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ŒĪĪĪĪĪĪĪĪĪĪĪĪĪĪĪĪĪWikiLJITILIZILU Œ œ ••• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • ► ► ► ► ► ► ► ► ► （if †† IIIHIIIHIIIHIII º […] - |\} : : }~,.. ' ，* · ·，≤）&（Xºi;·** ;&šķº， §bºzº: *** . **** N. Meº ſº.” º • *---- *A ſy, rºutinº º S: *: Ik () ič venºrAs ºf º TU: I N LIBRARY * IIIſ ·-|（<%• • --！.！.！∞ſ.© § 5 IHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHI,IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIĘá，2%ſHſ∞}}%ſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſi sſſſſſſſsſſ！！！LŲYTŲ !+·illä:};· : ;|-• ! ! ! ! ! ' ſăã{ IIHU'ſ, aſſiſtſ ≤ r！！！！！！！！r_vir_Tr. rī£ 7-ı ¿§§2. , ， )。 §§§）, *~&#'）： … ~*~ 23;&aº §§§§ Ǻr.º.º. * - T-zºº t < §§ *、、×...× ******… ¿ ;~, ſe:- - X & wº \. s were composed of linen exquisitely fine, and adorned with an infinite variety of co- lours, and of such surprising elevation, that we are told an arrow shot from the strongest armºuld not reach its summit. The in- terior of the tent was of that magnitude, that few palaces could present a greater number of apartments. * ~ A piece of workmanship, though not so costly as the former, yet in the judgment of many perhaps equally curious, that was also sent to him by the same royal donor, was a water clock, whose construction has since been imitated under all sorts of forms. Twelve gates represented the twelve hours; ‘when the hour was striking on the clock one of the gates opened itself, from which proceeded a regular number of small balls, and these by falling in time on a brazen vessel, marked the hour by the noise which they then caused; thus the eye perceived the hour by the number of opened gates, and the ear by the number of falling balls. At the twelfth hour twelve small horsemen issued out of each of them through one / A. D. 894.] CHARLEMAGNE. 6t gate, and closed them all in their course round the dial. These last gifts were re- garded with astonishment and admiration by contempory writers, nor can they ap- pear frivolous to our more enlarged and ac- curate conceptions of the powers of me- chanism; and even were it otherwise they are still entitled to our attention, as they serve to illustrate the state of the arts in the days of Charlemagne. We must now speak of a present, which if it can be substantiated by the clear and positive voice of historic truth, will afford a most striking proof of the boundless libe- rality of the caliph's temper, and must de- servedly have been the theme of christian $2 applause. The holy city of Jerusalem, with those celebrated countries Phoenicia and Palestine, acknowledged Harun for their sovereign. The patriarch of Jeru- salem, apprized of the ties of friendship that subsisted between him and Charle- magne, had dispatched a monk named Za- chary into France, to implore the protection of this great prince for the churches of the 62 THE REIGN OF [A. D. 804. east; and to insure the success of this mis- sion, the monk presented him with a piece of the true cross. The piety and gratitude of the emperor for this precious gift, was apparent in sending an ecclesiastic with this deputy of the patriarchs as far as Jerusalem, in order that he might report to him the real state of the christians of that country, | and thus enable him to render them some \effectual service. No sooner was the caliph instructed of the deep interest which his ally felt in this affair, than he took a generous pleasure, say the historians of the day, in preventing his intreaties, and surpassing his hopes. He * must, indeed, have exceeded the most san- guine expectations of the Frank, if it be true that he invested him with the sove- reignty of Jerusalem, and all its depend- encies, and reserved for himself only the barren title of his lieutenant; but princes are in general, most unfortunately for man- kind, less ambitious of praise than of power. and few of them can be accused of lavish- ing their dominions upon other sovereigns, A. D. 804.] CHARLEMAGNE. 63 without being compelled by the strong arm of necessity, or prompted by some great and immediate advantage to themselves, or their descendants. An interchange of kind of- fices certainly subsisted between the mas- ters of the east and the west, but it would be no small deviation from probability and truth to assert, on the slender body of histo- rical evidence, that is still extant upon this subject, that Harun gave the christian dog” so substantial a mark of his respect and ve- neration; although we may venture to be- lieve that he permitted him to exercise an uncontrolled authority at Jerusalem in all which concerned the monuments of his faith, and in that respect might profess him- self only as his lieutenant and the executor of his orders; since Zachary on his return, in the presence of the Persian ambassadors, laid at the feet of his master the keys of the holy sepulchre and of Calvary, and the standard of the city of Jerusalem. In each kingdom of Europe, as we have * The name with which he usually honors him in their public correspondence, 64 THE REIGN OF [A. D. 804. before observed, the influence of Charle- magne was felt, and his arms dreaded, and both so much, that no sovereign dared to cope with him in the character of a rival, Harun was his only equal and independent ally, and he was too far removed ever to prove a dangerous enemy. With the strictest propriety, therefore, it may be said, that Charlemagne was the sole and undis- puted master of Europe, and as such his court was filled with many suppliants of different ranks and descriptions, Among the number who repaired to him for pro- tection and support, was Egbert, under whose vigorous, sagacious, and prudent policy, the kingdoms of the heptarchy were destined to be united into one great monarchy. This young man had been forced to abandon his country from the great jealousy which Brithric, the reigning prince of Wessex, had conceived towards him. To his banishment, however, he was indebted for his future greatness; inasmuch, as by residing in the court of Charlemagne, and serving in his armies, he had acquired CHARLEMAGNE. 