracticable now, in her palmy state of strength, union, valor, and compact dominion,'^" and with the Breton nobility favoring the annexation. Henry, but unfirmly seated for some time on his own throne, felt himself unequal to dis solve an union which he might at one time have prevented ; and making a peace with Charles, who agreed to reimburse his expenses, he retired from the contest ;'''^ leaving France to consolidate its '=« Graft. 890-5. "' One document in Rymer intimates that Charles VIII. was to pay Henry 620,000 gold crowns, which the duchess owed him for his army, and 125,000 for the arrears of the pension of Louis XI. Rym. p. 490. The actual treaty d'Etaples, between Charles and Henry, dated 3 Sept. 1492, does not mention these payments. Its chief articles are, that the peace should last to the death of both the kings ; and that it should com prise the king of the Romans and his son. p. 497. But by the conven tions of the 3d November and of lOth December, Charles became bound to pay the above sums by 25,000 livres every half year. p. 506. He sub mitted to be excommunicated, if he failed, p, 509, There are receipts for these payments every half year, till Charles died. Ib. p. 527; &c. There are also receipts for them from Louis XII. up to Henry's death, p.700,&c. G 3 Pope 86 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK acquisition of a peninsular line of coast from Dol to ;_ the Loire, which includes Brest, the greatest station of the French navy, the useful roads of the isles of Ushant, and the convenient ports of St. Malo and 1497- L'Orlent.'^* The maritime results of this incorpora tion have given a vigor to the power of France, more effective than it derived from the addition of Nor mandy or Guyenne, which it had wrested before, from the misdirected government of England, under Henry VI. and the Suffolk administration.'^" Pope Alexander VI. granted a bull of excommunication against LoUis, if he should fail, p, 762. '^° In October 1491, the chancellor's speech, on the opening of Parlia ment, stated, that the king had cause of war with France, for the dissimu lation and dead faith of its government, but thought it right to temporize. Rolls Pari. 6. p. 440. He made a preliminary treaty with this country on 3 November 1492, but it was not finally ratified till Oct, 1495. Ib. 507. "^ The king landed at Dover, on bis return from his ineffectual expe dition 10 France, on 17 December 1492, Fab; 529. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. CHAP. IV. Foreign Alliances 0/ Henry VII. — His Character; Public Views; Death; and Beneficial Laws. JtlKNRYmade an alliance with Ferdinand and Isabella, reign of against France ; ' but his intercourse with the court < — '^^—L, of Spain had little other result than cordial civilities, and a contract of marriage between their daughter Catherine and his eldest son Arthur.* He made also alliances with the duke of Milan, the king of Naples, the bishop of Liege, the archduke Philip, whom his father Maximilian had set over the Low Countries,, and the duke of Saxony, the governor of Friesland.' He concluded a perpetual peace with the king of Denmark, and with Portugal : * and treaties of com merce with the republic of Florence, and with the Low countries.' He also negotiated with the city of Riga, concerning some of its ships, which English cruisers had taken." He was empowered to assist Ladislaus, king of Hungary, with money against the Turks.^ ' See it in Rymer, p. 417, and the public papers upon it, 410-3. The kingdoin of Spain was consolidated by the taking of Granada from the Moors, 25 November 1491, Hall, 453, On 26 Nov, 1,504, Ferdinand announced to Henry, tbat his queen Isabella had died that day, by his letter in Rymer, 13. p. 1 12 ; and that she had appointed him the governor of her kingdom of Castile, for their daughter Joan. ' The marriage is first mentioned in the treaty of 7 May 1489, ratified 20 Sept. 1490- Ib.p.4l7> = See these in Rymer, 12. pp. 429. 720. 785. 576 ; and 13. p. 120. < Rym. 12. pp. 374- 387- ^ Ib. 12. p. 389; and 13. p. 132. One article allows the fishers of both nations to fish freely in every place without licence or passport. « lb, 12, p. 701, ' lb, 13. p. 4, 5- 04 88 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK The pacification with Scotland ended, after much negotiation,* in a marriage between its sovereign REIGN OP James IV. and Margaret, the eldest daughter of ^ "'¦ Henry ; " an important union, as it occasioned the 1497- house of Stewart to succeed to the English crown. The marriage of Catherine, the princess of Spain, with Arthur, was also accomplished.'" She landed at Plymouth, the 4th of October 1501 ; " and on the 12th of November, made her entry from Lambeth into the metropolis.'* Two days after, she was mar ried to the prince, then but fourteen years old. He lived only a few months after these premature nup tials ; " and Henry his brother, who had been made duke of York, was now declared prince of Wales ; '* and a dispensation from the Pope was soon afterwards obtained, to allow him to wed his brother's widow.'* ' See these at first in 1487 with James III. in Rymer, 12. p. 328, and after his death in many truces in the same volume. In 1497, Henry issued letters patent, agreeing tbat his dififerences with Scotland should be determined by the judgment of Ferdinand and Isabella, p. 671. ' A Pope's bull of dispensation was on 4 kal. Aug. 1500, obtained for this marriage. Rym. p, 765. The treaty of marriage, dated 24th of January 1 502, is in p, 787. The lady was only 12 years old on the 29th of November 1501, but Henry was not to be obliged to send her before the 1st of September 1503. I '" She was the fourth daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, Her por tion was to be 200,000 crowns of gold, one-half to be paid on her reach ing England, and the rest in two years. Her dowry was to be 23 or 25,000 crowns. Rym. 417, See also the official instrument, p, 754. 780. " Fab. 533, " Graft, 935, For a full and picturesque account of her reception in England, and of the jousts and banquets given on the occasion, which are curious for displaying the expiring ceremonies of chivalry, see the MS. detail printed by Hearne, in 5 Lei, Collect, 352-373, " He died on the 2d April 1502. There is a full detail of his state interment printed by Hearne, 5 Lei. Col. 373. '* The patent so creating him, dated the 26th of June 1502, is in Rymer, 13. p., II. On the 24th of October 1503, Henry VII. made a treaty with her parent, for marrying Catherine to his son, afterwards Henry VIII, It is like the one for Arthur, exceptimg that Henry had received half her portion, Rym, 13. p. 36. " This bull, which became the subject of so much discussion, on Henry VIII's divorce, dated 7kal, Jan, 1503, is in Rymer, 13, p, 88, DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 89 A delay on its celebration took place, which gave time chap. for the English king to have some scruples about it,'" ^^- and for his son, the intended husband, to object to it. Hence it was not completed while Henry lived ; and it was at last effected, with the ultimate result of causing that celebrated divorce, to which the Pro testant religion owed its first legal establishment in England. Arthur's mother rapidly followed him to the grave,"^ And Henry began afterwards to nego tiate for another wife ; '* but either his illness, or Philip's death, the brother of the intended queen, changing this intention, he made a treaty of marriage between his second daughter Mary, and Charles, then archduke of Austria and prince of Spain, who reigned afterwards the celebrated emperor Charles V.'" This priiice was then only seven years old. It was actually solemnized at the end of 1508, by his sub stitute, who kissed the lady and put a ring on her finger.*" But this ceremony was all that followed from '^ Moryson's Apomaus, " On the merits of this princess, it is just to hdr to add the testimony of Bernard Andreas : ' From her youth, ber veneration for the Supreme, and devotion to him, were admirable. Her love to her brothers and sisters was unbounded. Her afl^ection and respect to the poor, and to religious ministers, were singularly great,' MS, ib, p. 168. " The commission to John Young, concerning this incident, dated 10 May 1506, is in Rym. 12. p. 127. The lady was Margaret of Austria, sister of Philip, then the governor of the Low Countries. Her dowry was to have been 300,000 French crowns, and an annuity, during the marriage, of 3850 more. Ib. But Philip died that year, and the treaty was not completed. ".By the treaty signed at Calais, 2lst December 1507, the marriage was to take place before Easter 1508, on pain of heavy penalties. Her dowry was to have been 250,000 crowns of gold. Rym. 12. p. 171. On 26th October 1508, an instrument was signed by Maximilian and Charles, appointing a lord of Bergen-op-Zoom to attend to solemnize these nup tials in the name of Charles; and it nientions that Henry's illness, from which he had recovered, bad occasioned the delay of the ceremony. Ib. *¦ The official instrument stating this, and the words of their mutual affiance, on 17th of December 1508, is in Rym. 12.. p. 236. — Charies, with permission of his grandfather Maximilian, pledged to Henry a jewel, called, ' the rich fleur de lys,' weighing in its gold and stones 211 ounces, for 50,000 crowns, • Ib. 239. HEN. VII. 90 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK the engagement. Charles changed his mind and po- ^- litics, and the lady had to seek her husband else^ EEiGN OF where. It was in March 1501, that sir James Tyrrell, the principal murderer of Edward V. was arrested, with his eldest son, on a charge of treason ; and on the 6th of May following, perished on the scaffold. He was connected with the last insurrectionary attempt of any of the nobility. The earl of Suffolk, a de scendant of the ill-fated minister of Henry VL and son of a sister of Edward IV. enraged, because he had been compelled, by Henry's impartial justice, to stand a trial for killing a person in his passion, quitted England to join the old duchess of Bur gundy. Pardoned by Henry's clemency, he again allied himself with her, in enmity against the king. This conduct excited Henry to arrest those who were accused of hostility against him. Some were impri soned; and Tyrrell, with others, executed.*' In estimating the character and reign of Henry, too narrow views have been taken ; and the diffi culties amid which he had to act, have not been sufficiently contemplated. He may be considered as the great re-founder of the English monarchy. He terminated the agitations and danger of the throne, which had almost become a Polish sovereignty : an aristocracy of many petty kings, obeying the nominal and paramount one no longer than they pleased ; and choosing or deposing him, and changing the dynasty, as it chanced to gra tify their passions, or to suit their varying interests. This power and custom disappeared from England after Henry VII. had acceded. The great nobility " Graft. 937..9. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 91 shook and disposed of the crown no more; tho va- chap, rious attempts were made against Henry to renew ^^- such anti-national disorders. He gave the English reign of crown a permanent stability ; and he mea^it to do so. ^I^Il^JIl, One of his greatest aims was to rescue it out of the dictatorial tyranny, both of the nobility and the church establishment, who had each at various pe riods, chained, threatened, and subverted it; and to rest it on the general interests and affections and prosperity of the country. He considered the whole nation as one great family headed by himself; and he depressed the two classes that had so long main tained a disproportionate degree of power, to the prejudice of the universal improvement and comfort. These plans necessarily produced much obloquy ; yet even in his own days his merit was felt amid all the opposing interests and prejudices that attacked him ; and he died with the epithet fixed upon him, of a second Solomon.** He was so respected abroad, that three popes of Rome elected him before all the other reigning kings, as the " chief defensor" of Christendom ; and sent him by three successive em bassies, three swords and caps of maintenance.*' He conquered his numerous enemies, " by his great policy and wisdom, more than by shedding of blood or cruel war." ** It was essential to his great public objects, that he should break down the power of the unruly aristo cracy, which was reviving in new trunks and ramifi cations, from the injuries it had received during the civil wars. He saw, that one necessary means was, " Fabian, then alive, says, ' he may most congruly, above all earthly princes, be called the second Salomon, for his great sapience and acts.' P' 5.37- ^' Ib. 537. » Ib. HEN. Vir. 92 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK to wean the minds of Englishmen from that love of ^' war, to which their courage and activity of spirit REIGN OF made them at that time so peculiarly prone ; and the education for which made his nobility too martial for the safety of the throne, and for the tranquillity of the kingdom. With this view, he not only pro fessed to love and seek peace, and made it, as lord Bacon says,** the usual preface in his treaties, that when Christ came into the world, peace was sung by angels; and when he left it, he bequeathed peace as their great characteristic to all his followers ; but he also caused his chancellor to give his parliament one of the wisest lectures on the only just causes of war, that it had ever, up to that time, heard.*" Henry was not averse to state, but he used it for its kingly effect and public utility, not for his per sonal exaltation.*' He made his royal ceremonials auxiliary to his great design of occupying, civilizing, and weakening his nobility; and weaning them from that turbulence, in which they had, till his reign, chiefly sought their consequence, and employed their time.** The splendid exhibitions caused an emulous rivalry, which exhausted their means, but satisfied their vanity ; and the joust and tournament which he patronized, the harmless semblance of war, and peaceful fountains of popular applause, gave them enough of the bustle and parade of military dress and display, to keep them from the reality, and to "' Bacon, 635. =» See it hi Pari. Rolls, 6. p. 440. '" Grafton mentions, ' He so much abhorred pride and arrogance, that he was ever sharp and quick to them which were noted or spotted with that crime.' p. 948. =" Grafton adds, ' There was no man with him, though never so much in his favor, or having never so much authority, that either durst or could do any thing as his own phantasie did serve him, without the consent or agreement of the other.' Ib, DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 9r« supersede the desire for its occurrence. Their tastes, CHAP. by this wise management, increased for peaceful ^^- grandeur and domestic comforts ; and his reign reign op may be considered as the completion of that transition '.J^i^^^J^ of the warring baron to the pompous lord, which has since advanced to the elegant gentleman and highly cultivated mind.*" It was Henry's steady and determined pursuit of this great object, and the effective means which he adopted for attaining it, which has given that pecu niary reproach to his character, that has been so often repeated by misconception and by rote. It Is as true of greatness as of war, that money is its sinews ; therefore, when Henry caused the illegal actions of his nobility and gentry to be pursued and punished by fines, he took the most effectual way to disable and reduce them to that subordination which the common welfare demanded. It was their revenues which annexed to their arm and voice such multitudes of retainers, and which had so often enabled them to stand embattled against the crown. Hence, when lord Oxford, on receiving a visit from Henry, chose to display a military retinue, which alarmed the king, altho he was told that they were not usually attendant, but had been specially provided to do him honor; he wisely replied, altho to a friend, " My lord ! I must not suffer my laws to be broken in my presence — my attorney general ^ The stately splendor in which he indulged his nobility and people,' perhaps, more than himself, may be seen in his manner of holding his royal feasts at Christmas, 4 Lei. Col, 234-7 ; and at Easter, and St, George, and Whitsuntide, 238-248 ; on the queen's taking her chamber, at her lying-in; and on the creation of Arthur prince of Wales, 250 ; and the christening of the princess, 20-7; on the fiancial of this lady with the king of Scotland, 258-64; and on her departure ftom England, and marriage in Scotland, 265-300, 94 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK must speak to you about this ;" and this legal officer ^- enforced the subsisting statutes that forbad retainers, so effectually against the earl, that he was obliged to pay a fine of 1,5,000 marcs.'" The true friend of the crown could not have made the king's visit the pretence of reviving the proud custom of numerous retainers. It was an act of selfish display, that would have been eagerly imitated, on other pretexts, if the present attempt had been passed over un punished." We may regard, with few exceptions, Henry's enforcement of pecuniary penalties, as part of his wise means to disable faction and oppression ; tho the very good he achieved by it, created in his own time, the imputation from those whom it corrected, that avarice, and not the public benefit, was his motive.^* When we read in a writer who was present at the time, that lord Strange, the son of Stanley, brought to the king, before the battle of Stoke, a great host, only from his father's folks and his own, sufficient of themselves to have beaten all the king's enemies,^' we cannot but feel that the *> Bacon, 630. " That Henry prosecuted, to the fines and penalties he levied, for the purpose of humbling those who were too great, or too violent, for the good of all, is not the fancy of the present writer. It was his own ac count of his motives. Our old chronicler has mentioned this fact : ' He did use his rigour only, as he said himself, to bring low and abate the high stomachs of the wild people, nourished and brought up in seditious fac tions and civil rebellions, and not for the greedy desire of riches, or hun ger of money,' Graft, 949, " So Grafton intimates : ' Such as were afihcted, would cry out and say, that it was done more for the desire of gain and profit, than for any prudent policy or politic provision,' Ib, *¦ 4 Lei, Collect, p, 213. How greatly the penalties exacted from the nobility must have weakened their power, we may judge from observ ing, that one of the articles im Empson's account of the sums he received, is ' 69,900 I., the condemnation of lord Bergavenny, for such retainers as he was indicted for in Kent.' Hari, MS. N" 1877. The same MS, shews that lord Stanley was fined 6000 i. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 95 crown was in continual jeopardy, while any noble- CHAP. man could, from his own resources, raise such a ^^- force. Another direction of his public care, was to make the law the universal, impartial, silently-ruling, but irresistible sovereign of all classes of the community. The great and restless disliked, but the people at large always love the reign and exercise of law. It is the only weapon by which the inferior and the weak can safely and effectually combat against power. It is at once the shield and sword of all in their civil transactions ; and that it might become so, it was necessary to reduce, and 1o accustom, the higher orders to its domination ; and to cause all ranks to feel, in order that all might recognize and obey, its authority and corrective force. To pro duce this effect, was another great cause of the king's enforcing the legal penalties. It was as im portant to deter the smaller orders from joining the wealthier, or the disaffected, as to abase and circum scribe those. Every insurrection exhibits to us a long train of minor names, who chiefly pursued it ; and especially after the great lords became more cautious, and put their inferiors forward into the front of the battle. The public peace could not therefore be secured, until the middling and lower orders had been taught to know that the arm of law could reach them, and to dread its inflictions. Viewed in this light, what has been called his ava rice, was in truth his clemency, mildness and en lightened judgment; and his penal severities were often mitigated by an active kindness towards the offending.^* He found the fines also useful in pre- =* So Grafton, 'To this severity ws^s joined a certain merciful pity. 96 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, venting those taxations which, tho often imposed under other sovereigns, had twice caused insurrec tions in the country. That the king expressly acted on the principle of making the law the master of all, we see by the speech he caused to be made to the parliament, in January i ,503, on the inestimable value to every state, of justice and law. The chancellor enforced on their attention, that justice was the queen of the virtues ; that without it, kingdoms were but great dens of rob bers ; that all states were upheld by the laws, and that justice was their architect ; that it was the most honorable, the most useful, and the most pleasant of all things. His eloquent oration, ending with this peroration from St. i^ustin ; " Despise dungeons, de spise bonds, despise exile, despise death — but let all men love justice : " is said to have had a wonderful effect in animating the distinguished hearers to an ardent attachment to this great social virtue.** But it is not probable, from the usual effect of hu man imperfections, that the king could have always pursued his wisest objects, or had them enforced, in an unexceptionable manner. Misinformation, wrong^ judgments, fraud of others, occasional passion in him self, official harshness in executing right sentences, abuse of legal power in those who enforced it, would not unfrequently convert law into tyranny, and use ful fines into oppressive exactions. Law is a weapon which he did often show to such as had offended, and were amerced. For, such of his subjects as were fined by his justices, tb their great im poverishing, he, at one time or another, did help, relieve, and set for-- ward,' p, 949- ^ See the speech in Rolls Pari. 6. p. 520, Grafton notices, that ' He was an indifferent and sure justicier, by the which one thing he allured' to him the hearts of many people, because they lived quietly and in rest, out of all oppression and molestation of the nobility and rich persons.' DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 97 ever liable to be misused ; and severe are the wounds C HAP. of its unprincipled blows. Many grievances, there- ^^- fore, must have accompanied Henry's legal inflic tions ; and the experience of human nature assures us, that the accumulation of treasure tends as much to increase the desire, as to lessen the Indelicacy of the means of acquiring it. Hence, when it is said, that he allowed or encouraged Empson and Dudley, his lawyers, to indict " divers subjects accused of sundry crimes," to extort great fines ; *" and that they executed their commission with an insatiable and oppressive rapacity, that blemished his own character, some portion of their misconduct may be attributable to himself; to his regard rather to the pecuniary re sults, than to the justice of the prosecutions. He may have occasionally forgotten the Ciceronian maxim, which all ages concur to verify, that the Summum Jus, becomes also the Summa Injustitia.*'^ '^ Bacon, 629, The king was reported to have left I,8oo,000/. ster ling in his treasury. Ib. 635. " Among the Harleian MS. in the British Museum, is one of the ac counts of Dudley, of the fines and dues he received, wbich we shall tran scribe. It discovers one fact, not exclusively attributable to Henry, but belonging to the age ; that a number of offices were purchased or paid for by money, which ought never to have been venal. ' Here followeth all such obligations and sums of money as sir Edmond Dudley have received of any person, for any fine or duty to be paid to the use of our sovereign, Henry VII. since the first time that I, the said Edmond, entered the service of our said sovereign, that is, the gth Sep tember, 20 year ; all which obligations and sums, I, said Edmond, have delivered to our said sovereign, and to John Heron, to the use of his high ness. And so, at this quote day, the 24lf^:Jiii, maritime expedition of the Cabots, which discovered Newfoundland ; ^* and which was at Henry's ex pense ; °' and also to other adventurers.'" He favored every national improvement, that was then under stood or pursued ; and fulfilled his own early wishes, of ruling for the benefit of his subjects. No preced ing sovereign had so well or so abundantly combined the personal, moral, political and intellectual quali ties of the true English king. His real character seems to have been, sedate thought, well-governed mind, calm temper, active spirit, extensive foresight, large views and enlightened judgment. His feelings were subjected to his reason. Early adversity had *' ' He, by his high policy, marvellously enriched his realm and himself; and yet left his subjects in high wealth and prosperity. The proof whereof is apparent, by the great abundance of gold and silver yearly brought into this realm, both in plate, money, and bullion, by merchants passing and repassing with merchandize,' Graft. 949. '^ The son of Columbus states, in his Life of his father, that Columbus sent his brother Bartholomew to Henry VII. to ofler his service in a voy age of discovery; who, on the 13th of February 1488 (1489) made a map of the world, and presented it to Henry, The king accepted his proposal, ' con allegro volto,' with a cheerful countenance ; and sent to call hira ; but before Columbus heard of the success, he had engaged himself to Isabella. Hakluyt's Voyages, 1 p. 507-8, ^' Henry's letters patent to John Cabot, a Venetian, and his sons Sebastian and Sancho, to sail to all parts of the world under his flag, with five ships, to discover new countries, and to take possession of them as his governors and deputies, paying him one-fifth of their profits ; and to import their merchandize free of all custom duties, is dated the 5th of March 1496. Rym, Foed. 12. p. 595. It was in the summer of 1496, that Sebastian Cabot says that he sailed. Hackluyt, p. 512. °5 So Baptiste Ramusius says, that S. Cabot wrote to him, ' at the charges of king Henry VIL' Hakl. 513. Gomara also mentions that the ships were rigged at Henry's costs. Ib. 514. So Fabian. 50 On the 9th of December 1502, a patent was granted to Hugh Eliot and Thomas Ashurst, merchants of Bristol ; and to Jean and Gonzales Fernandez, Portuguese, to search for new countries. 13 Rym, 37. H4 hen, VII. 104 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK excited energy, but subdued enthusiasm. Danger ^- made him cautious, but not cowardly. He never en- eeign of terprised beyond his power of achieving. He never risked the possessed, for any superior but uncertain good. His habitswere domestic and moral. His social demeanor easy, kind and interesting. He made reli gion a principle, a duty and a habit; and he found it his best refuge, an unfailing consolation, and his most pei-manent felicity. But state policy, and the resent ing struggles of attacked power, sometimes broke into the unity of his moral rectitude; and have left blots, which if he had not been violently placed in his high station, would not have disfigured him. Yet the clemency and forbearing sagacity, with which he met rebellion by amnesties, and by limited severities after its suppression, exhibited a new feature in the use of kingly authority, and became a legacy of wisdom to his successors. He preferred to correct, by the milder punishment of pecuniary penalties, than to mutilate the body, doom it to imprisonment, or take away life ;'" but the introduction of this improvement in our legislation, instead of being referred to his dis cerning policy, or to his philanthropy, has been im puted only to his avarice, and stigmatized as rapacity.'" " Thus, in 1498, Henry sent commissioners to pardon the adherents of Perkin and the Cornish leader, on their compounding for their lives by paying fines. See the commission in 12 Rym. p. 696, &c. This mild commutation of the death of treason, for the light punishment of a pecu niary penalty, deserves more applause than it has received. " It is surprising to read, in sir William Blackstone, as characterizing all his reign, that ' his ministers, not to say the king himself, were more industrious in hunting out prosecutions !/po« oMand forgotten penal laws, in order to- extort money from the subject, than in framing aray new bene ficial regulations. In short, there is hardly a statute in this reign, intro- ducuve of a new law, or modifying the old, but what, either directly or obliquely, tended to the emolument of the exchequer.' V. 4. p. 429. These sentences, not very consistent, lead us to suppose, that our elegant Commentator had forgotten this king's laws, when he framefl these cen sures. But even Bacon himself has written Henry's Life, in many parts, DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 105 Whoever transcends his age, must expect to be cen- CHAP. sured by those whom he excels. Yet, the nation felt his value, and became steadily attached to his family; and improved under their government, far more than under any prior dynasty. His direct male line ceased in queen Elizabeth ; but the descendants of his daughter Margaret succeeded in the Stewarts. The superior Brunswick fine, which has given a stablhty to our civil and religious liberties, and advanced our national progression and accomplishments, is also, thro her, a branch of Henry's descendants. more like the attorney-general of James I. than like that immortal philo sopher, whose name is associated with all that we most respect in English mind, and value in true science. A succinct review of Henry's laws will shew both their objects and utilities. SUBSTANCE OF THE LAWS OF HENRY VH. IT is lord Verulam's just remark on Henry's legislation, that ' his laws are deep ; not vulgar : not made upon the spur of a particular occasion, for the present ; but acts of providence of the future : to make the estate of his people still more and more happy ; after the manner of the legislators in ancient and heroical times.' ' To divest his great men of that armed force which, by retaining or enlisting large retinues under their family liveries or badges, they had always ready for their violent purposes ; and to destroy those means and seminaries of rebellious sedition, he pursued Richard's system of prohibiting both the giving and receiving any retainers ; and he caused the lords and commons to swear, not to receive or aid any felon, or retain any man, or give liveries, signs or tokens ; nor make or assent to any riots or unlawful assembly ; nor impede the king's writs ; nor bail any felon,' or liveries. He constituted, or revived in a more effective shape, a new legal tri bunal — the Star-chamber, by which three of his cabinet ministers, calling to their aid a bishop and two justices, were authorized to '. P, 596. -' 6 Rolls Pari. 287, 8. 106 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK punish all misdoers in a summary way, according to the existing V, statutes, but without being convicted in due form of law.' To this new engine of legal power, which, from the indefinite and arbitrary authority it assumed, became afterwards peculiarly oppressive, was committed the repression of all giving of liveries, tokens and retainers, and unlawful maintenance ; and of all riots and lawless assemblies. The retaining of any of the king's tenants was also forbidden ; * and new penal provisions were enacted against all disturbances of the peace, by riotous and illegal assemblies, under- servants, receivers, stewards, or bailiffs of lordships.' Human life was taken more vigilantly under the care of the crown ; and its safety was enhanced, and a deeper sense of its value produced, by judicial protection. An act passed, reciting, that murders were daily committed ; and that the people in towns, who saw the violence, would not arrest the murderers. The coroners were therefore commanded to execute diligently their duty of inspecting and inquiring into all violent deaths ; and murderers were to be arraigned and tried without delay .^ The female sex were further guarded, by its being made felony to take them away against their will; and by subjecting the procurers and receivers to the same penalty.' The negligence and misconduct of justices of the peace were reprobated. They were ordered to have the king's proclamation on their duties, read at the sessions four times a-year ; and all persons aggrieved, whom they would not redress, were directed to complain to the judge on the assize, or to the chancellor, or to the king.' The power given by Richard to every justice, to bail, having been abused, the concurrence of two justices was made necessary;' and the powers of these magistrates were extended to punish for the offence of unlawful assemblies, retainers, and giving liveries and signs,'" and to regulate alehouses." After stating that the king peculiarly desired the prosperity and restful- ness of the land, a statute was made, directing, that all idle vaga bonds, and persons living suspiciously, should be set in the stocks for three days, and put out of the district ; and that all beggars should be sent to their last or usual residence, or place of birth. No cjlerk of an university was to be excused from this law, unless Statutes of the Realm, v, 2. p. 509, 10, ' H>. 522. ' Ib, 57.3, 657. >• Ib. p. 510, u, ' B>- gl2. « Ib. 537. <• lb. 513. '° lb. 573, .. Ib, 569,' DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 107 he could produce his chancellor's letters; nor sailor, without his CHAP, captain's, nor any traveller, without a document from the town iv. where he had landed.'^ All these provisions had the same object in view, that of pro moting and maintaining the public peace; and of repressing, in every part, and from every class of the nation, all illegal violences and wrongs. But the great and sagacious blow that was secretly given to the injurious power of the great, was by coinciding with tlie temporary desire of some, which the king's foresight perceived would continually increase, of disposing of their possessions as they pleased. The great aristocracy of the country had been chiefly made and upheld, by binding the immediate possessor from alienating his land by these strong chains of the feudal entails, with which every estate was fettered, and by the operation of which it descended from heir to heir, little impaired, and often accumulating. Henry's wise plan was, to let the nobility break down their own landed power as much as they chose, by allowing them to dispose of their possessions as they wished. This wise plan had the merit of law giving efficiency to inclination, which is always pleasing, and not, as it is often obliged to do, of impos ing disagreeable command. Hence more facility was given to the alienation of landed property : and especially by that statute which made the proceeding, called by lawyers. Fines, that had been invented before to counteract the effect of the feudal entails, an effective and conclusive bar to all hostile claimants, after five years had expired.'^ This act made future alienations of landed property, under this form of assurance, so binding, as to give that security to future purchasers, which encouraged them to buy ; and commerce multiplying the means of purchase, and the necessities of the landed interest disposing them to sell, many a large estate became gradually divided among a number of smaller proprietors, by whom the state was no longer endangered. The wants of the age called for such a legislative provision ; and regal prudence gladly adopted it. It was an important privilege granted to the inferior classes, of admitting the poor to sue in formi pauperis.'* This threw open, to the most needy, the gates of legal redress again^# rich '= Statutes of the Realm, v. 2. p, 569, 656. " Ib. p. 547. Persons in the king's service were allowed to make feoffments to the uses of their wills, without fines, " lb, 578. REIGN OF HEN. VII. 108 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK oppressor. It was no less humane than important to the stability V. of the throne, to enact, that no person who served the reigning king in war, should be attainted of treason." The extortions of sheriffs and under-sheriffs were repressed.'* That every proprietor of land might enjoy his sport, no man was to take pheasants or partridges on another's estate without his leave ; nor to take, even on his own ground, eggs of hawks or swans, nor to bear certain English hawks, nor to import foreign hawks." This may be called the foundation of our game laws. The public morals were attended to, in the prohibition of apprentices and artificers from' games and diversions that were found to be connected with vice.'" Usury was discountenanced.'" Fraudulent deeds of gift, to cheat creditors, were made void." Delays of final redress by writs of error, were lessened."' To keep the air of populous places pure, butchers were forbidden to kill animals within walled towns.''- An Act passed to encourage an English population in the Isle of Wight,'^ in which it is mentioned, that many towns and villages had decayed, and the fields diked and made pastures. No one was to take more farms than one, exceeding ten marcs in rent. To check the growing evil of pulling down towns, and laying lands into pasture, by which, in many parts, two or three herds men only were living, where 200 persons had pursued their lawful labours ; it was enacted, that all owners of houses, with twenty acres of land, should maintain the houses and buildings necessary for tillage ;'¦* and an attempt was made to regulate the prices of labour, which was afterwards abandoned." Mainy other provisions were made for the general convenience. Perjury and corruption. in officers was severely pursued. '^ The fraud of the great, or gentry, who had covenanted with the king to find a certain num ber of soldiers, taking full pay for a less quantity, and witliholding, even from these their just wages, was visited by forfeiture and imprisonment." From a policy not immediately comprehensible, ¦ as larger dealing usually increases and improves production, va luable horses were not to be transported beyond the seas with out a license, nor any mare above the price of 6 i. 8 d.'' Wars becoming less suitable to the taste of the age, the heads of the " Statutes of the Realm, v. 2. p. 568. "Ib..'579,654. "Ib.581. '»Ib,569. •" lb. 574. " lb. 514.. =' lb. 519. '^ lb. 527, » Ib. 540. =< lb. 542. ='lb.637. » lb. 584,9. " lb. 549. '' Ib. 578, DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 109 law, the masters of the rolls, clerks of chancery, the judges, barons CHAP. of the exchequer, attorney and solicitor-general, were released IV, from the obligation to attend them,=' The qualifications of jurors were diminished to lo*."' But what seems to strike at the root of all independent use of their important functions, jurors were to be prosecuted by writs of attaint for untrue verdicts, where the value exceeded 40 /." Some gross cases of corrupt use of their powers, must have occasioned an enactment so dangerous. But it was a valuable addition to the effective jurisprudence of the nation, that similar processes might be had in actions on the case, as in trespass and debt.'' What are technically called Actions on the Case, present the most comprehensive means of obtaining redress for personal and pecuniary wrongs, that the English law can provide. To relieve his people from the grievance of their property being taken, as formerly done, for the maintenance of the royal household, he obtained a fixed revenue from assigned funds for his expence, and for his wardrobe.'' Some regulations were made for the peculiar benefit of the crown and its officers. The steward, treasurer, and comptroller of the king's household, received authority to inquire into offences committed in it ; and especially of conspira;cies by the king's ser vants to murder him, his counsellors or great officers.'* The patent grants of the yeomen and grooms of the crown, who did not give attendance, were made revocable at the king's pleasure." Several legal privileges were granted to those who went abroad in the king's wars ; ^ and he was empowered to make void all grants of land to persons who should neglect to attend him in his wars." HENRY'S LAWS ON TRADE AND NAVIGATION. THE wars and factions of the great and turbulent ; the excite ment they caused, the necessities they created, the supplies they needed, and the aversion to their disasters, which increased as these multiplied, made both internal and external trade more popular, beneficial and important, in the reign of Henry VII. As in Richard's time, we find the nation pursuing its commercial voyages towards the north pole, as far as Iceland; soj tinder » Statutes of the Realm, v. 2. p. 582. '" lb. 590- " Ib. 588. 649, ^ Ib. 693, " Pari. Rolls, 6, p. 2QQ. '* Statutes of the Realm, v. 2. p. 521. '^ lb. 333. ' '^ ""^ 36 lb. 550. " lb. 648. UEN. VII. 110 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK HenryVII. we find them trafficking in the Mediterranean with V. the Venetians, in the Isle of Candia ; and maintaining commercial Mations with Italy, Spain, Flanders, France, Germany, and the ^^¦°=^°^ Hanse Towns; all which places had agents and establishments in England." The attention of Henry was directed to favor all mercantile enterprise, as far as the experience and judgment of commercial men then thought expedient ; and more laws were made on trade during his reign, than on any other single subject. The true principles of commerce could not indeed, at that time, have been understood ; we ascend to these from a practical en durance of evils, which gradually disclose to us our errors, as well as from the enjojmient of the benefits which better systems im part. It is a natural but a slow process of the human mind, to discover on what rules and actions good and evil depend ; and all the regulations and conduct of our trade, during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, were but experiments aiming usually at some immediate good, from which later times were to discern and to deduce those true principles of commerce, which it is now the common interest of mankind to establish universally. Our an cestors were but exploring their ground, opening channels, and feeling cautiously their way. They were laboring amid ignorance, prejudice, obscurity, and obstacles of all sorts ; and they deserve our applause for what they achieved, rather than our censure for what they mistook, or were unable to command or to rectify. But Henry appears to have steadily enforced that great principle of our navigation laws, the bringing foreign produce in British ships, which has so powerfully contributed to the superiority of our navy. This rule has made the growth of our naval strength bear always a due proportion to our commerce. Hence, upon the alle gation that our navy was decaying, and our mariners idle, it was enacted, that all Gascony wines and Thoulouse wood, should be imported in English ships only ; and that the masters and mari ners should be subjects of England. It was also directed, that no natives should freight alien ships, if English ones could be had." In his regulations of the woollen trade, there appears an anxiety '' The parliament, in 1487, levied a capitation tax of 6s, Sd. on every artificer who had not been born in England, or made a denizen, if a householder; and 2s. on all who were not householders, except servants in husbandry; and 20 s. on those who were brewers. And from every Venetian, Italian, Genoese, Plorentine, Milanese, Catalonian, Albertine, and Lombard merchant, broker, or factor, if he had a house three months, 40 s.; and if not a householder, 20 s. Rolls Pari. 6, p. 402. ^ Statutes of (he Realm, v. 2. p. 535. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. HI to confine the manufacture of the raw article to English work- CHAP. men ; hence no one was to buy wool before the middle of August, IV. except those who made yarn or cloth of it.*" And no foreigner was to carry any out of the country, until it had received that 11'°^ "^ J n r. HEN. Vll. degree ot manufacture which is called barbed, rowed, and shorne. > , ' The prices of cloth and hats were limited." Thus, our silk manu factures were encouraged, by prohibiting foreigners from bringing in girdles, ribands, laces, called silk or Cologne silk, thrown or vn-ought.*' The citizens of London were authorized to carry all manner of goods to foreign markets.*' The corporation ordinance, that no freeman of the city should go to any market or fair to sell, that all buyers might be compelled to resort to London, was made void.** Oppressive usury, and unlawful bargains, were dis couraged.** Denizens were ordered to pay custom and subsidies.*" Richard had compelled the Italian merchants to sell only in gross, Henry allowed them to retail.*' Brokers were punished for unlawful dealing.*' To prevent frauds in the weight and working of the gold brought from Venice, Florence, and Genoa, the pound was not to be less than 12 ounces ; and the metal was not to be packed differently from its outward show.*" To encourage our fishermen, foreigners were forbidden to sell salmon or other fish.'° No arts or trade were to prejudice the merchants of the Hanse, who had, in London, their own guild hall.'' Englishmen were allowed to resort to the marts of Flanders, and to deal there freely, without any other exaction, than one pay ment of ten marcs.*' And to countervail a tax levied by the Venetians, upon wine, an equal imposition was placed on the malmsey, which foreigners brought into England.*' The permission to the chancellor to grant commissions of sewers, was enlarged for 25 years." Measures and weights of brass were sent to every chief town and borough, to become standards," and none were to sell but by these.*" Upholders were punished for stuffing feather beds with improper feathers.'" Itinerant pewterers were forbidden, to prevent thieving.*' The *» Stat, ofthe Realm, V. 2. p. 535. ^ *' Ib.533, 554. *= Ib. 506, 664. *' Ib. 518. ** Ib. ** lb- 515, 574. *" Ib. 501. " Ib. 508. *' lb. 515- *» Ib, 546. *» Ib. 587. =' Ib. 665. '¦' lb. 639, *' lb, 553. ** Ib. 526. ** lb. 551, 570. " Ib, 582, " Ib, 651. KEIGN OF HEN, VII. 112 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK rule of the river Thames, from Staines to Yenlade, was given to V. the lord mayor.'" The coin became an object of his attention ; a new coinage was circulated. The forging of foreign money, that was current in the kingdom, was made treason.*" It was deemed of great im portance to keep the precious metals forcibly in the country ; few being then aware, that bullion is a flowing commodity of trade, like any other article in demand ; and, therefore, money was ordered not to be carried out of the country for goods brought into it."" No one was to pay to foreigners, by way of exchange, any gold, coin, plate or bullion." And by a subsequent law, the exportation of these was limited to the small sum of six shillings and eight pence."' To secure the payment of the custom duties, merchants were not to carry goods from one port to another, without a certificate from the customs where the goods had been first entered."' *' Stat, ofthe Realm, v. 2. p. 139. *" Ib. 541. "° lb. 517. "' lb. 546. <" Ib. 651. "' Ib, 516. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, 113 HISTORYOP ENGLAND. BOOK VI. THE LITERARY HISTORY OF ENGLAND. CHAP. L Review of the Causes of the Decline of Literature before the Norman Conquest. 1 HE general intellectual superiority of modern literarv Europe over the ancient world, has originated from the new literature, and new sources of knowlege and improvement, which began to be cultivated after the tenth century. In England, the Norman Conquest forms that middle point where the shade begins to melt into light ; every century that suc ceeded displayed new beams of the advancing sun ; the dark ages of Europe disappeared, and all its continent became gradually and permanently en lightened. But to appreciate justly the illumination we enjoy, and to explore satisfactorily its causes, it will be useful to consider the actual state of the literature of the Roman empire, when our Gothic ancestors over whelmed it, and the failure of the efforts which they made to revive it. In this review, we shall seie that when the Roman and Grecian mind ceased to be the ruling mind of the world, its incurable defects, and the very improvements which it had imparted, had made it necessary to the further progress of mankind, that their intellect should be led into new Vol, IV, I HISTOaYOFENGLAND. 114 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK paths of thought, to new branches of knowlege, to _^ new modes of expression, new feelings, new man- LiTERARv ners, and new subjects, and therefore that the ex clusive sovereignty of the literature of Rome should expire, as well as its political empire. The dark ages of Europe will then appear to have been an awful but salutary period ; in which the Gothic mind was prepared to emerge into literary activity under the light and governance of a new and original genius, seeking new regions, appearing in new cos tumes, exploring new mines of knowlege, exercising itself in new chatinels of thought, and displaying a sensibility, a strength, a persevering industry, and an universality, which no preceding age had witnessed. England had the distinction of contri buting her full proportion to this noble result ; and it will be a pleasing subject of our inquiries, to trace the steps and to expose the causes of her intellectual progress. The middle ages, extending from the fifth century theRoraan to the fifteenth, present a gloomy period to our imaginations — an interval of desolation and io-no- ranee — so often mentioned and regretted as to have become almost proverbial In the history of our lite rature. But our ancestors, as well as the other Gothic tribes, were rather its victims than its cause : they came into the Roman world with minds emu lous for personal distinction ; they sought this by war, while warfare only would give it, and they would have courted reputation from the pen as zea lously as from the sword, if the pen would have conferred it. If the love and cultivation of letters had been as vigorous and as honorable at Rome in the fourth and fifth centuries, as they were in Greece Decline of letters in DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, 115 when the Romans mastered Corinth, we cannot rea- chap. sonably doubt that the Gothic barbarians would have _^ been captivated by the charms of literature, and decline have willingly co-operated with the conquered to have °ur"ee-* cherished and enlarged it. So Greece, uncultured, poke the imbibed and improved the literature of Egypt; so the rude conquerors from the Tiber, polished themselves from the improvements ofthe Grecian mind. But when the Ostro Goths, Heruli and Lombards in vaded Italy, and the Anglo-Saxons, England, they found the Roman literature In a wretched and decay ing state. Admirable as It once had been, the master- intellects who had adorned it, and whose genius and compositions have given to it those fascinations which still delight our taste, and defy, not our compe tition, but, perhaps our superiority, had never been very numerous, and had not been replaced. They had created all the cultivation of mind which their labors could impart. They were loved, read, remembered and praised ; but no emulation of their works, their genius or their taste, accompanied the study of their immortal remains. They were still solitary stars amid a dreary and vast firmament of life, that was employing itself in unimproving and uncongenial pursuits. Roman literature had not con tinued its own beauty and utility; it had sunk Into in efficiency, frivolity, luxury, and unintellectual habits; and to its degeneracy and decrepitude must be im puted that lamented eclipse of mind and learning, which involved our ancestors in that night of igno rance and vacuity for which they are reproached. But this apparent evil was their misfortune, not their fault. They met with no teachers to inform them ; no living examples to imitate ; no intellectual merit I 2 116 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK around them to respect or to imbibe ; and it was not VI- unnatural that they should neglect or despise what LiTERAEv no one near them either valued or pursued. The HisTORYOF j^Qj.g ^g consider all the results which ensued from ENGLAND. - ...¦ this neglect, the more abundant reasons we shall perceive to rejoice that it occurred. If it had not taken place, our present treasures and improvements could not have been attained. The period of the literary excellence ofthe Romans had been as brief as sudden. It came upon them like a flood, from their conquest of Greece; ^ but it passed as rapidly away. From Ennius to Quintilian, it lasted little more than three centuries, and then declined with greater celerity than it had improved. All that is most valuable in Roman authors, was produced before the middle ofthe second century of our sera; from that time the empire became more and more barren of intellectual harvests : literature not only degenerated in kind, but fell into a low estimation ; and tho its effects were felt in the general education, yet it was peculiarly cultivated by few. So steadily continuous was the decay, that if the Barbarians had not broken up the empire, letters, from the unceasing operation of the debilitating causes that v/ere in action, would have sunk into dotage and inanity: and the great classics whom we now admire and study, would have been the distant beauties of a long-past antiquity to them, as they are now to ourselves. ' In Cicero's Oration for Archias, and in his dialogues de Senectute and de Amicitia, which are so valuable for the traits they have preserved of some of the great men of Rome, we have his sentiments on the intro duction of literature into Rome from Greece. Cato's learning Greek in his old age, shews the eagerness with which the Romans applied to it. But even Cicero's studies and works imply how new and how rare intel lectual cultivation was to the Romans in bis days, tho they had then achieved the establishment of their military empire over the world. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 117 Some of the more intellectual of the Romans them- chap. selves perceived, lamented, and pointed out the causes ^- of the decline, in the beginning ofthe second century, decline In the Dialogue on Oratory, ascribed by some to tur"be*" Tacitus, by others to Quintilian, we find their literary ^°'«-^ ^"= deterioration acknowleged, and traced to their social conquest. degeneracy: " Who is ignorant that eloquence and Ascribed^ the other polite arts have decayed from their ancient by the glory, not from a dearth of men, but from the dissi- to their pation of our youth, the neffliarence of parents, the ™°''^' ^^' 7 ./ ' o a 1 ' ffeneracy. ignorance of teachers, and the oblivion of ancient manners ? These evils, first originating in the capital, spread thro Italy, and now overflow all our provinces."^ The causes here alluded to are visibly resolvable into the unintellectual taste of the Roman people, which continued unchanged, till the Gothic irruptions and their consequences brought a new mental and literary impulse on the European mind. In the next century, we have the corruption of the Roman genius, and the scarcity of its valuable pro duce, exposed and regretted by Longinus. He also traces the evil to moral causes; to those which, in all ages, are the great preventers of human improvement in mind as well as in virtue. In addition to the loss of liberty, he says, " Avarice, that disease of which the whole world is sick beyond a cure, aided by VOLUPTUOUSNESS, holds us fast in chains of thral- " Dial.de Orat. s. 28. — He details the progress of a Roman education in his day. The boy was first committed to a Greek maid-servant, then to some of the vilest of the slaves ; and with their tales and errors his young mind was filled. Neither the domestics, nor even his own parents, cared what they did before him, but accustomed him to voluptuousness and licentiousness. Impudence soon followed, and a contempt both of others and of himself; and a passion for players, gladiators, and horses, thus became the prevailing vice of the city and age. Ib. s. 29. The disgusting state of Roman manners, as implied by Petronius, and satirized by Juvenal and Lucian, is ap expressive commentary on such an education. I3 HISTORYOFENGLAND. lia HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK dom; or rather, overwhelms life itself, as well as all VI that live, in the depths of misery: for, love of money LITERARY is the disease which renders us most abject ; and love of pleasure, is that which renders us most corrupt."^ Here we find the true source of human deterioration. When the love of sensual enjoyment, and the pursuit of its pecuniary means, become the absorbing incli nations of society, all the vigor and powers of the mind, arid all the sensibilities of the heart, wither and disappear. The continuing observations of Longinus illustrate his complaint with all the force of his vivid and elevated style.* The historian of the following age, his own work an example ofthe literary decline, describes the Romans as forsaking all literary study, and cultivating instead, singing, music, and panto mime. The lower sorts passed their nights at dice, or in taverns, or at theatrical indecencies; and the great mass of all classes, wasted their time in criticis ing horse-races and charioteers. Their emulation lay in contending who should have the loftiest cars, or the most gorgeous apparel, deformed, from their bad taste, with large figures of animals; or In haunting the childless rich, in hope of being named the heir.* We cannot read his picture of the state of literature in the fourth century, without perceiving that the ^ Longinus, mpi i>|.ss. s. 44. I cite the English from Dr. Smith's spir rited translation, pp. 176. 178.^ — Fabricius recapitulates the many writings of his that we have lost, in his Bib. Grajca, v. 4. p. 443-448. ' ' When once such corruption infects an age, it gradually spreads and becomes universal. The faculties of the soul will then grow stupid; their spirit will be lost, and good sense and genius must lie in ruins, when the care and study of man is engaged about the mortal, the worthless part of himself, and he has ceased to cultivate virtue, and polish his nobler part, the soul.' Longin.ib. The satire of Juvenal has been called coarse; and that of Horace refined : The real difference was, that the manners of Rome in the days of Horace, were almost virtue in comparison with that animaljzing depravity which degraded the time of Juvenal. ' Ainniianus Marcellinus, 1. 14. c. 6. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 119 Gothic sword was not wanted to erase it from the CIIAP. Roman mind.® So dead to intellectual excitement ^' had this degraded people by the sixth century be- decline come, that they defrauded the public teachers of their .^.^j^j. b^- stipends for the education of vouth, while they were ^°'^^ '"'^ '^ , , . NORMAN lavish of the revenues on theatrical Tepresentations : conquest. and it was a Goth who was so struck with the ab- " surdity, as to remark and to censure it, and to restore to the national instructors their just compensations,'^ This deterioration is usually ascribed to the loss of the Roman liberties; but their departure was rather the consequence than the cause of the Romarl vices. The freedom of Rome fell with her virtue and moral habits. What the patricians were, who led her armies to those victories which established her republic, we may infer from the fact, that one of her greatest conquerors in Africa, before Scipio, tho a patrician of high rank, possessed but seven acres of land for the support of his family.^ In this state, luxury was impossible and unvalued ; and the mind was invigorated by its temperate food. But when expensive habits made riches essential, both body ^ He says, ' The few houses before celebrated for serious studies, now abound with the sports of a base sloth, resounding vocal echoes,'and the tinkling of lutes. For a philosopher, there is now a singer; and in the place of the orator, is the teacher of ludicrous arts. The libraries are shut, like sepulchres, for everj hydraulic organs "are the fashion instead, and lyres as large as chariots, and the instruments of the actors gesticu lations. The followers of the liberal arts are expelled from the city without mercy, while the mimje and three thousand dancers are retained in their room,' Amm, Marcel, 1. 14. c. 6. p. 18-24. ' See Athalaric's Letter, Cassiod. Ep. 1. 9, ep.;2l."p. 253, * This was Atilius Regulus. He ploughed his little farm himself, till he was called to head the Roman army. While fighting the Carthagi nians, his bailiff died, and he wrote to the senate, praying it to appoint him a successor, that he might return and take care of his patrimony ; which he described as consisting of seven acres, at Papinia; near the city; lest., from its lying vacant, he should be disabled from maintaining his wife and children, Va\. Max, 1. 4. c. 6. p. 389. I4 HISTORY ENGLAND, 120 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK and spirit became enervated : and then, imperial des- ^^- pptism, by closing those avenues of distinction and LITERARY exertion which connect personal vanity and ambition °^ with intellectual exercise and improvement, contri buted to increase the literary degradation ofthe em pire,* Mental eminence giving no substantial bene fits, but fixing on its possessor the jealous eye of a military despot, ceased to be an object of pursuit. The love of distinction, which clings so close to the human heart, sought its gratification in the safer but degrading competition of accumulating wealth and expensive luxury, or voluntarily debased and sup pressed its own energies in sensuality and sloth.® Even in Constantinople, which the Goths never subdued, literature lingered in a wretched state, from the fourth century to the fifteenth, aflfording some evidence of the condition to which it would have hastened in the West, if Alaric and Odoacer had never conquered the Capitol, and no Lombards had descended from the Alps. Hence when the Goths told their queen that letters had no connexion with courage, and that boys ac customed to preceptors rods, would never learn to face the sword and the spear ; '° the sentiment was less the effusion of their barbarism than of their ex- ° It is finely said by Longinus, ' Liberty produces noble sentiments in men of genius. It invigorates their hopes, excites an honorable emulation, and inspires an ambition and thirst of excelling.' s. 44. p. 173. " The history of Rome, from Marius to Domitian, proves the insepa rable connection between private virtue and political liberty. The vices of Rome made it impossible for its freedom to continue, "rhe more pro fligate a nation becomes, the m(3re tyrannical its government must be, or the society could not exist. If the Roman gentlemen have been truly drawn by the arbiter elegantiarum, Nero and Caligula were more suitable emperors for them than Titus or the Antonines. A nation of wild beasts could be governed only by a wild beast — wickedness by wickedness. '° Procopius has transmitted to us this circumstance. Goth, Hist. 1, I. p. 144. ed. Grot, DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, 121 perience. The Roman civilization having become a chap. debasing effeminacy, it is not surprising that our rude ^- forefathers confounded the principle with its per- decline version, the corrupt depravation with the original °^p."bj*" excellence." Even the eclogues of Virgil, who had ^ore the the finest taste of all the ancient men of letters, are evidence of the incurable vice that was debasing the Roman mind of all classes ; of the peasants, among whom it is personified ; and of the great men of the Capitol, to whom the descriptions and allusions are addressed, and for whose pleasure and approbation they were written. The Gothic nations, although ignorant, were not Gothic averse to the cultivation of letters. Their Great u^'^°i"?,g°' Theodoric, the Ostro-Gothic sovereign of Italy, ear- tp acquire nestly encouraged them, and tried, through his mi nister Cassiodorus, to animate the Italians to the love of study .'^ His daughter Amalasonta favored them ; " the prince, Athalaric, her son, revived the public schools of literature at Rome;*" and Theodat, the " The contempt into which the Roman name had sunk, from the dege" neracy ofthe people, is forcibly implied by the sentiment of Luithprandj in the tenth century. He says, ' We Lombards disdained them, and we put upon our enemies no other contumely, than to say, Thou Roman ! ' " The king, in many of his epistles composed by Cassiodorus, ex presses his regard for literature. He tells Eugenius, that he has chosen him to the questura, " because he was laudably following the studies of literature, that the dignity of letters might become the reward of his honorable labour." Ep, 12. p. 14. He informs the senate, that he has raised a person to the honor of magistracy who was resplendent with literary tuition, that he might wear dignity in name as he possessed it in merit. Ep. 13. p. 15- Tor the same reason, he appointed another to be the rector decuriarum. Ep. 21, p, 136. " She was a woman of superior mind. — She restored to the children of Boethius and Symmachus their fathers possessions ; and educated her son in letters, tho her countrymen opposed it. Procopius Goth. Hist. ]. 1. p. 143. She told the senate of Rome, that letters adorned human nature. 1. 10. ep. 3. p. 261, '¦• His edict for this purpose states, that it was infamous that any thing should be taken from the teachers of youth, who should rather be excited to their glorious studies. He proceeds to praise grammar, music and eloquence. 1. 9. ep. 21, p. 252, HISTORYOFENGLAND. 122 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK next Gothic sovereign, learnt Greek and Latin, and _^ was fond of Plato,'^ Even the ruder Lombards, who LITERARY succeeded them in the sovereignty of Italy, became at last susceptible of the influence of literature ; for a grammarian is mentioned about 700, whom the Lom bard king so much loved, as to give him a staff adorned with gold and silver;'® and when Charle magne attacked their kingdom, he found a teacher at Pisa, from whom he derived his first knowlege of grammar,"^ and another man of letters, to whom we are indebted for the history of the Lombard nation.'® We may add, that if the Grecian emperors had left either the Goths or Lombards, and especially the former, to possess Italy, undisturbed and undisputed, literature would soon have been raised to a dignified eminence and increasing popularity. But as it was beginning to flourish under the Gothic kings, Jus tinian, in 536, directed that invasion under Belisa- rius, on which, for seventeen years, the Goths and Greeks fought furiously for the possession of Italy, to its great misery and desolation. The Gothic em pire was overthrown, and Narses continued the sub jection of the country to the Grecian empire, till the Lombards, in 568, were tempted or invited to esta- '= Procopius Goth. Hist. 1, 1. p, 145. 154. On this part ofthe Gothic History, Tiraboschi, and his pleasing abbreviator, the abbate Lorenzo Zenoni, in their Storia della Litteratura Italiana, may be advantageously consulted. "= Paul. Diac. de Gest. Langob. 1. 6. c. 7. Muratori intimates, that the author remarks this as if a notable, and, therefore, rare thing. Ant. Ital. p, 810. The truth is, that Paulus particularizes him, because he was the uncle of his own preceptor. Some time before this rewarded grammarian, the Lombards had an historian named Secundus. Paul, Diac. I.4. 0,42. and 1. 3. c, 30, " Muratori, " This was Paulus Diaconus, whose History has survived to us. From his work we derive almost all that we know of the early transactions of this people, as the more ancient narrative of Secundus has perished. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. VT/^^ ""'''^ " bllsh themselves in it. Forty years of contin^9^j^jd4ili¥]^ warfare was waged by the Greeks against them ; and this protracted effort of the ambition of the eastern decline empire, as well as subsequent invasions from the tur"be- Franks, compelled the Lombards for a long time to i'ore the make war instead of learning their national pursuit, conquest, But these same Lombards were the persons who ac-. ' " tually began the restoration of learning in the west of Europe, and soon outdid their Grecian contemporaries. So far was the Gothic spirit from being unconge nial with intellectual improvement, or adverse to it, that in Spain, in France, in Italy, and elsewhere, as soon as their barbaric conquerors were settled in their acquisitions, and the pressure of external hosti lities against them was relaxed, they began to culti vate literature, in every region. In our own islands their readiness to improve was conspicuous. Ireland, though at that time supposed to be the wildest region of the West, yet was so teachable and so emulous of instruction, that in the seventh and eighth centuries she was an example to all Europe for the literary attainments of her natives, and even assisted, under her Columbanus, to support them in Italy.'" Tbe Anglo-Saxons as eagerly imbibed the lessons of the two monks sent from Rome to preside over their clergy, studied Greek literature under their instruc tions, and furnished a Bede and an Alcuin to be the literary benefactors of Europe ! ¦^" It was not there 's Bede, 1. 3. c. 28, and Usher, Vet. Ep. Hiber. Sylloge. Dubl. 1632. Columbanus, in 612, obtained permission from the Lombard king to found the celebrated abbey of Bobbio, after having estabUshed some in France. great taSK or insirucung xrauue uiiu xiuty, "a? v^iau^.i^.^ .-^ — .— , -¦-- Commentary on the Galatians is printed in 1 Biblioth. Magna Patr. p. 794; and whose work on St. Matthew, is in MS. in the Briiish Museum, literary historyof ENGLAND, 124 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK fore the mental inaptitude or aversion of our fore- _^ fathers to study, which kept them illiterate. But altho the Gothic nations would have eagerly studied literature, if they had found it in a flourishing or valuable state, or if they had enjoyed, like the Romans in Greece, a peaceful occupation ofthe coun tries they invaded, yet it was happy for mankind that the intellectual decline ofthe Roman world was such, as to discourage and prevent their cultivation of that learning, which had lost all its primeval vigor and social utility. The Grecian and Roman literature had become not only ineffective to human improvement, but was in many of its compositions so objectionable, in some of its objects so erroneous, and had been so perverted, as to be deteriorating and impeding the healthful progress of the human mind. I feel that I am treading on dangerous ground, when I speak of the defects and evil consequences of that classical lite rature, which we are educated to revere in our youth, and to panegyricise ever afterwards. But the cha racter of this work is meant to be a dispassionate in dependence of thought; a temperate freedom of inquiry : and though I may often fail to convince, and no doubt shall occasionally err, I hope my re marks will be read with that candor with which I will endeavor to express them. The clas- "y^^g ij^ye been indebted to the Greeks and Romans raturehad for SO large a part of our intellectual attainments, becomein- ^hat we rarely allow ourselves to consider their works competent •' to improve the world. Bib, Reg. 2. c. lO. and 4. c. 8, Another was Duncant, whose Commen tary on Martianus Capella, addressed to his pupils at Rheims, is in MS. in the same library. Bib. Reg. 15. A. 32. And see Heric's letter, in 876, to Charles the Bald, and Joannes Erigena's letter, in 3 Anglo-Sax. p. 392, 4th ed. In an ancient catalogue in the monastery at Pavia, written in the loth century, is a book in Irish, under the head of ' Books given by Dungal precipuus Scotorura,' Murat. Ant, Ital. 1. p. 821, OF LITERA TURE BE FORE THE NORMAN DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 125 in any other light than their utility ; and indeed they CHAP. have conduced so much to the mental improvement ^- of mankind, that our gratitude can hardly exagge- decline rate the benefaction. But human genius is usually more adapted to the age in which it appears, than to the times that succeed ; its effusions create improve- conquest, ments around it, which diminish its own future value. New genius, with new materials and new views, and acting in new directions, is then wanted. This ap pears, and benefits,- and becomes obsolete in its turn, from the good which it has imparted. Thus Orpheus, Homer, Pindar, Socrates, and Plato, successively arose for the advantage of mankind. In some de gree the creatures of the age they adorned, they wrote for its necessities, its taste, and its approbation. Each of them left society better for his appearance, and therefore requiring other teachers to carry on its progression.*' But when, from political or moral changes, the manners and spirit of the succeeding ages prove unfavorable to the evolution of fresh talent, the progress of mind becomes stationary, and soon, receiving no impulse to advance by the rise of further benefactors, the cultivation that has been produced begins then to retrograde and decline, from the operation of its own imperfections, and from the adverse circumstances with which it is sur rounded. The Grecian and Roman literature was an immense accession to the intellectual world — and allied taste " The general cultivation of the Grecian mind, as far as their poets could improve it, may be inferred from the intimation of Seneca, that there were slaves so familiar with the revered poetry of Greece, that one was a master of Homer ; another of Hesiod ; and nine, ofthe lyric writers ; all purchased_by one affluent Roman (Ep. 17.) and retained in his family. (Ep. 27.) Such men could hardly live in any household without difiiising much of their own taste and information around them. HISTORYOF ENGLAND. 126 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK and judgment, true history, and moral uses, for ever ^^' with it.** When I read the monstrous productions LITERARY of the Hludu lltcraturc ; the inflated exaggerations of the Persian, and the absurd dreams of the Chal dean, and other Easterns, and contemplate the con fusing obscurity and scanty mind of the Egyptian hieroglyphics, I feel that, with all their imperfec tions, we can hardly estimate on this comparison, the Greek and Roman classics too highly. But in re collecting their improvements, we must not forget our own. In acknowleging their vast merit, as we ought, with a filial gratitude, we must neither pal liate nor deny their visible deficiencies, nor be blind to the justice of their now receiving a subordinate position — always to be studied — always to be re membered — frequently to be consulted — but never to be made again the magistra vitae, or the exclusive acquisition. Both the Grecian and the Roman com positions have, in all their parts, successively benefited the world ; but both had some peculiar tendencies, which, though beneficial in their first appearance, yet afterwards became mischievous. These, unfor tunately, obtained the ascendency in education and popular favor, as the moral and political state of the empire declined. They increased the degeneracy which fostered them ; till literature itself was ruined "^ One of the completest and. most favorable instances of a mind formed almost entirely from the Classics, is that of the celebrated Mon taigne. 'His Essays are, usually, ingenious pieces of patchwork, selected and put together by a sound and large intellect; from Plutarch, Cicero, Seneca, Horace, and Lucretius, He quotes them as often as the pedant in Clarissa, and not only transplants their best thoughts avowedly into his Essays, but where their names are not explicitly referred to, his ideas may be frequently traced to their remains. His general merit shews that of his intellectual education. But he has cropped their flowers, and left their weeds untouched ; and yet, in his own deficiencies, makes us feel the vastly superior richness ofthe intellectual harvests, which both his countrymen and England have raised since he lived. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 127 by their operation, and became pernicious to human CIIAP. reason, and unworthy of its pursuit. These cor- ^ rupting agents were, the Grecian sophistry and the decline Roman rhetoric. of litera ture BE- When Socrates diverted the Athenian mind from tore the the study of astronomy and natural philosophy, to conquest. moral and political disputation, he seemed to be con- ^3^i^^i ferring a benefit upon his species ; and if his authority philosophy and example had only given to ethics and polity a fair ° ^^^'^ ' proportion of philosophical discussion, the boon which he imparted would have been great. But Socrates loved victory as well as truth ; he sought often to con fute rather than to instruct; a subtle distinction was as valuable in his eyes, as a sound judgment : he pre ferred debate to observation, logic to knowledge.*' Hence, without perhaps fully intending it, he excited in the Athenian, and thro that, in the Grecian mind, a love and practice of sophistical ingenuity, which, abandoning the patient study of nature, and the calm decisions of steady judgment, sought only to shine in argument and controversy. His acute method of con futing his adversary, was refined upon with increased effect by Plato;** and Aristotle, transcending both in " Socrates has been delineated by three contemporaries :— -Aristo phanes, Plato, and Xenophon, and by all dramatically. Each has pur sued his own taste in exhibiting the conversation of the philosopher. The satirizing comedian has drawn him a mere Sophist ; his dialectic disciple, Plato, has exhibited him arguing and refining in a way tbat approaches much nearer to sophistry than the simpler Xenophon has chosen to pourtray. I doubt if we have the real Socrates from either, unless we take his features from all. Indeed, when we consider that Cicero deduces the Academical Sect, always debating and never deciding, from Socrates — profecta 4- Socrale, repetita ab Arcesila, confirmata k Cafneade (De Nat. Deor. 1. l. p. 14.) I cannot but feel, that if Aristo phanes caricatured, yet that he saw justly the tendency of the mental Imbit which Socrates was practising. Lucian also treats Socrates with disrespect; and Maxim Tyrius, in four discourses, strives hard to justify him. '* It is impossible to reconcile the ' AiriiiA.ny.mviJ,ata. of Xenophon, which 128 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK logical acuteness, invented systems and forms of in- _^ tellectual debate, which have given weapons to the subtilizing talents of every sect. His works were long buried, but his spirit was in the world, and filled Greece with wranglers, with contending systems, and everlasting controversy. An electrical activity became the character of the Grecian mind; but it was restless ness, without produce. Agitated by eternal debate, never ending but in scepticism that mocked all moral principle, or in a keener resolution to resume the weapon and refight the battle; the Grecian lost the tact for the appreciation of either moral or physical truth, and both the ability and the wish to acquire it.** The floating knowlege of his day, that preceding ages had acquired, he imbibed as it passed, for its showy or offensive utility; but he added nothing to its amount ; and judgment was dispersed in dispu tatious pertinacity. Personal distinction by argument becoming the actuating principle of all, and the defeat of a competitor the favorite object, the mental evil was prolific of moral disorder; and falsehood, faith lessness, and profligacy, became the characteristics of a Grecian.*" consists ofthe conversations of Socrates, with the works of Plato, which are all dialogues of the same revered sage, without supposing either that Plato has remembered and imitated his master's most artful manner of disputing, or has refined upon it to exhibit his own genius. When I see in Xenophon, Socrates condescending to teach a courtezan how to prac tise her trade, I cannot but think that he loved a reputation for ingenuity full as much as moral utility. " The three hundred opinions on happiness which the Grecian schools maintained, are a sufficient elucidation of their love of useless and endless disputation. Perhaps the best account, in the fewest words, of the absurd and contradictory opinions of the Greek philosophers, even the greatest, ou the awful subject of the Deity ; and of their gross self-incon sistencies, even of Aristotle ; is in the sketch drawn by Velleius, in Cicero's de Nut, Deorum. These opinions he truly calls, Non philosophorum judicia sed delirantium somnia, 1. 1, p. 32. Glasg. ed. "^ Lucian felt the diversity of the Grecian philosophic sects, and their NORMAN DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 129 When Rome aspired to prevail in the empire of CHAP. letters, she certainly introduced into them a masculine ^' decision and steadiness of thought, and a solidity of decline judgment, which promised to correct the volatility ?ure^be- and perversions ofthe Grecian mind. In Cicero and tore the Seneca, in Tacitus and Quintilian, a good sense, a moral wisdom, a sound thoughtfulness appear, which are rarely tp be found so continuous, and so little mixed with verbosity and absurdity, in any Grecian writers. But unfortunately, from the nature of the civil institutions of Rome, oratory became the fashion able object of all Roman education. It was indeed, at first, oratory formed on the largest acquisition of knowlege, that books, instructors, or personal labor, could supply;*^ it was oratory actuated by the noblest impulses that a free state could create, or a cultivated mind obey.*^ But when her republic fell, and her morals vanished, the orator dwindled to the mere rhetorician ; the verbal diction became the subject of general pursuit, not the full-fed mind ; the trick and the deceit, not conviction and honorable persuasion. The effects were most pernicious. Rhetoric, like so phistry, separated from real principle, is a selfish com batant, who aims at personal display, and prefers victory to justice; it deludes both its author and his disputes and contradictory lives, to be so absurd, that he is perpetually satirizing them, Maximus Tyrius, who lived about the time of the Anto nines, says emphatically — ' If you place philosophy in words and names and artifices of phrase; in argument, contention, and sophisms; it is not difficult to find a master. All things with us are full of sophists. This is a flourishing profession, and manifest to every one.' Dissert. 37. ed. Heins. p. 218. '¦" Cicero, in his Treatise de Oratore, is emphatic on this point. Quin tilian urges the acquisition of logic, ethics, and natural philosophy, law and history, music and geometry. 1. 12. and 1. 1. =* Quintilian begins his twelfth book with proving, that virtue is indis pensable to the orator. He calls it the quality by which we approach nearest to the nature of Deity itself, 1. 12. c. 2. Vol. IV. K HISTORYOFENGLAND. 1.10 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK audience; it enervates thejudgment which uses it, and _^ spoils the mind accustomed to hear it. Aiming to over- LiTERARY power the reason, by exciting the sympathy, it aban dons knowlege for phrase, sense for sound, and truth for gesture, declamation, and delusion. In Rome, it delighted in the most lacerating invective."'"' But when the Grecian sophistry, and its unprincipled spirit, became combined with the Roman modes and style of oratory, the perversion of the human mind reached its height. Controversy became the delight of the studious; Pyrrhonism corrupted the philosopher; and cavil and declamation characterized their literature.^" '^ Luther, Salraasiug, Milton, Scheoppius, and the literati of the six teenth century, have been strongly and justly censured for the virulence and asperity they expressed towards their opponents. But their teachers were the classical orators. This defamatory eloquence may claim an ancestry as high and as respectable as Cicero himself, the most polite of the Roman orators and writers ! His philippics against Verres, and Antony, and Catihne, almost exhaust the stores of vituperative abuse. But it was so common a weapon of Roman oratory, that even in his ora tion against Piso, we have these phrases addressed to him — ' Thou beast ! thou fury! thou hangman! thou lump of mud ! thy foetid mouth ! thou stupid madman! thou gibbet thief! this cattle! this putrid flesh! that rotten corpse ! iniquity in the very folds of his forehead ! thou foulest and most inhuman monster ! that abject and but half alive man ! I will argue with him as with a thief, a sacrilegious robber and a cut-throat. Thou epicurean from the stye, not from the school ! This vulture of his pro vince ! the goi'ging glutton, born for his belly. Ye twin whirlpools and rocks of the republic ! You bear the everlasting marks of the most filthy turpitude — thou wickedness itself! thou pestilence! thou contamination! thou niannikin of clay and mud ! thou darkness ! thou dirt ! thou pollu tion ! ' &c. These are only the personal apostrophes and epithets. The detailed and elaborate abuse, all spoken to the person's face, occupies forty-one copious sections of oratorial declamation, contrasted only with the most lavish egotism on himself. And such was Roman taste, that a public audience could hear all this, as well as a public speaker express it, and that speaker the polished Cicero, the writer of his gentlemanly ' Offices,' or moral duties. Can we wonder that such orations of such men have seduced others to an imitation ; or that they should injure the moral taste of our public addresses, whether from the bar, the pulpit or the hustings, or in the senate. Human genius has yet to give a specimen of impressive oratory, disdaining to vituperate. * Indeed how could it be otherwise, in an age when the followers of Epicurus were inculcating atheism and materialism, and discouraging the fetudy of the sciences? — when those of Aristippus were urging sensual pleasures to be the summum bonum — when those of Pyri'ho doubled the DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 131 So inveterate was the intellectual mischief, that even CHAP, the genius of Christianity, which condemned it, sank ^- into its trammels; and a dogmatical, passionate, rhe- decline torlcal, and polemical theology appeared in Greece, xuk"be-' which ruined its iudgment and feeling, repeatedly ^o^-^ the 1- -11 11 111 T1 • NORMAN stained its streets with human blood, and has in- conquest. fected religious discussions ever since. We cannot ' " ' read the works of the Greek fathers, and of their con temporary Pagan philosophers, and many Latin con troversialists, without perceiving that we are not con versing with men of sound judgment, expansive knowlege, moral feeling, or elevated intellect — but, for the most part, with the rhetor and the sophist ; with verbose and declamatory egotists ; with men fertile to envy, in the concatenation of words, and in the tactics of phrase ; with intellectual gladiators and theatrical exhibitors, to whom debate was the most existence of every thing — and the Academics disputed equally on both sides of every question, this day arguing in favor of justice, and the next day against it, as Carneades did even before Cato — when the Peripatetics used in their syllogistic organum, the means of eternal debate — when the Stoics contended against all — and the Eclectics increased the Babel con fusion of philosophy, by struggling to unite all — And especially, when we find from Quintilian, that these disputants seemed bound to their dif ferent sects by a sort of religious obligation, and thought themselves guilty of something criminal if they deserted the persuasion which they had once embraced.' Inst. 1. 12. c. 2. " Oil the religious and civil factions of Constantinople, and the Gre cian hierarchy, see Gibbon's History, in many places. Under the reign of Anastasius, the Grecians, who had treacherously concealed stones and daggers under baskets of fruit, massacred at a solemn festival, 3000 of their Blue adversaries. The Blues retaliated bitterly. In the Nika sedition, in the reign of Justinian, in which both factions engaged, the Blues signalized the fury of their repentance ; and it is computed that above 30,000 persons were slain in the merciless and promiscuous carnage of the day. Gibbon Hist, u. 40. v 4. pp. 61. 69. Mr, Gibbon loves to describe the controversies and conflicts of the Grecian clergy. His satirical portrait is, in one respect, an accession to the cause of human welfare ; for tho it is but what all parties and ages have practised, yet literary censure, and the feeling that corresponds with it, may in time make such conduct too odious to be reacted. HISTORYOFENGLAND. Effects of 132 -HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK felicitating employment, and popular applause a ne- ^^' cessary sustenance.'* LITERARY Thc rhetorlcal spirit gave a character of declama tion to all the literature of Greece and Rome, after the second century, and shaped and governed their t^h'eVeeVii's. studious education.'^ On this principle their minds were taught to think and write; and it is amusing to seeCassiodorus,oneof the last of the literary Romans, the chief minister of Theodoric, striving to pen his sovereign's official orders with the elaborate amplifi cations of the orator.'