CHAP. V. MANNERS. THE manners and customs of a people, whether in a barbarous or refined age, as they materially tend to depict the true genius and character of the government under whatever form it exists, cannot therefore be contemplated with indifference by a philosophic eye. We shall collect then, under the following chapter, those isolated facts, which, although connected with some of the preceding articles, could not, however, be incorporated in them, without disordering the plan of our undertaking. By the capitularia of Charlemagne, we find that his subjects continued to follow the ancient Germanic custom of reckoning the time by nights, and not by days *. A decisive inference may be drawn of the uncivilised state of manners among the very highest orders of the people, from this mode of pardoning an injury. When Pepin tendered his friendship to St. Sturme, he threw down on the ground, for a pledge, a thread of his cloak, and this sign, then universally understood, announced that their ancient enmity was for ever extinguished †. The practice was extremely prevalent among the nobles, during this reign, of bringing up their children in the palace of the king, and of attaching them to his service, in the hopes * Nec dierum numerum, ut nos, sed noctium computant. Vide Tacitus de moribus Germanorum. + Tollensque de manu sua de pallio suo filum, projecit in terram, et dixit, Ecce in testimonium perfectæ remissionis filum de pallio meo projicio in terram, ut cunctis pateat, quod pristina deinceps adnulletur inimicitia. Vita St. Sturm. Recueil des Historiens de France. Tom. V. p. 429. of their quickly obtaining some lucrative ⚫ and honourable employment. Several capitularia of Charlemagne inform us, that the Franks never laid aside their arms, except when they entered the church. The regular troops were raised by the dukes, or, as they are occasionally styled, the governors of provinces. The counts commanded under them, and assembled these troops in their respective cantons; the manors, country towns, and villages, furnished a number of soldiers proportionate to their strength and population. Twelve farms provided a horseman, armed with a helmet and cuirass; the oblong shield, the battle ax, the javelin, and the sword, were the weapons employed by all in action; every man who used arrows was obliged to have at least twelve in his quiver; the province from whence the militia was drawn engaged to furnish it with corn, and the necessary provisions for six months; the king took upon himself to supply it during the remainder of the campaign. A review of the whole forces was appointed on the first of March or May, and, according to a law of Charlemagne every freeman was compelled in person to meet the enemy, if he possessed five mansi, or sixty acres of land in property; and, upon his refusing to attend the summons, he was liable to a fine of sixty crowns. No sooner was an expedition concluded for the autumn or spring, than each count announced to those in his district, who belonged to the military service, the place of rendezvous for the next year; this, in the phrase of the times, was called the convocation of the ban. The frontier was likewise named, to which each division of the troops brought provision for three months, when they again assembled. This frontier, styled March in the language then used, was the Rhine, for those who, settled in Gaul, were called upon to serve from the borders of the Loire to the left bank of the Rhine. It was the Loire for those who, coming from Germany, were destined to act beyond that river. If the expedition menaced Spain, they repaired to the Py renees and to the Elbe. If their ope rations were to be carried on against the Danes, each district was obliged to furnish its own carriages, to transport their provisions; and upon these carriages were placed all the necessary implements to form a camp, to build a fort, and to undertake a siege. Averse from slow and dilatory movements, Charlemagne may be regarded as the first sovereign in Germany who had recourse to the navigation of rivers to facilitate and expedite these different transports. The count of that territory through which the troops were destined to march, received timely intelligence of their departure, in order that the bridges, boats, and roads might be placed in a proper state for their accommodation. In each district two thirds of the carriages were put in requisition for the horses which accompanied the army; and as charts, topographical descriptions, and those other inventions of a modern age, which enable a general to acquire a familiar acquaintance with the |