63 the rare art of judging with wisdom, and acting with firmness and vigour; qualities so essentially necessary for the kingly office. w" º J When Egbert, according to the wishes and interests of his countrymen, was called to the throne of his ancestors, in taking a last embrace of his generous benefactor, he was presented by him with his sword: It has vanquished my enemies, said the royal donor, and I hope it will possess the same virtue against your's; it is no longer wielded by the same hand, said the modest Egbert, but your disciple will study to remem- ber the lessons and example of his great master *. It was in the last and fourth journey of Charlemagne to Rome, that he was in- * The modern Charlemagne affected to imitate this noble language in presenting his sword to the electoral prince of Baden after his return from the sanguinary plains of Austerlitz; but we question if Egbert could not alledge far more satisfactory reasons to glory in the friendship of Charlemagne, than those which can be produced by that prince in favor of the man who now wields the resources of France. F º º : 66 THE REIGN OF [A. D. 799. wested with the title of the emperor of the iwest, which to obtain, became the great object of his ambition, when he beheld province after province, kingdom afterking- dom, submitting to his arms and power. Pope Adrian, whom Charlemagne both ho- noured and revered in his life-time, and whose death was wept by his royal muse”, was now no more; but his successor, Leo the third, governed, perhaps, more by self- interest, than by affection to his person, felt equally disposed to promote his favourite wishes. By his elevation to the papal chair, he had been preferred to the nephew of Adrian, and for this deep and irreparable offence, he was nearly sacrificed to the se- *~y. * This celebrated epitaph of thirty-eight verses, may be founded in the Histoire des Papes. Tom. I. p. 591, 592. Perhaps some ill-natured critics may be disposed to think, that the compliment in the two concluding lines is paid at the expence of historical truth. But de mortuis nil nisi bonum is a maxim which, from time immemorial, has been respected by the epitaph writer, whether prince, , or peasant. Dum sol ignicomo rutilus splendescit ab arce, Laus tua, Sancte Pater, semper in orbe manet. A. D. soo. CHARLEMAGNE. 67 verity of his vengeance. In the midst of a solemn procession, he was attacked and thrown from his horse by a band of fierce conspirators, overwhelmed with blows, and dragged to a convent near the scene of ac- tion that they might perpetrate his death at their leisure. His recovery was miraculous,” and his escape effected by the arms and friendship of the duke of Spoleto. Soon after his return to the Vatican, he repaired to Charlemagne in his camp of Paderbom, in Westphalia; who promised him that un- der his own eye he would see justice ren- dered for all the insults that had been of- fered to his sacred person. Under this avowed pretence Charlemagne entered the capital of the world, in the last year of the eighth century. The seventh day after his arrival heassembled the archbishops, abbots, and the chief nobles of the Franks and Romans in the church of St. Peter, in * According to the fable of the times, he was twice restored to the use of his tongue, of which he was twice bereft. See Anastatius de Vitis Romanorum Pontificis. Tom. III. p. 197. F 2 tº THE REIGN of [A. D. soo. order to examine the charges which, from the worst of motives, had been laid against the Pope. Of his own accord Leo made his appearance at this solemn meeting, and after professing his readiness to justify him- self of the crimes imputed to him, he took the four gospels in his hand, and swore with a loud voice, that he was innocent of all the charges alleged by his adversaries. Upon which the numerous ecclesiastics that were present, intonated, with their well practised voices, psalms to the praise of God, the Virgin Mary, St. Peter, and all the host of saints. • In this manner was the important affair concluded, which in all probability, with- out the personal interference of Charle- magne, would have deprived Leo of his triple crown. Some writers, whose sub- missive deference to the papal see betrays them into errors and assertions as palpable as absurd, are unwilling to believe that Charlemagne exercised any juridical powers in this assembly. But those who have not received their lessons of religious N 4D. Sooj CHARLEMAGNE. 69 faith from any teachers of the popish sect, can clearly perceive, that in the theocracy of Rome, Charlemagne presided as the le- gislator and judge. On the festival of Christmas, in com- pliance with the earnest intreaties of the Pope, Charlemagne laid aside his native habit, and appeared with his patrician robes in the church of St. Peter, where, as he was kneeling at the foot of his shrine, Leo suddenly * placed a golden crown upon his head. The people who assisted at this imposing ceremony shouted out three times, in transports of joy, long life and victory to Charles, the most august, crown- ed by the vicar of God, the great and pa- * Eginhard pretends that his royal master was much displeased at this act of the Pope, and that, if he had the least suspected his design, he would not have entered the church upon that day. Inclined as I am to pay every re- spect to the authority of Eginhard, where the name of Charlemagne is concerned, yet upon this occasion we must agree with Sigonius, Pere Daniel, and Muratori, that every concurrent circumstance of Charlemagne's journey to Rome, denoted in the most unequivocal man- ner, his full expectations of receiving the title of emperor of the Romans and of the west. \ F 3 70 THE REIGN OF [A. D. 800, cific emperor of the Romans. Leo then poured the sacred oil upon his head and body, and afterwards adored * the majesty of the great emperor +. The coronation oath was administered to him by the same • Anastatius the bibliothecarian, who records every event with a scrupulous exactness which tends to illustrate and uphold the papal pre-eminence, and observes a dis- creet silence where it is circumscribed and lowered, says nothing about the adoration of the pope; while Eginhard, actuated by similar motives in respect to his master, makes express mention of it. + He was not content with the simple title of em- peror, but added these words to it, who governs the em- pire of the Romans ? Imperator romanorum gubernens imperium. Upon the money likewise which was struck at Rome by his mandate, at least by his consent, these words appeared in commemoration of the above-men- tioned event. Renovatio Imperii Romani, After his return to the kingdom of France, he ordered the com- missioners who were sent through the provinces, to ad- minister a new oath of fidelity, to such of his subjects who had passed their twelfth year. The capitular is ex- pressed in the following terms: that every man in his dominions who had before promised fidelity to him in his name of king, should repeat the same promise in his rank of Caesar. Ut omnis homo in toto regno suo, qui ante fidelitatem sibi Regis nomine promisiset, nunc ipsum pro- missurp hominis Caesari faciat. A. D. 800.] CHARLEMAGNE. 