* " The logical and metaphysical works of Ammonius, Plotinus, Proclus, Jarablichus, Porphyry, and others of the philosophers, have given me the impression mentioned in the text. The controversial works of the Greek fathers display the same mind and manner on different subjects with additional acrimony. In Mr. Boyd's Selections from some of the most celebrated orations of the Greek fathers, we see their rhetoric in profusion. The feeling of egotism, never concealed, pervades all their •discourses. It must have been the national characteristic, or it would not have been so much expressed, and could not have been so patientljr endured. In St. Gregory's funeral oration on his brother, we have a spe cimen how anxious the preacher was, even on this melancholy occasion, to protrude himself to the notice of the audience. See Mr. Boyd's translation, pp, 122, 123, 127, 136; 139-143. ^ Rhetorical sophistry has been so engrafted in the Grecian literature and genius, that in 1826 it was reviving with the reviving literature of modern Greece. Constantinus Oikonomos, the present professor of phi lology at Smyrna, has found it necessary, in the preliminary discourses to his T6jj»iij P«Topix5f, lately printed at \'ieniia, to caution his pupils against it : ' Exercise your intellectual faculties with all the dignity that becomes a man, but avoid those disputations and wranglings in which tlie sophists of our day so greatly delight. The present state of literature in Greece is not so absolutely wretched, as that our youths should abandon themselves entirely to the study of the problems aud sophisms of dialectics." Panor. N° 99. p. 1062. '* The object of the order was, that Symmachus should cause a son, who had attempted parricide, to lie brought before him for judgment. — It is introduced with two pages of rhetorical common-place on filial ingratitude, with such imagerical arguments as these : ' The whelps of .wild beasts follow their parents ; the shoots of trees do not quarrel with their stem ; the branch of the vine obeys its own stock ; and shall man differ with his own source ? — The care of tbe ancestor does not shun the ieas themselves, excited by cruel tempests, that he may gain by foreign merchandise wbat he may leave his children. The birds themselves^ seeking food, stain not their nature with ingratitude — The stork, the DURING THE RHDDLE AGES. 133 This characterising defect in the Roman literature, chap. seems to have arisen from the extreme desire of per- ^- sonal distinction and notoriety which was the passion decline and the imperfection of the classical world. It led the °u^"be- Roman generals to their laborious wars, and made tore the a greediness for social admiration, which we may truly call vain-glory, the restless principle of all ; and ainong these of their orators and literary students. Cicero was at times intoxicated by it, and inferior men to the full extent of their moderate capacity sought the delusive gratification. Hence, the ap plause of others, and superior distinction and per sonal pre-eminence, and not the love of truth nor any desire of enlarging the possessed knowlege, or of benefiting mankind, were the actuating principles of the chief Latin authors, before the Goths over- flooded Europe with their new and dissimilar po pulation.'' herald of the returning year, throwing off the sadness of winter, intro ducing the hilarity of the vernal season, delivers to us a great example of piety ; for when their parents droop the wings from old age, nor can be found fit to seek their own food, they, cherishing the cold limbs of their parents with their wings, refresh their wearied frames with nourishment, and till the aged bird can be restored to its primeval vigor, their young progeny, witiv pious vicissitude, return what, when little, they received from their parents.' He then goes on to the partridges, and after another long simile from them, at last gives the royal order. Cass. Vp. 1. I. ep. 14. p. 44. — Another specimen of the rhetorical statesman follows in the fiirtieth letter. The king writes to Boetius, that the king of the Franks wished a harper. His minister takes occasion, from this circura^ stance, to pour out six pages of rhetoric on the use and history of music ; and this to Boetius, who had written on the subject. Almost all the state letters are in this style, tho not so profusely. *" Cicero's oration against Piso avows strongly these feelings, ' No one can desire to have an army, or asks for it, but from the desire of a public triumph. It is even the mark of a narrow and mean-spirited mind ,to despise the honor and dignity of a just triumph. It is the part of a trifling mind that avoids light and splendor, to repudiate due glory, which is the most honorable fruit of true virtue.' He makes it a great crime in Piso fer declining to have a triumph : and represents popular acclama tions and public parade as true glory and the best reward of virtue. But we may see in Plutarch's Treatise on Moral Virtue, and in others of his K 3 HISTORYOFENGLAND 134 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK The Roman education being thus essentially rhe- Vt- torlcal, precluded a taste for science, true judgment, LITERARY Or slmpUcIty. The tropes and figures of rhetoric became an elaborate study. We have treatises on these, with names, distinctions and niceties, which a Kant might envy.'" These verbal discriminations, so useless, because they have never made an orator, but so mischievous, because whenever seriously studied, they tempt students to be as absurd as their teachers, were begun by the Greeks, the great mas ters of wordy ingenuity. "^ The Romans emulously cultivated the specious but ineffectual art; and verbal rhetoric became a subject of favorite composition'* — not the Intellectual eloquence of Cicero and Demos thenes, but the minute rhetoric ofthe narrow-minded critics of words, epithets, particles, cases and sen- miscellaneous works, how little its true principles wei-e understood even after the establishment of the Imperial government : and how very insuf ficient the ethical disputes and writings of the antients were, to form a consistent, intelligent, and useful moral character, ' '° Being good Greek, it would be profane to call them barbarous ; otherwise the names given by Rutilius Lupus, to his figures of Elocution, might have tempted the application of this epithet — Prosapodosis, Sy- nathroesmus, Paradiastole, Anaclasis, Epiphora, Coenotes, Polyptoton, Epanalepsis, Epiploce, Polysyndeton, Ananceeon, Brachyepia, Syscevasis, &c. &c. ^' The Greeks were not satisfied until they traced out these oratorical beauties in Homer ; and the largest part of Dion. Halicarnasseus' Life of him is devoted to this fanciful subject. The treatise of Lupus, De Figuris Sententiarum, was drawn up from the Greek of his contemporary Gor- gias, as that of Aquila was from the Greek Numenins. The works of many ofthe Grecian rhetors still exist, and have been published by Aldus, '' Besides the rhetor Lupus, we have Aquila Romanus de Figuris, and Julius Rufinianus on the same topic : — and the longer treatise of Curius Fortunatianus, entitled, Artis Rhetorics Scholicse. The Expositio on Cicero's Rhetoricon, by Marius Victorinus, a rhetor of Rome, is also a copious work. The Institutiones Oratoriae of Sulpitius Victor, are the instructions he composed for his son-in-law. Emporius the rhetor entitles his work de Ethopoeia ac loco Communi. We have also the Principia Rhetorices of Aurelius Augustinus — and the Syntomata Rhe- toricEe of Julius Severianus. To these we may add, Rufinus's hexameter verses de Compositione et Metris Oratorum, and Priscian's de Praexer- citamentis Rhetoricas, taken from Hermogenes, and Martianus Capella de Rhetorica Liber. K 3 DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, 105 tences.'^ Though treatises swarmed on this un- chap, worthy subject, yet such a favorite was the study, ^- that it was never thought exhausted ; and it is per- decline haps one proof of Its general cultivation, that so "ur"be-' many works upon it have survived, while nobler fore the authors have perished, Boetius condescended to conquest, add the eftbrts of his mind, fit for better things, to " '' ' this popular subject ; and, rather stimulated than discouraged by the numbers that had preceded, Cassiodorus also furnished the sixth century with his Rhetorlcae Compendium,*" The continuation of such compositions shews how inveterately the love of rhetoric was rooted in the Roman mind. From this direction of the Roman literature and The tuition, rhetoric became a principal object of appli- Gothic cation among- those Gothic nations who made the imbibe the rhetorical spirit. ¦"& Roman literature their study and their model. W6 find Isidore writing on this subject in Spain.*' Even ^ To give an instance. Aquila says, p, 28, The following sentence contains three figures : the isocolon, the homoeoptoton, and the diezeug- menon. ' The Athenians fortified with colonies that part of Asia which is called Ionia : the Dorians occupied that region of Italy which is named Magna Gr«cia.' The disjunction of two connected sentences, is the orna ment they call diezeugmenon. The similarity of cases which appears in the Latin of the above, is the homoeoptoton; and the combination ofthe two sentences, the two equal colons, they call the isocolon. — Yet of such trifling, Aquila says, ' These things are the peculiar office ofthe orator. By this science he raises the little; he expands the contracted; he rapidly gives ornament, force and weight, to his words and sentences. Notbingcan equal this in affecting the rainds ofthe hearers andjudges.' p. 15. ¦"¦ See his VVork, vol. 2. p. 454. Yet for a peculiar beauty too much neglected by some of our best writers, I would strongly recommend the study ofthe Georgics and .Eneid of Virgil, and all the Works of Cicero; I mean that sweet and melodious selection and combination of words, and rhythmical structure of sentence, which combine clearness and exact ness of meaning with fewness and simplicity of terms to express it, and yet, which display an energy of spirit, a pictorial beauty, a terse elegance, an easy strength, and a musical harmony of effect ; in which no man has exceeded Virgil in poetry, or Cicero, with all his rhetorical amplifications, in his polished prose, ¦" In his De Arte Rhetorica Liber, with the feeling of a Christian writer, he also makes the recommendation of Quintilian an essenttial part of his definition : ' Orator est vir bonus dicendi peritus.' K 4 136 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK our simple-minded Bede employed himself in search- ^^- ing the Sacred Writings for these verbal ornaments, LITERARY from hls anxiety to shew that they were not deficient II^olI^d! in this popular requisite f and Alcuin thought it ' — « — ' necessary to instruct his imperial friend and patron in this popular art, and has left a dialogue upon it between himself and Charlemagne,*' Rhetoric thus adopted into the education of the barbaric mind, soon materially characterized their literature. In Spain, in the seventh century, we have the work of St. Ildephonso on the Immaculate Vir ginity, which displays the oratorical style, tinged with polemical arrogance in its full exertion — in all its pompous inanity, and mischievous verbosity, vio lent, passionate, dictatorial and unmeaning.** Eulo- gius, in his Memorialis Sanctorum, appears to have " See his book De Tropis Sacrse Scripturse, He says. The Grecians boasted that they were the repertores of such figures and tropes ; but that the world might know that the Bible ipsa preeminet positione dicendi, he wrote his book. His instance, from some Latin writer, ofthe Paroimion, is one ofthe completest and most fantastic specimens of alliteration that I have seen : ' O Tite tute Tate tibi tanta tyranne tulisti.' This equals Aldhelm's prose (Ang. Sax. vol. 3. p. 377. 410. ed.) and out does even the Welsh bards, who delighted in this caricaturing ornament, "" In this he tells the Emperor, that rhetoric drew mankind, from wandering like wild beasts in the woods, to houses, society, and religion. He pays him a compliment in the true style of his art : ' The spark of my small genius can add nothing to the flame-breathing light of thy wisdom.' ** ' What say you, O Jew ! what do you propose ? what do you medi tate.? what do you oppose? what do you object? Behold our Virgin — She is thine by stem — thine by race, thine by root, thine by country, thine by people, thine by iiation, thine by origin. But from our faith she is ours — ours from belief, ours from assent, ours from reverence, ours from honor, ours from praise, ours from glorification, ours from choice, ours from love, ours from preaching,' &c. p. 95. This is harmless nothingness. Other parts of his empty declamation are mischievous : ' Hear me, thou Eluidius 1 attend to me, thou impudent one; hear me, thou immodest one ; look at me, dishonest man. Behold me, thou shameless ! What, are you dis turbing with your indecency ? What, unblushing, are you urging ? What, deceiver, are you attempting ? What art thou attacking without reve rence ? What, without bashfulness, art thou afflicting ? ' Bib, Mag. Pat.. t. 9. p. 94. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 137 been formed from the same school. And even a letter CHAP. written from that country attempts the absurdity of '^' rhetorical diction, and proves how carefully the Ro- decline man rhetoricians were studied.*' Among our Anglo- ture be-' Saxons, Aldhelm, so admired as to be praised by fore the Malmsbury above four centuries after his death, has conquest. left us an elaborate work written in this spirit, " ' which is remarkable only for being one tissue of ex* travagant metaphor, of inflated, exaggerated and un profitable declamation.*" The same style, notwith standing our Alfred's correcting example, repeatedly emerged in Edgar's legal charters, probably penned by St. Dunstan. It abounds in the works of the Anglo-Norman monks, who had formed themselves on Roman literature, even in the twelfth century^ when better things had begun to appear.*'^ In other nations, the same taste, the same absurdity, appears.** ¦" It is from Alvar to Eulogius : — In this he says, ' The fiery-haired traveller of the centre, dwells, as soon as he rises, in the eyes of Heaven.' — The whole letter is not only rhetorical, but aims to be so — for it talks ofthe redundant oratory ofthe Tullian fountain, ofthe fervent genius of Demosthenes, the rich eloquence of Cicero, and the florid Quintilian; and commends his friend for adding to the divine food the florem rhetoricum. Bib. Mag. Pat. t. 9. p. 338. *' This work is entitled S' Aldhelmi Liber de laudibus Virginitatis. Every page of it is in the rhetorical style, and is meant to be so as its merit and character, ' de intactEe virginitatis gloria rhetoricamur.' p. 367. He says, ' Having placed the rhetorical foundations, and built up the walls of prose, I will lay on a most firm roof with trochaic tiles and dac tylic bricks of metres.' p. ,368. Every sentence contains a trope and a metaphor. It is made up of sixty chapters of rhetorical figures, the whole meaning of which may be expressed in three words, ' Virginity is praise- Worthy.' ¦" Thus in the writers of Becket's Life we have as the praise of a prelate — that he was the morning star of the heavenly firmament, a most glowing carbuncle, the refulgent bow among the clouds, the lily in the flowing waters, the rose in spring, frankincense flaming in the fire, a solid vessel of gold, a lily of purity, a rose of modesty, the viol of celestial con versation, the music of jocund society, the pillar of justice, the infrangi- tle adamant of constancy. Quadril. 1. 1. c. 21. in the old edition; c. l6. in the later. *' This rhetorical declamation became the character of all the eccler siastical writings (not -scholastic) of the middle ages; not indeed witli HISTORYOFENGLAND. 13a HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK It suited indeed many of the subjects on wbich it was ;_ lavished — the exaggerated lives of saints politically literary canonized by papal mandate — and the fallacious re commendations of useless relics. The rhetorical style still marks the ecclesiastical literature of Spain, Por tugal, and Italy, which is chiefly formed upon the Latin classics and fathers. It is always rhetorical, and it is little else. Its inju- - The instances alluded to, are adduced as striking fects on specimens of the ill effects that have arisen from the the human exclusivc study of the Roman literature, and from mind, _ / _ _ giving education an oratorical direction. But the evil did not rest on particular examples of extrava gance. The world might have smiled at such things, and forgotten them : the Greeks might have made half a dozen distinctions of irony, and given their dis covery importance by hard names,** and have amused themselves with a hundred follies of that sort, if no other consequence had followed. But they ino culated the whole literary world with the delusion, as a merit ; and fixed on the human mind a rheto rical fashion and tendency, which insured its depra vation, and precluded its improvement. Men were laboriously educated to think in these trammels, or rather, to lose all thought and reasoning in recollect ing and pursuing these unmeaning niceties of phrase. equal spirit or ingenuity; there is the dull rhetoric as well as the ani mated. But the rhetorical tone of mind, not reasoning, not comparing, hot inquiring, not judging, but merely putting together phrases and com- hion-places ; amplifying and declaiming ; laboring at style without know lege, combining words without distinct ideas, repeating the quindecies tepetita, and aiming to be oratorical ; must strike all who will take the trouble to read the Latin works that preceded the fourteenth century, and many since. '" Rufinianus gravely details these from Numenius : the chleuasmus, or epicertomesis ; the charientlsmus, or scomma; the asteismus; the tliasyrmus; the exutheiiismus ; and the sarcasmus. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 139 Nor was any discrimination made as to the merit of CHAP. such things : the notable paroimion above quoted ^' from Bede, and all the schemata, tropes and figures, ntcLiNE which the Greeks vaunted to be their discoveries, tu„e ^e- were carefully noted, repeated and recommended foi^ethe . , , •' ' ^ . NORMAN With the same general sentences ot introductory pa- conquest. negyric, as if all, were equally beautiful — all, the ' ^ ' intentional produce of genius — all, the sanctioned ornaments of good taste. The consequence could be no other than it was. The literary strove to excel in rhetoric, not in knowlege ; the rhetors multiplied like dancing masters ; science declined ; good taste departed. Literature was no longer esteemed for itself; it was cultivated but as vanity or interest re quired ; grosser amusements pleased better ; and knowlege wa.s fast expiring in the Roman world when the Goths invaded. When the love of letters began to rise in the dark ages, this rhetorical literature spread with it ; it was no longer confined to judicial causes ; it was deemed a necessary accomplishment to all. Oratory supplies us with the grace of words, says Theodoric.™ It is the science of speaking well, exclaims Alcuin ; who makes his emperor reply, " Then explain to us the rules of the rhetorical discipline, for necessity com pels us to be exercised in them every day : " — and, having heard his preceptor's lessons, he is taught to add, " Who shall dare to say that we have discoursed in vain, if he be an inquirer into the liberal arts or a follower of the excellent virtues ! " " So that rhetoric was at last supposed to be the key of knowlege, and the handmaid of morality. Instead of keeping it in » Cassiod. Ep. p. 83\ *' Alcuin de Rh. Lib. 39O & 409. apud Ant. Rhet. Capperonerii, HISTORYOF E-NGLAND. J40 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK a subjected state to promote better purposes, instead ^^' of making thought, truth, knowlege, wisdom, feeling LITERARY and taste, the essentials of the mind and its composi tions, and the oratorical ornament but the connected and skilfully adapted grace, the student was trained to think rhetorically, and write rhetorically, and to speak, and, where he could, to harangue rhetorically^ whatever might be the fact, the subject, or the utility. Personal display and the gaining of an immediate object, or the indulgence of a prominent feeling at any expense of justice or truth, were usually the re sults and aims of such a state of mind. It cannot discover, and rarely values truth, and too often per plexes and destroys it. Hence the defects of a rhetorical education iare bbvious. The mind so instructed and contorted may give new turns to its common-places, may disturb language into new phrases, and declaim with well- sounding volubility on the familiar topics of the kcademy ; but if it act in this direction for ages, it will not add one fact of useful knowlege, nor evolve one natural feeling, nor attain any new improvements Rhetoric is essentially conversant^ with words, not with things, and seduces the whole soul into the same ¦path. Like the syllogism of Aristotle, it may enforce what is known ; it will discover nothing that is un known. It will be still but the new rhetor following the old rhetor in the same trodden circle, disturbing iifresh the same dust, and moving round in the same trammels, but never emancipating itself from its bond age, never discovering a new path of intellect, nor able to achieve one original flight. Our Aldhelm is a complete specimen how much rhetorical ampli fications can spoil a valuable mind. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 14t The' spirit of rhetorical criticism has now happily chap. ceased. We do not now inquire what tropes and ^• figures a poem contains ; we do not now hunt, like decTTJ! the Grecian rhetors, for such things as the metalepsis or the antonomasia ; for the diasyrmus, the charlen- tismus or the litotes. Though some authors have tried to make rhetoric easy'* among us; and metri cal distributions of figures have been published, con taining " a noble fund of tropo-schematological knowledge,"^ for the torment of unfortunate schools boys ; yet this spirit and these discriminations have never obtained a standard place in English literary criticism, and have never been aimed at by English authors. Declamation, even in public oratory, now excites mistrust and prevents conviction ; it sounds" to us immediately like the voice of imposition, and we prefer a Caesar's clear and unassuming simplicity of uncoloured fact, to all the gorgeous drapery and rancorous effusions of an accusing Cicero, and, may I add, of an impeaching Burke. The Grecian literature had become as unprofitablcr Grecian Its philosophers had argued themselves into almost enuSfr* as many theories as there were disputants. Their declines, theologians were prolific of heresies, contentions, and superstitions. Their emperors were polemical par- " Mr. John Holmes took this trouble, in 1754, in his Art of Rhetoric. made easy ; wherein he tells us, that he had ' sold 6000 of his Latin Grammars; near 4000 of his Greek Grammars with this Treatise; and the rest in due proportion.' Pref. " So says Holmes of Mr. D. Burton's Figurae Metricse, composed for Durham school, containing 142 Latin hexameters, each with such Gor gon names to poorschool-boysas these— Verba Epanorthosis revocans- addensque reformat ; Aposiopf.sis reticet, remque inuuit omnera ; Rem negat Apophasis, quain transgreditur Paraleipsis, The rhetorical: enthusiast liberally promised to each of his scholars ' sixpence, whoever: he is, that will learn 'ein [these 142 lines] by heart, and repeat 'em to him' with understanding.' p. 32. Our school-boys of former days must have been made indefatigable blocklieads. 142 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK tisans; sectarian chieftains; not the impartial sove- ^^- reigns of an enlightened nation. The discussions LITERARY being always upon words, or the selfish conflicts of ENGLAND.^ factlous vlolcuce and acrimonious bigotry, never ' — -^ — ' benefited the intellect. But the Greeks seem to have deceived themselves, by the perfections into which they had wrought their sweet and copious tongue. They mistook novelty of phrase for novelty of idea ; they believed that they had started an acute refine ment of thought, when they had only made a new distinction and arrangement of a beautiful diction. If we were not captivated by the charms of the lan guage, and of their ancient fame, rather than by the utility of the matter, the reveries of Jacob Behmen would appear as important and as intelligible as many of the metaphysical reasonings of Plotinus, Ammonius, and Proclus. What mind, enlightened by modern science, can value them for any real discri mination of thought, or for the discovery or exposi tion of any additional knowlege ! The Grecian fathers emulated the sophistry and rhetoric of their philosophical opponents, and a wordy luxuriance of useless subtleties and theatrical decla mation was their ambition and their disgrace.'* They became admirable combatants ; they fought with all the ardor and tactics of fierce and disciplined war- *' Rhetoric should not be taught as an art, or the mind will be injured by the tuition. The treatises upon it, frdm Aristotle to Cassiodorus, should be forgotten. Knowlege is the first requisite; a frequent perusal of those who have been truly and honorably eloquent, the second ; the formation of a correct judgment is the third; to these should be added varied and appropriate feeling, a mellifluous and yet powerful diction — ¦ a flexible and impressive elocution. The habit of public speaking, to make all these attainments available on the immediate spur of every occasion, will then give a facility and force which no precepts can impart. Pericles and Demosthenes astonished Greece before the rhetors rose. No great man has ever been formed by these rules. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 143 riors. But their triumphs were the destruction of chap. their religion ; and it became necessary to discipline ^- Christianity, by the introduction of Mahomedanism, decline in order to preserve It. turIJbe-' Pursuing these considerations to their conse- ^o«-^ the quences, we cannot wonder that the Grecian litera- conquest. ture had declined into insignificance in the ninth ' '" ' and tenth centuries.'' It is certainly a remarkable fact, that both the Grecian and the Roman literature were unable to sustain themselves. They not only became incompetent to improve the world — they could not even continue their own existence. They neither corrected their evil tendencies, nor those of society, nor preserved their real merit. They became neglected and discredited in their own countries, where they had once so vigorously flourished ; and when the barbarous nations attempted to transplant them into the Gothic soil, they produced but a feeble vegetation, which soon hastened into decay.'" ^ In the ninth century, Bardas began to open schools of good letters in Constantinople. Curopalates says of him, that he had ' a knowlege of foreign wisdom, which had long declined, and had almost wholly perished. There was then so great a penury of learned men in Greece, that it was necessary to search them out with great diligence, living concealed here and there in corners, and in want. There was no vestige of schools in Athens at that time.' Baronius Annal. l. p. l8o. Yet no barbarians had then occupied the Byzantine capital, " Great lamentation has been made at the loss of so many of the Greek poets, and great indignation excited by the account which P. Alcyonio, in his Lib. de Exilio, has transmitted to us, that tlie eastern emperors, under the influence of the Grecian clergy, caused many of their ancient Greek poems to be burnt. Among those he particularizes those of Menander, Diphilus, ApoUodorus, Philemon, Alexis, Sappho, Grinna, Anacreon, Minnermus, Bion, Alcman, and Alcaeus. But the same author expresses the reason to have been ou account of their inde cencies. We need not therefore refer their perishing to any imperial destruction ; because in every country, as its moral taste and judgment improves, all vpriters of this sort sink naturally into that disuse and oblivion, which our indecent poets and novelists of Charles TI. have experienced, and which the similar ones of onr own time must submit to. The preservation of such works, especially in a dead language, could HISTORYOF ENGLAND 144 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK It is manifest that by the time the Gothic tribes: ;_ overthrew the Roman empire, that sensitive rectitude LITERARY of Intellcct or refinement of judgment, which we call good taste, had abandoned the Roman mind. This invaluable attainment of the cultivated spirit seems to depend neither on rank nor on government ; for the low born Horace and Virgil, under the military despotism of Augustus, possessed it in a degree superior to any of the ancients — not, perhaps, even excepting Cicero and Livy. Its deficiency in every subsequent generation appeared not only in literary composition, but also in the fine arts. The glaring superseded the tasteful ; colour took the lead of beauty; the monstrous had displaced the natural, and the perfect art of ancient painting seemed to have expired ; " showy purple wandered about the walls, and the drugs of India lavishly stained them, but no noble picture'* delighted the eye of feeling and the cultivated reason. Moral, not political causes, must have produced this deterioration ; and the ancients seem to hint at this idea ; for Pliny re minds us, that the great Protogenes was contented have produced no good to mankind. Hence, tho Aristophanes was so celebrated for his attic style, yet as its peculiar graces can be but faintly perceived by modern students, his works, if familiarly used, would do far more injury by their frequent licentiousness than they would benefit by their diction. The world is always outgrowing such sort of composi tions, and from its own improvement, as well as for its own happiness, neglects them. It is probable that the most useful and least exception able of the ancient classics have survived to us. These benefit mankind as far as their utility extends ; but it is obvious that if the mind of the world was to be now confined to them, it would fall from its present varied affluence to a state of great comparative poverty. " See Vitruvius, 1. 7. c. 5. This bad taste was beginning in the days ofTuUy, for he remarks how much ' floridiora' the new pictures were than the old ones ; how much less durably they pleased, and how horrid such an effect would have been deemed in those of the ancient masters. De Nat. 1, 3 c, 25, =' Pliny Nat. Hist, 1, 35, c, 7. ' Nunc et purpuris in parietes migran- tibus,' — ' Nulla nobilis pictura est.' Ib. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 14.5 with a cottage in his garden, and that a pictorial chap, artist was then the common property of the world,'* ^' While Petronius desires us not to be surprised that decline painting had declined, because in his days a heap of tur"be- gold was thought to be far more beautiful than any ^°^^ the thing which Apelles, Phidias, or any such insignifi- conquest cant madmen;^ had created. Neither art nor lite- ' " ' rature lost any thing by the Roman mind being changed for the Gothic ; the same interval pf time was necessary for the transplanted seed and engrafted buds to grow up to their full beauty in the latter. Let us now contemplate the revival of classical literature in England, and its intellectual result. This will enable us more completely to ascertain its value ; and to mark the utility of the new direction and occupations in which the English and European mind was after the Norman conquest eagerly engaged. ¦; ^ Nat. Hist. 1. 35. c, 10. " Petr. Satyr, c. 87. How much the love, the pursuit, and the pos session of wealth corrupted the human mind, its history alter the conquest of Asia fully shews. How different were their forefathers, and how poor! Even Petronius felt the ill effects of the fashionable luxury of Rome on the mind to be so great, as to say, that ' he who loves the result^ of superior art, and would apply his mind to great things, must, like the ancients, study under the habits of a strict frugality, and avoid palaces, suppers, wine, and public theatres ; with philosophy he should associate^ and exercise himself with the arms of the mighty Demosthenes ; then the grand elocution ofthe unconquered Cicero will be his own ; his mind will be full of the stream of genius, and he will pour out his own con ceptions from a Pierian breast'.' 1. 1 . Vol. IV. 146 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, CHAP, II. Latin Literature ofthe Anglo- Saxons. Its decline. History of the Revival of the Latin Literature in England, after the 'Norman Conquest. 1 HE first literature that arose in England, after the Saxon invasion, was the Roman ; introduced by the monks, whom Gregory the Great had sent from Italy. A little Greek was added by one of them,' but it did not lead to the permanent cultivation of Greek lite rature. The books that were placed and studied in the Anglo-Saxon libraries, were, the Roman classics and fathers ;* and the works ofthe few Anglo-Saxon Students who emerged into celebrity, were little else than transcripts, imitations, and revivals of that spe cies of literature which had fallen with the Western empire, and whose fragments were afterwards sought after and collected by its barbaric conquerors. When Alfred endeavored to direct his countrymen to intellectual cultivation, it was the Roman literature which he presented to their contemplation, in his translations of Boetius and Orosius ; and even in Gregory and Bede, who were little else than the Latin fathers reflected and unimproved, except so far as their facts and reasoning were selected from their rhetoric, of which our Bede did not retain, and does ' Bede, 1. 4. c. l. The Anglo-Saxon mode of pronouncing the Lord's Prayer in Greek, as given in Hist. Anglo-Sax. v. 2. p. 361, from a Saxon MS. shows how little the Greek was understood; the words are divided so as to prove that they were repeated by mere parrots, as sounds, the verbal meaning of which was not known. '' See the list in Hist. Anglo-Sax. v, 2. pp. 362, 363, DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. I47 not exhibit to us a single ray. This species of letters CHAP. did not advance the Anglo-Saxon mind. After ^^- Alfred's death, it rapidly declined. Dunstan and his revival friends endeavored to revive it, with its rhetorical ?!^,,tt^"^Lil I Elt A- costume, but in vain. England became under its ture tuition, a degenerating people. The Anglo-Saxon norman"^ vernacular literature could give no intellectual sue- ^°"^"'^st. cor ; for it was of little value, and was never im proved : and at the period of the Norman conquest, all sort of learning had almost vanished out of our Island. Such was the state of its most intellectual body, the ecclesiastic, that we find it declared that " the studies of learning and religion had become obsolete ; the clergy, contented with a disorderly literature, could scarcely stammer out the words of their sacraments ; it was a miracle to the rest if any of them knew grammar."^ The Anglo-Saxon monks are described to have been stupid and barbarous, living like the laity ; following hounds and falcons, racing with horses, shaking the dice, and indulging bacchanalian jovialities where they had the means,* and in other places, existing in the most sordid po verty.' Even the archbishop and bishops, in the time of the Confessor, are noticed to have been illiterate and sensual men.* And thus the Roman literature was found to be as ineffective to general improvement in England, as it had been in Italy. Tho transplanted among a new people, and patronized by a popular king and a venerated prelate, it never displayed a vigorous or an extensive produce ; the national ' Malmsb. 1. 3. p. 101, ¦* Ib. pp. 214. 254. ' Thus in the cathedral of Rochester, there were scarcely four canons, and these had, ' to endure life with a scanty food, casually obtained from meal to mejil,' Ib. p. 233. " Ib. 204. 256. HISTORYOF EN.GLAND, 148 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK intellect declined under its tuition; and England ^^- added another proof of its incompetency alone to re- LiTERARY gcncratc or to fertilize the understanding. The Normans, fond of pomp, and craving personal distinction,'^ roused the English mind from this in tellectual trance, and excited that literary spirit, and commenced that system of education, which, assisted by new sources of instruction, produced a love and cultivation of knowlege that have never since de parted from the British isles. The Norman love of fame spread from their warriors to their clergy ; the Anglo-Saxon sensuality was corrected, and general emulation produced universal improvement.* But how came the Normans, whose ancestors but i .50 years before had been fierce pirates, to be the revivers of literature in England and France? Ignorant them selves, whence came their knowlege and literary jtaste? From the presence and activity of one indivi dual, himself of barbarous descent — from the cele^ brated Lanfranc. But Lanfranc was a Lombard — and it is a curious illustration of the fact which we have urged on the attention of our readers, that the barbaric conquests of the declining Roman empire svere beneficial to the progression of mankind ; that ' Malmsb, 256. Norraanni fainae in futurum studiosissimi. p. 238. * The degeneracy of the Anglo-Saxon manners is thus described by Malmesbury : ' Clothed in fine garments and heedless of their days of abstinence, the monks laughed at their rule. The nobles devoted to glut tony and voluptuousness, never visited the church ; but the matins and the mass were run over to them by a hurrying priest, in their bed chambers, before they rose, themselves not listening. The common people were a prey to the more powerful; their property seized; their bodies dragged away to distant countries ; their maid servants were either thrown into the brothel, or sold as slaves. Drinking day and night was the general pursuit; vices, the companions of inebriety, followed, effemi nating the manly mind.' I. 3. p. 101, 102. He says, that while they wasted their substance at their tables, their houses were poor and mean ; unlike the Franks and Normans, who were economical in their family expense.s, but loved spacious and magnificent edifices. Ib. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. ijjj altho the Lbrnbards were the most barbaroiis of all chap. the Gothic invaders, yet among them the literary ^^- studies of Italy first revived, its most celebrated revival schools were established, and its most cultivated ?T ^"^'^ LITERA"" states arid most enterprising citizens were formed ; ture and from them and from their cities, Pavia and Pisa,' norman learning was planted under Charlemagne in France, ^onquest. and re-planted, both there and in England, under Lanfranc, and his friends and pupils. Letters were declining in France, notwithstanding Revived the taste and exertions of the Carlovingian family to 1?^ ^''"" . . . . ... rranc. nationalize the Latin literature within it," when Lan franc, a Lombard, unknown to fame, and unconscious of his future importance to mankind, was attracted by the military reputation of the Normans to quit his native country, Pavia, and to open a school at an obscure village in their duchy." His humble hopes were shewn in the lowly choice of his residence. The abbey of Bee was the poorest and most insigni ficant of all the Norman monasteries ; " its abbot was one of the rudest and most ignorant of their clergy ;'* and the fraternity were in the greatest state of ' Guitmund, the pupil of Lanfranc, says, that at this time ' liberales artes intra Gallias pene obsoleverant.' De Euch. Bib. Mag. Pat. t. 6. p. 215. We must remark to the credit of the ancient Abbey of Fleury, tliat this benedictine retreat had made great efforts tn uphold and diffuse literature in France, About 1013, it had 5000 students under its super intendence, and required every scholar to make an annual contribution of two MSS. to its library. The Republica of Cicero, which afterwards became lost to the world till the abb6 May restored it from a palimpset roll, was in its hbrary. Raym. Troub. \. 2. p. 129. Introd. '" Ord. Vit, 519. Lanfranc reached it in 1042. Chron. Bee, p. 2. He was wounded by robbers near the place he settled at. , " Quo nullum usquam pauperius sestimabatur vel abjectius ccenobiu W. Gemmet. Hist. 1. 6. p, 202. He found the abbot building an pven himself, Lanfranc lived here three years omnibus ignotus. W. Gemmet. Hist, '' His name was Herluin. He did not learn to read till the age of forty. Gisleb, vita Herl. p. 34, I- 3 HISTORYOFENGLAND ISff HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK wretchedness and penury," But ' Providence ofteii ^^' works its ends by those humble agencies, which most LITERARY palpably display the operation to be its own, Lan franc, the poor emigrant schoolmaster, became the "" acknowleged cause of the revival of the Latin litera ture, and the liberal arts, in France." He could not have anticipated a destiny so distinguished ; but no individual can forsee the quantity of good which his exertions may produce. We cannot now describe Lanfranc's attractive powers, but the fact is recorded, that, after being there three years unknown, his tui tion and assiduity excited, even in this miserable place, so great a love of study, and diff^used it so widely around, that scholars flocked to him from all parts and of all ranks." We can only explain the phenomenon, by assuming, that it was the divine plan to make this the sera of a new birth of mind ; that Lanfranc, from his preceptorial talents, was the in strument best adapted to begin the happy process ; that Notmandy, from the love of glory of its people, was the fittest spot; and that contingencies were made ta occur, Mrhich gave effect to his agency. The scho lars of Bee became so respected, that we find a pope indebted to Lanfranc for his instruction there, and having the magnanimity, in the hour of his greatness, publicly to avow it." The celebrity of Lanfranc " Aliquanto tempore in maxima egestate et penuria exUtit, Chronicpn Beccense, p. l. It is printed at the end of Lanfranc's Works, from an old MS. in the monastery, " Guitmund, ubi sup. Malm, 205, The ancient biographer of Lanfranc says, ' quem latinitas, in antiquum scientiae statum ab eo restituta, tola jignoscit magistrum,' p. 1, and see Ord. Vit. 519. " W. Gemm. 262, Ord, Vit, says, ' Under this master the Normans first explored the literary arts. Before him, under the six preceding dukes, scarcely any one of the Normans pursued the Kberal studies ; nor was there a teacher found, till God, the provider for all, sent Lanfranc to the Norman ground,' p, 519. "• When Lanfranc went to Rome to receive the pall, he was surprised DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 151 spread at last to the Ducal court; and the conqueror CHAP. able from his own vigorous mind to appreciate ta- Cl ients in others, was so interested by Lanfranc's fame, revival as to invite him to court, and to make him a confi- °' ^^'^^^ dential counsellor. Soon after the invasion of Eng- ture land, William appointed Lanfranc archbishop of Canterbury. But dignity and wealth did not dis- conquest. possess his mind of its literary taste : he exerted himself with unabated zeal, and with proportionate success, to establish in England a knowlege of the Latin language, and the study of its authors ; he en couraged the formation of schools, and the progress of the scholars; and he even assisted those of slender AFTER THE KORMAN means,'* To have planted in a rude age and country a love pf literature, is a benefaction, which entitles the in dividual who has accomplished it to gratitude and celebrity. But when, from Lanfranc's deserved repu tation for this success, we turn to his works, we see in them no striking correspondence between his at tainments and his utility. His compositions exhibit no uncommon intellect, and great poverty of know lege, though united with good intention and sincere piety." They have however the great merit of being to see the pope rising respectfully to him as he entered, on his public audience, with this remark, ' I do not rise to the archbishop of Canter bury, but to my old master at Bee, in whose school I was instructed.' VitaLanfr. p. II. This pope, whose gratitude and sensibility so hono rably suspended the claims of bis rank, was Alexander, . " Guil. Pictav. 194. There is reason to believe that the famous Gregory VII, studied under Lanfranc. Murat. Ant, Ital, 897. '^ Malmsb. 214. '* They consist of, his treatise in Defence of Transuhstantiation, against Bereiigarius ; a neat arrangement of common arguments for a mysterious Opinion ; and Commentaries on the Epistles of St. Paul, which are plain in their style, and not important in their matter. His Rule of St. Benedict, compiled for his monasteries, is clear and precise. His letters are those of a man of business and decision, Lanfranci Opera, Paris, 1648, L 4 i.-ia BOOK VI. LITERARYHtSTORYOF ENGLAND, Anselm succeeds him. HISTORY OF ENGLAND, entirely free fr6m the ancient rhetoric. Theiy are so plain and unadorned as to be dull and uninteresting to a modern reader ; but this barren simplicity con stituted their pecuhar utility ; their mental affluence is not great, but it is thought unpainted and therefore unspoiled; it is humble reasoning without artificial declamation, and therefore, as far as it operated, it tended to produce a sound mind and sedate judg ment ; and by these, to preserve the Anglo-Norm^ mind from the tinsel and frippery with which so- many of the works of both the Greeks and Latin fathers are encumbered and made often injurious and commonly mischievous.*" But he spread, by his ex hortations and example, a desire to attain what was then attainable in letters ; and to raise the ignwant Norman and English mind to the level ofthe Roman, was to begin its intellectual evolution, and to prepare it for the more powerful and efficient agencies that were advancing to effect it," Lanfranc was succeeded in his school at Bee, and afterwards in his archi episcopal see, by Anselm, a man following his own natural track, but far superior * I cannot read Massillon, without feeling the mischief of the study ofthe ancient rhetorical fathers, nor without' lamenting that "they should- have so much spoiled a mind of great powers. The Spanish and Italiaa preachers create the same impression, and make us doubly value a Xeiiophon, a Fenelon, and a Paley, The mind of rhetoric, the mind of mere logic, and the mind of rich good sense, are quite distinct acquisitions. 2' His contemporary Veran, in the abbey of Fleury, from lo8o to 1095, increased the library of that monastery ; and from the following order soon afterwards of Machaire, one of his successors, we see that the MSS. of libraries then needed as much care and reparations as houses and buildings, and also a cause why so many have disappeared, ' Seeing that the MSS. of our library are perishing from the effects of age, and by the attacks of worms and moths; desiring to remedy this evil, and wishing to have new MSS. or new parchments for re-copying them bought, I have, with the consent and at the request of all the monastery, ordered that myself and all succeeding priors, should pay a yearly contribution on St, Benedict's, dfiy in every winter, for this necessary, useful and laudable purpose.' Joan, a Bosco, Flor, Vet, Bibl, p, ,302,' Raym; 130, DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, I53 to himself in cultivated talent, in force of mind, and CHAP. in literary composition. He has even had the honor ^^- of being thought to have furnished Des Cartes with revival one ofthe most celebrated reasonings of his metaphy- "iter"" sical ingenuity ;** but he was improved from sources ture 1 ¦ T T V> 1 1 • 1 i 1 1 AFTER THE to which Lanfranc had either not resorted, or only norman ^egantoknow. conquest. The most informed ecclesiastics on the Continent Anglo- were invited from all parts into England, and were become placed in its great ecclesiastical dignities, to the rapid eager for improvement ofthe country.** Every where the spirit of learning and better manners, and a taste for noble architecture, were introduced. The fine arts are naturally connected with mental advancement ; the pleasures of the eye and ear have been justly re marked to be intellectual gratifications ; and therefore painting, sculpture, architecture, and music, will al ways be the delights of cultivated understanding.** The Anglo-Saxons felt the powerful influence of the two great principles that were actuating the Norman ^ Leibnitz thought that Descartes derived the idea of his well-known reasoning, 'I think; therefore I exist' — ^from some expression of Anselm, in his Monulogion. '^ The canon of Bayeux, made archbishop of York, is highly extolled forhishterature. Malms. 273. — John of Tours, established at Bath a congregation of monks, distinguished for knowlege. Ib. 254. — A Norman bishop filled the church at Dorset with canons of the same literary taste, Ib. 290, — The monk of St, Berlin, who accompanied the bishop of Salisbury to England, contributed largely to the diffusion of knowlege in his diocese. Ib. p, 130. — Another Norman bishop is mentioned, who was fond of astronomy. Ib. p. 286. — -The archbishop who succeeded Anselm, was also much attached to learning. Ib. p. 230. — So the Nor man bishop of Rochester increased thtf condition of this cathedral mag- nifice. p. 233. " Thus Malmesbury declares, that the Normans loved great buildings ; and that after the Norman conquest, churches arose in the villages, and monasteries in the cities in a new style of building. The kingdom, by the new customs, began so to flourish, that every opulent man thought the day had been lost, which some act of splendid magnificence had not dis tinguished, 1. 3. p, 102. 154 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK character — the love of exterior pomp, in preference _^ to animal pleasures, and the desire of reputation. LITERARY Hcuce thc wcalth which the Anglo-Saxons were con- ENG^rjr suming in the debasing luxuries of the appetites, the ' — ^ — ' Anglo-Normans applied to the erection of great pub lic edifices ; the support of schools; the acquisition of books ; and to the display of that stately magnificence^ which, tho productive of pride and ambition, yet was more favorable to human improvement than corrupt-f ing sensuality. Their love of fame counteracted the ill ieffects of their love of pomp, by darting soon at intellectual objects; and their moral virtues'" con curred with their spirit of emulation and ardent piety, to create by degrees a high principle of personal honor, and a general increase of social probity and individuEd worth, which gave stability and force to the national progression. One impressive description has survived to us, of the great intellectual activity and usefulness of the Norman clergy, to plant in England the literature they had just imbibed. A striking On Ingulf s death, Joffred was invited from Nor- instance of mandy, and appointed abbot of Creyland. When he settled in the monastery, he sent to its farm near Cambridge four Norman monks, who were well in structed in what was then called philosophy and science. With all the zeal, and in the manner of our modern itinerant preachers, they hired a public barn . °' We have already noticed the virtues of the Norman character: Malmesbury adds these traits — ' They are emulous of their equals, and Strive to surpass their superiors: They are faithful to their masters, but abandon them on the least oflence : They punish perfidy with death, but commute the sentence for money : The most kind-hearted of all men, they treat strangers with the same respect as them.selves. They marry with their inferiors. Since their coming into England, they have raised religion as it were from the dead.* 1. 3, p. 102. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 153 at Cambridge, and went thither daily and taught what C H ap. they knew. In a short time, a great concourse of ^^- pupils gathered round them. In the second year of revival their exertions, the accumulation of scholars from all "iter"" the country round, as well as from the town, was so ture great, that the largest house, barn, or even church, nom\n" was insufiicient to contain them. To gratify the ex- ™^ tensive demand for their instruction, they separated their labors. In the first part of the mornings one of the friars, who was distinguished as a grammarian, taught the Latin grammar to the younger part of the community ; at alater hour, another, who was esteemed an acute sophist, instructed the more advanced in the logic of Aristotle, according to the comments of Por phyry and Averroes ; a third friar lectured on rhetoric, from Cicero and Quintihan ; the fourth, on Sundays and feast-days, preached to the people in various churches ; and in this duty Joffred himself frequently co-operated.** In this unadorned account, we have a striking proof of the attachment of mankind to intellectual improvement, and their eagerness to embrace every opportunity of acquiring it. The soil is ever ready; the laborers only are wanting, where it continues unproductive. In the second year of their tuition, we find these five friars, under all the disadvantages of a foreign language, of great national prejudice against them, and of addressing an uncultivated nation,*"^ yet '"' Hist, Croj'land, 1 Gale Script, p. 1 14. " Such was the state of England in the rjyes of Lanfranc, at this time, that among the reasons which he gives to t;he Pope for declining at first the mitre of Canterbury, were, not only our speaking an unknown lan guage, but our being a barbarous nation. Op, Lanfr. Ep. 1. p. 299. So Guitmund, as before quoted in p. 88. Baabarous in the estimation of a Lombard and a Norman ! But even civiliza,tion in its degeneracy deserves the epithet. 150 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, HISTORYOF ENGLAND, Schoolsevery where es tablished BOOK i^uc'cetding so prosperously in spreading liferatiire ^^- around them, that not even the public buildings were LITERARY largB cuough to contain the scholars who besought their instruction. If foreign countries under our owir government pine still in darkness and base supersti tions, it is not from their want of any susceptibility of improvement ; it must be our prejudices, and not theirs, which continue their inferiority. No obstacle can be deemed insurmountable by the philanthropical philosopher, who recollects the nations that have been meliorated, and the gratitude with which they have hailed their own improvement and its authors. • One ofthe first fruits of this revival of hterature in England, was the universal establishment of schools. To every cathedral, and almost to every monastery, a school was appended. It is a pleasing feature of the human character, that we are desirous of im parting to others the -knowlege we acquire. Few persons of any note appear to us among the clergy, during the century after the conquest, who did not during some part of his life occupy himself in in structing others. Such efforts must have been the produce of genuine benevolence, because, of all intellectual toil, the instruction of youth exacts the greatest labor, and returns the least immediate gra tification. Even the Popes were active in exciting the' cultivation of knowlege: they deserve the credit pf having led the way, during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, in causing the establishment of schools, the formation of libraries, and the directing' pf the clerical mind to the most useful studies. The commanding efficacy of their persevering recommen dations on this momentous subject, affords no small atonement for the misdirection of their influence in AFTER THE NORMAN DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 157 Iheir political struggles.** Councils held under their chap legates, even in the thirteenth century, continued to ^^¦ patronise schools.*® It is true that they were ecclesi- revival astical schools, and that extrinsic study was watched ^'' /-*'^''"' ^ TER A— with some suspicion ; but all assisted to increase ture the national education ; and the general improvement in every branch of learning and knowlege attests the ^onquest. efficacy of their encouragement and exertions. Piigrim- The habit of pilgrimage, and afterwards of the ^,^^^1.^™ crusades, increased the taste for study. It was im possible for so many, from all ranks and nations in Europe, to visit the Grecian and Arab states, without some conviction of the benefit of superior ktiow- lege, and a general desire to acquire and impart the improvement which they beheld. From the account left by Luithprand, of the wonders he saw at Constantinople — of the metallic tree, on whose brazen branches gilt birds were made to sing — of the throne supported by gilded lions, who roared at hi^ approach — of the other shows and tricks which he witnessed, and of the horse-laugh with which hi,'^ " Gregory VII. in 1038, ordered that all the bishops should cause the artes literarum to be taught in their churches. Murat. Ant, Ital. 874^ And in 1 179, in the general council in the Lateran church at Rofne, it was declared, ' That the church, like a pious mother, ought to provide for the. needy, as well those things which are necessary for the body, as those which tend to the progress of the mind : and, lest the opportunity, of reading and improvement should be withheld from the poor, who had no paternal wealth to assist them, it directs, that in every cathedral a competent maintenance should be allowed to a master, who should teach the ecclesiastics of that church, and also poor scholars, gratis ; and that uo money should by any means be exacted for licences to teach.' Ann. Hoveden, p. 589. "^ Thus the council of Paris held in 1212, under a cardinal legate, prohibited the exaction of any thing for licence to teach schooling. It blamed monks who, swore not to lend out any books, and ordered the bishops to have reading at their tables at the beginning and end of meals. Dupin, Eccl. Hist. 13tb cent. c. 6. *• The 20th article of this council forbad those admitted into a monas tery to go out to study, and ordered the absent to return vyithin two months. Dupifi, 13 cent. HISTORYOFENGLAND, 150 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK astonishment was received by the conceited cour- ^ ; tiers'* — it would seem that the saucy Greeks amused LITERARY tlicmselves with making the western barbarians stare. These specimens of their mechanical skill may have "' first interested a rude stranger's notice ; but their tasteful architecture, their elegant sculptures, their fine manuscripts, their celebrated loquacity, and the fame ofthe poets and philosophers who once adorned their name, must have powerfully impressed the at tention of many ; and have created that feeling of deficiency and that desire of emulation which are the certain parents of improvement.'* A nation that has been highly civilized, will display even in its degeneracy some features of its nobler state, which will make' the uncultivated mind sensible of its infe riority, and aspire to remove it. Greece has thus acted upon every nation, but one, with which it has been connected ; it has kindled mental emulation among all people who have become acquainted with the monuments of its arts and literature, except among the Turks ; they only have the glory or the disgrace of having for ages deafened themselves to its syren songs — they only have remained sternly im penetrable to those attractions which have been found every where else so seductive and so beneficial.'' '' Luithprand, 1. 6. c. 2 & 3. *" We see this effect in some men, whose names have escaped the ravages of time. One Johannes Italus, who went to Constantinople in 1070, is praised by the princess Anna Commena for his knowledge of Greek literature, and all the arts. Two others are also mentioned about the same time for their Greek learning ; Andreas Sacerdos, ' in Graecis et Latinis sermonibus virilis; ' and Ambrosius Beffius, ' in Latinis Uteris et Graecis eruditus.' Murat. Hist. Ital. p. 874, 5. '^ Goddess of Wisdom ! here thy temple was, And is, despite of war and wasting fire; — But worse than steel, and flame, and ages slow. Is the dread sceptre and dominion dire Of men, who never felt the sacred glow That thoughts of thee and thine on polish'd breasts bestow. Childe Harold, cant. 2. OF LATIN LITERA- DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, I59 A visible progress appeared in England after these CHap. pilgrimages had become common, increasing, as the ^^^ crusades increased the intercourse with Constan- revival tinople and the East. So great indeed became the enthusiasm for learning, among the Anglo-Normans, ture that besides the cathedral and conventual schools, nor^ian'^ others arose in many parts of the country ; ''' and as ^o^quest, soon as the improvement of the scholars had ex- increase hausted the knowledge of their instructors, they for^s^tlfd'" became emulous of travelling to other countries, wherever teachers of celebrity were established, or new subjects of study appeared," The first students were the clergy ; but the passion its high for literature spread soon beyond them. The wisdom Patronage, of the Conqueror procured for his son Henry the best education ofthe day. This prince deserved his surname of Fine-scholar, for he became so fond of letters, that neither wars nor the cares of state could shake them from his mind.'" His first queen, Mathildaj cultivaited them ;" and the books addressed to the " bel Alice," his second, attest her attainments.'^ His natural son, the count of Gloucester, so distinguished for his struggles in behalf of his sister, against Ste phen, was ardent both as a student and a patron. His friend Malmsbury says, that he made his studies a part of his glory ; that he befriended and conversed '* Stephanides mentions three principal schools of celebrity in London, in Becket's youth, p. 4. And that many were elsewhere we may infer, from the order of the Synod of Westminster, in 1 1 38, That if the masters of schools permitted others to hold such seminaries, tbey should not exact any profit from them. Chron. Gervas, p, 1348. ed.T^VySd, — Ingulf says he studied at Westminster and Oxford, p. 73. " Becket went to Bologne to study the civil law. Steph, p. 12. Many Englishmen went to Paris, when the teachers there became eminent. Leiand, in his de Script, Brit, v, 1, gives several instances. We have the -verses of one scholar of this time, still extant, recommending his friend to visit Paris, ' « Malmsb, 155; ^^ Ib. 164. f' See Philippa-du Than, mentioned hereafter. HISTORYOF ENGLAND. 160 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK with men of letters, even tho poor and obscure,'" that ^^- he so earnestly cultivated his intellectual taste, that LITERARY cvcu wlicu surroundcd with the most disquieting oc cupations, he always seized some hours in which he read to himself, or heard others read.*" Patronage became fashionable. Osmund, the bishop of Sherr born, not only collected a large library, but he re ceived with great liberality every ecclesiastic that was distinguished for learning, and persuaded theni. to reside with him." Church Many persons contributed to the general progress, J^^?j™"'" by assiduously forming libraries;'" and the spirit copies, arose in the monasteries, of educating the younger monks to the habit of neat and correct writing, that the copies of authors works might be multiplied. Without this happy practice, the progress of litera ture must have been confined to a few individuals, because the cost of books was enormous ; and their use in the great libraries was much restricted, oi^ account of their value. Even, the prelates were not weary of transcribing.*' As the transcripts mul tiplied, the permission to inspect them was more liberally conceded, and their diffusion extended."* ^ Malmsb, p. 6. *" Ib. p. 174. " Ib. 250. *" Thus the abbots menrioned by Matt. Paris, Hist. Abb. Alb. p, 64. — Croyland library, at the time of its fire in 1091, had 300 volumina ori- ginalia, and above 400 minora volumina. Ing. p. 98, *' Thus the bishop of Sherborn, nee scribere nee scriptos legare fasti- deret. Malm. p. 250. — Hugo Candidus has left us a very respectable list of the books which Benedict, the abbot of Peterborough, had written, who was chosen 1 177. Hist. p. 99. ** Ingulf gives us a specimen of their rules on this point : ' We forbad, under the penalty of excommunication, the lending of our books, as well the smaller without pictures, as the larger with pictures, to distant schools, without the abbot's leave, and his certain knowlege within what time they would be restored. As to the smaller books, as Psalteries, Donatus, Cato, et similibus, poeticis ac quaternus de cantu, adapted to the boys, and the relati<)ns of the monks, &c. we forbad them to be lent for above one day, without leave of the prior, pp, 104, 105, OF LATIN LITERA- AFTER THE NORMAN DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 101 We have an instance of an individual's patriotic ex- chap. ertion in this respect, in Simon of St. Albans, who ^'^• from his own taste maintained liberally two or three revival select writers in his chamber, where he prepared, says the authority, an invaluable plenty of the best ture books. He made it a rule in his monastery that every future abbot should always keep a good writer.*' conquest, The scriptorial taste of the eleventh and twelfth cen turies, is manifested by the general beauty ofthe writ ing of their manuscripts which have survived to us. The seeds of knowlege thus liberally sown after ignoranc» the middle of the eleventh century, sprang up to a j?'^'""?, fertile harvest in the next, and especially after ver- able. nacular compositions appeared. The great not only patronised the students, but excited them to exert their talents in composition. Thus the count of Gloucester desired Malmsbury to write his History ;*^ and the bishop of Lincoln induced Henry of Hunt' ingdon to compile his Annals.*'^ Literary pursuits becoming a source of distinction and preferment, all ranks caught the flame. And when the vernacular literature, which we are about to notice, became dif fused, knowlege no longer pined in solitary gloom within the cells of a cloister or the walls of a school ; it was invited to adorn the hall of the baron, the chamber of the lady, and the court of the prince. The sturdy knight began to find his iron mail and trophied lance an insufficient distinction. To win the Smile he valued, and to maintain the reputation he had acquired, he found it necessary to emulate some of the studies of the churchman. Even the ladies of the great not only learnt to read and judge, but some " Matt. Paris, Abb. Alb. p. 93. « Malm. p. 174. " Hen. Hunt, p. 296. Vol. IV, M 162 BOOK VI. lterary historyof ENGLAND, First pro duce ofthe Anglo- Norman literatiire. Latinlanguage attained. HISTORY OF, ENGLAND, females also to write.** After the twelfth century, ignorance became discreditable, the mark of a bar barous country, a vulgar origin, or a degraded taste. Pope Adrian, an Englishman, and the only English man that has reached the papal chair, found the de ficiencies of his mind a bar to his preferment, for he was rejected at St. Albans, for want of suffi cient learning. His becomina: pride felt the shame of the rebuke ; he went to Paris, and labored inde- fatigably till he excelled his fellow students.*® But what was the first produce' of this studious enthusiasm? The knowlege of the, Latin language became general in the monasteries ; the Latin classics were familiarized to the Anglo-Norman mind ; Latin versifiers abounded ; and the knowlege of ancient Rome was transplanted into Britain. To have attained these instruments of improve ment, was to have made an important advance. The Latin language is now as much of ornament as utility ; but it was then the only key to intellectual instruc tion. The vernacular languages of Europe at that time contained, besides some necessary but rude legislation, and a few wild tales or wilder traditions, little else than their native poetry — an artificial chain of sounds, with imperfect melody, penurious mean ing, barbarous feelings, and rarely with any percep tible utility. All that it was meliorating or valuable to know, was in Latin or Greek; and as, by a happy prejudice, permitted to continue by Providence for its usefulness, the religious services of the church were kept in the Latin language, the clergy of *^ Heloisa, in her letters to Abelard, displays great cultivation of mind. Marie, in her lays, equals any of her contemporaries, in the easy flow of her versification, and the spirit of some of her descriptions, " Matt, Paris. Alb. Abb. p, 66. OF LATIN LITERA- AFTER THE NORMAN DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 163 every Christian country were compefled to acquire CHAP. it, for it was found that if they did not, they ridi- _^ culously mispronounced it.'" Thus made general revival from technical necessity, it was found convenient as an universal language, in which the students ^"''^ and writers of every part of Europe could commu nicate with each other ; it became the language of conquest. their correspondence, as well as of their composi tions ; and from the unceasing importance of the acquisition, grammar, or the art of understanding and writing Latin correctly, was the earliest and the most common study of all the schools we have alluded to. Priscian and Donatus were the masters resorted to; and from this custom, the merry priest Walter Mapes derives the image by which he per sonifies grammar, in his satire on misused learning : " Here is Priscian giving stripes to the hands."" The castigation, however general, was not always availing ; for even Priscian, with all the activity of his ferula, could not make some minds recollect either the cases or the conjugations.'* But a very " As in the well-known mumpsimus for sumpsimus. Even a pope could be so ignorant of Latin, as to write — ' eorumque novilissimis suivoles — una cum indiculum — una cum omnes benebentani,' This occurs in a letterof Adrian I. Murat. Ant. Ital. p. 811. " This poem is called the Apocalypsis, Golyae Episcopi. It is a MS. in the British Museum, HarhLib. No. 978, He fancies that, as he is lying in a grove, he sees the form of Pythagoras standing before him, but bearing all the sciences about him, in.this strange guise — In fronte micuit arsAstrologica; Dentium seriem regit Grammatica ; In lingua pulchrius vernat Rhetorica ; Concussis ?estuat in labiis Logica ; In Arithmetica digitis socia ; In cava Musica ludit articula ; Fallens in oculis stat Geometrica; — In tergo scriptEe sunt Artes Mechanicas, . " Giraldus Cambrensis furnishes us with an instance of this sort, in the old hermit his friend, who would say Noli, for nolo ; Vana, for vanum ; and the infinitive active, for the infinitive passive, Giraldus de se^estis. Anglia Sacra, v. 2, p, 497, 164 HISTORY OE ENGLAND, .BOOK high degree not only of precision, but even of ele- ^^' gance, was attained by a few. The fabulous history LITERARY of J cffiy dlsplaycd a command of Latin style, which, ENGLAND.^ aided by its subject, gave it a rapid circulation over * — " — ' Europe. The miscellaneous Essays of John of Salis bury deserve and have received, even from distant nations, a lavish commendation," William of Malms bury, with his eye fixed on the Roman historians, has left us a work, which, tho no rival of his avowed models, nor equal in style to that of Saxo-Gramma- ticus, almost his contemporary, yet is superior in composition to the annahsts of his age, and to any preceding historian since the classical , authors.'* Anselm has also a lucid neatness of diction, which even now may be read with pleasure and advantage." Latin Ver- ; The reputation of good poetry is so great, that ad- si ers. venturers for the Parnassian laurel are never wanting-. To write Latin verses became a favorite employment with the monks. Almost every author was ambitious to excel in this harmless toil. It would be as absurd to dignify their compositions, as our college exercises, with the name of poetry ; they were merely speci-- mens of their attainments of the Latin grammar and Latin prosody. But the practice ensured the preser- " His chief works are the De nugis Curialium, and the Metalogicon. Stephanius often quotes him, in his notes on Saxo, and with these eulo- giums : — aureus scriptor — eleganter ut omnia — auctor cum veterum quo- piain comparandus. p. 151 and p. 2. ** His de Gestis Reguin Anglorum extends from Hengist to Henry I. in five books. His Historiae Novells, in two more, pursues our history to the escape of the empress Matilda from Oxford. He wrote five others on the prelates of England. « His Monologium, or Metaphysical Conteraplarions on the Essence ofthe Deity," written at the request of his friends, who admired his spe culations; and his Prosologion, a chain of reasoning composed on the solicitations of others, who wished that some one argument might be found to prove the divine existence; are interesting treatises, which do credit to his Latin diction. OF LATIN LITERA- AFTER THE NORMAN DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 1G5 vat'iOn and the study of the great classical authors, CHAP, and was perpetually operating to create a good poe- ^^' tical taste. Joseph of Exeter indeed surprises us by revival a versification, In his poem on the Trojan War, which reads almost classical;" and Jeffry of Monmouth "^'^^^ attained a smoothness and fluency in his poetical diction, which Mflton has condescended to notice.'^ conquest. The jocose poetry of Walter Mapes is also free and voluble, and sometimes happy, tho he attempts to bend the majesty of the Roman diction to the rhymes and cadence of our popular poetry. His chief merits were, good sense, good humor, and some useful satire. These vital qualities tempt us to forget his bacchanalian jovialities.'* ^ It contains, in six books, 363O good hexameters^ but not always, good taste, as witness — ¦ Nox fera, nox vera, nox noxia, turbida tristis, Insidiosa, ferox, tragicis ululanda cothurnis, Aut satyra rodenda gravi. — I. 6. v. 760. It is printed at the end of the Dictys Cretensis, and Dares Phrygius, in the edition of Amsterdam 1702, He also wrote a poem on the crusades, called the Antiocheis, of which only a few lines on Arthur have beeiv preserved. " Milton, in his History of England, says of the verses which Jeffi'y inserted in bis History, ' They are much better than for his age, unless perhaps Joseph of Exeter, the only smooth poet of the times, befriended him.' Milton seems not to have known Jeffry's poem on the life of Merlin, which is in MS. in the British Museum. Cotton Lib. Vespasian E 4. Tbe passages quoted from this MS. in the vindication of the ancient British poets, will be found smooth and fluent. Mr. Ellis has given a copious account of its contents, in his Specimen of ancient Romances, vol. I. '' Camden has printed, in his Remains, Mapes' verses on Wine, and on the lives, of the Clergy. In the British Museum, both in the Harleian and King's Library, are many of his MS. poems. His mirth is not always pure, but his satire is usually good humored, and the free spirit of liis muse announces the improving spirit of his country. — His critique on the ancient authors is worth preserving : Hie Friscianus est dans palmis verbera Est Aristoteles verberans aera. Verborum Tullius demulcet aspera. Pert Ptolomeus se totum in sidera, Tractat Boetius innuraerabilia. Metitur Euclides locorum spatia, M 3 166 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK Other authors among us displayed no inconsider- , '_ able power of arranging their dactyles and spondees LiTEiiARY into plausible imitations of the classical metres. To ENGLAND, noticfe all, when the crowd was so great, would be ' """^ ' absurd ; it will be sufficient to niention twd, from the importance of their subjects. One was Geoffrey Vinesauf, the friend, companion, and encomiast of our Richard I. who attempted to teach his contempo raries the art of poetry, or criticism, in Latin verse.'* He treats on invention and memory, on the ornaments ofthe style, and the disposition oif the thoughts; hei explains the tropes and figures of poetry, and dilates on the description, the prosopopeia and the apos trophe. He is even bold enough to attempt by his own example to strengthen all hi& laws; tho his la^ mentation on his king, and its apostrophe on Friday, the day on which Richard fell, may induce us td prefer his criticism to his _poetry.''° The Anti-Claudianus of Alanus de Insulis,*" who is perhaps better known as the commentator on our Merlin, than as a poet, treats on the seven arts and Frequens Pythagoras pulsat fabrilia. Traxita malleis vocum primordia. Lucanum video ducem bellantium. Formantem aereas muscas Virgilium. Pascentem fabgilis turbas Ovidium, Nudantem satiros^dicajCes Ferseumv Incomparabilis est Statins statio. Cujus detinuit res comparatio.' Saltat Terenrius plebeius ystro. — Harl. MS. 978. •s It is entitled, De Arte Dictandi, or De Nova Poetica. It is in the British Museum, Cott. MS. Cleop. B. 6, pp. 1-30 ; where it is followed by another work on prose, intermixed with verse, on the same subject, — His History of Richard's expedition to Palestine has been already noticed, '" O Veneris lacrimosa dies ! O sidus amarum ! ' Ilia dies tua nox fuit, et Venus ilia Venenura, Illadedit vulnusl Bromtoil Chron, 1280. °' It is in the Cott, MS. above mentioned, Cleop. B 6.— It is not clear whether this Alan was an Englishman or not. An account of his life and writings may be read in Tanner's very useful Bibliotheca Monastica, p, 16. DURING THE MIDDLE aCES. 167 sciences, and morals, with great fluency of versifica- 'Jj^^ tion, and some good precepts. He was certainly — L a man of talent, and has left another singular work "f^V^..^'^ ' ° , OF LATIN in his ' Doctrinale Altum.' This is also called his litera- ' Parabolarum." It is a series of moral aphorisms, ^^fterthe in six books."^ Each remark is preceded by some normanCONOUFSX natural image or simile, not unlike the Gorwynion of > — -. — '> the old Welsh bard, Llywarch Hen. The first book fim^^; gives two lines to the remark and its imagerical intro duction; and these, in every succeeding book, are expanded by two additional lines above the number of those preceding. As I have never seen the work quoted, the notes will contain some specimens of the four first books.*' But if these and innumerable others, ''' Ofthe two copies I have seen, one was printed atDaventry in 1494; and the other, without a date, at Cologne, with a prose commentary.' ^^ The Parables in the first book are an hexameter and a pentameter; Clarior est solito post maxima nubila Phoebus, Post inimicitias clarior esset amor. Loricam duram possunt penetrare sagittae. Sic cor derisum et mala verba meum, Fragrantes vicena rosas curtica perUrit. Et Justus semper turbat iniquus homo, Ictibus undarum rupes immota resistit, Et bonus, assiduis fluctibus, omnis homo. Non possum cohibere canem quin latrat ubique : Nee queo mendaci claudere labra viro. In the second book each reflection is increased to four lines, thus : — Non possunt habitare simul contraria, cum sint Mors et vita, Procul decedet hseC ab ea. Sic duo sunt quae non possunt intrare cor unum, Vanus amor muiidi, verus amorque Dei, Apparet et fantasma viris ; sed rursus ab illis Vertitur in nihilum, quod fuit ante nihil. Sic adest et abest fugitivi gloria census : Non prius adventat quod quasi fuinus eat. In the third book six lines are devoted to each thought, as this judi cious one on flogging : — Diversis diversa valent medicamina morbis : Ut variant morbi, sic variantur ea. M 4 HISTORYOF ENGLAND 188 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK who tried the Cynthian lyre, have not increased our ^^' catalogue of good Latin poetry, they certainly im- LiTERARY proved and stimulated the intellect of their contem poraries, and circulated an attachment to the ancient classics, by which the general taste was benefited when other studies came into fashion. It would exceed both the limit and object of this Work, to detail, in regular catalogue, the ecclesiastical writers who filled the middle ages with Latin verse or prose.*^ That respectable mediocrity of mind, which the Latin literature is well adapted to produce, was the attainment of the best. From this moderate level Non uno, doctrina mndo se mentibus infert. His timor: his monitus, his adhibetur amor. Quadrupes adaquare nequis, dum percutis illos. Nee cogit pueios Virga studere rudes. Another attempts Satire: Ridiculus mus est qui muribusimperat, et qui -Tanquam rex horum sic dominatur eis. Non minor est risus de servo, quando levatur In dominum : quando voce, manu ferit, Asperius nihil est humili ; dum surgit in altum Pingitur in celso, Simi^, sede sedens. The fourth book exhibits his Parables, expressed in eight lines. The following is very pretty : * Non omnjs socius fidus est. Non omne fidele Pectus. Non omni me sociare volo. Cui sooins volet esse mens, non alter et idem Fiat ego : qui non est satis alter ego -Non teneo socium. Qui scit.quod nescio, vel qui Id, quod non habeo, me preter illud hiibet. Cum socio socius deliberat omnia doctus Cum sibi concordant consona corda duo. In the fifth book each idea has ten lines devoted to it ; and in the sixth, twelve, '^ Some of these will be noticed in our subsequent observations on the rhymed Latin poetry, Leiand, Tanner, Ball, Pitts, Fabricius, and Leyser, will give abundant infinination. The greater number of the versifiers were satisfied with their hexameters and pentameters without rhyme. I ob serve that very few endeavored to imitate Horace, — The British Museum contains, in hexam'eters and pentameters. The Monita Moralia of Ni- gellus Wireker, addressed to the Chancellor of Richard I. MS, Cott, Julius, A 7. — Also a poem of 2720 flowing lines, on the Life of St. Albans; with much Scripture history intermixed, written by Robert of Dunstable, about 1150. MS. Cott. Julius, D 3. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES 169 Others descended, in varying degrees, to the humblest chap. dulness. In reading a few, you exhaust the scanty ^^- ideas of all, and you desire to read no more. But this revival was not the fault of their talent, but of their instruc- "jte.^"" tion ; their minds were new soil, fit for the most "atuhe vigorous vegetation; but the Latin literature that was nor^man"^ transplanted into them, was composed of the flower- conquest. ing, not the fruitful plants. Our ancestors produced as much from it as the later Romans had done ; its unprolific nature forbad a better harvest. In characterising our writers of the middle age as Estimation dull and unimproving now, I do not wish to be under- {jftelkctual stood to depreciate their contemporary utility ; in the utility. commencement of mental culture, such literature must occur, and it does not occur unprofitably. The literary improvements of every country slowly and gradually accumulate; myriads of minds must labor, and a great proportion must give diction and publicity to the fruits of their secret toil, before a large population can be visibly benefited. To suit the various circum stances and tempers of mankind, numerous must be the paths of the studious, ana very diversified their produce. No labourer in this great field is useless or unimportant ; the meanest effort will find some in dividual, whose humble capacity is assisted by the tribute ; and till inferior cultivators have brought the soil into a state fit for a nobler harvest, the sublimer intellects cannot appear, or would operate, if they did, with inconsiderable effect. Hence, altho our early history presents to us a crowd of Latin students, whose writings we have long consigned to oblivion, a,nd whose names we disturb only to deride; yet they bave all been, in variouis degrees, benefactors to so- 170 BOOK VI. LITERARY' HISTOllYOF ENGLAND.Valuable chronicles , of the Anglo- Normanmonks. HISTORY OE ENGLAND, ciety : they were the laborious teachers of absolute ignorance, which their tuition removed ; and it is the success of their labors in improving their country men, which has made their services forgotten. The most valuable part of the Anglo-Norman Latin literature was the annals, 'chronicles, and his tories, composed by the monks; works indeed so in variably associated with our habitual contempt, that it may be thought absurd to praise them here. To the graces of style they have certainly no pretensions; if they had, they might, like Saxo-Grammaticus, have been historically worthless. With the charms of order; the powers of forcible description, the use of profound reflection, or the art of intellectual criticism, they were entirely unacquainted. The superstitious legend they delighted to detail, for they sincerely believed it; they never omitted a rumored prodigy, and were ever ready tx» exaggerate an extraordinary natural phenomenon. With these defects, what then was their value? The- simple habit of plainly annalizing the main facts of history that occurred. Such a series of regular chronology and true incident ; such faithful, clear and ample materials for authentic history, had scarcely appeared before : nothing could be more contemptible as compositions; nothing could be more satisfactory as authorities^ Their simplicity was ad vantageous to their-veracity ; and when the monastic habit of composing them ceased, their place was but poorly supplied' by the loquacious lay-chroniclers, balf romances, at least in their dress, which succeeded. It is easy to separate their legends from their facts ; and perhaps the modern use of certain and correct chronology may be ascribed to their precise habit, DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, if I of always dating the years of the events which they CHAP. record.*^ _^ But the Latin literature which was cultivated after Lanfranc, was rather useful in beginning a literary taste in England, and in forming those men who deviated afterWai-ds into other studies, than for its own intrinsic and productive affluence. However valuable the best Latin classics willbe to all ages, Limited for their taste, their chastised beauties of style, their "he Roman eloquence, and their occasional good sense, they do classics; not impart, because they do not contain, any large funds of knowlege, great originality of thought, or important associations of ideas : they are bnt the best Grecian classics re-appearing, with augmented judgment and some variety of features, in a new lan guage. Science the Romans never valued, nor much " Of these, some of the principal are,-^ Ingulf who ends - - - - a. D. logi Petrus Blessensls, continued it to - - 1118 Florence of Worcester -- - - 1117 Continued to^ - - - II41 Henry of Hutingdon . - . 1154 Simeon of Durham - - - - 1130 Hoveden ------ 1202 Eadmer . . - . , 1122 Matthew Paris - - - - - 1259 Rishanger's Continuation to - - - 1273 Gervas ------- 1200 William of Malmsbury - - - - 1 143 Alured of Beverly - - - 1129 Bromton, about - - - * - 1200 Cron. Petri-burgi •- ¦, ¦ - • - 1259 Continued, by Rob. Boston, to - - 1368 William of NewborougH ~ . - - 1 197 Ralph de dicetOj about - - , - - 1 200 Benedict Abbas - - ... . 1192 Thomas Wikes .... - 1304 Annals of Waverly . - . . 1291 Matthew of Westminster _ - - 1.307 As in every monastery there was some curious mind, fond of noting th6 great incidents of his day, every country in Europe has such chronicles. But I think with Dr. Henry, that, upon the whole, our annalists are superior to those of any other nation, at this period. HISTORYOF ENGLAND, 172 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK understood. Mathematical studies, the proudest part of Grecian knowlege, were never popular in Greece LITERARY itself, and scarcely visited Italy."®^ All the natural history and philosophy which could be collected within the precincts of the Roman empire, in its largest circle, and from the labors of anterior time, Pliny embodied in his work. His countrymen never increased his store, and scanty is its amount ! And it was applied both by Pliny and Lucretius, and by those who afterwards studied it from them, to esta^ blish the system of Epicurus, which pushed the Divine Creator out of nature.*"^ The Latin poets that convey useful instruction to posterity, are not more numerous than their dramatists. Their his torians, together with Cicero, Seneca, Quintilian, and Epictetus, exhibit the intellects most serviceable to future ages ; but even these, like the Latin fathers, with their superior topics, are not afllluent in extensive knowlege, and are insufficient to create a vigorous original mind* It is one thing to please a cultivated ^ Theodoric, in bis letter to- Boetius, cominends him, because, by his translations, the Italians could read Pythagoras on Music, Ptolemy on Astronomy, Euclid on Geometry, -Nichomachus on Arithmetic, and Archimedes on Mechanics. He adds, 'Whatever disciplinae or arts, fruitful Greece has -produced, - by you, uno auctore, Rome has received into her vernacular language,' Yet Boetius did not live till the sixth century; ^ It is a. remarkable fact, which we learn from Quintilian (1. 12.) that Epicurus directed his disciples to avoid the study of the sciences. This in junction was fatal to their intellectual progress, as indeed all his leading doctrines were. Hence, tho he- was temperate, his followers, pursuing his principles to their natural consequences, became mere sensualists. Lac- tautius says, that his sect became far more popular than others, Div. Inst. 1. 3. c. 17. Yet during his lifetime he was unknown and almost unattended. Seneca, ep,.79. Jt is Lucretius that so extravagantly ex tols him, for having been- the first to-assert that no part ofthe world was created, and for trying so feebly to explain its origin without a Deity : and who first made him popular in Rome, by writing his poem in praise of his system, at the critical moment when the mercenary luxury, pride, ambition and individual selfishness of degenerating Romans made them eager to believe that there was no superior power in the universe to con trol their conduct, or to make them responsible for it. