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CHAP. I.

600-1467.

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Capet and several of the principal nobility of France sent their children to it for education. France," says M. de St. Marc,* "owes to him "her taste for true literature; he was not satis“fied with advancing it by his lectures and "occasional publications; he also actively pro"moted it by an extensive epistolary corres“ pondence. By this he communicated his "discoveries to many, both in France and other "states, and strove to kindle in them his own "literary zeal. At a great expense, he collected

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a large library of ancient and modern books, "caused numerous copies of them to be made, "and distributed them wherever he thought "they might be useful." It is probable that he first introduced into Europe the Arabic system of notation,--perhaps, the most useful of all discoveries in science.†

3. The twelfth century presents a visible increase of literary ardour. Here the scholastics particularly engage our attention. Deserting the method by which religion and philosophy had been formerly taught, these professed to convey * Abrégé Chronologique de l'Histoire d'Italie, Vol. II. p. 933.

+ It is observable that, in the preceding century, Campanus, a mathematician of Lombardy, had translated into Latin the Elements and Data of Euclid; the former was printed at Venice in 1482, the latter at Basle in 1546.

Middle Ages.

the knowledge of them by the dryest mode of Learning in the scholastic disputation, conforming throughout, both their principles and their manner of inculcating them, to the philosophy of Aristotle and his system of argumentation. Treading in his steps, and some of them gifted with a large portion of his genius, they often astonish by the subtlety and closeness of their reasoning, and the sublime and curious truths which they elicit; but they are too often chargeable with obscurity, with excess of refinement, and with the want of real importance in the subjects of their investigations.

No preceptors ever had more numerous or zealous disciples: Mr. Berington, in his learned and interesting history of Abeillard and Heloisa, speaking of these times, observes,* that "the

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schools, as we know, from the histories of the age, were not only filled with students, as at

present, but men in years, persons of distinc"tion, fathers of families, and ministers of state, "after the toils of the day were over, crowded "to them as to a theatre of amusement." The same writer adds, that† "when Abeillard taught " in the convent of St. Denys, more than three "thousand scholars are said, by some authors, "to have attended his lectures. When he left "this convent, and retired to the convent of *Page 10. + Page 127.

CHAP. I.

600-1467.

Nogent in Champaigne, the lovers of science pursued and discovered him ;" and, "before "the end of the first year, exceeded six hun"dred. Situated in a forest, exposed to "the inclement seasons, without a single "convenience to smooth the rugged life,

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or without one amusement, except what literary pursuits, scientific conversation, "and their own society could supply;-in "Abeillard they saw the divine Plato; in "themselves, that illustrious groupe of disciples "which had given renown to the academic "walks of Athens." * We may lament that the

instruction given them

was not more elegant or more useful, but it is impossible to deny the thirst of knowledge, or the mental activity of the scholars;―ignorant--it would be injustice to call them. "In the twelfth century," says Dom Rivet, men of letters were most abundantly "multiplied; a prodigious number of writings, on every subject, and sometimes of a very "interesting nature, appeared."

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4. In the thirteenth century, the rays of science became brighter and were more generally diffused. The formation of the Italian republics raised, in

* Page 123.

+ Histoire Literaire de France, Vol. I. (Etat des Lettres en France durant le cours du douzieme siecle.)

I. 4.

Middle Ages.

every part of that ample territory, a spirit of Learning in the mental energy, which equally discovered itself in commerce and the polite arts. Many edifices of the most exquisite gothic architecture were raised: Cimabue, the father of the modern school of painting, adorned them with the efforts of his art; Brunelleschi revived at Florence the forms of ancient architecture; and Danté produced the divina comedia.*

In the Netherlands, the elegant arts equally flourished. No one, who has seen the long line of magnificent towns in Belgium, can have surveyed, without admiration, the many public edifices of exquisite and costly architecture, and the numberless works in marble, gold, silver, iron and bronze, which decorate them; many may be traced to the period of which we are speaking.

In the same period, France discovered similar ardour. The church of Notre Dâme at Paris, the façades of the churches of Rheims, and Notre Dâme at Rouen, and the cathedrals of Amiens and Strasbourg show, that in the archi

The legacy which William, King of Sicily, who had married Joan, a daughter of Henry the 2d, King of England, left to this monarch, shows both the wealth and progress of art in that period; it consisted of a table of gold, 12 feet in length, and one foot and a half in breadth; a tent of silk sufficiently capacious to hold 2,000 persons; 60,000 measures of wine, 60,000 of wheat, and 60,000 of barley; with 100 gallies equipped and provisioned for two years.-Lingard's History, Vol. II. p. 155.

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CHAP. I. 600-1467.

tecture of the times, France did not yield to Italy.

The number of her schools, or the multitudes by whom they were frequented, make it evident that she possessed an equal taste for general literature. Libraries began now to be formed. The foundations of the Bibliothèque Royâle at Paris, were laid at this time, and Robert, called of Sorbonne, from a village of that name in the diocese of Rheims, in which he was born, founded the university of the Sorbonne, and collected, for the use of it's members, an extensive library. In 1289, it consisted of upwards of a thousand volumes, which were then valued at 3,812 livres, 10 sous, and 8 deniers, about £3,000 sterling, according to the present value of money.

In this century also, some biblical undertakings of no ordinary size were set on foot and accomplished. St. Jerom's version of the scriptures having, in consequence of the errors of the copyists, become very corrupt, considerable pains were now taken to restore it to it's primitive integrity. With this view, the persons who engaged in such an undertaking, selected the best manuscript copy which they could they could procure; collated it with others, compared it with the originals, and consulted the septuagint. Leaving the text of the manuscript untouched, they

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