71° hand, in which he swore, in the name of Jesus Christ, and in the presence of God, and of his blessed apostle St. Peter, to main- tain to his utmost power the faith and rights of the holy roman church *. . Four years after this memorable trans- action, Charlemagne, warned by his grow- ing infirmities and advanced years, felt the necessity of making such a testament as he conceived would prevent the government of his vast dominions being thrown into con- fusion by the mad ambition of his sons. Upon the following clause in this charter, concerning the partition of his estates, seems to have been founded the general opinion, that under the Carlovingian race, the crown was at once hereditary and elective. That if one f of the three brothers happens to * See this formule given by Sigonius de Regno Italiae, Lib. IV. from an ancient book entitled Ordo Romanus. + Quod sit alis filius cuilibet istorum trium fratrum natus fuerit, quem p pulus eligere voluit ut patri suo suc- cedat in regni hereditate, volumus ut hoc consentiant pa- trui ipsius pueri, Baluzius capitularia Regum Fran- F 4 72. THE REIGN of [A. D. 804. have a son, such as the people shall be willing to chuse as the heir to his father's throne, his uncles shall consent to it. This testament being read in parliament at Thi- onville, convoked for that express purpose, was then sent to receive the signature of the Pope; not, however, that it was con- sidered to acquire any additional mark of validity from undergoing his sanction, but only to establish its claims to authenticity upon the most unalterable basis. The death of his two eldest sons ren- dered it necessary to form another will. -In this last, after bequeathing two-thirds of his treasures and moveables to the different capitals of his states, he transmitted to his son Lewis, surnamed the Pious, an em- pire, which was limited on the west by the Atlantic and the river Ebro, on the south corum, Article V. What an idea does the emperor give us of the character of his sons, when in the eighteenth article of the above-mentioned testament, he forbids them putting the children of their brother to death, mutilating, depriving them of their eyes, or confining them to a cloister before they had examined into the nature of their offences. A.D. sis.j CHARLEMAGNE. 73 by the Mediterranean, on the north by the German Ocean and the river Eydar, the antient boundary between Denmark and Germany, and ºn the east by the river Raab and the mountains of Bohemia. Thus the fairest portion of the globe, France, Germany, Italy and part of Hun- gary, Spain and Prussia, submitted to the same sceptre *. . . f The emperor now finding himself al- most worn out by his bodily complaints, and beginning to sink beneath the weight of governing so great an empire, prepared to execute the resolution which some wri- ters have insinuated he had long before formed, of associating his son to an equal share of his power. He therefore assem- bled a diet of bishops, abbots, dukes and counts, at Aix-la-Chapelle. In their pre- sence he recommended to Lewis the pro- * Sec the ninth volume of Gibbon's history of the Ro- man empire, p. 180, 185, for an accurate and copious description of the different parts of his extensive empire. as- 74 THE REIGN OF [A. D. 813. tection of his sisters, and the children of his brothers, and obliged him to swear, to shew himself in every action the father of his people, an oath which was more easy to be taken than fulfilled. He then de- manded of the bishops and nobles assem- bled, if they consented that he should be- stow the title of emperor on his son; and after they had sworn allegiance to him, he commanded Louis to take the imperial crown from the altar, and place it upon his own head. The ceremony of the coro- nation being concluded, Louis approached his august father, and embraced him with that degree of sensibility and affection which highly affected the whole audience. A year after this important transaction, Charlemagne was seized with a fever, which in the course of seven days put an end to his existence, and on the twenty-eighth of January, after a life of seventy-two, and a reign of forty-eight years, he expired in pronouncing this prayer, which expresses A. D. 804.] CHARLEMAGNE.' . . #5 the belief of a christian Soul: In manus tuas Domine, commendo Spiritum meum *. * The manner in which Charlemagne was interred seems a ridiculous desire on the part of his pious son, to perpetuate his father's greatness even in the grave; it is, however, sufficiently curious to be described. His body being embalmed and deposited in a vault, was seated on a throne of gold, clothed in imperial habits over sackcloth, which he usually wore. By his side hung a sword, the hilt and sheath of which were gold, and a pilgrim's bag that he used to carry in his journeys to Rome: he held in his hands the gospel inscribed in characters of gold; his head was ornamented by a chain of gold in the form of a diadem, in which was laid a part of the true cross, and his face covered with a winding sheet: his buckler and sceptre of entire gold were placed before him; and his sepulchre was closed, after it had been filled with many treasures, multis thesauris, and every kind of perfume. See Memoirs de Literature, Tom. II.-Near two centu- ries afterwards his tomb was opened by the orders of the emperor Otho the Third, and his body stripped of its royal ornaments, which had not been in the least injured by the hand of time. See Pfeffel Abrege Chronologique d'Alle- magne. Tom. I. page 38. 76. THE REIGN OF [A. D. 814. HAVING now enumerated the events in the reign of Charlemagne, which are in my opinion chiefly entitled to the notice of the reader of the present times, it now only remains to enter into a more copi- ous examination of the state of religion, laws, literature, and manners, during this famous period; for upon the revolution which the emperor effected in them all are founded his sole and best pretensions to real greatness. Those who cast their eye on his warlike achievements will find that the ex- tent of his genius in that particular cannot be measured by any certain standard, as in all his enterprizes of hostility or ambition, from the barbarism of the age in which he emerged, he had no rival that was truly formidable to encounter. His victories, therefore, will only stamp him a great com- mander in the judgment of such as are guided in their opinion by consequences. 