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 173 taste, it is another thing to instruct, enlarge and ad- chap. vance. The scholar will feast on the Virgilian graces ; J^ but they alone would leave the young student almost revival as barren and as ignorant as they found him ; his L^TERr-'' mental growth demands more substantial and more '^j^e ¦affluent, tho coarser, nutriment; and if he be con- norman fined to the diet ofthe Roman classics, he will not be ^^^^^jest. more informed nor more productive than the authors we are considering. Hence, when the Anglo-Saxons, Normans, Franks, and of and other Gothic nations, had transplanted into their ancient own, all the Roman mind which Its writers had per- imitators. petuated ; tho their scholars, thus far accomplished, learned to write Latin, often with elegance and cor rect prosody, and acquired from it a cultivation which made them like moons in a benighted age, yet their borrowed light spread but feebly around them, and was not transmissible to future times. Aldhelm, Bede, Alcuin, Erigena, Lanfranc, Anselm, Iscanus, Jeffry, Becket, John of Salisbury, and many, others of a si milar class, altho displaying the utmost improvement of mind, which an education formed on the Roman literature could impart, and not Inferior in native talent to any Roman writer of the later periods of the empire ; yet are so inferior to our ideas of excellence, and so deficient in our accumulated knowlege, that their best compositions we think of with disdain, and never deign to unfold. The trivium aud quadrivium — the terms within Tjie tri- * 1 • 1 1 • r \ -in • 1 ' vium and which the sciences ot the middle age were comprised quadri- — awake our contempt the moment they occur, be- ^'"'°* cause they recall the image of barbarian ages, and seem to be the drivelling pedantry of barbarian igno rance. But let our ancestors have theirproper merit: 174 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK altho to us they are pigniies, they were not so to their ^^- predecessors. The studies implied by these two literary monastic vocables, and in the two jargon hexameters EMLAND.'' *^^* define the subjects they comprised,^ conveyed ^ — ^ — ' all that the Romans knew, cultivated or taught. They comprised the whole encyclopedia of the an cient knowlege. The books ^from which they were learnt, were the best treatises which the Roman em pire possessed upon them. Confined indeed-was the knowlege they conveyed ; and. our emulous fore fathers were but feeble thinkers, when they iad mas tered th^m all ; but in possessing themselves of these, they acquired the knowlege which their. Roman teachers had enjoyed. When they had finished the circuit of .the trivium and quadrivium, they had transferred all the intellect of the Roman empire into their own; and if knowlege be the criterion of their merit, the. good scholars of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries were not inferior to those of Rome after the age of Tacitiis and Quintilian. In taste and elegance, and polished geniuSj it would be absurd to compare them with the ornaments of the Augustan age ; but these authors were in the third century beyond the approach of their own countrymen ; and it is there fore no disgrace to the middleages, that their infe riority was not dissimilar. Improved The truth sccms to be, that the classical minds '"'^formed whom wc are accustomed to venerate, were not by study fotmed merely from the literature that preceded them, but from the general intellect, business, conversation, and pursuits of their day. It is a mistake to imagine that a man of great intellectual eminence is made "* Gramra. loquitur; Dia. vera docet; Rhet. verba colorat: Mus, canit.; Af, numerat; Geo. pbnderat; Ast^ colli astra. not by ! only, DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 175 only from his library ; he is the creature of the im- C H A P. provement of society about him, reflecting upon him ^^- the rays of a thousand minds, and pouring into him revival information from a thousand quarters ; . every hour °^teb".'' his understanding, if it has the capacity, is insensibly '^"^e directed, enriched and exercised, by the knowlege norman and talent that is every where breathing, acting and ^^^^^^^ conferring around him ; his mind expands, without his own consciousness of its enlargement ; bis ideas multiply independently of his will; his judgment rec tifies; his moral or political wisdom increases with his experience; and he becomes at last a model im perceptibly benefiting others, as he has benefited himself Thus Cicero, Tacitus, andThucydides, were formed, Literature as well as Scipio, Epaminondas, and Caesar. But as declines soon as moral and political degeneracy had withered society de- the Roman mind, and voluptuousness had corrupted g^"^'^^'^''. it, the Intellectual tone and affluence of their improved society ceased.®^ Instead of that cultivated aijd ac tive talent, which, from the Letters of TuUy, we see that at least some high-minded Romans once posi sessed, a debased, sordid, sensual, illiterate mind ap^ peared, valuing nothing butababbling rhetoric, which might from an age of imbecility procure food for its vanity, or minister tb its selfishness. Such a state of intellect and literature, our Gothic ancestors found in the Roman provinces, which they subdued ; and tho they at last collected into their libraries the woi^ks of the nobler minds of this deteriorated race, yet the books without the living education benefited little ; "" Cicero, in a fine passage, which lord Bacon has cited, distinguishes the ancient Romans as transcending all other nations in their steady love of religion; and Poly bins ascribes the great corruption of Roman man ners to their increasing disbelief of a future state. 176 BOOK VI. literary niSTORYOF ENGLAND. Latin lite- i-ature not fitted for popular in struction. HISTORY OF ENGLAND, and unless new revolutions had disclosed new sources of improvement, and created a new spirit of activity, cultivation, discussion and thought, the human mind would still have remained as dwarfed and barren, as monotonous and feeble, as it was in all the writers of the middle ages, who drank only at the fountains of the Latin Muses.'^" But the Roman literature, whatever be the amount of its intrinsic merits, was manifestly insuflBcient for the progress of the human intellect, from two other circumstances — its limited diffusion, and its tendency to prevent originality of thought. As the Latin language was not the common lan guage of society in England, its instructive operation was confined to the monastic and clerical body. It gave no .improvement to the nobleman, the knight, the yeoman, the merchant, the vassal, or the burgher, who could not understand it ; '' their ignorance re mained undiminished. Amid all the seminaries of study, they could know no more than their spiritual guides cbose to impart ; and how scanty the dole of knowlege from the papal hierarchy to the populace, bas always been, not only the middle ages, but our own times attest. If, then, the Latin literature had con tinued to be the only study in England,the ecclesiastical '" That England is not indebted to the Latin writers for its mathema. tical knowlege, we may see from John of Salisbury, He says, that in his time, the twelfth century, " Geometry is very little attended to amongst us, and is only studied by some people in Spain, Egypt, and Arabia, for the sake of astronomy." Metalog. I. 4. c. 6. " That the nobility were unacquainted with Latin in the time of Henryll. we find from the speech of the earl of Arundel to the Pope. He was one of the commissioners sent by Henry, with some other great barons, and several prelates, to the ponti6f. His mission would imply that the most rnforraed nobles had been selected. The bishops made their address in Latin, The earl then began in English, " My lord I what the bishops have spoken to you, we illiterate laymen do not at all understand : We will therefore tell you for Ourselves, whj we are sent," -Vita Becket, 1, 2, c. 9. p. 74. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. J77 bodies would have been so many Christian driiids; chap, so many British bramins; the only informed portion _^ of an igrnorant community ; whom they would learn revival to despise, from not condescending to enlighten ; litera- whom, too anxious to govern, they would have de- ^^.J.'^^ ^ bilitated and degraded. norman But the most injurious effect, from the exclusive or ^^^^^"^i too long-continued study of the Latin literature, was its tendency to preclude the evolution of genius, and the formation of original thought. It has been remarked, in the history of literature, Unfavor- that great excellence has been usually followed by rise of decline. No second Augustan age is found to occur. o'''g'"=>i A Virgil emerges, and, as if his genius cast on his countrymen an everlasting spell, no future Virgil appears — no second Homer, or Euripides — no suc ceeding Pindar, Horace, Demosthenes, Thucydides, Tacitus, or Cicero. The fact is remarkable ; but it is to be accounted for, not by a deficiency in the birth of talent, but from its .subsequent destruction by in judicious education. It is in literature as in painting : if we study de parted excellence too intently, we only imitate ; wd extinguish genius, and sink below our models. If we make ourselves but copyists, we become inferior to those we copy. The exclusive or continual con templation of preceding merit, contracts bur facul ties within, and greatly within, its peculiar circlci and makes even tbat degree of exceflence unattain able, which we admire and feed upon : we become mimics, instead of being competitors ; mannerists, in stead of originals: we are enslaved by a despotism from which we ought-to have revolted. Whence arises this strange, but oft-experienced Vol. IV. N 178 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK result? From the operation of the laws of habit. ^^' The peace and comfort and discipline of the world, depend upon our susceptibility to their influence ; but this influence is often a tyranny that deteriorates. The length of application necessary to possess our selves of the merit to which we devote our studies, tends to limit our progress, to chain our excursive- ness, and to mould our faculties and their produce into an involuntary and dependent imitation of the. models on which our attention is so continuously exercised. If when the limbs are most flexible, we are made to walk perpetually in a certain posture, the attitude will be our gait for the rest of our lives. While our ancestors studied no authors but the Roman, the literary mind of England became roman- ized, and nothing more. No original genius ap peared. Our literature was a debased recoinage of the Latin, as in Jeffry of Monmouth, Joseph of Exeter, John of Salisbury, Malmsbury, and tbe other writers, whose Latin compositions crowd the cata logues of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. If there be no originality, there can be no improve ment. If there be no deviation from existing habits, there can be no progression. To be original, is to escape from intellectual bondage and sterility, and to acquire a possibility of being superior. Novelty is an avenue to greater excellence : the enterprise may be unproductive, but it has the chance of success. Originality is not indeed always useful ; it may lead to error and vice, as well as to truth and virtue ; or rather, as wisdom is more rare than folly, the eccen tricities of the human mind will be oftener connected with mistake than with utility. But error leads ulti mately to truth ; and is the penalty which human DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 179 weakness must pay to attain it. No false opinion CHAP. can arise, but the vindictive feeling of existing habits ^^- is zealous to correct it. Providence allows licen- revival tiousness and despotism, prejudice and absurdity to literI'-^ conflict with each other, till they expire from their "^^^^ mutual wounds. Moderation then prevails from its norman necessity. Thejudgment of society extracts from the ^^^J^sr. opposing sentiments the good which they possess, and consigns the evil to oblivion. But the discussion puts the mind into activity, and the result carries human knowlege one step forward ; the reason is roused to look beyond its stationary habits, and new perceptions of truth always follow new exertions and new prospects. It is true, that in aiming to add new, original views to the human mind, more writers in sert into it new errors, than new truths. Men are eager to dart from the known to the unknown ; and to persuade themselves that they are the Columbuses who are destined to explore and to reveal what has been hidden to others. Hence new delusions and new mischiefs will multiply around us by those who fail ; even while great discoveries are attained by the better reasoning or more fortunate inquirers. Yet stfll tho individuals are injured by what deludes, the general progress of society is advanced by the in creasing spirit of investigation and improvement. The Greek literature had but small influence in England during the middle ages, because it was very little known or cultivated. Yet some few attended to it. In 1242, a Grecian priest had obtained a bene fice at St. Albans, and his society produced or ac celerated the study of it by our valuable bishop Grostete, who, by his assistance, translated the Tes tament of the twelve patriarchs from Greek into HISTORYOF ENGLAND. 180 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK Latiii.'* But the papal dififerences witli the Gi-eek ^^" patriarch, and some points of the opinions and ritual LITERARY of tlic Grcck church, kept tbe. clergy of Europe from cultivating connexions with Greece, and from learn ing its language." Hence the riches of its literature remained unknown, and, because unknown, unva lued; till the aggressions of the Turks on this longr declining nation, which had for some time become unworthy of its ancestors, roused a new sympathy In the western world in their concerns, fate and; fugi tives, which at length made the Grecian classics and fathers a very general study." " In the British Museum there is a MS. of this translation. Bib. Reg. 4. D, 7, in the hand-writing of Matthew Paris, who has noted tliat in 1242, the prelate made the translation, assisted by ' Clerico Newlao, ab EcclesisE, B. Albani beiieficiato, natione, ex. educutione Griecus.' MS. ib. " M. Paris states that in 1237, theinsolentia ofthe Greeks so exaspe rated the Pope and all the church, that it was the opinion and wish of many that an army of crusaders should have been directed against them, P- 437- " When in tbe year 1787 1 wrote the following lines, which were pub lished as part of the ' Hermitage,' in 1809, I had no expectation that I should have lived to have witnessed a revival of the ancient spirit, nor ill this year 1829, to have seen accomplished the actual independence of Greece, It was in noticing the blessings of constitutional liberty to England, that I added this despairing passage : Long has her spirit made our favor'd isle With valor, reason, arts, and virtue smile. In ancient days, far richer than the fleece, She charm'd the regions of immortal Greece, Alas, how fall'n I where now the Attic fire ? The Spartan firmness, and Ionia's lyre ? Dumb is that eloquence whose wond'rous flow, High-cultur'd Athens! aw'd thy tyrant foe. Fall'n are thy warriors ! fall'n thy pride of name! Fall'n is thy freedom, and with that thy fame ! No more in marble breathes the sculptur'd life; No wizard artist paints the patriot strife; No Homer chants the battle's proud array ; No patriot heroes emulate the lay : No sages moralize thy youthful hearts ; No genius from thy tomb, reviving, starts. In slavish ignorance thy myriads trail. Hear of their sires, and wonder at the tale' : AFTER THE NORMAN DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 181 At the time ofthe Norman conquest, originality of chap. mind, of reasoning and feeling, was become indis- ^^- pensable to human advancement ; the mind was in revival chains and ignorance, and wanted both light and • "J'.j,^^Y_" emancipation. By an admirable process, what was ture SO much needed, was successively attained. But the Latin literature most usefully preceded conquest. and accompanied the new improvements. These indeed could not have been acquired without it ; and when disclosed, were beneficially pursued, watched, directed, and disciplined by it. It would be absurd to forget or deny our first benefactors. The great intellectual want, after the Norman con- Vernacular quest, was that of an original vernacular literature, ^^111^^^ which would interest and educate the general mind for the of the.communlty; awaken its moral sympathies by improve- narratlve, fiction, and useful poetry ; instruct it by '"*"'• intelhgible pictures of life and manners ; bring the natural feelings into activity; and guide the human judgment to just determinations, and due apprecia tions of probity, decorum, honor, and tbe family cha rities of life, and that would connect acquired know lege with the existing world. It was the complaint of our great Alfred, that the learned Anglo-Saxons who had preceded him, would not translate the books they possessed, into their own language; and from this reason, when they died, they left the nation as ignorant as they found it." The learned Anglo- Normans were as unsocial ; they mastered their Latin Bask in the sun that warms their blood in vain, Or crouch in fear before the turban'd train. Oh ! till again thy sun of freedom rise. And independence call to high emprize ; No more thy children will awake the lyre. Nor teach the world again to rival and admire, " See Hist, Angl. Sax, v, 2, N 3 182 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK treasures, but they never made them the property ^^- of the public. That public, therefore, continued in literary Egyptian darkness, although its cathedrals and mo- ENcTrND,"^ .nasteries were illuminated.^* An attractive vernacular ^ — - — ' literature was the only vehicle of knowlege that the courtier, the lady, or the world at large, could comprehend. Popular instruction being thus wanted for popular improvement, vernacular composition, which all could understand, relish, study and imitate, in which the natural feelings could easily express themselves, and in which genius would find topics and modes of originality, which the scholastic tram mels suppressed — was that species of literature which was most essential to the evolution and the fertilization of the national mind. Poetry has the honor of having first produced it in England. The itinerant minstrels were the causing instruments, and a part of the lettered clergy the first eflfective agents, to introduce and diffuse it." " The same has been remarked of Germany, as Duclos quotes from J. Wahlius, whose words I will add : ' Accessit avaritia, sive ambitio monachorum ac sacerdotum, qui cumcuram disciplinarum atque artium, pessimo eorum saeculorum fato, inter claustra sua compegissent, studio et industria diflScultatem horroremque linguie alebant, ut absterritis a studio nobilibus, ipsi soli in aulis principum, eruditionis proemia et ho- nores venditarent.' Mem. Ac. v. 26. p. 279. " On the Anglo-Norman authors, who wrote in Latin, Tanner's Bibli otheca Monastica, which makes Leiand its text, exhibits a copious cata logue alphabetically arranged, and ample notices of their works. The works of Bale and Pitts, on our ancient authors, contain the earlier compilations. Dr. Henry's chapters, on the learning and the arts, are worth reading. For a more enlarged view of the literature of Europe during the middleages, Brucker, Muratori, and Tiraboschi, are of great value. Landi's neat work, drawn from the latter, preserves the principal circumstances in an intelligent style. The Italian Compendium, by the abati L. Zenoni, presents Tii'aboschi to us with much taste and judgment ; but it has no references, Mr. Berrington's History of the Lite rature of the Middle Ages, may be also read with pleasure, tho it wants a philosophical feeling. Guingene's Histoire Litteraire d'ltalie, and Sis- mondi's Works, will amply rewai-d perusal. The French literati are now publishing new works every year, on their ancient literature. Among these, MM. Roquefort, Renouard, Auguis, La Rue, and La Ravalliere, Depping, Prevost, and Meon, have recently distinguished themselves. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 103 KORMAN JONGLEURS AND MIN STRELS. CHAP. in. History ofthe Anglo-Norman Jongleurs and Minstrels. In tracing the history of the vernacular poetry of anglo- England, it will be useful first to consider the earliest state of those men who began the cultivation of this delightful art. In civflized ages, the poet, the musician, fbe singer and the actor, are distinct characters ; in the ruder periods of nations, they have been usually united. The aoidoi and rapsodoi of ancient Greece, the bards of Wales, the harpers and gleemen of the Saxons, the northern scalds, and the citharoedi ofthe Romans, were itinerant performers, who combined the arts of poetry, music, singing and gesticulation.' After the Norman conquest, the same class of men, with the same union of talents and performances, were frequent in England and Normandy, and long continued to be popular, under various denomina tions.'' It is probable, that as their numbers multiplied with the increasing population which favored them, some division of these variously-qualified individuals into distinct classes gradually took place. The com poser would be more rare than the performer, and the musician would become separated from the poet. ' Cassiodorus mentions a citbarcedus, ' learned in his art, who could delight with his face and hands as well as by his voice.' Var. I. 3. ep. 41. p. 64. ' Their Latin names are various — most commonly, histriones, jocula- tores, scurra!, mimi. But John of Salisbury adds, saliares, balatrones, Kmiliani, gladiatores, palestritae, gignadii, prEBStigiatores, malefici. De nugis Curial, 1, 1, c, 8, HISTORYOFENGLAND 184 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK These distinctions would be greater when part of '_ their fraternities chose to exhibit as jesters and merry- LiTERARY audrcws. In time, every means of popular excite ment that could obtain gifts or good cheer, and could be, in any way, connected with minstrelsy, was, to its great abuse and degradation^ successively con nected with it, till the profession became disreputable by its mercenary immoralities. In one of our earliest Anglo-Norman poems, we find them spoken of as chantur, fableier, jangleres; and menistre ; and their art is called janglerie.^ This author, tho a rhymer himself, yet being an ecclesiastic, he calls his itinerant brethren " the antichrist, per verting the age by their merry jangles.'' * He accuses them of getting the love of princes, and making them and prelates go astray.' He even classes these jan- gleors with liars, and declares that they will never acquire honor,* and that they wilfully sport with moral obligations and good sense.'^ ' Sanson de Nanteuil, in his Rhymes on the Proverbs of Solomon, in the British Museum, Harl. N° 4388, censures those who — — aiment seculer de lecheries de moiller d'oir chantur et fableier — et bevient vin de felonie d'oir fables et janglerie. The MS. from the autograph in one page, ' Jacobus rex Angliae,' appears to have belonged to our James I. ' Come li menistre antecrist sunt Ki per jangleis le secle veintrunt de deu les partirunt anceis parlur facunde e lor jangleis, — Ib. ^. Co redit de homejangleor . Ke de princes depart I'amur. Princes sunt evesques notd Et prelat d'eglise orden^ — Jangleres heom les fait irrer. — Ib. * Jangleres hom ne menteor Ne creistrunt ja a nul enor. — Ib. ¦'. Raisun e dreit part ne pot plus li heom ki de jangler ad us NORMAN JONGLEURS STRELS, DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, 185 Another rhyming moralist, who has left us one of Chap. our ancient Anglo-Norman poems, contemplates them ^^^' with an eye as intolerant, even while practising him- anglo- self the most important branch of their art, and wbich their popular use must have contributed so much to fj„" J^'**" improve, especially in its rhymes and rhythm. This author, forgetting their intellectual relationship to himself, seems to associate them in his mind with living devils, and forbids us to make or to attend to their romauns and fables.' By the phrases with which he connects them, he afterwards puts their jougler as attempting enchantment, and resembling sorcery and negromancy." He gives them various names : at one time, he speaks of luturs, and describes them. as making lutes and motuns, and playing with swords;" at another, time he calls them jougleours, menestrans, ribaus, and chuffurs ; fools, to whom it Jiigemeiit ne pot plus garder Kar tot li tolt sen sor parler Dreit tofne a tort par janglerie Et tort a dreit par felonie. — Ib. " Wilham de Wadigtoun, in his Manuel da Peche, MS, Harl, Lib, N° 4657 & 337- Pechur sunt ceus chatifs Bien le sachez a debles vifs Romauns fables e chanceurs Roteries e autres foiurs fere neoir a teusjurs Ne deit nule cum funt plusurs, ^ En sorceres ne an sorcerie Gardez vous ke vous ne creez mie — Cunter lur sorceries - E menuement lur folies Coe ne serroit fors jangler — Si vous unkes par folie Entre meistres de negromancie Ov feistis al deble facfie Ov enchantement par folie Ov a gent de cele mester Ren donastespur lur jougler.— Ib. '" Sachent pur veir les luturs Kylutes funt a tens jours Motuns mectent ov esp6e pendent.— Ib. HISTORYOFENGLAND. 186 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK was folly to be liberal." His phrases to express their ^^- performances also vary ; he sometimes calls it making LITERARY miustralcle and noiser.** He notices other diversions connected with their mirth ; but he condemns and pro scribes them all," especially if performed in churches or church-yards.''' In the free translation of this work, in 1 303, by Robert of Brunne, we find a more liberal feeling implied. He condemns the singing and dancing ; but it is when practised in church-yards, or on holy days :" it is the accompanying the jogelours hasa- doure or roture to the tavern, the devil's knife, which he blames.** In mentioning minstrels, he takes an opportunity of noticing how much the famous bishop Grostete loved to hear the harp ; that night and days " Si par foil argesce ren donastes A ions malement le emplaiastes Coe est a dire al jougleours Menestrans, ribaus ou chuffurs. — lb. " Sa raenestralcie yloke feseit Cum en autre lus fere soleit— le menestral oi noiser. " Muses e teles musardies Trepes, daunces, e teles folies — Si funt cettes li menestral. — Ib, " Karoles ne lutes ne deit nul fere En seint eglise ky me voiit crere Kar en cimitere karoler Et outrage grant ou luter. — Ib. " Roberd de Brunne dates his ' English Ryme' in 1 303. Gyf you make karol or play You halewyst not thyn balyday — KaroUes, wrastlynges or somour games Whosoever haunteth any swyche shames Yn cherche other yn cherchgerd — MS. Hari. N" 1701. " Gyf thou eitbyr wyth jogeloure With hasadoure or wyth roture liauntysl taverne or were to any pere to play at the ches or at the tablere — Taverne ys the devylys knife Hyt sletli the or soule or lyfe. — Ib. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, 187 he had solace of notes and lays; and that he taught chap, that the virtue of the harp was such as to destroy ^^l- even the power of Satan." These alterations shew, anglo- that the taste of the age had learnt to estimate poetry J'ong'leurs and music more justly, and to discriminate between and min- their merit and the consequences of their abuse- "trels. Our old satirist, who assumes the name of Piers Plouhman, is not so charitable. He treats with visi ble contempt the "japers and juglers, and janglers of gests." He describes them as haunters of taverns and common alehouses, amusing the lower classes with " myrth of mynstrelsy and losels tales." He brands them as tutors of " idleness, and the devil's deseours," who make their hearers, " for love of tales, in taverns to drink." He angrily declares, that "he is worse than Judas, that giveth a japer silver." '* The same venerable author gives us full informa tion of the " mynstrales" in his day. They are no ticed as playing on the tabret, the trumpet, the fiddle, the pipe, and the harp ; as singing with the giterne, dancing, leaping, and telling fair gestes." They knew how to make mirth. They invented foul fan- " He loved much to here the harpe for mannys wytte hytmakyth sharpe Neyr hys chaumbre besyde hys stody His harpers chaumbre was fast therby Many tymes be nygtys and dayys He had solace of notes and layys One asked hym onys resun why He hadde delyte in mynstralsy He answered hym on thys manere Why he helde the harper so dere The vertu of the harpe thurgh skylle and rygt Wyl destoye the fenues mygt. — Ib. " See the Visions of Piers Plouhman. " Ich can nat tabre ne trompe ne telle faire gestes — ne fithelyn at festes, ne harpen ; Japen ne jagelyn, ne gentelliche pipe ; nother sailen ne sautrien ne singe with the giterne, — Ib, p, 253. HISTORYOFENGLAND 108 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK tasies,''" played the fool, told lies, and made men ^^ kugh." They were rewarded with robes and furred LITERARY gowus, mautlcs and money.** The love of lords and ladies presented them with gifts and gold.*^ Yet the satirist unsparingly declares, that he who gave to them, sacrificed to devils.** It seems clear, from the accounts transmitted to us concerning them, that they were not undeservedly reprehended. Their obscene practices, and the pro fligate effect of their tales, are mentioned by John of Salisbury ; ** and as some of their contes have come down to us, we can have no difficulty in perceiving that while they were popular, the manners of society must have been gross and immoral. Hence, altho the more dissolute of the ecclesiastical body encouraged and rewarded them,** the sounder part of society pur sued thein with prohibitions and invectives, till they — . — . — ' " t ^ And sommes mui-the to make as mynstrals conneth. That wollen neyther swynke ne swete bote swery grete othes. And fyijde up foul fantesyes and foles hem maken, t And haven Witte at wylle to worche yf they wold.* - _ " - Piers Plouhman, p, 3, ."' Those thre manere mynstrales maken a man to lauke In'busdeth. — Ib. • =2 Ich am a mynstrale — And fewe robes ich fange other forrede gounes, Wolde ich lye and do men lauke, theniie lachen ich shulde Mantels other moneye among lords minstrales. — Ib. 253. ^ And alle manere mynstrales men wot wel the sot he — For the lordes love and ladies that thei with lengen — Gyven hem gyftes aqd gold. — Ib, 154. " Qui histrionibus dat, demonibus sacrificat. — Ib. '^ ' Adeo error invaluit, ut a prseclaris domibus non arceantur, etiam illi qui obscEenis partibus corporis, oculis omnium, earn ingerunt turpidi- nem quam erubescat videre vel cynicus.' — De nug. Cur. I 1. c. 8. ^ We have a remarkable instance of this, cited by M. Duclos in his Memoire sur les jeux sceciques. Hist. Ac. Insc. t. 26. p.. 363. The Statutes ofthe count of Thoulouse in 1233, state, that the monks at cer tain seasons of the. year sold their wine witliin their monastery, and for a small sum admitted or introduced personas turpes, inhonestas, viz. jocu- latores, histriones, talorum lusores, et publicas meretrices, quod arctius piqhibenius," See Dii Chesne, v, 3. p. 819. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 189 were at last driven from the more respectable walks CHAP. of life to the lower orders. Their irregularities be-: '_ came then more rude and offensive, till their order anglo- . „ . . NORMAN expired amid the general contempt of an improving jongleurs nation. ^''"' "'"" STRELS. . They vvere however once so esteemed, that we read' ' — -^ — ' both of the king's minstrels and the queen's min strels,*' and they had the dignity among the fraternity called the King of the Minstrels.*® But their success increased their depreciation ; for it excited others to pursue the casual pleasures of a vagrant life under the pretence of minstrelsy— a practice that became so mischievous, as to occasion an order from Edward II. that none should resort to the mansions of the pre lates, earls, and barons, unless they were actually minstrels.*® The minstrels usually travelled in companies, sing ing every variety of lays, practising on all instru ments of sound that were then known f and exerting " P. Plouhman says — Clerkus and knyghtes wolcometh kynges mynstrales For love of here lordes lithen hem at feastes. In the reign of Edward I. we find Guillos de Psalteron called a minsti-el ofthe queen. Rot, Gard. p. 7. =» He is mentioned in the 5 Edward I, in the MS, Cott. Vesp. c. 16. ^ See Edward's order, dated 1315, printed by Hearne, in his Leiand Collect, vol, 6, p. 36. Their number is implied by this sentence : — ' And of these minstrels that there come none except it be, three or four min strels of the honor at the most in one day, unlesse be be desired of the lord of the house.' — The penalties for offending were, ' at the firste tyme he to lose his miustrelsie, and at the second tyme to forsweare his craft.' '" Wace describes them at Arthur's banquet in some detail : Mult ost a la cort jugleors, Chanteors et rumentours. Mult poissez oir chancons Rotuenges, et voialx sons. Vileors, lais et notez, Lais de vieles, laiz de rotez; Lais de harpezj laiz de fietalz, Ljres, tempes, et chalemealx ; Sym- HISTORYOF „„„;„j.„ 31 ENGLAND 190 HISTORY OP ENGLANP, BOOK all the methods that fancy, frolic, and depravity had ^ invented to excite tbe attention, interest the feelings, LiTECARY and stimulate the liberality of the different classes of society." The traits already alluded to, are noticed in many ancient authors. We find them sometimes in a bishop's house, amusing him in his private life, during his hours of repast, by playing on instruments of music after he had said his grace ; '* or they were admitted after the tables were removed, and even in the presence of majesty, to furnish their addition to the stately entertainment,^^ Sometimes relating tales, pathetic or ludicrous ; sometimes diffusing flatteries on the actions of the great ; they were every where Symphoniez, psalterions ; Monacors, des cymbes, chorons; Assez i ot tregetours, Joierresses et joicors. — Brut. MS. See Mr. Ellis' comments on this passage, I Spec, Poet. p. 48. " Ou the last stage ofthe minstrels, see the latter part of Mr. Ritson's Dissert, on Romance and Minstrelsy, prefixed to his Metrical Romances, vol, 1. ^' Ly eveske ses mains laveit, E al manger se aturneit, Apres coe k'il fu assis, E pain esteit devant ly mis, Kant la benison dust doner, Le Menestral oi noiser, — VVad, Man. MS. Chaucer says. At every course came loude minstralcie. p. 28. ^ Quand les tables ostees furent, Ciljugleuren pies esturent. Sont vielles et liarpes prises. Chansons, sons, lais, vers et reprises: Et de geste chants nos ont. — Tournam. d'Antech, Fauchet, p. 72. So Chaucer describes them : And so befell that after the third course While that this king sit thus in his noblav, Hearkning his minstrals her things play, ' Before him at his boord deliciously, p. 23. Thus the Roman d'Alexandre, Quand li rois ot mangle s'apella Helinand Pour li esbanoier comanda que il chant.— -Du Cange Min. NORMANJONGLEURS DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 191 welcome.'* The moralist wished their melodies to be CHAP connected with sacred subjects.^' But their harvest ^^^- was either more plentiful or more grateful from meaner anglo- practices. Hence they vaulted over ropes on horse back, like our present tumblers ; '" they played with and min the pendent sword ; " they taught animals to perform various tricks ; and they imitated the notes of birds.'* They practised all the arts of buflfoonery, which were calculated to attract to them money, dresses, or feasting.^ Sometimes they are described as attending the courts of princes in bodies, and obtaining gifts of gold and silver, horses, and costly garments."" Their merry and licentious life, and the reputation and pa tronage they enjoyed, often attracted many, and at ^' Cliaucer says. And jestours that telleu tales Both of wepyng and of game. — The minister of Richard I. even hired them to sing his praises in the streets. Hoved. ** Brunne allows us to hear minstrelsy on religious themes : Yn harpe, yn thabour, and symphangle, Wurschepe God yn troumpes and sautre, Yq cordys, an organes and bellys ryngyng, Yn al these wurschepe ge beveues kyng, Gyf ye do thus, Y sey hardly. We mow hero gour mynstralsy. — Brunne MS. * Albericus, in 1237, among the performances of the minstrels, men tions that one, in equo super chordam in aere saltavit, — Du Cange, voc. Min. " See before, note 10. So Wace says that Taillifer threw up his sword. MS. " King Alphonso mentions jongleurs, qui font sauter des singes, des boucs ou des chiens ; qui contrefont les oiseaux. Hist. Troub. 2. p. 366. ^ The worthy Strutt has collected many particulars on the ancient gleemen, minstrels, &c. and given some curious plates of them, in his Sports and Pastimes, p, 1 58- 188. *° Rigordus mentions, with great indignation, that he had seen princes give vestments most skilfully embroidered with various devices of flowers, which had cost 20 or 30 marcs of silver, to these minstrels, whom he very sincerely calls the Devil's ministers. De Gest. Phil, p, 178, HISTORYOFENGLAND. 192 . HISTORY OF ENGLAND, Z BOOK tiines even some of the superior ranks, to join their _^ society."' LITERARY In somc of the Troubadours we have a full account of the talents that were expected from the reputable jongleurs of their fraternities.''* From one of them we learn, that their patrons had become critical on their merits, and that while excellence was rewarded with peculiar liberality, inferior pretensions were neglected.'" But In the Provencal regions, and among their poets and musicians, the Troubadour was dis tinguished from the joglar or jongleur. The latter were rather the musicians and attendants to the former."* The art of jongleur is expressly marked as inferior to the profession and character of the Trou badour.'*'' But some Troubadours chose to unite both *' In one of the Tableaux noticed by Fauchet, a Vavasor's wite is intro duced as very earnestly dissuading him from becoming ministrier. p.75. *^ Giraud de Cabreira, in his instructions to his jongleur, reproaches him for playing badly on tlie violin, and singing indifferently — for his inability to dance or jump like the jongleurs of Gascony^for giving them only dull pieces, and not those of the celebrated Troubadours — and for being igno rant of the histories and tales with which the jdngleui-s amused the great, 2 Hist. Troub. 496..^Giraud de Calanson tells the jongleur he is instruct ing, ' Sache bien trouver et bien rimer, bien parler, bien proposer un jeu parti! Sache jouer du tambour et des cimballes, et faire retentir la sym- phouie. Sache Jeter et retenir de petites pommes avec des couteaux, imi- ter le chant des oiseaux, faire des tours avec des corbeilles, faire attaques des chateauxyfaire sauter au travels de quatre cerceux : jouer de la citale et de la mandore, manier la manicarde et laguitare; garnir la roue avec dix sept cordes; jouer de la harpe et bien accorder la gigue pour egayer I^air du psalterion. Jongleur tu feras preparer ueuf instrumens de dix cordes. Si tu apprends a eu bien jouer ils fourniront a tous les besoins,' 2 Hist. Troub, 32. ¦" Giraud de Calanson, p. 33. *¦* The jongleurs were most commonly attached to the Troubadours, followed them into the oastle, and chanted theirverses for them. Thus it is said of Giraud de Borneil, ' He went to courts, and led with him two chantador?, who sang his songs.' MS. Roy. in Renouard, Poes. Troub. V. 2. p. 1,59. Fabre d'Olivet aptly remarks, ' The jongleur had the same rank with, the Troubadour, as the squire had to the knight,' v. l. P- 138. ¦" Thus it is said of the Troubadour Gaucelin Faidit, ' Fes se Jot- GLAji per ochaizo qu'el perdet a joe tot son aver a joe de datz.' ' Be cause he had lost at play,'at the game of datz, all that he had, he became ajotglar,' MS. Roy. 7698, Raym. p. 162. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 193 these professions or accomplishments.*" We find that chap. even those meant to be scholars, occasionally re- ^^^• nounced the serious studies of the ecclesiastical anglo- seminaries for the pleasures and business of ion- *'°'^'"^^ .1 . JONGLEUR glery. The jongleurs were at times so clever as to and min- compose poems themselves,** and even to be raised 1^*^^"" . to the dignity of knighthood.** As society advanced to larger improvements and wiser mind, the jon gleur became less necessary to the amusement of mankind, or less compatible with their other occu pations. They became also too numerous for their general benefit,'" and some of the Troubadours en- *^ Hugues de Pena was one of these. ' He became a joglar and sang well, and could sing many songs of other persons,' MS, Roy, 159; and V.5. p. 22. *' The Provenyal MS. mentions this of Hugues de St. Cyr, ' His friends wished to make him a clerc, and sent him to the school of Mont- pellier; but when they thought he was learning letters, he learnt songs and verses; sirventes, tensons and couplets, and the feats of valiant men and of applauded ladies, and devoted himself to joglari.' Raym, v. 5. p. 223; and V. 2. p. 159. His dialogue with his patron the count of Rhodes, shewed that he had profited by the profession, but with some question as to his gratitude. Hugues said to the count, ' Be not afraid, I have not come to you now to ask any thing of you ; I have as much as I want; but I see that you are in need of money, and that it would be a great charity to give you some.' The count answered, ' I have seen you here naked and miserable, and I am very sorry that I send you away wealthy. You have cost me more than two archers and two knights would have done. Yet if I were novv to give you a palfrey, I am sure you are the very man who would take it,' S. Palaye Troub. v. 2. p. 175. ¦*' Thus the Provenp al MS. remarks of Pistoleta, ' He was cantaire of Arnaud de Marnoil, and then became Trobaire and made songs and pleasing airs.' — So Aimeri de Saerlat : ' He made himself a joglar, and was very subtle in declaiming and understanding poems, and became Trobaire.' MS. Raym. 7225. v. a. p. 160. '"' The same MS, notices this elevation of Perdigons, ' He became joglar, and knew well to play on the viol and to trobar. The dauphin of Auvergne made him his knight and gave him land and rents.' Raym. 160. —So when the marquis of Mountserrat, after taking Constantinople in 1204, formed the kingdom of Thessalnnica out of his portion of the spoil, he made his joglar Rainbaud de Vaqueiras a knight, 'fets lo cavallier,' and gave hira large lauds and rents in his kingdom of Salonica,' MSS. 7614. Raym. l6l. '" Thus Pierre d'Auvergne satirizes Eleaz Gaumas, because ' from being a knight he chose to make himself a jongleur. ' Evil be to hira that gave him the green garments. It would have been better to have burnt Vol. IV. O HISTORYOFENGLAND. 194 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK deavored to depreciate them.'' Hence, before thd ^^- thirteenth century closed, their general popularity LITERARY bcgau to IcssBu. The great withdrew their patronage, or applied it to persons and subjects which had become more beneficial and more reputable. The later Troubadours and jongleurs felt, lamented, and reviled this change of taste, but could not arrest the mutation. In 1270, one of them exclaims, " Is a song obscure and highly valuable, few understand it ; is it perspicuous, it is not valued. The profession is treated as a folly ; and I cannot think it otherwise, when I see it so little honored. Cursed be he that taught me the art of verse !" '* They sometimes se verely satirized each other.'^ While the mass of society was ignorant, they were at the head of its intellectual cultivation, and assisted to educate their countrymen; as the general mind Improved, their defects and vices became more visible and more repulsive. Mental occupation of a superior order improved tbe leisure of the great and studious. The minstrel became more degenerate as he was less valued, until at last he was proscribed as a useless and corrupting vagabond. Attempts were made to rouse them to aim at moral him, because there are near a hundred who have taken up that trade.' S. Pal. Troub. v. 2. p. 24. From the satire of the Moine de Montaudon, we learn that a ' bourgeois se fit jongleur,' and yet carried on trade, V. 3- P- 172. " The fourth is Breval Limousin. ' Of all the bad jongleurs between this place and Beneventim, he is the least so. — But he resembles a sick pil grim, who sings to please the mob, — I almost pity him.' Ib. v, 23. °' Giorgi a Troubadour, in one ofhis Sirventes, p. 361, " See Pierre d'Auvergne's Sirvente against 12 Troubadours, 2 Hist. Troub. 22-25. Some one returned him the comphment: ' Pierre d'Au vergne sings like a frog in a marsh, and yet goes about boasting that he has no equal. He ought to have some one to explain his verses, for no one can understand them,' — Ib. 26. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 195 utility''* — the object most worthy of a thinking being, CHAP. compatible with the finest taste and the truest plea- ^^^- sures, and giving to these a meaning and a sanction anglo- which both hallow and redouble them ; but the min- fo'iTf^EURs strel and the jono'leur were not found to be improvable *'^° ^'^^- ST U ELS beings, and therefore the world hailed and encou- > ^-^ raged the cultivation of their most Intellectual quali ties by another order of men, whom Ave next proceed to notice, and who have created or revived for mo dern society, that species ofcomposition which seems to be the most connected with refinement of taste, true sensibility, elegant recreation, and high culti vation of mind and manners. Such are the effects of genuine poetry. It civilized Greece — it bas po lished Europe — it may yet, from the lyre of some future Shakspeare or Milton, moralize the world. But to produce this noble eflfect, it must itself be moral. And why should genius at any time forget, that the poetry which elegant taste, virtuous feeling, and enlightened reason, must condemn, and which for the improvement and happiness of mankind must be exploded, is one of the worst enemies of human society ; and the surest, tho insidious, destroyer of national greatness, by the depravation of the Indivi dual minds whose soundness, energy and rectitude, are wanted to uphold it? '^ ^' See Giraud Riquier's Supplication au Roi de Castile un nomdes jon gleurs, 2 Hist. Troub. 357 ; and the king Alphonso's interesting answer, p. 364-372- ^ Mr. Warton has collected several instances of the payments made to minstrels, for their performances on the chief Saint days and other fes tivals at the Augustine Priory of Bicester, in Oxfordshire, in 1431 ; at Mactoke, in Warwickshire, during Henry VI.; and at Winchester Col lege, between 1464 and 1484. Vetl. 1, p. 93-5. The Minstrels seem to have stood high in the opinion of Henry V. if we may judge from his re muneration given to one of them, as his inducement or reward foraccom- panying him on his French expedition. ' To John Clyff, one of the king's O 2 196 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK VI. LITERARY HISTORYOFENGLAND. minstrels, security by indentureybr, his wages, 3. Hen. 5. in his war against France. A reading desk of silver over gilt; the foot of it in the fashion of a tabernacle, standing on four feet, ' Two ewers of silver gilt; one enamelled with the arms of England and France, the other with hearts. A table with sundry relics therein, standing on two lions, weighing toge ther 261b. 30Z. ; value ofthe lb. 40s. One great bowl, 3 candlesticks, with 3 pipes, a great silver spoon, a skimmer, and other plate, weigh ing together 19 lb.; value the lb. 30s. Redeemed from his executors, 12 Hen. 6,' Nicolas, Agincourt, 53. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, 197 CHAP. IV. History ofthe Anglo-Norman Vernacular Poetry — Philippe du Than — Sanson — Wace — Gaimar — Beneoit. Ire origin of vernacular poetry in Europe, must anglo be ascribed to its itinerant minstrels. Among their diversified companies, which in their various classes comprised all the amusive powers, popular feelings, and cultivated talent of the day, some must have been capable of better things than mechanical repetitions of favorite airs or fantastic mummery. The dull or vulgar jongleurs may have been but jesters, mounte banks or fiddlers ; but they who could compose songs and satires, and " tell faire gestes and tales both of weeping and of game," must have cultivated the talents of invention and composition. At first indeed the composer sang and played, and the songster com posed ; bnt as the art improved, the musician be^ came separated from the poet. As they aimed to please, and lived by pleasing, Univer- their topics were always the most popular of the day. the min- In tbe barbarous ages of eternal battle, war and s"<^' '^y' rapine were their themes.' When religion became cultivated, the praises of the saints were added.^ Love-songs, tales of all sorts, legends, lies, histories. ' As the songs of the Northern scalds, so often quoted by Snorre ; and the poems of Aneurin, Llywarch Hen, Meilyr, Gwalchmai, and Cynddelw, printed in the Welsh Archaiology, vol. 1. ' Ord. Vit. mentions of a St. William, that vulgo canitur a jocula- toribus de illo cantilena, p, 598, O3 198 BOOK VI, LITERARY HISTORYOF ENGLAND. Their cor ruptions HISTORY OF ENGLAND, and bacchanalian airs, all took their turn,* Their subjects were adapted to their company; and as the clergy were as fond of their performances as the barons, and the monastery had as good cheer and as rich presents to give as the castle, the taste and patronage of the religious were at times as eagerly consulted and obeyed as that of their secular neigh bors. Hence all sorts of composition became fami liar to the versifying wanderers — the grave as well as the gay ; the religious as well as the risible ; the warlike, the jovial, and the amatorlal. But as all the public amusements of those days beyond the warlike pastimes, centered in these va grants, their popularity alarmed the infant moral sense of society, beginning to civilize, to a perception of their dissolute habits and indecent exhibitions. Profit ing more by inflaming the worst passions of man, than by addressing his better feelings, their performances were so licentious and so seductive, as to rouse the hostility of the wiser part of the nation.* Councils issued decree after decree, to prohibit the ecclesiastics from frequenting their society ;° and such were their attractions, that It was even found necessary to forbid ' See Wace's account of the minstrels' songs at the court of Arthur, cited before, p, 189. He adds, Le uns descent contes et fables Auquant demandoent dez et tables.- — Ellis, p. 49. Denis Pyramis says, Lirey li prince e li courtur Cunt, Barun, e Vavasur, Ayment cuntes, chanceurs e fables E bon diz qui sunt delitables. MS. Cott. Lib. Domit. A 11. ¦¦ Even Charlemagne, who loved the ancient songs ofhis countrymen, yet brands these popular vagrants as viles personae, who ought not to have the right of accusing — as infamis maculis aspersi; id est, Histriones, ac turpitudinibus subjectas personal, Capit, Baluz, t. 1, col. 229, ° See the councils quoted in the Memoire of Duclos, p. 359. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 199 priests and monks from practising, not only their art, chap. but its most obnoxious exertions." The theological ^^ writers also pursued them with invectives.'^ But laws anglo- and sermons are feeble, while the taste is gross, and ^^r^^^ the manners are corrupt. The pleasing arts and cular ribaldry of the minstrels won the ear, delighted the ^^"^JL leisure, and seduced even the imitation of the great- Kings, barons, prelates, and ladies, invited, rewarded, and emulated them.* The minstrels in their turn en deavored to revenge themselves on those clergy who discountenanced them ; and contes devots abounded, satirizing the vices, and ridiculing the persons, the tenets and the customs, of the ecclesiastical body.* This mutual exposition of each others faults, in creased the moral criticism of society on both. But it is impossible to suspend the charms of nar rative fiction, or to destroy the magical effects of lan guage arranged musically into rhythm. The verbal melody arising from rhyme and metre, has in all its ^ ' We absolutely forbid the ministers of the altar, and monks, turpis verbi vel facti joculatorem esse — Clericos scurriles et verbis turpibus jo- culares ab ofiBcio detrahendos.' Bal. Capit. t. l. col. 1202, 1207. ' Thus Agobard calls them turpissimos que et vanissimos joculatores. De Dup. Eccl. ap. Du Clos. p. 360. M. Caylus confesses, in his. Me moire on the Fabliaux, that he cannot excuse nor render public 'I'obsce- nit^ de leurs contes.' Mem. Ac. Inscr. t. 34. p. 1 16. " Denis Pyramis begins his Life of king Edmund with a palinodia on his former conduct in imitating these minstrel lays — Mult ay use cum pechere Majfie en trop fole maniere ; E trop ay use ma vie En peche e en folie, Kant CQurte hautey pf les curteis, Si fesei lesservienteis, Chanceurs ettes rymes saluz Entre lesdrues e les druz Mult me penay de teles vers fere. MS. Domit. All, " Some of these Le Grand has published, which sufficiently shew both the wit and malice of the lay fableur. 04 200 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK forms of collocation, and in every country, beer ^^- found to delight the mind as irresistibly, as the chords LITERARY aud symphonlcs of the harp, the viol, and the lute en"land.^ have gratified the ear, induce — ' ^'^^ perception of this effect in themselves, and the the clergy observation of its influence over others, led some o: vernacular the clergy to feel that the popularity of poesy was noi poetry, ^q |jg extinguished by denunciatory ordinances oi angry censures.'" A wiser plan was conceived, thai of combining the delight with utility, the amusemen' with innocence. Taught by a happy taste, they savs at last the possibility of separating the poet from the minstrel, as well as from the musician — of cultivating that art in the study and in the cloister, which was so popular in the festive hall and in the streets; and of connecting it with better subjects than the adula tions and topics that pleased at the banquet, or the licentiousness and bufibonery that excited and in jured the populace." We cannot now distinguish the individuals who began this revolution in literary composition and public taste. It required much courage in the firsl adventurers. The study of the Roman classics had made Latin versification such a prevailing passion. '" Denis Pyramis confesses tbe attraction of these poetical compo sitions : E les vers sunt mult amez E en ces riches curtes loez ; — E si en est ele mult lo^e, E la ryme par tut am^e Kar mult I'ayment, si lunt mult cher, Cunt, barun e chivaler. — MS. Ib. " With this motive Denis Pyramis wrote, and from this motive claims the attention of the great: Rei dunt prince e empereur, Cunt, barun, e vavasur Deuvent bien a ceste oeuvre entendre, Kar bon ensainple ill purrunt prendre. MS, Ib. DURING THE MIDDLE AGKS, 201 that the first clerk who wrote native rhymes must have chap. endured great contempt for his illiterate habit, and ^^- perhaps some obloquy for imitating the lays of the anglo- NORMAN discredited minstrel, vpt>v.VERNA- The Anglo-Saxon clergry had favored the custom ; cular POETRY and our Alfred, in his metrical translations of the ' — v— ^ poetry of Boetius, gave a noble example of its prac ticability and merit,''* But the literature ofthe Anglo- Saxons perishing, from their sensuality, their efforts were forgotten in the general contempt of their Cout querors, both for their manners and language. It was among the Anglo-Norman clergy, and from In the the patronage of the Anglo-Norman ladies, that our He^iJl-y i. first national poetry, distinct from minstrel recitation, arose. The reign of our Henry I. was the sera of its appearance,, and either England or Normandy its birth-place. His first queen, Mathilda, was fond of poems, made not by minstrels, but by scholars ; " and as it is impossible to suspect her of knowing Latin, they must have been written in the language of her husband and his court, which she understood ; this was the Anglo-Norman. That this vernacular poetry was cultivated in Henry's court, we have the most de cisive evidence, from a specimen of it yet existing, our earliest, which is addressed to his second queen, Adeliza." Thus we may infer, that Henry's fondness for letters excited his queens to cultivate a literary taste ; and that the impossibility of their having it '= See Hist. Ang. Sax. on Aldhelm's songs ; on the Saxon Judith ; on Cedraon ; and on Alfred's poetry. " From the account of Malmsbury, of her patronage, these clerical poets seem to have been numerous : Inde liberalitate ipsius per orbem sata, turmatim hue adventabant scholastici cum cantibus, tum versibus famosi, felicem que putabant, qui carminis novitate' aures inulceret do minie. Hist. p. 164 " See further, note 25. HISTORYOFENGLAND. 202 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK but from compositions which they could understand ^^- induced the clergy to apply themselves to vernaculai LITERARY poctry. The royal patronage and necessities, and the taste of the female sex, raised poetry from the poUu tions of the minstrel, who sang to live, and therefore sang as the gross taste of a gross vulgar required, tc the cultivation of studious men, whose taste the Lafir literature had refined, whose memory its recordec facts had stored, whose emulation was kindled by its ancient reputation, and who sought for lettered fame by respectable composition. Popularity Vernacular poetry once esteemed in the highe] works. circles of life, could not fail to be generally attrac tive.'' The human heart loves virtue, tho it maj falter in practising it. The mind tends to good taste and judgment, tho it may be withheld, by op posing circumstances, from acquiring them. Hence the clerical versifier became more encouraged than the minstrel, by the intellectual and the respectable, Even they who read the immoral composition, cannol but despise its author. Tho men may practise vice, no man has respected the vicious. Therefore as soor ¦as society found presented to its option, poetry more " Denis Pyramis, after mentioning tbe roman of Parthenope, Cil ki Partonope trova e ki les vers fist e ryma — and Marie's lays, E Dame Marie autrefi Ki en ryme fist e basti — again mentions the ^pularity of this vernacular poetry. He says o counts, barons and knights, e si en ayment mult I'escrit, e lire le funt, si unt debt; e si les funt sovent retraire. So of ladies, Les lays soleient as dames plere; De joye les oyent e degre, Quil sunt sulun lur volente, — MS, Ib, POETRY, DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, 203 useful and more creditable than the licentious songs chap. of the minstrels, the improved taste of tbe nation ^^¦ liberally encouraged it. The new poetry found am- anglo- ple patronage, and the patronage multiplied both verna-"^ the new rhymers and their works.'" Wace, a canon cular of Bayeux, and one of the most prolific rhymers that ever practised the art, states expressly, that his works were composed for the " rich gentry who had rents and money." "^ He prudently reminds the great, that unless " par clerc" their actions were recorded, their celebrity could have no duration ; '* and he takes care to inform them, that they who wrote " gestes and histories" had always been highly honored and be loved," and that barons and noble ladies had often '^ The clerical poets took high ground : they declared their works to be essential to the formation of reputable character. Thus Beneoit, in his rhymed chronicle of Normandy : Oir veeir, apprendre faire Retenir, ourer e retraire, Senz ceo ne puet de nul eage, Nuls estre pruz, vaillant, ne sage ; Tels sunt afaitee e curteis ; E maistre des arz e des leis. Si ne fust buens enseignement Doctrine oirs retenement. Qui fussent sans discretion, Vilain, senz sen e sanz raison. Therefore He — al soverein e al meillur Escrif, translat, truis e rimei. MS, Harl, N° 1717, " Jeo parout a la riche gent, Ki unt les rentes a le argent, Kar pur eus sunt li livre fait ; E bon dit fait, e bien retrait. MS, Bib. Reg. 4. c. 11, '° Bien entend conuis e sai Que tuit murrunt, e clerc, e lai; E que mult ad curte decree. En pres la raortlur renum^e; Si par clerc ne est mis en livre, Ne poet par el dureement vivre, — MS, Ib. '" Mult soelent estre onur^, E mult preise, e mult am^ ; Cil ki les gestes escrivieient, E ki les estoires treiteient. — MS, Ib. HISTORYOF ENGLAND 204 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK given handsome presents, to have their names com- ^^- memorated,'"' The clergy thus aiming at the remu- LiTERARY ucration for which the minstrels sang, we shall not be surprised that they also sometimes took their subjects from the songs of the itinerant jongleurs, and revived them in a superior style. This fact is avowed in the preface to one of the romans on Charlemagne;'" and also in the Roman du Florimont.*'' The conse quence of the clergy making these compositions was, that narrative poetry, or, what was believed to be so, and written as such, became soon a respectable, a highly valued and an improving art, operating '" Suvent aveient des barruns, E des nobles dames beaus duns. Pur mettre lur nuns en estoire. Que tuz tens mais fust de eus memoire. — MS. Ib. °' One of the romans on Charlemagne, in rhyme, Brit. Museum, Bib! Reg. 15. E 6. explicitly stateSiThata Clerc had composed and revived it from a chanp on of a jongleour — Or entendez seigneurs, que Dieu vous benie, Le glorieulx du ciel, le filz saincte Marie, Uneyiancon de moult grant seigneurie Jugleurs la chantent e ne la scevent mie Moult a este perdue picca ne fu ouye Ung Clerc la recouvret que Jbu Crist benye Les vers en a escrips, tout e la restablie, Savez on les trouva dedens une abbaye. — MS. ^' This was written by Aymes de Florimont. He says he has said it as he found it written, or as he took it from good Trouveurs : Don roy Florimont vous ai dit Ce quejeii ai trouv^ escript; Or pii a ceuz qui oi lont E as bons trouveurs qui sont. MS. Hari. N° 3983, That the minstrels had composed romans ou the subjects which the clerical rhymers so prodigiously expanded, the Chronicon du Guesclin states — Qui veut avoir renom des bons et des vaillons, II doit aler souvent a la pluie et au charaps, Et estre en la bataille, ainsy que fu RoUans; Les quatre fils Haimon et Charlon liplus grans; Li diis Lions de Bourges, et Guion de Connans, Perceval li Gallois, Lancelot et Tristans, Alixandres, Artus, Godefroy li sachans, De quoy cits menestriers font les nobles romans. Du Gauge, voc, Minist, DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, 205 powerfully in augmenting the intellectual cultivation Chap. ofthe people, iv. It is a question that tasks our ingenuity to solve : anglo- How came the Scandinavian Normans, who settled !!°!"'^'^ ¦' VERNA- themselves in Normandy, with their Norwegian or cular Icelandic speech, to abandon this so entirely, and to ^ — -, " ¦ adopt that dialect of the Roman popular language which appears in the Anglo-Norman poems, so com pletely, as that this alone became the vernacular tongue both of their court and country, at the period ofthe Norman conquest? We can only thus explain it. The Romans had so completely conquered and colonized Gaul, that its Celtic language gave way in most parts to a Patois Latin, which was the general language there until the Franks became its masters. They came with their Franco-Theotisc tongue ; but altho they converted the name of the country from Gaul to France, they did not impress their German speech on the people at large. The Roman Patois maintained its ground in the south of France, in the regions on the Mediterranean : and when the German portion of Charlemagne's great empire separated from the French sovereign's, the Latin Patois obtained in time such an ascendency, that It was adopted for ever by the court and nobility of France, It was the popular speech of Normandy when RoUo invaded ; and the number of his soldiers and chiefs was so small, compared with the people over whom they became the temporal lords, that policy and convenience induced the Norman dukes, his successors, to learn and patronize the popular tongue ; henCe this became the general language of Normandy, and was brought as such by the conqueror into England, We see it in its earliest form in his 20@ HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK VI. LITERARY Philipdu Than's poems. laws, and in the poems which we are about to men tion of Phillippe du Than, and we see its rapid improvement after it was used for poetry, in the "'t?f»T smooth and fluent works of Wace, Beneoit, and ' - — ' Gaimar. The most ancient specimens of the vernacular poetry of the Anglo-Norman clerks, are the two poems by Phillippe du Than, which may be placed about 1 1 20. They contain nearly 1 8oo lines, rhymed in the middle.'** His first, entitled ' De Creaturis,' he sent to his uncle, the chaplain of the seneschal of Henry I., for his correction.** Besides its rhymes, there is a rhythm in the cadence of his lines, which shews the infant state of the French heroic verse. It treats on the days ofthe week; on the months; on the signs of the zodiac ; at some length on the moon ; and on the ecclesiastic periods of the year ; from most of which he draws a fanciful allegorical signification. His second he names ' Bestiarius,' and addresses it to the ' mult bele femme,' the queen Aliz," the se cond wife of Henry I. Its subjects are, beasts, birds, and precious stones. The first are subjected to us, and are therefore symbols of obedience, and conse quently denote our childhood ; the second fly naturally *" MS. Cotton Library, Nero, A, 5. — This and some other of the Anglo- Norman poets remained unnoticed in the British Museum, till the Abbe de la Rue saw and described them. See his papers, published by the Antiquarian Society, in the Archaeologia, vols. xii. & xiii. '¦' Philippe du Thaun ad fait une raisun. A sun uncle I'enveiet, que amender la deiet. Si rien iad mesdit ne en fait ne en escrit. A unfrei de Thaun, le chapelain Yhun, E seneschal du rei icho vus de par jnei. — MS. Nero. '" Philippe du Thaun en franceise raisun, Ad estrait bestiare un livere de grammaire. Pur louur d'une geme ki mult est bele femme. Aliz est num^e, reine est corunfie. Reine est d'Engleterre, sa ame nait ja gueie. — MS. Ib. IV. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 207 into the air, and thus designate men who meditate chap. heavenly things ; the last are of themselves perma nent and unchangeable, and such will be the ineffable Deity to us when we hymn in his presence, and amid the glory of his assembled saints. In this he quotes several times ' Phisiologus,"'® and at others, a work called Bestiarium ; '" another which he named Lapidaire^ and Isidorus.*' These works are all still in existence. The Bestiaire is a Latin work remaing still in MS. which I have not yet seen.*" But the Phisiologus is connected with some other subjects of curious in* quiry, and therefore demands a particular notice. It is the performance of one Theobald, of whom, all that we know Is from the titles prefixed to the different ]\ISS. of the works.*' In one in the British Museum,*'' he ends with naming himself ' Tebaldi.' =* Thus, ' Phisiologus del Egle dit plus.' — MS. p. 67. ' Et Phisiologus dit que Caladrius.' — p. 68. And in other places, to which I do not find corresponding ones in The- bald ; as on the ' Feuix,' p. 70, and ' Cocodrill,' p. 50. " ' Delui dit Bestiaire, chose que mult est maire.' — MS. p. 70. ' En un livre dit du grammaire, que nous apelum Bestiaire.' MS,p,8o, "' Ou the precious stones, he thus begins : ' Ke plus volt savoir de ces pierres, lur vertuz et lur maneres ; Si all lire de Lapidaire que est escrit du grammaire.' MS. p. 80. ^ As on the dove, ' Uns colums est ceo dit Ysidre en sun escrit,' — p, 72. He also cites Solomon on tbe ant; ' I ceo de Salemun del furmie par raisun,' — p. 52. And in other places. In his first poem, he quotes Johannes de Garlandia, Hilperic, Turkil, and Nambroet, La Rue, Arch, v, 12. p. 302. *" M. La Rue mentions, that Mr. Douce has a MS, copy of it in Latin. " Fabricius in his Bib. Med. Lat, notices him only to say, tbat his age was uncertain, " Harieian MS. N" 3093, -See note 38. 20» HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK They usually style him 'Theobald! Episcopi,' but _^ the Harleian MS. adds his country, ' Italico.' It has LITERARY bceu fouud in MSS. of so early a date as the eighth "'l™^y°^ and ninth centuries ; ** but it does not now exist ENGLAND. ¦' ' — ¦" — ' merely in MS. It was very early printed.** It is written on twelve animals ; the lion, the eagle, the serpent, the ant, the fox, stag, spider, whale, syre: elephant, turtle and panther.*' As it is so rare that no quotations have been give from it; and as it is of considerable importance, tl; hitherto unnoticed, on the question of the origin an antiquity of rhyme, some extracts from it may not t unacceptable here, reserving others to be adduced i a subsequent page, when we come to consider tl subject of poetical rhyme. It begins with the lion ; and in his first lines o ^ Roquefort mentions, that Simner in his catalogue ofthe MSS. of tl Biblioth. Bernensis, has inserted a MS. of the eighth century, intitul ' Liber Fisiolo Theobald! expositio de natura animalium, vel avium si bestiarum ;' and another as a MS. of the ninth century, intituled, 'Ph siologus.' Roquef. etat. p, 283. ^¦' Neither M. Simner nor M, Roquefort seem to have known th this work has been printed; but tbe copy which I have seen, express in its colophon, that it was printed at Cologne by Henry Quentell, wl also published the ' Altum Doctrinale of Alanus,' No date is appendei but this ancient printer appears by other works to have lived soon aft the discovery of the art. ^ It is intituled ' Phisiologus Theobaldi Episcopi de naturis duodeci animalium.' It is printed with an ancient Latin commentary, whi< thus introduces it : ' This book has four causes of knowlege; the materii.., the formal, the efficient, and the final. The material, or subject, is the nature of the twelve animals. The formal is twofold; the form ofthe treatise, and the form of treating it: the first consists in its division and distinction ; the second is tbe mode of doing it, which is metrical. The efficient cause was Master Theobald, doctor and bishop, who has com posed it in simple words. The final cause is its utihty. By this we may learn to love the virtues, to avoid the vices, and to attach ourselves to good manners. The cardinal virtues are, prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude. The vices to be avoided are, pride, avarice, gluttony, luxury, and others, which are denoted by the animals. Another utility is, that Christ is intimated by the lion, and the devil by the fox. The author also means to teach the real nature of the animals,' Nothing is said ofthe age or country ofthe author. POETRY-. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, 209 this animal, the author has expressed all that he men- chap. tions about himself. ^^¦ De Leone ; ANGLO- Tres leo naturas, et tres habet inde figuras norman Quas, ego, Christe ! tibi bis seno carmine scripsi. verna- Altera divini memorant animali libri ^^^f.. De quibus apposui, quae rursus mystica novi Teraptans diversis, si possum, scribere metris Et numerum solidum complent animalia solum.'' These are obviously what were afterwards leonine rhymes, or lines rhyming in the middle, and it is pro bable that they present us with the verses that occa sioned the term Leonine to be first applied to such rhymes. In these lines, the author declares that he shall write his work in different metres. He has done so; and his diversity consists in making some of hexameter lines that rhyme in the middle ; others of hexameters and pentameters, rhyming in the same manner; and two of short metre, rhyming in couplets. The rest on the lion, and the moral attached to it, are thus expressed : Nam leo stans fortis super alta cacumina montis Qualicunque via vallis descendit ad ima Si venatorem per naris sentit odorem, Cauda cuncta Unit, que per vestigia figit Quatenus inde suum non possit cernere lustrum Natus non vigilat dum sol se tercio girat Sed rugitum dans pater ejus resuscitat ipsum, Tunc quasi viviscit et sensus quinque capiscit Et quotiens dormit nunquam sua lumina claudit. The application of this, is. Sic, Tibi, qui celsi reside in culmine coeli Cum libuit tandem terrenam visere partem Ut genus humanum relevares crimine lapsum Non penitus notum fuit ulli demoniorum Viscera Marise, tibi, Christe ! fuere cubile. - * The commentary remarks, that twelve is the solid number, and one the solum. Vol, IV. P 210 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK Et qui Te genuit triduum post surgere fecit VI. Cum mortis vindex mortem crucis ipse subires Tu, nos custodis qui nullo tempore dormis Pervigil ut pastor, ne demat de grege raptor. The next lines are on the eagle. These are hex ameter and pentameter verses, rhyming also in the middle. He first describes the bird, and then gives it this moral allusion : Est homo peccatis que sutit ab origine matris Qualis adest acquila, que renovata ita Nubes transcendit, solis incendia sentit Mundum cum pompis despiciendo suis Fit novus in Christo ter mersus gurgite sacro De sursum vivus fons fluit iUe pius. Nam novus est panis, super omnia nulla suavis Panis id est Christus sit sine fine cibus. Those on the ant, the fox, the stag, the elephant and the whale, are also hexameters and pentameters rhyming in the middle. From the latter a quotation may be made, as it gives us an earlier specimen, if not the actual prototype of our Milton's fine simile on the leviathan or whale : Him, haply slumbering on the Norway foam, The pilot of some small night-foundered skiff Deeming some island, oft, as seamen tell, With fixed anchor in his scaly rind. Moors by his side under the lee, while night Invests the sea and wished morn delays." In Theobald's, the same idea is thus very pic turesquely expressed. He begins with saying, that the whale lies on the sea, to all appearance, a great promontory : Est promontorium cernere non modicum. Huic religare sitam prae tempestate carinam " Paradise Lost, book i . ANGLO- KOUMAN CULAR POETRY. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 211 Naut£e festinant ; utque foris saliant, C 11 A P. Accendunt vigilem, quem navis portitat, ignem iv. Ut calesefacient et comedenda coquant. Ille focum sentit, tunc se fugiendo remergit Unde prius venit sic que carina perit. verna The verses on the syren and the panther are like those on the Hon, only hexameter verses rhyming in the middle. Thus having described the syren as twofold in body, like a mermaid, half woman half fish ; he educes from it this moral reflection : Quam plures homines, sic sunt in more biformes, Unum dicentes, aliud tibi mox facientes ; Qui foris ut fantur, non intres sic operantur. His last verses are on the panther, and he closes with these lines : Est autem Christus Panther alegorice dictus — Qui fugit atque latet, nee in ipso tempore patet Serpens antiquus, qui nobis est inimicus Nam que -palam nullos audet clam fallere multos Quos cum defendat, qui secla per omnia regnat. The Harleian manuscript adds. Carmine finito, sit laus et gloria Christo Cui, si non alii, placeat haec metra Tebaldi.'" Philippe Du Than begins his animals like Theo bald's, with the lion, but evinces himself at once in that, not to be a mere translator ; for while the Phy siologus gives only twenty-four hexameter lines to this king of beasts, Du Than makes him occupy ten pages. But he has taken what he pleased from his other authorities, and therefore we find in him the monorces, the beaver, the hyena, the crocodile, the donkey, and the partridge, which are not among the ^ Harl, MS. N" 3093. The printed copy has not these two conclud ing lines. The MS, ends ' explicit liber phisiologi,' and begins, ' Incipit liber fisiologus a Thelbaldo Jta&o compositus.' Dr. Warton mentions this MS, but has quoted nothing from.it, - 212 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK twelve animals selected by Theobald. He enlarges ^^' on the ant far beyond this author.^' LITERARY It scBms to US absurd for him to have hunted for EN^LAND^ allegorical meanings and religious applications, which "^ ¦' — ¦ have really no greater connexion with the animals he describes, than with a monkey or a potatoe. But, like all poets, he wrote to please, and would not have thus written, if it had not gratified the royal patroness, to whom he addressed it. We cannot dis cover how the beautiful queen could be either edified or interested to know that the phoenix signifies our Saviour, and the crocodile the devil ; or that the attraction of iron by the loadstone implies the con version of the pagans to Christianity.*" It seems to us, that these fancies could have only pleased our ancestors, because in the total vacuity of unlettered ignorance, any ideas, any reading, must be prefer able to none. Literature is in any shape so grateful to those who have mastered its alphabet, that it requires some cultivation to be able to detect or to dislike even its absurdities. But all preceding ages, from Orpheus'" to the last century, have liked such works, tho we may perhaps now saj^ at least with all cultivated minds, that their popularity is gone, even in poetry, for ever. Philippe's verses on the precious stones seems to be founded on those of Marbodius on the gems, whom he means by " Lapidaire." ™ Hari. MS. p. 52. *" E eel virtu ad en sei, lei fer trait od sei ; Signifie ge Xens traient a la lur les paens. Quant il laissent lur eresie e creient el fiz sc* Marise. Du Thau. MS. Ib. *' Du Than is certainly not worse than the celebrated Orpheus appears in the mythological poems on stones ascribed to him — and published by Gesner, In meaning, there seems to be no superiority. — His writing on animals may have been owing to Henry the first's attachment to them. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 213 This author was a Breton, and bishop of Rennes, chap. in Bretagne, to his death. In 1 1 23. His book " De ^^- Gemmis," was long very popular.** It has no addition of allegorical interpretations. Marbodius had a more plain and common-sense mind, which his versification of proverbs or moral aphorisms, under the name of Cato the Philosopher, sufficiently indicates.*^ But a mystical or moral ap plication was in time added by some one in prose.** Another clerical rhymer, to whom the versification Sanson de of our ancient poetry must have been much in- Proverbs. " Marbodius wrote it under the name of Evax, an Arabian king. He seems to have been one of those who studied the Arabian writings, for he mentions the importation of the gems into Europe by the Arabs, very o/'ten ; as, On the Sardonyx : Partibus hunc nostris Arabes : Sed et India mittit. On tbe Onyx : Hanc quoque dant nobis Arabes ; dat et India gemmam. The Yri : Yrin dant ,\rabes ; sed gignit eum mare rubruin. Tbe Melochite : Hunc Arabum gentes prius invenisse feruntur. " Fabricius has printed these ; some are striking. Tu si animo regeris. Rex es ; si corpore, servus. — Proxiinus esto bonis, si non potes optimus esse. — Non placet ille mihi, quisquis placeat sibi multum. — Quanto major eris, tanto moderatur esto. — Fac, quod te par sit; non alter quod mereatur. — Aspera perpessu, fiunt jocunda relatu. — Bib. Med. Lat. 1. 12. p. 51. " There is an old French paraphrase of the work of Marbodius be ginning — Evax fut un multe riche Reis Lu regne tint des Arabais. This is nearly as ancient as the time of Marbodius, Fab. ib, 55, I observe that Everhard Bethuniensis, who lived in 1 124, in his metrical list of the poets he recommends, has inserted these works of Marbodius and Theobald ; ' Naturas lapidum varias, vaiiosque colores Qui ponit lapidum non sapit ille metro,' And, ' Naturas Pliysiolugus exponendo feraruin.' Fab, Bib, Med, I. 5, p. 225, 7. I" 3 niSTORYOF ENGLAND, 214 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK debted, was Sanson de Nanteuil,*' who lived in the ^^- reign of Stephen. He then wrote what he calls a LITERARY Romauz.** It is a translation of the Proverbs of Solomon into eight-syllable verse of Norman French, with a copious "Glosse." His plan is, to give the Latin vulgate of a verse or more, then his versified transla tion ; and afterwards his glosse, which is sometimes moral, and sometimes allegorical. If quantity could compensate for defect of quality, he would abundantly satisfy us, for he has contrived to rhyme above 1 2,000 lines into couplets. He also implies the state of the minstrel poetry, by classing the hearing of songs and tales among the acts of criminal voluptuousness. To us the rhyme is the only mark of poetry in its compo sition ; but, as a collection of didactic aphorisms in familiar verse, it must have been an important pre sent to the awakening thought of the unlearned po pulation. This is another of the works, which our ancient literature owed to the intellectual curiosity ofthe Anglo-Norman ladies. It was made for Alice de Conde.*' ¦" MS, Harleian, N" 4388, This is a beautiful specimen of the ancient calligraphy, "^ Ki ben volt estre engranz Entendet dune a cest romanz Qi al loenge damne de El a senor al translate, — Sanson de Nanteuil. MS. Ib. ¦" The preceding extract continues — - - - Ki souient De sa dame qu'il aime e orient ; Ki mainte feiz Ten out pried Qi li disclairast eel traited. Le num de ceste damme escrist Cil ki translation fist, Aeliz de cunde I'apele, Noble dame enseigne et bele. — Sanson MS, Ib. So Aymes says he wrote his Florimont to please a lady — Seigneur oz oies que je di Aymes pour I'amour de Neilli, Si fist le romans si sagement. Aymes MS, Hari. N" 3983. NORMANVERNA CULARPOETRY. DURING THL MIDDLE AGES. 21i> The encouragement given to literature in England, C H A p. from the happy taste of Henry L his queens, court, ^^- and clergy, so diffusely spread the desire to attain it, anglo that even the stormy reign of Stephen seems to have been no impediment to its cultivation. Perhaps the military exactions and movements confined the clergy to their homes and monasteries, and made them more studious. It is certain that this wasteful period of civil misery was the interval in which the Anglo- Norman mind was extensively educating itself. Not only did a number of chroniclers and historians, of Latin poets and logicians, of theologians and civilians, then prosecute their studies, preparatory to their de- velopement in the succeeding reign of Henry II. ; but a sort of school of Anglo-Norman poetry was formed, in which, to write vernacular histories became the prevailing taste. We can distinguish three great con temporaries of this school, great from the massiveness and important effects of their works, Wace, Gaimar, Beneoit : and we find several others alluded to. Wace, the superior of all, in the fluency and metre >yace's ofhis verse, and sometimes in narrative ability, has poems. left us an interesting notice on his own biography. He was born in Jersey, was taken young to Caen, and there put to school ;** he was afterwards in France, and returning to Caen, he applied himself to writing ¦" Si Ton demande qui co dist Qui ceste estoire en romanz fist lo di e dirai qi io sui Wace del isle de Gersui Qui est en mer vers Occident Al fieu de Normandie apent Ell I'isle de Gersui fui nez A chaem fui petit portez, Illoques fui a lettres mis Pois fuis longues en France apris.' Wace MS. Bib. Reg. 4. c. 11. P4 216 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK romanz, to which the king encouraged him,** and for i^ which Henry II. gave him a prebend at Bayeux. In another place, he complains, that the noblesse which had patronized him were dead, and that no one was liberal to him but his sovereign, " Henris li secunt."™ Probably like Blackmore he had satiated the public taste and outlived the public favor. He died about 1184. The first work of his that we are acquainted with, was his Brut, or his roman, composed from JeflTry's British History. He dates this himself, as having been written in 1 15.5.*' Five years afterwards he finished his other long poem, the Roman de Rou, on Rollo and the succeeding dukes of Normandy. This work may be considered almost as a contemporary history in its latter part. He declares that he will not insert fables,*^ and mentions, on the battle of Hastings, that he wrote from living information.^' This lengthy ^ Quant io de France repairai A chaems longues conversai De romanz faire m'entremis Mult en escris e mult en fis Par deu aie e par le rei. Wace MS. Bib. Reg. 4. c, 1 1. "' Morte est qi jadis fud noblesce E perie est od lui largesce — Ne truis guaires ki rien me dunt Fors le Reis Henris li secunt. — MS, Ib, " He says. Mil e cent cinquante cine ans, Fist Mestre Wace cest romans, MS.Bib, Reg, 13,A21, In another MS. of this poem his name is written Gace — Mil et CLV ans F'ist Maestro Gace cest romans. MS. Hari. No 6508, Fauchet mentions two other MSS. in which he is called Metre Huistace, and Metre Wistace. p. 82. ^' ' Io ne dis, mie fable, ne jo ne voil fabler.' Roman de Rou. " In speaking of the battle of Hastings, he mentions, ' As I heard it told my father, I well remember it, I was then a varlet,' Ib, M. Plaquet informs us that ' the idiom in which Wace wrote is still preserved ill part dans les campagnes de Bessin et du Cotentin,' Notice, p, ix. POETRY, DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 217 poem contains several passages which display him to chap. advantage, for those times.^ After 1 1 73, he composed ^^- another versified chronicle on the dukes of Normandy, anglo- from Henry II. upwards." verna-^ A taste for historical information prevailed in cular England after the Norman conquest. So great a re volution excited a desire in the Normans to com memorate it; and William of Poitou, with Sallust in his mind,** attempted to narrate it. Marianus, born either in Ireland or Scotland, and who had settled at Mentz, attached himself to the study of chronology, and corrected the erroneous computations that had been made from the Christian sera.*^ His work ex cited Robert of Lorraine, who had been made bishop of Hereford, to cultivate the same important branch of inquiry.^* History, thus recommended to the no tice ofthe Anglo-Normans, became the peculiar study of the earl of Gloucester, the natural son of Henry I. ; and to his urgency, and that of a literary prelate, his contemporary, we owe the History of William of Malmsbury, and the Annals of Henry of Huntingdon. Their taste spread around ; and as the great thus directed their attention to such compositions, it was natural that writers should arise to gratify it, and to ** See these quoted in the first volume of this History. It contains 16,547 lines rhymed into couplets, but often with the same rhyming syl lable for several verses. " Of this poem the MSS. are very rare. It comprises 314 Alexandrine verses. Plaq. Notice, xii, ^ So Ordericus Vitalis remarks, p. 52I. " He wrote a Chronicon muudi to 1076, which Pistorius and others have published, on the plan of Dionysius Exiguus, who made the Chris tian aera the basis ofhis chronology, but he added 22 years which had been omitted. Malmsb, de Gestis Pont. 286. ^' He abridged Marianus, ita splendide, says Malmsbury, p. 286, that he excelled his original. He wrote several treatises on lunar computations; on the motions ofthe stars ; mathematical tables, &c. He died 1095, 218 BOOK VI. LITERARY HISTORYOF ENGLAND. Jeffry of Mon-.mouth^s Britishhistory; HISTORY OF ENGLAND, benefit themselves by the patronage which was then attainable. In this state of the public mind, and while the vernacular poets had thought only of composing the dull allegory of Du Than, the Proverbs of Sanson, or Lives of Saints, a work appeared in Latin, which gave a new direction to their talent, and may be re garded as the real parent of our narrative poetry. 'This was Jeff"ry of Monmouth's British History. In the latter part of the reign of Henry I. an archdeacon Walter put into the hands of JeflFry, a book in Welsh, which he stated that he had found in Bretagne, re lating the actions of the ancient kings of Britain, from Brutus to Cadwallader. From this history, amplified by the addition at least of verbal informa tion on Arthur from Walter, and by the insertion of Merlin's prophecies,'^ Jeffry gave to the world a Latin work, which he declared to be a translation of the Welsh author."" He dedicated it to the earl of Gloucester, whose approbation was celebrity ; and he addressed the Prophecies to the bishop of Lin coln, a munificent prelate, fond of learning, and dis tinguished by the knights and noblemen In his train, and vvho had requested Jeflfry to translate the vatici nations of MerUn from the British into Latin.*' *' Jeffry Mon, 1. l. c. l. — He begins his eleventh hook, on the wars between Arthur and Modred, with saying, that he will write ut in Bri- tannico sermone invenit et a Galtero Oxenofordensi in multis histoiiis peritissirao viro audivit. 1. 1 1, c. 1. — and see 1. 7. c. 1 & 2. *° Several of Jeffry's interspersed observations imply that he has in part made a book of his own, and not merely translated an author. If he merely translated, why should he decline to handle particular points ofthe history because Gildas had already told them, or told them better, as in 1, 4, c. 20, and 1, i, c, 17. He assumes here a right of shaping his work as he pleased; as he also does in 1. 11. c. 10. when he declares his intention of relating elsewhere the Armorican emigrations, ''' L. 7. c. 1 & 2. There is one MS. copy of this work existing, in which the author dedicates it to king Stephen. Simner Bib. Bern. 2. p. 243, DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 219 Thus highly introduced into the world, and flatter- CHAP. ing as it did the vanity of the population of Britain, j[^ by deriving it from a nation so immortalized in song anglo- , m T 1 , . ¦ .. i. NORMAN as the Trojans, and by giving it a common ancestry verna- with the Romans, and of equal antiquity, and aided cular by some political patronage, it was favorably received — v-^ in England. It was also well composed. Jeffry was popularity. a smooth Latin versifier, and his style is flowing and easy. The book was full of new and extraordinary incidents. Its historical fictions were so many inte resting romances; and it is often so dramatically and even poetically narrated, that it was peculiarly adapted to engage the attention of an age, to whose strong passions and wondering minds, even history would be more welcome for intermingled fable. It became so surprisingly popular, notwithstanding its anachronisms and falshoods, which few could then detect, and which, even down to our days, have been more or less defended, that it became a mark of rus ticity in that age to be unacquainted with it.