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perhaps convince the reader that there is more ground, than is usually supposed, for believing,— that ignorance did not prevail in it, at any time, to the extent which has been generally imagined; and that a much earlier period, than is usually thought, ought to be assigned to the revival of learning.

If any person were required to mention the time, in which, during the middle ages, the arts and sciences were at their lowest ebb in Europe, he would probably fix on the period which elapsed between the death of Charlemagne and the accession of the Capetian dynasty.-Now, an excellent dissertation by the abbé de Boeuf, on the state of the sciences in the Gauls, from the death of Charlemagne, till the reign of Robert king of France*, seems to establish, by very strong proofs, that, during the whole of this period, both sacred and profane literature, the civil and canon law, and the sciences of arithmetic, astronomy, geography, music, and medicine, were extensively cultivated. In England, during the same period, St. Dubritius had schools at Hentlan and Moch-rhes on the Wye; and these were so well frequented, that they sometimes contained one thousand scholars: Ilturus taught with great success at Llan-twit, in Glamorganshire. Several scholars of these celebrated men, were afterwards eminent for knowledge both in England and Wales..

* Recueil des divers Ecrits pour servir d'éclaircissement à l'Histoire de France, 2 vols. Paris, 1738.

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It is true, that many instances of gross and risible ignorance may be produced in these and in the ages which immediately followed: but, at a time, when there was so little intercourse, either between countries or individuals, it would easily happen that learning might exist, where ignorance was not distant. Even in the present state of society, when roads and posts have rendered every kind of intercourse so easy, a single family, cultivating, in a provincial town, the elegant arts with distinction, will render it a seat of polite literature, and give its inhabitants a general taste for learning, which no neighbouring place will possess. How much more frequently, must something of this nature have taken place, when communication of every kind was so difficult! In such times, it might often happen, that the arts would abound in one monastery, or in one town, and be altogether neglected in the adjacent.-When, therefore, we peruse the histories of the times, to which we are alluding, we should not hastily conclude, from particular instances of ignorance in some places, that a considerable portion of learning did not exist in others.

A further argument against such a conclusion may perhaps be drawn from the state of architecture, and its ornamental appendages, throughout this period. No intellectual eye can behold our ancient cathedrals, without being struck with the sublime science and learned labour, which their construction must have required. Our ablest architects confess their ignorance of the means, by

which several of their elevated parts were raised, or continue to be supported. To these, we must add the works of gold, silver, and bronze, with which, in a less or greater degree, all of them abounded. When we survey these splendid exertions of art and science, and then consider the share of knowledge which they necessarily presuppose and imply, it is impossible to deny to the ages which produced them, a high degree of cultivation; and, when we consider their number, it is equally impossible to imagine, that the knowledge, which raised or ornamented them, was not extensively disseminated.

IX. 5.

Probable revival of Learning, at an earlier period than is usually supposed.

THE reflections, which have been suggested, may, perhaps, incline the reader to think, that, in the times of which we are speaking, there was less ignorance and superstition than is generally represented. It may be added, that there are grounds to suspect, that the dispersion of these was earlier; and that sound learning and science began to revive in Europe sooner than is generally imagined.

We shall shortly state some facts, which may be thought to prove this assertion, as it may be applied to the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth centuries, particularly in respect to the state of literature in England during this period.

So early as the eleventh century, the arts and

sciences flourished, under the protection of the Mahometan princes of Persia, Bagdad, Africa, and Spain. In all these countries, the studies of medicine, astronomy, and dialectics, were cultivated with success, and the works of Aristotle, and of some other authors, were translated from the Grecian language into the Arabic. Something, too, of learning, and science, remained at Constantinople and in the adjacent provinces. By degrees, they attracted the attention, first of the Italians, and afterwards of the northern inhabitants of Europe; and many inquisitive spirits travelled in quest of learning to the Greeks of the eastern empire, or to the Arabians in Bagdad, Spain or Africa, and returned with considerable literary spoil. Of these, Gerbert, who afterwards became pope, under the name of Sylvester the second, deserves particular mention. A thirst of knowledge had led him to Cordova: in that celebrated seat of Moorish literature, he acquired an extensive knowledge of mathematics and astronomy. On his return to France, he attracted the notice of Adalberon, archbishop of Rheims; and, under his auspices, opened a school in that city. Hugh 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 satisfied "with advancing it by his public lectures, and "occasional publications; but by an extensive "epistolary correspondence, he communicated his * Abrégé Chronologique de l'Histoire d'Italie, vol. ii. p. 933.

"discoveries to many, both in France and other "states, and strove to kindle in them his own lite66 rary ardour. 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

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might be useful." It is probable, that he first introduced into Europe the Arabic system of notation,-perhaps the most useful of modern discoveries in science *.

The twelfth century presents a visible increase of literary ardour. Mr. Berington, in his learned and interesting History of Abeillard and Heloisa, speaking of these times, observest, that "the schools, as we know, from the histories of the

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age, were not only filled with students, as at

present, but men in years, persons of distinction, "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 con"vent of St. Denys, more than three thousand "scholars are said by some authors to have at"tended his lectures. When he left this convent, "and retired to the convent of Nogent in Champagne, the lovers of science pursued and dis

*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.

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