4. D. 814.] CHARLEMAGNE. 7? Nor in his private life are there many striking traits of it to perpetuate his fame; for although he is recorded to have been gifted with a large portion of eloquence and wit; yet as none of his biographers aspired to imitate a Plutarch,in their com- positions, they would have thought it be- neath the dignity of their pens to transmit to posterity many of those remarks and ob- servations wherein delight is so much min- gled with instruction, and by which we more often discover the great man than in the most laboured details of his character. As the reformer then of his country, he will be most advantageously known to succeeding ages. In that glorious point of view, he has been contemplated, indeed, with equal admiration by ancient and mo- dern writers *; while his patronage of let- ters, as bright a circumstance, perhaps, as * To the crowd of authors who have been so lavish in their eulogies of him, the illustrious name of Montesquieu must be added; but I shall not pretend to decide how far he has exalted him above his merits in the eighteenth and nineteenth chapters. Liv. XXXI. of his immortal work. L’Esprit des Loix. , 78. \ THE REIGN OF [A. D. 814. any in the shining annals of his times, will ever endear his memory to the latest pos- terity. But if we should not scatter our panygerics upon him with the same profuse hand as some of them have done, in his character of a legislator and promoter of learning, let it not be ascribed to any re- luctance of properly appreciating his de- sire of perfection, that ruling passion of all great Souls, but to that honest and com- mendable motive of avoiding, equally, in- discriminate praise and unsparing censure. The tomb, even in the life of a contemporary character, puts a wide distance between him who judges, and him who pronounces the sentence, inasmuch as every malevo- lent and envious passion is buried in it. The historian of the remote period ought not surely then to be led astray by such prejudices as may obstruct his mind in the calm exercise of reason, and consequently in the pursuit and attainment of truth. cHARLEMAGNE. 79 CHAP. II. ‘… RELIGION. * -smºs- It is a lamentable fact, that ever since the final establishment of Christianity, its peace and tranquillity has been continu- ally disturbed by the doctrines and opinions engrafted upon that simplicity of faith and purity of worship, which our Lord and his apostles enjoined. As these have increased, another pernicious consequence has fol- lowed, that of our more widely departing from the mild and enlightened principles of toleration. About the middle of the eighth century the celebrated controversy between the breakers and worshippers of images was raging with the fiercest vio- so THE REIGN OF lence; the empress Irene, and Tarasius, the patriarch of Constantinople, following rather the blind impulse of their passions than directed by any steady principles of policy or justice, had professed themselves openly about this period the decided ene- mies of the Iconoclasts *. In order that she might establish the wership of images upon the firmest basis, a general council was convened by her orders at Nice, a city most celebrated in the page of ecclesi- astical history, for the doctrine of the Tri- nity having been there first received as a fundamental article of the christian faith. To this council Pope Adrian was requested to repair, either in person or by his legates; he accepted the latter invitation. When the assembly had finished its deliberations, and the worship of images was ratified by the unanimous approbation of three hun- dred and fifty bishops, the figure of the blessed Virgin was introduced, and after * They who had adopted the adoration and worship of images, received on that account the name of Iconoduli, or Iconoclatra. “CHARLEMAGNE. 81 being adored by all, the writings of the Iconoclasts were then committed to the flames. In the short space of eighteen days, the whole business of this council was dispatched. Adrian, to shew the Oriental church his perfect aquiescence- in its decrees, lost no time in communi- cating them to his friend and protector Charlemagne, whose entire concurrence with his sentiments it was of the last im- portance to Secure. 4. -* * But so far from the Pope's being grati- fied in the wish which he was most soli- citous to attain, the emperor himself com- posed and published the book so well known, under the name of the Libri Carolini”, which censured the decrees of the second Nicene council with a degree of * Several learned writers who have examined this work with critical accuracy, contend that it came from the pen of some scholastic divine, and not from Charlemagne; but the general and, perhaps, after all, the most probable opinion is, that it was the joint composition of the latter personage, and his famous preceptor Alcuin. This fact is, however, unquestionable, that the whole volume was sanctioned by his authority. G \ 82 THE REIGN OF acrimony more characteristic, perhaps, of a staunch polemic, than of a royal dispu- tant. Some observations, however, are pertinent, and discover a mind which, seemingly, disdains to be fettered by the gross and abject superstition of contempo- rary princes. In the preface of this con- troversial volume, which is divided into four books, after animadverting with equal truth and severity upon the idolatrous de- cision at Nice, he proceeds to express his determination of admitting only the six general Councils, and of rejecting, with eontempt, the novelties that were intro- duced in the second council at Nice; the decrees of which being so opposite to all principles of true religion, and consequently so ill fitted to produce any salutary ef- fect, seem to require such a refutation as none for the future may be deceived by them. * The author then exposes the folly of performing any act of worship before images which possess no sanctity, natural or acquired, and points out the error of CHARP.EMAGNE. 