** The connexion of our ancient Britons with the destruction of Troy, was not the invention of Jeffry. Solinus says, that an altar with Greek letters, in Ca ledonia, shews that Ulysses had landed there.*^ Am- mianus Marcellinus, the Roman historian ofthe fourth century, relates, that in his days some said that Gaul had been peopled by some of the dispersed Greeks returning from Troy ;'^ and Nennius briefly derives '^ So says Alured of Beverly — and he adds—" and while the young people were committing it to memory, and reciting it agreeably, I often blushed amid such contabulators, that I had never seen it, I therefore sought for it; and when I fouud it, I studied it most dilligently,' He then applied himself to abridge it, for more general circulation. Alur. Beverl, Ann. I. l, p, 2, *' Solinus Polyhistor. c. 22, " Amm, Marcel, 1, 15, c, 9, p. 75. 2-20 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK the Britons from Bruto, the great grandson of the _^ Trojan iEneas,*' That the Welsh had also ancient literary genealogies to Belus Mawr, and from him to .^neas, ENCLrNo!' we learn from Giraldus,*' So that it is clear, the ' — -' — ' story of the Trojan descent of the Britons and Gauls was floating in the world before Jeff"ry wrote,*' But all these traditions were vague, rude, and void of authority or circumstance, before Jeffry's book was published. In that they appeared in a stately port, with living forms and features, and with historical pretensions. Hence his history strongly impressed the imaginations of the Normans, whose surprising' successes in France, England, and Sicily, had given them a taste for the splendid achievements of other times. From the writings of Wace, we may perceive that the great revolutions noticed in ancient history, which, tho true, may be called its romantic periods, had already been presented to their notice;** and these cannot be contemplated at any time without exciting interesting thought. Wace dwells upon the theme with a visible fondness, and ingeniously mo ralizes upon it to enforce his inference, that unless « Nennius Hist, Brit, c, 3 & 4, _ ^ Itin. Camb. '¦' The French were as anxious for the same line of ancestry. — Am monius deduces their nation from Francus the son of Hector; and the Count Caylus remarks, that Paul Warnefred, to please Chariemagne, made Anchises, the father of iEneas, to be one of the ancestors of the prelate from whom the Carlovingian princes descended. 11 Hist. Ac. Insc. p. 417. So in Germany, the emperor Conrad was traced to iEneas, and his wife to a Trojan family. 08 Wace begins his poem on the History of Normandy, with a recapi tulation ofthe great events of antiquity — the fall of Thebes.Troy, Nineveh and Babylon. On Alexander he alludes to the fabulous accounts of his day — Alisandre fud reis puissanz Duze regnes prist en duze ans. And Caesar he describes as, Cesar ki tanl fist e taut pout Ki tut le muiid cunquist e out. MS, B. R. 4, c. II. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 221 preserved by letters, all memory of these mighty CHAP. changes would have perished.*" ^^- The British History of Jeff'ry electrified the literary mind of Europe. It startled some ; it amused all. Many doubted ; most admired ; some disbelieved, and a few abused it. But It was so much talked of, that all whom intellectual subjects then interested, and their number was daily increasing, wished, as we have remarked from Alured of Beverley, to become ac quainted with it. The Anglo-Norman ladies, who seem to have rivalled the men in their literary cu riosity, partook of the general feeling ;'^" and one highly beneficial eff'ect soon arose from this universal popularity — the application of the clerical poets to compose vernacular histories in verse. Jeffry's Latin dress was accessible only to the clergy. In Anglo- Norman verse, the courtier and the knight, the ba ronial and the female world, could understand and appreciate it." ^ Tute rien turne en declin, Tut chiet, tutmoert, tut trait a fin Tut funt, tut chiet ; rose flaistrist Cheval trebuche, drap viescist, Huem moert, fer use, fust purrist Tutte rien fatte od mein perist. He then adds the passage quoted in the preceding note l8. '" Gaimar says that lady distance sent for the book of British History, and borrowed it — Ele enviad a Helmstac Pur le livere Walter espac Robert le grans de Glouceste Fist translator icele geste. Solum les liveres as Waleis, Kil aveient des Bretons reis — ' Dame Custance I'enpruntat De son seigneur k'ele mult amat. MS. Bib. Reg. 13. A 21. " For this reason, Beneoit declares he wrote his hystorie — Que de latin ou je la truis, Si je ai le sens e je puis. La vodrai si en roumanz mestre Que cil que n'entendra la lestre Delicier se puisse el roumans. — MS. Hari, 4482, HISTORYOF ENGLAND. Wace puts 222 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK One of these popular versifiers was Wace, who, in _^ his ' Le Brut,' gave his countrymen, not so much a LITERARY trauslatlou of JeflTry's work, but, what was more im proving both to them and to himself, a. narrative poem made from it in rhyming couplets, consisting, in it into ^"' their most perfect metre, of eight syllables in a line, verse, ^^^ j^^ ^-^^ j^^g finished verses, deviating into more.'^^ In this performance, he frequently expatiates on his own resources in the parts that particularly in terested him. He begins by stating the capture of Troy, and the escape oi Mneas into Italy; but he expands nine lines of his original into sixty-eight of his own. In the same way he dilates Jeffry's ten first chapters into a thousand lines. But it is unnecessary to pursue the comparison minutely. We may say in general, that he takes his facts from his authority, but tells the story in his own phrase, omitting, ex panding, and epitomizing as he pleased. His success with this, and the taste for vernacular history, wbich was then created, encouraged hira to new efforts ; and two immense Norman histories in rhyme proceeded from his pen, the Rou, and the Chronique de Normandie.'^' He appears to have devoted himself to this employment, and for some time at least to have been liberally patronized.'* " It exists in MS, in Bib. Reg. 13. A 21. also Harl, N° 6508. " In his roman de Normandie he thus mentions his Rou — Ai jeo de Roul lugnes cunte E de sun riche parente De Normandie, que il cunquist ; E des proesces que il i fist ; E de Guilleaume lunge espee Avura I'estoire avant men^e. Wace MS. Bib, Reg. 4. c. 1 1. '* Mais ore puis jeo lunges penser Livres escrire e translater ; Faire rumanz e serventeis ; Tant traverai, tant seit curteis ; ' ANGLO-NORMANVERNA- DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 223 Another of these historical versifiers was Geff'rai CHAP. Gaimar, whose " Estorie des Engles" follows the J^ Brut of Wace in the MS. in the British Museum. He ascribes the existence of this work entirely to an Anglo-Norman lady. He says Dame Custance le cular gentil caused him to translate It; that he was a year ^ „ " ¦ about it;" that he had procured many English books, Estorie des and others in Romanz and in I/atin, to complete it; Engles. that without her aid he could not have finished it;'^* that she often had the work, often read it in her chamber, and gave him a- mark of silver for tran scribing it." Some of his expressions imply, that he had written, or intended to write, on the Trojan story ;'^* but the present copy begins where the Brut leaves off", and ends with William Rufus. He says Ki tant me diunst e mette en main Dunt jeo aie un raeis un escrivain. Ne ki nul autre bien me face Fors tant mult dit bien Maistre Wace, Wace MS. Bib. Reg. 4. c. U. M. Plaquet has published several pages of extracts from the Roman de Rou, in his Notice sur la Vie de Robert Wace, Rouen, 1824. ™ Ici voil del rei finer ; Ceste estoire fist translater Dame Custance la gentil Gaimar i mist marz e averil E tuz les duize mais Ainz kil oust translate des reis. '* II perchaca mainte esamplaire, Liveres angleis e par grammaire; E en romanz e en latin A jur ken prist triaire a la fin Si sa dame ne le aidast Ja a nul jor nel achevast, Gaimar MS, Bib. Reg. 13. A 21, " Dame Custance en ad I'escrit En sa chambre sovent le lit; A ad pur lescrire done Un marc d'argent art e pese, MS, Ib, " Tres ke ce dit Gaimar de troie. II comencat la u Jasun A la conquere la tuisun. — MS. Ib. HISTORYOFENGLAND, 224 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK that if he had chosen to have written of king Hebry, _^- he had a thousand things to say, which a Trouveur, LITERARY whom he calls David, had not written, nor the queen of Louvain had possessed." From him we learn, that David was another of these historical poets ; but his praise by Gaimar is all that has survived of him.^" A third great versifier of this school was Beneoit de Sainte More.*' He chose the Trojan story for his subject, as a rich and great theme, and also as new.*^ He professes to take it from Dares Phrygius and Dictys Cretensis. But tho he may have borrowed his facts from his originals, he trusts to his own powers for his descriptions and general style. Some parts he dilates and dramatizes, not unhappily; as in his narrative of the intercourse between Jason and Medea. This is concisely told by Dict3's Cretensis; but Beneoit gives interesting pictures of manners in '* Ore dit Gaimar, s'il ad garrant Dei rei Henri, dirrat avant Ke s'il en volt un poi parler E de sa vie translater Tels mil choses en purrad dire Ke unkes Davit ne fist escrivere Ne la raine de Luvain N'en tint le livere en sa main. Gaimar MS. Bib. Reg. 13. A 21. ^ Bien dit Davit e bien trovat E la chancon bien asemblat — Ore mand Davit ke si li pleist Avant che si pas nel leist Car sil en volt avant trover Son livere en pot mult amender. — MS. Ib, " The copy in the British Museum, Harl, MS. N" 4482, is very neatly written, and much ornamented, "' Ceste hystorie nest pas usee Ne en gaires de liens trouv^e, Je relraite ne fust encore Mais Beneois de Sainte More L'agmencie e faite e dite— Moyte e lestoire riche e grans E de grant oevre e de grant fait, Beneoit MS, Ib, IV, ANGLO-NORMAN CULARPOETRY, DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 225 his account of their dresses, her father's city, the CHAF amusements in his palace, and her splendid bed. He rises even sometimes to poetry, as in his description ofthe spring,^* when he is about to introduce Her- verna- cules and Laomedon; but his prevailing character is easy narrative, a pleasing metre, and fluent rhyme.** This work of Beneoit, deserves our more attentive notice, because Guido de Columna, the judge of Messena, whose ' Historia Trojana' became so cele brated in the middle ages, has either taken Beneoit's poem for his theme, or has tracked his paths. Guido's work is a prose narration of the wars of Troy. After mentioning that Homer, Virgil, and Ovid had com posed on the subject, he refers to the more complete descriptions of Dictys Cretensis and Dares Phrygius as his authorities, and ends with saying, that he has followed Dictys the Cretan in all.** To have built his work on the same foundation as our Beneoit, is not indeed a proof of authorial plagiarism, but it leads us to a suspicion of it, or at least entitles Beneoit to be remembered as the first who thus made a ' riche e grans estoire' of the whole Trojan story. Wace has mentioned that the subject of his Ro- andRoman . . , de Nor man de Normandie had been anticipated by Maistre mandie, *> Quant vint el tems que vers devise Que herbe us point en la rise Lorque florissent le ramel E doucement chantent oisel Merle mavins e loriol E estournel e rossignol. La blanche flors part en I'espine E reverdoie la gaudine Quant le tems e dou e souez Lor partirent del port les nez. — Beneoit MS. Bib. Reg. 13. A 21. " M. de la Rue's dissertation on these poets will reward the perusal. Archaeol. vol. 12. — We owe their discovery to him. '" Guido dates his own work thus : ' I, Guido de Columna, judex de Messana, wrote it in the year 1287.' It was printed atStrasburg, i486. Vol. IV, Q HISTORYOFENGLAND 226 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK Beneoit, who had written on it by his sovereign's de- ^^- sire.** This work has come down to us, tremendous litI^ry in its length.*'^ He begins where Dudo begins, and proceeds to the death of Henry I. He mentions Alice of Louvaine, this king's last queen, as befriend ing him ; ** and tho he says, his labor has been grie vous, he consoles himself by the pleasure he shall give his seignor Henry II. by his work.*" All these rhymed histories, altho in truth so weari some that we are astonished at the patience which could read, as well as at the perseverance that could write them, were important accessions to the intellect ^ Oie eu avant qi dire en deit Jaidit por Maistre Beneit. Qi cest oure a dire a emprise Com li reis la disor lui mise Quant li reis li a roue faire Laissier la dei si men dei taire. Wace Norm. Bib. Reg. 4. c. 11. " He thus twice mentions his name — L'estorie de Guillaurae fenist ci long espee Si cum Beneeit la escrite e translatee Ici comence I'estoire del rei Guillaurae Si cura Beneeit la translata. MS, Harl. N° 1717. pp.85 & 192. '° Puis prist femme li reis Henris Pucele mult vaillant de sei Qui fu fille au due Godefrei De Louan ; si out non Aeliz E si me retrait li escriz. — Beneoit MS. Ib, I think this Alice is the queen of Louvain mentioned by Gaimar, ® Qual plaisir seit de mun seignor Del bon rei Henri fiz Maheut, Que si benigne cum il sent Seit al oir e al entendre Nest pas de mes pours I'amendre. Si soffert jai gref labor Qual plaisir seit de mun seignor. Beneoit MS. Ib. I have sometimes doubted if this author was Beneoit de la More, be cause the style of the Trojan story seems more flowing and cultivated, Perhaps being more at liberty to use his fancy in that poem, his pen was improved by his invention. romances. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 227 of the day. They made reading popular among the chap. great and fair ; they kindled the wish of these rulers ^^- of human society to be themselves " inurned in song; " and by their description and praise of better actions, they contributed to extinguish such fierce characters as prevailed at that period. Being easy of compre hension, they provided an agreeable occupation for the leisure of the affluent; and thus made literature one ofthe needful luxuries of life. That they opened a pathway to natural poetry and original composition, was a merit that gives them high rank in our literary history. They excited such a taste for works in rhymed verse, that in the thirteenth century the rules of mo nasteries were put into it, as were also the Institutes of Justinian, and the customs of Normandy.*" But altho the historic poetry ofthe Anglo-Normans Fictitious was the first species of Parnassian composition, and indeed of vernacular literature, which appeared in England after the Saxon dynasty had been over thrown, it was not the only kind which was known and cultivated among our ancestors or in the west of Europe during the twelfth century. Two other branches of versified compositions, originating from other parental stocks, also obtained great attention and circulation, as well in our own island as on the Continent, before our native Muse abandoned all foreign speech, and made its vernacular English the preferred and permanent diction of all its future compositions. But this great revolution did not assume a decided shape till about the year 1 300, and was gradually completed during the next hun dred years. Before this arose, from the year 1 1 00 to 1 300, the favorite poems, besides the rhymed histo ries already noticed in the preceding Chapter, may be ™ Roquefort de la Poes. Franc, p. 252. — La Rue. Q 2 228 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK distinguished Into two dissimilar classes; one, theFic- _^ TiTious Romances, written in the Anglo-Norman LITERARY language, and principally on the knights and court ENcTfJr of Arthur and the Round Table, which were most ' — ^ — ' popular in this country, and also in that of Charle magne, which were more valued on the Continent ; — and the other, the poetry of the Troubadours, in their Provencal tongue, which, after the accession of Henry II, became a part of our courtly literature, till the loss of our dominions in the south of France occasioned both the language and the poems of this celebrated class of men to fall into neglect and obli vion, or rather to be superseded by the original pro ductions of our national genius, arising in vigorous growth to new forms and beauties peculiar to itself, and gradually increasing in their importance and fertility. The prolixity of the versified histories in time les sened their popularity; their lengthy and uniform narrations ceased to interest when the novelty was over ; the rage for histories in verse expired in sa tiety. Narrated fiction became more pleasing than their tedious realities. The Trojan story was found to interest whenthe Chronique de Normandie could gain no listeners: and the extraordinary adventures ac companying the Crusades, made the usual incidents of common life and business seem flat and unprofit able. An Arthur that could be exaggerated or fabled upon, at the pleasure of the imagination, was a far more delightful person than a William Lung-esp^e, or than a Henry fiz-Maheut, whose sober actions were too well known to be misrepresented with credit. A new description of narrative compositions then pre vailed, before whose superior charms the estorie gave way. These were the actual romans, the numerous DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 229 fictions starting at first under the garb, and vaporing CHAP. with the name of history, but with every incident a ^^- fable. Some renowned characters in former times anglo- were taken as the basis of the story, as Arthur, verna^ Charlemagne, and Alexander, but on their foundation cular 1 • • 1 1 1 1 J POETRY. the writer raised what superstructure ne pleased. < — , — In these, likewise, the indefatigable Wace led the ^g^/Jj^r way. His Chevalier au Lion seems to be one of the au Lion. earliest fictitious romans that has descended to our knowlege.®^ But he was soon followed by an end less and motley train."* That there were tales and traditions in circulation about Arthur, before either Jeffry or Wace, both these writers acknowlege." JeflTry's book seems to have " M. Galland mentions that the MS. of this romance, which he in spected, dates its composition II55 — Thus Mil e cent cinquante ans Fit Maistre Gasse ce romance. ^ Mem. Ac. 468. Yet M. Plaquet ascribes this Romance to Chretien de Troyes ; which cannot be if these verses are a part of it. The Chevalier au Leon is sup posed to be the French original of the ' Ywaine arid Gawin,' published by Mr, Ritson ; if so, I should suppose it to have been a Breton tale, ^ In the British Museum, Bib. Reg. 15. E6. is a large handsome MS. folio that contains several French romances, viz. Charlemagne, Ogier le Danois, and Chevalier au Signe, in verse — and Alexandre, Montauban, Roy Pontus, and Guy de Warwick, in prose. The MS. 8. F 9, contains Guy de Warwyck, in eight foot verse, rhymed. — The MS, 16. G 2. the quatrefilz d'Aymon. — The MS. 20. B 19. has les Gestes de Garin, in French verse— and the MS. 20. D 2. and 20. D 3. consists of Tristram, and Lancelot du Lac, in prose. — ^The MS, 14. E 3, contains the pon derous St. Graal. — These will sufficiently satisfy any general curiosity on this subject. "^ Jeffry Hist. 1. 1 . c, 1 . ; and Wace, in these passages of his Brut — Fist Artur la ronde table Dunt Breton dient meint fable. — He says, in this great country Furent les merveilles privees E les avantures trov^es, Ke de Artur sunt controvees, E a fables sunt tumeis. — He adds, Tant ont li conlur conte E lui fablur tant fabld. Sec, Q 3 HISTORYOFENGLAND. 230 HISTORY OF ENCJLAND, BOOK been the parent of some of the romans on Arthur; ^^- but the numerous incidents which others describe, of LITERARY this king and his knights, which have no resemblance to any thing in Jeflfry, may have been derived from the Breton tales.®* The story of Tristram discovers its Breton origin in every part ; ®^ the San Graal, and many of the round table lays, point to the same source. Hence the most rational idea which we can form of the origin of the three great classes into which we have distinguished the poems that prevailed in Eng land and in Europe, before the full reign of the English vernacular and native poetry ; after weigh ing all theories and circumstances, will be, to refer the VERSIFIED HISTORIES to the Anglo-Norman clergy; the Romances and Tales, to the Breton bards, the Trouveurs, the Jongleurs, and the Minstrels of the first part of the Middle Ages; and the more cultivated Provencal poesy, to those Troubadours whose actual origin is less discoverable by our cu. rioslty, and who will be more particularly noticed in the Fifth volume of this History. " The above extracts from Wace are such decisive evidence of the ex istence ofthe Breton lays about Arthur, that Bretagne has certainly great claims to the origin of thiscyclus of romance — the earliest, perhaps, that appeared in England and France. ^ niiere is a Drem-ruz famous in the Breton history. I have some times asked whether he was the Tristram of romance, who is always made a Breton prince. Diem ruz inverted would be ruz-drem — It means ruddy-face. — M. Douce, in answer to my query, says, ' The inverted name of Tramtris was given to Tristram in his infancy, when he was bred up as the son of a person not his parent. He more than once assumes the name in the course of the romance — once as the tutor of Iseult, and again when disguised as a merchant.' DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 231 the ro mances on CHAP. V. The Romances upon Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. A S the earliest romances which appeared either in Origin of England, in Normandy or in France, were those on Arthur and his knights, it is natural for an English- Arthur man to inquire from what source or country they originated. In the appendix to the first edition of the first volume of the Anglo-Saxon History, published in 1799, some circumstances were mentioned, which made the author desirous to ascertain, whether the tales of the romancers on Arthur and his knights did not originate in Wales and Bretagne.' It was also remarked, that the coincidence between several things mentioned in these tales, and those pre served in the Welsh traditions of Arthur and his friends, could have arisen only from communication; and that the Bretons must have been the medium thro which the Welsh narrations got into France.'' A simi lar opinion was afterwards expressed by Mr, Leyden,^ and adopted by Mr. G. Ellis.* In the second edi tion of Anglo-Saxon History, published in 1807,* the author remarked on the colonization of Bretagne from the British islands, and shewed that druids, a J Hist. Anglo-Sax, V, I. p. 389. 1st ed. 1799. '¦' Ib, 383. - See his Introduction to his Complaint of Scotland. ¦• In his ' Early English Metrical Romances,' p. 33. ' Anglo-Sax. V, 1. p. 108-116, 2d ed. 4°. Q 4 HISTORYOF ENGLAND, 232 HISTORY Olf ENGLAND, BOOK branch of the ancient bards of Britain, were in that ^^- province In the fourth century ; and reasoned, that LITERARY from the subsequent emigrations of both chiefs and people from our island to Bretagne, and from the fact, that bards were a part of the household of every chieftain's family, there must have been bards, and a cultivation of poetry in Bretagne during the sixth and seventh centuries. Some circumstances were mentioned, which made it probable that the Breton bards would gradually deviate into more popular poetry ; and from the peculiarities of their new situ ations, and the necessity of acquiring subsistence, would seek rather to amuse the people by tales, than by the artificial verses which they had composed in Britain and Wales,* A decisive evidence that there were in the sixth and seventh centuries, in Armorica and Wales, wandering bards or minstrels, who de scended from their original loftiness of character to humbler eflforts, to please the people by more amusive tales and songs, was given in a translation of a Satire of Taliesin, distinctly describing and expressly writ ten to reproach this new, and, as he thought, demora lizing vagrant from the ancient British Parnassus.'^ In 1815, M. de la Rue, to whom we are indebted for first bringing to the public notice some of our most ancient Norman poems, by his letters on them read before the Antiquarian Society, and printed in its Archaeologia,* published a work on the Bards of Bre- ° This passage was omitted in the editions of the Anglo-Saxon History since the second, and has been inserted in the new edition of the Vin dication ofthe Ancient British Bards, which has been added to the 4th edition ofthe Anglo-Saxon History. V. 3. p. 552-7. ' This is now reprinted in the Vindication, 3 Anglo-Sax. 556-7. 4lh ed. ' In the 13th and 14th volumes. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, 233 tagne,* which urges the same idea, of the early French chap. romances having originated from them. About the ^¦ same time, M. de Roquefort inclined to the belief, romances that the Anglo-Normans had adopted the Breton "''°'* _ _ c JT ARTHUR traditions among others.'" and the Mr. Douce has since declared his opinion to be, table! that the tales of Arthur and his knights, which have ' — " — ' appeared in so many forms, and under the various titles ofthe St. Graal, Tristam de Leonnois, Lancelot du Lac, &c. were not immediately borrowed from the work of JeflFry of Monmouth, but from his Armoric originals." The late editor of Warton's History of English Poetry (1824,) whose elaborate preface shews both his research and his ability, has intimated that ' every further investigation of the subject only tends to support this opinion.'"* These concurring opinions satisfy the present author, that in looking into Bre tagne and Wales for the origin of the romances on Arthur and his knights, he was not misled by a mere visionary conjecture. Mr. Warton had also glanced ' Recherches sur les Ouvrages des Bardes de la Bretagne Armerique. Caen 1815. '° See his 'Etat de la Poesie Fraiicoise dans les 13 & 13 siecles.' Paris, 1815. p. 46, &c. To this intelligent inquirer we also owe the Glos- saire ofthe Langue Roraane, the publication ofthe Lais de Marife, and other valuable works. " Warton'sHistory of English Poetry, 8° ed. 1824. l Diss, xvi, note g, I am happy to find the opinion expressed in the second edition of the Anglo-Saxons, 4">, p. 1 14. that Breton tales existed before Jeffry pub lished, sanctioned by the belief of a gentleman so conversant in our old romances as M. Douce. " The editor also justly says, 'The concurrent testimony of the French romances, is now admitted to have proved the existence of a large body of fiction relative to Arthur, in the province of Brittany ; and while they confirm the assertions of Jeffry in this single particular, it is equally clear that they have neither echoed his language, nor borrowed his materials.', Pref, p. 99, 234 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, his eye on Armorica, but it was with a belief, not that Welsh, but that Arabian fictions had been im ported into it." That there were poets, or a class of bards of a more popular kind than the ancient insular ones, flourishing and favored in Bretagne after the fifth century, and before the Norman conquest, was shewn upon ancient authorities, in the reprint of the Vindication of the Ancient British Poems, which was added to the fourth edition of the History of the Anglo-Saxons.'* This new description of bards, so degenerated in the opinion of the successors of the ancient ones, but so much more pleasing to the feelings of their contemporaries, are also noticed in the ancient Welsh triads ; for one of these triads mentions, that the ancient bard ism was corrupted by three peoples ; and names the Bre tons of Armorica as one who had deteriorated it.'' But the most popular subject which tbe bards of Bretagne could have chosen to interest the British colonists, who bad new-peopled it, must have been the brave resistance of themselves or their ancestors and relatives to their hated enemies the Saxons. The indignant exiles would be interested by this topic more than by any other, because with most of the patriotic chieftains they had either kinship or connec- " Hist. Poetry, l Diss, p. 3. This able man, who has thrown so much light on our ancient poetry, and was the first tbat explored its long-for gotten recesses, was so prepossessed with his oriental theory, as to assert that tlie Chronicle of Jeffry of Monmouth 'entirely consists of Arabian inventions.' p. xiv. " See in particular the remarks and citations in pp. 543-6, and U8- 558, Hist. Anglo-Sax, V. 3. 4th ed. " It may be thus translated : ' Three nations corrupted what was taught them of the bardism of the bards of the isle of Britain, by blend ing it with vague notions, and on that account they lost it — the Gwyd-, delians, the Cymry ofLlyddazv, and the Almans.' ROUND TABLE, DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, 23-5 tion. But as time rolled on, and new generations arose chap. in Bretagne, who would become more attached to their ^- native soil than to the sea-divided land of their fore- romances fathers ; and as new habits and ideas, springing from ^^°j[pR the new circumstances of the Bretons, would make and the novelty more popular ; and as the facts of history were become transformed by tradition into fictions more agreeable ; it was natural that the wars with the Saxons should become obsolete, and that the favorite heroes of the Breton poets should be recol lected and combined with incidents more analogous to their local vicinage, and to the new manners of the day. Poets change their themes to please their audience ; and hence, to the names which patriotic feeling and ancient tradition had so long venerated, the manners and actions of the middle ages became gradually attached : of these names, Arthur was the most renowned and the most admired. He had combated in various parts of the mother country, and was therefore universally known ; he was a patron of bards, and a bard himself ; his death furnished a striking catastrophe ; and the uncer tainty of his grave threw a romantic mystery over all his character ; and several of his personal friends emigrated to Bretagne : these reasons seem to make it natural that the actions of Arthur should have been the favorite subject of the bardic genius. Indeed so greatly were the people of Bretagne interested in his fame, that Alanus de Insulis tells us, that even in his time (the twelfth century) they would not be lieve that their favorite was dead. " If you do not believe me, go into Bretagne, and mention in the streets and villages that Arthur is really dead like other men, you will not escape with impunity; you 18 HISTORYOF ENGLAND. 236 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK will be either hooted with the curses of your hearers, _^ or stoned to death." '" Trouveurs,'^ Troubadours, LITERARY aud mouklsh versifiers,'* combine to express the same idea. Hence it appears very probable that the bards of Bretagne were the first inventors and composers of the romances concerning Arthur. Being more removed from the scenes of his actions, they in dulged themselves in greater licence in exaggerating them ; and indeed, how could they exaggerate too much for hearers who could not be convinced that he was dead, tho seven centuries had revolved since his disappearance ! But it would be more gratifying to the Breton feelings to connect their favorite prince with incidents less disastrous than those which drove them from Britain; and their poets found more be nefit from dressing Arthur and his friends in a ficti tious glory, than in the melancholy drapery of their real history. Hence the chivalric costume and trans actions of the day were ascribed to them ; and when Walter the archdeacon went into Bretagne, he found these fabulous narrations afloat. He embodied them into a regular narration, or he translated some col- '^ Alanus de Insulis, p. 17. This author was born 1 109. From this foolish chimera, ' Arturem expectare' became a proverb, to denote ex cessive credulity. Quibus si credideris Expectare poteris Arturem cum Britonibus, — Pet. Bless. Ep. 57. " So Wace, in I155:— ' Uncore i est ; Breton I'atendent, Si com il dient e entendent de la vendra uncore pot vivere, MS. Brut. Bib. Reg, 13. A 21, " So the Trobadour, Mathicu de Querci, says, about 1276, 'As much as the Bretons have wept and still weep for the good kiii<' Arthur,' 2 Palaye, 262. ° " Jos. Iscanus also shows this; for in his poem de bello Trojano, he says— Sic Britonem ridenda fides et credulus error Arturum expectat, expectabit que perenne, — L, 3, L, 472. 237 CHAP, V. AND THE ROUNDTABLE. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. lection of them, and gave them to the world as history. Till then, the Breton language had greatly concealed them from the rest of the world. But his Latin work, ^°j;^'^''=" decorated with the solemn name of History, gave arthur them credit and dignity, and diffused them thro Europe, tho it did not originate them. As the Breton tales came into fashion, Arthur be came the popular hero ; *" because his countrymen and their descendants were the first romance com posers. It is indeed probable, that the Breton tales had become known in England and Normandy be fore Jeffry published. In Athelstan's time, many Breton nobles and their followers fled from the Nor man sword, and sought an asylum in the court of Athelstan ; who received them kindly " : and be tween his reign and the Norman conquest, the vici nity of Normandy and Bretagne, and their frequent intercourse of war and friendship, must have com municated to the Normans some of the popular tales of tbe Breton nation.'® The fact, that almost all the heroes of the romances about Arthur may be found in the Welsh triads, or poetry, strengthens the argu ment, that the romances on Arthur and the round table originated in Bretagne; and that the Welsh and Armorican bards were their first inventors. "' We cannot wonder that so many romances were composed about Arthur, when we observe what Alanus de Insulis says ofhis celebrity in the twelfth century : ' Who does not speak of him ? He is even more known in Asia than in Britain, as our pilgrims returning from the East assure us. Egypt and the Bosphorus are not silent; Rome, the mistress of cities, sings his actions. Antioch, Armenia, Palestine, celebrate his deeds. Thus was Meriin's prophecy fulfilled.' He adds the passage already cited, " Athelstan not only received Malhuedoi, the sovereign of Bretagne, whom the Normans had dethroned, hut became the sponsor of his son, and educated and nourished him to manhood, and assisted him to regain the throne ofhis ancestors, Chron. Namnet. Restit. ap. Bouq. p. 276, '' Mr. Ellis says, truly, ' The Norman poets themselves frequently profess 10 have derived their stories from a Breton original. Early En glish Metrical Romances, p. 34, HISTORYOF ENGLAND, 238 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK Most ofthe names of the persons and places men- ^^- tioned in these romances, on Arthur and his knights, LITERARY arc to be found in the ancient Welsh remains that still survive to us ; which is a strong indication of their primitive source. The Anglo-Norman poetess, Marie, of the thirteenth century, also declares, that she took her lays from Breton sources ; ^^ and these mention so many places and persons of Bretagne or Great Britain, as to prove, by their internal evidence, tbat their original authors must have been from one or other of these countries ; ^ and thus her poems confirm the former evidence, that the Bretons had bards, poets or minstrels, who composed romantic tales. From all these circumstances, it seems to be a safe historical inference, that the romances on Arthur and the Round Table originated in Bretagne,'" and most probably entered into that country from Wales, ^ Marie expressly declares, that she had heard the lays recited, and what she had heard she has rimed Des lais pensai k'oi aveie — Plusurs en ai oi center Ne voil I'aisser nes oblier ; Rimez en ai, et fait diti^ Soventes fiez en ai veillie, Roquefort Marie, p. 44. I had selected the passages in which she refers to her Breton authori ties, but as I find most of them quoted in the new edition of Warton Ixxvii-lxxxii, I will only quote the pages I had noted : pp. 50. 1 12. 1 14. 136. 138. 250. 252. 270. 314. 326. 367. 400. 484. 540. 542. 580. " Thus in Equitain, Nantz, p. 114. In La Frene, Dol, p. 164. Iir Lauval, Arthur, Carduel, Logres (Llogyr, the Welsh name for England,) the Escos and Pis (the Scots and Picts,) p. 202. Gaiwains and Ivains (Gwalchmar and Owen,J p. 220. D. Cornwall, 234. Avalon, p. 250. In Cbevrefeuille ; Tristram, King Markes, South Wales, Cornuwaile and Tintagel, 388-392. In Eleduc; Bretaine the Mineure, Loegre, Totness, Exeter, 400-58. In Graelent ; Bretaigne, 486. In D'Ywenec; Caer- went ; the Duglas ; Incole (Lincoln ;) Ireland, Caeriien, 272-306. In Milon; South Wales, Northumbre, Southampton, 328-350. InL'Epine; Caeriion, Bretaigne, 542 ; and, in Laustic, the Breton name for the night ingale, and St. Malo, 314, 315. ^ M. Roquefort is of the same opinion. He remarks, that the greatest part ofthe persons are Armorican ; that the scene is always in Little or Great Britain ; and that the Bretons have been so fond of their fairies as to still have in their country the fairy rock, the fairy grotto, the fairy valley, the fairy fountain, &c. See his Poesies de Marie, V, 1, 32-4. He DURINO the middle ages, , 2.19 That in the eleventh century, just before the chap. earliest of these romances appeared, the Breton in- tellect was in an active and productive state, we may romances infer from the observation of bishop Otto, who near that period wrote, " Bretagne is full of clerks, who have acute minds, and apply them to the arts." ^^ The famous Abelard, born before iioo, and his master Roscelin, were Bretons ; and Abelard's father, a Breton knight, was so fond of letters, that tho his son was his eldest child, he would, very unlike the custom of the feudal nobility of other countries, have him well instructed in letters befoi'e he learnt the use of arms.*^ These facts imply strongly the cultivation of the Breton mind at that period ; ^ and shew, that while the love of literature was then dormant all around, it was pervading this peculiar and maritime province, which had a history, an ancestry, and a language diflferent from the rest of France.'*' adds, that the Isle of Saine, where the fairies lived ; the forest of Bre- chelians near Quintin, where the tomb of Merlin was placed; the foun tain of Barenton, and the wonderful Penon, were all placed in Bretagne. Roquefort Marie, 33. '" Otto Fris. c. 47. p. 433. ^ See Abelard's Works, as quoted hereafter. ^ We may also remember, that Turpin's printed book remarks, that of Hoel count of Nantz, and therefore a Breton chief, whom he places with Charlemagne, a ballad was sung, 'Usque in hodiernam diem.' Some MSS. support tbe application of this passage to Hoel, but most give it to Ogier ihe Dane. ^ On this subject two important intimations are given by Pitts and Bale, wbich we must rather recollect than lean upon. The first mentions, as Warton noticed, that an ' Eremita Britannus, A. D. 720,' wrote on the St, Graal, and on Arthur and on his round table and knights. Pitts, p. 122. Tanner mentions that Bale saw some fragments of this work. Bib. 263. He also, with Pitts, ascribes to 'Gildas Quartftes,' whom he places in fi6o, — ' Works on Arthur — de milite Leonis ; de milite Qua drigae; de Percevallo et Lanceloto; de Galguano et aliis,' p. 122. Pitts, 166. Tanner in his Bib. p. 319. has inserted this Gildas, and these titles of his alleged works. As no MSS. of any of these works exist, the asser. tions of these bibliographers cannot be taken as historical certainties : et we have no reason absolutely to reject them. It certainly corresponds 240 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK The earliest romance that was composed ^n the VI- subject of Arthur, appears to have been that on Tristan. It seems to have been written in prose, and probably in Latin, if the assertion, that Luces de Gast translated it, be correct ; ^° and if in Latin, we must refer it to some of those clerical authors, who appear to have been the first cultivators of every branch of the middle age literature. It was afterwards versified by Chretien de Troyes, before the twelfth century closed,^' and, either in prose or verse, must have been in circulation soon after the middle of that period, as it is quoted by a trouba dour who was then flourishing.*'' It was in the reign with all the probabilities of the subject, that there should be books or tales on Arthur long before Jeffry of Monmouth. The expressions of Wace import strongly that there were many Breton tales about the Round Table, and about Arthur, before his time , which, as he was a contem porary of Jeffry of Monmouth, must have been independent of this history. — Of the Round Table, he says — Fist Artur la ronde table Vunt Breton dient meinte fable. So he remarks, that numerous tales existed of Arthur: Tant ont li conture conte e lui fablar tant fable Pur lui contes enbeler Ke tuz les funt a fables tenir. MS. Bib. Reg. 13. A 21. As Wace finished his work in 11 55, the above is good evidence of Breton tales then abounding, exclusive of Jeffry's book; and as his verbs are in the past tense, the fair inference is, that these tales were of a previous date and origin. *• Roquefort dates it in 1 170. The MS. in the Royal Library at Paris, N° 6977, ascribes it to Luces. But the one of Rusticien de Pise, men tions Luces as only beginning it. On the subject of the original Tristan, and on the claims preferred by Sir Walter Scott, and disputed on strong grounds by the last editor of Warton, of Thomas the Rymer being its author, I will refer the reader to his poem as published with notes by sir Walter, and to the remarks added to Warton, I. p. 181-198. " M. Roquefort places his work in 1180. This author died in II91. Etat. Poes. 148. '' It is Pons de Capdeuil who thus notices it : — Domna genser qu'ieu sai, Mais vos am ses bausia No fetz Tristans s'amia E nuill pro non hi ai. — Anguis Poet. Fr. 1. p. 17. DUIUlMG THE MIDDLE AGES. 241 of Henry II., whose eldest son, that died in his life- chap. time, was, while he lived, Henry III., that the prin- ^" cipal romances on the Round Table were translated romances or composed ; and of some of these, Walter Mapes arthur is named as the translator. and the This romance was soon followed by the St. Graal, table. GIron le Courtois, Lancelot, Mort du Roi Artur, " '" ' Merlin, and several others. The connexion of Breton tales with the romances and ancient poetry of France is indeed a very curious subject, which has been too little attended to. The want of materials may have caused the neglect ; but it deserves a careful in vestigation. In our fifth volume of this History, we shall notice the fact, that even the singular topics and manners of the Provencal Troubadours have some unexpected association with the Breton tales,'' Marie also mentions Tristan, But for the multifarious facts and reason ings that have been published on this subject, the reader may consult Mr. Warton's history, in tbe last edition ; Mr. Douce and Mr. Park's notes inserted in it ; and the works or essays of Mr. G. Ellis, Ritson, sir Walter Scott, M. Weber, Mbns. Roquefort, Le Beuf, Ravalliere, Galland, who, with others, have all thrown some Ught on this obscure but curious topic. ^ As some of tbe prose romances are stated, by their authors or transcribers, to have been written for our king Henry III. I have begged Mr. Douce to favor me with the colophons to some of his Romances, especially as they also make the celebrated Walter Mapes one of their compilers. From his transcript of the colophons, I take the following cir cumstances. The second part of the S' Graal, MS. Bib. Reg. 14 E 3. says these adventures ' furent mises en escrit et gardees en I'abeie de Salesbieres dontmaistres Gautiers Map traist a faire son livre del S' Graal pour I'amour del roi Henri sen seigneur qi fist I'estoire translater de Latin en franchois.'— So the MS. Tristan, Bib. Reg. 20. D 2.— The MS. Mort. d'Artur of Mr. Douce, gives not only the San Graal, but also I'Estoire de Lancelot, to Mapes. In Mr. Douce's MS. Mort de Tristan, the , author ascribes his work to the request of li rois Henri 3. d'Angleterre. He calls himself Helies de Borron, and mentions Messrs. Lucez and Robert de Baron as writing on these subjects, and Gautier Maz qui fist le propre livre de Lancelot. In the prologue to the first edition of Tristan, the author says, ' Je Luce Chevalier Seigneur du Chateau de Gast, voisiu prochain de Salesbieres en Angleterre ay voulu rediger,' &c.^.In the romance of Meliadus de Leonnois, its author, Rusticien de Pise, speaks of finishing (I presume in prose) le livre du Brut, and that Henry was charmed with it. He says Luces de Jau began to translate a part of Vol. iv, R LITERARY HISTORYOF 212 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK the Tristran into French ; that Gasses le blonc qui estoit parent au roi yp Henry afterwards took it up; and after him, Gaurier Map; qui fu che- vaher le roy et devisa I'hystoire de Lancelot du Lac; that Robert de Borron applied to it, et Helye de Borron par la Priere du dit Robert de Borron. He mentions again his Brut — He expatiates again on the plea sure Henry took in these works ; he invites poor as well as rich to read ENGLAND.^ them ; and declares he found them in Latin, He says, he sees that les plus sages et les plus prisez d'Angleterre sont ardans et desirans to hear these deeds, and that Henry had given him deux beaulx chasteaulx. He asks what name he shall give his book, and he adds, such as shall please King Henry, who desired, that as it was to treat on courtesy, it might begin with Palamedes, than whom there was nul plus courtois chevalier, — ^The romance of Giron le Courtois, the same author, Rusticiens de Puise, says be compiled from the book of his lord Edward I. when he went to Palestine. — The above is probably all we can now know of the authors or translators of the prose romances. — The MS. prose Romans of the late duke of Roxhrough contained similar colophons. Some writers doubt if Luce, tbe Borrons and Rusticien, be real authors; but the doubt is mere surmise. There is no evidence to con tradict the enumeration made by Rusticien, of the authors who had pre ceded him, nor to disprove his own reality. I do not see any sufficient reason for the actual authors hiding themselves in that age under the guise of fictitious personages. This is quite different from the case of ascribing works to personsof former celebrity or of known importance. We may add to the above remarks, that at the end of one of the MSS, in the Royal library at Paris, Cod. 6783, on Lancelot du Lac, occur these words : ' Mes en Francois par Robert de Borron, par le coraraande- ment de Henri roi d'Angleterre.' Add. to Warton, V. 1. p. 160. The translation of such a French romance, by Henry Lonelich Skynner, in Bennet college library, Cambridge, which has been introduced to us by the editor of the last edition of Warton, thus mentions Borron : — Wiche that Maister Robert of Borrown Out of Latyn it transletted hoi and soun Onlich into the langage of Frawnce, — 1 War. p. 154. All the above authorities that refer any of these works to Walter Mapes, shew that the Henry spoken of, is either Henry II. or his son Henry, who was crowned in his life-time, and therefore who was, while he lived, Henry III. Our antiquaries must recollect this, when Henry III. is mentioned in the old romances, as this expression is applicable to him as well as to the historical Henry III. and other circumstances must determine which of these two kings is the person really meant. It is too common and too natural, without this remembrance, to ascribe, fts Mr. Warton and most have done, all these references to John's son, Henry III.; altho, while the son of Henry II. of the same christian name lived, after his father had crowned him, he was Henry III. in the popular eye and tongue. — But happening to die before his parent, and not surviving to become his successor, his royal title has almost disappeared from our history, and no other Henry III. is now generally known or regu larly noticed but that son and successor of John, whose reign was distin guished for its unusual length. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 2i:{ CHAP. VL 0« Turpin's History of Charlemagne, and the Romances upon this Emperor and his Peers; and on Alexander. Another class of romances, which amused the grave and gay in the first part of the middle ages, were those which were connected with Charlemagne. These do not seem to have been popular in England, nor among the Anglo-Normans ; but as they form an inseparable branch of the fictitious compositions of this period ; as one historical romance connects bis exploits with our island ; ' as they have always re ceived some attention from our antiquaries, and as some points about them have not yet been correctly elucidated, a few pages of this History will be occu pied by their consideration. They have been usually supposed to have ori ginated from the fabulous history which appeared on the continent as the account of the actipns of Char lemagne, under the name of Turpin, archbishop of Rheims, ast he MSS. of the work usually name him ;* but of Tulpin, as he is called in the first part of one MS. at Vienna.' That there was an archbishop of Rheims named Tilpin in the time of Charlemagne, is clear, from the ' This circumstance is detailed in the following note.''^ ' This work was first printed in the Germ, Rer. Quat, Frankf. 1 566, and again in the Vet, Script, Germ, Reuberi, Hanov, 1619. Mr. Wartou thought it was compiled after the Crusades. 1 Diss. p. 20. ' Lambecius has described this MS. in his Bib. Caes. V. 2. p. 329-334- The fii St part names him Tulpin, in an account taken from his book ; but it is followed by the actual work, and in that he is called Turpin, as in every other copy of it that I have seen. R a HISTORYOF ENGLAND. 244 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK Pope's letter addressed to him, and from his epitaph ^^- recorded by Flodoard,* whose History of Rheims LITERARY cuds about 966, at which time its author lived. But the facts, that such a person, with such a name, did exist, seem to be all that is true in this once applauded work.' It has been a matter of much debate, when the real author of this work lived, and at what time it first became known. Erroneously placed in the tenth century by one person," it has been since consigned more justly to the twelfth. A prose romance '^ was taken from it, which expresses its own date to have been 1200. But a little before this year, a prior of Vigeois prefixed to his transcript of it a preface. In which he says, it had been then lately brought to him out of Spain.* It is, however, mentioned still earlier than this, in a MS. history of Charlemagne' in the Vienna library, which was composed about 1 1 70, in " Flodoard, in his History of the Church at Rheims, lias inserted ex tracts from the Pope's epistles to Tilpin, in his 1. 2. c. 13. 16 and 17. Hincmar composed his epitaph, which states him to have been above forty years in his see. 16 Mag. Bib. Pat. p. 671. Charlemagne obtained the pall for him from Adrian. Ib. Tilpin came to this see from St. Denys. Ib. p.670. ° Le Beuf remarks that the real Turpin died twenty years before Charlemagne, instead of surviving him, as the fabulous Turpin states. Hist. Acad, v, 10. p. 249. " Masca in his Hist. Beam. This date was on the apparent authority of one Julian, who pretended to have lived in 1160, But Antonio shews that all Julian's works are supposititious. Le Beuf, ib. 252. ' The MS. of this in theBrirish Museum says, ' Raiiiald de Boloine-^ la fist en romanz translater del Latin a duze cens ans del incarnation. MS. Bib. Reg. 4. c. 1 1, It mentions that Rainald wished it to be written without rhyme, as if rhymed romans on the same subject were then extant. Le Beuf mentions a MS, which says, that Renauz de Boloigne sought for it among the books of St. Denys, and translated it en romance, )206. p. 363. And another MS. which declares that Michael de Hainess in quired for it among the books of Reenaut, count of Boulogne, and trans lated it from Latin to Romanz, in 1207. Ib. 362. * ' Nuper ad nos ex Esperia delates gratauter excepi.' Gaufridus Vos ap Oienhart Vascon, p. 398. HISTORYOFCHARLE- DPRING THE MIDDLE AGES. 240 -which thewriter refers to it; as Vvhat he had seen at CHAP. St. Denys in France.^ ^^' An allusion to Roland and his sword, in Rodulf turpin's Tortaire, would, from the time he lived, place it before 1135.'" No direct information carries it to an earlier magne. period than this, except that which connects it with pope Calixtus II. As to its genuine author, besides the mere specu lations of Grypbeander," and of those who would make him a Spaniard,"* as others think it betrays a Breton hand, '^ the most important is the specific assertion of Guy AHard, that its proper date is ' Lambecius describes it as the 9th Codex. The preface to its third book says, ' We begin with that epistle which we found in the .chronicle of the Francs at St. Denys, in France, which Tulpinus, abp. of Rheims, had transmitted to Leoprand.' — And the five following chapters are obviously taken from Turpin's book Lamb. 2. p. 332. '" Le Beuf has quoted the poem, in the Vatican, of Rodulfe' Tortaire, who lived in our Henry the first's time. It thus mentions Roland and his sword — Ingreditur patrium gressu properante cabiculum, Diripit a clavo, clamque patris gladium, Rutland! fuit iste, viri virtute potentis ' Quem patruus magnus Karolus, huic dederat, Et Rutland us eo semper pugnare solebat, , Millia pagani inulta hecaus'pojiuli. This quotation places the story of Roland before 1135, when our Henry 1, died. See Abbe le Beuf's dissertation in 10 Hist. Acad. Inscrip, p. 245. Yet it is possible that this incident may have been a part of the popular tales about Roland. " This writer would ascribe it to Robertus de Monte, one of the his torians ofthe first Crusade. See his Weichb. Sax. p. 50. " Le Beuf, Ib. p. 253. — Tbe prose MS. life of Charlemagne in the British Museum, Bib. Reg. 4. c. 1 1. begins with saying, that those who wish, may oir la veritede Espane sulunc le latin del estoire, &c. That the Spaniards had traditions about Charlemagne, we learn from Roderic Toletanus. He rejects the accounts of Charlemagne's victories in Spain, as fables; but he mentions, without discrediting it, the tale ofhis banish ment by his father Pepin, his asylum with Galafer, the Arab king of Toledo, and the marriage of this king's daughter. Rod. Tol. I. 4- c 1 1- Gaufridus^ the prior of Vosges, who wrote a little before 1200, received t from Spain, See before, note °, '^ See M, Leyden's Compkynt of Scotland, Dissert, p. 263; and Mr. Ellis's remarks, 2 Spec. Romances, p. 287. a 3 HISTORYOF ENGLAND 246 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK 1092, and that it was written at Vienne, by a monk Z!l of St. Andrie.'* literary The passage in Wace, that a minstrel preceded William's army at the battle of Hastings, singing on Charlemagne, Roland, Oliver, and the vassals who died at Charlemagne,'^ seems to be reasonable evi dence that he had this work in his mind when he composed his own, which he dates in 11 55 ; and this is supposed to be but a more descriptive account of the analogous fact mentioned by Malmsbury, that the " Cantilena Rollandi " was so begun ; '" and the in ference has been made that Turpin's book preceded even William's expedition. But to this supposition two objections may be made ; one, that ballads may have existed on Roland and Charlemagne before Turpin's book was com posed ; and the other, which I have ventured to suggest, that the Norman Roland may not have been the warrior and nephew of Charlemagne. On the first point it is acknowleged, in Turpin's work, that songs on one of his heroes were in exist ence anterior to his writing."^ Another chapter of '¦* Hist, Dauph, 224. — It is to be regretted that this very concise au thor has given no reasons or evidence for his opinion. It stands as a mere ipse dixit ; and yet he writes as if he had facts iu his knowlege, from which he formed it. It is obviously not like Grypheander's, a mere spe culation. '* This passage, often quoted, is — Taillifer qui mult bien chantout Sor un cheval qi tost alout Devant le due alout chantant De Karlemaigne e de Reliant E d'Oliver e des vassalls Qi morurent en Roncevalz. — B. R. 4. c. 11. " Malmsbury's words are, tunc cantilena Rollandi inchoata, that the Warlike example of this man might excite them to the conflict, p. 101. " The passage in Turpin is, ' De hoc canetur in cantilena usque bo" diernam diem,' c, 11. Tbe question now is, of whom is this spoken? In the two printed copies, and in one MS, in tbe British Museum, these words are applied to Oel, a Breton chief; but Mr. Douce remarks, that HISTORYOF CHARLE- DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, 247 his work alludes to other fabulous narrations about chap, Charlemagne, as if then well known, tho he would ;_ not describe them,'® An ancient authority has been turpin's already quoted, to prove that the minstrels had made earlier romances on some ofthe warriors of the age f^f^f^, and court of Charlemagne." The idea of the twelve peers of France certainly did not originate from Turpin's book ; *" and one string of fiction, the conquest of England by Char- in the best MSS. of Turpin, the above expressions refer to Oger, king of Denmark, of whom a long romance, written originally in rhyme, still exists. Warton, V.l. p. xxi. new ed. The old parchment MS, Harl, 108, and the paper MS, Titus, A 19. add them to Naaman, the dux Ba- joariae. Two others omit the words on the song. But the parchment MSS. Bib. Reg. 13. D 1, and Nero, All. and the paper MS. (which two last are the most complete MSS. of Turpin, and the document con nected with him, that I have seen,) connect the words with Ogier : so does the MS. mentioned by Le Beuf, v. 10. p. 249. I observe that the MSS. which ascribe the song to Ogier, have the passage more complete and full than the others, which either omit it or give it to Oel or Hoel, and which make no mention of Ogier in it. Hence I think the evidence at present preponderates in favor of Ogier being the person alluded to as the subject of these songs. If so, he may be derived from Ingwar, also called Igwar, the celebrated son of Ragnar Lodbrog. '* Turpin, c. 20. Warton has pointed our attention to this. The passage mentions, tbat how Charlemagne killed Braimant, a great and superb king ofthe Saracens; acquired many lands and cities; built abbeys and churches all over the world ; and went to the Holy Sepulchre, ' scribere nequo,' because the hand and pen would fail sooner than the history, p. 80, We know that there was an earlier account of this visit to the Holy Land, See Le Beuf, v, 10, p. 238, " See before, p. 204, note.''' ^ The peers of France are said to be mentioned by Flodoard in his History, who lived in 960, I bave not found the passage in him ; but I observe that the nobility of France were anciently so called, not as peers to their ting, but as peers or equals as to each other, 3 Du Cange Gloss. 137. Two of our chroniclers mention the twelve peers of France as the number by which each peer was to be judged. M. Paris, an 1226; and Knyghton, says, ' ad modura Franciae 12 pares tum ordinavisse Scotos.' So Raimond, count of Toulouse, was ordered to undergo the ' judicum duodecim parium Gallise.' M. Paris. We find from the ' Re- gesto Parliameiiti,' that, ' au temps ancient n'avoit que 12 pairs en France.' These are mentioned all of the highest rank ; six lay and six clerical. Du Cange, p. 143, Hence it is clear that the twelve peers of France were known in that country as a part of its constitutional no bility before Turpin Jeffry, and most probably as eariy, at least, as Charlemagne, u 4 240 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK lemagne,"' tho generally noticed by him, is not pre- ^/; sented in his work in that circumstantial detail which LiTEHARY others have given, and which therefore they must lngTand.' l^av^ derived from other sources,"" Rhymed romances ' — ^' — ' on Charlemagne certainly exist, the time of whose first appearance is not known."^ Some of the prose compositions on this subject brand the rhymed ones as falsehoods,"* and boldly, altho themselves as chimerical, claim to be authentic history."^ " Turpin merely say, ' diversa regiia Angliam Galliam,' and many others, ' invincibili brachio suo potentia; suae adquesivit.' c. 2. '^ I allude here particularly to the German Chronicon of Mutius, who lived soon after 1500. In this work, which Pistorius thought it worth while to print, little is taken from the exploits in Turpin; but two folio pages and a half are devoted to the exploits of Adolphus, the lieutenant of Charlemagne, sent by him to make war on the rebellious Saxons, Angles, and Britons, in England. I remark that the incidents resemble those of Julius Caesar's first invasion. The battle in the sea; the landing; the flight, and further conflicts; the storm, and the submission of the island : all which are applied, with some new colouring, to Adolphus. It would be interesting to find out from what ballads or pseudo-Turpin such gratuitous fictions were derived ; and so gravely stated, as to be narrated by Mutius as sober history, L. 8. p. 64. =3 Two of these are in the British Museum, MS. Bib. Reg. I5. E 6. One beginning. Or entendez seigneurs que DieU vous benie Le glorieulx de ciel le filz saincte Marie, The other opening with, Plaise vous ecouter bonne chancon vaillant De Charlemaine le riche roy puissant. '^ The Harl. MS. ofthe French prose translation of Turpin's History, N° 273, bas this passage : ' Pour ceo que estoire rimee semble mensunge, est ceste mis en prose, selon le latin que Turpin memes fist.' The old romance, quoted by Warton, has also, ' Nuz contes rymez n'en estvrais. Tot mensonge ce qu'il dient.' l Hist. p. 139. =» In the British Museum. Bib. Reg. 13. A 18. is a MS. ofthe four teenth century, containing the history of Turpin, in Latin rhyme. The Verses are hexameters, which rhyme usually in couplets, but several only in the middle. It corresponds with the prose Latin of Turpin, and has the passage on the arts. It begins, Versibus exametris, insignia gesta virorum Metrificare libet, celeberrima corpora quorum; and ends, Hoc opus exegi, Suramo sit gloria regi Auxilio cujus, operis sum redditor bujus — Et quia gesta referl Karoli . . . iste libellus Imponatur ei proprium nomen Karolellus. HISTORYOF CUAHLE- DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 249 ' The pretension is absurd, but it leads us to infer CHAP, that the poems must be older than the prose. ^^' These facts preclude us from making Turpin the turpin's original of all the romances on Charlemagne, and separate from his book the song that was chanted magne at the battle of Hastings. My doubt, if this was taken from any ballad of Charlemagne's hero, arose from a conception, that it was not likely that William would order a ballad on a knight who had perished in Spain, to be sung as an incentive to the courage of his army. It was more probable that it was a po pular song on some Norman successful hero ; and as the great leader of the Normans who invaded France, as he was invading England, and who established his countrymen in Normandy, was Hrolfr, or Rollo, and as I found that he was called in one old chronicler Rolandus,"" it seemed to me to look more like truth to infer that the war-song related to him, a real and victorious conqueror, and not to a fictitious per sonage, not nationally interesting to the Normans; uho, instead of gaining a triumph, fell disastrously in his adventure, and would therefore rather be an omen of discouragement to all William's soldiery. It con curs with this idea that the historian declares, that the success of his ancestor Rollo was one of the topics of the speech with which he addressed the army before that decisive battle."'^ For these reasons ^ It was in the Chronicon of T. Wikes that I saw this passage, ' Wil- lielmus Lung-espeye filii Rolandi qui fuit primus dux Norraannorum.' Gale Script. Angl. v. 2. p. 22, " See this in Hen. Hunt. p. 368, and in 2 Anglo Sax. 407. 4th ed. It ¦may be a question, if the Roland of romance did not originate from this Rollo? That the scalds or poets who sung on the Northmen warriors, made verses on Rollo, we may infer from their having done so on his chief contemporaries; .and that his life was romantic enough to be the subject of romantic balla HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK probabilities of the question seem to be, that if Calixtus had not VI. been concerned in giving this book of Turpin's to the world, his name would not have been so pertinaciously and universally at- literary (.jjj,}jgj to it. ]sfo other but the person mentioned by Allard has HISTORYOF , . . , . Ill ENGLAND, been, on any authority, assigned to it; and what he says, connects it also with the place of which Calixtus was the prelate. The monk of St. Andre may have been the real author, under Calixtus, and the pope the public father. It is also to be remarked, that altho these ancient authorities attach it to Calixtus, there is no ancient authority that contradicts the ascription. I will only add one other circumstance that I have observed, which may have had some connexion in this pope's mind, with this subject. The real Tilpin was archbishop of Rheims ; and it was to Rheims that the body of the only pope who bore the name of Calixtus, viz. Calixtus I. was transported. And it is apparently a coincidence worth remarking, that as the letter on Turpin, at- tribtited to Calixtus, makes Turpin's dead body to be found in a place laid waste by war, and to be carried to Vienne, so the dead body of Calixtus I. was taken from another place which the Danes had devastated, and was brought into Rheims. Flod. The reader will now judge for himself how far it is right or wrong to consider Calixtus as the real or putative father of Turpin's book. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 269 CHAP. APPENDIX II. VL That Jeffry s British History probably originated from, the political jeffry's views of Henry I. bhitish HISTORY. THE perception that the History of Turpin so visibly originated ' -.- ¦ from tlie objects and feelings, and was principally pushed into ce lebrity by the authority of Calixtus II. leads the mind to inquire whether the British History, of Jeffry of Monmouth, was also con nected with any worldly interests, or promoted by any worldly policy of the court of England, in the beginning of the twelfth century. It was written, and seems to have been made public, during the latter portion of the roign of Henry L The first dated proof we have ofthe existence of Jeffry's book, is the year 1 1 39. Our historian, Henry of Huntingdon, in his letter to Warinus of Bretagne, who had asked him why he had omitted in his history all the incidents between Brutus and Julius Caesar, answers, that although he had very often in(]uired, he could not find any knowlege of those times, either from verbal tradition, or in writing, till the year 1 139, when, going to Rome with the arch bishop Theobald, he was astonished to find (stupens inveni) at Bee, of which Theobald had been abbot, the written account of those transactions. A monk here, Robert of Thorigney, a very zealous collector of books, brought him Jeffry's book to read. Hari. MSS. N° 1018. There is also a letter of this Robert de Thorigney, which mentions his putting this book into Henry's hands, and that Huntingdon had carried his history down to the death of Henry I. or 1135. MS. ib. Therefore, Huntingdon knew nothing of Jeffry's History in 1 135, but saw it at Bee in 1139. Jeifry addresses the Prophecies of Merlin, which he stopped in the middle of his work to translate, to Alexander, bishop of Lin coln. L. 7. c. 1. & 2. But Alexander was raised to this see in 1123; M. Pac. 69. ; therefore this Hstory could not have been either published or completed before 1123. Thus we have these two extreme terms, within which the book must have been made pubhc — not earlier than 1123 ; not later than 1139. But Alured of Beverley has inserted an abridgment of it in his history. This history he ends just after Michaelmas in the 29 Henry I. or in October 1128. As he leaves off very abruptly at this period, it has been inferred that he died soon afterwards. Hearne's Pref. p. 28. Voss. Hist. Lat. 369. But the old biogra phers, Pitts and Bale, place his death in 1136. On these latter LITERARY HISTORYOF 270 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK authorities Jeffry's History must have been published before 1 1 36. VI. But the expressions of Alured in the beginning ofhis book, already remarked upon, (see before, p, 250.) indicate that he had met with Jeffry's History in 1128; therefore the correct chronology of its ENGLAND, pubhcatiou appcars to stand thus: — It could not have appeared before 1123, and must have appeared before 1136 or 1139, and most probably was made public in 1128, This statement shews that it was composed or translated in the latter portion ofthe reign of Henry I, and decides the question as to the priority of Turpin or Jeffry. I once doubted if Turpin's work had not been an imita tion of Jeffry's ; but since I have satisfied myself that Turpin's work was sanctioned by Pope Calixtus, in 1 122, it must have pre ceded Jeffry's, which could not have appeared till after 1123.* How far Jeffry s British History promoted ihe political interests and objects of Henry I. I. Henry had taken the crown not only against the hereditary right of his brother Robert, but also in violation of the compact made between that prince and William Rufus and his barons, which appointed him to succeed the latter. Robert was in Pales tine when Henry usurped it, and upon his return to claim it, almost all the barons deserted Henry and joined Robert. Alan. Proph, Merl. 1, 2. p. 74. The clergy and the English barons interfered, and influenced Robert to compromise his claim ; but the public feeling was not in favor of Henry's rectitude ; he was ridiculed and called ' queen goods-rich,' ib. p. 74, and was also in danger of revolts. It was therefore most important for him to have a book appear, in which an accredited and revered prophet should have foretold his reign, and described his actions. His severities to repress the violences and oppressions of his barons, and to reduce them to a subordination to law and the crown, and his pecuniary levies from his subjects, had made him many enemies and caused many insurrections. No policy could be more deep and effectual than to have also all these things predicted by an authority which that age vene rated ; hence, all these were made part ofthe prophecies ascribed to Merlin, and inserted by Jeffry in his book. The following * Some Other dates connected with it may be noticed. It is addressed to Robert earl of Gloucester; he died iu 1147. Jeffry was made bishop ofSt. Asaph in I151; Matt. Paris, p. 84; and died 1154. 2Wart.Ai)gl. Sax. Alexanderdied H47; M. Par. 82. H.Hunt, 394. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, 271 were understood at that time to be spoken by Merlin of Henry, CHAP, and are so interpreted by Alanus de Insulis, his contemporary. VI. ' The lion of iustice shall succeed ; at whose roar the Gallic ; tow^ers and island dragons shall tremble. In his days gold shall British be extorted from the lily and the nettle, and silver shall flow from history. the hoofs of those which low. Those that curl their hair shall be ' "' clothed in various fleeces, and the exterior habit shall shew the interior things. The feet of those that bark shall be cut off. Wild beasts shall have peace. Humanity will be grieved at the pu nishment. Money shall be made round. The rapacity of the kites shall perish, and the teeth of the wolves be blunted.' Alanus explains this of Henry. He raised money both from the good and bad, the clergy and the laity, or the lily and the nettle. A tax was laid by him on all sales of cattle. He forbad hunting. Many nobles were accused of conspiring against him, and punished. He ordered the oboli to be made round, and he put an end to the depredations and rapines ofthe great and gentry. Alan. p. 79. The prophecy is also made to foretell that he would buy his kingdom of Robert. Ib. 123. Thus his own reign, and the actions ofhis government that were most objected to, instead of being usurpation and tyranny, were represented to be fulfilments of the Divine ordinations. Nothing could be more artfully contrived to turn the prejudices of the people in his favor. II. Normandy, having been extorted from France, and the smaller power, was always in danger of being re-absorbed by the French government. But when its dukes became kings of Eng land, the French crown became in its turn endangered ; and thus the two sovereigns were thrown into a continual state of jealousy and discord with each other. But France had become a peculiar object of dread and dislike to Henry, from its crown claiming to have Normandy held as a fief from it, and therefore assuming to be its sovereign lord, and as such, exacting homage and feudal honors from the king of England, as the condition of his holding Normandy. This was not a mere personal mortification to kingly pride, but it was a state of the greatest political danger ; for it made the Norman barons look up to the king of France as their paramount lord, and on Henry as a military tenant to him of the duchy, to whom they were in sub infeudation. The consequence was, that on any dispute or dis satisfaction with their sovereign in England, they flew off from 272 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK their allegiance to him, and transferred it to the king of France, VI. or applied to him for assistance against their English lord. Thus Robert had joined PhiUp, the king of I'rance, against his literary ^^^^ father, the Conqueror. Al. 65. So the same prince, to main- ENGLAND. tain his war against Rufus, had sent to Philip, as to his chief lord, for aid, who flew to help him against his brother ; and a long in testine war ensued in Normandy. Al. 67. The effect of this poli tical condition was, that the Norman barons were, as they are described to be, men who could not be relied on, and who held faith and fealty to neither France nor England. Hence it became a great object with Henry to depreciate the crown of France, and to divest it of all its pretensions to the at tachment and veneration of both Normandy and England. Many parts of Jeffry's book had visibly this tendency, and operated to produce this effect. In that day of ancestral pride, it was a peculiar personal object of every king and nobleman to have the highest and most cele brated descent. The Romans having derived themselves from Trojans, the Trojan blood became the noblest in the estimation of their Gothic conquerors. Hence the French kings early claimed the same superior honor; and Hunnibald had fixed it on the Frankish throne, by deriving their nation and royalty from Francio the imagined son of Priam. But as the king of France claimed homage from Bretagne, Normandy, and all the great dukes and counts in France, any superiority of ancestral descent became an auxiliary confirmation of his superior dignity. It was, therefore, important to the crown of England to paralyze any right that might Qow from a Trojan descent, by asserting a similar ancestry. Henry could not immediately deduce the line of his Norman progenitor Rollo from it ; but he could attach it to the English crown, and through that to himself, the existing sovereign, by setting up Brutus as the founder of the monarchy of England, and by making him a Trojan. Accordingly, the first chapters in Jeffry's book make Brutus the great-grandson of .^neas, and de duce both the sovereignty and population of England from this Trojan chief. Thus the crown of England became as noble in its ancestral origin as that of France, which by this representation could not pretend to any nobler blood. But the point of feudal lordship was a question far more vex atious and formidable. In Henry's seventeenth year, or in 1116, many ofthe Norman barons, who had sworn fealty to him, revolted, DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 273 and transferred it to Louis of France. Al. Bev. 147. This be- CHAP. gan a quarrel between the two crowns, and a dangerous insur- VI. rection in Normandy, which was ended for the time by Henry's ; son William, three years after, submitting to do homage to the g„,j,gj, king of France for Normandy, lb, 148. In 1123, the revolts ofthe history, barons again brought on war there. Further wars ensued, aided ' ^' ' by the king of France, in 1127, which plunged the French and English crowns into a renewed state of hostilities. "To destroy the French crown's right of homage, and to abate the pubhc opinion of its greatness and dignity, Jeffry's book "re presented France as having been several times- conquered and governed by British kings : — by Brutus, by Ebraucus, by Belinus, and by Arthur. The two last are described to have governed it ; and Arthur was represented as having separated Normandy and Anjou from the French crown, and given them to two of his knights and officers. These facts took away the duty of homage from the English crown, and set up a claim of England for the submission to it of France, of which Arthur had been crowned king, all whose regal rights Henry now possessed and exercised. The right of homage claimed by the king of France from the great states in that country, was further struck at by a denial of any ancient French monarchy there. Jeffry's book is made to declare, that in the time of Brutus ' Gaul was subject to twelve princes, who with equal authority possessed the government of that whole country;' 1. 1. c. 13 ; and these twelve peers of Gaul came to England and assisted at Arthur's coronation, when he was crowned king of France, and of all the other countries he had conquered, l.g. c. 12. On this representation, the later kings of France could have none but an usurped right to tre-at its great states as their feudatories. These circumstances tended to remove from the Norman and English chivalry any dread ofthe French power; and by shewing how often it had been conquered by Britain, to revive a military ambition and elevation to again invade it, and to seek for profit and glory from attacking it. It was the interest of Henry to excite these feelings, and thereby to turn the baronial mind from making dangerous connexions with the French king. Arthur's history was therefore of peculiar use to Henry on this vital point. III. It had also another important connexion with his policy and interest; he had taken the crown of England from his brother Robert, and afterwards Normandy, and imprisoned him for life in Cardiff Castle. But Robert had a son, whom the French king and Vol. IV. T 274 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK the continent favored and assisted, and who obtained the earldom Vi. of Flanders, and was urging a dangerous warfare with Henry, at first for Normandy, and consequentially, for England. literary jjenry was thus endangered and attacked by his nephew HISTORYOF ¦¦5'' "^ . ./I ENGLAND. William, as Arthur had been by his nephew Modred; the con test in both cases was for the crown of England. Nothing was more alarming to Henry than this situation ; his own son's death in 1 1 2o left him and his throne without a male heir. Conspiracies began in favor of his nephew, even in his own court ; his barons b^an to join Robert's son, and he became so alarmed as fre quently to change his bed. It was exactly calculated to abate this state of danger, that Jeffry's book should so fully shew that the death of Arthur and the ruin of the Britons arose from the chief and nation abetting his nephew's rebellion against liim. To enforce this topic, the Britons are stated to have lost their liberties and country by their intestine divisions ; and Jeffry adds to his author an emphatic address, to dissuade the country from such civil discord. It is the only part in which he takes this trouble. 1. ii. e.g. The last paragraph ofhis book, 1, 12. c. 19. thus enforces the same topic ; ' Besides their wars with the Saxons, the country, by quarrels among themselves, became a perpetual scene of misery and slaughter.' IV. Henry was anxious to obtain the subjection of Wales, and planted a colony of Flemings in it, to promote his ulterior objects. He, like his father, was also desirous to keep Scotland in a state of feudal homage to him. It was promotive of these purposes, that Brutus, the fu-st monarch of Britain, was shewn to have possessed the whole island; that his descendant and the vene rated law-maker Dunwallo Molmutius reduced all Great Britain and Wales into obedience to him, and established his legislation over all ; 1. 2, c. 17 ; that his son Belinus had also the sovereignty ofthe whole island, 1. 3. c. 5. and sent a Spanish colony to people Ireland ; and that all the succeeding kings, down to Julius Ca?sar, were kings of the whole island. With the same view it is said of Arthur, ' The entire monarchy of Britain belonged to him by hereditary right.' 1. g. c. 1. Arthur invaded Scotland, and there conquered both the Irish and Scots ; and, it is added, ' all the bishops of that miserable country came barefooted, and kneeling down implored his mercy for it, since they were willing to bear the yoke he should put upon them,' c. C. No statement could more benefit Henry in his project of a similar sovereignty than JEFFRY S ERITISU DURING THE IMIDDL^ AGES. 275 these. This is not a mere speculation. Jeffry's British History CHAP. was felt to give so firm a foundation for this claim, that Edward I. VI. actually based his right to the sovereignty of Scotland on this book, in his celebrated letter to the pope, in which he officially thus justified his pretensions to it. The grounds he took from it, history were, that Brutus had given England to his eldest son Locrin, ' \' and Scotland to his second, on whose death it returned to Locrin ; that it was held under the kings of England afterwards, and re conquered by Arthur, to whom its king did homage ; and tfiul', ' all the kings of Scotland have successively been subject to all the kings ofthe Britons.' Wals. Ypod. 492. V. A subject deeply interesting to Henry, was to lessen or to sever the subordination of his great clergy to the papal chair. As Pope Gregory the Great had sent Austin to convert the Anglo- Saxons, and had thereby founded the English church, and ap pointed its prelates, all the clergy looked up to the pope as their religious sovereign; and both of Henry's archbishops, Anselm of Canterbury, and Thurstan of York, had fought the papal battle against him. Jeffi-y's book tended to lessen this dependence on the Roman see, and the attachment to it. For instead of allowing Gregory to have been the first founder of Christianity in Britain, it placed a British king, Lucius, four centuries before, who himself desired to be a Christian, and sent to Rome for religious instructors. In stead of making the pope the creator of the prelates of the island, it describes three pagan archflamens, and twenty-eight flamens, to have been converted into the three archbishops and twenty- eight bishops of England and Wales, and that these succeeded to the possessions and territories of the ancient idol temples. I. 4. c. 19. It made the very emperor who established Chris- tiam'ty in the Roman empire, Constantino the Great, to have been bom in Britain, son of a British princess, and to have be come the emperor of the worid. 1. 5. c. 6-8. To abate all veneration for Rome, it also described that city and the nation to have been formerly conquered by a British king, Brennus ; and it exhibited Arthur as refusing to pay it the tribute which it claimed, and as defeating all the forces and allies of the empire, which were collected on purpose to enforce it and to attack him. 1. 10. c. 1-4. This attack and defeat are made the most pro minent object of Arthur's history. VI. Another point of great moment to Henry was, to induce the barons to be attached, and subordinate and faithful to him ; literary niSTOIlYOF 276 HIsfORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK to make the honors, appearaince and festivities of his court their A'l. great ambition and desire, and to incite them to be docile and obedient to him. For this purpose, Arthur's barons were repre sented of this character and conduct ; and all the consequential ENGLAND, romains made him the venerated and commanding sovereign of his iiofcles and chivalry. It was important to that unity and interiial peace in the nation, as well as to that external greatness from it which Henry desired, that the great should be induced to lajfcaside their jealousies and competitions with each other, and live in something like fraternal affection. No invention was more calculated to pi-oduce this than that idea of the Round Table, equalizing all, and precluding all contest for dignity and pre cedence on public festivities, which produced so much ill blood and warfare. Hence, to be knights of the round table was made the highest honor and the noblest character of Arthur's court in Jeffry's book, and in all the compositions and tales that originated from it. It appears to me that those coincidences with Henry's political objects could not have occurred in this book from mere accident. No less than four times is France repi-esented to have been con quered by those who enjoyed the British crown : — by Brutus ; by Belinus ; by Blaximin ; and by Arthur. There is a studied exal tation, in this, of Britain above France ; so contrary in these facts to all recorded history, that they seem more likely to have been invented to sei've a political purpose, than to have casually occurred to a mere fabulous narrator. The book is also founded on a principle of exciting the ambi tion and of producing the aggrandisement of Britain ; for when Brutus inquires of the oracle of Diana where he shall go, he is directed by that to sail in search of an island which was to be come another Troy, and to whose kings ' all the world was to be subject.' Such a prediction as this, placed at the very head-piece of the book, looks like a design to rouse an extraordinary ambi tion in the English mind for some great object of worldly, policy ; to prompt it to large enterprizes of aggression against its neigh bours, which would occupy the great barons and chivalry, and prevent intestine wars. To these remarks we may add, that Henry had also some inducements to counteract Calixtus in his Turpin's book : he had become involved in a personal dispute with this very pope. Eadmer, who lived at the time, has informed us, that when Thurstan, the archbishop of York, would not submit to the pre- JEFPRV S BRITISH UISTOIIY. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 277 eminence of Canterbury, but went to Calixtus to be consecrated CHAP. by him, Henry sent a special messenger to this pontiff, to request VI. him not to do it. Calixtus returned a positive assurance to Henry that he would do nothing but what the king wished, and yet soon afterwards, in violation of his promise, actually consfecrated the refractory Thurstan. The displeasure of Henry at this conduct, occasioned Calixtus to visit him at Gisors, and to entreat him to befriend Thurstan. The king refused, and told the pope that he had sworn not^to receive him. Calixtus answered, ' I am Apostolicus, and if you will do what I ask, I will absolve you from your vow.' Henry coolly said, he must consult his council. He did so ; and sent the pope this answer : — ' Though he says that as Apostolicus he will absolve me from my pledge, it does not become the honor of a king to consent to such an absolution ; for who will hereafter trust to any one that plights his faith, if he can plead my example in getting such an absolution ?' Eadm. 126. After this, Calixtus threatened him with an excommunication, and the archbishop of Canterbury with a suspension. Ib. 137. Henry and Calixtus were thus involved in a personal quarrel with each other. The book of Turpin, which Calixtus had published and sanc tioned, did not become popular in England. Its fables of Charle magne were not adopted by any of our old chroniclers. Its greatest object was, as we have -before remarked, to urge the sovereigns and great into crusades against the Mahometans. But it was not Henry's interest to lead his barons that way ; for the largest part of his reign he was keeping his brother Robert in a dungeon, whose high reputation had arisen from his actions in Palestine, where he had been offered, and had refused, the kingdom of Je rusalem. Hence, it was Henry's interest to counteract the aim of Calixtus in his Turpin, and by an imitated fictitious work to give the chivalry ofhis country a different direction— and Jeffry's British History had this effect ; for its publication created a quite different description of romantic and narrative composition, Turpin and Jeffiry really head two distinct and opposed classes of ' romans and estories ;' corresponding with the different aims of Calixtus and Henry, All the romances of the class of Charle magne, and that sprang from Turpin, are characterized by re commending and describing battles with the Mahometans ; all enforce the wish of Calixtus to make crusades the object of knight- errantry ; all the knights in these, fight and conquer Saracens ; but in all those which are connected with Arthur, or that origi- T 3 LITERARY HISTORYOF 278 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK nated from Jeifry, no crusades and no battles with the Mahometans VI. are mentioned or recommended. That Arthur lived 200 years before tliese came into Spain, would have made no difference in that age, when all history and chronology were set at defiance ; ENGLAND, and even Alexander the Great was represented in one, to have made a journey to the Roman emperor Constantius. Murat. Ant, p, 958. By making Arthur the main hero, the mind was indeed led into a different path, and he was therefore wisely chosen to be such ; but the fact is clear, that Jeffry's book began a series of romans quite opposed in aim and subject to those of Turpin and Charle magne. The book of Jeffry, therefore, however it originated, had the effect of counteracting the book of Turpin and Cahxtus ; the crusades never became popular in England, nor were supported by its kings, till Henry II. was forced by the pope to promise to undertake one as a penance for Becket's death ; yet he only made preparations for it ; he never actually undertook one ; it was his son, Richard I, who was the first English sovereign that, in 1189, led the force of England into the plains of Palestine. Having thus shewn how much Jeffry's book was directed in its main subjects to promote the political aims and interests of Henry I. let us inquire — II. iVhat does Jeff'ry himself state as to its composition ? He informs us that the actions of Arthur, and other British kings, not mentioned by Gildas or Bede, were pleasingly cele brated by many persons, by heart, as if they had been written ; and that while thinking of these, Walter, an archdeacon of Oxford, offered him a very ancient book in the British language, which in a continued regulai", story, and elegant style, related the actions of all the British kings, from Brutus to Cadwallader. At Walter's request, he undertook the translation of this book into Latin. He then addresses the book to Robert earl of Gloucester, the son of Henry I, that it may be so corrected by this nobleman's advice, that, when polished by his refined wit and judgment, it may be thought to be his production, and not the poor offspring of Jeffry of Monmouth, He mentions in his 1 7th chapter, that Gildas the historian has given a large account of the quarrel between Lud, the brother of Cassivellaun, and his other brother Nennius, on his changing the DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 270 name of London from New Troy to Caer Lud; and adds, 'for CHAP. which reason / choose to pass it over, for fear of debasing by my VI, account of it what so great a writer has so eloquently related, ; He narrates that Hudibras built Caer-lem, or Canterbury, „„j.,,g„ Caer-guen, or Winchester, and the town of Mount Paladin, now history. Shaftsbury, ' At this place an eagle spoke while the wall of the ' ' ' town was building ; and, indeed, / should not have failed trans mitting the speech to posterity, if / had thought it true as the rest of the history,' 1, 2. c. 9. Thomp. Tr. After twice mentioning that Gildas had written on Ihe laws of Molmutius, and also on St. German and Lupus, he says of the first Christian teachers of Britain, ' their names and acts are re corded in a book which Gildas wrote concerning the victory of Aurelius Ambrosius ; and what is delivered in so bright a treatise needs not to be repeated here in a meaner style.' 