33 viewing Abraham's adoration of the chil- dren of Heth in any other light than that of a civil adoration. He afterwards, by arguments derived from the sacred writ- ings, copiously replies to all the sophistries which the said council adduced in support of the worship of images; and ridicules, with much success, the absurdity of burn- ing lights and incense before their shrines: he then shews that the whole of their pro- ceedings are no less repugnant to reason than to the authority of scripture, and concludes by maintaining that the council of the Greeks, cannot be denominated a general one, as it was not composed of members from all parts of the world, nor were its decisions conformable to the doctrine of the catholic church. In short, says the royaſ writer, as I am fully persuaded of the great and permanent good, which all man- kind received from the first council of Nice, so am I no less confirmed in the belief that the worst consequences will originate from the second. G 2 84 THE REIGN OF This work, however, did not remain long unanswered. The pope trusting to the su- periority of his abilities as a theologian, la- boured in a very long epistle to convince his imperial antagonist, how much he was mistaken in his opinions; but Adrian did not prove himself such a master of the wea- pons of controversy, as to produce any re- cantation on the part of Charlemagne; since eight years after the second council of Nice was held, the emperor assembled a synod at Frankfort on the Mein, composed of bishops, abbots, laymen, to the number of three hundred, in which, the opinion contained in the four books was solemnly ratified, and the worship” of images una- nimously condemned. About the time that the decisions of the second Nicene council gave such just of. fence and disturbance to the whole western church, a new contest arose between the La- * It must be remembered that Charlemagne did not deny that images might be lawfully admitted into the churches, but only protested against their becoming ob- jects of worship. CHARLEMAGNE. 85 t tins and Greeks respecting the source from whence the Holy Ghost proceeded”. The Latins maintained that this divine spirit pro- ceeded from the Father and Son, the Greeks on the contrary, affirmed that it came only from the Father. In this dispute, the La- tins urged in support of their opinion, the creed of Constantinople, but their oppo- nents most resolutely insisted that the word Jilioque was a manifest interpolation in it, and were exceedingly exasperated at this criminal attempt of the Latins to introduce a word, which, according to their assertions, could be found in no part of their creed. The addition of this word filioque was agi- tated in the council at Aix-la-Chapelle, in the year eight hundred and nine. . Charlemagne, ever the oracle of theolo- gians, both by his doctrine and power, did not, however, take upon himself to decide this question, although it deeply excited * Pagi in his Critica in Baronium, p. 323, is per- suaded that this controversy originated entirely from the dispute concerning images. G 3 86 | THE REIGN of his attention; but he sent an embassy to the court of Rome in order to ascertain its sentiments concerning this dispute, which was not till the next century carried to its full height. Leo the third, who then filled the papal chair, desirous, less from reli- gious than political motives, of allaying a controversy which, combined with other causes, he foresaw would ultimately pro- duce a schism between the eastern and western churches, after many conferences with the emperor's deputies, adopted the following method of settling this dispute. Instead of endeavouring to let it die insen- sibly away, he ordered the creed to be engraved on two large scutcheons of silver, without the addition of the word filioque, one in Latin and the other in Greek, and he caused these two scutcheons to be hung on the right and left side of the tomb of St. Peter, as public monuments of the in- tention of the Roman church to preserve the creed as she had received it. In the eleventh century, however, Rome adopt- ed the addition filioque, and the usage of it afterwards was general in the Latin church, CHARLEMAGNE. 87 such were the theological questions which agitated the church under the reign of Charlemagne, and such the part he took in them ; but, perhaps, on a close and impartial observation of the conduct of this great monarch, the sagacious observer will be inclined to think, that notwithstand- ing he stood forth upon all occasions as the zealous asserter of the rights and privileges of the apostolic see, he was more often influenced by considerations of temporal advantage, than by the suggestions of a truly devotional temper. He most pro- bably found the clergy a body of men better disposed, from various circumstances, to promote his own power and ambition than his turbulent nobles, and therefore, like many other sovereigns who have ac- quired an equal reputation for piety from a similar proceeding, invariably treated them with profound marks of respect, and dis- tributed among them no inconsiderable part of the riches of his empire. It is true, indeed, that instead of remaining a silent G 4 88 THE REIGN OF *. spectator of the increasing superstition of the Latin church, he vehemently opposed it in his work against the use, or rather abuse of images; yet the records of his- tory prove, that he afterwards annulled the decrees of the council of Frankfort and they likewise bear ample testimony, that in all his journeys or pilgrimages to Rome, which were solely undertaken to secure the title of emperor of the west, he knelt before the image of St. Peter with the same apparent respect as was manifested by the credulous multitude. These circumstances alone must be ad- mitted, by his warmest admirers, as in- contestible evidence of his dissimulation and artful policy in those respects, and may almost justify us in suspecting both , the steadiness and reality of his religious faith *. d * A learned doctor has attempted to prove, but by reasonings vague and inconclusive, in my opinion, that Charlemagne was not a papist; but that his tenets were conformable to those afterwards established by Luther. See Christiani Nefanii ostensio quod Carolus magnus non fuerit Papista-Francofuru 1670. CHARLEMAGNE. 89 CHAP. III, IAWS. *º FROM the nature of its laws, we may reasonably infer the barbarism or civili- zation, the misery or happiness of an age; but, whether they appear in a low or flou- rishing condition, the examination of then, equally tends to expand the mind and li- beralize the heart; and though to trace the laws of a kingdom in a dark period of an- tiquity be an attempt of great difficulty, yet the labour of our researches is more than compensated by the entertainment and utility resulting from such investigation. The laws so well known under the name of Capitularia (because they are divided by 30 THE REIGN OF A chapters) which Charlemagne established to ameliorate the state of his people, and particularly to recall and confine the clergy to the discharge of those duties solely con- nected with the sanctity of their profession, were promulgated in the assemblies com- posed of bishops and nobles, and the free- * men of the kingdom, and which thus alike partook of the character and autho- rity of synods and parliaments. º The great assembly of the nation known by the name of Conventus, Malli, Pla- cita, was oftentimes convened, and always once in every year. Adalhardus, abbot of Corbie, and cousin-german and minister of Charlemagne, has described the form of parliament convoked by Pepin and Char- lemagne, and the ceremonies therein ob- served, together with the business that was discussed. This valuable monument of the form of government has been transmitted to us by Hincmar, archbishop of Rheims, and from him we learn that Charlemagne inva- riably held two general assemblies of his people every year. Besides the nobles, CHARLEMAGNE. 