1. 4. c, 20. He thus begins his seventh book : ' I had not got so far as this place of the history, when the subject of public discourse happen ing to he concerning Merlin, 1 was obliged to publish his Pro phecies at the request of my acquaintance, but especially of Alex ander, bishop of Lincoln, a prelate of the greatest piety and wis dom. Out of a desire, therefore, to gratify him, I translated these prophecies, and sent them to him with the following letter.' 1. 7. c. 1. ' The regard I owe to your great worth, most noble prelate ! has obliged me to undertake the translation^of Merlin's Prophecies out of British into Latin, before I had made an end of the history which I had begun concerning the acts of the British kings. For. my design was to have finished that first, and afterwards to have explained this work ; lest, by having both upon my hands at once, I should be less capable of attending with any exactness to either.' 1. 7. c. 2. He begins his eleventh book with Modred's war with Arthur, thus : ' Of the matter now to be treated of, most noble consul ! Jeffry of Monmouth shall be silent; but will, though in a mean style, yet briefly, relate what he found in the British book above mentioned, and heard from that most learned historian Walter, archdeacon of Oxford, concerning the wars which this renowned king, upon his return to Britain after his victory, waged with his nephew.' I. 11. c. 1. The apostrophe upbraiding the Britons, 1. 11. 3. 9. is his own insertion ; for he begins the next chapter with the words, ' But to return to the history.' c. 10. He describes the British clergy T4 280 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK as flying from the Saxons into Wales, others into Bretagne ; ' But ^'I- these things I shall relate elsewhere, when I translate the book concerning their banishment,' c. lo. He thus closes his work after Athelstan : ' As for the kings that have succeeded in Wales since that time, I leave the history of them to Caradoc of Lancarvan, my contemporary, as I also do the kings of the Saxons to William of Malmsbury and Henry of Huntingdon-. But I advise them to be silent concerning the kings of the Britons, since they have not that book written in the British tongue, which Walter, archdeacon of Oxford, brought out of Bre tagne, and which being a true history, published in honor of those princes, I have thus taken care to translate.' 1. 12. c. 20. As in these passages Jeffry asserts that Vv^alter, an archdeacon of Oxford, had brought out of Bretagne a very ancient book in the British language, containing a regular story of all the British kings from Brutus to Cadwallader, which the archdeacon desired him to translate into Latin ; our first question becomes, whether Jeffi-y's translation gives us all this British book, and only this British book ? On this subject we find that he himself declares, that, upon the wars between Arthur and Modred, he has added to the account he found in the ancient book, what he had heard from Walter the archdeacon, 1. ii.c. 1. He has also inserted the prophecies of Merlin, 1. 7. c. 1, 2 ; and the apostrophe on the British civil wars, 1. 11. c. 9. He likewise, as above mentioned, has chosen to pass over the quarrel between the brothers of Cassivellaun, because Gildas had written on them, 1. 1. c. 17.; and to omit the prophecy ofthe eagle on Shaftsbury, because he did not think it true, 1. 2. c. 9. He also has purposely forborne to give the account of the first Christian teachers of Britain, 1. 4. c. 20 ; and the emigrations of the British clergy into Wales and Bretagne, 1. 11. c. 10; but he does not distinctly say that these were in the old British book. I would not press the point beyond his own admissions ; but it is clear that his work is not merely and entirely the old British work — at least in these additions and omissions. We cannot, there fore, be certain whether he has, or not, interpolated or expunged any other parts. He tells us that there were many traditional tales of Arthur and the other British kings in popular circulation, before he received this ancient book, and that he was meditating upon them, and was regretting that they had not been noticed by Gildas or Bede, when it was put into his hands. He has not said whether he has interwoven any of these in his history ; but as he DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 281 did not confine himself to be an exact translator only of the Bri- CHAP. tish book, we cannot be sure that that his memory did not assist VS. him in his composition. We learn from him that there was an historical work of Gildas on some incidents in the history of Bri- jj^j^jju^ tain, since Cassivellaun, which has since perished; but he does history. not refer to this author any part of his History of Arthur. This ' ¦' ' fact, however, is clear, that he assumed the liberty of omitting and adding to his original whenever he pleased. That he has taken this liberty is further proved by what he mentions on Brennius ; ' But the rest of liis actions and his death, seeing they are deli vered in the Roman histories, I shall here pass over, to avoid pro lixity, and meddling with what others have treated of, which is foreign to my design." 1. 3. c. 10. This language implies that he has made up his work as he liked, as to omissions ; and if he has omitted where he chose, and added as he chose, what certainty have we that his work is merely the British book in all its other parts? From the language of his dedication of Merhn's Prophecies to the bishop of Lincoln, we may infer that it was made known in the circles ofthe great some time before it was actually published ; for he stops in the middle of it to say, that Merlin had then be come so much talked of among the public, that he was desired by the bishop to translate the British magician's prophecies ; and he tells us, that before he had finished his history he undertook this version. His original plan he declares to have been, to have first finished his history ; hence the words ofhis dedication of it do not prove the time of its composition to have been after the death of Henry I. He is stated to have made two publications of it ; the first in four books only, of which a MS. was stated to be in Ben nett's College in Cambridge ; and afterwards in eight books, with Merlin's Prophecies. Thompson's Pref. xvii. Hence the date of 1128 for its first appearance does not seem to be disproved. His dedications appear to have varied. The printed copy begins with one to Robert earl of Gloucester. But Simner mentions one MS. at Berne, which had a dedication to king Stephen, the antagonist of Robert. Cat. Bern. Roquef. Etat. p. 143. III. The popularity of the Work. If it was a mere accident that archdeacon Walter, in the reign of Henry I. met the old book in Bretagne, and gave it to an ob scure monk of Monmouth to translate into Latin, how came it to attain such a sudden, rapid, and extensive popularity as Alured of 282 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK Beverley and Henry of Huntingdon imply. We have already VI. alluded to the strong words of the former ; we will give them here at length : — literary , ^j jjj^j. jjjjjg jjjg narrations ofthe history ofthe Britons were ENGLAND, reported by the mouths of many ; and he who had not the know- ' V ' lege of such narrations incurred the mark of rusticity. I confess that as much from my reverence for antiquity, for which I always had a high veneration, as from the urbanity of its style, which, tho I was not acquainted with it, was yet very pleasingly present to the younger ones who remembered it, I was often ashamed, amid such confabulators, that I had not yet acquired the aforesaid History ; what more ? I sought for the History, and as soon as I found it I applied myself most intently to reading it. But while I was delighted with this new reading of ancient things, my mind became eager to transcribe it ; but neither opportunity of time nor the state of my purse permitted this. Yet to satisfy my ear nest desire in some measure, and to take away a little of the evil of those days, I endeavored to pluck some of the flowers of this History, not for the learned, but for myself, and for those who, like myself, were ignorant of such things ; especially those parts which did not exceed credibility, and would delight the reader and fasten on the memory.' 1. i. p, 2. He mentions, that he should add to his ' deflorationes,' what other sources would supply. That the ' British History' which he thus abridged was Jeffi-y's, no one can doubt, who candidly compares them ; tho Hearne, in the occasional oddity of his mind, chose, against Leiand, to de clare the contrary : ' Galfredi non deflorator Aluredus.' Pref. p. 22. But not only the subject, but many passages are the same ; and the harmonious fourteen hexameters and pentameters of the ad dress to Diana and her oracle, are given verbatim. It is true, Alured does not name Jeffry, but only calls it ' The British His tory ;' but this is Jeffry's own title ofhis work. It is a fair question to ask, why Alured did not quote it as Jeffry's ? The true answer seems to be, that the History was not Jeffry's, according to his own account ; he wns but the Latin translator. It was given by him to the world, as ' a very ancient British book brought out of Bretagne,' by Walter ; so that it was properly called ' The British History.' As Jeffry's, it could have no autliority whatever ; nor could it have it answered any poli tical purpose to reckon it as his. The object for which it was countenanced and circulated required a far higher authority ; and therefore, at the time of its appearance and first popularity, Jeffry's JEFFRY S BRITISH DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 283 name was sunk, and it was brought forward and spoken of as CHA P. ' The Brifffsh History.' Afterwards, when its political use or ten- VI. dencies declined, Jeffry's name became applied to it, rather to dis credit than to uphold it ; then it was spoken of; attacked and de cried as his work, and has since been known only with his name. history. That it was not spoken of at the time of its appearance as Jeffry's History, and that it was considered as a book of superior authority to his, appears from the passage in Gaimar, which alludes to it. He says that his patroness ' Dame Custance la gentil,' who caused him to write his ' estorie,' sent to Helmslac for the book of Walter, whom in this line he calls ' espac' He then adds this particular information about it, which demands attention, as a further account of what was Jeffry's original, and as a supplement to his statement. ' Robert the Great, of Gloucester, caused these 'gestes' to be translated according to the books of the Welsh, which they had of the British kings. Walter Espee asked for it, when Robert sent it to him ; then Walter Espee lent it to Arnil, the son of Gile- bert. Dame Custance borrowed it of her lord, whom she much loved. Geffrai Gaimar wrote this book, and put in it the narra tions which the Welsh had left, which he had thus obtained, whe ther they were right or whether they were wrong ; the good book of Oxford, which was Walter's the archdeacon. He completed well his book from it ; and this geste was also completed from the history of Winchester, from Wassingburc, an English book, where he found written of the kings, and of all the emperors that were lords of Rome, and had tribute from England of the kings whom they had held ; of their lives, of their quarrels, of their adventures, and of their actions ; how each maintained his country ; which loved peace and which loved war. Here he will find all this most fully who will look into this book ; and he that does not believe what I say, may inquire of Nicole de Trailli.' — MS. Bib. Reg. 13. A 21. This Walter Espee was Sir Walter Espee, of Helmsley, who is mentioned with much celebrity by some of our old chroniclers. John, the prior of Haguestad, in his brief Historia, says of liira : 'In 1132 Walterus Espee, vir magnus et potens in con- spectu regis et totius regni, received the monks of the Cestercian order sent by Bernard the abbot of Clairvaux, and placed them in the solitude of Blachoumor, on the river Rie ; from which the monastery was called Reevallis.' Twysd. Ang. Script, v. 1. p. 257. 284 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK Ethelred, a future abbot of this place, thus describes him : VI. ' Walter Espee was there ; an old man, full of days ; active in mind, prudent in his counsels ; mild in peace and pi evident in war ; preserving always friendship with his companions and fide- . lity to his kings. He was tall and large, with black hair and -" a profuse beard. He had an open and spacious forehead, large eyes, and a voice like a trumpet, but with great majesty of tone." The abbot details his speech to animate his associates on the expedition to Scotland, in which the battle of the Standard was fought and won. Ethel. Abb. Riev. p. 337-346. Bromton, p. 1028, and Knyghton, p. 2371, also mention this knight; and the latter adds the ten collegiate rules of his foundation. Gaimar refers those who doubt him, to Nicole de Trailli : ' He that does not believe what I say, may inquire of Nicole de Trailli.' MS. Bib. Reg. cited in Hist. Mid. Ages. p. 353; and sir Walter's Grant to the Rievaux Monastery, printed by Dugdale from the MS. in the Cotton Library, Julius, D 1, informs us who this Nicole de Trailli was. He was the husband of one of sir ^^'al- ter's sisters. The Cotton MS. Vitell. p. 4, quoted also by Dug dale, mentions that sir Walter in his youth married Adelina, and had by her a son, Walter, who was growing up to be like himself; but unfortunately having a taste for riding horses at full speed, urged one of them so much beyond its strength that it fell from exhaustion, and threw its young master, who died from a broken neck. Some time after this, sir Walter bequeathed by will his residuum between his three sisters, of whom the second, Albreda, married Nicholaus de Traylye ; and the grandson of his third daughter built the castle of Helmisley in that district. Dug dale, Mon. V. 1. p, 727 & 728, from MS. Vitell. In his grant to the monastery, sir Walter mentions his forest of Helmeslac, and his nephews ' Gaufridi de Traeli, William, Gil bert, and Nicholas, sons of my half sister Albrea.' Dugdale, p.729, from MS. Julius. These documents afford us a satisfactory comment on Gaimar's account as to the sources of his poem on the ancient kings of Britain. We thus learn that Robert earl of Gloucester, the natural son of Henry I. caused the Welsh book brought out of Bretagne by the king's justiciary Walter Calenius, the archdeacon of Ox ford, to be translated into Latin; that sir Walter Espee of Helmeslac obtained this translation from earl Robert, and lent it to Arnil, the son of Gilebert ; and that the lady Custance or Constance obtained the loan of it for Gaimar, to compose that DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 285 part of his history from it ; and that Gaimar, anxious for the vin- CHAP. dication of his own veracity in thus stating the authority for his VI. narrative, refers all who chose to inquire about it to Nicole de Trailli. By the Carta we perceive that this Nicole was a real person, and the brother-in-law to sir Walter. Gaimar, Sir Walter, Nicole, and Jeffry of Monmouth, appear to have been contem poraries. Wace's Brut, in like manner, does not appear to be a mere copy of Jeffry's work. He takes all his work from the same British history; narrating and dilating on its incidents as he pleases ; but he does not publish it as Jeffry's book versified by him, but as his own work and translation : ' He that would hear and know who the kings were, and whence they came, that first held Eng land, and in what order they reigned. Master Wace has translated about it ; he relates the truth as the books devise it, when the Greeks had taken Troy.' So, on Arthur's death, after mentioning that he was taken to Avalon to have his wounds dressed ; ' Thence yet the Bretons expect him, as they say and understand ; from thence he will yet come alive. Master Wace who made this book will say no more of his end than the prophet Merlin has said of it. Merlin declared that Arthur's death should remain doubtful, and he has spoken truth ; for men have always since doubted of it, and will still doubt, as I believe, whether he be dead or alive.' — Wace Brut, MS. Bib. Reg. 13. A 21. This book is also not mentioned as Jeffry's, by the contempo rary, Alanus de Insulis. He wrote his commentaries on Merlin's Prophecies on it, after Henry II. had acceded, and after his five sons were horn, and after one of these died, and while the other four, Henry, Richard, Geoffry and John, were alive ; Al. Proph. p. 90, 1 ; and therefore between 1168, when John was born, and 1183, when Henry died. In this work he never mentions Jeffry, tho he obviously had the book before him ; but as Jeffry and others had styled it ' The British Flistory,' so he refers to it three times, as the 'Historia Britonum,' pp. 34, gg, and 182, quoting each time what we find in Jeffry. The Walter alluded to by Jeffry, was Walter Calenius, whose name occurs as archdeacon of Oxford in 1110, in the Cartulary of Abingdon, and also in 1138. Tanner Bib. 147. He was the Jdsticiarius of Henry. Ib. Thus the British hook was brought into England by one of Henry's great legal officers, his justiciarius — exactly such a source HISTORYOF ENGLAND 286 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK as it would have come from if our supposition be just, that it ori- VI. ginated from Henry's policy. Henry's connexion with Wales and Bretagne is very apparent. LITERARY q|. j^j^ f^^j. ijjs],ops, who wBrc residing in his court in Normandy, and whom he sent to the council called by Calixtus, to Rheims, in iiig, two were Welsh bishops; Bernard, bishop of St. David's, and Urban, bishop of Glamorgan. Ead. 1 24. These were also two of the four prelates who attended him at Abingdon, on the consecration of the bishop of Chester ; ib. p. 137 ; as if tliey were his most confidential prelates ; and in his wars in Normandy he is represented as having collected a large number of Breton knights. Al. Bev. After this book came out, we find it was very early transmitted to the most celebrated abbey in Normandy — that of Bee, from which both Lanfranc and Anselm had proceeded ; the place most likely to give it credit in Normandy. For all these reasons it seems a warrantable inference, that the British History which Jeffry latinized, was composed or adopted to suit the policy of Henry I. and to counteract the effect of Tur pin's book, and was patronised by him and his successors for its political effect. Henry's literary taste favors the supposition. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 207 CHAP. VII. On the Lays and Fables of Marie — On the style of the Norman Trouveurs, and its progress into the present French. iHE most interesting of all the Anglo-Norman fie- lays and titious poetry, are the lays of Marie.' Being taken uari£,&c. from Breton tales, they are extremely curious, as they ' ¦' ' shew the ideas, imaginations and feelings, of which some of these consisted; and as no other have been preserved that can compete with them in antiquity, they may be considered as presenting to us some of the Breton tales in their most genuine form. They are far more pleasing in their incidents and their mode of narration, and for their conciseness, fancy and impression, than any of the endless stories in their myriads of verses of the old romans. As she calls herself Marie, and says she vpas of France,^ it is reasonably inferred that she was a native of that country ; and most probably, from her con nexion with England, of its province of Normandy. She addresses herself to a king,^ whom she after wards calls Henry;" and as she speaks of him as ' M. Roquefort has printed her lays, fables and other poems, in two volumes 8vo. Paris, 1820. The chief MS. of her work is in the British Museum, Hari. N" 978, whence M. de la Rue recommended it to public notice, in his memoir printed in Archaeol. v. 13. p. 36-67. ° She names herself several times. In her first tale, ' Oiez .Seigneurs ! ke dit Marie.' I, p. 48. In her work on the Purgatory of St. Patrick, ' Je Marie,' 2. p. 499 ; but at the end of her fables she thus more fully describes herself ' Marie ai num : si sui de Fraunce.' 2. p. 40 1 . ' In the prologue to her lais, ' En I'honur de vos, nobles reis.' p. 44. * ' Le rois Henris qui moultr I'ainor de translata puis en Engleiz,' 2. p. 401. Her words imply that Henry turned them into English, and she, afterwards, into French. 402. 288 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK knowing English, it is generally admitted that this ^^- was Henry 111," Former writers knew only her fables, LITERARY till M. la Rue observed the MS, of her lays in the EiG^TJo" British Museum," Her fables are dedicated to a count William,'^ who is believed to have been William Long- sword, earl of Salisbury, the natural son of Henry IL* That her poems were in high repute in her day, we learn from her contemporary Denys Piramus,' She evinces great anxiety for literary reputation; evidently thinks her tales will produce much moral improvement in society; talks of her own merit, and intimates that she had enemies who disturbed her.'" That her Lais afford much information on the man ners ofthe thirteenth century; that her descriptions are faithful and amusing; that she fixes attention by the choice of her subjects, and by the interest she gives them ; that she frequently speaks to the heart by the situations of her heroes, by the catastrophe, and by her power of transferring her own feelings to the reader ; and that her diction is simple and 5 See M. Roquefort's remarks on this fact, p. 12, 13; and yet it may be Henry, the son of Henry II. who died 1183. ^ See his Essay on her poems in tlie Archaeol. v. 13. ' ' Puramur le cunte Willaume.' p. 401. ° Roquef. 20. But M. Meon, in his publication of the curious old work, ' Le Roman du Renart,' Paris, 1820, has added an ancient piece, called ' Le Couronnement du Renart,' which is addressed to William count of Flanders, who was killed at a tourney in 1251, He thinks this to have been the person whom Mary calls ' Le cunte Willaume,' and that this couronnement is her composition. Tbe roman itself contains 30,360 verses. It is a severe satire on the manners of the twelfth cen tury, and acquired so much notice as to be cited by Gautier de Coiici, who died in 1236. ' He thus speaks of them : ' Ses lais soleient as dames plaire De joie les oient et de gre. Car sunt seluu lor volente.' B, Mus. MSS. Domit. A 11. '° See her prologue to her Lais, 42-46 ; aud the beginning of Guge- mar, 48. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, 289 natural, and tho free and rapid, yet omitting no de- chap. tail ; and that she may claim the praise of good taste, ^^ pleasing thought, and an unaffected sensibility," are the just commendations of her editor, which no one who studies her writings will be disposed to dimi nish. His remarks, that her fables display a dis tinguished good sense, a sprightly simplicity in the mode of telling them, and a justness in their moral application, and that even Fontaine may have studied them to his own benefit,'* are equally unexception able. We have before observed, that her Lais are all Breton stories, and they prove that fairy tales were prevalent in Bretagne. I once thought it unlikely that Bretagne could have had any connexion of mind with Arabia, or the east, to whom fairies and genii seem most appropriated ; but since I have ob served that Marbodius, who died 1123, and was bishop of Rennes, in Bretagne, professed to have translated his poem on precious stones from one made by Evax, king of Arabia, and in that poem makes several allusions to the Arabs," I cannot but feel, altho this ascription ofhis work to such a source may have been a fiction, yet that it rather indicates that the Breton mind had, as Mr. Warton thought, some acquaintance with Arabian literature, at least in reputation, and had so much respect for it, that " M. Roquefort's notice, p. 14, 15. '= Roquef Ib. 21. " This work of Marbodius was in Latin, and has been quoted in this volume before. What Duclos saw, and called the most ancient poem in the old French that was known, (Acad. Inscrip. v. 26. p. 302,) is but a translation of it, the date of which is not certain. Du Than's poems ar^ older. In this translation Marbodius thus mentions Evax :, Evax fut un mult riche reis Lu regne tint des Arabais. Mult fut de plusieurs choses sages : Mult aprist de plusieurs languages : and makes him contemporary with Nero. Vol. IV, U HISTORYOF ENGLAND. 290 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK it was creditable in Bretagne to refer to it.'* Yetfai- ries were not unknown in Wales, and therefore may LITERARY havc bccu from that country naturalized in Bretagne.'* Several of Marie's tales are founded on the agency of supernatural beings, tho of the more agreeable kind, and of Breton origin. There seems to have been in every age, and yet to be in every country, a taste for the supernatural. There are few bosoms which have not some sensibility to its impressions. All have at times mysterious feelings, which it is a labor to suppress. We tend both to believe and to desire something superior to humanity, and thus na ture herself has given us that impressibility, to which writers of genius have so often appealed, and seldom appeal entirely in vain. It is pleasing to many to dream of the improbable. That the human mind has sympathies, which can not be defined, for the unknown, which it is unable to penetrate ; and for the invisible, whicb it is ever desiring to animate and embody, is shewn by the '¦' See before, p. 213. " M, Roquefort has published with the Lais, a liberal French trans lation of them, which maybe read with pleasure. The lays are fourteen : — Lai de Gugemar, son of Oridial, lord of Leon, in Bretagne ; Lai d'Equitan, lord of Nantes; Lai du Fresne, containing the history of a noble lady of Bretagne, an exposed child; Lai de Bisclaveret, a Breton knight; Lai de Lanval, also a Breton knight; Lai des deux Amants ; (there is yet, near Rouen, the priory des deux Amants); Lai d'Ywenec, a Breton knight ; Lai du Laustic, on the adventures of two knights of Bretagne ; Lai ile Milon, a similar knight; Lai du Chaitivel, the survivor of four who fought for a lady of Nantz, in Bretagne; Lai du Chevre Feuille, an episode of the romance on Tristan ; Lai d'Eleduc; Lai de Graelent; Lai de I'Epine, all on knights of Bretagne. Mr. G. Ellis has given an analysis of them in his Specimens of early Romances : and the observations upon them of the last editor of Warton's History, vol. 1, deserve perusal ; tho he mistakes in saying, p. Ixxxv, that I have ' pro duced Alfred's apophthegms as the first specimens of English prose.' What I suggested was, that the additions of his own thoughts, which Alfred had inserted'in his Boetius, might be considered as the first spe cimens of moral essays in our country. My opinions on the commence ment of English prose, will be seen in a subsequent part of this Work. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 291 amusement which even they who deride the fancies chap, of their forefathers, yet find in pourtraying chime- ^^^- rical imaginings of their own. Even these will still lays and regale themselves with creating beings, places and m^ar^eVc! events that have no reality on earth. They find a ' — ^ — ' gratification to themselves in peopling the obscure and unseen with habitants that exist only in their own inventions, "* Imagination, especially in youth, is eager to attempt to frame something better than what we see, and to muse on agencies superior to any that are known to be possessed. It would seem, that man must cease to feel before he ceases to fancy ; and that until thought is torpefied by death, he will still continue to do both. This tendency to be inte rested by supernatural machinery is not wholly un^ serviceable ; it acts as a check on materializing theo ries. These divest life of all its sublimity, and of hope's sweetest paradise, and turn the man into an instinctive brute. But all fancies of superhuman beings lift up our eyes to something better than our selves; they lead us to look beyond our material world to some invisible and immaterial agency, which com mands and can control it. They suggest possibilities which it is delightful to contemplate ; and tho their landscapes be wild, and the agents fantastic, yet they keep the mind from believing that our fleshly struc tures are the real and only beings of the man. All tales of genii, fairies and apparitions, operate insen sibly to create within us a sensation of spiritual ex istence which no abstract reasoning can produce. It '^Manfred, Frankenstein, the Monk, St. Leon, Goethe's Faustus, Undina, the Ghost. Seer, and a crowd of German productions, are evi dences of the secret craving of many, even where no established belief is favored, for sornethiiig that is not human, but which is superior to man, and capable of inflicting evil upon him, or of imparting to him some superior good. HISTORYOF ENGLAND 292 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK is absurd now to fear that the reality of these dreams ^^- of fancy should be believed — and therefore their im- LiTERARY pressions cannot injure. Hence all tales of this sort, •which interest without demoralizing, may be classed among those amusive gaieties of the sportive fancy, which increase the intellectual happiness of life : and as our richest pleasures are now derived from the mind, it is policy to multiply and to vary, not to diminish them. Taste fnay lawfully make these fic tions more tasteful, and reason more reasonable in a reasonable age ; but neither society nor true philo sophy would gain any thing by their merciless and indiscriminate proscription." " As those supernatural fictions or effusions of the imagination which prevailed among the nations from whom Enghnnd has derived portions of its population, and some of which have obtained occasional credence among us, form a part of the history ofthe mind of the Middle Ages, a few remarks may be permitted on this curious subject. The principle of all supernatural imaginations or beliefs seems to be an indelible and invincible persuasion or supposition, that we are existing amid powers and agencies superior to those of man. Wherever this impression is not united and confined to the real Deity with whom it natturally tends and was intended to link the intellect and the feeling, the perverted and misled fancy will then devise tbe beings for itself, whom it bebeves to be about us ; and thus acting, it will attach itself to supposititious chimeras of its own adoption or creation. It is in vain for some to say, that what we cannot hear, or see or feel, cannot really exist ; because we all know this assertion to be a delusive untruth. We cannot see pestilence, as it moves from house to house, tho we behold the bodily fi-ame corrupting under its power — we cannot see thought, altho we hear the sounds to w hich it forms the human voice y/e cannot see the feelings of love, sorrow, gratitude, joy, anger or re venge, altho we can contemplate the pantomimic movements of the limbs or external muscles of the face, which these emotions severally oc casion. We fully perceive, that there are invisible powers and agents in nature %vhich put its natural elements into various and often terrible ac tion ; and therefore no argument, that what they dread is a nullity be cause unseen, can ever destroy the general persuasion of the reality of supernatural agency, nor prevent the human fancy from indulging and accrediting supernatural imaginations of some sort or other. The Atheist has them as much as others. — We perceive the German unbelievers trem bling under their fate or destiny, evil eyes or stern necessity; and the French incredules have analogous subjects of secret apprehension. In all, it is the common feeling, attaching itself to different objects. But as every notion on this subject beyond what the Scriptures have revealed, must be the creatures of human invention, so every fancy of this DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 293 OfMarie's unearthly beings, the predominant fancy CHA p. is that of affectionate fairy ladies ; and we find them ^^^- description must resemble and exhibit the opinions and superstitions of the age and country. The fictions of the mind are but pictures of its hidden self, and therefore the supernatural machinery of every country will be peculiar to itself, and differ as much from that of others as their more common state of mind and manners is usually found to do. Giants and Dwarfs of more than human power were among the most ancient and popular superstitions of our country ; and the oldest now alive may yet remember the nursery tales and books which in their child hood they heard and believed of those dissimilar monsters. They came with our Saxon and Danish ancestors into our island. The giants are mentioued in the Anglo-Saxon poem on Beowulf; and the Latin work on the conflict between Guy of Warwick and Colbrand the Giant, is noticed by Hearne as still subsisting. The ancient book of Heroes written by the knight Wolfran, who flourished about 1207, thus states in its preface the popular theory on the origin of the giants, dwarfs and heroes, which prevailed both in Scandinavia and the north of Germany. They are all referred to the creation of the Deity. ' First, He produced the Dwarfs, because the mountains lay waste and useless ; and valuable stores of silver and gold, with gems and pearls, were concealed in them. He made them right wise and crafty. They knew the use of gems, and that some of them gave strength to the wearer, and others made him invisible, which were called fog caps. They built themselves hollow hills. They had kings and lords, and He gave them great riches. ' He created also the Giants, that they might slay the wild beasts and serpents; and thus enable the dwarfs to cultivate the mountains in safety. But after some time the giants became wicked and unfaithful", and did much harm to the dwarfs. Then He made the Heroes, who were of a middle rank between the dwarfs and giants, to come to the assistance ofthe dvfarfs against the unfaithful giants, the beasts and the serpents. Their mind was ever bent on manhood, battles and fights. Among the dwarfs were many kings, who had giants for their servants : for they pos sessed rough countries, waste forests, and mountains near their dwellings. The Heroes paid all observance and honor to the ladies, protected wi dows and orphans, did uo harm to women except when their life was in danger, and often shewed their manhood before them, both in sport and in earnest. The heroes were all noblemen, and no one was a peasant. From them are descended all lords and noblemen.' Weber North. Antiq, p. 42. The last part ofthe Book ofHeroes exhibits the dwarfs and their subordinate giants in their traditional habits and acrivitv. Ib. p. 146-166. The Fairies appear to have been a Celtic imaginaiion, and first ap pear to us in the lays of the British colonists of Bretagne, as we have already shewn in the poems of Marie, in the preceding pages of this vo lume. This provmce has still her fairy rock; her fairy grotto, a fairy valley; a fairy cavity aud a fairy mountain: on this last, a MS. ancient poem says — In Bretagne we shall find A fountain and steps. On which if you throw water, Il blows; it thunders and it rains. Roquef". Marie, v. 1. p. 33. V 3 Our HISTORYOFENGLAND 294 HISTORY OF ENGLAND,. BOOK in her lays exhibited in one of these most pleasing _^3l forms, and named " Fees ; " so that this word is at literary least as ancient as the year 1200, Our ancestors cer tainly believed their existence. But it is not necessary Our British ancestors also cherished this fancy; for Arthur's sister was the fairy Morgana, whom Jeffry of Monmouth, in his MS. Latin poem, re presents to have conveyed the dying king from the fatal field of Camlan to her magic isle of Avallonia. Fairies are also noticed in some of the earliest lays of the Troubadours, as if they had been an indigenous fancy of the Provenf al regions. The count de Pestiers mentions them in one of his pieces : ' The fairies have so appointed it,' He calls them ' Fadaz.' Poetes Franp ois, v. i. p, 5, These ladies have also been a prominent part of tbe popular supersti tions ofthe Irish, and are even acting upon their miud and conduct at the present day. They also appear in the tales and traditions ofthe Indians of North America, There is no sufficient reason to suppose that these fairies originated to us from the Peris of Persia or Arabia, and to have been transplanted out of Spain with the Arabian literature. They have an anterior chronology, and it may be also said, that it is a mistake to suppose that any popular superstition arises in a country from any literary composition. It origi nates from the traditions of its earliest population; accompanies their migrations, and descends with their descent. It is retained because it is believed, and is only used and talked of for tbe same reason. Much as we like the Arabian Nights, nothing can engraft its Genii and other ma chinery on the public faith or mind ; nor can our writers imitate them, for want of the actual credence. Both Dr. Ilawkesworlh and Dr. Johnson, and also Dr. Ridley, have made some interesting tales with personages to whom they have given the name of Genii, but they are not at all the genii of Arabian story. The Witches and Wizards ofthe Middle Ages were the legacies left us by our Roman colonists and conquerors. This classical nation, and their Grecian preceptors, fully believed and have fully described these dis agreeable beings. They are among the most revolting offspring of the imagination, without any of the graces or charms which usually attend the fictions of the fancy. Theocritus, Lucian, Plutarch and Apuleius so abun dantly notice and pourtray them, that there is no difficulty in tracing them to this respectable origin. The belief in Apparitions has never been absent in our island, from the ' Scin-lac' of the Anglo-Saxons, to the ghosts and spectres so inte resting to our childhood, and still not wholly discredited by u large por tion of our maturer understanding. This offspring of our diseased or agi tated fancy entered our island with our northern ancestors. It is one of the most fixed and native traditions of the Scandinavian tribes and their German descendants. We trace it alike in their tales and histories ; and it may be seen in peculiar abundance in the latter part ofthe Eyrbiggia Saga, of which sir Walter Scott has given an able andinteresting abstract, appended to the ' Illustrations of Northern Antiquities.' — See it from !'¦ 505 to 509. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 29r> now to say seriously with Spenser in his pleasing chap. lines, . , . ' That all their famous antique history. Of some, th' abundance of an idle brain. Will judged be and painted forgery. Rather than matter of just memory: Sith none that breatheth living air does know Where is that happy lond of Faery, Which I so much do vaunt yet no where show :'" because every one now is satisfied, that " Fairy lond " exists nowhere but in the records ofthe olden muses, and there it is yet pleasing to trace its unsubstantial inhabitants as our forefathers depicted them. No part of our ancient vernacular literature pourtrays them so fully or agreeably as Marie ; and her repre sentations may be contemplated as a part of the po pular mind of our ancestors, as well as of the Bretons in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Extracts, shewing the more imaginative parts of Marie's Lays : In the first, ' Gugemar,' she describes a white hart and her fawn, ' foun.' The knight drew his bow and wounded her foot ; but his arrow flew hack on himself from the fairy hart, and piercing his ¦thigh, caused him to fall from his horse. As he lay on the ground. the moaning hart exclaimed, ' Ai me ! alas ! I am killed ; and thou, Vassau ! who hast wounded me, this shall be thy destiny ! never shall you have medicine, neither by herb nor root, nor by mire, nor by potion, shall you be cured of the wound in your thigh, till one shall suffer for your love as great pain and grief as any woman has ever yet endured, and you shall feel as much for her ; so that they who love and have loved shall wonder at it. Go, and leave me in peace.' '* By the sea side Gugemar finds a vessel of ivory, with sails of silk. Nothing alive was in it. The bed was like the work of So- '° Spenser's Faery Queen, book 2. p. l. ". Marie's Lays, p. 56-8. u 4 290 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK lomon, enriched with gold and precious stones, and made of VI. cypres and ivory. Its quilt was African gold tissue. Its coverlet was a sebelin, cut from Alexandrine cloth. Two candelabras of fine gold, with gems worth a treasure, enlightened the apartment. It moved of itself over the sea.°° Her Bisclaveret. Formerly many men became garwalls, and had their houses in woods. A garwall is a savage beast ; his rage is so great that he devours men, does great mischief, and lives in vast forests. The Bretons call them ' Bisclaveret.' ^' A ' ber' (a baron) and beau chevalier had married an amiable woman. He lo\ed her, and she him ; but every week she lost him for three entire days, and never knew where he went. She urged him to tell her why he was thus absent, and he at last confessed, ' Lady, I become a bisclaveret, and go into yonder great forest, into the thickest of its woods, and live on prey and roots. I go quite naked.' She asked him where he put his clothes ? ' Lady, I will not tell you this, because, if I should lose them, or be seen, I should remain always a bisclaveret.' She importuned him ; and he then added, that in an old chapel in the forest, in the hollow of a great stone, under a bush, he placed his apparel until he resumed it to return home. Abhorring such a husband, she revealed his secret to a young chevalier, who went and seized the garments. The bisclaveret returned to her no more, and she married the chevalier. A year afterwards, the king hunted in the forest where the bis claveret dwelt ; the dogs discovered and chased him, with all the company. He became much torn and wounded, and was nearly taken, when he ran to the king, and holding his stirrup, and kiss ing his leg and foot, implored his mercy. The king exclaimed, ' See, mj' lords ! this wonder ; how this beast humbles himself; he has the sense of a man ; he cries for mercy ; drive the dogs be hind ; take care that no one hurts him ; the brute has under standing ; my peace shall remain with him, and I will hunt him here no more.' The king turned back, and the bisclaveret followed him and would not leave him. The king became attached to him, and kept '^ Marie's Lays, p. 60-2. °' Ib. p. 178. The French story of Mons. Oufle is built on the idea, that he fancied himself to be a loup-garouz, or man-wolf. The garwall of Mary is the loup-garouz of the more modern French, ' DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 297 him in his palace. He was all day among the knights, and lay q h AP. down in the evening near the king. He was so frank and debo- vil. nair, and so careful to hurt no one, that every body loved him. The king some time afterwards held his court, and summoned all his barons to it ; his wife and her new husband came among them. As soon as the bisclaveret saw this knight, he flew upon him, and seized him with his teeth, till the king threatened him with his rod. Twice he again tried to bite his enemy. All won dered at this pecuhar conduct ; it was thought that he had lost his reason. When the feast ended, every one departed home. Some time after, the king went to himt in the forest where he was found ; the bisclaveret accompanied him. The wife besought an audience of the king, and came richly dressed ; the animal flew upon her, and tore off her nose. All were then going to cut him in pieces, when ' un sages hom,' a wise man, remarked to the king, that as the creature injured no one else, he must have some cause of complaint against the knight and lady, and counselled that she should be imprisoned till she discovered why the beast hated her. This was done ; she confessed her conduct, and that he might be her husband. The king had the clothes brought that had been taken, and gave them to the bisclaveret, who took no notice of them. The prudent man suggested that he would not put them on in public, and advised that he should be left alone in his own room, with the garments. This was done, and the king sometime afterwards entering his apartment, saw a baron sleeping in his bed.'- Her Lanval is founded on a fairy lady. When Arthur distributed his gifts to his counts and barons, and to those ' de la table raunde,' he gave none to the chevalier Lanval, the son of a distant king, who was serving him. Lanval, mortified to be so overlooked, resolved to quit the couit, and mounting his steed left the city, Carduel, and travelled till he reached a meadow, thro which a stream was flowing. As he felt his horse tremble he dismounted, and letting the animal feed at its pleasure, he folded his mantle, reclined his head upon it, and lay in pensive meditation. Looking towards the river, he saw two damsels coming from it, more beautiful than were ever seen before, and richly clothed in purple. The eldest carried a basin of enamelled gold finely made, and the other a napkin. '^ Marie's Lays, 178-200. literary historyof ENGLAND. 298 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK They advanced to him as he lay, and he, who had been well VI. taught, rose immediately on his feet. They saluted him; and one said, ' Sire, Lanval ! my lady, who is very courteous and beauti ful, sends us for you; come with us — we will conduct you safely. See, there are her pavilions.' — He went. T'he queen Semiramis, orthe emperorOctavian, never hada more splendid tent. Agolden eagle of inexpressible value was on its top. No king on earth could have one so costly. Within this reposed the lady, surpassing in beauty both the lily and the new blown rose. She was reclining on a bed so handsome, that its cloth ivas worth a castle. Her mantle was of white ermine, covered with Alexandrine purple ; and as the heat caused some part to be uncovered, a neck and face were seen whiter than the Maythorn flowers. She called him ; he sat down. She told him, that for his sake she had left her country ; that she loved him, and if he would be preux and courteous, no emperor, queen or king, was so happy as he should be. He answered her with sympathetic feeling. She promised him wealth so abundant, that the more 'he gave, the more he would have. They married ; but she annexed one con dition to his felicity : ' Tell no one of me, or you will immediately lose me ; if our love is made known, you will never see me again.' He vowed silence and fidelity. She added, ' Now rise and go away, you cannot remain longer here ; but when you wish to speak with me, let it be where a person may meet his beloved without reproach or villany, and I will come, but no one except you will see or hear me.' The damsels brought him the richest dress ; he washed his hands, sat down to a repast, and was then led to his horse, on which he returned to the city. He was con tinually looking back, unable to understand his own adventure. He entered his hotel, and kept a liberal hospitality, without knowing whence his resources came ; he treated richly every knight who came ; released prisoners ; clothed the jongleurs, and gave presents to every one. Unfortunately, the queen of Arthur became attached to him. Her vilifying reproaches roused him to declare, that he loved and was loved, and that any one of those who served his lady excelled her in heart, face, beauty, understanding and goodness. The queen accused him falsely to Arthur, who ordered him to be burnt if he did not justify himself. When alone in his apartment, he called his fair one, but she came not to him ; he had violated the condition in talking of her, and he saw her no more. The king put him on judgment before DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 299 his barons ; and one of them proposed, that to vindicate himself, CHAP. Lanval should produce before them the lady he had boasted of; VII. he told them that this was not in his power. As the barons were about to pronoimce judgment, two damsels on white horses, in robes of silk, of a vermilion colour, appeared, and asked the king for canvass and materials to encurtain a cham ber, where their lady might be lodged : two others, still hand somer, came mounted on Spanish mules. Soon afterwards ap peared a lady, wonderfully beautiful and superbly dressed, on a little palfrey, with splendid housings ; she had a falcon on her wrist, and a greyhound followed her. Lanval raised his head, and saw that it was his beloved. She advanced to Arthur : ' King ! I have loved your vassal ; the queen was wrong : if my presence is to acquit him, let your barons release him.' Lanval was pro nounced innocent, and the fairy lady led him to Avalon, that delightful island, where they lived happy." Another of her tales exhibits a Transformation. The young wife of an ancient lord was shut up by his fears in a tower. One day she saw at her window the shadow of a great bird. It flew into her room, placed itself by her, and soon became a handsome and genteel knight, and solicited her affection. She asked him, if he believed in God : he said, he did believe in his Creator, ' who is, and was, and will be, the life and light of sinners.' He added, that if she would order her chaplain to per form the divine service, he would take her form, and receive the eucharist. He did so. He then bade her conceal their acquaint ance, as he must die if she discovered it. An old attendant, by hiding herself, saw him enter and depart as a bird. The husband was informed of it, and had placed at the window some steel blades, as sharp as a razor, which pierced him when he next came to it. Covered with blood, he flew away. She escaped from the tower ; traced him by his blood to a cottage — to a meadow — to a city — and to a castle, where she found him dying on a bed, of which the drapery and surrounding chandeliers were worth all the gold of a kingdom. His son was to avenge him. The husband and some friends travelling afterwards to a distant city, came to a rich abbey, in the chapter-hall of which they saw a large tomb, covered with rich gold, embroidered tapestry, and surrounded with twenty wax tapers, burning in golden chandeliers, amid in- '" Marie's Lays, 202-250. 300 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK cense of amethyst. They inquired whose it was, and were an- VI. swered, ' The best and noblest, and most beloved knight that ever lived ; he was the king of this country ; no one was so courteous ; he was slain for a lady's love, and since he died we have had no ENGLAND, lord.' The wife exclaimed to the son, ' It is your father who lies there ; this old man killed him.' She gave him the king's sword, and fell dead. The youth then beheaded her ancient spouse.^'' LITERARY HISTORYOF Her Graelent again displays a fairy lady. The \?iy of Graelent is founded on the incident ofhis seeing a fairy lady bathing near a fountain in a forest. She promises to love him truly. ' But one thing I forbid you — you must not say a word by which our attachment can be discovered. I will then give you most richly money, clothes and silver, and night and day I will be with you : tho you should see me go away, yet you may laugh and talk with me. You shall have no companion that can see me, nor know who I am. Graelent ! You are loyal, preux, courteous and handsome ; for you I came to the fountain ; for you I have suffered many a pain. Take care that you boast not of it, or you will lose me. You must remain a year near this country, but you may be errant for two months ; then repair hi ther, for I love this country. Now depart. Nones have struck. I will send my messenger to you.' He returned to his hotel, and looking out of his window at the forest, now so dear to him, he saw a varlet leading an ambling pal frey to him.— none was so beautiful, so swift, or so gentle. ' I am the messenger of your friend ; she wills me to be with you ; I will pay your debts and take care of your household.' The varlet then opened his trunk, and took out a spacious coat, ' coute,' rich stuffs and ornaments, which he spread on the bed, and plenty of gold and silver, and rich apparel. Graelent, thus provided, rewarded all who had been kind to him, and ordered his host to keep his house full of good provision, and to invite the poorer knights of the city who wished to live with him. His host did so, and went in search of the poor knights, prisoners, pilgrims and crusaders, brought them to the hotel, and took care to honor them. All night, instruments of music were played, and other delights fol lowed. In the day he was richly apparelled. He gave grrat gifts to harpers, to prisoners, and to players. There was not a burgess of the city to whom he did not lend money, or who did not do him -' Marie's Lays, 272-313. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 30i as much honor as they performed to their lord. His beloved was C II A P. often with him. There was not a tournament in the country in VII. which he did not distinguish himself — the knights greatly loved ¦ ™" FABLES Of The king had the habit, on his festive days, of shewing his marie,&c. queen to his barons, and asking them if the earth contained a finer ' ¦' ' woman, Graelent never acquiesced in their preferring eulogies. This roused his displeasure, and Graelent was at last excited to tell the king, who inquired if he knew her superior. ' Yes, one worth thirtj' of her.' The enraged queen insisted on his producing her competitor. A year was allowed him — but he had broke the spell ; she visited him no more. The year expired : the king accused him of insult ing his wife by a falsehood. The appointed judges were about to condemn him, when two beautiful damsels in laced dresses ap peared, and dismounting from their palfreys, told the king that their lady would come and release the knight ; two others, more handsome, followed, and then the Fairy lady was seen. Her man ner was grand, her countenance mild, her eyes sweet, her face lovely, her movement charming. She was magnificently clothed in purple embroidered with gold — her mantle was worth a castle, and her steed, with its trappings, at least a thousand pounds — all pressed forward to behold her, and every one praised her. She came on horseback before the king, and then dismounted and addressed him. She blamed Graelent for what he had said, but appealed to the king himself, whether she was more beautiful than his queen. This could not be denied. Graelent was released ; and when she urged her palfrey through the city, he eagerly fol lowed her, imploring her mercy ; but she answered not a word. They at length reached the forest, where the river was flowing in a pure and lucid stream. She sprung into it. Graelent was about to follow, when she exclaimed — ' Fly — enter not— if you attempt it, you will be drowned.' He regards her not, and plunges in. She catches his bridle, and leads him to the bank — again cautions hirn not to follow her, and disappears under the water. He persists in going into the river. The waves began to overpower him, when the maidens ofthe lady entreated her to pity and to forgive hira. She relented, and drew him out ; had his wet garments taken off, covered him with her mantle, and then conducted him to her own country, where the Bretons say he is living still. The fairy horse, missing his master, withdrew to the forest, and was never at peace again. He was always striking the earth, furiously neighing, and literaryhistoryofENGLAND. 302 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK allowed no one to take liim. The report was, that every year VI, at that season he was seen at the river-side seeking his master, neighing and calling for him.^ The FABLES of Mary claim an Englishman's at tention, from the fact, mentioned only by her, that one of our kings, named Henry, translated those of .^sop from Latin into English, which she afterwards rhymed into her Norman French. This must have been our Henry I. or else Henry II ; but the proba bility seems to be, that it was Henry I ; both of whose queens were attached to letters, and who was himself distinguished by the title of ' Beau Clerc' Mary's general style is an easy, concise, natural and intel ligent narration.''® She has annexed a ' moralite' to each ; and some of these do credit to her good sense and moral taste, and furnish many particulars of the manners of her day. It gives us rather a painful view of society to read after the hares and the frogs — They ought to think of this. Who wish to move away And abandon their ancient place, What will come afterwards to them. They will never find a country Nor reach a land That they can be in without fear. Or without labor, or without grief." Toil and sorrow almost all must expect to share ; but that no place could be lived in without alarm, is a strong picture of a lawless and disorderly period. But how could it be otherwise, since the foUowino- '* Marie's Lays, 486-540. =8 Some of these Le Grand has amusingly translated in his Fa- bleaux, v. 4. " Roquefort's Marie, v. 2, p. 161. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, 30.1 moralit6 was no doubt taken from her experience, chap. when she added it to the two wolves and the lamb : ^^ These are the rich robbers — lays and The sheriffs and the judges, fables of On those whom they have ^ ' ,' In their judicial territory. From covetousness, a false occasion. They find sufficient to confound them. And compel them into their courts ; There they score their flesh and their skin. As the wolves did to the lamb,^' To the fable of the dog suing a sheep, she adds ; This example shews you, What many men prove. Who by lying and by tricking (trichin) Frequently implead the poor. And adducing false witnesses, Force the poor to pay them. They care not what befalls the unhappy, So that they share the profit.'' The oppression of the rest of society by the great, is also implied in many other moral ites. We will only add another, on the wolf and the crane : So it is with a bad lord, If a poor man works him honor. And then asks his reward. He will never receive any ; Altho in his administration The great ought to thank him for his life.'" The following is a specimen of her more serious moralit6s. The wise man ought rationally To beseech the Omnipotent God, That He would do his own pleasure : =» Roquefort's Marie, v. 2. p. 67. "^ lb. p. 77- ™ Ib. p. 85. If ' Le Couronnement de Renart' be Marie's, it may be seen in M. Meon's edition of it, Paris, 1816. 304 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK From this great good may come : \'I. For God better knows what will suit us, Than hearts which change and move." " Roquefort's Marie, V. 2. p. 393. HerPurgatory of St. Patrick, p.411, has been pleasingly abridged by Le Grand, v. 5, p. 126. A supposition as to the possible Authoress : — In our total ignorance about this Mary, there is no harm in starting a new conjectural possibility, which suits the intimations which she has given of herself in her poems. But I propose this merely as a suggestion, not lo be pressed as an historical certainty, nor to be confounded with it. Conjectures are not facts, and I would wish not to mislead the reader on any subject. Eleanor, the queen of our Henry II. had by her first husband, Louis VII. of France, a daughter named Marie, who was married to the count of Champagne. Gesta Lud. 150. Aim. 525. She thereby became countess of Champagne during the reigns of our Henry II. and Richard I. Her husband was a great patron of poets and romance writers. He invited them to his court, and liberally rewarded them. Her mother, queen Eleanor was also a great favorer ofthe Troubadours; and Marie herself was so much attached to their ' gai licence' as to hold cours d'amour, and to give judgment on the questions there submitted to her by knights and Troubadours. One of these is dated 1 1 74. See the Chapter on the Troubadours, in our fifth volume of this History. She survived her hus band, and died in March 1 197. Rigordus, 198. Thus our king Henry II. was ber father-in-law, and his sons, Henry, Richard, and Geoffry, were her brothers by her mother's side. Of these, Henry was crowned king of England by his father in his own lifetime ; so that England had then at the same time two king Henrys, in the persons of Henry II. and his eldest son. Her brother Geoffry was made count of Bretagne, and died in her lifetime. She attended his burial, and was in the French court at Compeign in II96, when the count of Flanders did homage to Philip for his dominions, (Reg- 197.) where she died in the next year. She was sister to botb Philip the reigning king of France, and to Richard the reigning king of England, — to Philip by her father, and to Richard by her mother. She stood therefore in the singular position of being equally related to both countries and connected with the most distinguished per sons in both, and therefore probably familiar with the language of each. Queen Eleanor survived her daughter, for in 1 199 she did homage to Philip for Poitou. Reg. 200. Now, in applying these facts to Marie the poetess, we find that what this lady mentions of herself, may be comprised in the following circum stances. In the conclusion of her fables she says, — I will name myself for remembrance: I am named Marie. I am of France. For the love ofthe count William, The most valiant of this kingdom, I have undertaken to make this book. And to translate it from English into Roman. They DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 303 Besides the two descriptions of the Anglo-Norman C H a p. poetry already noticed, the history and the romance, ^"• ANGLO-NORMANVERNA CULAR POETRY. They call this book Esop's, Who worked and wrote it. From Greek into Latin it was turned. He, king Henry, who greatly liked it, Translated it then into English, Lives of And I have rhymed it in Francez. Saints in Roq. Marie, v, 2. p. 401. verse. In the prologue to her Fables, she mentions a king without naming him. In honor of you, noble king. Who are so pruz and courteous, To whom every joy inclines. And in whom all that is good has root, I have applied myself to collect the lays. To put them into rhyme and recount them. In my heart I think and say. Sire ! that I would present them to you. Ifit will please you to receive them. You will cause me to have great joy ; Every day I shall be bound to you for it. Accuse me not of presumption. If I dare to make you this present. But hear the beginning. The usual idea, but entirely a supposition, is, tbat this king was Henry III. and that count William was Long Sword, earl of Salisbury. But if this Marie was the countess of Champagne, then the king whom she thus addresses would he her brolherking Henry, at that time reigning with his father, or her brother Richard I. ; tho it might also be their parent Henry II. But the affectionate terms she uses, would suit better one of her brothers. That ber stories are all Breton lays, would suit the countess Marie, because Geoffray her brother was the reigning count of Bretagne while he lived. The peculiarity required by the intimations she gives of herself, that she was well acquainted with both the French and English languages, corresponds exactly with the social position ofthe countess, as we have already remarked, Tbat the count William should be tbe earl of Salisbury, will also coin cide with our theory ; for he was the illegitimate son of her mother's husband, and therefore by him, was the natural brother of her maternal brothers, Richard, Henry, and Geoffray. As such, he must have been as well known to her as they were ; and from his high character and quali ties, may have been greatly liked by her. If the count of Flanders was the William she alludes to, the countess Marie was both allied to this nobleman and acquainted with him. If it should be thought unlikely that such a countess should write poetry, we may recollect that she her self describes an English king, Henry, having translated into English what she turned into French, What a king had done, a literary princess Vol, IV. X 300 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK the clergy also wrote in verse the Lives of Saints, and ^^" moral treatises.^'* Their rimed biography, however, added nothing to the national poetry, altho one of them, Denis Piramus, in the reign of Henry IIL, really added, tho unheeded, to the national history,'^ In their moral treatises in verse, a greater approach to poetry was exhibited. The poem of bishop Grosteste was at least an allegory, with some effort at descrip tion ; ^ and the stories introduced by Wadigton, in might do. Her brother Richard wrote Provenyal poems ; aud in a later age a French princess, Margaret de Valois, composed a volume of French tales. Her rank will account for the high estimation in which Denis Pyraraus described her works to have been held ainong the ladies of quality in the reign of Henry III. Hence the supposition that Marie, the authoress ofthe Lais and Fables, was Marie the countess of Champagne, seems to have a stronger founda tion than any other which has been suggested. ^ As Guerne's Life of Thomas h Becket. It contains about 6coo lines, in stanzas of five lines of the Alexandrine cast, riming together, which he thus describes — Le vers est dune rime en cine clauses cuplez E bons est mes laugages e en france fui nez. MS. Hari. 270. Chardre's S> Josaphat and the Seven Sleepers, comprises between four and five thoiisand lines. He mentions the preference given to the romans of fiction — Ke plus-tost orriuin chanter de Roulant e de Olivier e les batailles des duze peres, MS. Cott, Calig. A 9. See M. de la Rue's Dissertation^ Archaeologia, vol. 13, p. 234. We see how anxiously these rimers sought for reputation, in Chermans, who wrote La Genesis de S' Marie. He takes care to s.iy — Jeo ay a noum Chermans ne ubliez mye mon noun. " MS. Hari. N" 270, ^ His work is called the Life of S' Edmund. It is, in fact, a rimed excursive history of East Anglia. But it is remarkable for giving a truer account of Ragnar Lodbrog, the Danish sea-king, than any ofthe Saxon chroniclers furnish. It makes him, as he was, a powerful and cruel pi rate, renowned for his exploits on many a shore ; and declares Inguar, Hubba, and Biorn to have been his children. — MS. Cott. Domit. A 11. As this is almost the only ancient document we have that approaches the true history of these incidents, I have cited the passage at length in the 4tb edition ofthe Anglo-Saxons. =• It is in the Hari. MS. N° 1121. After treating of Paradise and the fall of man, it begins a strange allegory, with the account of a king, DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, 307 his Manuel des Peches,'"' are occasionally told with chap. traits that shew a few of the first faint gleams of ^'^'^¦ poetical feeling. There are some other poems of the anglo- Anglo-Normans not unworthy the notice of the an tiquary,^" One of the most curious of these, for its subject, is the Institutes of Justinian in verse, already alluded to.'' The character ofthe Anglo-Norman poetry, from its happy consequences to our taste and intellect, merits a distinct contemplation. The verbal style of the Anglo-Saxon poetry was Style of the arrangement of their words into short lines, with a saton"^'°' who had a son and four daughters : the son was our Saviour; the daughters were Mercy, Truth, Justice, and Peace. The son enters a castle 'bel et grant;' and the poet occupies two long columns in de scribing it. This castle was the Virgin Mary ! See extracts from it in M. La Rue's Essay in the Archaeologia. ^ This very curious work is in the British Museum, among the Har leian MSS. N° 4657 & 377. He thus names himself^ De dei seit beneit chescun hom Ky prie pour Wilham de Wadigton. ^ In the MS. containing Chardre's work, is a dialogue between youth and age-, intitled, Le Petit Plet, containing about 1800 rimed lines. — The anonymous continuation of the Brut of Wace, contains the remark able fancy ofthe council held by the conqueror to determine the disposi tions of his three sons. See La Rue's Dissert. 13. p. 242. — Among the Harleian MSS. is the poem called ' Le Sermun de Guichart de Beau lieu;' — and another poem, of moral precepts, by Helis de Quincestre (Winchester), which he says he takes from Cato — Ki vult saveir la faitement Ke Katun a sun fiz pi-ent Sen Latin nel set entendre Ci le pot en romanz aprendre. — MS. In the king's library at Paris, there is a translation of Dares Phrygius into French rimes, by Godfrey ofWaterford, an Irishman of the jacobine order, in the thirteenth century. — Warton, I, p. xxiii,from Mem. Lit. 17. P- 736. The reader who wishes to enlarge his knowlege of the history of an cient romance, will be gratified by Mr. Weber's ' Illustrations of Nor thern Antiquities, from the earlier Teutonic and Scandinavian Romances ;' and by the elaborate accumulation of curious circumstances in the last editor's preface to Warton, which, however, are rather materials for thpught than the establishing of any certain system. " The author of this was Richard D'Annebaut, an Anglo-Norman, Archaeol. v. 13. poetry. HISTORYOF ENGLAND. defects. 300 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK sim-ple cadence without rime, and with some allitera- ^ tion. Omissions of their particles, and forced inver- LiTEHARY sions, were also used. This form was not a very valuable style of poetical diction, except that it was, perhaps, the parent of our Miltonic blank verse : but it was at least harmless. This epitliet, however, can not be justly applied to the mental character of their poetry ; that was of a vicious cast. It consisted, wherever it departed from prose, of abrupt transitions, ambitious metaphors, and repeated periphrasis. Its great; From these peculiarities arose a barbarous species of poetry, which it "was impossible even for genius to improve. The inversions and transitions occasioned perpetual obscurity, and, in conjunction with their violent metaphors, precluded the presence of nature or elegance, feeling or beauty. The metaphor and the periphrasis could be exalted only into extravagancies and absurdity. The more their genius labored to excel in this savage dress, it became but the more fantastic ; in striving to be original, it could only commit more daring outrages on language and com mon sense. This effect appears in the poems of the Northern scalds, who continued the Saxon style after tlie Anglo-Saxons had abandoned it ; and it must be obvious to every one, that when poets had to struggle with each other to express objects so common and so -hacknied, as ships and heroes, kings and swords, by new n^taphors or periphrasis, the more active their fancy, the more unnatural must have been its crea tions. In this strange competition, ships were not only called — the keels that ride the surge, the ploughers of the ocean, the chariots of the waves, and the float ing pines — wliich are strong, yet perhaps allowable phrases ; but by these poets they are also styled — the DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 30i> wooden coursers of Gestils, the sky-blue doves, the chap, snorting steeds adorned with ruddy gold, the mon- ^^^- sters of the deep^* — -which are in the worst taste of uncultivated imagination. To call the sword ia blue serpent, and arrows the southern flies boiling up froni the caverns ofthe quivers,'" are extravagancies of ab surdity which may indeed be paralleled in the modern Persian*" literature, but which European taste has long learnt to disavow. The Norman conquest, which introduced not only Itsdecline. a new sovereign, but also a new race of landed prO' prietors, into England, of foreign language and with foreign manners, abolished this bloated style. The Anglo-Saxon harpers were unintelligible to the Nor man barons," and were therefore banished from the halls of the great, and the court of the prince ; and with them their Anglo-Saxon poetry disappeared. How fortunate an event this was to the real improve ment of the English mind, willbe felt by all who take the trouble to study the specimens of the loftier species of the Anglo-Saxon poetry, which we have in Beowulf, aud the usual poems ofthe Northern scalds. Such is the obscurity and peculiarity of the poem of ^ See the Hrafns Malom, or Raven's Ode, of Sturia, on Hacon's ex peditions against Scotland, published with a Translation by the Rev. J. Johnstone, 1782. — In other Northern poems, ships are called a crane, a serpent, the ravens of the harbour, the wooden oxen, the oxen of th? bays; and wounding another is expressed as sprinkling the tongue ofthe wolves. So shields are termed, the clouds of battle ; gold, the earth of thp serpent; and the sea, the belt ofthe Islands, See Snorre's Heimskringla. ™ Our Ethelred, in his De Bello Standards, has this violent metaphor, 1 Decem Script, p. 345. *" Einaut Ollah, in his Tales, has carried this style of poetry to that happy excess which ensures its own depreciation. ¦" Ingulf says, that the Normans so abhorred the Enghsh speech, that even their grammar was taught to the boys in the schools Galhce, not Anglice. p. 71. X 3 310 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK VI. The simpler characteroftheAnglo- Norman- poetry. Beowulf, that no industry would now suffice to make it completely intelligible. The intercourse between Normandy and Denmark diminished, as the power of the French monarchy became attenuated among its feudal lords. The Nor mans, enjoying their national independence secure from foreign insult, had no occasion for further aids of their rude kinsmen in the North. Hence their domestic connexions with Scandinavia had so com pletely ceased in the eleventh century, that their lan guage retained scarcely a vestige of their northern origin. Of course the poetry of the scalds became unfashionable and unpopular in Normandy, when it was no longer intelligible. It would need as much translation as the Anglo-Saxon; and it had no attrac tions, when translated, that could be put into com petition with the minstrels of Provence or Bretagne. These minstrels came with one quality that had an irresistible effect on a people beginning its mental cultivation ; and this was, their easy intelligibility. No poetry could be more humble in its kind, than the popular lays of the minstrel, and the larger effu sions of his clerical rivals, as far as we can judge from their few remains and abundant imitators. As compositions, their chief merit was that plain sim plicity, which, to the low state of the common intel lect of society in their days, was found the most popular. As poetry, it had but one characteristic, which may be expressed in one word — rime. Rime was the great distinction between the prose and poetry ofthe vernacular language of Normandy, in the twelfth century ; and for a considerable interval, it had nothing else to boast of The use of this pecu- NORMANVERNACULARPOETRY. DUELING THE MIDDLE AGES. 311 liarity by the Anglo-Normans, unquestionably arose chap from its prevalence in the poetry of their neighbours, _" the Franks, the Bretons, and the Provencals."'' anglo The obligations which we are under to these Nor man Trouveurs for their style, and therefore the be neficial improvements which they introduced in both the thought and feeling of our countrymen, as well as into the modes and power of expressing them, have not been suflticiently appreciated. We are too familiar now with language to think of the original difficul ties of primeval composition, altho no attainment of human science is more honorable to rnankind, or must have every where been more arduous and won derful than the formation of an exact, copious, ex pressive, forcible and harmonious language, and the precise and flexible connexion of it with the instan taneous, multifarious, and ever-varying emotions and perceptions of the human soul. For the most part, it has been the gradual and imperceptible production of the mind under its successive wants, impulses and experience."' But men in all ages and countries •" The Troubadours contributed somewhat to the sudden rise of the Anglo-Norman poetry; for two of its earhest versifiers, Sanson and Wace, mention two of their favorite compositions, the Tendon and the Serventeis : Thus Sanson — • Ki eue lait corre e purer Chef de tencons leoi noraer Cil ki sa lange ne refreine Lait eue aler de boche pleine E ki sa boche ne refreine De tencons est chief e fontaine. MS. Hari. N° 4388. And Wace — Mais ore puis jeo leinges penser Livres escrire e translater Faire rumanz e serventeis Tant truveiai tant seit curteis, MS, Bib. Reg. 4- C 11. *^ M. Auguis has well described some part of this process in the for mation ofthe French tongue from that ofthe Norman Trouveui-s. ' Notre X 4 312 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK have arisen, who have both purposed and success- '_ fully exerted themselves to add new improvements, new words, new phrases, new softness, new melody, new varieties, new abbreviations, newsynonimes, new compounds, new metaphors, new applications, new discriminations, and new arrangements of diction. We see this manifestly in the artificial Sanscrit. We feel it in the Greek ; and we have it acknowleged by Cicero ; and we can trace it ourselves in the classical Latin. The process is still more visible in the French and English. The Anglo-Norman Trou veurs first improved their own language, which has become that of modern France ; and the English mind taught by them so to think and speak in their Roman French, rapidly introduced into our Anglo- Saxon English all their cultivation, flowers and fruits, as soon as it turned its genius and literary labors to that language, which has now become our vernacular speech, and may yet diff"use itself to be the prevail ing language of the largest part of the world. This triumph will depend upon the continued and supe rior excellence of our future thinkers and writers. That language which combines in its compositions the greatest quantity of verbal beauties, of intellec-- langue, qui commenca k naitre environ vers le dixifeme sifecle, et qui a change tant de fois jusqu'^ Louis XIV. n'a pas moins varie dans la pro- nonciation et dans I'orthographe que dans les Elements qui la compo- sent; et k mesure que la nation s'est poli^, et que la society s'est per- fectionn^e, on a cherche a adoucir les sons apres et rudes qui etoient si multiplies dans la lapgne de nos peres, et que les harbares du Nord avoient apport^s avec eux. L'euphouie insensiblement rendit les mots plus harmunieux et plus doux, le nombredes consonnes qui se heurtoient diminua : I'organe glissa plus mollement sur des prononciations qui le fatiguoient. On supprima des lettres a I'oreille : on adoucit surtout I'aspciite des finales: quelquefois on introduisil des e muets pour servir comme de repos entre des syllabes (lures; mais la langue ^crite qui devoit suivre du mSme pas la langue parlee, resta encore longtemps en nrrifere. Les Poetes Frau. jusqu'a Malherbe, Disc. Prcl. 7. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 313 tual wealth, of elegant taste, of pure ethics, and the chap. best sympathies and emotions of the heart, is the ^• most likely to become the most studied, the most universal, and the most permanent tongue. Every English author should therefore strive to continue and increase the charms of his native diction, and to connect it with the noblest and most interesting pursuits and effusions of the cultivated, moralized and sanctified spirit. Personal fame, useful patriotism, and the sub- limest philanthropy will be sweetly blended in the felicitating employment. Base subjects, trifling little nesses, unprofitable rubbish, and mischievous extra vagancies, will then no longer degrade the British press; nor withhold it from the sovereignty to which it is fully qualified to aspire, and which every mis leading author contributes to prevent. Mankind will never, in the free action of their will, extensively or continuously patronise the evil, or the inferior, in any department of hu man action or inquiry. We may consider six languages as having preten sions, and some of them as actually contending to become the habitual speech of our Norman ances tors; and through them, of all France. They carried with them their Norwegian tongue from their rough northern ocean; they settled themselves close by the ancient British in Bretagne, divided only by hedges and rivers ; they found in France, in which they at first prowled for booty, and with which they always maintained a favorite intercourse, three languages, that had been struggling for predominance ; the ancient German of the Franks,"* the Provencal of the "* The remains of their Franco-Theotric language have been collected HISTORYOF ENGLAND. 314 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK southern provinces,"^ and the more latinized Romane*^ ^^- of the interior and northward districts ; and they be- LiTEUARY came the chief proprietors of land in an Anglo-Saxon population. With all these languages to choose from, they dropped, by a process untraceable now, their native Norwegian. They avoided the Franco-Theotisc, the Breton and the Provencal ; and before they invaded England, had naturalized indelibly among them that Romane tongue, which, in its old form, has survived to us in the Anglo-Norman remains,"'^ and in its newest form constitutes the modern French. It has been regretted by one of the latest writers on the ancient poets of France, that instead of this the Pro vencal did not become the national language."* He thinks it would have given to it, by its full, sweet, and by Schelter, in bis Thesaurus. Its grammar is in Hickes Ant. Sept. Its most ancient monument is tbe oath of Louis the German, transmitted to us by Nithardus. ¦" M. Raynouard's Choix des Poesies des Troubadeurs, contains some of the specimens of their language and poetry. Auguis, in his Poetes Francois before Malherbe, begins with some of the Provenyal writers, but consists chiefly of the Trouveres, and their successors, the oldest French poets. ' ¦'^ The Anglo-Norman poems are specimens of this, and their authors frequently call their language the romanz. Thus Gaimar : ' II purchasar mainte esamplaire Liveres engleis e par grammaire E en romanz e eu latin.' MS. Bib. Reg. 13. A 21. *' Altho all France now uses the language of their Trouveres, as its na tional tongue, yet England has the credit of exhibiting the earhest speci men of it in the laws of William the Conqueror, which our Ingulf has preserved. Its most ancient work, in verse, is thought to be tbe trans lation ofthe Latin poem of Marbodius on the precious stones, written about 1123. Aug. xviii. ¦" The two languages have been called, from their words for ' yes,' Langue d'oc, and Langue d'oil. 'On nomine encore le Proveufal, Langue d'oc, et le Wallon langue d'oil. Aprfes trois sifecles d'existence; la langue des Troubadeurs s'eteignit par une nouvelle corruption, et parce qu'elle ne fit aucun progres. Le Roman W^allon, que les Trouveres employoient se conserva se perfectionna, peu a pen ; et c'est de ce dialecfe qu'cst venu le Franfois.' Anguis Disc. Prel. from Sism, v. 1. p. 259. ¦ DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, 31.5 sounding terminations, a finer idiom than any other,"* chap. But no nation can choose its diction from the taste ^^^- of its literati. The uncultivated population of every anglo- country attach to it the language they use and prefer, verna-'' long before poets compose, philosophers reason, or cular taste decides. These may engraft or prune, but > — ^,-l-' cannot eradicate one speech to plant another ; and therefore as our Ariglo-Troveurs found their Romane or Norman French in full use at the Anglo-Norman court, and among its nobility, even when embosomed in England, they made it the language of their literary eff"usions. From the time at least of Hugh Capet,^ it had become decidedly the language of all the French provinces north of the Loire ; and their new compo sitions in it competed its predominance in the amal gamated nation of the future France, and before the thirteenth century ended, France could enumerate the works of one hundred and twenty-seven poets.^' '' M. Auguis says, ' II est clair que la langue d'oc etoit plus digue de devenir la langue dominante : elle nous eut donne, par ses terrninaisons pleines, douces et retentissantes, un idiorae aussi beau que nul autre.' Dis. Prel. xii. ^ ' Cetteromancerie,proprement dite, remontejusqu'a Hugues Capet; el se multiplie prodigieusement.' Aug. D. Pr. xi. *' Auguis, ib. Our own times and country have seemed peculiarly prolific ill poets ; but even in what are miscalled the dark ages, we read that ' from Guillaume IX. who died 1122, to Malherbe, who was born 1.556, or in 434 years, there were no fewer than 600 poets in France; nearly one and a half a year.' M. Auguis's work presents specimens of the chief of these. W^e sing that ' Time has thinned our flowing hair; ' but what a havoc has he made in the Parnassus of every country ! ' Tandis que I'ltaliens imitoient la syntaxe latine, que leurs finales, toujours pleines, se prfetoient tout de suite a I'euphonie, et que le passage d'une langue k I'autre etoit presque imperceptible; que, presses ou lents, doux ou ftpres forts ou passionn^s, sublimes et sonnants, ou simples et paisibles, leurs ecrivains pouvoient donner k leur gr6 a la langue po^tique de la souplesse et de la variete ; qu'ils pouvoient raccourcir ou allonger leurs terrninaisons aprfes les quatre liquides, adoucir une quantity d'aiitres mots par des abr^viations diverses, avoir dans des modifications de fi nales des modifications d'idees ; en un mot, se creer, par des exceptions legferes et faciles, une langue poetique entiferement s^parde de la prose. Nous qui avions et€ leurs premiers maitres, imus ignorions encore lo genie de notre propre langue.' Auguis, ib. xiv. HISTORYOF ENGLAND 318 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK Its antiquaries, however, complain, that the language was not improved adequately to such a literary use of LITEIIARY it, while the Italians, with more successful attentions^ or by more fortunate accidents, were giving to their tongue a superiority of euphonous beauty,'^ which no other European nation has either equalled or out done. Francis I. drew the French out of its barbaric state,°^ and extended to it the royal encouragement, by ordering it to be used instead of Latin in the tri bunals and public acts. Marot first^ gave elegance, melody and ease to its poetry ; which INIalherbe, res cuing from the pedantry and artificial compounds of Ronsard, made more correct, regular, rythmical and select. While Amyot and Montaigne introduced many analogous improvements to its prose; Corneille ladded to verse new dignity and force, and Racine blended with it all that sweetness, charm, refinement, taste and coloring,*^ which foreigners as well as na tives both feel and admire. Fenelon afterwards allied to his native tongue all the graceful simplicity, Intel ligence, perspicuity and delicacy of his own elegant mind and pure heart. '• Auguis, Dis. Prel. xiv. Algarotti has left a very pleasing Italian essay on the French and Italian languages, which will reward perusal for its sweetness of diction and good sense. " Auguis, ib. '* Of Marot, who, as a poet, he calls elegant, but, as a prose writer, ' Indigeste et obscur,' M. Auguis says, ' il s'attacha aux termes, et aux tours que le frottemeut de I'usage avoit le plus adoucis. Toutes les limes agr^ables, toutes les phrases coulantes, echappees au hasard des vielles pleines Francoises, il recueillit et emplo^a.' — He shewed ' que la grace du Fraufois reside dans une tournure facile, vive, serr^e, et sur tout claire et directe.' Aug. ib. ^ Le veritable fondation de notre langue poetique, en France, fut Mal- herbe.