91 dignified ecclesiastics, and other chief of. ficers of the crown, the whole body of freemen”, obtained a place in this national council; and the latter class being entitled to a seat in this assembly, is a presumption, or rather a proof that the liberty of the commons during this period, was clear, un- questionable, and decisive. When the wea- ther permitted, this great council of the na- tion was held in the open air, if otherwise, in two separate chambers. At the open- ing of each assembly, every member had a right to offer his complaints upon any in- jury he had sustained, to denounce abuses to propose establishments and reformations, and, in short, freely to pronounce his judg- ment upon matters, which related to the security of the kingdom, both at home and abroad. Before any proposition passed into a law, the people were required to signify their approbation (and this was done) by * The reliqua multitudo, caetera multitudo, so often repeated in the description of this supreme assembly, clearly points out that class of free people known after- wards in France by the name of the third estate. 92 THE REIGN OF shouting out three times, We are content; and then the capitulare was ratified by the signature of the sovereign, the clergy, and the highest orders of the laity. In this most authentic account of the nature and proceedings of the general assembly, Adal- hardus dwells with peculiar satisfaction on the gracious affability of his master; he, (Charlemagne) was occupied in receiving presents, in conversing with those whom he seldom saw, in sympathizing with the old, and rejoicing with the young *. When Charles Martel had distributed a portion of the lands of the church to those warriors who had placed him on the throne of France, he was not aware of all the evils which would result from this innova- tion. From that moment, the clergy per- ceiving that all stations of great trust and honor were assigned peculiarly to those who had distinguished themselves by their mi- * Ipse Princeps—in suscipiendis muneribus, salutandis procerebus, confabulando rarius visis, compatiendo seni- A oribus, congaudendo junioribus—occupatus erat. Vide Hincmar de Ordine Palatii. Cap. xxxv. CHARLEMAGNE. 93 litary prowess, began, gradually, to for- sake their own functions, as the scrupulous performance of them was so little favorable to an advancement in opulence or honours. In order, therefore, to acquire considera- tion in the eyes of their martial prince, and to give a decisive check to future grants of their estates to laymen, the bishops and ab- bots embraced the singular resolution of following him to battle in the character of soldiers: it became then no uncommon spectacle, to behold dignified ecclesiastics, at the head of their vassals, vie with lay- men in feats of military skill and valour; while swords adorned with precious stones, fastened to costly belts, and golden spurs, alike characterized the dress of both. In this perverted order of things, superstition, and its inseparable concomitant ignorance, of course advanced with silent but rapid steps, and if Charlemagne had not then appeared, France, perhaps, in a short space of time, would have ceased to be numbered among the christian nations; so much did. 94 THIE REIGN OF the infatuating and spreading nature of the infection, threaten the total extinction of true religion and good morals. ** To the correction of these abuses, that en- lightened monarch applied the full force of his mind. He felt as all rulers do feel, who wish to merit the respect of future ages, that wisdom and justice can only inspire confi- dence between the government and people. Hesoon succeeded, therefore, in restoring the clergy to some sense of shame for having directed their whole attention to employ- ments so foreign to their sacred profession. When he assured them that no more of their benefices should be the rewards of mi- litary valour, they were readily persuaded to lay aside the use of arms. The whole nation at last felt the indecency and disgrace of bishops, priests, and deacons, buckling on the Sword of war. In this formal re- quest, which the great chieftains of France made to theirsovereign, we may clearly trace the first openings of sound reason and piety. We supplicate your majesty, that bishops may henceforth be restricted from attend- CHARLEMAGNE. 95 ing your person to battle. Let them re- main in their dioceses, occupied in their sacred duties, when you lead us against your enemies: they will aid us more by their prayers than Swords, raising their hands to heaven, after the example of Moses. Our request is not made in the hopes of obtaining their benefices; for we protest, that we will not suffer others to usurp them, nor do so ourselves.—The con- clusion of this address was in a very bold strain; for they hesitated not to say, if their remonstrances were disregarded, they should dissolve the bond of their subjection. This declaration, couched in such free and undisguised terms, might be thought to intrench too faraon one of Charlemagne's grandest prerogatives. On the contrary it was made without any apprehension of giving him offence, and received in such a manner as shewed that he was seriously at- w tentive to the preservation of the public freedom. What concerned all, should be approved by all, seems to have been a fundamental maxim of which the parlia- 96 THE REIGN OF ments in those times never lost sight. The members, indeed, who composed them, were deservedly entitled to the appella- tion of counsellors of the state, from the many distinguished proofs of wisdom, and manly freedom displayed by them in deli- vering their sentiments upon peace or war, or upon any other weighty concern of the nation: nor did there appear any disposi- tion on the part of Charlemagne during the whole of his long reign, to transform them into machines moved by secret ministerial springs, and capable of no other virtue, than pliability; a condition to which they were reduced by his successors, with that sur- prising ease and quickness, as proves how soon a people may degenerate from inde- pendence into slavery, when the chief ma- gistrate puts forth his own strength to sub- vert the constitution of his country. But to return from this digression, if it. can be so called, Charlemagne when the above-mentioned petition was delivered to him, which was so consonant to his Sug- gested improvements in the church, pro- chARLEMAGNE. 