^Cette correction suivie que personne n'eut avant Malherbe.' Coi-nr ille added new force, and Racine gave it ' plus de charnie,' and caused it to descend from its ancient majesty ' k une jeunesse plus riante ct plus douce. — II mela plus de couleurs a ses tableaux, il perfectionna Tart des nuances ; etrepoudit sur elle un eclat de figures et d'ornements qu'dle n'avoit point connu jusqu'alurs,' Aug, ib. POETRY,Facility of its rime. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, 317 No circumstance could have been more auspicious chap, to the rise of true poetry in England, than to have ^^^- had in its infant state such a simple and yet mark- anglo- ing characteristic as rime. The first Anglo-Norman v°b"a-'' verses were so completely dull and barren prose, that, cular if they had not possessed this distinguishing feature, it is hard to conceive how their poetry could have obtained a separate growth and peculiar cultivation ; yet such was the rude and feeble state of the public mind, that if the characteristic of its poetry had been a laborious difficulty, it would have made no progress, nor attracted imitation. In all the arts and sciences, many of all classes must be tempted to study, judge and practise them, before excellence can be formed ; before the chance occurs, of genius being possessed bv some of the cultivators. But from the abundant consonancies which all languages retain, rime is a form ofcomposition as easy of practice as it is a mark ing feature. It is a light and pliable fetter, which genius may play with as it pleases. It was so trifling a restraint to our literary ancestors, that they com posed in it works which in their length might daunt even a sir Richard Blackmore, Wace has left us ten poems in Norman French, of which one alone con tains 1 2,000 verses ; '" and his contemporary, Be neoit, has bequeathed to us two historical poems that present us with at least 60,000 rimes." Gaimar emulates this fertility ; and many other of the estories and romans are as prolific.^* Even the Latin lan- ^ His Brut, Bib. Reg. 13. A 21.— His poem on tbe History of Nor mandy, Bib. Reg. 4. C 11. is much longer. " The Hari. MS. N" 1717, on Normandy, contains about45,ooo lines ; and the MS. N 4482, on Troy, about 15,000. " The roman entitled Les Gestes de Garin, Bib. Reg. 20. B 19. con tains above 25,000 rimed lines. It resembles some of the Welsh poetry, in continuing the same rime for many lines together. Thus 25 lines 310 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK VI. LITERARY niSTORYOF ENGLAND, Its advan tage to Englishpoetry. guage, with all its march of dignity, was found to be so ductile to this popular beauty, that Bernard de Cluny, in the twelfth century, composed a Latin poem, in 3000 verses, riming in the middle and at the end ; ^^ and the work of Friar Amand, intitled, Speculum humanse Salvationis, consists of above 5000 Latin rimes,™ Nothing therefore seems. to have been easier than to write in rime, especially when nothing else was aimed at. The great benefit produced by the naturalization of rime in our national poetry, was the abolition of the affectations and distortions of the Anglo-Saxon style, and the introduction ofthe artless language of nature and perspicuity. The homely verses of our Anglo- Norman forefathers established a taste for simplicity and intelligibility, and framed a poetical diction, tbat permitted the heart to speak its feelings without re straint. No mental revolution could have been more beneficial. Without simplicity and perspicuity, no poetry is genuine, no genius impressive; with these essential requisites, every true grace and beauty, the most moving pathos, and the most elevating subli mity, may be happily combined. Hence, altho, by end in ie — followed by l8 in on- Seen from six lines : -and 31 in er. Its metrical form may be Bene chancon plest vos que je vos die De haute estoire e de grant baronie Meilleur ne puet estre dite noie — A St. Denis en la mestre Abbaie Trouvon escrit de ce ne doute mie Dedans uu livre de grant entesorie. And see the Roman de Florimont, and indeed all the rimed romances — they are all emulously wearisome in length. ^^ De conteraptu mundi, dedicated to Peter, abbot of Clugny, about 1125. Fauchet, p. 66 ™ Harieian MS. N° 26. and Cotton MS. Vesp. E 1. The last gives the author's name. — The Speculum Stultorum, MS. Titus, A 20. has nearly 4000 lines, riming in the middle ; and all Walter Mapes' Latin poems are rimed apparently with great ease. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 319 having little else than rime, our vernacular poetry CHAP, was born in its humblest state, yet it thereby ap- ; peared the true child of nature. It has since grown anglo r ,.,.,.. NORMA to Strength and beauty, as the national civilization has advanced. Every generation has seen it disclose new charms, and acquire new excellencies, till it has attained to such majesty, such universality, such rich ness, such energy, and such polish, that the nation has yet to appear, to whose superiority the genius of English poetry must do homage,"' °' Of the Troubadours, it may be mentioned, that only three of their romances in verse have survived. M. Raynouard states these to be — 1. Gerard de Rousillon ; which may be placed in the beginning of the twelfth century, if not before. It is on his wars with Charles Martel, and contains above 8000 verses of ten syllables, in consecutive rimes. — ,2, On Jaufre, son ofDovon, one ofthe knights of Arthur, describing his adventures in pursuing the ferocious Taulat de Rugimon, who had struck dead with a lance one of the knights of the round table. It comprises above 10,000 verses of eight syllables : it may be referred to the beginning ofthe thirteenth century. The 3d is Philomena; which contains the ex ploits of Charlemagne in the south of France against the Saracens, writ ten apparently before 1200. Many other romances are mentioned in the -works of the Troubadours, which have perished. Choix des Troub. v. 2. p. 284-298. They have a chronicle of 10,000 verses on the war against the Albigenses, by Guill. de Tudela, p. 283. rime 320 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, CHAP, VIII, On the Origin and Progress of Rime in the Middle Ages. BOOK ^§ rjjne has become the principal characteristic ;_ of all English poetry but the dramatic, in which it ^j^t^l — ' cannot be successfully naturalized, it deserves a more effects of enlarged consideration. Of all the forms of modern poesy, tho other metri cal modes of verse have been tried, and with grand and pleasing effect, yet rime appears to have been the most universally liked, the most frequently praised, and the most abundantly practised. Rythm, cadence and metre may exist without it ; but with all these it associates ; and adds to them its own peculiar plea- sureableness ; and therefore in its most perfect com position may be said to present the most perfect ver sification of English poetry. It is a sovereign which admits of viceroys, companions and allies, but which seems to claim to itself the superior throne, and to have the power of giving to poetry an elegance, a me lody, a strength, an intonation, a sweetness, and yet also a pathos and a grandeur, which its absence lessens, and which no substitute can so completely supply. As its effects greatly impress, its principle, like that of all verbal cadence and rythm, must be deeply seated in the human mind. There is a charm in pe culiar collocations and sequences, and in the conso nancies of words, which the cultivated taste as sen sibly feels, and with a gratification as agreeable as the duly organized and accustomed ear perceives and DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 321 relishes the harmonies of musical sound. This mys- CHAP. terious effect upon our minds has always formed one ^'^• of the sweetest enchantments of poetry. What that origin music ofthe soul is, which, independently of audible oress of" sound, can be awakened and pleased by unknown ^'me in sympathies with the measured order of selected words dle To'es. and syllabic prosody, we have yet to discover; but ' " — ' that there are some fine chords of melodious sensibi lity within us, the universal gratification experienced from peculiarcombinationsof syllables, well-cadenced prose, and the metres and consonancies of poetry, impressively indicates. It does not depend upon the ear, because the mind perceives and enjoys the grate ful beauty without the use of any organical vocality. The effect is, an intellectual sensation without the instrumentality of sense ; and this implies, that there must be something responsive to it in the intellect, which occasions the feeling, and makes that feeling so generally delectable. But, however it originates, it comes in various shapes, and is producible by many verbal arrangements.* The ending cadence of the hexameter suited the language and delighted the na tions of Greece and Rome. The pentameter, which is less rythmical to us, was yet pleasing to the latter. Their lyrical prosodies had also melodious agencies on their accordant sensibilities, which we cannot ade-* quately enjoy. Instead of these, each of the verna cular tongues of Europe has found and formed from its separate capabilities, positions of words, time, mea sure, succession and combinations of syllables, modes of enunciation, pauses, flow and cadences of phrase, ' The treatise of Demetrius Phalereus de Elocurione ; the orations of Isocrales ; and the orations and speeches of Cicero, shew how much the graces and eflect of verbal elocution were studied and valued by the aiicients. Vol. IV. Y 322 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK and connected resemblances of terminal sounds, which ^2l constitute the various species of poetical versification, LITERARY that every nation has appropriated to itself, and loves HISTORYOF ^^^ cherishes with intellectual delight. Among these, ' — •- — ' rime has been our property from the era of the Nor man conquest ; we have withdrawn it, almost with out a dissentient voice, from the colloquial poetry of the stage ; but we have attached it to every other de partment of the Muse, with a perseverance of ap proving taste, which no censuring denunciation of it, as the invention of barbarian times, has persuaded us to discontinue. It is true that it is barbaric to us in its chronology; but it is not barbaric in its primeval ancestry or its mental operation. It certainly came into English com position amid the movements and from the nations of the grand Gothic stem, who broke up the Roman empire, and who introduced the feudal system ; the duel, the ordeal, the common law, the jury and the parliament. So far, therefore, like these, it comes from a barbaric lineage ; but there is no more reason to brand it as a rude barbarism, a pleasing contagion, or a degrading deterioration;^ unless all the intellec tual improvements which have flowed upon us from the new fountains of mind and pursuits that were opened by our Gothic forefathers, are also to be con sidered as barbarian innovations. Origin of But rime cannot have had a barbarian origin^ because rime is one of the chief poetical forms and graces of the most ancient, the first cultivated, and once most civilized nations and languages of the '' .Algarotti tends to give it this character in his agreeable ' saggio ' on rime, in the fourth volume ofhis ' Opere.' This saggio is an elegant specimen of the rythmical melody which Italian prose can receive from a refined taste. rime. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, 323 world. That it was one of the great characteristics CHAP. of the ancient eastern poetry, and abounds in the ^^^^- Sanscrit and Chinese, in the Arabic, and in the Per- origin sian, and that it existed in the Hebrew and ancient cress of' Carthaginian, was shewn in a former essay,' Some of """e in 1 • 1 • , il ¦ 1 the mid- these nations or their ancestors were the primeval cle ages. stocks of all the civilization and literary mind of ' '' ' the ancient world ; and as rime was unquestionably used by them, we may justly infer, that from them it has descended to their branches and descendants. That the Keltic and Kimmerian tribes entered Europe and its islands from Asia, and were therefore ramifications of the great Oriental trunk, has been shewn in the History of the Anglo-Saxons; of these, the Cymry, or the Welsh, were descendants, as well as the Irish and the Gaelic nations; and among all these people, rime has been an inseparable addition to their poetical compositions ; unlike in this respect to the Saxons, who used metre and cadence, without rime, in their poetical eff'usions. All the remains of the an cient Welsh poetry composed in the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries, uniformly exhibit the riming ter minations." That rime, tho not made the charac teristic of the cultivated poetry of the Greeks and Romans, was yet not unknown to them, I attempted to prove, not only from its forming one of the figures of rhetorical and poetical diction particularized by their critical writers on elocution, but from the in stances of it which were traced from their composi- ' Printed in the Archaeol. v. 14. p. 169, 170, 200. To the instances there given we may add, that the Ethiopian poetry is rimed. Lud. Hist. iEth. I. 4. c. 2; that the Birman poetry is sometimes in successive, and often in alternate rimes; Symes Ernb. Ava. 2, p. 399; and that the Malay and Javanese poetry also abound with rime. ¦* These poems- are printed in the first volume of the Archaiology of Wales. HtSTORYOPENGLAND 324 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK tions, and which seemed not to be casual,^ It was ^^- shewn decidedly, that it was used in the Latin popu- LiTERARY lar poctry in the fourth century;" and an instance, which I was fortunate enough to find in Aldhelm's works, that had escaped the notice of preceding in quirers, demonstrated that it was known in England in the beginning ofthe seventh century, and was then used in his Latin poems by this venerated eccle- siastic.'^ The instances which I also adduced from poems of Boniface and his friends, soon after Aldhelm, confirmed this certain chronology of its existence. But as the old assertion, that it came to us and to Europe from the Arabians, is still repeated by many, as if that wrong theory had never been confuted, it may prevent future mistake, to give in one view a suc cession of specimens of its previous and continued existence ; beginning with St. Austin, who lived at the close of the fourth century. 1. ST AUSTIN.— A. D. 384. His popular Poem against the Donatists. ^His little work of St. Austin, altho printed as ifit were prose, in the edition of Paris 1 53 1 , is all rimed in E. It is in parts of twelve lines, each part begin ning with a successive letter of the alphabet, and di vided from each other by a repeat or chorus. The ° This idea was pursued in the second part of tlie above-mentioned Essay, 189-198. ^ St. Austin used it in his poem against the Donatists. See tbe first verse of this quoted in the above Essay, p, 188, I owe my knowlege of this, to the worthy old Welsh bard Edward Williams, who had more knowlege of his country's andquities than any other person, excepUng Dr. Owen Pughe. He had not seen it, but had some where met with an allusion to it. This iutiinarion tbat St. Austin had left something of this descriprion, led me to search in his voluminous woAs till I found the poem, which was not easy, from its being printed like prose, and such the incurious editor seems lo have thouglit it. ' See the Essay, and also the following pages. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, 325 first part was quoted in the before-mentioned Essay, CIIAp. The second part is the following : — _' Bonus auditor fortasse quaerit, qui rup'erunt rete ? origin Homines multum superbi, qui justos se dicunt esse. ^""^ '^'^°- Sic fecerunt scissuram et altare contra altare ;,.„¦„ ¦„ K 1 M L IN Diabolo se tradiderunt cum pugnant de traditione the mid- Et crimen quod commiserunt in alios volunt transferre dle ages. Ipsi tradiderunt libros et nos audent accusare Ut pejus committant scelus quam commiserunt et ante Quod possent causam librorum excusare de timore Quod Petrus Christum negavit, dum tenetur de morte Modo quo pacto excusabunt factum altare contra altare Et pace Christi concissa spem ponunt in homine Quod persecutor non ffecit, ipsi fecerunt in pace, I will only add the first line of the next parts : Gustos noster, Deus magne ! tu nos potes liberare — Dixerunt majores nostri et libros fecerunt inde — Ecce quam bonum et jocundum fratres in unum habitare — Fecerunt quod voluerunt tunc in ilia cecitate Gaudium magnum esset nobis, si nunc nollitis errore — - Honores vanos qui quaerit non vult cum Christo regnare. — . , Justitia sequi si vultis totam causam cogitate — It proceeds in the same manner thro the other let ters ofthe alphabet, adding twelve lines to each initial letter, and all ending or riming in e. 2. VENANTIUS FORTUNATUS.— a, d. 570. The first verses of one of his rimed poems were cited in the Essay. The three last verses are ; Accedite ergo digni Ad gratiam lavacri Quo fonte recreati Refulgeatis agni, Tibi laus. 3aiBOOK VI. literaryhistoryof ENGLAND. HISTORY OF ENGLAND, Hie gurges est fidelis Purgans liquore mentis Dum rore corpus sudat Peccata terget unda. Tibi laus. Gaudite, candidati ! Electa vasa regni ! In morte consepulti Christi fide renati. Tibi laus. Fab. Bib. Med. V. 2. p. 545. 3. COLUMBANUS a.d. 615. Beata familia, quae in altis hatntat : Ubi senex non gemit, neque infans vagiat. Ubi non esuritur ; ubi nunquam sititur Ubi cibo supremo, plebs celestis pascitur. Laeti leto transacto laetum regem videbunt. Cum regnante regnabunt, cum gaudente gaudebunt. Tunc dolor, tunc taedhim : tunc labor delebitur : Tunc rex regum, rex mundus, a mundis videbitur. Usher Syll. pi 10. 4. DREPANIUS FLORUS — a. d. 650. Besides the verses cited in the Essay, another may be inserted here. Hie namque virtus inclita Plebis beatae premia"; Hie ipse Christo proflua Servat salutis gaudia. Mag. Bib. Pat. 8. p. 738. 5. ST. ALDHELM Died a. d. 710. As this passage gives a firm foundation to the new fact, that rime was known and used by Aldlielm in England, before the Arabs invaded Spain ; and therefore that it did not originate to us from them, I will insert it here. He says, ' ut non inconvenienter carmine rythmico dici queat.' It had passed unno- DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 327 ticed by preceding inquirers. But when I had the CHAP. good fortune to observe it in Aldhelm's rhetorical _^' work, as I was reading that for other purposes, it origin satisfied me that rime had not originated in Eng- g^^f,s of" land from any Arabian source. The most probable "¦"'^ '^ ...... ... , , 1 • J ¦ ^''E MID- idea as to its origin m his mind, is, that he derived it dle ages. from the ancient Welsh bards, with whom his con-. ^^ nexions with Glastonbury may have brought him acquainted. Christus passus patibulo Atque leti latibulo Virginem Virgo Virgini Commendabat tutamini. Aldhelm de Virg. p. 297. Whart. ed. Aldhelm here not only gives us an example, but also the name ; he calls it " rythmico," or rimed. In the same work also occur — Beata Maria ! Virgo perpetua ! Hortus conclusus ; Fons signatus ; Virgula radicis, Gerula floris. Aurora solis : NiuTis patris. — Ib. p. 342. Of Aldhelm's own poetry there is an epistle printed among the letters of Boniface, which is in Latin rime, of which the following is a specimen : Cumque flatus victorias Non furerentingloriae Tremebat tellus turbida ; Atque eruta robora Cadebunt cum verticibus Simul ruptis radicibus. Neque guttae graciliter Manabant, sed minaciter Mundi rotam rorantibus Humectabant cum imbribus. Carmen Aldh. 16 Mag. Bib. 74. Y 4 HISTORYOFENGLAND. 328 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK All these specimens were written before the Ara- ^^- bians invaded Spain, and fully prove the anterior LITERARY use of rime by a Roman in Africa, SL Austin ; by a priest in France, Venantius Fortunatus; by an Irish man at St. Gall, Columbanus; by Drepanius Florus ; and by an Anglo-Saxon in England, St. Aldhelm. These instances fully destroy the Arabian theory of the origin of rime. The following specimens are from . the Welsh bards, who lived between 500 and 700. ANEURIN — A. D. 550. A uawr gynhornan Huan ar wyran Gwledig gyd gyfgein Nef Ynys Brydain. Bwyt y Eryr erysmygei Pan gryssei gydjrwal cyfdwyreei Awr gan wjfrd wawr cyn y dodei Aessawr dellt am bellt a adawei Pareu rynn rwygial dygymmy nei Ygat blaen bragat briwei Mad Syvno symedwydd ac gwyddyei. Welsh Arch. 3, 4. TALIESIN A. D. 550. Ni chyfarchaf fi gogledd Ar mei teymedd Cyn pei am laweredd Y gwelwn gynghwystletld Nid rhaed ym hoifedd Urien nim gommedd. — Ib. 59. LLYWARCH HEN a. d. 600 Pen a borthav ar vy ysgwydd Ni'm arvollai warudwydd Gwae vy llaw lladd vy arglwydd ! Pen a borthav ar y mraich Nous gorug o dir Brynaich Gwedy gwawr elorawr vaich. — Welsh Arch. 104. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 32a MYRDDHEN — 580. CHAP. Oian a parchellan bychan breichfras VIII. Andaw de lais adar mor mawn en dias Kerddorion allan heb ran urddas Gwrthunawd esspyd a bryd gan was Heb godwyd wyneb, hebran urddas. — Welsh Arch. 1 37. To the citations in the Essay from our Boniface, I will add the following, also from him, because it exhibits that precise metre and rime, which nearly four centuries afterwards became the great charac teristic ofthe Anglo-Norman poetry — the eight-syl lable rimed verse. BONIFACE Died a. d. 755. Nicharde ! nunc nigerrima Imi Cosmi contagia Temne fauste tartaria Hoc contra hunc supplicia Altaque super aethera Rimari petens agraina. — 16 Mag. Bib. 49. The Antiphonarurn of the Bangor monastery, in Wales, written in the seventh, or at latest, in the eighth century, has a hymn of St, Cangill, which is rimed. Recordemur justitiae Nostri Patroni fulgidae Cangilli sancti nomine Refulgentis in opere Audite pantes ta erga AUati ad Angelica Athletae Dei abdita A juventate florida — Murat. Ant. p. 688. All these specimens concur to prove the following facts : That rime was, in the year 384, used in the vulgar poetry of the Romans. HISTORYOFENGLAND. 330 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK And in the years 570 and 650 by the Latin eccle- ^^' siastics. LITERARY And in 550, 580, and 600, by the ancient Welsh bards, and in the Bangor monastery. And in 700, by the Anglo-Saxon Aldhelm, and before 750, by Boniface. To these established truths we may add, that in the sixth century it was also used in the vernacular Irish poetry,* and is the regular accompaniment of their ancient historical ballads.® Their language also contains words, which, in their verbal sound express it." Descending to later times, I have observed the following authors who have written in rime. The MS, of the work of Theobaldus on animals has been declared to be of the eighth century ; if so, ° I learn this from Dr. O'Conner's Prolegomena. He has printed the Irish poem on St. Patrick, ascribed to Frecus Sleibhhenses, from the very ancient Dungal MS., and justly placed by the Irish antiquaries in the sixth century. It is in thirty-four stanzas. Its first and last are. First — Genair Patraic i Nemtbur. Asseadh adfet hi Sclebaibh, Macan se mbliadan decc An tan do breth fo dbei-aibh. Last — Patraic cen airde nuabhair, Ba mor do maith ro meanuir, Bith in gellsine meic Maire Bha sen gaire in genuir. — xc.-xcvi. ° See those quoted in the preceding 1st volume of this History, page 275, note, ofthe dales of 1057 and 1143. '° Dr. O'Connor says, ' The Irish ascribe no other meaning but rime to their words rann, rimh, riomb, renn, which are ancient Irish words.' Prel. 2. p. Ixviii. He remarks, Bede, I. 5. c. 18, that Aldhelm was edu cated by the Irish Maildulph, and instructed by him in Latin learning, and therefore infers, that Aldhelm took his rime from his Irish tutors, ib. I bave no objection to his conclusion. It is not improbable, but as it is as likely, that Aldhelm was acquainted with the British bards, the Larin ecclesiastics, and St. Austin, and learnt it from them, and as it may have been used in the popular songs of England, I cannot affirm that tbe Doctor is as right m his' deduction as he is patriotic in urging it. But from whatever source Aldhelm became acquainted with it, we cannot for a moment believe that rime originated in Ireland. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. »H it proves that rime was then in use, altho his au- chap. thority has not hitherto been known or referred to. ^^^^- But out of his Latin verses on his twelve animals, origin those on two of them, the spider and the turtle-dove, gj^Ess of' are in rime. As the work has not been quoted be- ^^^^ ™ p T -n 1 • • 1 "^^^ MID- fore, I will subjoin them. dle ages. THEOBALDUS a. d. 800. " ' The lines on the spider are very flowing and easy: Vermis aranea licet exiguus, Plurima fila nectit assiduus. Qui vivere solet his studiis Texere que solet artificitus ' Sunt ea rethia, musca ! tibi, ' Ut volitans capiaris ibi.* Dulcis et utilis esca sibi Huic placet illud opus tenue Sed sibi nil valet, nam fragile Quaelibet aura trahit in patulum Rumpitur et cadit in nihilum. Hos sequitur homo vermiculos Decipiendo suos inimicos Quos comedit, faciens miseros : Et placet sibi inde nimium Quando nocere potest alium. Ille tamen vicium quandoque facit. Cum moritur, quasi tela cadit, Quammodo dictus aranea facit. His rimed verses on the turtle-dove are not un- pleasing. Turtur, inane nescit amore : Nam semel uni juncta marito Semper adheret, cum simul ipso "Nocte die que juncta manebit Absque marito nemo videbit Sed viduata si caret ipso Non tamen ultro nubit amico Sola volabit ; sola sedebit Et quasi vivum corde tenebit Operiens que casta manebit. 332 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK His moral application of it is also rimed. • Sic anima extat queque fidelis LITERARY Facta virilifedere felix HISTORYOF Namque maritus, est sibi Christus. ENGLAND. Cum sua de se pectora replet. Si bene vivit, semper adheret : Non alienum querit amicum Quamlibet Orcus sumpserit ilium ; Quem superesse credit in ethere Inde futurum spectat eundem Ut microcosmum judicet omnem. Theob. Physiologus. OTFRED.— A. D. 870. Petrus auur zeli mir Bin in liob filu tliir ? 1st thaz herza thinaz Mir unarlicho holdas ? HARTMANNUS, a Monk of St. Gall.— a. d. 870, Tribus signis Deo dignis Dies ista coletur Tria signa Laude digna Coelus hie persequitur Stella magos Duxit vagos Ad praesepe Domine. Bib. Pat. v. 27. p. 5] 7 ST. BERNARD.— A. d. 1100. Sanguis Tuus abundanter Fusus fuit incessanter Totus lotus in cruore Stas in maximo dolore Precinctus vili tegminae ! O majestas infinita! O egestas inaudita ! Quis pro tanta charitate Querit te in veritate Dans sanguinem pro sanguine. Op. p, 1656. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. Pectus mihi confer mundum Ardens, plum, gemebundum : Voluntatem abnegatam, Tibi semper conformatam Juncta virtutem copia. Tu mentis delectatio Amoris consummatio Tu mea gloriatio Jesu ! muadi salvatio ! Veni ! veni ! rex optime ! Pater immensae gloriae ! Afiulge menti clarius ! Jam expectatus saepius. — p. 1660 Sol ! occasum nesciens ! Stella semper rutilans ! Semper clara Siout sidus radium Profert virgo filium Pari forma. — p. i66it 333 CHAP. VIII. origin AND pro gress OF RIME IN THE MID DLE AGES. ANSELM A.D. 1100. 1. Rimed hexameters; as those of Anselm on Lanfranc : Ipse tamen tectus fliit asperitatis amictu ; Semper de vili vivens et paupere victu — Asper in elatos : nulli pro munere supplex Innocuusque bonis et nullo tempore duplex — Omnes electi ! precibus meritis que juvate, Lanfrancum, vestris et nobis consociate. Lanf. Op. Vit. 17. PETER.— A.D. 1140. 2. Hexameters; sometimes riming in couplets and sometimes in the middle of the line, where the author could not produce the terminal consonance. Thus Peter, a friend of Malmsbury, who calls him a versifier to be ranked among the most eminent, 334 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK writes on an abbot, beginning with a studied allite- ^^' ration : LITERARY V^"" pi'obus etprudoHs, vir vere consiliorum HISTORYOF Extera ditavit, curavit, et intima morum. ENGLAND. Omuibus lustructus, quos tradit litera fructus. Ad decus ecclesiae, vertit monumenta Sophiae Omnibus imbutus quas monstrat physica leges Ipsos demeruit medicandi munere reges. — Malm. 253.^ HOVEDEN A. D. 1199. 3. Our ancientHoveden has tried some quatrains of Latin rime on his admired contemporary Richard I. The two first are, Graves nobis adniodum dies effluxere. Qui lapillis candidis digni non fuere. Nam luctus raateriam mala praebuere, Quae sanctam Jerusalem constat sustinere, Quis enim non doleat tot sanctorum caedes? Tot sacras Domino profanatas cedes ? Captivatos principes et subversas sedes ; Devolutos nobiles ad servorum pedes ? — Hoved, 666, Six others follow. BERTERUS a. d. 1150, 4, Those of Magister Berterus on the crusades, are more like some of the forms of the vernacular poetry. It ends, Cum attendas ad quid tendo, Crucem tollas, et vovendo Dicas, Illi me commendo Qui corpus et animam Expendit in victimam Pro me moriendo. Then follows what has been the chorus to the pre ceding parts : — Lignum crucis Signum ducis DURING THE ailDDLE AGES, 330 Sequitur exercitus. CHAP. Quod non cessit VIII. Sed processit In vi Sancti Spiritus Hoved. 640. Specimens of the rimes of the Anglo-Norman "" poetry may be seen in the quotations before made in the this volume. The above instances present a continuing sequence of the use of rime in various parts of Europe, from the fourth century to the twelfth, and with varied metres : and these specimens, connected with those adduced from the Oriental languages, lead us, unhe sitatingly, to infer, that rime has been an appendage to poetry in all ages and countries, from its earliest composition to the present day, and is no more pe culiar to the Arabians than to any other nation on earth." It prevailed more or less in the east, the south, the west, and north parts of the world ; altho some nations preferred musical melodies for their metres, instead of the riming consonancy. The metrical forms of classical poetry were without it; and these seem to have gained the predominance, from their ancient relation or adaptation to their musical airs. To complete this subject, it only remains to make a few observations on that form of verse called Leo nine, in which the middle of every line rimes with its teriiiination, ^^^ ON LEONINE RIME. It is well known, that the verses in which the middle syllable rimes with the ending one, as those from Thierricus, in the next page, have received the appellation of Leonine rimes. How anciently they " That rime was a regular appendage to the Sanscrit poetry, we see by tbe Ghata Karparain, a Sanscrit poem of the tenth century, published with a translation in 1828, by M. Durtch, at Berlin. 336 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK were so named, appears from the instances quoted _^ by Du Cange, Gloss. Med. v. 2. p. 251. LITERARY Thus, jSlgldlus Parls : HISTORYOF -[yjgp minus in sacris, melico sermone leonem ENGLAND. , , .... . . , , Ludentera historiis, et quem intepuisse dolemus. Karolin. 1. 5. Thierricus Valliscoloris : His rcplicans clare, tres causas explico quare More leonino dicere metra sine — Vit. Urb. 4. Episcopus Senogall : Quia passus leoninos. — Itin. Greg. 1 1 . Guill. Guiart : Et cils qui ne set en sa rime Qu'est consonant, ou leonime. Metulinus : Ut haberet leoninitatem in versu. — Grec. C. 15. From these, and especially from the first citation, Du Cange infers that they were called Leonine, " because they were invented by a certain Leo, a poet, who lived about the time of Louis VII. or Philip Augustus." This opinion is also an ancient one; for Eberhard Bethuniensis, who wrote in 1212, thus expresses, in the third part ofhis " Labyrinthus :" — Sicut, inventoris de nomine, dicta leonis Carmina, quae tali sunt inodulanda modo. His instance is Pestis avaritiae, durumque nefas simoniae. Fab. Med. Lat. 1. 11. p. 776. I am not fond of opposing ancient authorities, who being so much nearer the time of actual knowlege, must have better materials for judging than we can possess. But yet this theory is so wrong as to the origin both of the verse and the name, that I cannot discharge the duty I have undertaken, of exhibiting, as far as I am able, the historical truth on the main subjects of attention in the middle ages, without DURING THE IMIDDLE AGES. 337 ending the error, and attempting to elucidate the CHAP. actual fact. I^- 1st. There are no works of such an assumed Leo origin extant, and nothing known about him; and no chro nology, country, parentage, profession or situation really or justly applied to him. 2d. Verses or lines thus rimed did not originate in the middle ages, but were known to both the Greeks and Romans; and such coinciding sounds are noticed as one of the verbal graces of ancient com position. See Aquila Romanus in Antiq. Rhet. p. 23. 3d. These are thus also noticed by our venerable Bede, " Hac figura poetae et oratores saepe utuntur. Poetae hoc modo. Pervia divisi, patuerunt caerula ponti." De Tropis. Ant. Rhet. p. 378. 4th. Above two centuries before the arbitrary plac ing of this fancied inventor Leo, alongpoetn of seve ral hundred hexameter verses, all Leonine rimes, was composed by a German lady, Hrosvitha, on the actions and life of Otho, the emperor of Ger many, who married the daughter of our Anglo- Saxon Athelstan. She brings her work down to the year 967, about which time she finished it. The fol lowing specimen is a part of its beginning : Et cum te libri, laudantes congrue multi. Post hoc ascribentur, merito que placere probentur, Ordine postremus, non sit tamen iste libellus, Quem prius exemplo, constat scriptum fore nullo, Et licet imperii, teneas decus Octaviani, Non dedigneris, vocitari nomme regis. Rer. Germ. Reub. p. 162. 5th. They were also used by Marbodius, who died 1123, at the age of 88, and whose poem De Gemmis has been already noticed. This was written Vol. IV. Z 338 HISTORY OT ENGLAND, in classical metre ; but three others of his Latin verses are in Leonine rimes. Thus his " Historia Theophili Psenitentis:" Quidam magnorum^ Vicedomus erat meritorum Theophilus nomen, tenuit quoque nominis omen. His Paraphrase of the Canticles : Quem sitio votis, nunc oscula porrigat oris. ita Alexii : restans magnatis, summe vir nobilitatis temmate Romanus, efi'ulserat Eufemianus. Fab. Bib. Med. L 12. p. 47. ¦^th. Philip Du Than wrote his poems between 1120 and 1135, entirely in them. I cite his lines on the turtle, as I ha^ given before those of Theobald, which seem to have been his original. Turtre, ceo est oisel, simple caste e bel, E sun malle aime tant, que ja ci sun vivant Altre malle non aurat ; ne puis que il mourat Ja altre ne prendrat, tut tens puis le plaindrat Nesur veit ne serad, signefiance jad — Nero, A. 5. These citations Completely disprove the claim of any Leo, stationed near the year 1200, to the invention of this species of rime. But then, whence came the name? Isubmit thatwemay thus accountforthe origin of it, without creating any person for that purpose. The Physiologus of Theobald was a poem which, however moderate in its real pretensioris, was a consi derable favorite with our ancestors. Its being printed so soon after the discovery of printing, and its being so often referred to by authors in the middle age, prove its popularity. Now it happens, that its first subject was the lion, and that he wrote this in those middle riming lines, which were subsequently, and I think, from this very work and part, denominated Leonine. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 330 These lines have been quoted in a preceding part chap. of this Work;'* and the present author is inclined to ' believe, that their popularity, by one of those capri- ORIGIN cious accidents which sometimes occur in human af- gress or RIME IN THE MID- fairs, occasioned the term Leonine to be applied to this sort of verse, tho Theobald was not its inven- dle ages. tor; as the name America became fixed on the great western continent, tho Americus Vesputius .wa^s not its discoverer. A peculiar species of rimed Latin poetry is exhir bited by our celebrated Gowek, in part of his MS. Latin Chronicle of his own times. It exhibits a com plication of rime, which must have been learnt from the Welsh bards of the middle ages, as they occa sionally use it as a favorite difficulty ; and it does not appear in any earlier works. It consists of a series of the same middle and final rimes continued for several lines. The following is a specimen fronri Gower's address to Henry IV. O recolende bone, pie rex, Henrice ! patrone Ad bona dispone, quos eripis a Pharaorae. Noxia depone, quibus est humus hie in agone, Regni ^ersoncB, quo vivant sub ratione ; Pacem coitipone; vires moderare coronce; Regibus impone frenum, sine conditiowe : Firmaque sermone, jura tenere mone. Rex cov&rmatus, licet undique ina,gniG.catus Sub populo gratus, vivas tamen vcaraacxdatus Est tibi prelatus. Comes et Baro, villa senatus ; Miles et etrmatus sub lege tua moderatus ; Invidus, elatus , nee avarus erit sociatus. Sic eris ornatus, purus ad omne latus. Cotton MS — Titus, A 13. p. 166. In the next line, he names himself as the author : Hapc ut amans c^nibit Gower, pie rex ! tibi soribit. ]' See before in this volume, p. 209. z 2 .340 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, CHAP. IX. History of the Litroduction of the Arabian Sciences into England. BOOK While the vernacular literature ofthe Anglo-Nor- VI. . . - — L mans was thus slowly advancing from rimed chro nicles to rimed romances, and by deviating into the romances in prose began to form a prose style of nar rative composition, which must have improved the phrase ofthe conversation ofthe day, and have gra dually increased the power of expressing the new as sociations and distinctions of thought that were every where arising in the minds of the studious, three im portant mines of intellectual wealth were opened in England and Europe, principally by Arabian scho lars, or by those who acquired and cultivated their attainments. These were, the scholastic philosophy, which revived that activity of mind which the Grecian vanity had so much abused, and the gross habits of the Romans had so long paralyzed ; those mathema tical sciences, which the Grecians had imported from Alexandria, and had forgotten; and that natural and experimental knowlege, which neither Greeks nor Romans had ever much or permanently valued or pursued. Without these essential additions to the English intellect, the vernacular literature would have profited little, because it had nothing but vague feel ings, uncultivated and rude ' estories,' unsifted from fable, and rarely connected with moral instruction, to impart. The great national improvements that soon became discernible in England after the twelfth cen- DUCTIONOF THE SCIENCES. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 341 tury, arose from the combined operation ofthe scho- CHAP. lastic vigor and penetration of thought, of the sub- ^^- lime deductions and unerring reasoning of the ma- inteo thematical sciences, and of the stream of knowlege perpetually enlarging, that began to pour into the ^radian world from natural and experimental philosophy. The crusades, and the commerce which they made neces sary, added largely to our geographical information. The busy intermingling of the most active minds of all the nations and habits of Europe, in the Palestine expeditions ; and the dangers, suffering, vicissitudes and romantic adventures, which were every day occur ring in their prosecution ; roused the human sensi bilities into perpetual activity, and put them under perpetual discipline. From all these sources of im provement, the general tone of social mind was in England, as in varying degrees, also on the conti nent, enriched and enlivened, and the vernacular lan guages were polished, strengthened, enlarged, and exercised. The riming and prose literature already alluded to, first made these languages fitted for the use of the expanding mind of the day; and when the knowlege from all the channels we have noticed, began tb flow around, cultivated individuals appeared every where ready to imbibe, and ambitious to in crease it. Mental originality, increasing judgment, refining taste, and critical moral feeling, emerged with augmented frequency in every succeeding age ; and have impressed upon the English nation that love of truth, science, reason, and sensibility, which has made our intellectual progress unintermitled, and is rapidly educating human nature to powers, knowlege, and virtues, which may cause its future history to be some atonement for its former degradation and abuse. z 3 342 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK To put the human mind into this position, from _^ its state of poverty and debility in the fourth century, LITERARY it was ucccssary to destroy that literary taste for ^l^a°A^D^ sophistry and rhetoric, for contentious theology and *; — ^ — ' vapid declamation, which had enslaved it so long^. Apparent '^ i /-, i • • • i i -i • i destruction But to keep the Gothic nations, in the ductile period ture'^"^^' "*^^ their ignorance, from the fascinations of the vain philosophy and elegant but corrupting mythology of Greece, and yet to convey to them the mathematical sciences of its Egyptian colony ; to abolish the pro fligate system of Roman manners, the enervating despotism of the Roman government, and its ora torical cast of mind aiid forms of education; and yet to benefit society by that perfect taste, solid judg ment, and manly style of thought, which the best Roman classics in their best passages contain ; and to introduce the still nobler improvements which divine truth imparts and creates, as the reason be comes enlightened and enlarged, were efiects so incompatible and opposing, that reason might have despaired ofthe possibility of their production. These contrary events, however, have occurred ; and it is a worthy employment of the human intellect, to con sider the means by which, in the very hour of its apparent destruction, its eflfective reformation was commenced and ensured. The aera of The demolition of the Roman empire by the Gothic Its r6forrn~ ation, tribes ended that state of manners and literature, whose pernicious tendencies have been stated. The various attempts of the diflferent Gothic nations to revive the study of the Roman literature, which would have renovated the evil from which it was be come necessary to liberate mankind, signally failed. In Italy, the irruptions of the fierce Lombards, em- DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 313 ployed and invited by tjie generals of Rome,* and CHAP. made triumphant by its incurable vices,^ spread every ^^- where that havoc and desolation, which extirpated inte,o- the Roman manners, letters and language, from their parent soil.^ In England, the barbarous Northmen pursued the civilizing Anglo-Saxons and the Franks ; and the merciless Huns, the German nations ; when these several peoples began to derive their mental education from the Roman literature. Rather than that this should be re-established, it was better that the intellect of the European nations should for a season lie wholly fallow, visited only by the dews of heaven, and agitated by the tempests of their stormy life, till the time should arrive, in which a superior vegetation could from other sources be introduced. But it was necessary to raise somewhere this su perior vegetation, from which society was to derive anew intellectual life — knowlege, new empires — and human happiness, new hopes. ' W^e learn from the Lombard historian, Paulus Diaconus, that ^^arses, preparing to attack Totila, the king of the Goths, who had retaken Rome, invited the assistance of the Lombards. Their sovereign, Alboin, sent a chosen body, who, after the defeat ofthe Goths, returned to their national settlements in Hungary, De Gest, Langob. 1. 2. c. 1, ' Narses released Rome from the Gothic dominion, and also repressed the Huns. His reward for these services, more decisively beneficial to the Romans than even those of Belisarius, was their base and invidious applications to the court of Constantinople for his removal. In revenge, he is stated to have urged the Lombards to invade Italy. Paul. Diac. 1. 3. c. 5. If his avarice occasioned his unpopularity (4 Gibb. p. 437)) and his treason the Lombard irruptions, the vices of the greatest man of bis day are but a stronger exhibition of Roman depravity. " See Vol. i. p. 6.— Tiraboschi, and his pleasing abridgers Landi and Zeno, as well as Muratori, paint forcibly the devastations of the Lom bards ; and yet so thoroly spoilt had the Italian population been, that in the tenth century, Ratherius describes the Italians as peculiarly profli gate, as using incentives to make themselves so, continually drinking wine, and neglecting education. Murat, Ant. 833. Some of the popes of this century, and their patronesses, harmonize with this political descrip tion. Even Baronius, who can varnish most things plausibly, abandons these in despair. z 4 344 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BODK At the very period when the Lombards were de- ^^' stroying the last vestiges of the Roman empire,* an LITERARV obscure people, little known before, was raised to engTaJd.'^ sudden greatness from a corner of Asia, under an "; — ¦¦ — ' energetic individual, who combined the warrior with Progress ot ^ . . , p the con- the Thcistical reformer, to perform the same work of Arabs^ destructive conquest, but with more beneficial con sequences, in the eastern or Grecian empire. After Mohamed had suggested the idea, given the ex citement, and began the conflict, the Arabians in the seventh century overran Syria, Egypt, Persia, and Africa, and in the next age, Spain, with that facility which can only be explained by the superiority of mental energy, self-devoting enthusiasm, and the hardy virtues over moral debility and corrupted reli gion, and acting in the execution of the divine will. The literature of the Greeks, their proud and turbu lent hierarchy, their civil and religious factions, their polemical theology, and unprincipled manners, ex pired wherever the Mussulmen triumphed . To human eyes, the alarming revolution seemed the annihila tion of knowlege, and the establishment of ignorance ¦* In 568, Alboin crossed the Alps, and invaded Rome. In 569, Mo hamed was bom. Some deduce the name Arab from Araba, a city near Medina ; but Ebn Said thinks, that the truest of all opinions, is that which derives it from Araba, u town built by Jarab, tbe son of Jok- tau. The Arabs were in two branches; those from Jarab, who called themselves the Arab al Araba, the Arab of Arabs, the pure and, genuine ones; and those who have sprung from Ishmael, who have been termed Arab alraostareba, or the adventitious Arabs. Casiri, v. 2. p. 18. The cadi of Toledo, Saad Ben-Amed, divides also the Arabs into two classes. The origin of the first preceded Abraham, and from these came the tribes of Themud, Ad, Sesm, Jades, and others, but these have long since disappeared in the consumptions of time and accident. Tlie existing Arabs have arisen from two principal branches, Cahtan and Adnan, who were descendants of Ishmael. The scheiks^ who had the chief govern ment before Mohamed, were from the Cahtan line. He was of the Adnan genealogy. Conde's Arabes en Esp.igne, Maries' Translation, v. 1. P- 31-9. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 345 imposture in the government of the world. It CHAP. indeed a period of severe discipline and distress; ^^- it emancipated Christianity from the bondage, intro- Is and perversions, that were destroying its true of t"e''' it and utilities, and from the spreading infidelity Arabian was undermining its fabric. The awful dispen- > — .,, '-> )n uprooted the eflfeminate vices that would have e the continuance of the Greek empire a perpe- j of degeneracy, and a dissolution of all improv-^ virtue. It was a temporary swoon and bondage, 1 which the mind awakened with new powers, has since soared to brighter regions. he intellectual and moral benefits of the tem- Their uti- iry predominance of the Arabian fanatics, were y'l'^ues" ible and manifest. It abolished the Magian fire- ship of Persia, which the Parthian empire had 1 upholding, and might have established in the t. It terminated the idolatry that prevailed in ly parts of Arabia and its vicinity, and even still >yria. It obliterated the wild, ascetic superstitions !ver-dreaming Egypt ; the arrogant and profligate •archy, and the contentious theology and practical ligion of the Greeks, Christians in name, but se than Pagans in conduct. And as its victories ;ad, the debased manners, the wretched polity, corrupt jurisprudence, and the imbecile adminis- ion of the court of Constantinople, expired, by ch its provinces had been long oppressed, and r population spoilt. The hardy zealots of Arabia ibined their imposture and their fierceness with nuch personal merit, that they edified the con- red world with new examples of virtues then ost obsolete— of temperance, frugality, love of HISTORYOF ENGLAND. 346 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK justice,'' constancy that no diflficulties could repress, ^l- liberality scarcely credible, piety reverential and fer- LiTERARY vcut, aud au activity of practical mind so eflUcacious and irresistible, that their triumphs seemed half miraculous, from their rapidity and repetition. But no people that was on the earth, when the Arabians first emerged, comprised so many qualities then wanted for its improvement, as these energetic de scendants of Ishmael and Joktan. They had their vices, and they headed a calamitous imposture ; but the virtues in their national character, and even some of the principles of their mental errors, were then prolific of advantage to the progress of society. In the present state of man, the good of the human cha racter, cannot be had unmixed with evil. In every generation the shades are diminishing, the lights in creasing ; but while they are still commingled, the very instruments of human progress will only par tially benefit ; and all that can be done as yet seems to be, that in every age, the nation most calculated to advance the general improvement, shall be the most predominant while its utilities continue operative. When the Arabians sprang from their secluded de serts, to triumph over the East, they obtained the successes by which the ameliorating progress of our species was then most eflfectually advanced. All the benefit being communicated, which their agency ° Of the peculiar love of justice of the ancient Saracens, we have the strong testimony of a contemporary Christian chronicler : ' In legalitate Saraceni, et in justitia omnes alias mundi superant nationes.' Anon. Ital. ap. Murat. p. 490. Their own writers display abundant instances of the other virtues mentioned in the text. The Arab Christians in Mohamed's time, were Jacobitae; who blended the divine and human natures of Christ, into a single compositious mixture of both. Casiri, V. 2. p. 19. DLTIING THE MIDDLE AGES. 347 could impart, their triumphs ceased. The vices of Chap. their ardent temperament, fermenting with their pros- ^^- perity, and the mischiefs of their false system, opera- intro- ting more extensively as their moral qualities de- o^th'e'^ dined, their political, intellectual, and social utilities arabia-n 1 1 • 1 1 • • y^ 1 SCIENCES, departed with their virtues. Competent to produce > — . — ' only temporary good, the empire of the Saracens was restricted to its eflficacy. When it ceased to be advantageous to mankind, it was broken up ; and new kingdoms, with new qualities, new tendencies, and new contemporary utilities, were raised unex pectedly to existence and to greatness, to produce and -to undergo the new vicissitudes of influence, conquest and power, and the internal modifications and revolutions, which in succeeding time would most contribute, and which have most contributed, to meliorate the world. When the Arabs emerged from their deserts, under Ancient the caliphate of Abubeker, to attack the Grecian em- oV^the"'^'' pire, they had no literature but poetry with wild ima- Arabs. gery and strong feeling,® and no science, but a slight tincture of that knowlege ofthe stars which their pas toral observations or ancient superstitions had pre served. These scanty attainments almost perished in their fanaticism for their Koran, whose heteroge neous composition they admired so fervently, that their prophet appealed to it as a miraculous authen- * Their poets were accustomed to hang up their verses on the sacred Caaba. Seven of these poems, older than Mohamed, have been translated and published by sir William Jones, in his Moallakat, Lond. 1783. In parts, they resemble very much the Song of Solomon, especially those of Tarafa and Lebeid, The poem of Hareth has more affinity to the Pro verbs, When I read these poems, I am tempted to believe that the Pro venf al Troubadours may have derived some part of their inspirations from Arabian Spain, HISTORYOF ENGLAND 348 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK tication ofhis mission, and defied men and genii to J^ equal it,^ LITERARY Their first expeditions were as destructive to Gre cian Hterature as to Christianity, That they burnt the Alexandrian library,* on the decision of Omar their second caliph, that what agreed with the Koran was unnecessary, and what impugned it was pernicious, has been asserted by one historian of their transac tions. For their credit, it has been wished to disbe lieve the incident," which has been made of more consequence than it deserves. On a calm reflection, we may infer that it was neither fatal nor seriously injurious to either literature, science or human im- provemenL The mind of the world never dies, and is always enlarging : books are its oflTspring, not its creator. Whatever knowlege, or genius or intellect, appears in any work, existed in the individual before he wrote it, and passes from that and from himself to others long before his production perishes. Books ' Mohamed twice rebukes the demand of his contemporaries, for his miracles, Koran, c. 6. and c. 13. But at last adduced his Koran as his authenticating miracle. — ' O ye men of Mecca ! — if ye be in doubt con cerning that revelation which we have sent down unto our servant, pro duce a chapter like unto it; and call upon your witnesses, besides God, if ye say truth. But if ye do it not, nor shall ever be able to do it, justly fear the fire, whose fuel is men and stones.' c. 2. — ' If men and genii were purposely assembled to produce a book like this Koran, they could not do it.' c. 17. « Abul. Pharag. Hist, p.114. ' Mr. Gibbon declared himself tempted to disbelieve it, v. 5. p. 343. I cannot affirm or deny the fact, nor can we now ascertain it ; but I do not believe, for the reasons in the text, that any want of improvement has arisen to the world from its destruction, dispersion, or disappearance. We have got almost all that was valuable or interesting of the ancient mind, or productions ofthe world. Some few historians that have va nished, would have given us a few more facts aud many more fables on the earlier ages; but I think we may infer from Herodotus, Pliny, Justin, Diodorus and Strabo, that there was not much to have been learnt from either the Pergamenian or the Alexandrian library, than what we now possess. Instead of preventing human progress, the Arabs immediately advanced it, after the alleged devastation. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 349 exhibit to us so many pictures of the mind of their CIIAp. authors, but the treasures of the human spirit are not ^^- confined to the printed or written volumes. They flow from mind to mind. They exist in the general i-ntellect of society, and gradually accumulate in its individual members. From these they pass from ge neration to generation, and would thus float down and be diflfused and survive, tho our largest libraries should be annihilated. The Alexandrian books were but those of one city in the world. If the knowlege and philosophy and cultivation of ancient society ex isted only in the seldom-opened rolls of this single accumulation of them, dark and wretched must have been its ordinary mind ; and rude and ignorant, all the-classes of its social mind. But we may be sure, that the science and knowlege of all Asia and Egypt, and Greece and the whole Roman empire, were not shut up within the walls of Alexandria, nor could perish when its books were burning. Some particular authors there vanished, but if no copies of them were in use or preserved elsewhere, we may believe that they had become unimportant and unuseful. The nonsense of our forefathers ; the useless labors of former times; books that are no longer wanted ; dul ness that sheds no light, and masses of absurd theo ries and of obsolete notions, mostly fill the shelves of all great libraries. The loss of these our antiquarian curiosity may deplore, but our reason will not be slow to feel that their annihilation would make no chasm in human improvement ; nor could divest the existing mind of the intellectual riches with which living so ciety abounds, and is ever transmitting to its younger companions and educating posterity. Books assist the circulation of knowlege and increase it, but do T.II ENGLAND 350 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK not create it, and may disappear without destroying ^^' it. It is true, that for a century and a half, the Sa^ iTERARY racens neglected all literature but their own poetry, tales and traditions ; and that Grecian literature dis appeared in the provinces they subdued, cannot be disputed; but yet we must not consider the Arabians,. at the outset of their career, as ignorant barbarians. They were a branch of the primitive oriental mind, with much of its cultivation, and with many of its pa triarchal traditions, tho corrupted by the deteriora tions of human imagination. But the peculiar political state of independence, half savage and half civilized, in which they chose to live, had made them, in thoughts, habits and pursuits, a peculiar people, when Mohamed increased their singularities, by interesting them in his imposture. They had letters peculiar to themselves before his time ; ^^ and their ancient lan guage has been found to have an intelligible aflfinity with the Carthaginian ; " and they cultivated with '° Their most ancient mode of writing was the Homairitan, invented by king Honiair, son of Saba, the fifth king of Arabia Felix. It is called the Homairitanus Calamus, and consisted of mutilated and imperfect let ters, united together somewhat like the Samaritan in form. It had be come almostobsolete in Mohamed's time, and afterwards was so entirely neglected, that no one has been found capable of reading the inscription found at Samarcand, in the first year ofthe Hegira. ' From these letters, Moramer Ambarcensis made those wbich are named Cufic. This writing, altho rude and unpolished, prevailed long among the African, Moorish and Spanish Arabs; and still very much in all Africa, In the 316th year of tho Hegira, A.bu Ali Mohamed, sur- named Ben Mocha, invented the more recent Arab letters, with the diacritical points, which, eighty years afterwards, Abul Hassan Ali, com monly called Ben Bauab, brought to the highest pitch of elegance,' for that kind of scriptorial character, Casiri, v. 2. p. 25. " The celebrated Carthaginian speech iu Plan tus was one ofthe most curious legacies which he could bave bequeathed to posterity, as it has enabled men of Eastern learning to ascertain from it, the relationship be^ tween the Punic language and those ofthe contiguous nations. Bochart has interpreted it from the Hebrew ; and Casiri infers an analogous mean ing from the resembling words in Arabic, p. 27, The language of Car- DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 351 earnestness, eloquence, poetry and their native tales, chap. Instead of the dispersion or conflagration of the Alex- ^^• andrian volumes deteriorating the human mind or its intro- knowlege, the Arabian taste and talents sprang im- ^'^''^^l'' mediately into a cultivation of science and general arabun knowlege, which advanced both to improvements, ^.^^f^^ that neither Greece nor Rome had either reached or sought for. The Syrian Christians, whom they allowed to re- Their ap- tain their religion, had the merit of leading them to ^ the°" a taste for beneficial knowlege. The value of these sciences. Syrian Christians has not been duly appreciated ; they not only planted Christianity in India so firmly, that we have recently found it there, a thousand years after its introduction, but by their taste and labors much of the Grecian literature and science had been translated into Syriac,'^ a language which has so much affinity to the Arabic, as to be easily acquired by an Arabian student, and to invite him to the eflfort. Syrian physicians were about the persons of the ca liphs, and by their conversation excited an intellectual curiosity in their sovereigns.'^ Al Walid, the caliph thage must have been that of its parent Tyre; and we learn from Hero dotus, that the Phenicians came to the Syrian coast from the Red Sea. Hence it is highly probable that the ancient Arabic and Phenician were either alike, or were sister dialects ofthe same common ancestors, " The best account we have ofthe Syrian christians, and their authors, is in the Bibliotheca of Assenanni. It contains curious documents of then: activity in diffusing Christianity in India, and even China, in the seventh and eighth centuries. To the first volume, a catalogue of the Syrian MSS. placed in the Vatican library by Clement II. is added. .Some Arabian poems are among them. " That tbe Syrians were the tutors of tbe Arabs, we may see in the fact, that tbe following Greek mathematicians were translated first into Syriac, and afterwards into the Arabic : — Menelaus de figuris sphericis et de quantitate et distinctione corp. mixt : Theodosius Sphericorum liber ; Auto- HISTORYOFENGLAND 352 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK who died in 711, was so desirous to improve his ^ • countrymen, that he ordered the Christian writers to LITERARY publish no more books in Greek, but in Arabic ; " and this attempt to improve his native language, was ad vanced by Almanzor, who had imbibed a taste for astronomy, and respected men of knowlege. He be gan that cultivation ofthe sciences which has so much adorned the Arab name.''' His successor, Harun-al- Rashid, the hero of the Arabian tales, increased the progress of literature by the patronage ofthe throne.'^ But to Almamon, who acquired the caliphate in 813, the Saracen mind was most indebted. He spread knowlege around him with the zeal of an Alfred, al most his contemporary, and with a munificence that surpassed all competition since the days of the Pto lemies. The Arabians rushed to their conquests with a new religious creed, intolerant of all others, and with an unwearied zeal for its universal propagation. This intolerant bigotry made them equally hostile to the Grecian polemic and the Pagan mythologist, and therefore precluded them from reviving any part of the Grecian or Roman literature that was connected with its theology, or that had enshrined its paganism. Autolicus de spheree motu, De vario siderum in errantium ortu et occasu ; Aristarchus de arithmetica, de magnitudine et distantiis solis etlunae: Hypsicles de ascensionibus, de ortu et occasu, de corporum celestium magnitudine : Hipparchus de siderum secretis. — Casiri, Bib. 345. I'' Abul. Pharag. p, 139. — He was peculiarly fond of architecture, and built many fine mosques. Abulfeda, p. 123, 124. " Abul. Phar. |j. 160. The mathematical works of Menelaus were first translated into Syriac, and afterwards into Arabic. Casiri, Bibl. Hisp. p. 345. So were some medical works. But the Arabs soon began to translate from the Greek themselves, and their principal translations were from the Greek. Casiri, p. 239. '" One of the translations of Euclid into Arabic was made in his reign. Casiri, Bib. p. 339. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 35S Hence, when their caliphs directed their ardent minds C HAP. to intellectual studies, they passed by the poets, the ^^- historians, and the orators of the pagan classics, as well as the disputatious Christian fathers. From the intensity of their bigotry, influenced insensibly to themselves by a taste derived from their ancient Sa- baism," they fixed their attention on those parts of Grecian knowlege — the mathematical and astrono mical works, which had been composed principally at Alexandria during that bright period in the history of Egypt, which arose from the Grecian dynasty of the Ptolemies, and afterwards. Almost obsolete in Greece itself, they had never been appropriated by Rome. To the rest of the world they were as little known as to our ancient satirist, who, in his Piers Plouhman, converts Ptolemy and the philosophers into poets." But of all the subjects of Grecian know lege, these works were the only writings that could interest an Arabian mind, because pure from all ido latrous contamination. Led, like all the East, to admire till they venerated the stars,'" the quick and " Al Bategnus, who made two astronomical tables, and wrote ou the Lib. Quad, of Ptolemy, and de astrorum ortu, and de conjunctionum tempore, and died in 929, was even then a professed Sabsean, or star worshipper. Casiri, Bib. 343. So Thabet Ben Corah, born 835, one of their great mathematicians and astronomers, was of the Sabsean religion. lb. 386. " Meny proverbis ich myghte have — And poetes to preoven hit; Porfirie and Plato; Aristotle, Ovidius, and ellevene hundred, Tullius, Ptolemseus ; ich can uat telle here names ; Preoven pacient poverte pryns of alle virtues. Vis. Piers Plouhman. " One of our Syrian travellers, Mr. Wood, said, he found himself iu the night so struck with the beauty of the firmament, that he could hardly suppress a notion, that these bright objects were animated beings of some higli order, and were shedding important influence on this earth. From this effect upon himself, he was sure tbat at all times the rainds of men, in these countries, must have had a tendency to that species of super stition. — Dr. W. Hunter's Lecture, p. 10. Vol, IV. A a HISTORYOF ENGLAND. menknowlege 354 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK piercing intellects of the Arabs, fastened on astro- ^^' nomy as their favorite study, and soon revived those LITERARY geometrical sciences with which it was connected. Almamon, inspired with this taste, sent to the Grecian emperor for the books of science which the Greeks had written. He collected them also from lleze Persia, Egypt, and Syria; from Chaldea and Ar menia. He inquired around him for men able to translate them; he incited his subjects to study; he pursued it himself, and was fond of being present at the discussions of the learned whom he had assem bled, and whom he had patronized.'^" Perhaps no country ever witnessed such a sudden acquisition of knowlege as was produced by his exertions. In this he was more fortunate than Alfred. The eflForts of our venerable king left but a faint impression upon his nation ; while Almamon's example was prolific of imitators; and yet the Saxon mind was as active and as able as the Arabian. The diflPerence may be ascribed to the subjects of their study : Alfred had nothing but the Latin literature to impart; Almamon diflfused the true sciences, to whose improvement there was no limit; whose diffusion was connected with the best interests of mankind. On the It }iag been from the cultivation of the sciences Arabian ... , . i i i . cultivation that are most intimately connected with natural phi- philosop^iy, losophy, and from those pursuits which began the experimental study of it, that the Arabians have so much benefited mankind. The progress of the hu man mind at that time wanted, as we have remarked, an intellectual nation, which would separate the " See Abul. Pharag. l6o & t6l, where he mentions the astronomers who flourished in the reign of Almamon ; and see also Leo Afer de Me- dicis et Philosoph. Arab, c, l . printed in Fabric. Bib. Grsec. 1. 13. p. 261 . DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 355 science of Greece and Rome from their rhetoric and chap. mythological poetry, and dropping the latter, would ^f^ exclusively cultivate all that was valuable in the intro- former. The Arabs, under their new tenets, were of thT precisely the people to eflfectuate this, and were the a^^abian only people who could then have accomplished it. ' — ¦, — '¦> To them we are indebted for the revival of natural, and for the rise of experimental philosophy. It will not be uninteresting to trace, more precisely, the reasons why the Arabs so far surpassed the Grecians in these studies, as they have equally operated since to make England and Europe transcend them in the same paths. It has been a matter of surprise to the inquisitive, that for nearly 5000 years before the Arabs distin guished themselves, the ancient world should have so little advanced these branches of our richest know lege. But this did not so much arise from an indif ference to the subject, nor from any insensibility to its importance ; but was principally occasioned by two circumstances, very natural to their chronological position in human existence; the fewness of their sci entific observations, and the erring notions which pre vailed on the causing principles of material nature. As in every art, so in every science, the facts or Causes of phenomena of which it consists, and from which it adya°ce has been built up into a fabric of reasoned knowlege, among the must gradually, slowly, and successively occur ; and until a sufficient and varied number have occurred, their mutual relations, connexions, dependencies, agencies and consequences, can be neither traced nor explained, nor any rational system be erected to combine and apply them. A A a ancients. 3.56 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK On every topic, the darkness in every mind is at _^ first absolute and universal ; a few enhghtened spots I iiERARY begin to appear, which assist others to arise ; more en^la'nd'^ luminous points accrue, and from the progressive illu- ' — -¦ — ' mination the horizon of our knowlege enlarges; curi osity then awakens ; the eye that was contented to observe, is interested to explore, and the judgment proceeds to class and connect the insulated pheno mena, which have fixed its attention and excited its activity. The subject of inquiry then assumes the form of a science; and from the casual events and appearances which satisfied anterior times, the philosopher advances to a vigilant inspection of nature, for the purpose of discovering her secret laws, and of multiplying his experience of their continual operations. In this sketch, we see the regular and historical progress of natural philosophy. We live in the last period, and are therefore studying nature with that intense scrutiny, which the accumulated facts and rea sonings of the preceding ages have qualified us to exert. The ancients belonged to the prior epochs of human existence, when the phenomena were but be ginning to display themselves, or to interest the human attention. They noted and thought much on what occurred ; but their experience was too small to enable them to reason justly, and to discern the rela tions of nature ; and their speculations were too chime-^ rical and uncertain to become popular. Mankind can easier discern absurdity than discover truth ; and no thing permanently interests which is felt to be delusive. A succession of time could alone cure this defect. But that the ancient mind began early to reason on duction of the DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 357 nature, appears from the cosmogonies*' it attempted; chap. which are the earliest subjects of human inquiry ^^- that are noticed in the history of human philosophy, intro Before Thales, and afterwards,** nature was intently studied by many, and theories were repeatedly made Arabian to account for her operations. In supposing that na- - — .,-fl tural philosophy was not attended to, we confound too much the success of the inquiry with its pursuit. Compared with our multifarious knowlege, little was correctly understood in the ancient world ; but its curiosity and eflforts to know, must not be measured by their failure. Almost every Grecian philosopher studied nature, meditated on her phenomena, and at tempted to elucidate her laws. All that Egypt or the East attained, was learnt and remembered ; and it is hardly possible to read the physical works of Aristotle, without perceiving that great labor had been exerted, that much information had been col lected, and that as much was really done as diligent observation and careful reasoning could in those days, and with their inferior experience, and under the want of those good systems which the multiplied facts of future ages supplied, be expected to eflfect The great impediment and discouragement to this Ancient study among the ancients, were their mistakes and ™'*,'he** intellectual confusion about the causation of things, causes _ 11.1. 1 -1 of things. It was natural that m studying nature the ancient mind should have been early drawn to the considera tion of causation. We cannot avoid thinking of it; " See Diog. Laert. and Fab. Bib. Grjec. v. i. *¦ The physical works of Aristotle.shew us how much others before him had studied natural philosophy. He quotes frequently Empedocles. The Etrurians also diligently observed nature ; (Diod. Sic. 1. 5) and taught a remarkable cosmogony. It limits tbe duration of the universe to I2,00a years, of which, the first 6ooo preceded the formation of man, and the latter 6ooo are now concluding. Suid. Voc. Tyr. Plect. Sylla. A A 3 HISTORYOF ENGLAND 358 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK we see the eflfects, but not the power which produces ^^- them; because, while material phenomena are objects literary of our eye-sight, all mental agency is as invisible as the spirit which exerts it. Others might behold the hand and figure of an Apelles, but not the genius and taste which guided his pencil, and gave an enchant ing existence to the inventions of his unperceivable fancy. All material causation is but the secondary instrumentality. The real working power and pro ducing agency is, in every case, unseen, designing intelligence; human, in all operations of human skill, the divine, in every other. Human science operates by the visible instrumentality of mechanism, expressly organized to do what it eflfects ; and in nature, the results we admire, evolve from the magnificent ar rangements into which every part of nature has been purposely combined for their production : But all flow from the commanding causation of superior will and wisdom, whether acting by laws and means con nected and provided some thousand years ago, or by express operation more recent or immediate. No antecedence or sequency, however uniform or con stant, can explain power and causation; because they are but the previous or succeeding visible eflfects which the unseen agency occasions. The anteceding hand, brush, and colors of Raphael, Titian or Guido, or their sequent movements, are not the causes of the beautiful figures of these applauded painters ; their unseen and unperceivable genius, knowlege, taste and judgment composed the causation that moved their hands, brushes, and colors, to the dehcate touches, the exact outline, the fine forms, and mas terly distributions of light and shade, which make their sweet creations in one of the noblest of human arts. SCIENCES. DUIUNG THE MIDDLE AGES. 359 But the primeval divine causality being presup- CHAP. posed, it becomes one of the most interesting and ^^- ennobling objects of human ingenuity to trace the intuo- pecuhar material instrumentality, which the Creator "f the" has organized and uses to produce the phenomena Arabian that are continually occurring. It was upon this scientific point that the ancients diverged into marvellous absurdity. Not perceiving that the divine, like the human mind, organizes mate rial means and instruments to be the visible producers of natural eflfects on our globe, the ancients invented a distinct deity for every distinct cause, and made this fancied divinity the direct producer of every class of its effects: a Flora formed the flowers; a Fever goddess occasioned the fever ; a Boreas the storm ; a real Muse the poem. This absurdity may have been since paralleled by the later one, of expunging the Universal Maker entirely from his creation. But it is the rational object of true science to abandon both these extremes, and to employ itself in tracing the sagacious laws, the profound combinations, the mas terly arrangements, the grand, yet simple means, and the wonderful arrangements and combinations by which every part of nature is compelled to produce distinct and peculiar eflfects, and to continue its sub lime course and multifarious operations, with unde- viating certainty, with unwearied constancy, and with the most precisely governed, and most nicely regu lated and mutually adapted movements, counterac tions and coincidences. This research into the laws and phenomena of material causation began in the middle ages, tho it pecuharly characterizes the present times. It has been already remarked, that Aristotle labored inde- A A 4 LITERARYHISTORYOF ENGLAND. 360 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK fatigably in this path ; but the world was then too ^^- young, and its theories too obstructing, to allow him much success. The Arabians pursued the same road with more advantages and a greater harvest; but it was the alchemists who dug the mines of nature the most deeply, and watched her operations more in quisitively and more discerningly. And amid all their errors, what they really eflfected, fixed at last the attention of mankind on the phenomena and laws of nature, and awakened a continually increasing desire to explore and explain them ; a desire which will never again expire till nature itself dissolves. But while we censure the ancients for looking only for supernatural agencies in nature, it will be fair towards them to remark, that it was, perhaps, hardly possible for them to have avoided this tendency^ The primeval ages of the ancient world were not in that quietude of mind on this subject, into which we, from the later dispensations of the divine economy, have been lapsing. No deluge now destroys a world ; no Moses now shakes terrifically a mighty country ; no Daniel astounds the founder of a new empire, and his conquering people ; every nation is now acting amid the common course of ordinary nature. But when the renewed world began its new genera tions of existence, the impression of the governing Deity, and ofhis operations on our earthly habitation, must have been fresh and earnest to a degree which we are but little now disposed to feel, and therefore cannot adequately conceive. It is impossible that the tremendous dispensation of the deluge, and of those fearful manifestations of his command of nature, and of his exertion of that command, which occurred in Egypt — the intellectual mistress ofthe ancient mind DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 301 — at the Jewish Exodus, could have occurred, with- CHAP. out leaving on the human mind most profound, and ^^¦ awing, and permanent feelings of the divine agency in the human world. The erring mind chose to de viate into absurd theories of its own capricious ima ginations on the subject of the Godhead, but could not dispossess itself of the conviction which history and tradition united with its interior sentiment to en force, that all nature was governed by divine power, and moved obedient to a divine will. The ancient ^'^con-ceptions error was, that, instead of conceiving, like Aristotle, of Poiy- the one supreme presiding Deity, reigning over all, ' ^'*'"" like the Persian monarch in his empire, and ruling every department ofhis vast dominions by appointed laws and ministerial instruments, they broke down the grand divine unity into an immense multiplicity of petty deities, which they placed over every part and function of nature ; making gods even to flowers, trees, fruitSj insects and diseases, and supposing all the phenomena which occurred to be their immediate operations,*' The real Creator and Ruler, and his established laws, and their natural relations and eflfects, were all lost sight of in this misleading system ; and instead of these, nothing was seen in nature but the increas- '^ In Plato's Cratylus we find the sun, moon and stars ; the earth, jether and air ; fire, water, the seasons and the year, spoken of as divi nities. Orpheus taught, and Anaximander also, that the stars were gods, and were animated by divinities, l Enf, Hist. Phil. 147. The Pythago reans believed the same. Ib. 396. Even Socrates ascribed the ordinary phenomena of nature to the immediate agency of subordinate deities, Ib, 175. That the air was full of those beings whom they called daimons, was the belief of Pythagoras, p. 396 ; of Empedocles, p. 405; of Ocellus Lucanus, p. 408; and even of Democritus, the founder of the atomical philosophy, who also described them to be in form like men, but of a larger size, p. 432. So Xenocrates exhibited the stars as celestial gods, p. 241 ; and Zeno considered all nature to be peopled with inferior divinities, p. 3.34. HISTORYOF ENGLAND. 30-2 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK ing interference of these imaginary deifications. An ^^- Apollo was placed in the sun ; a Diana in the moon ; LITERARY Neptune in the sea; and Pluto in the regions below: fire was assumed to be under the government of Vul can; the air under Juno; wisdom under Minerva ; the vine under Bacchus ; fruit and flowers under Pomona, Virtumnus and Flora ; the waves were inhabited by Amphytrite, her naiads and tritons; the rivers obeyed their respective deities ; the groves and woods were filled with fauns, satyrs and driads; and every region ¦was admitted to possess its patriotic and local divi nity : even the Jews endeavored to .shrink from the tremendous majesty of their actual Creator, and by their Baal, calves, and Moloch, to interpose some minor form of deity between Him and themselves. Even philosophers, tho not always accordant with the vulgar superstitions, yet had fancies of their own on this subject, proportionally extravagant. Pytha goras and others asserted that the air was full of heroes and divinities;** all nature was crowded with them.** The Egyptians had a similar belief;*^ and even Thales, one of the first philosophers of Greece, who made nature his study, thought that all things were full of gods, and that the world was pervaded "' Diog. Laert. Vit. Pyth. The ancients made three classes of sup posed divinities ; — gods, daimous, and a species of demi-gods, whom they called heroes. "These are mentioned by Pythagoras, and his commentator Ilierocles; by Jamblicbus ; and by Plato, in his Cratylus. ^ Chrysippus and Cleanthes taught that tbe heavens, the earth, the air and the sea, were full of divinities. 1 Enf p. 334. Plato thought that several parts of nature, especially tbe heavenly bodies, were gods, p. 231 ; and Timasus, the Locrian, maintained that the Supreme Deity had as signed to these daimons the inspection of human affairs, and committed to them the government of the world, p. 231. Tbe Jews also believed in the existence of a race of angelic beings, analogous to the Grecian dai mons, to whose agency they were accustomed to ascribe every pheno menon of nature, and every accident of body and mind. Bp. Heber on the Holy Spirit, p. 74. " Jamblicbus de Vita Pyth. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 363 by those divinities they called daimons.*'^ Whatever CHAP. moved, was supposed to have within it a divinity or ^^- a living spirit; and hence Thales taught that the load- intbo- stone and amber had souls, because the first attracts "f'tiie'' iron and the other straw.** And it was believed, that Arabian SCIENCES the good daimons could be prevailed upon by reli- > — ^ — '¦' gious ceremonies to communicate supernatural pro perties and powers to herbs, stones, and other natural bodies.*'' So the planets were believed to be animated by divine spirits, and therefore to move ; and were, from this supposition, adored as gods and goddesses.^" Plutarch even thought that the sacred idols had a species of divine life." Every individual was supposed to be accompanied, from his birth, by one of these inferior divinities, to preserve and govern his life, to whom the name pf genius was applied ; ^ and Socrates frequently men- "J Stanley's Hist. Phil. p. 6. l Enf. Hist. Phil. 143. ^' Ibid. * 1 Enf. 33. The ancient Arabs before Mohamed, had their full proportion of divinities, and of manufactured representations of them; for Al Graneb states, that there were at that time about the Caaba, 360 idols. Casiri, v, 2. p. 19 ; and see Pocock, Spic. Arab. p. 89-150, on this subject. *" Plutarch, besides mentioning that Anaximander concluded the stars to be heavenly deities, remarks, that Aristotle also taught that each ofthe spheres is an animal composed of a body and a soul. The body of them is ethereal, moving orbicularly, while the soul is the unmoved rational form, which yet by its operative effect causes the sphere to be in motion. Plut. Moral, v. 3. p, 137. " He says, ' For my part, I am apt to believe that the offerings made in this city of statues and consecrated presents, sympathise with Divine Providence ; and move themselves jointly, to foretell and signify future events ; and tbat no part of all these sacred donatives is void of sense, but that every part is full ofthe deity.' Plut. Mor. v. 3. p. 95. ^ Thus Menander, the Grecian Terence, said, ' A genius is given to every man at his birth, who becomes the mystic leader of his life.' — And Ammianus Marcellinus, quoting this, adds, ' There are certain, theologers vvho maintain that certain divinities are given to every man who comes into the world, for their conservation, but that these appear to very few persons — as to those whom numerous virtues have exalted above others ; oracles and excellent authors have taught us this.' Am. Mar, 1. 21. c, 13. p. 684, Thus also Socrates says, in the Phedo : ' The daimon of each person that was allotted to him while living, leads them after death to Hades,' 227, LITERARYHISTORYOFENGLAND. 364 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK tioned the daemon that attended upon him and became ^^- his protecting counsellor,^' That all nature subsists by the will, is ruled by the ao-ency, and obeys the orders of its Ever-superintend- ino Author, is one of the grandest and most indelible truths ofthe human mind, and the surest foundation of human happiness ; but to confound the commanded operations of the Deity with his physical instrumen talities, and to make his precept the immediate agent, independently of all the employed properties of bo dies, was to turn the mind away from searching into the direct material causes of the natural phenomena which were every day occurring^ When Socrates .spoke of thunder, wind, and the other moving bodies around us, as the servants of God," he expressed a fact consentaneously with the inspired Hebrew wri ters, in the sense that they fulfil his behests, and are, whenever he pleases to employ them, his ministerial agents.^' But to inculcate by the phrase, that they never occur without a specific divine causation, and are not the usual results of the organized construction and appointed powers of nature, was to preclude all inquiry into the qualities of things, and their ordinary actions on each other. Yet the mind of Socrates had this tendency, because he rebuked Anexagoras for ascribing natural eflfects to such natural causes as air, aether and water.'® ^ Hence be is represented to have said, ' You many times hear me speaking, because something Sewv xai Jaiftoviw bas become a voice to me.' Plato, Ap. Soc. 1. p, 73. ~* 1 Enf. 175. Zen. I. 5. *" ' Fire and hail, snow aud vapours, stormy wind, fulfilling his word.' Psalm 148. V. 8. ^' In the Phedo, after applauding Anexagoras for making intellect the cause of things, he says, ' I did not think that he would have introduced any other cause of their subsistence, but from this admirable hope I was forced away, when I saw him make no use of intellect, but assigaair, aether and water, and other things equally absurd, as the causes of things. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. aG5 It being thus considered as impiety to look for the chap. natural agents, instead of these multitudinous divini- ^^• ties ; when Anexagoras taught that the sun was a burning inanimate substance, many times larger than the Peloponnesus,"^ and that the moon was habitable,'* as these conceptions undeified them, he was accused of impiety and tried for his life.'* Archelaus, pur suing his train of thought, inculcated that the stars were blazing iron plates ; '"' and this supposition mak ing them no longer divinities, caused his opinions to be discreditable, not among the vulgar only, but among almost all the intelligent minds of his day. It was because Socrates saw that the progress of natural philosophy was leading to what he considered to be atheism, and often was actually such, that he turned the inquiring mind from physiological to moral truth.*' These were the circumstances which caused the ancients to make such small advances in natural science, and not any indisposition to its study. For Thales is characterized as one of the first Grecians who inquired into the causes ofthe works of nature;'* and all the four philosophers who followed him in succession, evidently sought to explore them."' But " Stanley, Hist. Phil, p. 65. " He thought the moon to be a dark body enlightened by the sun, and had plains, hills and waters, Plut, Plac. Phil.; Stanley, 65. He taugbt the rainbow to he a refraction of the sun's light, (Plut. ib.) and winds to be an extenuation of air by the sun. D. Laert.; Stanl. ib. Plato calls his idea of the moon deriving its light from the sun, a more ancient opi nion revived, Cratyl, 71. - *' For this, altho defended by Pericles, he was fined five talents, and banished. Stanl. 67, *" Plut, Plac. Stanl. 68. ¦" Xen. Mem. Cicero Ac. Quest. 1. 1, «» Cicero de Nat. D. I. 1. D. Laert. Strabo, I. 14- Lactant. I. 1 . c. 5. '' That they made many theories, tho eiToneous, oh this subject, see Stanley Hist. Phil. p. 6 1-8. 