97 mised to lay it before the next general assembly; and it was then he ordained” that priests should not attend the army, except for the purpose of saying mass, and admi- nistering spiritual consolation to the troops. He likewise forbad them the use of arms to hunt or keep falcons; but by this prohi- bition he declared that so far from intend- ing to diminish the dignity of the bishops, or the estates of their churches, their opu- lence and honours should increase in pro- portion to the amendment of their lives, and their devoted attachment to their holy calling. It is not to be expected or desired that I should enter into the details of all the ca- pitularia, which the emperor of the west promulgated for the use of his numerous subjects. Since even a superficial view of them, besides being incompatible with the design of this work, could be neither useful * The words in the preamble of this edict contain a confession highly honorable to the good sense of the em- peror. Nosmetipsos corrigentes, posterisque nostris ex- emplum dantes, H + 38 . THE REIGN OF nor entertaining. I shall confine myself, therefore, to the notice of such reforms as produced consequences no less salutary, than extensive, and opened the road for more, and of those which characterized some singular usages of the period under re- view. - - . . . . . . -Till the middle of the eighth century, it plaihly appears from many authentic facts, that the churches offered a secure asylum to criminals of all descriptions. To extirpate an evil which struck at the root of rights both human and divine, Charlemagne forbad the churches to afford any protec- tion'tó persons, whose crimes by the sen- tence of the law would be punished with death; and if he did not expressly enjoin them to be dragged from their place of refuge, he refused them nourishment while they remained there, which effectually an- swered the same end. { In a parliament assembled at Aix-la-Cha- pelle in 789, the emperor formed a capi- tular, in order to render more strict and just •-ºr CHARLEMAGNE: 99T * the administration of ecclesiastical disci- pline; an undertaking which, if contem- plated either in a moral or civil point of view, deserves equal praise. The abuses in- this branch of legislation, from the igno- rance and credulity of the people, and the supineness of the sovereign, had for a Hong time been extending almost without bounds; and Charlemagne, in laboring in- dustriously to correct them, encountered, as is usual among a people who arejast emerg. ing into civilization, no small opposition from their many false and mistaken preju- dices. The bishops and priests lived almost openly with their concubines, and many of them betrayed such little respect for pub- lic decency, as to establish a seraglio, in their houses: In order, therefore, that they might hold in higher estimation their reli- gion and chastity, it was ordained that henceforth the priest, who did not confine his desires to one wife or concubine (the distinction between these two titles was theti * H 2 100 THE REIGN of but faintly marked) should be deprived of his sacerdotal character.” *" Nor was it their dissolute manners alone. which required a sharp corrective like this to shame them into the practice of moral virtue; for, in every branch of the hierar- chy, there was something outrageously wrong. The abbesses usurped the priestly and episcopal functions: they gave the be- nediction to the people by the imposition of hands and the sign of the cross; they likewise gave the veil to their nuns with the sacerdotal benediction. Other prac- tices existed equally inconsistent with the precepts of the gospel and laws of justice. The abbots domineered over the monks of their order to that excessive degree, as to treat them more like their slaves than equals, and it is related that for some offences they did not refrain from employing the cruel chastisement of mutilation and of putting out their eyes. The ecclesiastics received money for the service of the altar, the administration of * Si Sacerdotes plures uxores habuerint—sacerdotio :::::::::Privéntur. Capitul. ann. 769. tº to e • ‘e’ s CHAREEMAGNE, . - ion the sacraments, the conferring of qrders, and the granting permission to preach, The bishops likewise exacted an annual rentfrom their priests, nor did they neglect to levy a a severe fine upon those who thought it no sin occasionally to forget the payment of their tythes. Actuated by the wild and vi- sionary spirit of fanaticism, persons who went by the name of the Mangons or Cot- tions, previous to the promulgation of the capitularia, were accustomed to appear in the streets and highways naked, and loaded with irons, in sign of repentance and humility; and not content with this mode of propa- gating the truth of the gospel, they con- ceived it was meritorious to insult those who manifested the least reluctance to imitate their example: All these proceedings, so entirely subversive of true religion, justice, and order, were reformed either in the ca- pitular of 789, or in the council of Frank- fort held five years afterwards. The same capitular contains a regulation, which merits notice on account of its se- H 3 102. THE REIGN OF * rious influence in promoting, the growth of knowledge, and consequently the progress of civilization. The bishops were exhorted to establish two sorts of schools in their re- spective dioceses. Reading and writing were to be taught in those established for the cultivation of the infant mind: in the others, which were to be opened in the cathedrals and monasteries, the arts of mu- sic, arithmetic, grammar, logic, and rhe- toric, were acquired. Charlemagne on his return from one of his expeditions in Italy, brought with him from Rome both teachers of grammar and arithmetic: these likewise taught the ecclesiastical calendar; he placed them at the head of the several schools which he founded