360 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK their own erroneous opinions, as well as the preju- VL dices which surrounded them, blindfolded their judg LiT^RY ment and restricted its exertions. Hence, altho the HISTORYOF ancient Tuscans were distinguished for studying na- ' — V — '' ture,** they perverted their knowlege into interested superstitions ; for their augurs pretended to the power of commanding thunder and of directing the light ning against those whom they pronounced wicked."' The ancients were singularly confused and wild in their notions of deity. It was a favorite idea with most, that gods were an order of beings generated from nature, like men ; a superior class to the human genus, but into which the latter might also be trans ferred. Plutarch was one ofthe most enlightened and most reasonable men of antiquity, and yet he maintains the monstrous opinion, that the human soul will become a god. We treat it as the inanity of a savage mind, rather than as its insanity, when we hear the New- Zealand chief say to his European friend, " I, god; you, god ;""® and yet Plutarch could say, for himself and the philosophers who concurred in his sentiments, " We are to hold, and steadfastly to believe, that the souls of virtuous men, both according to nature and to the divine justice, are made holy ; and from holy beings advance to demi-gods, and from this semi- deity, after they are perfectly cleansed and purified, and delivered from all passibility and mortality, they become, in real truth, and according to all probability of reason, entire and perfect gods, receiving a most " Diod. Sic. 1. 5. *^ Seneca Nat. Quest. 2. c. 41. *' It was the chief who had visited England, Shunghki, who uttered this strange absurdity. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 307 happy and glorious end." "'^ Pythagoras taught the chap. same ; for the golden verses which comprise hiS doc- ^' trine, end with declaring, that when we quit this ^"tro- body, we ascend into the free aether, and there be- op the come an immortal and eternal erod."* The belief of '*^'''^'"*n S3 ^ ^ SCIENCES. the Egyptian nations, that their living kings and '• — ^^ — ' queens were gods and goddesses, and the grave assu rance of Virgil and Horace, evidencing to us the popu lar feeling of the day, that Julius Caesar had become a divinity, and that Augustus would, on his death, also be a ruling deity, shew a distortion of mind on this tremendous subject, which nothing but the Lu- cretian system, of all things making themselves with out any maker, could equal. Both directions of mind were so wrong, that it was impossible for either to contemplate nature with impartiality or judgment, and therefore natural philosophy had no firm basis, no true principles, no intellectual friend, and no po pular support. The progress of Christianity extirpated from the human mind these confusing misconceptions of the divine nature and agency, and by expunging all the systems of pagan mythology, left nature to be con templated by the curious mind, according to its visible and certain realities. As the christian belief spread, one agency only was supposed to cause all natural phenomena under the government of the uni versal Creator; and this agency is the operation ofthe natural laws or qualities given to all material things. The Mahometan system, a spurious oflfspring, the Ishmael of Christianity, adopted the same notion ; ¦" Montaigne bas quoted this passage in his Essays, v. 2. c, 12. " Aur, Carm, p, 14. Hierocles softens this to mean likeness only. p. 312. 308 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK and the agile Arab mind sprang first to those inves- VJ- tigations, which sought in nature alone for the ex- LiTERARY planation of her eflfects and changes. HISTORYOF jj^ g ^jjg steady warfare which Mohamed and ENGLAND. *' ^ ' — ^ — ' his followers waged against paganism in all its sys tems, mythologies, allegories, idolatries, mysteries, and later philosophical purifications and refinements, which led the Arabians to this great improvement in human knowlege, under the tuition of their masters, the christian Syrians. In the Macedonian establish ments at Alexandria, the foundations of this happy change were "first laid in the mathematical studies of the philosophers who were there settled and patron ized. One of the most sublime perfections of nature is the geometrical science on which it has been con structed, and which it so magnificently displays. It was not irreverently said by Plato, that the Deity geometrizes in his works : He has done so : He has framed, placed, and moved them on the nicest cal culations of mathematical wisdom. Hence, no study has rewarded the human mind with grander or richer knowlege than the mathematical skill which our re volving earth and its connected solar system display. The mathematical studies are therefore the scientific branch of natural philosophy. Some great men of Progress the Alexandrian school having peculiarly cultivated Arabians, them, their works were introduced to the Arabs by their Syrian teachers, who immediately appreciated their value, with an extraordinary justness of taste and quickness of discernment ; and devoted them selves to these sciences with an avidity and a suc cess, which appropriated the treasures and enlarged the boundaries of all. They translated Euclid, Archi medes, Apollonius Pergseus, Eutochius, Diodes, DUCTION DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 369 Diophantus, Hippocrates, and Ptolemy."" On these chap. they commented and disserted with emulous inge- ^^' nuity. The establishment of a separate caliphate intho- in Spain, and afterwards in Morocco, created new seats of knowlege near the western regions of Eu rope, where it was zealously cultivated. It is im possible to read the long catalogues of the Arabian treatises on astronomy, optics, geometry, arithmetic, medicine, natural history and chemistry, and even on music, logic, and metaphysics, as well as on poetry and grammar, without astonishment at their unwearied assiduity and successful progress.™ We are but yet beginning to be adequately acquainted with them ; °' nor is it the least singular fact of this '^ The Arabic Life of Euclid mentions two Arabian versions of his fifteen books; one, by order of the Calif Harun Al Rashid; and one, more accurate, by the command of Al Mamon. There were nine Ara bian commentators upon him. Casiri, Bib- 329. Ptolemy's Almagest, in thirteen books, was translated by a Barmecide, the friend of Harun al Rashid, and many commentaries were made upon him, and some epi tomes, Cas. ib. 348. And Omar Abu Haphi, by command of Al Mamon, commented on Ptolemy's Quadrip, from the Arabian version of Abi Jahia, Ib. 362; The geometrical works of Archimedes were translated and illustrated with notes, and scholia, by many Arabians. Ib. 384. The Conies of Apollonius were made Arabian by Al Mamon's patronage. Ahmad Ben Musa corrected the first four books which Helal Ben Helal put into Arabic, as Thabet Ben Corah did the other three. Ib. 384. Casiri also mentions the Arabic versions of Diodes ou burning specula; Samius on spiral lines ; and Eutochius on Archimedes, p. 382 ; of Dio phantus on algebra, in p. 370 ; and of Menelaus, Theodosius, Autolycus, Aristarchus and Hipsycles, all Grecian mathematicians, in p. 346. Casiri gives a list of the Arabian mathematicians, p. 402. *" The catalogue which Casiri made of tbe Arabian MSS. in the library of the Escurial, first gave modern Europe an adequate idea of the extent of tbe Saracen studies. *' The Arabians wrote many works on geography and history, which have been brought into Europe. The duke of Saxe-Gotha's library con tains Kaswini's cosmographical woik, intitled, ' W^onders of the Crea tion,' and also the geographical works oflbn Alwardi and Ibn Ajjas ; and that of El-faresi, one of their most ancient geographers, and El-hoseini- Elmasavi's travels in Syria and Arabia. It has also the History of Ibn Koteiba, and the little-known ' Dynasties ' of El Kendi ; the History of the Fatemites in Egypt, by El Macrisi ; the History of Egypt, from 775 ofthe Hegirah to 803, by Ebn Chadseher; aud El-Mokri's History of Vol. IV, B b 370 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK animated race — this important tho wild branch of the '_ stock of Abraham — that their ladies in Spain were literary distinguished for their love of letters and knowlege.^* ENGLAND. While Europe, in the tenth century, was slumber ing in that intellectual torpidity which followed the downfal of the Latin rhetorical literature, the Arabs were pursuing with ardor those scientific pursuits, which were to give a new spirit of life and know lege to the western world. Their mental fervor was made to glow peculiarly strong in that part of their dominions, Spain, which was best adapted for the Spain under the Arabs, besides the writings of Eldchousi; Eldsahabi, Sojouthi, and Ibn Challekan. Tbe whole ofthe geographical and histo rical MSS. chiefly acquired in Egypt by the exertions of Seetzen, amount to 230 volumes. Moellin's Catal. Lib. D. Saxo Goth. Gotha, 1825. One of the most celebrated historical works of the Arabs, was the Taritch Kebir or the great chmnicle of Al Tabari, who was born about 838 of the Christian asra. It contained the History ofthe World, from Adam to his own time. Elniaciu took most of his materials from it. Abu Bakr Ebn Alabar of Valentia, who died .ibout 1268, has left in his ' Silken Vesture,' a history of the most celebrated Spanish Mussul men poets who lived before him, with specimens of their best poems. Ib. V. 2. p. 20. " Casiri has collected the following instances of Spanish Arabian women, who became remarkable for their literary acquisitions. Their names, for tbe example, deserve preservation. Aischa Bent; in poetry and oratory, at Corduba. Died A. H. 400. Labana of Corduba; in poetry, arithmetic, and philosophy. Died A, H, 374. Mazana of Corduba. Died 358. Saphia of Hispali; in oratory and poetry. Died 417. Radhia of Corduba, wrote many volumes on the art of oratory. Died 423. Valada, daughter of the king of Corduba, shone in literature. Died 484. Fatima of Valentia, studied jurisprudence at Corduba. Died 319. Fatima of Hispali, with her brother, wrote on legal institutions and the history of her times. Fatima of Corduba, wrote many volumes, and was very learned. Died 427. Algasania of Hispali; an orator and poet. Maria; in poetry and erudition. H. 41 1. Thona of Valentia, was greatly skilled in grammar and jurisprudence. Died 506. Maria of Granada; in learning and music. Died 545. Mohgia of Granada; in poetry. Mozada of Granada; in nistory. Died 593. Lecla, ofthe same city; in learning. And many others. Casiri, p. 150. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 371 improvement of Europe. It was perhaps beneficial to chap. their improvement, from the mutual emulation con- ^^" tinually arising, even to insurrections and batde-strife between them — which such mixed colonization could not but occasion — that the Arabs settled in Spain were taken from many diflferent parts ofthe eastern world." In Spain, as in Syria, they permitted Christians to continue among them, on paying tribute,''* who dis tinguished themselves by argumentative contests with the Islam faith, which often drew down the reluctant persecution of their conquerors.** We find some of these Mo^arabes, as they are called, even learning Arabic.** But a caliph's order had made this an obligation. It was in Spain that Arabian genius most success fully cultivated science and literature, and produced the largest portion of its intellectual harvests. As the military conquest of the country became completed, its kings or caliphs turned to mental enjoyments ; and about the year 790, Hixem began the improvement. " Al Hakem, who reigned A. H. I18, in the eighth century, in Spain, distributed the numerous military cohorts of the Mussulmen who were then in that country, into different cities, in order to appease their dis cords. He put those from Damascus, into Corduba; from Egypt and Arabia, in Lisbon, Beja, and Tadmir; from Emessa, into Hispali and Niebia ; from Palestine, in Medina, Sidonia, and Algesiras ; the Persians in Huete; the Assyrians in llliberi; and the Kinsarites in Jaen. Casiri, Hisp. v. 2. p. 32. These in time became so many factions and seed- buds of future revolts and civil feuds ; but competition stimulates to improvement, and usually educes it. " Eulogius, archbishop of Toledo, says, ' Tributum quod lunariter solvimus,' p. 217. *5 We derive our knowledge of this fact from Eulogius, In his account of the Spanish Christians who were destroyed by the Mussulmen, and whom he calls martyrs, he states, that the Saracens declared that their martyrdom was voluntary ; and it is clear, from his narrative, that they provoked the Mussulmen to discussions and resentments. ™ Thus Eulogius describes Perfectus as learning Arabic, and as an swering in Arabic when he was questioned, p. 231, 232. So he states Isaac of Cordova to have been skilled in Arabic, who perished 851. P- 235- B B 2 372 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK He completed the grand mosque at Cordova, which 21l his father had begun, meaning it to be the most mag- LiTERARY nificent edifice in the Mohamedan world," Culti- ENGLAND. vatlug pocsy himself, he directed his royal bounties to cherish and reward those who composed it, and other men of letters,** He loved gardening and plant- inff. He founded Arabian schools at Cordova and other places in Spain.** His son, Al Hakem, was one of those half-deranged soverieigns who, from their re morseless shedding of human blood, are justly called tyrants; but his grandson, Abderrahman IL, made his court at Cordova, the centre of science, literature, and the fine arts. He both rewarded and elevated men of knowlege and the eminent poets of his day."" During his reign, the Spanish Christians pursued their stu dies at his Cordova seminaries." The intercourse between them and their Mohamedan masters was at " It was 600 feet long and 250 feet wide, with 38 na^es one way, and 19 in the other, supported by 1093 columns of marble. The south entrance was by 19 doors, covered nith bronze plates of exquisite work manship. The principal middle gate was faced with gold. It was lighted every night by 4700 lamps ; the one in the place of prayer, of massive gold. Marie's Cond6, v, 1. p. 266. Such a building must have made many skilful workmen in Spain about the year 800. '" The ancient Arabian histories have preserved these verses of the caliph's writing : ' The hand of the noble is open and liberal : the love of gain and great ness of soul are incompatible. I delight in gardens of flowers, and in their sweet solitude. I love the zephyr of the fields, and the smiling ornaments ofthe meadows : but I have no wish to be their owner, for I bave received treasure from Heaven only to give away. In happy times, all my pleasure lies in giving. But when viar summons, to fight becomes' my duty, I take up tbe pen or the sword, as need requires. But if my people be but happy, I desire no other wealth.' M. Cond^ Hist. Arab, p. 268. ^ He commanded the Christians to study Arabic at their seminaries, and forbad them to use their Latin any more, which until that time had been their usual speech, Ib. 267. «" M. Cond6, p. 310-12. He succeeded his father, Al Hakem, in 821, and reigned till 852. *' Eulogius mentions several pereons, his contemporaries, going. to Cordova to study, of whom some where killed in 851, pp, 235. 237.244. His treatise is printed in the Mag. Bib. Pat. vol. 9. DUCTIONOF THE SCIENCES. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 373 this period so friendly, that the Arabs sometimes mar- CHAP ried Christian wives; and we have an instance of i^ this sort, in which, the father dying, the mother edu- intro cated her son in Christianity, and then sent him to "' "" the Arab academies to be taught Arabian literature."* *¦'*=•*'' This was in the middle of the ninth century. At this period the Arabian caliph of Cordova ruled over all Spain, from the Mediterranean to the Ebro. The mountainous sea coast of Gallicia and Asturia,' and part of Leon, to the Duero, was under the Chris tian king, Alphonso III., not unjustly, in many re spects, termed the Great. The count of Navarre: was now assuming the name of i-oyalty in his impor tant frontier. A little kingdom was gradually forming in Arragon, upon the fragments that were occasion-- ally snatched from the Mahometans; while Cata lonia was governed by its independent counts; and Biscay by lords who would own no master. These Christian states formed the marches of Spain towards France and the Pyrenees; but could then make only bickering hostilities with the Mussulman sovereign of all the rest of this noble peninsula."' Muhamad I., a contemporary of Alfred the Great, cultivated poetry him self; loved and honored the learned, and protected the arts,"* But it was his great grandson, Abderahman HI,, who reigned at the same time with our Athelstan, that raised the power and celebrity of the Arabian government in Spain to their highest degree of greatness, and peculiarly fostered ^' This was Aurelius, with whom Eulogius was well acquainted; ho perished in 852. pp. 244. 24C. 254, He states, that tbe Musselmen treated tbe Spanish Christians, when they appeared in public, with deri sion, and called them fools and madmen; that the boys daily scoffed them, and that some threw stones at them as they passed, p. 218. "' Marie's note to Cond^, 1. p. 325. '^ M. Conde, p,357. B B 3 374 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK and spread the taste and pursuit of science and lite- _^ rature among his subjects. Invited into Morocco, he became also the master of Western Africa, under the name of Protector, and was one of the richest sove reigns of Europe in his day."* He maintained armies at the same time in Gallicia, Catalonia and Africa. He built vessels and fleets, and naval arsenals for their supply. Attached to architecture, he erected his celebrated Palace of Azhara,"" and the splendid mosque in its vicinity."'^ He drew men of learning to his court,"* and excited the same taste in the rich and great who frequented it."' Abderhaman died in 961 ; but his son, Al Ha kem IL, continued his improvements. He sent agents <^ M. Cond^, p. 460. ^ This was three leagues below Cordova, in a beautiful valley. The arched roofs of the palace, were sustained by4300 columns of various mar bles, carefully worked. All the pavements were composed of marbles of many colors, tastefully contrasted. The walls were made and ornamented in tbe same manner. The ceilings were painted with gold and azure. In the large saloons, fountains of water played in basins of alabaster of variegated shapes; and in the caliph's saloon was a fountain of jasper, in wbich a golden swan was seen rising, wbich had been made at Constantinople, with a pearl of great price suspended over its head, the gift ofthe Grecian emperor. Beautiful gardens; an elegant pavibon, with a rivulet of quicksilver to reflect the playful sunbeams as it glided ; elegant baths, and carpets and drapery of silk and gold, representing cottage scenery and animals ; increased the attractions of this costly edifice. Marie's Cond^, 1. p. 419-421. ^' Tbe mosque was not so vast as that of Cordova, but much richer. Ib. 421. He also constructed an aqueduct at Ecija; and the splendid mosque at Segovia ; a sanctuary at Tarragona ; and several fountains, hospitals and public baths, in other cities. At Cordova he added a spacious court to its grand mosque, with several magnificent fountains, pouring their streams among tbe palm and orange trees, which formed a refreshing shade within its verdant and flowery extent, lb. 462. ^' He invited from Diarbekir, Ismael ben Casin, who was much dis tinguished in the East, and made him preceptor to the Prince Al Hakem, whose palace then became much resorted to by the friends of art. Ib. 463. ^ Thus his favorite, Ahmed ben Said, opened his house to all who cultivated letters in Spain, especially to poets. The cadi, Aben Zarb, invited men of science to his society; and the vizier Iza, in the same way patronized the students of physical knowledge, as others favored those who attached themselves to medicine. These were tbe founders ofthe schools, from which in the next century Averroes arose. Ib. 463. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 375 into Africa, Egypt, Syria and Persia, to purchase the CHAP. best books of all kinds. He rewarded those who ^^" made donations of MSS. to his royal library. He wrote himself to the authors of reputation in his time for a copy of their works, and liberally remunerated them, while he had copies made of the valuable vo lumes which the possessors would not part with.'" He promoted the most intellectual to posts of honor and municipal duties, and even to a seat in his state council.'' The royal taste for letters spread thro all classes. Most of the chief towns formed several aca demies, for the improvement of their inhabitants ;'^* and Spain, during his reign, which lasted till 976, exhibited an emulous cultivation of letters, which had not appeared in Europe since the decline of the Augustan age. Females imbibed the spirit, and added the elegances of their taste and feelings to the other riches of the Arabian literature.'^ '° Marie's Conde, Hist. v. 1. p. 472, 3. Casiri remarks, that Al Hakem first established a royal library, and founded several academies. The catalogue of his library filled 44 volumes. He got men of all kinds of knowlege about him, and directed some to general historiography, some to natural history, others to the Spanish animals, and some to write the history of literature, Casiri. Bib. v. 2. p. 202. " Marie's Cond^ p. 485. So he made Ahmed ben Abdelraelic, of Seville, who had written a Treatise on government, and on the policy of princes, the chief cadi of Cordova. To Ahmed ben Said, who had com posed an history of Spain, he gave a handsome house at Azliara: and to the popular poet El Arramedi, a superb mansion near the Alcazar, ib. He rewarded largely Aben Perag, of Jaen, for his applauded collection of poems, called ' The Gardens.' ib. 488, '= M.Cond^, p. 484-491, " Ib. 492, 3 ; and see before, note 52. The Arabs were fond of giving their daughters significant names, like our Anglo-Saxons, as Sobeiha, the dawn. Safra, choice and pure. Redhiya, mild and pleasing. Naziha, delicious, Nocima, gracious. " Kinza, a treasure. Zahra, a flower. Kethira, fruitful. Saida, happy, Maleha, beautiful. Amina, faithful, Lobna, fan- as milk. Selima, peaceful. Lulu, a peari. Zahira, flowery. Maries, v. 2. p. 2. B B 4 376 BOOK VI. literary historyof ENGLAND. ¦ Sylvester H. HISTORY OF ENGLAND, In several of the great towns, Jews and Christians lived intermingled with the Arabs. This was pecu liarly the case in Toledo, which so often maintained itself and the Mussulman leaders whom it upheld, against the sovereign caliph.'* And this intermixture of Spanish Christians, studying Arabic arid Arabian learning, with the Mussulman population, established an easy channel for the transfusion of Arabian science into the European mind. By degrees, many persons from other countries were attracted, by the reputa tion of the Spanish Mohamedans, to visit them in order to acquire their knowlege. One ofthe first of these intellectual Columbuses who ventured to ex plore what riches they possessed, and who imparted to Europe the treasures he obtained, was Gerbert, who became the Pope Sylvester II. The rumor of the sciences of the Saracens having reached his ear, he went into Spain to cultivate them,'* Returning to France, he established schools there, taught what he had exhibited, became preceptor to the princes of '* See repeated instances of these in Marie's translation of Condi's History, vol. 1. p. 154. 205. 220. 257. 274, &c, ' The great number of Christians at Toledo were always ready to favor any insurrection against the authority ofthe Musselmen.' p. 280, " In his letters we see bis Spanish connexions and Arabian acquisi tions. He writes to Lupito of Barcelona for the books on astrologia, translated by him. 3 Bib. Mag. p. 700. He mentions the book on arith metic, by Joseph the Spaniard, and the wise. p. 698. He says, on an other occasion, that he had derived great advantage from the study of philosophy, and was going to the princes of Spain, p. 706. He states, that he had begun a sphere, with an horizon and a representation of the heavens, p. 731- In one important letter he seems to me to allude to the Arabian numerical arithmetic : ' How should I strive to explain the reasons of the numbers of the abacus — The philosopher must not think that these things without letters are contrary to some art or to themselves; for what will he say esse digitos, articulos, minuta, who disdains to be auditor raajorum — What, when ihe same number is now simple, now com posite; now a digit (or unit), and now is made an articulus (or ten)?' P- 735- This exactly suirs our present numerals, in which 1 is at one time an unit, and at another constitutes a ten, as. all the other units, 2, 3, &c, do with the addition of a cipher, 0, DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 377 France and Germany, distinguished himself for an CHAE>. Ia. INTRODUCTION tine Afer. active and independent mind,'" and is said to have recalled into his native country, arithmetic, music, and geometry, which had become unknown. Her- of the mannus Contractus, who died i 054, was another of ^''t^'*" these ardent minds : He learnt Arabic, translated ^ — v — into Latin several volumes both of Arabians and Greeks, and wrote on astronomy and the quadrature of the circle.'* Constantine Afer had the courage to go farther; Constan With an ardor for knowlege that has no parallel but in Pythagoras, he visited the Saracens in Asia, and passed there thirty-nine years in studying their as tronomy, their medical and mathematical knowlege. He came thence to Italy, and entered the monastery at Mount Cassino in 1086, where he translated into Latin several works of the Arabian physicians.'" The '* Baronius is compelled to admit Gerbert among the popes, but he does it with visible reluctance. He says that no one had been promoted to the papal seat, who had so proscribed it by his writings. He gives us a specimen of wbat he calls tbe borrenda blasphemia of Gerbert. It may surprise the readerto find that this was Gerbert's assertion, tbat the Pope was the Antichrist — the man of sin mentioned in the Thessaloniaus^a remarkable opinion for the year 990. The harsh censures of Baronius were, in the same century, balanced by the zealous defence of Bzovius, a Franciscan, in his Sylvester II, Romae, 1629. " Malmsbury, 1. 2. p, 65. says, 'he was the first who seized the aba cus from the Saracens, and gave it rules which are scarcely yet under stood by the toiling abacists.' — His two treatises on Geometry, &c. are published by Pez, iu his Thesaur. Anecdot.; and his letter on the Sphere, is in Mabillon Anecdot. His treatise de Abaco, or on Arithmetic, is yet in MS. in Ottobonia Bibliotheca. Murat. Ant. p. 981, A collection of his letters is in Mag. Bib. Pat. vol. 3. — Du Chesne, in his Hist. Franc, vol. 2. has 55 additional letters. — ^The pretty tale ofhis magical chamber, Malmsbury mentions rather seriously, p. 66, " Trithemius Catal. lUust. Vir. p. 132 ; and see Fabricius Med. Lat. p. 708. In his book on the Astrolabe, he confesses, that whatever he had of astronomy, he had wholly borrowed it from the Arabs. Murat. Ant. Ital. p. 934. His treatise de Astrolabio is in the Bodleian library, Digby, N° 1775; and another, N" 1652. " Fab. Bib. Graec. t. 13. p. 124. Trithemius de Script, p. 257. — Some MSS. of his works are in the Hari. Lib. as his Loci Comm. Med. N" 1676 ; his Viat, N" 3407; his Tract, Var. N" 3140; also in Bib, Bodl, Laud, 37» HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK pilgrimages and crusades, so reprobated by those ^ who have contemplated them superficially, brought LITERARY the European mind to a full acquaintance with the eI^olH^^ Arabian attainments ; and men arose fast, in every ' ¦' — ' country, emulous to learn, and benevolently assiduous to impart them. Other In the next century we find Hermannus Dalmatus studentTof studying astronomy among the Mohamedans on the Arabic, Ebro and at Leon,*" Peter, the abbot of Clugny, went into Spain, to study the Arab learning ; and he shews his proficiency by his translation of the Ara bian Life of Mohamed, and procuring an English man to translate the Koran, which he addressed to the celebrated Bernard of Clairvaux.*' Gerard of Cremona is another name which deserves our grati tude and celebrity, for the many important Arabian works, which, by his Latin versions, he made the property of Europe.** England had its full share in producing these lite rary enthusiasts, to whom our intellectual eminence 1507. — Some years ago (in 1811) in the library of Monte Cassino, was found a Greek MS. of Apollonius Evander, the nephew of Apollonius of Rhodes, which contains a full account ofthe eruption of Vesuvius in the reign of Titus. ™ The letter of Peter of Clugny to Bernard, mentions this Arabic scho lar: ' Hermanno quoque Dalmata acutissimi et literati ingenii scholas- tico.' -The treatises on the Doctrine and Education of Mohamed, printed with the Koran, mentioned in the following note, are those which trans- tulit Hermannus Dalmata — apud Legionentem Hispanis civitatem. p.20l . " Machumetis Alcoranum Bibliandri. — This publication contains the letter of Peter to Bernard, in which he says, that while be staid in Spain, be procured the version to be made by a scholar of Toledo : ' Because the Latin was less known to him than the Arabic, he had his verba latina, impolite vel confuse plerumque,' polished and arranged. Ep. " The translation of Alhazen de Crepusculis, is by him. p. 283. — He died 1 187, set. 73. F. Pipinus says of him, that, led by his love of know lege, he went to Toledo, and seeing the Arabic books, and the penury of the Latins on such subjects, he learnt the Arabian language. There are seventy-six books of hiS translation, among wbich are Avicenna, and Ptolemy's Almagest. There is also his commentary on the Theoiicura Planetarum. Murat. Ant. Ital. p. 936. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 379 is so deeply indebted. The translation of the Koran, chap. noticed above, was the production of Robert Rete- '_ NENSis, an Englishman, who went to Spain, and was intro- found, by the abbot of Clugny, on the Ebro, studying of the astronomy with Hermannus.*' He became archdeacon ^^-'^'^^^''^ '' _ sciences. of P ampeluna. He translated also an Arabian Chro- .^; — --- — ' nicle.** The abbot of Clugny rewarded him liberally students. for his labors.** Another Englishman, distinguished for his Arabian Athelard's studies, was Athelard of Bath, whose work still re- treatise? mains in our public libraries, and has been printed.*" He says, in his philosophical dialogue with his ne phew, that he left England for the sake of study, and returned to it in the reign of Henry I. His anxiety to learn the moral and political state of his native country, was suppressed by the unfavorable represen tation which he received of its vices. He told his ne phew, that it was wise to forget what they could not remedy ; *' and he is desired to state some results of his new Arabian studies. '^ Peter of Clugny says of Robert and Herman, ' quos in Hispania circa Hiberam, astrologicae artis studentes, inveni.' — He calls him Ro bertus Retenensis de Anglia qui nunc Papilonensis ecclesise archidiaconus est.' Ep. "* It is in the Bodleian library, Seld. Sup. 8l. The translation of Alkin- dus is by another Robert, an Englishman, who lived in 1272. Cod. MSS. Ashm. 6677. '^ Eosque ad hsec faciendum multo precio conduxi. Pet. Ep. Robert addresses his translation of the Koran to Peter, and ends his dedication thus, ' Illustrissimo que Viro P. C. abbate precipiente, suus Angligena Robertus Retenensis librum istum transtulit, a, d. 1 143.' ¦* Athelard's Dialogue on questiones naturales perdilficiles, is in the Cotton Lib. MS. Galba, E 4. I have two printed copies, wbich some former owner has marked — sine anno — duae editiones antiqute, Collat. et complet. — and says, ' supposed by De Bure to be printed at Louvan, by J. de Westphalia, about 1474.' " ' Uiiica enim inalorum irrefragabilium medicina est oblivio.' Athel The evils he deplored were violentes principes ; viuolentespresules; mer cenaries judices ; patronos inconstantes; privatos adulatores; mendaces promissores; invidiosos araicos; ambitiosos fere omnes. Athel. HISTORYOF ENGLAND. 380 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK He reminds his nephew, that, seven years before, j_ he had left him pursuing his Gallic, by which we may LITERARY presumc is meant Norman, studies,** while Athelard himself went to explore the Saracen philosophy.*' A short exordium leads him to confer on many of those points of natural knowlege which he had studied in Spain. We may smile at some of the questions on which he took the trouble of enlightening his ne phew, as — why herbs do not grow from water, air, and fire, as well as from earth ; why men have not horns like other animals ; why we go erect ; why we do not walk as soon as we are born ; why our fingers are unequal, and our hand hollow; why we are nourished by milk; why the nose is placed over the mouth; whether the stars are animated, and if so, do they eat But some ofhis other topics, as — the nature of the senses, the nerves and veins — the cause of earthquakes, ofecHpses, and of the tides; — why the sea is salt ; why the rivers do not increase it ; the origin of the winds, thunder, and lightnitig ; how the earth is sustained in air — whether brutes have souls — why joy should cause weeping ; why men of ge nius should want memory, and those of memory, genius ; and why the seat of fancy, reason, and re membrance, should be in the brain. These inquiries were the first beams of awakening curiosity after natural knowlege ; and Athelard, with all the defi ciencies and absurdities of his little treatise, must be looked on as the father of natural philosophy in Eng land. He was the first herald of its approach. His books are the earliest records we have of the discus- " Meministi, nepos, septennio jam transacto, cum te in gallitis studiis pene puerum juxta laudarissimum, &c. Athel. ™ Ut Arabum studia pro posse meo scrutarer. Athel. DUCTION OF THE SCIENCES. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 381 sion of such subjects in this country.®" Tho not abun- CHAP. dantly wise in all his opinions and inquiries, yet he ^" discusses his topics with the air of a man who feels intro- that he has burst from the swathing-bands of autho rity. He talks boldly of the privileges and utility of ak^b'an reason, and contemptuously of those who submit to slumber in a bestial credulity ; a language which announces the beneficial eflfect of the Arabian con quests on the intellect of Europe. But, aware of the personal danger of such freedom, he guards himself, by reminding his nephew, that his opinions must be considered as those of the Arabians, and that he is pleading their cause, and not his own. The absurdity of some of his topics, and the weakness of some of his reasoning, were, perhaps, better adapted to tempt the absolute ignorance of the European mind, in its first rude state, to the cultivation of natural knowlege, than wiser tuition. A Newton would be the worst possible preceptor to a Laplander. There would be no point of contact between them. But a mixture of nurse-tales and philosophy, all believed to be grave and important knowlege, would fasten on the appre hension, and please the taste of an uncultivated mind, far better than pure reason and science, which can only be attained by slow and painful progress. The book of Athelard may have first kindled the curiosity of many subsequent inquirers, and cannot have been contemptible or useless to his contemporaries, since in the fifteenth century, in the infancy of the typogra phical art, it was thought worthy to be printed twice, above four hundred years after his death. Athelard's »° As be begins it with saying, ' Cum in Angliam nuper redierim, Hen rico Guillermi anglis imperante,' it must have been written before 11 35, when Henry I. died. 382 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK translations of Euclid, and some astronomical works ^^' from the Arabic into Latin, are in the public libraries LITERARY at Oxford."' en'gland.'^ The next person, after Athelard, in England, whose ' ¦' ¦ name has survived to us for having attended to the Arabian subject of natural philosophy, is William de Conchis, pursued in about 1 1 40 ; he wrote his " Philosophia on natural iigiand. Questions,"* and also a dialogue with Henry II, in- titled, " De Coelo." "' In 1 1 85, we had a student in London capable of translating from the Arabic, the book of I^tolemy on the Astrolabe ; ^ and about 1 1 90, Daniel Morley, after studying at Paris, went to Ara bian Spain to learn the mathematical sciences, and studied at Toledo. He composed two books on the upper and lower parts of the world,*^ and others on the mathematics."" Sometime afterwards appeared our Michael Scot, the wizard of our northern ballads, and of the elegant Lay of the last Minstrel."' The exertions of these active-minded men, and of similar adventurers, quickly introduced Arabian learn- °' His other MSS. now remaining are, ' de Philosophia Danielis,' in Oriel College, Ox. N° 859 ; his translation of Euclid from "the Arabic, in Coll. S. Trin. at Oxford, N° 1967; his Isagoge of Japhar on Astronomy, taken from the Arabic, in the Bodleian library, N° 1669; his transladon of Euclid's Elements, in fifteen books, from the Arabic, N° 3359. 3623; the Tables of El Kauresmi, from the Arabic, N°4137, ^' This exists still in MS. in the Bodl. Library, Dig. N° 1705 ; and C. C. C. Ox. 1562, -where he is called 'alias Shelly.' '' The IMS. of this work was in the Florence library, and is mentioned in its catalogue, v. 2. p. 63, ^* I learn this fact from the catalogue of the Bodleian library, which, among the MSS. Digby, has this article, N° 1641. ' Ptolemaei liber de compositione Astrolabii, translatus de Arabico in Latinum, ]E,va I185, in civit. London.' Cat. MSS. Angl. p. 78. '5 These Works, intitled, 'de inferiori, and de superiori parte mundi,' are in MS. in the library C. C. C. Oxford, N" 1562. He there remarks, ' When I lately went from England for the sake of study.' ** ' De Principiis Mathematicis.' Tanner Bib. 532. ^ He was patronized by the emperor Fred. IL Muratori mentions, that in the Ambrosian library at Milan, was a treatise he wrote at the emperor's request. Ant, It, p. 945, DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 383 ing into England. We find the Commentary of Aver- CHAP. roes on Aristotle actually lectured upon, near Cam- 1. bridge, about the close ofthe twelfth century ;°* and about the same period, among the books of Benedict the abbot of Peterborough, we perceive Almanzor, an Arabian book on the virtues of plants."" At the close of the next age, we read of an archbishop giving to his church at Peterborough the works of Avicenna."" But it is in the compositions of Friar Bacon, who was born in 1214, and who learnt the Oriental lan guages, that we discover the most extensive acquaint ance with the Arabian authors. He quotes Albuma- zar, Averroes, Avicenna, Alpharabius, Thabeti ben Corah, Hali, Alhacen, Alkindi, Alfraganus, and Arzachel : and seems to have been as familiar with them as with the Greek and Latin classics, especially with Avicenna, whoni he calls the chieftain and prince of philosophy."' Bishop Greathead, the friend of Bacon, the spirited assertor of the liberties of the English church against the papal encroachments, also quotes Albumazar, Averroes, and Avicenna."* Thus that the stream of mind from Arabia into Eng land, and of new intellectual excellence thence aris ing, commenced the true improvement of our country in its scientific pursuits, cannot be doubted. We cannot now ascertain the precise causes which at that peculiar period inclined the English mind to make Mohamedan science and Mohamedan authors *' Pet. Bles, contin. Ingulf, 1 Gale .Script, p, I14. ^ Hugo Candidus, ed. Speake, p, 39, "™ Walt, Whytleseye, ed. Sp. p. 170. "" See his Opus Majus, edited by Jebb ; and his other tracts in various places, "« In his treatise de Art. Liberal, and his Commentary upon Aristotle, printed in Venice 1514, with Gwalter Burley's Commentary, who died 1337- niSTORYOF ENGLAND, 384 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK a favorite study. It was more natural and far easier ^^' for our ancestors to have obtained and enjoyed the LITERARY Grecian originals and the beautiful classics of the Athenian genius, after they had become familiar with the Roman imitations and competitors of these mas terly elFusiojis of human taste and talent. Yet they left this rich and new harvest untouched, and even unexplored, tho its language had such kin ship with their well-known Latin, and could therefore have been attained and its manuscripts procured with far less labor and expense than Arabic knowlege and tuition. In considering what circumstances then ex isting operated on the disposition and curiosity of the day, to direct the studious intellect in England to those Mussulman teachers, whose religion and manners they abhorred and reprobated, we may re collect that the Crusades, by the negotiations, wars, dealings, and captivities which they occasioned, pro duced continual intercourse ; that Becket's father had been for some time a prisoner with a Saracen emir, and that the Arab's daughter became the mother, and therefore the first instructor of the saint ; "^ that the emperor Frederic the Second's patronage of Ma hometans in his court, administration, and army, espe cially in Sicily"* which the English so much fre quented after the visit of Richard I."* for commerce, curiosity, and crusading, could not but cause a fre quent mixture of Mussulman and English society ; that the knights templars and hospitallers, who were charged in that day with secret connexions and rriys- terious congenialities with the Saracen chiefs and '"' See the 1st volume of this History, p. 221. '"' See the 2d vol. of this History, p. 21 and 22. •»Ib. vol.1, p. 439. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 305 system which they had been established to oppose,"" cii ap, had all the influence of great landed property in ^^• England and other parts of Europe ; "' that John had projected alliance with the Mussulman sovereign of Morocco; "* that his son Henry III, corresponded with the sultan of Damascus,"" and was applied to by the Saracen caliph for his help against the Tartars."" These facts are the indications that the incidents of the times were frequently bringing the English and Mussulman minds into business and acquaint* ance with each other, which gradually lessened their mutual antipathies and stimulated the curiosity of the inquisitive. In addition to these notices we may remark, that the position and new tastes and studies of the Jews, may have also been among the still earlier means of drawing the two opposing classes into an approximation towards each other, and of being a kind of bridge to lead many, both in Eng land and Europe, into a degree of mental fraterni zation with Islam studies and most celebrated works. From this possibility, a few facts and observations "* Van Hanmer's work upon the Knights Templars gives many proofs of this fact. The letter of the emperor Frederic II. to the earl of Corn- ^ wall, brother of Henry III. charges the templars with a treacherous asso ciation with the snidans of Damascus and Cracey. He adds, ' It was shewn manifestly to us by some religious men, that these soldans and their fol lowers were received within the cloisters of the mansions of the temple, cum alacritate pomposa.' — ^The emperor even charges them with the ' in- vocatione Mahometi.' Ep. Ap. Matt. Paris, p. 619. "" M. Paris asserts, that in 1244 ' the templars had 9OOO manors, and the hospitallers 19,000 manors in Christendom, besides various emolu ments and incomes, arising from their fraternities and preachings, and accruing from their privileges.' p. 615. As a parallel to .this, we may recollect the conduct of John's contem porary Sancho VI. king of Navarre. He sought in marriage the daughtei" of the sovereign of Morocco, and even entered into his service, and brought Saracens into his Navarrese territory, whom the Christians at last drove out. "•» See this History, v. 1. p, 427. '°» Rym. Fed. v, 1, p. 389, "° Matt. Paris, 471. Taxter MS. Chron. 36-42. Vol. IV. C c 38(5 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK concerning this singular people in England, and their ^^' literature in the middle ages, may make the view of LITERARY our owH intcUectual advancement more complete. ENG™AND,*^ Coming into this island from Rouen, under Wil- ^~rr — ' liam the Conqueror, the Jeavs remained here above Literature, two ccnturics, Until they were expelled by Edward I. in 1290.'" They were favored by Henry II. more than the prejudices of many thought right,"* and having spread into various parts of~the country, be came every where the wealthy dealers in bullion and money. We find them mentioned, at Lincoln, Nor thampton, Rumsey, Marlbro, Andover, Derby, and Oxford."' They were also at Norwich, York, and Stamford, as well as in various parts of London."* The king exercised the right of granting their chief priesthood in London,"' as well as of taking it away."" They had been so rich in France in the twelfth cen tury, as to be the owners of half the city of Paris,"' before they were expelled from it, at first in 1182,"* '" See our preceding note on the Jews, v. 2. p. 121. "" This king ' Judeos fenerantes, plus justo favit.' Chron. I Gale, p. 513. — He ' gave leave to the Jews to have a burying-ground in every city without the walls. Before this, all dead Jews were taken to London, to be buried there.' Hoveden, p. 568. '" Cal. Rot. pp. 28. 37. 35. 38. 49. 32. 46, '" 1 Gale Script. 28. 34. Cal. Rot. 90. 92. "* See grant of Edw. I. in Cal. Rot. p. 49. "* In tbe Tower rolls is a record, by wbich Henry III, for three marcs of gold re,stored to the bishop of the Jews at London his sacerdotium, of which, for certain transgressions,' be had been adjudicatus before the king's justice: it directs also, on the election of this priest, the presenta tion of him to the king, and obtaining the royal assent. Cal. Rot. p. 29. The English barons made it a part of the provisions, which in 1244 they obtained from Henry III. tbat besides adding two justices to the king's bench and two barons to the exchequer, there should be also ap pointed a justiciarius for the Jews ; a most important civil privilege and benefaction, which ensured them legal justice. '" Rigordus, p. 164-7. "° Ib. Their synagogues were then purified and turned into churches. By this means Orleans got its church, and so Etampes, Ib. They had been exterminated from France before, in tbe reign of Dagobert. Ib, p, 167. Greg. Tours, 368. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. ^Q^ and finally in 1252."" Their great wealth in Eng- chap. land, occasioned them to be perpetually attacked and ^^¦ persecuted. That they prohibited their children from learning- Greek, we read in their own venerated authorities,^*" and that they abhorred the language and literature of their Roman destroyers, we need not doubt, from the still greater stimulus of their national hatred of those who had driven them from their beloved and sacred land. Indeed their extravagant idea of their own — in our estimation most barren and sapless — teachers, would be sufficient to preclude them from all improve ment from the other source of knowlege which sur rounded them.^** But yet, bigotted as they were to their own scanty produce, and prejudiced asthey-long continued to be against all that was better, yet in the twelfth century, their students began to relax so far as to think at last that Arabian knowlege and Mus sulman teachers were not unworthy of their atten- tion, nor degrading to their pride to learn from. Hence, while they despised or hated Greek and Rot man and Christian literature, we find them at that time, and for some time afterwards, translating the works of the Mohamedans from the Arabic into '" Mat. Paris, 86l. M. West. 252. '" TheMishna mentions, tbat ' in the wars of Titus they decreed that no Jew should teach his son Greek;' Sett. c. 9. s, 14.; and a com.menta- toron this, says, ' Cursed is be who breeds swine, and who teaches his son Greek,' which they call Javauith. Bartol. Bib, Rah. v, 1. p. 2, '^' Thus of their Rabbi Eliezer, whom they call the Great, not con tented with asserting — what other nations might allow — 'If all the wise men of Israel were put into one scale and Rabbi Eliezer in the other, he would outweigh them all ;' they chose also to declare, with all the sub limity of rhetorical nonsense, ' If the heavens were to become parchment, and all the trees of Lebanon to be made into pens, and all the waters of the ocean were to be ink, they would not sufiice to describe His wis dom,' Bartol, Bib, Rab. 18,5. c c 2 388 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK Hebrew, for the instruction of their own people,'** and ^^- into Latin for the pleasure, fame and profit of teach- LiTERARY lug thc Christlau scholars of Europe, by their supe- uisTORYOF ^.Jqj, attainments,^*' When their academies at Babylon ' — •• — ' were broken up,'** their schools at Toledo, in Spain, became more resorted to.'** They made a singular decree at Barcelona, that no Jewish youth should study philosophy before his twentieth year.'*" But this only prevented those premature attainments, which oftener preclude future knowlege by early conceit. Their students gradually enlarged their sub jects of inquiry, and travelled into various countries. One of their most celebrated scholars, Aben Erza, visited England in the reign of Henry II.'*' In Spain '°^ Thus in 1158 Rabbi Moses Ben Josuab translated into Hebrew Abubaker's Philosophical Treatises, and Al Gazel's works on Logic, Pro vidence, and the Divine Unity. Rabbi Moses Ebu. Tibb, in 1 190 made similar versions of several Arabian authors, R. Samuel so inter preted Alpharabius de Principiis Naturalibus, and on the Essence of tbe Soul. R, Jacob, Avicenna's works on tbe Sphere and Medicine, and Alpharabius de Syllogismo. Other Hebrews translated Alchasin on Astro nomy, and Aviceiina's Anatomy and de Anima. Bartol. Bib. Rab. vol. 1. P- 3; l'^3. ,5- 7- 6- 1" 1210, B. Moses translated Ewc/irf into Hebrew, and Abucha commentary on Aristotle, p. 95; and in 1307, R.Isaac gave A similar version to Al Gazel's work on Philosophical Opinions; ib, p. 3; and in 1451, R. Bausel so translated Abu Achmet's book, ' de Arithmetica.' p. 3. "^ Several of these Latin translations of the Arabian authors have been printed, and bear the names of their Jewish writers. Besides these, we find that R.Judas, in 1256, translated Avicenna on the Stars; and R. Kolonimes, between 1311 and 1326, made versions of the works of Averroes on Natural Investigations ; on Metaphysics, and on Aristotle de Anima. Bartol. 1. p. 7 & 13, '^* On this academy, see Bartol. Bib. Rab. v. 1. p. 486. The last rabbi at Babylon was there in 1038. After flourishing 341 years, this famous school was destroyed; but similar ones were soon raised up elsewhere, and especially in Spain. Ib. p. 700. '" See Bartol. p. 493. Spain and Toledo became the places of refuge to the Jewish literati, when persecuted elsewhere, as, to Rabbi Baruel in 1202; ib,p.695; and to R. Ascher in 1307. Flying out of Genuany to Toledo, Ascher was. made head of the school there, and died in that situation in 132I, Ib. 493, 4. 502. '* Bartol. p. 500. ™ He visited also France, Italy, and Greece, and died about 1 194 in DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. they assumed the ennobling name of Don,'** and one of them became a king of Portugal's privy council lor.'*" Rhodes. He was deemed a great philosopher. Besides his celebrated Commentary on the Bible, he wrote also on Algebra, Astronomy, Arith metic, Astrology, and many other subjects. Bartol. p. 37. "" Bartolocci justly remarks, that altho modern Jews assume the title of Don in Spain, yet the more ancient rabbis did not. p. 713. Yetin the Shalshaletli, one so early as I190 is called Don Salmon. Ib. p. 712. '*" This was Don Ghedalia, whom the king invited out of Castile, on account of his political intelligence. It was he who, when tbe Spanish king invaded Portugal, advised his new master not to fight his enemies, but to let them waste T""y ir t^tt fff"^°"Y campaign, Bart, p. 714. 389 CHAP, IX. -T. 300 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, CHAP. X. Arabian Subject continued — Intellectual Character of the Arabs — Avicenna's Works — Al Gazel's- — Their natural History — Uses of Gunpowder — Paper — Arabian Logic. BOOK Xhe Arab philosophers were men who combined, '_ with an acuteness and activity of mind that has ne^ Intellec- ver been surpassed, all the knowlege which industry racter of could thcu attain. What they knew, they knew tho- the Arabs, roughly ; they reasoned with Subtlety, but they made their knowlege the foundation of their logic. There is a clearness, a penetration, an information, and a correctness about their reasoning, which spreads a brightness over every subject they handle. To the patient investigation of the Alexandrian mathemati cians, they united the active subtlety of the Grecian sophist ; but poured at the same time, from their dis cursive intellects, all the natural information which their chemical and mineralogical researches could then supply. They refused no labor in the acquisi tion of knowlege or the discovery of truth ; and it was this combination of mathematic, logical, and ex perimental mind, which so rapidly improved them selves, and from them has so highly exalted the intel lect of Europe. They were true philosophers. They loved intellectual pursuits, from an intense feeling of their excellence. They believed the perfection of the human nature to rest in these, and they struggled unwearied to attain them. If they have ceased to be the intellectual teachers of the world, it has been, because they suffered their minds to be too much sciences. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 391 fettered by the Aristotelian predicaments, which chap. often drew them into useless verbal disquisitions, ^' and to look at nature thro the spectacles of logic ; intro- and because knowlege has so greatly accumulated of the since their day, as to make them but children in Arabian science, to us, their more fortunate disciples. They were superior to the Greeks, by combining their logic and metaphysics with experimental philoso phy ; and for the nobler religious principles, which some of them infused into their reasonings.' The Grecian philosophers knowing few physical facts, their ingenuity wasted itself upon definitions, distinc tions and refinements, that were but skirmishes of words. The Arabs, with minds as agile as their Greek masters, happily deviating into a taste for na tural knowlege, reasoned more justly, more usefully, and more intelligibly. The universality of their re searches and attainments is also wonderful. We have far excelled them in every separate path of inquiry ; but no man has appeared since Avicenna,* Alchindi,'^ ' As, Alchindi's ' Quod anima sit substantia simplex et immortalis' — and ' Primi agentis, sive Dei, existentia demonstratur,' Casiri, p. 355 ; the quod anima sit incorporea, and de extremo judicii die, of Rasis, p. 263 ; Alkhatheb's book de creatione et resurrectione, p. 1 82 ; Avicenna on the soul, called his golden work, in wbich he maintains that it does not die with the body; and Al Gazel's works, mentioned below. ' Casiri has inserted the life of Avicenna, from his Arabian biographer, in his Bibliotheca, p. 268, and the Arabian catalogue of his diversified works, p. 270. The extent ofhis popular celebrity may be inferred from his magical feats in the Persian and Arabian tales. ^ The Arabian catalogue of Alchindi's works is indeed multifarious, as the heads under which they are distributed will shew : — 16 treatises under Opera Philosophica. 9 - . - Logica. 11 - - Arithmetica. 8 - - Sphaerica. 6 - - - Musica. 17 - - - Astronomica. 21 - - . Geometrica. 10 - - - de Orbe celesti. 22 Medica. (continued.) c c 4 392 Avicennaand Al Gazel'sworks. HISTORY OF ENGLAND, Alpharabius,* Al Khatib,^ Thabet ben Corah," or Avenpace,' who has pursued so many subjects of investigation, and written on all with so much dis cernment and ability. They were literally encyclope- distes.* Many of the works of Avicenna ;" the Commen taries of Averroes on Aristotle," the admirable trea- 9 treatises under Astrologica. 11 5 11 10 7 29 Problematica. de Anima. Politica. Metereologica. Optica. Chemica, Physica, &c. Casiri, 353-356. ' See the long list of the varied works of Alpharabius, in Casiri, p, 190. . ° Fakhereddin Ebn Alkhathib, called Alcabitius, was so rewarded by the king of Khorasan, that he left to his heirs 80,000 pieces of gold, Casiri, p, 182; who adds the Arabian catalogue of his numerous com positions. ^ Commonly named Thebit. From the profuse list of his works, Casiri, 386-389, he seems to bave discussed most subjects of philoso phical inquiry. ' Abu Jaaffar, in the preface to liis interesting Hai Ebn Yokdan, classes the first Arabian scholars in Spain as of the mathematical school. He says, ' after them came a generation of men, who applied themselves more to the art of reasoning, in which they excelled all their predecessors. After these appeared others, who advanced still farther to the truth, among whom ncme made nearer approaches than Avenpace.' p. 13. — Abu Jaaffar's work is the romauce of a man bred up by a goat in a soli tary place, and reasoning himself into a knowlege ofthe Suprerne. " Is-aia Ben Fr'aigen, of Corduba, in 1002 actually became one; for Casiri mentions that he composed an ' Encyclopedia, in which the rules of almost all the sciences are discussed in lines and circles, briefly, but with wonderful art.' Bib. p. 380. " The medical works of Avicenna fill a large folio in Latin, Medicine owes entirely to him its use of tamarinds, rhubarb, sugar, cinnamon, &c. Casiri, p. 272. His Logica, Metaphysica, &c. are printed in a separate volume. " Averroes was born in Corduba. He is considei-ed as the best of all tbe Arabian commentators •on Aristotle, He was the pupil of Ibnu Tho- fail, who died 1173. Fab. Bib. Grasc. 13. p. 280. Several works of Averroes bave been translated into Latin, aud printed. He is also called Ebn Roschid. His paraphrase on Plato's RepubHc was put into Latin by a Jew physician, J. Mantinus. His treatise, ' de simplic. Me dic' was published in 1531, in folio. He finished bis ' Theologia Dog- matica,' in 1178. Casiri, 184. DUIUNG THE MIDDLE AGES, 393 tises of Al Gazel, and several other of the Arabian C IIA P, compositions, have been printed in Latin translations, ^- and are therefore accessible to all. Of these, I have intro- been most impressed with the genius and reasonings of the latter." Al Gazel's philosophy is of the best sort ; it exhibits all the Arabian acuteness, injured only by the categories of the Peripatetic school. It aspires to establish the noble principles ofthe creating Deity;'* and the immortality of the human soul. When Proclus reasons, you have an obscure subtlety, a labyrinth of phrase, which at times defies compre hension, and seems worthless when understood. In Al Gazel, you see a philosopher reasoning as subtilely, " The Logica and Philosophia of Al Gazel are printed in one vo lume, Venice 1506. In this work is the following passage : ' We say that all utility is vile in comparison of eternal felicity — the felicity of another hfe. This happiness must depend on the perfection of the soul; which will consist of two things — purity and ornament. To be pure, the soul must he purged from alt sordid manners, and be kept from all base phan tasies. For its adorning, the certainty of truth should be so depicted on it, as that divine truths may be revealed to it. The mind is a mirror, which cannot be perfect unless the most beautiful forms appear in it.' '^ Al Gazel concludes a chain of subtle reasoning thus — ' It follows, then, that the source of all things is that which is necesse per se; which is one entirely ; and whose being is from itself. So that he is the true and pure Being in himself, and the origin of every other. He therefore is perfect. — ^and the most perfect. All things whatsoever have their exist ence from him, and the comparison of other beings, to his Being, is as the comparison of the light of other bodies to the glory of the sun : For the sun shines by itself, and not by another illumining it. As that is the fountain of light to all lucidity, so with him, the first Being, are the keys of all science, and from him proceed the wisdom and knowlege of every thinking being. He who is blessed for ever, knows all the possible and the contingent. Nothing is so small as to escape his notice. But for HIS comprehension, there is no comparison. Angels are always in the contemplation of his perfections, and therefore their delight has no end. From their propinquity to the Lord of Ages, their joy transcends our joy. To obey iiim, to behold him, to love him, constitutes their glory and their felicity — and when we shall be separated from this body by death, our enjoyment will be as perfect. That which is now hidden will then be revealed; our happiness will continue for ever; we shall attain to the sublimest truths, and we shall be the companions of the angels m their propinquity to the Primeval Troe One, not in locaUty merely, but m aff'eclion and beneficence.'— This passage is taken from Al Gazel s chap ter ' on the Cause of Universal Being, which is Deus altissimus. HISTORYOFENGLAND 394 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK but more closely than the Greek, and always with in- ^^- telligible thought, and from correct facts. He is ever LITERARY strlvlug to basc his reasoning on experimental truths. His work at the same time exercises and improves the understanding, and kindles an ardent curiosity for natural knowlege.'* Some of the Arabian students in time abused their own acuteness, by supporting opi nions averse from true philosophy, and incompatible with the happiness of society. These mistaken men, perverting the minds and corrupting the principles of many, excited the disapprobation of the better part of their own people, and made science disreputable and suspected.'* The jealousy of their government, and the bigotry of their priesthood, were influenced by a perception ofthe mischief. Persecution followed, and their philosophy ruined itself by its abuse. Turkish barbarism despised it in the East ; the brutal savage- ness of the Moorish temper extinguished it in Africa ; and the expulsion of the Mohamedans from Spain, banished it from Europe. The love of knowlege has how wholly deserted the Mussulman mind, and we only know of what the genius of Arabia has been ca pable, from the dusty treasures of our libraries,'^ which " Al Gazel was called by his countrymen the Imam Alalem, or tbe Imaura ofthe world. — the man who practised what he taught — who of all others feared most to offend bis Maker — the Doctor ofthe spiritual world. Being once asked how he had acquired his extraordinary knowlege, he answered, ' by never having been ashamed to inquire when I was igno rant.' D'Herbelot, voc. Gazali. " Thus Ehl Eltahkek taught that there was no God but tbe four ele ments — no soul and no Hfe after the present. Abu Moslema was one of his followers. So the Zindikites asserted that there was no Providence, and no resurrection, and that all which we see, and al^ that exists, is the Deity. Piet.de la Valle. Bayle, 1. p. 38; 3. p. 2767. " When I observe how rich tbe Bodleian library is in Arabic MSS, I am surprised that no one out of its numerous students bas attempted to give from them an intelligent history of Arabian literature and science, as the French have done in their ' Notice des MSS.' DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 395 we, forgetful of our great benefactors, and proud of chap, our superior affluence, never pause to examine, and ^' rarely condescend to praise,'" ' intro- Some of the Arabians and Persians also cultivated, of'th'e"' tho not with much frequency or enthusiasm, Natu- Arabian TT A 1 T» 1 T> • 1 ¦ 1 SCIENCES. RAL History, Abu Kehan, a Persian, who is stated ^ — ^.. — to have travelled forty years in India, wrote on pre- Natural cious stones. He had been taught by the Bramins, History. and understood the languages both of Hindostan and Greece," Others writ on gems and trees; and several on animals.'* One on hawks and hunting. They were more elaborate in their treatises on agriculture. Ebu Auan collected from every source the best in formation on this subject.'* Avicenna, amid the multiplicity of his studies, observed and wrote on animals ; and his work was translated into Latin by the celebrated magician or conjurer of the middle ages, but who was really more '° It may be useful to add the times in wbich some ofthe chief Arabian philosophers lived : — Albumazar - - - died - A.C. 894. Alchindi died 901. Thabeti Ben Corah - born - - 835. Rasis - - died - 932. Albategnius - - - died - - 929. Alpharabius - - died 961. Ahulhassan died 986. Avicenna - - - born - 979. - died - - 1036. Al Gazel - - born 1072. died - - 1126. Averroes - died - - 12 17. Avenpace - - ¦ died 1155- Alcabitius - - died - 1228. Beithar - - died 1248. " He lived in the tenth century. — Casiri Bib. 332. '« Ib. 318-20. " Casiri has given a good and full account of the Arabian writers ou agriculture, p. 323. One author places the first use of Coffee at Mecca, in 859. The Arabs called it Cahue, from a word signifying abstinence, because it enabled them to bear watchings and hunger. Ib 173. Casiri Bib. 48»-5l ; and Pref p. 9. 39G HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK VI. LITERARY HISTORYOFENGLAND, a wizard in his attainments than in his powers.*" In this the Arabian philosopher has curiously marked the moral difference of animals.*' Some of his obser vations are peculiar,** but these works have the interest of shewing us the vastsuperiority of modern science. His treatise on the Soul was highly estimated,*' and is certainly superior to any former philosophical work on that subject. It contains a few physical observations,** and much Arabian acuteness, but is too much in the scholastic style of thought and " This was tbe redoubted Michael Scot, The printed title of the work expresses it to be ' The book of Avicenna on Animals, translated from Arabic into Latin by Magister Michael Scot,' who thus addresses it to the German emperor: ' Frederic! Lord; Emperor of the World! receive, devote, this book of Michael Scot, May it be a grace to thy head and a torques to thy neck!' ^' Thus: 'Some animals have very little anger, as the cow; others shew vehement folly and sharp rage, as the boar: some are pious and clean, as the camel ; or cunning in their wicked motions, like the serpent. Lions are brave and magnanimous. Wolves, strong, ingenious, surly and savage. Foxes display ingenuity, but with evil designs. Dogs have fury, but are laborious, and are useful to men. Some animals are very astute and familiar, as apes aud elephants. Others bashful and cautious, as tbe goose. Some, like the peacock, are envious and great admirers of their own beauty ; and others, like the camel and the ass, have very good memories.' Avic. de Animal, p. 29. ?" He attempts Physiognomy: ' Tbe eyes chiefly shew the character ofthe soul. If the lacrymale domesticum is of a moderate size, it marks astuteness: if it has much flesh, as sometimes in the kite, it shews an evil subtiety. He who has eyebrows hanging over, is envious. Middling- sized eyes indicate goodness and purity. If extending forwards, they shew a fool ; if deep-seated, subtlety. A man who can Tceep his eyes open a long time without a feeling of shame, is silly. Tremulous eyes imply levity of mind,' Avicenna Animal, p, 29. He refers to his master, Aristotle, the opinion that the arteries begin from tbe heart ; and to others, that the veins origiuate from the liver. He remarks that after he is 40 days old the infant can laugh, and that this is the first action which the rational soul performs in bis body. After two months the babe dreams. Avic, Anim. p. 9, " The Latin translation thus closes : ' Here ends the golden work on tbe Soul, of Avicenna; corrected diligently, and ended at Padua, by two regular canons of St. Augustiii's monastery.' " Thus he remarks on tbe lucid phosphorence of some bodies, that the particles of rotten oak, some worms, and a few insects, shine in the dark ; so do the eyes of lions and serpents; and says, ' I liave seen an hen's egg, a dead locust, and a dead caterpillar, exhibit this eff'ect.' p. 1 1. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 397 reasoning to be interesting or useful now. Some brief chap. notices of it will be inserted in the notes.** ^- The Arabs were acquainted with the property of intro- the Magnet to turn towards the north, and had ap plied it to navigation in the twelfth century. But whether it was their own discovery, or derived from Egypt, India, or China, or elsewhere, has not yet become known.*" They studied the Greek Arith metic.*'^ ^ He considers the powers ofthe mind to be of three sorts : 1st. The vegetative, "hich causes the first perfection of its natural and instru mental body in its growth and nutrition. 2d. The sensitive, which is capable of apprehending particular things and moves the will, 3d. The rational soul, which deliberates and forms universal notions, judges and acts. The vegetative has three forces, the nutritive, the augmentative and tbe generative. The sensitive two general ones ; the motive and the apprehending. The motive power commands and comprises the vis appetiva and desiderativa, and the irascibilis. The apprehending is two fold ; that which acts externally by its senses, and that which acts inter nally in its apprehensions of sensible forms and of the intentiones sensi- bilium, or that wbich the soul apprehends de sensibili, altho the exterior Sense should not perceive it. Thus the sheep conceives the intentio, the reasoji why it ought to fear the wolf and to fly from him, altho his sense does not in any manner feel it. He distinguishes the imaginativa of the mere vital soul from the Cogiriva of the rational or human one, and con siders this to be a faculty stationed in the middle cavity of the brain. He places the memorial power in its posterior cavity. He defines ima gination to be that which abstracts the form from the matter; so that whether the material subject were absent or destroyed, the being of its form would be permanent in the imagination. He maintains that tbe soul does not cease to be at death, and that it does not transmigrate into other bodies; and he thinks that it vivifies the animal from the heart. He opposes those who say that the brain is every thing. He gives to tbe liver the regulation ofthe nutritive force, but considers the heart to be the first principle from which that chiefly flows, and by which the other actions are done in the limbs and even the principium sensus. Avic. de An p. 1-28. ^ On reading the treatise of Albertus Magnus on the loadstone, I found its polar tendency thus mentioned there. He says, that in a book of stones, which had Aristotle's name, but of which he had only seen some extracts, it is said, ' That a comer of the magnet had the property of taking iron ad Zoron, thatis, to the north, and that sailors used it. TThe opposite corner draws it ad Afron, thatis, to the south ; and if we bring iron near to the Zoron point, the iron turns itself to the north ; and if the opposite one, it moves itself directiy to the south.' Alb. Mag. de Mine- ralibus, p. 12. It is a mistake of Cavallo tosay, that the, compass is men tioned by the Islandic Ara Frode, " Alfarabius mentions this iu bis Opusculun de Scientiis : ' Et alia HISTORYOF ENGLAND 398 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK We have not an adequate knowledge of the extent ^^- of the Arabian science, because the learned and in- LiTERARY quisitive in the age of the schoolmen applied them selves to study and translate their metaphysical and medical works, in preference to those on natural phi- ^ mipow- }QgQp}jy_ gyt it seems clear that they knew and used Gunpowder and cannon before Roger Bacon wrote, and therefore it is probable that he learnt from them, as he was conversant with their books, what has so long appeared to be his discovery. The ancient Arabs used a composition of fiery matter, which they dis charged as missiles into the towns they besieged ;** but these were not made of our nitrous powder. Elmacin described Mecca to have been so attacked, in the first century of the Hegira.*" Such facts do not imply the use of modern artillery; but the Arabian author who lived in 1 249, describes a nitrous powder, and ma chines thundering and vomiting fire, which too much resemble our present cannon to leave any doubt of their analogy.^" The composition of their fiery mate- omnia quo in Arithmetica Nichomachi possunt plane consideraii.' He divides the sciences into those of the linguae, the logicse and the doctri- nalis. In the chapter ' de ingeniis' he mentions tlie ' ars speculorum ad usentium,' or of burning-glasses or mirrors ; and in that ' De scientia naturali' he notices the 'parvietas in vitro, ut quod in eo ponitur, exterius apparent.' c. 4. " Vegetius states, ' If there shall be houses in a castie fit to burn, you may set them on fire by sagittis igniferis. You may throw saxa.quadrata igne plena et maiiganica alacatia, which emit stones.' But Casiri remarks that no mention is made of the nitrous powder by the Greeks or Romans. Bib. Hist. V. 2. p. 6. =® It is under the 71st ofthe Hegira or 690 ofthe Christian era, that he mentions a chief to have besieged Mecca, and with mangariis et mortariis, ope naphtbae et ignis in Caabam jactis to have burnt it to ashes. Elmac. Hist. l.i. ^ The passage, as quoted by Casiri, is ' Serpunt, susurrantque scor- piones circumiigati, ac pulvere nitrato incensi ; unde explosi fulgurant ac incendunt. Jam videre erat manganum excussum, veluti nubem per aera extendi, ac tonitrus instar, borrendum edere fragoreni, ignemque undequaque«o?nens, omnia deripere, incendere ; in cineresredigere.' Bib. Hist. V. 2. p. 6, An Arabian receipt for gunpowder, written in 1254, is mentioned by Major Beamish in his notes on Bismark's Cavalry Tactics, DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 399 rial also indicates it.^' Machines loaded with naph tha, and exploded with noise against a besieged city, in 1,312 and 1323, are noticed by another Arab writer ;'* and The Chronicle of Alphonso II. in 1380, still more explicitly mentions what we must denomi nate cannon.^' Hence, as what the Arabs used in Spain must have been known to the Spaniards, and as a princess of England, daughter of our Henry II. became queen of Castile, in the middle of the twelfth century; and as both Richard I. and Edward I. mar ried Spanish princesses, and Henry III. cultivated Spanish connexions, we may infer that the knowlege of this destructive powder became known in England from Spain, in the thirteenth century. Roger Bacon may have discovered it for himself, in his own che mical experiments. We cannot deny that possibility; but it is clear that it was both known and used in Ara bian Spain before he could have become acquainted with it, as it is not at all likely that the Mussulmen there derived it from him. It was taken into France in 1338, during the reign of our Edward HI.'* '' Casiri justly remarks: ' It is clear that he speaks of iron globes thrown out by the help of artificial fire; and he iises every where the words naphtha and barud for tbe material. By barud the Persians, Turks and Arabs formerly signified nitre and now gunpowder. Naphtha meant a kind of bitumen mixed with sulphur.' Ib. ^' It is Abu Abdalla Ebn Alkatheb who thus mentions it in bis History of Spain ; ' In those years, the king of Granada besieged the city Baza^ where he exploded that Machinam maximam instructam naphtha etglobo admeto igne, in munitam arcem cum strepitu.' Casiri, ib. ^' Speaking of Algesiras, this chronicle says : ' The Moors from the town exploded many thunders upon the army, from which they threw out iron pileas like very great mails matiaiiis, and ejected them so far that some passed beyond the station ofthe besieging troops.' In 1382, he states that five Zabrias et Sagetiae left the town laden with meal, honey, butter and the pulvere quo tonitrus emittebatur.' Casiri, p. 8. '^ Du Fresne mentions, that the account of Barth. Dudrach, the trea surer for the war of that year, shews that it was brought into France in the year 1338. It is certain from our own records, that Edward III, made use of it. In p. 491, of our third volume, we have shewn that gunpowder was employed in defence of castles 111 1330. 400 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK VI. LITERARY HISTORYOF ENGLAND.Paper. War. The Arabians seem also intitled to claim the inven tion and use of writing paper, before it was known in England or Europe.^^ Altho, perhaps, it was rather adopted from more eastern countries than discovered by the ingenious countrymen of Mohamed.'^ That they made beautiful ink, and fine dies, may be true,^'^ but the later Grecians, and the European nations from them, practised these arts in early and great perfection, as their ancient illuminated MSS,, and the painted drawings upon them, satisfactorily demonstrate. The Spanish Arabs studied war as a science, and wrote several works upon it, of which some still re main in MS. in the libraries of Spain.^ ^ Abu Ali Moh. al Gazel, a writer of the seventh age of the Hegira, mentions in his work on tbe erudition of the ancient Arabs, that in the eighty-eighth year of tbe Hegira, (706 A. C.)one Joseph, surnamed Amru, first of all found out paper in the city of Mecca, and introduced its use among the Arabs,' Casiri, v, 2. p. 9, '° Ali Ben Mohamed, a Persian of Samarcand, declares that the use of paper was very ancient among the Chinese and Persians ; and that tbe art of making it was carried into Samarcand in tbe thirtieth year ofthe Hegira. > Casiri adds, that many MSS. in the Escurial, and some that were writ ten 1009 and 1 106, A. C. shew this. Bib. Hisp. ib, Peter of Clugny, in his work against the Jews, in 1 140, mentions, Chartam ex lasuris veterum pan7 norum ; but Peter was a great Arabic scholar, and much in Spain. Lupus, about 840, mentions in his Ep. 16, a chartaceo codice ; but Muratori observes, that some think this should be chartinaceo, and may mean papyrus. He adds, ' I have seen no MS, written on paper, before 1100,' Ant.ib.87i. So tbat the ATab claim seems best founded. " Casiri remarks, that the Persians and Chinese excelled in the art of calligraphy, and of making chartam nitidissiman, and most splendid ink and florid colours. ' Ever emulating them, the Arabs so tinged their skins with red and black, and made them so shining, that I bave often seen myself in them as in a looking glass.' Ib. ' There are many MSS. in the Escurial, both of paper and silk, which were made before the year 1200.' Ib. '' As that of Ali Ben Abdalrabman Ben Hazel, of Granada, w ho dedi cated his book on military affairs and stratagems, to the king of Granada, A. H. 763; in which he mentions gunpowder. And the following works : De Belli Prestantia et A'irtute, by Ben Jonas, of Corduba ; De Belli Regi- mine, by Ben Hazem ; De Arte Equestri, by Aldbamiathi, of Corduba ; and another by Ben Monden, of \'alentia, curious for its litle ; ' On tbat Constancy of mind in Battles, by which the Spaniards are distinguished among other nations,' Casiri, p. 29. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 401 ' The Arahiah mind had thel)est produce of Grecian Chap philosophy before it, when the caliphs had made _^ science and literature popular among its studious intro- individuals. But turning from Cicero, from the long of t^^ idolized Plato, from his competitors of the two aca- Arabian demies, from Seneca and the stoical reasoriers, and "^ — -. — '¦ from the school of Epicurus, and the eclectic Plato- Logic."" nist^ of Alexandria, they selected, in deliberate pre ference, the works and subjects of Aristotle, the most erabbed, the most diflficult, the most peculiar, but the most exciting and intellectualizing of all ; and to these, and more especially to his logical disquisitions, they devoted themselves with an emulation and an assi duity, which even the schoolmen imitated, but never surpassed.^' Hence logical treatises abounded in the Arabian schools, and were successively made the com mon property of scholastic Europe, as soon as men arose in it who could translate their language into Latin, and could understand their refined and subtil izing reasonings. Averroes distinguished himself by his Commen taries on Aristotle's Predicaments,*" to which a Jewish philosopher added his annotations, and not without asserting a fair independence of individualjudgment.*' ^ Averroes paraphrased Plato's Republic, as we remarked in note '*, p. 392 ; but this example was but little imitated. Plato obtained no dis tinction in the Arabian academies, tho be electrified Europe, and more especially Italy, on the revival of Greek literature in the fifteenth century. *° These occupy five small quartos, aud have been printed from tbe version of Severinus Boethus, who calls it the Exposition of Averroes of Corduba. *' This was Levi Ghersonides, whom Jacob Mantinus, an Hebrew, translated into Latin. Levi begins with saying, ' I will state the places in which my opinion differs from that of Aristotle.' One ofhis disunc- tions is, 'This art (Logic) directs the intellect to judge between the true ;and the false. In doing this, it is considered by itself, and therefore ,1 knew it to be, not an art, but an organ illustrative of knowlege ; for it Vol. IV. D d 402 BOOK VI. literaryhistoryof ENGLAND. Their rhetoric. HISTORY OF ENGLAND, Averroes also disserted on Aristotle's '. Analytics.** Several other Arabians, some of equal, and others of minor name, pursued the same path,*^ till Aristotle became far more distinguished iri the Mohamedan world than he had even been in his own country, or in any portion or: period of the Roman empire. The Arabs, even before Mohamet, were nationally and habitually orators in their public assemblies, but it was the eloquence of natural talent, mental vivacity, and excited feeling. The chains and rules and edu*- cation of art they spurned in all things, and their oratory was therefore as unformed and irregular as their government and habits,; but when these became settled in their conquests and colonizations of other countries, they sought the improvements which the laws of taste and the rules of art were found to pro duce, and were studied to display. The Arabians were then seen to study the Greek orations, and to translate their rhetoric. Poems were composed on this art, and as their knowlege became greater, Alsokaki trans lated Qtiintiliah, and Alhariri, Cicero.** is an organ to science, wbich by our using it, discriminates what is false from wliat is true, the. proposed object of all science.' p., l. " Averroes, or Ebu Roschid, which is his proper Arabian name, in troduces this work with a proemium, in which he remarks ; ' This book ¦treats on demonstration and definitions. As^ to 4he consideration- of demonstration, its purpose is to treat of those things which bave tieir materials in themselves, and these are generally true propositions. For these demonstrations seem to consist of two things; one, those proposi tions which have the materials in themselves; and the other, the com position or combination of these into their logical form.' ¦"Among these were Avenpace, Alpharabius and Abumazar. The lattei- is often quoted by Averroes, at p. 20. 104, &c. Averroes alludes to others, in the passage wherein he says,' As I have been instigated by some of our learned companions, diligent on these subjects, desecta Murgitana, on whom may God have mercy, to expound these things ; I have accord ingly expounded them, otherwise I should have abstained from it.' p. 20. " Thus AbualkasisBenedaris, who is called an ' eximius judex,' wrote ' De notificatione Generis et Specie!.' His object he states : ' We raeaii to speculate on the opinion of Alpharabius, who savs, tbat genus and differentia agree in this, that each of them notifies the essence and the DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 403 That the" Arabians had tales of wonderful heroes, chap. we know from D'Herbelot's short notice of one that ^• has been placed in the eighth century.*'' But the pub lication of the extravagant history of the Arab negro slave and poet, Antar,*® has laid before the English "world a leiigthened display of romantic tales, at tached to one extraordinary character; which being '^''^ . composed in the time of Haroun AlRaschid and his Fables. two successors,*'' or in the eighth century and part of the next, precedes all the romans and fictitious histo ries that now exist from either Bretons or Anglo- Normans iri Europe.** substance of the species.' Alhagiag ibn TlialmuS, reasoned, ' de mistione propositionis de inesse et necessariie.' Abuhalkasim Mahmath Ben Kasan composed a treatise on the manner of discriminating the demonstrations. Propter Quid, and the demonstration, Quid. He is termed a ' philoso- phus detlamator.' Another was Abultabadad Hadrahman Benjohar, whose work was on 'the. negative, the necessary, the possible and the middle term.' All these have been translated into Latin and printed. To us ¦who bave long outlived the day, when the subjects, the terms, the sfyTe of reasoning, aud the mode of diction of these gentlemen were popular; nothing can be more obscure, fatiguing, and unuseful now, than all the logical worksof this indefatigable, ingenious and emulous school. Time has conferred an obligation upon us, in covering them with her veil, but it is an act of justice to their talents, to preserve their historical memory. They were all serviceable in their day, and each contributed something to the vast accumulation of improvement, which our present age of light and knowlege has inherited and is increasing. ^ D'Herbelot's account is, ' Batthat, in Arabic, means a bold and valiant man, who seeks adventures bke the knights errant of the an cient romances, — Dhehebi writes, that in the year 121 of the Hegira, (a.d. 731), a warrior fell, surnamed Al Batthal, of whose warlike deeds many wonders are related. In the book intitled, ' Seirat al Mogiahedin,' or the Lives of the bravest Warriors, there is an abridgment of this hero's life: it is in the French king's library, N" 1079.' Herb. Bib. 193. *' It was in 1819 that ' Antar, a Bedoueen romance, translated from the Arabic by Terrick Hamilton, esquire, oriental secretary to the British embassy at Constantinople,' was published in one volume, which has been since extended into four. ¦*' The introduction states, tbat it was first put together ' by Osmay, one of the eminent scholars who adorned tbe court of Haroun Al Baschid, and of his two learned successors, Al Amyn and Al Mamoun, and con tinues still to be the principal source whence the storytellers of the ^off'ee-houses in Egypt, Syria and Arabia, draw their most interesting tales.' p, z. ^ I observe in D'Herbelot, that our Richard I. was called by the Ara- U D 2 404 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK As Antar 's adventures must have had great cele- ^^' brity, the Arabians, therefore, may claim to be our LITERARY prccursors in the roman, as well as in alchemy and England! metaphysics ; for as we cannot doubt that these tales ' •' ' would make their way into Spain, before the ninth century opened, or at least before it closed, and as our students in Mohametan Spain could hardly remain ignorant of such popular literature, we cannot deny the possibility, that the Arab romans may have con tributed to excite the Anglo-Norman and Breton -clergy to the composition of the fictitious heroes and heroic history, which have confessedly proceeded from them. Antar is of importance even on some interesting historical subjects.*' It has been surmised, that the Arabian Nights En tertainment may have proceeded from the old Pehlvi stock, and from that have been transl ated into Arabic.'" bian writers, ' Malek Antikar,' and ' King ofthe Franks.' p. 1 14, Antikar may have been their transformation of tbe word Angleterre — or, was -this name applied to him from any supposed resemblance between his actions and character and those of their popular Antar ? *^ Thus it authenticates the Hebrew account of tbe Arabs from Ish- ^nael, for it begins, ' Ishmael, son of Abraham, was the father of Adnan ;' p. 1, and deduces 20,000 horsemen from Adnan, before they migrated from the valley of Mecca; and it makes Adnan one of the two great Arab tribes, p. 58. It states the veneration in which Abraham was held, p. 11-20, making the Caaba his traditional mansion, and describing pil- .grimages to his shrine before Mohamed, 1 1-38. On a disaster ' they threw down their tents and pavilions, and thus they continued seven days and nights ;' p. 8. — just as the friends who came to Job ' sat down with him upon tbe ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him, for they saw that his grief was very great,' Job', c, 2. V. 13. - '" This is the supposition of Mr. Langles, which the editor of Antar thinks to be probable, from their ' rich and gorgeous descriptions of the works of art and nature — their enchanted palaces— their genii and magj:- cians — their sultans and viziers, and all the attendant magnificence Of a .court, and the want of individual character in their leading personages. Introd, p. 5. Mr. Von Hanmer, in the Paris As. Soc. Journal, Ap, 1827, has stated from Masoudi's history, that these tales are of Indian, or rather Persian origin, and the real name of the lady is not Scheherar zade, or city born, but Schii-zade, lion born, or milk born. The passage in Maioudi, is this, ' The style (if these traditions, is the same as that of DUCTION OF THE DURING THE MIDDLE AGES- 405 It is not improbable. The land of the fairies ; the CHAP. reo-ion of the genies, and the king of these imaginary ^- domains, Gian Ben Gian, which interest our youth intro so much in the Arabian Nights Entertainments, are purely Persian ; and so much so, that the first part of Arabian ¦tl. T ., . <^i 1 TVT 1 • , 1 I SCIENCES Firdousi s epic. Shah Nameh, introduces them to our > — v — attention." But the conception of the Eastern genii seems referible to a still older source — to the an cient Chaldeans.** The Spanish Arabs had translated what we call the fables of Pilpay from its Indian original into their language.'^ As it was the logical disquisitions of the Arabians which most interested and influenced our schoolmen the books which bave reached us, translated from the Persian, Indian, and Greek, and which have been composed after (he manner of that of Hezar Efsan ; which is rendered in Ar.abic by Elf Kharafa, or tbe thou sand fables; for the Arabic word Kharafa, answers to the Persian word Efsan. This book is called the Thousand and One Nights ; it is the his tory of a king, his vizier, the vizier's daughter, and her nurse, these two last are called Schirzad and Dinarzad. Massoudi distinguishes the stories of Sindbad, and Chimas, and Guilkand, as in books distinct from them, and says, that it was under Al Mamun, such stories began to be trans lated into the Arabic. I am induced to think that our Arabian Nights' is an ancient Persian collection of old eastern stories, with additions from Arabia aud Greece. Part of Sindbad is manifestly derived from Homer's Odyssey. " His account is, that when Ahriman and the demons were driven from heaven, they were banished with the Peries or Faries, to Gennistan,; where they were governed by Gian Ben Gian, tbe imaginary sovereign of this visionary country. " The ' lynges' were one of the chief orders of the celestial beings under the Deity, according to the Chaldean pbilosphers. See Stanley Hist. Phil. p. 1037, and the Chaldaic Oracles, p. I071. They fancied also material daimons, who could transform themselves into animals, birds and women, p. 1043. On the derivation ofthe word Genii, I would observe, that in Arabic, Aginyah now means what we call Genii: and Janistan, Fairy-land, or the Stan, the region of the Jani or Genii. In the same language Jannal is Paradise and Heaven. Jan and Jani, in Persian express tlie soul and life, Jann, in Persian, now signifies tbe Devil, and Jinn, in Arabic, is also applied to denote a demon. ^ In the Escurial is a MS. of a translation of this into Spanish, inti- tied, Calila y Dina, which mentions, that it was made from the Arabic so early as 1251, by the command of king Ferdinand's son, Alphonso. Ferusac, Bull. Univ. I836, N" 6. p, 435- D D 3 406 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK and the scholastic age, it may be useful to the histo- 2Zl rical student to give him a specimen of one of them, literary by a few passages from HISTORYOF E^NGLAND^ ^L GAZEL'S LOGICA. " The science of Logic gives the rule by which we may discern whether the definition and the syllogism be faulty or not, in order that true knowlege maybe distinguished fiom what is not true. Thus it is, as it were, the weight and measure of all the sciences. " All utility is vile in comparison of eternal felicity, which is the felicity of another life. But this felicity depends upon the perfection of the soul, and this consists of two things ; its purity and its adornment.- The purity of the soul lies in its being puri fied from what is sordid, and in being preserved from base phan tasies. Its adornment rests in having the certainty of truth depicted on it, so that divine truths may be revealed to it. " A mirror is not perfect unless a beautiful form can appear in it, so that this may be visible without deformity or alteration. But this cannot be, unless it be absolutely clear from all stain and rust, and then when what is beautiful is presented to it, this will appear in all its comeliness. " The mind is such a mirror. The forms of all being may be depicted in it when it is cleared and purified from all degrading habits ; but it cannot discriminate justly between what is vicious and what is virtuous, except by knowlege : for, to have the forms of all things painted on it, is nothing else than to have the know lege of all things within it. But there is no way of coming to true knowlege but by logic. The utility of logic is therefore the apprehension of knowlege, and the use of knowlege is the acqui sition of everlasting felicity ; but if this felicity cannot be had without the perfection of the soul, and if this can be attained only by its purity and its due adornment, then the perfect logic is a science of the greatest utility, " As the builder of a house first requires xhe preparation of tiles, wood and clay, tiiat he may after^Nards, from these, construct his house : so knowlege will arise according to the form and nature of the thing known. Therefore the inquirer after the knowlege of the whole will first desire to apprehend the knowlege of its parts. For this reason we must first speak of words, and explain how they signify intellect. We will then treat of intel lects and their divisions ; we will pi'oceed to the enunciation of DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 407 the composite, that is, ofthe predicate; the subject and its cHAP issue ; and lastly, of the establishment of the proof by two enun- x, ciations. For, we shall speak of the proof in two ways ; — 1. The matter, — d. The form." Al Gazel then proceeds to treat- on Words ; on which he remarks that nouns never express time ; but the verb denotes both the intention and the time. His substantia he divided into that which is body, and into that which is not body. He introduced the preceding by distinguishing two proprieties of knowlege ; perception and belief. " Perception, to which he applies the term imaginatio, is the apprehension of the things signified by the words used to under stand and to certify them, as the apprehension of the meaning of such a name ; of a dog, a tree, a spirit, an angel, &c. " Belief is the reception of an asserted truth ; as that the world has had a beginning ; obedience will be rewarded, &c. It is necessary that two perceptions should precede all belief; for who-- everhas not understood the signification ofthe word " the world'' by itself, and of the words " has had a beginning," by themselves, will not understand the assertion to be believed, viz. that the world has had a beginning. " But this word " the world," would mean nothing to him if his perception of it was " the burld," nor " beginning," if that was pronounced " meginning.'' He could not believe any thing from hearing that " the burld had a meginning," nor could he grant that to be so. Thus, by having the correct knowlege of both the previous perceptions, we attain the knowlege of the thing that was unknown to us, which the assertion expresses. " It is therefore manifest from this instance, that all knowlege which is the subject of an investigation, cannot be investigated unless by the aid of some preceding knowlege. This fact will not lead us into infinity ; because we shall be led by this to the primary things; to those which are " stabilia;" fixed in the very nature of intellect anterior to all inquisition and meditation. " This is what we propose to do in our treatise on logic. It is manifest that the unknown can become known to us only by what is known. Whatever is not known must be made known by the aid of some known thing ; but every unknown thing has some proper truth peculiar and congruous to itself, which becomes the means of our attaining the other, and of representing it to the intellect." D D 4 40fr HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK Having distinguished substance into body and not body, he VI. remarks that, " body exists in two classes, in the vegetative and the non-Vegetative ; but the vegetative comprise two things; plants^ and animals, and animals are divided into men, and many other things. Substance is thus the genus generalissimum, and man, a species specialissima. " Argumentation is either by syllogism ; by induction ; or by example. The definition and the sj'Uogism are distinguishable into the " rectum,'' by which truth is acquired, and into' the false, which is only the probable." His " Philosophica" contains many passages that deserve the attention of those who may like to study Arabian metaphysics. We will now proceed to consider the Scholastic Philosophy, one of our branches from the Aristotelian and Arabian stocks. DURING THE MIDDLE -4GKS. 40a CHAP. XI. Introduction of the Aristotelian Philosophy into England — Analysis of Porphyry's Isagoge- — History and Opinion^, of Aristotle — Analysis of Aristotle's Categories. 1 HE study most cultivated in England and in Europe subjects by the more active minds in the twelfth century, was "/''?'! • • 1 • 1 • 1 1 J J^rsbian that mixture of logic and metaphysics which had philoso- characterized the Arabian philosophy, and which P ®''*' abounds in the works of the schoolmen. The human mind in its various operations — the senses, and their perceptions — the causes and essences, and relations of things — intellect in the abstract; its logical exercitations — the divine nature, the future existence of the soul, and the anatomy of the organs of sense' — were favorite topics with the great Arabian ' Avicenna considers the eyes to be what principally display, in us, tbe dispositions of the soul : — if they be of a middling' size, they express what is good and pious ; if tremulous, they indicate light-mindedness; if long open, want of modesty, or imbecility ; if deep seated, subtlety ; if extended forward, folly. Overhanging eyebrows imply an envious mind. He makes these moral differences between animals : — the cow, little anger ; the mountain boar, vehement fplly and sharp fiiry ; the camelj gentle and clean; the serpent, astute in' evil' motions; lions, brave and magnanimous; wolves, brave, inggnious, ungrfiteful and savage; foxesj ingenious in bad actions ; dogs, irascible aiid^ -laborious; apes and ele phants, very cunning and familiar ; geese, basbful and cautious ; peacocks, envious, handsome, and admirers of their own beauty; the camel and the donkey, of good memory; but man alone can forget, and recal what he has forgotten. He says, that Aristotle first said that the arteries began from the heart; and others, that the veins arose from the liver. In wb^t is termed, by his Paduan editors, his golden work on the soul, Avicenna considers the heart as fhe first principle of bodily life, and on which it chiefly depends. From the heart the souf vivifies the animM ; and from that is diffused through tbe other parts, and thence actions and movements proceed in the litiibs. From the heart the energies of life iloWipg to the brain, whence the nerves arise, some perform their actions there, some emanate to other parts, as to the pupil ofthe eye, and muscles of motion. From the heart HISTORYOF ENGLAND, 410 HISTORY OP ENGLAND, BOOK sages. To men of their refined and acute minds, the ^^' specious works of Aristotle proved an irresistible LITERARY tcmptatloH to fathom his apparent profundity, and to exercise themselves -by his rules ; and many Arabians became his translators and commentators -^ their ex ample diffused a taste for logic and for Aristotle, far beyond what Greece itself, in the highest prevalence of the Peripatetics, had at any time experienced.^ Aristotle was first contemplated in the Abstract of Boetius, and in the Introduction of Porphyry. On this latter work Averroes commented,* and his commen tary ^v^as the text-book on which the Norman monks lectured at Cambridge, as we have already remarked.^ Ingulf states himself to have studied Aristotle, and to have excelled in logic." It is probable that he studied .^fistotle in Porphyry or Boetius. r As the Aristotelian philosophy was introduced into f — ' the nourishing powers issue to the liver, and thence by the veins through all the body, feeding even thd heart. Most ofthe nerves of feeling origi- ^H^teA'em^he4r9t part tif the brain, and many of those of movement from its posterior portion nearer tbe spine. He places what he calls the ' virtus formalis,' and the ' communis sensiis,' in the forepart of the brain. The spirit fills the ventricle there. Cogitation and memory are in the two other ventricles, but the place of memory is behind; so that the spirit of tJiought is in the middle, that is, between the treasury of the forms and that of the intentions. The space between these is equal. " The Arabian account of Aristotle's writings, quoted by Casiri, 304- 308, states the principal Arab translators and commentators ofthe various works of Aristotle. Buhle, in his late copious editions of Aristotle, bas prefixed a short notice of the Arabian interpreters of Aristotle. Vol. 1. p. 321. Bipont, 1791. ¦ ^ The followers of Aristotle never formed moi-e than a sect in Greece. The Platonists, the Epicureans, and the Academics were far more popular. ¦• Averroes says, that he expounds Porphyry at the request of some friends ; but that, in his own opinion, this introduction was not neces.sary, because the great mastei-'s terms were sufficiently intelligible, Levi Ghersonides also made his annotations ; in which he remarks, that he differs from Aristotle in considering the art not to be science, but an organum to the sciences, by wbich the intellect may judge between the false and the true, p, 1, ' See before, v, 4. p. 153. « Ingulf. Hist. pp. 62 & 73. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 411 England, as it was in almost every other country, by the celebrated Isagoge, or Introduction of Porphyry, we shall form a better notion of the men and history of the scholastic ages, if we take a view of its prin cipal contents. ANALYSIS OF PORPHYRY'S ISAGOGE. Porphyry mentions that he wrote this little work because he thought it necessary for the student of Aristotle's Categories to know, first, what he meant by his genus, species, proprium, and accidents :' the theory of these being useful for definitions, and essential in all that concerned distinctions and demonstrations. He Says, ' that abstaining from all deeper questions, he would try by a few remarks as an introduction, to explain succinctly the first elements of the more simple topics.' He therefore declines all discussion, whether genera and species really subsist in nature, or exist only in the naked thoughts of the mind ; whether, if sub™ sisting, they are bodily substances or incorporeal ; and whether they have any separate being, or are inherent in the objects of jphysical sense ; because, he considers these to be very abstruse points, and to require a more elaborate disquisition.' Of genus and species he remarks, that neither of them are , singly spoken of; for genus is called a congregation of things which have a relation to some one thing else, and to each other. As the genus of the Heraclidae is so named from Hercules, and from the many other persons who, by descending from him, have a relation with each other, and have, therefore, this appellation to distinguish them from other genera. Genus may be also named from a place as well as a parent. Thus Pindar is called a Theban, and Plato an Athenian. It is also used of things to which species are subjected, according to their apparent likenesses ; for genus is then the principal or head of all that are arranged under it, and seems to comprise them.' In this triple sense is genus used by Aristotle, who denominates that to be a genus which may be predicated of many things that ' I quote Porphyry's work from the edition of it in Buhle's Bipont edition of it, prefixed to the works of Aristotle, v. l. 369-416, and select in the text the most material parts, as 'Uterally translating it as is con sistent with perspicuity. * Porph, 2. Isag. c. 1. p. 369. ° Ibid, c. 2. p: 371. 41ii HISTORY OF ENGLAND,- BOOK dififer in species-^as the genus, animal. Ofthe things predicated VI. of this, some belong to one individual only ; as Socrates, or this person, or that thing. Some of many ; as genera, species, dif- HisTORYoF ferences, and accidents, which are common to several, and not ENGLAND, peculiar to any one. Thus animal is the genus ; man the species ; ' ' his rationality, the difiierence ; his risibility, the proprium, or his peculiar property ; while white, black, sitting or walking, were the accidents'J" , But while genus thus differ from those things which are predicated of any one object, by being predicated of many, species, tho also predicated of many, is not spoken of those which dififer in species, but of those which differ only in number. Thus the species, man, is so spoken of both Socrates and Plato, who as men difiPer only in number ; but the genus, animal, is applied equally to man, ox, and horse, which difiPer in species as well as in number." Genus difiFers from the proprium, or appropriated peculiarity, because this is applied to one species only, of which it is the pro prium, aud to the individuals under it ; as laughter belongs to man, and every man, but to nothing else.'^ Genus also differs from diflFerence, and from the accidents which are common to all ; because, although these are predicated of multitudes, which differ in species, yet they are not predicated of them by reason of what they really are, but of the sort of things they are ; for if we be asked what the thing is of which these are spoken, we answer, genus. We do not say, 'dififerences aud species ;' because these terms are not attributed to any substance for being what it is, but for its being the kind of thing it happens to be." Then if we be asked what sort of thing a man is, we say, ra tional; or what kind of thing a crow is, we reply, black; — rational is the difiorence in the one case, and black the accident in the other : but if we are questioned what thing or substance a man is. We shall answer, an animal, because that is the genus of man.'^ Species is that which is arranged under a genus, and of which the genus is predicated in that respect in which it really exists. It is that which is- predicatod of many things that differ in number, according to its being what it is." , In every category or predicament there are some things that are most general, and some that are most special. '» Porph. Isag. c. 2. p, 372, 3. " Ibid. p. 373, '= Ibid. " Ibid. p. 374. "Ibid, . 'Mbid, p, 376. HISTORY OF THE DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 413 The most general genus is that which has no superior one ; and CHAP, the most special is that to which there is no inferior species. Thus XI, substance itself is the genus most comprehensive. Under this is body — less general is an animated body, and lesser still, is ian animal. Under this" will be a rational animal, under this a man, scholas- and within man will be Socrates, Plato, and every particular '^^^ phi losophy. person. .. > Here substance is the most general, and which can be only a genus ; and man is the most special of what can be only a species. Body is a species of substance ; as a body animated is of body. But animal is a genus.'" Yet animal, though a species of an animated body, is a genus to a rational animal. So that is a species as to animal, but a genus as to man. . But here we pause — man, though a species of rational animal, is not a genus to every man, but remains a species only. Hence we perceive, that substance must be genus in the superlative degree ; because it can have no superior one in which it can be comprehended. So man is a term that can have no species infe rior to it, but only individuals. Man is, therefore, the most special species." On the Differences, Porphpy remarks, that things differ from each other, either with respect to themselves or to others^ — as Socrates from Plato ; or each differs from himself, as when a boy, or man, or acting, reciting, &c. But things more strictly dififer when they differ in some acci dent that is inseparable ; as in color, or in having a hooked nose, or a scar. But they difiPer in the strictest of all senses, when the difiPerence constitutes a species ; as a man from a horse." The Proprium, or that which is the particular property of any thing; and peculiar to that alone, is susceptible of a fourfold di vision. 1 . What may happen to any one, though not to all ; as to a man, to cure or to be cured, or to measure geometrically. 2. What may belong to all, and even to other species, and not to one thing only ; as to man to be a biped, which birds and apes also are. 3. What occurs both to one and to all, and at some time or other; as to all men to grow hoary from old age. 4. What happens to every one and to all, and at every time ; as the aptness to laugh ; for, though everj' man is not always laughing, yet all have at all '« Porph, Isag, p, 377, 8, " Ibid, c, 2. p. 379- " Ibid, c, 3, p. 386. ¦ 414 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK tinSes an aptitude to laugh. The terms that express the propria Vr. may also be reciprocated of each other; for if the thing be a hofse, ' it is his proprium to neigh ; if he neighs, you may aflSrm he is iiistoryop ''• horse. ENGLAND. The ACCIDENT, Porphyry defines to be, that which is made or unmade without the destruction of its subject ; and he divides it into two distinctions — that which is separable — and that which is inseparable. To sleep is a separable accident, because we may also be awake. To be black is inseparable in an Ethiop and in a crow ; yet a white crow, and an uncoloured Ethiopian, may be conceived without the destruction of the subject ; therefore changes ofthe accidential do not destroy the substance to which they occur. An accident may, therefore, also be defined to be, that which may and may not be in the same thing. This cannot be affirmed of either genus, species, differences or the proprium, because they are always inhering in some subject.^" PorphjTV then treats of the communities and the difiPerences of these five great words of Aristotle's system. — The genus, species, difiPerence, proprium, and accident. He states the coincidences and distinctions of genus and difiPerence ; of genus and species ; and of genus and the proprium and the accident. He discusses in like manner those between species, the proprium and accident, with difference : and also between species and the proprium and accident, and then between these two." But it will be a sufficient specimen of all, to select some of his remarks on what is common and what is different between genus and difference. It is common to genus and to difference to contain species under them. Thus rational, though it does not comprehend under it the irrational, as an animal, yet comprises man and God, which are its species.''^ Whatever is predicated of a genus, as genus, may be predicated of its species ; and so what is aflSrmed of difference may be asserted of the species that arise from it. For, if the genus be animal, we may predicate of it, substance, animation, and sensi bility, and likewise of all its species, even to individuals. So, if the difference be rational, the use of reason may be affirmed of all the species thus distinguished. It is common both to geiius and to difference, that if they be taken away, all which are arranged under them must likewise go; '» Porph. Isag, c. 4. p. 394, 5. » Ihid. c. 5. p. 395, 6. =' Ibid. c. 6-16. p. 396-415. =Mb. c. 7. p. 398, DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, 415 Thus, if an object be not an animal, it certainly is neither a horse CHAP nor a man. If it be not rational, it cannot be an animal using xi, reason ,^^ The proprium of genus is that which may be predicated of i"story many ; whether as difference, species, proprium, or accident. For scholas- that it is an animal may be said equally of a man, horse, bird and Tic phi- serpent ; but the term quadruped can be affirmed only of those losophy. things which have four feet. Man is referible to its individuals only, and neighing only to a horse, tho it is applicable to every horse. In like manner accident is predicated of power,"' Genus contains difference, as in power; for one animal is rational and another irrational : but differences do not comprise "genera. Genera are also prior to the differences comprehended under them, and, therefore, the latter may be taken away without the other being destroyed ; but if you abstract animal from a thing, you remove both rationality and irrationality ; for if it be not an animal it can have neither of these : but an abstraction of the differences does not thus annihilate the genus, because, if they be all t^ken away, 'yet the mind can still contemplate a sensible animated substance.^' There is but one genus to a species, as animal to a man ; but many differences ; for he may be rational, mortal, and capable gf intellect and knowlege, and by these may be discriminated from other animals. Genus answers to -the Inatter, and difference in the form, of any subject.'^ This summary of Porphyry's Isag^oge will shew the reader into what directions of thought it led the English student, and by what exertions of it his mind was thereby exercised. That it communicated know lege cannot be contended, still less that it added any; that it even classified what was known under any useful and judicious arrangement of nature, which should be the aim of all generalization, must not be maintained; for the Aristotelian plan, as thus far Porph, Isag. c, 7, p, 399. '* Ibid, Ibid, p. 400, * Ibid. p. 401, 416 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK explained by the Isagoge, would place the things h6 ^l- mentions under this distribution : literary Substance, HISTORYOF j ENGLAND. Animal. ^""^ , ! , I I Rational. Irrational. I I I ] I ^1 God. Man. Biped. Quadruped. Horse. Serpent. (I II Scientific; can heal; Socrates; black. In this classification it is preposterous to see where the divine Author of all things would be placed ; atid what an unmeaning and unprofitable arrange ment would be applied to every thing else. It is clearly a system that is useless, as a guide to the knowlege of nature, or as an instrument for making discoveries in it, or for applying its phenomena to reveal or illustrate its laws. It is connected with no grand philosophical principles or theory, and cannot assist the mind to form them, nor to multiply our stock of truths. It is a system of words and of verbal distinctions, which looks at nature only thro the spectacles of a peculiar language, to make what it beholds conver tible to the purposes of a vivacious logic. Nature was not studied, nor valued as nature for her realities, nor to be exhibited in them for any pur pose of knowlege or use, but to be subjected to an artificial examination of terms, distinctions arid argu ments, which would be most available for a perpe^ tual battle of reasoning ingenuity and sturdy debate. Yet it was such an able mechanism of discussing DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 417 mind, and its operation was such a powerful stimu- CHap. lus to intellectual activity, that it never could be ^^' studied without rousing the human soul to an ani- history mation and agility, which nothing that preceded it scholas- could produce. Tho it was really conversant with words more than things, yet it certainly produced an attention to their exact diiferences, and a discrimination of their appropriate meanings; a severe precision in their use, and a vigilant jealousy and exposure of their misapplication, which had the happiest effects; both on the intellect, on learning, and on science. It annihilated the rhetorical mind. Declamatioh was nonsense to the Aristotelian logician, and was triumphantly cut to pieces by his keen and active weapons of accurate terms, and of strict reasoning upon their exact meaning, and by his resolute acti vity to demolish what they could not support. This was indeed the great object for which Aristotle seems to have invented it, and it fully answered its great master's expectations. He has done more to abolish rhetorical sophistry and declamatory verbosity in the studious world, than any other individual. But as the mind and works of Aristotle ooerated so long, and with such stimulating and influencing efficacy on the English as well as on the European mind, after the Norman conquest, it will be just to him and to our ancestors, to consider him a little more at length, that we may better understand the history and nature of our scholastic philosophy; especially as the oblivion to which we are now con signing both himself and his compositions, may soon leave them litde else than a " clarum et memorabile nomen," which satire claims a right to deride. Vol, IV. E e 418 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK Son of the physician and friend of the king of "^'^' Macedon, who preceded Philip — his birth-place LITERARY Stagira — be went to Athens at the age of seventeen, HISTORYOF ^^^ attended for three years to the conversations of ENGLAND. T I -1 • T' • C T>1 1 ' — -. — ' Socrates, Imbibing a strong: atiection tor Plato, he History _ ., , i °i • • j and opi- Studied twenty years under this superior man, and nions of became the most intellectual disciple of his school.^'^ Aristotle, ^ • i i After Plato's death, he resided a few years with the tyrannus, or little king of Atarnse, and then returned to Macedonia. Philip there committed to him the education of his son Alexander, at the age of fifteen. This task completed, he settled himself at Athens, on its earnest invitation,^ and was for thirteen years the head of the* Lyceum, which he established in that celebrated city. Accused there by one of its Hiero- phants, of impiety, for some difference of opinion on the prevailing superstitions, he exclaimed, as he saw the Athenians favoring the impeachment, and remem bered the fate of Socrates, " I will not suffer you to sin twice against philosophy," and withdrew lo Chal- cis.^" Proceeding to Macedonia, he accompanied Alexander into India, and returned with him to Persia.^" On his untimely death, he revisited Greece, " Diog. Laert. \'it. 1. Buhle's Arist. p. 3. Amnion, ^'ita. ib. p. 44. Such was his regard for Plato, that he even dedicated an altar to him with this inscription : — Aristotle has built this altar to Plato ; A man whom it is sacrilege for the bad to praise, Amm. p. 46. °° On the death of Speusippus, the Athenians sent an embassy to invite him to their city, where he, at his Lyceum, and Xenocrates, in the Academy, established their philosophical schools. Amm. p. 47. =" Amm. ib 48, Diog. Laert. ib. 6. He often censured the Athenians. He once said they had found out two things — Wheat and laws — but with this difference ; their wheat they made use of, but their laws never. Diog. Laert. 16. *• On this journey he composed his poUtical work; having examined the polity of two hundred and fifty-five governments. — Amm. ib. He has been accused of poisoning Alexander. See Buhle 1. p. 99; but the Diary DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 419 and is stated to have died from hemlock, at the age chap. of sixty-three,'^' in the same year that Demosthenes ]^ perished. Stammering, bald, of low stature, and thin history legged, with small eyes, he distinguished his per- scholas- son at one time by a shaven beard, and by a showy "'^ '""'- J 1 • 12 1 1 -11 • LOSOPHY, dress and rings, but he was extremely moderate in > — . — his habits,^^ and mild and polished in his manners,^* His Ode to Virtue displays the true energy of a wise and moral mind,^' and he gave his thoughts as of this King's fatal illness, preserved by Plutarch, is sufficient evidence that he perished iu a fever caused by his own intemperance, " Diog. Laert. ib. Phaverinus ascribes his death to this poison, and the epitaph on him implies the same end. See it in Buhle, p. 9. He died twenty-three years after Plato. Amm. ib. 50. ^' Diog. Laert. 3. Arist. Amm. Buhle, p^67. '^ Arist. \^t. ex Vel, Transl. Buhle, p. .57. A Greek anonymous author of his life, after calling him a wretched versifier, brands him as a ' vorax,' and ' inter scorta degens;' but as he .idds epithets, the two first of which we can ourselves see from Aristotle's works to be false, he can not claim our belief of the rest of his calumniation. 'Insanus, stultus, rudis, superbus, loquax.' Buhle, p. 67. Timosus also abuses him, but in terms which convict themselves of slander, as they are quoted bySuidas, voc. Arist. =¦• Amm, Vit. ib, 49, ^ This ode, from its subject, and as a poem of Aristotle's, deserves a literal translation, — How applicable now to Greece ! O much toiling Virtue I To the' human race Their finest chase thro life; For thy beauties, O virgin ! Even to die Is the emulating lot of Greece; And to bear hard labors Never wearied ! Thou plantestin the mind A never-dying fruit. Better than gold or ancestry, Or sweetly-soothing slumbers. For thy sake Jove-born Hercules And the youths of Leda Endured great things, Pursuing thy power in their works. From desire of thee, Achilles And Ajax entered into Hades. For E E 2 HISTORYOF ENGLAND. 420 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK he advanced in years, a direction, which for many VI- centuries had a greater and more extensive dominion LITERARY over mankind, than any other production of the hu man genius has attained. None of the ancient philosophers composed so much to benefit as well as to exercise the mind of man. His works on poetry, rhetoric, government, ethics, natural history and philosophy, are superior to any that the ancient world produced, on the topics which they discuss. He maintained that vice was suSicient for infelicity, even if the external and bo dily comforts were abundantly possessed.^" He rea soned, that the Deity was incorporeal, and was either intellect itself, or something paramount to intellect;^ and that his providence extended to heavenly things, and that earthly ones were administered according to a sympathy with these.^ He maintained that the soul also was incorporeal; having a fitness and power to receive impressions upon it, as melted brass that of a man, or wax that of a Mercury; but having life in itself, and therefore distinct from the physical and organic body.^° Hence, tho a dead man has the same form and figure of body that he had before, yet he is not therefore a man.^" He said a wise man could not be without passions, but he would take care to let them very moderately affect him."" He loved a For thy lovely form The offspring of Atarna Abandoned the sunny day ; Hence, from illustrious deeds. The Muses proclaim him immortal. The daughters of memory ! They venerate the guest-loving Jupiter, And will reward the constant friend. Diog. Laert. ib. p. 8. '^ Diog. Laert. Buhle, 26. " Ibid. 27 Vita Vet. Transl. ib, 59, ^ Diog. Laert. 27. » Ibid. 28. ¦"' 1 Cudw. 358. ¦" Diog. Laert. 26, LOSOPHV. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 421 contemplative life, and preferred it to one either of CHA p. business or pleasure.** He repeated with approbation ^^- what he called an old saying, which he said h^-d been ijistory handed down from our ancestors to mankind. That "cholas- all things were framed by God and consist in him, tic phi- and that no nature can be sufficient for its own safety, which has its preservation intrusted to its own care only, without God;*' and he taught, that whoever would attain to a blessed and happy life, must par take of the Deity from its very beginning,'" In all physical things he is described as the greatest cause- seeker of all men, and a most laborious inquirer.*' He searched into the causes of every thing, and complained of the earlier physiologists, that they considered only the material elements of things, with out attending to the two great sources of causation : the principle of motivity, and the intelligence which aimed at ends.*" He maintained, that there was more of purpose and good in the works of nature than in those of art.*' _ Besides these sound general principles, he is de scribed as having an ardent love of truth, and a pro portionable dislike to all imposition on the mind, and to the mercenary and vain-glorious sophistry which was pervading the Grecian world. To these feelings we seem to owe his logical and metaphysical treatises. He considered logic to be the investigation of the probable and the true ; he assigned dialectics and rhetoric to the probable, but directed his analytical and philosophical works to the elucidation of the true; meaning to omit nothing which could tend to its ¦" Diog. Laert. 27. " De Mundo, c. 11. " De Mundo, c. 11. « Diog L. p. 27. 29. ^° 1 Cudworth, 357. " De Anim. 1. 1. c. 1. E E 3 LITERARY HISTORYOF ENGLAND, 422 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK discovery, judgment or use. With this object in view, VI- he delivers in his Topica and Methodica many pro positions for the discovery- of truth, from which probable arguments on every problem might be de duced. To thejudgment on truth his Analytics refer; in the prior ones the propositions assumed are judged of; in the posterior, their composition is investigated. To the use of what was true belong his Agonistica, his De Sophisticis Elenchis, and some others. In these he shews that the sense is the criterion of truth in the things worked out by the fancy; but the mind, in what concerns ethics, a family or a state". With a noble spirit, he makes one end to all studies and pur suits ; the use of virtue in a perfect life.*® Such is the brief summary of the objects of his writing:s, as transmitted to us by Diogenes Laertius, which were so appreciated by Ammonius, that he asserts that Aristotle, in his philosophy, has even transcended the usual bounds of humanity ;*^ an extravagant en comium, as the Stagirite has rather shewn us what he wished and aimed to accomplish, than what he has actually effected. He has been praised for adding a fifth essence or element to the four that were commonly assumed as composing all nature. These, before our modern che mistry multiplied them, were, air, earth, water and fire, Aristotle contended that there was yet another, from which ethereal things were composed, and that its motion was different from the rest,*" That the ¦" Diog. Laert. 24, 25. Diogenes gives a long list of his multifarious works, 19-24. ; and Buble has, with great industry, collected a most co pious Elenchus of their remaining MSB. 157-201, and printed editions, 202-274. '"' Amm. p. 49. Vet. Transl. 59. Perhaps the best Life of Aristotle ia that of Buhle's, ' Per annos digesta,' in his first volume, p. 80-104, " Diog, L. p, 27. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 42;J soul, the principle of thought and life, is something chap. distinct from the material world, is so just a senti- ^^- ment, that Aristotle fseems to be reasonable in re- history quiring, that more elements should be taken into our °c„olas- consideration, than those which our five senses feel, tic phi- Moses, from divine authority, has declared the spirit ^° .^-L- of man to be the breath of God.*' The most distin guished nations of antiquity had traditions of this sort, which their greatest reasoners favored ; and Solomon has given us a distinction on this subject which there is no benefit in rejecting.** The writings of Aristotle appear to have been be yond the taste, and probably, the comprehension of his contemporaries and country. Theophrastus, his favorite disciple, to whom he left them, may have understood and valued them ; but that this elegant and acute Athenian should, in his disposal of them, pass by all his ingenious countrymen, and even all the cultivated states of Greece, and'bequeath them to Neleus, an obscure inhabitant of an obscure city of Pergamus, in Asia, whose heirs locked them up in a chest, seems to imply, that they were composi tions not suited to his own times and nation, tho destined to interest a remote posterity. They re mained in this chest till the Pergamenian kings searching every where for books, then only manu scripts, to form a great library in their metropolis, the descendants of Neleus, fearing to be deprived of what, tho useless to them, they supposed to be valu able, at least as property, hid them from human sight and knowlege in a vault under ground. Here they lay unknown and untouched for 1 30 years. By that time the possessors of this buried treasure wanting " Gen. u. 2. V. 7. =^ Eccles. c. 12. v. 7. E E 4 HISTORYOF ENGLAND, 424 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK money, and finding that Apellico, a rich citizen of V^- Athens, was giving large prices for rare works to LITERARY put [u hls library, they brought Aristotle out of his sepulchre, and sold them to the wealthy book col lector. He found them so rotten, from damp and age, that they would scarcely hang together, and were, in many parts, illegible ; he had them copied, and the chasms made by the moisture and worms sup plied, as well as the ability of the day would allow, by conjectural insertions, which have generally made the difficult parts more difficult than before. But here they slept undisturbed upon his shelves, till Sylla, about 85 years before the Christian era, coming to Athens, and seizing this library, transported these, with their bibliothecal companions, to Ro.ne ; not to study them, but to make them a part of that library which he wished also to be a portion of his popular reputation.*^ ButfortunatelyforAristotleandfor the world, so far as he has benefited it, there was a man at Rome, Tyran- nion, who having been carried there a prisoner from Pontus, was, under the patronage of Cicero, reading lectures in that city. This expatriated student was intimate with Sylla's librarian, was himself a great book collector, and revered the memory of Aristotle. Seeing the copy of this philosopher's works in Sylla's library, he obtained permission from his friend to transcribe it; he communicated his labors to Andro- hicus Rhodius, who from this MS. first made the works of Aristotle known to the public; nearly 250 years after the hand which composed them had moul- "' Prideaux Connect, 4, p. 528. Strabo, I. 13. p. 609. Plutarch Sylla. Stanley, Hist, Phil, p, 6, lb, Aristot, c, 16, DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. '425 dered into dust.** From this time they began slowly CHAP, to creep on the attention ofthe learned. One Grecian ^^- after another, under the emperors, commented upon history some of them.** A Peripatetic school flourished in scho"las- great celebrity at Alexandria; and altho Caracalla, "c phi- believing the story, that Aristotle prepared or sug- t^^^ gested the poison that was thought by some to have caused Alexander's death, drove the Peripatetics from Alexandria, and ordered their books to be burnt,*® yet the reputation of Aristotle continued to increase, until his writings interested the Gothic nations, and be came the passionate admiration of the Arabian phi losophers.*'^ The dominion of Aristotle arose and continued, from the persuasion, that he was the superior intel lect among the ancients, and that his works contained a greater quantity of truth and information than those of any other author. This conviction prevailed among the Arabians, and over all Europe, as well as in Engt land. His philosophy was not adopted here or else where, because schoolmen taught it, or because the Spanish Arabs pursued it; its predominance was founded on the general belief, and that upon the prac tical experience, of its real superiority. This common feeling, and its basis, were expressed by the student consulted at Pisa, by Montaigne, whose general thesis he says, was, " that the touchstone and standard of all solid imaginations and of all truths were, their conformity to the doctrine of Aristotle; all besides ^ Prid, p, 529, Strab. 609. Cicero, Ep, I, 2. and I, 4. Suidas, voc, Tyran. Plut. LucuUo. ^ Buble bas given an elaborate alphabetical list of his Grecian com mentators, 1. p, 186-315. ^ Xiphilin in Carac. 329. . " On his Arabian translators and their commentaries, see Buhle, 315-337. A List of the Latin ones follows, 337-348. HISTORYOF ENGLAND 426 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK was vain and chimerical, for that he had seen all and ^^' said all,"*^ To us this character sounds extravagant, LITERARY and we justly deem it to be so, because it is no longer applicable and proper; but it was neither untrue nor foolish in the middle ages. No other man could then stand in competition with Aristotle, for mind, know lege, acuteness, judgment and utility. His books actually combined more intellectual excellence and serviceable treasures of all sorts than those of any other which had then survived; and they created a mental ability and. affluence in the world, which with out them would not have then existed. He certainly kept natural philosophy united with religion, and with the belief of a soul, or immaterial principle; and thus, being the antagonist of atheism and of mate rialism, and being an indefatigable searcher after intellectual causation, he was perfectly unitable with Christianity ; but when, as the progress of knowlege, the activity of ingenious curiosity, and its successful researches on all sides brought to the world's per ception and use, larger stores of information, nevv truths, and a flood of light on every subject, which no preceding age had witnessed ; then, the same cor rect judgment of mankind which had given to Aris totle his throne, dispossessed him of it. The ancient intellectual Saturn was deposed by his offspring, the new mental Jupiter. Friar Bacon, who first saw the beams of the new day, and was the great herald of the new sovereignty, yet did justice to the old monarch who was still governing, and always speaks of Aris totle with grateful veneration: but by the time that his namesake lord Bacon lived, the useful revolution V. 1. c. 25. p. 164. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 4-27 could be deferred no longer; the new power and CHAP. proficiency of mind which had arisen, the new mines ¦^^' of knowlege which had been opened, the new pro- history perty which had been drawn out and manufactured scholas- into great and beautiful objects and conveniences ^ic phi- from them, and the better rules of thinking and phi- "J:^^^^^^ losophizing which all these had suggested, led the first enlarged and congenial mind that could accom plish the adventure, and that deserved the triumph, to assume without usurping the sceptre. Lord Bacon was a commanding and capacious intellect of this description; and what many in his day, and before him, had felt to be necessary, discerned to be prac^ ticable, desired to be done, and began to attempt, he advanced forward singly to achieve and complete. He shewed the world that the time had arrived for the substitution of a system of study, thought and information, superior to that of Aristotle ; he proved its greater excellence to the conviction of the sound reasonerand candid observer; he appealed to their im partial judgment, and he was soon made the Agamem non of the new philosophy, which after many years hard-fought siege, and continual battle, destroyed the prevailing empire of the venerable Peripatetic. We will subjoin some of Aristotle's opinions on the most important subjects of the human thought. ARISTOTLE'S OPINIONS. TO live well and to act well, are but other expressions for being happy ; but to live well, rests in this — that we live virtuously. This is the object and the happiness, and the optimum of life. Mag. Mor. i . c. 4. O71 the Deity. You would not wish any one to be so fearless as not to fear the Deity ; because such a person would not be a brave man, but a literary historyof ENGLAND. 428 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK madman. True courage is, therefore, that which neither dreads VI. all things nor yet fears nothing, c. 5. It remains that we should summarily speak of the preserving and maintaining cause of all things ; for it would be like a crime, that those discoursing of the world should leave out the most lordly part of it. It is an ancient opinion, and handed down from their fathers to all men, that all things have been established to us from God and thro God, and that no nature is of itself self-sufficient for its own preservation, deserted by him. De Mundo, c. 11. p. 573. Wherefore some of the ancients have proceeded to say, that all these things are full of gods, and seem like images to us by our eyes, and hearing, and every sense. God is the preserver of all things, and the genitor of whatever is perfected in the world, yet not like a workman, so as to be affected by fatigue or lassitude. 573. He enjoys the highest and first seat, and from this is named the Supreme ; and, according to the poet, is placed in heaven, on the loftiest summit of the universe. The body nearest to him peculiarly enjoys the benefit of his power ; then what is next has this advantage, and then succes sively others, down to ourselves. Hence the earth, and the things on the earth, as they are in subsistence the farthest from the aid of God, are weak and incongruous, and mingled with much per turbation. But inasmuch as the Divine nature is pervading'every thing, even those which concern us, so it happens that those which are above us, according as they are near or farther from him, are participating more or less of his assistance. It is better, there fore, to say — and it is more becoming and congruous to the Deity — that the power which has its seat in heaven, both to those which are the farthest ofiF, and to the nearest, or to express it in one word, to all things, is the cause of its preservation. 576. After a high wrought simile, taken from the splendor and power of the Persian monarchs, he adds : — But it is far more reverential and becoming to perceive that He who is seated in the highest habitation, diflPuses his power thro all the universe, moves both the sun and moon, and actuates all the heaven, and is the cause of well-being and preservation to all that are on the earth. 577. He needs not artificial mechanism, nor the instrumentality of others. And this seems peculiar to Him, that with ease, and DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 429 by simple movement, he completes all the various forms of CHA P. things. 578. XI. After a simile ofthe images with moveable limbs : — So the Divine nature, by a simple primitive movement, gives power into sentient things, and from these to others more distant, till he has permeated all ; one moves another, and this again with the world. 578. He illustrates tlie governing of all things by the Deity, by several similes ; one is, what occurs in an army on the point of battle : — " As soon as the trumpet begins to sound, every one that hears it is in motion : this, takes up his shield, that, puts on his breast plate, another, his greaves or his helmet, or binds on his belt. Some bridle their horses, others ascend the chariots, and the whole force is arrayed in its military order. Then the officers hasten to their squadrons, and the captains to their companies. The cavalry ride to the wing, and the light infantry hurry to their stations ; while all await and obey the orders of their chief commanders, who put every part into motion, as the general of the assembled army directs. So it happens in the universe : the one great Mover animates and directs all thro his immediate instruments, and each part performs what it is proper that it should do. 582. " This power is, indeed, unseen and invisible ; but this is no im pediment to his agency, nor to our belief of it ; for the soul, by which we live, and by which we inhabit cities and houses, is also not to be seen, yet it is visible in its works ; for all the culture of life has been found out and arranged and perceived by it. The cultivation and planting of the earth, the knowlege of the arts, the use of laws, the economy of a state, civil administrations, external wars and interior peace, are its effects. It is also the soul which pursues our reasonings concerning God ; the most mighty of all beings, as to his power ; the most excellent, as to his beauty ; immortal in his existence, and most exalted in virtue. Hence, tho he is not to be seen by any mortal nature, yet he is made visible by his works ; and all things that are done in the air, on earth, or in the waters, we pronounce to be the operations of God, the ruler of the world. From Him, as Empedocles the physiologist said, proceed whatsoever will be, whatsoever are, and whatsoever have been. From Him the trees derive their vegeta tion ; from Him, men, women, beasts and birds, and water- nourished fish. 583. LITERARY' HISTORYOF 430 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK " We may, as a petty simile, compare the world to those stones VI, called umbilical, the stones in arches, which, lying in the middle upon the inclining ones on each side, keep the whole scheme ofthe arch in harmony and in order, and immoveable — this same rela- ENGLAND. tion has God in the world, maintaining the hai'mony and salvation ' ^^ ' of the whole. 584. But his place is above : the pure exalted among the pure : which place we call heaven, Ouranos, the boundary of what is above ; or Olympus, that is, all-radiant, and therefore separated from all darkness and disorderly movement which wind and tempests occasion, as Homer describes it. 585. All human-kind give witness of this, by ascribing to God the regions above, and therefore all men who pray lift up their hands towards heaven. 585. Hence the race of the pious pre-eminently honor the Divinity. 586. " On the whole, what a pilot is to a ship, what the driver is to a chariot, what the leader is to a dance, what the law is in a city, and a general in an army,- God is in the universe. 587. " God is One, tho with many names, 589. He is the causer of all things, 590. He holds the beginning and the end, and the middle of all things; and whoever wishes to be blessed and happy, must participate in Him." 592. In another work he says, " The energy of God is immortality ; that is, eternal life. Motion is therefore eternal in the Deity. De Ccelo, 2. c. 3. God and nature make nothing in vain, ib. 1. c. 5. " There is but one only Mover, and several inferior deities. " All that is added about the human shape of these deities, is nothing else but fiction, invented on purpose to instruct the cofti- mon people, and engage them to an observance of good laws. " All must be reduced to one only primitive substance, and to several inferior substances, which govern in subordination to the first. " This is the genuine doctrine of the ancients, which has hap pily escaped from the wreck of truth, amidst the rocks of vulgar errors and poetic fables." — Met. 1. 14. c. 8. p. 1003. « The supreme mind is by its nature prior to all beings. He has a sovereign dominion over all." Anim. 1. c. 7. p. 628. " God is a Supreme Intelligence, which acts with order, pro portion and design, and is the source of all that is good, excellent and just." — Met. 1. 14. c. 10. p. 1005. " The first principle is neither the fire, nor the earth, nor the DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 431 water, nor any thing that is the object of sense : but a spiritual CHAP. substance is the cause of the universe, and the source of all the XI, order, and all the beauties, as well as of all the motions and all the forms which we so much admire in it — Met, 1. 2. c. 3. p. 844, 5. yp .j.jjj, " The Eternal and Living Being, the most noble of all beings, scholas- a substance entirely distinct from matter ; without extension, with- tic piu- out division, without parts, and without succession ; who under- ^°^°"" ' , stands every thing by one single act, and continuing himself immoveable, gives motion to all things, and enjoys in himself a perfect happiness, as knowing and contemplating himself with infinite pleasure." — Met. 1. 14. c. 7. p. 1000. He says, " that men have generally a ^atTEiaii, a vaticination, (a prophetic feeling) in their minds concerning gods : — to wit, that men are not themselves the highest beings, but that there is a rank of intellectual beings, superior to men, the chief of which is the Supreme Deity, concerning whom there is, indeed, in all, the greatest ftanTsia, or divining sentiment," — De Ccel, 1, 2, So he also says, " All men have a persuasion or conviction con cerning the gods ; and all, both Barbarians and Greeks, ascribe a place in the highest to the Divinity, as that which is immortal is suited to an immortal being. If, therefore, there be any thing di vine, as, indeed, there is, the body of the heavens must be diffe rent from that ofthe elements — Ccel. 1. c. 3. Also, " It is most agreeable to that f^ccmm concerning the gods,.which all men have in their minds, to suppose the heaven to be a quintessence distinct from the elements, and therefore iii- corruptible." — L. 2. " We account the gods most of all happy. Now what moral actions can we attribute to them ? Those of justice amongst one another ? as if it were not ridiculous to suppose the gods to make contracts and bargains among themselves, and the like. Of forti tude and magnanimity ? as if they had- their fears, dangers, and difficulties to encounter withal. Those of liberality ? as if they had such a thing as money too, and there were among them some indigent to receive alms. Or shall we ascribe to them the actions of temperance ? But would it not be a reproachful praise to say, that they have no evil desires. « Thus, if we pursue all the practical virtues, we find them to be smair, and unworthy of the gods. " Yet we all believe the gods to live and act, and not to sleep, like Endymion. 432 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK " But if all practice be taken away, and, much more, all action, VI. what is left to them excepi contemplation? 0£«p.a." 304. Eth. 1. 10. c. 8. "Jtorv Jf " Also, animals, who are deprived of contemplation, partake not ENGLAND, of happiocss. To the gods, all their life is happy. To men, so far ' ^' ' as it approaches contemplation. But brute animals, which do not at all contemplate, partake not at all of happiness." " A prince should seem always sedulous about the worship of the gods ; for men are less afraid of suffering any injustice from those who are thought to be religiously disposed, and to care for the gods ; nor will they conspire against such, as they think the gods will be their allies." c. 11 Aristotle was chiefly studied during the middle ages, in his Categories or Predicaments. As in these and their commentators most of the English students rested, tho the more ambitious penetrated into his other works, and became, by their proficiency in them, the leaders and doctors ofthe scholastic philosophy, it will be sufficient for our present historical objects to give a sketch of this celebrated work.*^ The object of Porphyry, in his Isagoge, was to elu cidate what he called the Predicables, before the scho lar undertook the comprehension ofthe great master's predicaments. The predicables were the five terms already noticed, genius, species, difference, the pro prium and accident. The categories or predicaments, within which Aristotle endeavored to embrace and confine all that was known, and had been expressed by language, were ten ; — substance, quantity, rela tion, quality, place, time, acting, suffering, situation and habit. Under these, he thought that all which =' I quote the edition of Buhle, Bipont, 1791. Vol. 1. p 445, 525. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 433 mankind knew of nature, and to which they had ap- CHAP. propriated words, might be classed, and to these he ^^- attempted to reduce their multifarious variety. history OF THE ANALYSIS OF ARISTOTLE'S CATEGORIES. He begins his work very abruptly, and without any enunciation of his subject or his purpose, by telling us that words are of three kinds : — I. The Homonyma ; of which the name only is common to many ; as animal, but which differ in their specific meaning ; for the word animal may signify both a real man and a painted animal. II. The Synonymous ; of which the name and meaning are common to many ; as animal, when it signifies a man and an ox as living beings. HI. The Paronyma ; where the different things have their appellation from some accidental thing ; as gram marian, from one who has learnt grammar ; and brave, from one who happens to have bravery.*' Of things or words mentioned, some are in a state of conjunc tion ; as, a man runs ; and some without it, as when we speak of man alone, or running, by itself. Some, also, are spoken of some subject,"" and spme are in none. T'he term man is mentioned of a subject, as of some man, but is in no subject ; and some are in a subject, but are spoken of no subject, as grammar ; this is in a subject, for it is in the soul, but it is no subject of itself. So white is in a subject, because it is in a body, but it is not itself a subject, for color is no where by it self, it is always in some body. Some things, however, are both spoken of a subject and are in a subject ; as knowlege ; it is in a subject, for it is in the soul ; and it is spoken of a subject, for it is spoken of grammar. Again, some are neither in a subject nor spoken of any subject ; as, a man, or ahorse ; for neither of these mean, nor is in any particular man or horse."' After a few more subtle distinctions of this sort, thus abruptly introduced, and without any indication of their ulterior applica bility, Aristotle comes to his Predicaments. ^ Buhle, Bipont. 1791. vol. 1. p. 446. ™ Aristotle defines what he means by being in a subject, thus: that which exists in another, liot as a part of it, yet which can never be separated from it. p. 447- " lb; 447. Vol, IV, F f 434 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK Of different genera, he says, there are many differences, accord- VI. ing to their species : thus, in animal and knowlege, animals differ in being pedestrian and bipeds, in having wings or being aquatic ; literary ^^^ knowlege or science has none of these dissimilarities, for one HISTORYOF ^ 1 1 i_ f* * " EN-GLAND, braoch of knowlege does not differ from another branch ot it, in ^ being a biped,'' Of those terms which are expressed without any conjunction, each must mean one of these ten things : it either signifies a sub stance, or its quantity or quality ; or its relation to something else ; or its place, in space or time ; or its individual position ; or what it has ; or what it is doing ; or what it is suffering. These ten cir cumstances he names the substance, the quantum, the quale, the relation or ad quid, the ubi, the quando, the situs, the habere or habitus, the agere and pati, or the actio and passio. He thus se verally illustrates them, beginning with the substance, by which he means a subsisting or existing thing, and not that substantial solidity which we now chiefly use the word to express."^ Substance, a man — or a horse. Quantum, how nluch ? — two cubits — three cubits. Quale, what sort ? — white — a grammarian. Relation, to what ? — double — ^half — greater. Ubi, where ? — in the forum — the lyceum. Quando, when ? — yesterday — the day before. Situs, position — reclined — sitting. Habere, having— has shoes on — ^is armed. Agere, action — cuts — burns. Pati, suffering — is cut — is burnt. Each of these categories, of itself, neither affirms nor denies any thing ; but from their conjunction with each other, some negation or affirmation arises. All affirmation or negation seems to be, that what is said is either true or false ; but of words used without any conjunction, none can be either ti'ue or false ; as to pronounce by itself, man, or white ; runs, or conquers. Each single term neither asserts nor denies any thing."* Substance : — That is most eminently, and primarily, and cTiiefly denominated substance, which cannot be said of any sub ject, nor is in any ; as, a man, a horse. But the secondary sub- "= Buhle, Bipont. vol. l. p. 448, w lb. p. 449, 450, "' Ib. p. 450, DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, 435 stances are those in whose species these primary substances are, CHAP. which, indeed, are the genera of these species ; as, a certain man, XI. in specie, is included in the general term, man ; but the genus of thespecies is animal. Hence these are called secondary substances; as man, and animal.'" Of those things which are spoken of the subject of the things predicated, it is necessary that the name and the definition be pre dicated of it ; as man, of each individual man ; and also the name, for you would say that an individual person, as Socrates, was a man; hence the definition of a man would be predicated of him also, for he is both man and animal. Tlierefore, both the name and the definition of the thing predicated or spoken of, is predi cated of its subject ; but ofthe things which are in a subject, for the most part, neither name nor definition is predicated. In some, indeed, the name may, but the definition cannot be. Thus, white, in a subject, as it is in a body, may be predicated of the subject, for a body is white ; but the definition of white can never be pre dicated of body, because body may have any other color, and white is not exclusively peculiar to it."" All other things are either spoken of the subjects, the primary substances, or are in those very subjects ; as animal may be pre dicated of man in general, therefore, of every individual man ; but if it could not have been affirmed of any one man, neither could it have been spoken of man altogether. So color, is in body, and therefore in some bodies; for if it be in no particular body, it can not be in body at all. Hence all other things are spoken either of the first subjects that are primary substances, or are in those very subjects; therefore, unless there were primary substances, it is impossible that there could be any others."' Of the secondary substances, substance is rather a species than a genus, for it is nearer to the first substance. If any one would explain the first substance, he would more knowingly and properly answer, if he elucidated it by the species than by the genus : thus, in explaining what a particular man, as Demosthenes, was, he would do it more clearly if he said a man, tl^an if he said an animal ; tho that would be also true ; because to be a man is more peculiarly the property of any particular person, than to be an animal, which many other things, not men, also are. So, if talking of any tree, as, an olive, or a laurel, he would illustrate "5 Buhle, Bipont. vol. l. p. 451- '° ^^' P' '^^^' ^' "' Arist. Bipont. vol. l. p. 452. F F 2 4S6 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK his meaning more perspicuously if he said it was a tree, than if \T. he called it a vegetable ; because roses and lilies are also vegeta- bles. Therefore, the first substances, because they are the sub- i.iTERA R Y ^^^ ^^ ^jj jjjjjgyg^ a^^ all other things, are predicated of them, or II ISTOR^'OF " •iiii* l^iGU ENGLAND, are in them, are pre-eminently called primai-y substances. ~ ^ ' Of the species themselves which are not genera, no one is more a substance than another ; for we shall explain nothing more clearly of any particular person, by saying, he is a man, than of any horse, to declare that it is a horse. So in the primary sub stances, no one is more a substance than another ; any man is not more a substance than any ox ; therefore, after the primary substances, all the species and genera among every thing else, may be suitably called secondary substances."' As the primary substances are subjects to all others, and all other things are predicated or affirmed of them, or are in them, they are most properly called substances. But as the primary substances are to all others, so are their species and genera to aU others ; for of them all other things may be predicated. Hence, when you say that a certain man is a grammarian, j'ou declare that he is a grammatical man, and a grammatical animal. So of a cow, — if black, would be both a black cow and a black animal, and also, a black quadruped.'" It is common to every substance not to be in a subject; for the primary substance is neither in a subject, nor is it spoken of a subject ; and it is manifest that none ofthe secondary substances can be in a subject; for man is affirmed of the subject ; a parti cular man, as Socrates ; but man is not in that subject; so animal is mentioned of the same particular man, but animal is not in him. So difference is not in a subject. It may be said of Socrates as a subject, that he was a pedestrian and a biped; but these are not in a subject, for neither pedestrian nor biped was in Socrates." There is this circumstance in all substances and differences^ that all tilings are assertible synonymously of them ; for all affir mations concerning them, are either of individuals or of species. Of a primary substance there can be no predication, for it is spoken of no subject; but ofthe secondary substances, the species is affirmable of the individual. Primary substances admit of a definition, both of species and genera ; and the species, a defini tion of genus ; for whatever is said of the thing predicated of, may "= Arist. Bipont. vol. 1. p. 453. 09 lyd. p. 454. " Ibid, p. 455. 7. ibij p. ^^e. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 437 he said of its subject ; so, both species and individuals admit of a c II A P. definition of differences ; therefore all things are spoken synony- XI. mously of substances and differences," All substance seems to signify some particular thing. This is true beyond all controversy, ofthe primary substances. The indi vidual one thing is that which they denote. The secondary sub stances seem to signify this by afigure of denomination; as, where any one says, man or animal. Yet this is not true; but rather some such thing is denoted ; but it is not one subject, as a primary substance points to; for man and animal are terms mentioned of, and referrible to, a great multitude of individuals ; nor does it simply mean any such sort of thing as white, for it signifies no other white than such a particular one.'^ There is also this property in substances, that they have no contraries ; for what can be contrary to a primary substance ? as to a certain man or a certain animal. There is no contrary to a man or an animal ; nor is this peculiar to substances, but belongs also to other predicaments ; as to the quantum, There is no con trary to two cubits, or to three, or to the number ten ; for who would say that much was the contrary of little, or great to small? no defined quantities have any contraries.''' Substance seems also not to admit of more or less ; vvhat it is, is the thing mentioned ; but because every substance is what it is, it cannot be either more or less. Suppose the substance was a man, a man cannot be greater or less than himself, or to another. One man is not more a man than another, as one white is whiter than another; or as one degree of beauty is greater than another ; or as one thing is more hot than others.'^ But it seems to be expressly proprium, or peculiar to substance, that as one in number, it is susceptible of contraries ; but no one can affirm of what are not substances, that what is one in number has contraries ; for color, which is thus single, cannot be in any thing both white and black ; nor the same action good and bad ; but a single substance, as'one man, is sometimes white and some times black ; sometimes hot and sometimes cold ; now good, and hereafter bad. So the same speech may not be both true and false. Thus, if we should say, Socrates is sitting ; this is true ; but if he should at that moment rise up, it becomes a falsehood.'" Quantity is either discrete or continuous, and is one thing. 7271 Arist Ibid, . Bipont. p. 460. vol. 1, P- 458. Ibid. r p. 460, F3 7376 Ibid. Ibid. P'P- 459.462. 430 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK from its parts having a contiguous position as to each other, and "^T. iinother thing, when they are not so. Numbers and speech are ] discrete, or disconnected quantity ; a line, a superfices, or a body, HISTORYOF ^^ ^ continuous one; such are place and time; for in numbers ENGLAND, there is no common term for the parts of a number in which they " ' may cohere. Thus, if two fives be the parts of the number ten, the five and five do not cohere by any common term, but are dis tinct, though they make up the number ten. So in speech, we measure' its quantity by long and short syllables, as in an oration; yet there is no common term by which the syllables cohere toge ther, but every one is distinct." Quality is the relation which any thing has to another ; as greater, double. On this subject, Aristotle makes many nice dis tinctions, and ends his chapter with intimating that it might be true to say, that no substance was among related things ; but as it would be difficult, for any who had not often considered the point, to lay down any certainty upon it, he proceeds to a further discussion of this predicament, under two distinctions of it, in the Quali and the Qualitate ; calling that the quality, according to which the quales are said to be." The Quantum receives neither more nor less ; but it is a pro perty of the Qualitas, that it is equal or unequal. Of the wpof Tl, or Relation. Such things are said to be irfoa- n ; or, ' related to something ;' as far as whatever they are, they are said to be of others, or in some manner related to one thing ; what is greater, is so to some thing else; thus, double to single. There are these relatives — habit, disposition, knowlege, sense and position ; for all these are spoken of other things : as habit is the habit of some one ; knowlege is the knowlege of some one ; position is also where some real thing is situated. There is also contrariety in things related; as, virtue is contrary to vice, and knowlege to ignorance, but yet not in all ; for there is nothing contrary to a double or a triple, but they have the more and less, are like and unlike, and differ in degree; and so equal and unequal."* All relatives are conversive; as a servant is the servant of some master, and a master the lord of some servant. Relatives also " Arist. Bipont. vol. 1. p. 465. 's Ibid, c 7. p. 486. " Ibid. p. 474. '^ DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 439 fexist together in nature, as, double and a half; and, where there CHAP, IS a master there is a servant. They are likewise taken away to- XI. gether ; take away the servant, and there is no master ; and yet this does not occur in all things, for the knowable taken away, '"^^o"^^ OF TIIIL takes away knowlege; yet if knowlege be taken away, that will scholas- not take away the knowable.^" tic phi- His next chapter is devoted to his other predicaments, action ^osophy. and passion ; the quando, ubi, and habere."' He considers the opposites and contraries, and the prior and posterior ; and after some remarks on these together,^^ he proceeds to the topic of Motion, of which he makes six different kinds ; generation, cor ruption, increase, diminution, alteration, and change of place ; by which it is manifest that he calls mere change, and the actions of things on each other, specific motions. But with this liberty he might have made a thousand different heads of motion, instead of the six he has chosen. His chapter on the habere, or the modes of having, elucidates his distinctions of it ; as in disposition, to have science and virtue ; in quantity, to have some magnitude, as of four cubits ; about some body, as a robe; or in a part, as a ring on a finger ; or in a vessel, as corn and wine ; or in posses sion, as a field, or house."^ This analysis of a system, now unanimously per mitted by the intellectual world to become obsolete, and only adverted to at present as a matter of passed history, will suffice to shew what sort of topics amused our ancestors in their Aristotelian studies. From the Categories, they who loved them most deeply, passed to his other arguing works ; his Analytics, his To^ pics, his Elenchi Sophistici, and his Metaphysics ; but most were contented with the Categories. The system and meaning of Aristotle in these Ca- The aim tegories are not easy to be traced, from the extreme Aristot1e''s brevity with which he has expressed them, but they Categories. lead our minds to the following observations : He considered nature as it -was then known, and "" Arist. Bipont. vol. 1. p, 480, 1. "' Ibid. c. 7. p. 500. "' Ibid, p. 501-520. "' Ibid. p. 521, 4. F F 4 HISTORYOF ENGLAND 440 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK language as expressing what was known. He did 22_ not contemplate any progress in science, nor antici- LiTERARY pate its advancement, and therefore did not mean to frame any system for extending it : he felt himself to be living in an highly cultivated age, which had suc ceeded to other periods and nations, like the Egyp tian and Ethiopian, the Phenician and the Chaldean, which had been all greatly celebrated for their wis dom and learning; and therefore he did not suppose that nature was not sufficiently known, nor foresee the immense additions which the last three centuries have made to it; nor, consequently, did he think of devising any means to promote the discovery of what he did not perceive to be deficient, nor believe to be penetrable by mortal intellect. Confining his view, or as he intended, extending it, to all that was then known of nature and man, he observed that all properties and words had reference to some particular thing, which he called a subject ; there was always something to which his predi caments were applicable, or in which they inhered : something was substance ; had quantity or quality, or relation ; was in some place, time, or position, and was having, doing, or suffering; this something he called a subject ; it was a fox, a vulture, a boy, or a horse, or any analogous thing that was spoken of. This subject was also, in his conception, a sub stance, not as we now usually mean by the term a solid substantial thing, but rather a subsisting thing. The Aristotelian substance maybe considered to mean what the word subsistence may be used to express. Considering the word used to denote subsistences, or substances in this meaning, he perceived that many related to what our metaphysicians have usually called DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 441 abstract ideas ; they did not signify any particular Cil A p. subject or individual, as the brown horse in the field, _^ or Socrates, or the elm-tree in that hedge, but were history general terms for all the individuals of these classes; °^,ZT^,, as, a horse, a man, a tree ; these terms, and the ideas ^ic phi- or things which they implied, he called primary sub- ^f!!J^ stances ; his primary substances were therefore our general terms or abstract ideas ; as a ship, a palace, a king, and not any particular king, palace, or ship. All other substances, that is, all really and visibly existing things, he named secondary substances ; thus, winds or castle, the Thames, Bonaparte, lord Nelson, or the duke of WeUington, would be some of his secondary substances ; as, a fortress, a river, an emperor, an admiral, or a general, would be, in his philosophical vocabulary, primary ones. He found other terms, also, like his primary sub stances, having reference to no precise individual object, yet to be applied to, or enumerated of them; as the word animal ; he remarked, that many different classes of things were implied by it, as birds, beasts, fishes and insects, as well as men. He therefore dis tinguished these as comprising a separate body of words, and he named them genera, and the classes they comprehended, either of words or things, he called species ; animal was a genus; and man, beast, and bird, were species of that genus, for, however dissimilar to each other, they all agreed in being animals. Another class of words and actual properties he found to be arrangeable undertheterm differences. Each species had some qualities which distinguished them from each other ; as, that man is rational ; so man and some animals are unlike others, in being 442 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK biped ; as some creatures are in being pedestrian, J;2l and others volatile; some are carnivorous, and others LITERARY feed on grass ; all these distinctions he called difier- EN^cLrsD,^ ences. While again, each class of animals had some- ' — •' — ' thing peculiarly and solely its own ; as man's risibi lity ; and these he called propkium. All the change able actions and qualities of things, which might or might not be in them, or done by them, as their mo tions, positions, colors, &c. he named accidents, because they were variable circumstances. But the ten things discriminated in his ten predi caments seemed to him to comprehend all known nature, and all the terms which language was using to express whatever we knew in it, and all that was doing in it. Every known thing, and every used term, was either a substance, which was his first predica ment, or it expressed quantity, quality, relation, place, time, position, action, suffering or having, which were his other nine categories or predicaments. Thus he considered himself to have classed all na ture and all languages under these ten distinctions ; and he proposed to his pupils to study nature and language in this classification. He cannot be justly accused for not having pro vided for the enlargement of knowlege, for he does not appear to have anticipated such a thing, and it did not come within his object His aim was to lead his scholars to acquire and arrange what was known, and not to explore what was knowable. His system did not reach to the unknown, nor direct to it ; it was applied to knowlege as it existed in his day ; and as far as his system is beneficial, it is equally applicable to all the knowlege that exists at any suc ceeding time, however greatly it may have been muL DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 443 tiplied, because the largest amount of it will still be C ii A p. arrangeable under his categorical classifications. ^^- That Aristotle's Predicaments have this universal history applicability, will be manifest to all who study them, scholas- Whether it will be now useful to arrange our vast ''^^ p"'- knowlege under his predicaments, and whether far - — v — ^ more beneficial classifications have not since been constructed, and may not now be made, are dif ferent questions. Our improvements do not impeach his original in genuity, nor disprove the great benefits which it has, in former ages, occasioned to mankind. Like many laws, once very wise and useful, it has now become obsolete, and has been exceedingly abused : and it would be absurd to praise in order to revive it. But let us be just to the departed genius to which we have been indebted, and not ridicule and revile what we should not have been enabled to look down upon, if it had not existed and previously improved us.^ '^ The remarks of Pere Rapin on Aristotle's Ethics deserve to be in serted. ' Tho the morals of Aristotle have the same foundation, the same principles, the same economy, with those of Plato ; and tho, as Tally remarks, there is no essential difference between the one and the other, yet it must be confessed, that Aristotle formed this whole doctrine into a more regular body, not only by distinguishing the characters of public and private virtue, the prudence of a civil governor and that of the master of a family, but likewise by establishing, in his books to Nico- machus, the two thiugs which make the very life and soul of morality, a last end or happiness, and the means of attaining it. In the first book, he proves that there is such an ultimate happiness, which man is capable of enjoying. In the next eight which follow, he shews the way how to arrive at this happiness. And in the tenth and last, he declares tbat this happiness consists in the most noble actions of human nature, as conver sant about the most excellent object. These are Aristotle's morals, the most accurate and complete, and the best methodized, of all the heathen systems. Every thing is there disposed in so artful a manner, and the several parts are so nicely connected with each other and have all so direct a tendency to the main end, that this must be acknowleged for one ofthe most accomplished pieces of antiquity. For it turns alto gether on tbat admirable method ofanalysis so familiar to this great author, who, by that art, reduces the end to tbe means, in the same manner as we 444 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK refer the parts to the whole, or the effects to the cause. And tho in his ¦^-j third book of Ethics he declares, that it is impossible to obseiTe an exact '_ method on this subject, by reason of common infirmit}' and instabilitv, LITERARY '^"'^ '''^ changeable nature of human actions, yet he is still regular to ad- HiSTORYOF Hiira'io"- But nothing has so much advanced tbe glory of Aristotle's ENGLAND '"orals as the general pobty of the world, there being scarce any well- regulated government but what is founded on this bottom ; for which reason it was studiously declined by Machiavel,as too good and virtuous to enter into his schemes, who advanced no other arts of empire but those of falsehood and villany. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 4^15 CHAP. XIL HISTORY OF THE SCHOLASTIC PHILOSOPHY. Joannes Erigena's De Divisione Natures ; — Abelard's Life and Works; — The most famous Doctors of the School men; — Al Gazel; — Duns Scotus, and Occam on the Universals. Ihe eleventh century, as it closed, was distin- Origin of guished by the rise of those great discussions wbich lastic Phi- became afterwards distinguished by the title of the l"sophy. ^ Scholastic Philosophy. At first, the sincere efforts of awakened mind, springing to exert itself with the hope of achieving great results ; eager to free itself from error, and seeking to penetrate the recesses of truth, and to acquire an illumination of knowlege which had not then been attained ; they yet failed to realize the brilliant expectations which they con ceived and excited, and introduced three ages of verbal warfare and of arguing subtlety, which gave the mind new acuteness and agility, but added no information, and discovered no truth. They have left nothing to mankind but an expanded lesson of the uselessness of all dialectical logomachy. Its primitive source was, unquestionably, the works of Aristotle which have been already noticed ; but the application of this form and exercise ofthe mind to theology, appears in the works ascribed to Dionysius Areopagita, and in those of Gregorius Theologus, and of Maximus.* From these compositions that ' Erigena refers to the. works ascribed to Dionysius Areopagita, and to Gregorius Theologus, as liis sources ; and also to Maximus, whose Scholia on Gregory he translated into Latin, See them printed at the end of bis own work, Oxon. 1681. Joannes 446 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BOOK student was principally formed, in the eighth cen- '^'^- tury, who first brought these studies to the notice of England and of Europe. This individual, the earliest writer that appears to have introduced into the west that subtilizing spirit Erigena. of logical and metaphysical reasoning on the abstract subjects of human thought, which characterise the schoolmen, was John the Irishman, usually called Joannes Scotus, or Ekigena, which implies ' born in Erin,' or Ireland. He was the favored literary friend of two of the greatest sovereigns of modern times, Charlemagne and Alfred;* and also of Charles the Bald. To ' Carolo Gloriossimo' he addresses his Latin translation of the Greek Scholia of Maximus on Gregory Theologus, a work of very refined meta physical disquisitions on the Deity.' He translated also the Hierarchy of Dionysius-.^ His original work ' on the Vision of God,' has eluded modern research ; but his largest composition, ' De Divisione Naturse,' was found, and printed at Oxford by Mr. Gale, in 1681. It procured him great distinction in his day.' In this work he has thrown his ideas into the form of a dialogue; but rather for the purpose of more fully expressing them, than with any attempt at dis crimination of character ; and as it is the composi tion of one who was so esteemed and patronized by ' Hist. Angl. Sax. v, 3, p, 390, 4th edition. ^ See his dedication in Gale's edition of his De Div. Nat. ' Malmesbury mentions this de Pont, 1. 5. * Anastasius said truly in his letter to Charles, that he was astonished how such a \h barbarus, placed in the very ends of the world, so remote from conversation with mankind, as this Irishman John was, could com prehend such things with bis intellect, and transfuse them into another language so ably.. He justly ascribes it to his vivacious genius, that quality in which Ireland has never been deficient. — Sed hoc operatus est iile artifex spiritus qui hunc ardentem pariter et loquentem fecit, Anast, ap. Testim. prefixed by Gale to his edition of the work. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 417 Charlemagne and our Alfred the Great, and is known C ha p. to few, and has many curious tho too-refining opi- ^^^• nions, we will add a synopsis of the work. It will be fairer to see his sentiments in his own statement of them, than to give from others any general cha racter of them.® Synopsis of Joannes Erigena's De Divisione Natures, He begins by remarking, that he had often thought that the primary division of all things which can be perceived by the mind, or which exceed its understanding, ought to be into those things flfhich are, and into those which are not ; and he asks whether the word Nature might not be used as a general term that would com prehend all of these — his friend assenting, he proceeds to divide nature firom four differences into four species. The first of these would be into that which creates, and is not created. — II. That which is created, and creates. — HI. That which is created, but does not create. — IV. That which is neither creating nor is created. He speaks with some subtleties as to what is existence and what is not, p. 2. He considers the future felicity of the beatified to be " no other than the pure and immediate contemplation of the divine essence itself," p. 3 ; and much of his first book is on the Theophania or Divine Vision, and on the divine nature, p. 6, and its creative energy, and on its essence, goodness and wisdom. He considers it under the distinctions of the Aristotelian catego ries, and expands into much metaphysical refinement on logical " substantia." - He thus describes, himself, the subjects ofhis second and third books : — ' In the second, we have disputed of nature as created and as creating. We said, that this subsisted in the principles of ° Mr, Berrington has ably stated one of the main points of Erigena's work. ' This general doctrine is deduced, that as all things originally were contained in God, and proceeded from him into the different classes by which they are now distinguished, so shall they finally return to him, and be resolved into the sohrce from which they came : in other words, that, as before the world was created, there was no being but God, and the causes of all things were in him, so, after the end ofthe world, theie will be no being but God, and the causes of all things in him. This final resolution he ^sewhere denominates deification, or, in the Greek language, which he affected to use, 9e»