in various parts of his dominions, especially at Paris, which some writers zealously contend to have been the origin of its famous university.” t • Among the supporters of this opinion, Du Boulay in his Histor. Academie. Paris. Tom. i. p. 91. has brought to this subject the greatest stock of erudition; but, per- haps, the unprejudiced reader, after he has waded through his authorities, will be satisfied in his own mind, that Char- lemagne cannot be considered as the parent of this unj- versity. : ; CHARLEMAGNE, 103. On contemplating the ignorance and su- perstition of the age in which Charlemagne lived, many historians have deemed him. worthy of the highest eulogy, from the sole, circumstance of having selected, con- trary to the example of contemporary so- vereigns, learned men for the companions of his social hours; but it is evident that he listened to their conversation, and raised them. to the highest employments of the church and state, from views and princi- ples more extensive than those which can be procured by the indulgence of personal gratification. He had proposed them as the channels through which the character . of all his subjects might be ennobled by the assiduous cultivation of the sciences. It perhaps cannot be disputed, that his prin- cipal aim in founding the above mentioned schools, was to give the clergy a greater proficiency in their theological studies, and thus to qualify them for a proper perform- ance of their sacred functions; but from his admitting laics also of every age, and of every rank, into these schools, it is a H 4. 104 . THE REIGN OF reasonable assumption that this beneficent and enlightened prince wished not the treasures of learning to be exclusively con- fined to the teachers of religion. d It was reserved for Charlemagne to intro- duce Roman chanters to direct his choir”. To it, he gave indeed a considerable portion of his attention, being thoroughly persuaded that without a contriyance of this kind, to act powerfully upon the senses, the christian name among a people who were only be. ginning to lay aside the ferocity of their manners, would be rather diminished than increased. The French singers were dis. posed, however, to dispute the palm of ex- cellence with the Roman chanters; and as ignorance is always presumptuous, they challenged them to a trial of skill. To what extremities these rivals in the musical art would have proceeded, it would be loss '• II avoit fort 3. cºeur cette chanterie, says Mezeray, and a preacher of high renown in the present day, from the best of all possible motives, seems as warm an advo- cate for church music as ever Charlemagne shewed him- self to be. See the preface in the second volume of Syd- ney Smith's sermons, p. 30, 31. 2d edit, * CHARLEMAGNiš, 105. of time to conjecture: for the Roman singers did not affect to conceal how much, the bellowing cries of the Franks and Ger: mans offended their nice ears; nor the latter; the violent dislike they entertained towards their refined and Scientific innovations. The emperor himself found it at last necessary to interpose his authority, and to silence their quarrels by the comparison of the river and its source. Rome was the source, and consequently the most pure; therefore the French were to accept with readiness the instructions of the Roman chanters. The solemn notes of the organ had not then been heard in the churches of France *. This instrument, which is so peculiarly cal- culated to inspire the most vagrant mind with a temporary devotion, the French were taught by their foreign masters, and Soon attained that degree of perfection un- der them, as to produce effects not easy to be reconciled to the laws of truth * The first organ seen in France was sent from Con- stantinople as a present to king Pepin. See Burney's History of Music. Vol. II, chap 1–11. #06 THE REIGN OF and probability”. Charlemagne likewise established two schools of chant,' one at Soissons, and the other at Metz; and from thence the professors of that art were distriº buted throughout the provinces. A know- ledge indeed of the Roman chant, as settled by pope Gregory the Great, who flourished towards the end of the sixth century, often * exalted its possessor, in the times we are re- cording, to the highest preferments of the church. The institution of these schools may be justly said to form an epoch in the history of music, for without them this science would not have spread with the ra. pidity it appears to have done over Eu- rope. t The Roman liturgy was not adopted by the emperor without his introducing some alterations, which evidently may be deem- * The most enthusiastic votary to music, I shall pre- šumé will be slow to accredit the following assertion: Dulce melos (of the organ) tantum vanas deludere mentes caepit, ut una suis decedens sensibus, ipsa Fae- mina perdederit vitam dulcedine vocum. See Monach, Sangall. Lib. ii. cap. 10 tº 5- º “-ºº- service. Instead of the lessons, full ºf solecisms and barbarisms, which were accustomed to be chaunted at the noc- turnals, Charlemagne, ordered him toºse- lect from the works of the fathers, homi- lies or discourses upon the epistles and gospels, worthy to be recited by the faithful in the churches of God. And as the most effectual expedient for enabling all classes of his subjects not only to hear but to cont- prehend the revealed word of the Almighty, it was the express command of this great prince, whose conceptions and views as a legislator, so infinitely surpassed the age in which he lived, that if a bishop was ab- sent from, or ill in his diocese, another person should be substituted in his room to preach on Sundays and holy festivals, and likewise to read certain portions of the scriptures. . He ordered likewise that each bishop should procure a book of homilies * both useful/and necessary for the instruction of the pious * These homilies doubtless contained many things & * 108 THE REIGN OF eontaining"necessary. instructions for his flock, which he not only required them to explain with the utmost diligence and care, but to have translated into their mother tongue”. Not satisfied with these expe- dients for impressing the bishops with a deep conviction of the obligations of mo- rality and religion imposed by their sacred office, he further decreed, that those of christian, but from the clergy chiefly confining their stu- dies to this book, and thus never presuming to think for themselves, it may be questioned if this book was not in- jurious to the growth of original genius. * The Teutonic was the language of the Franks, and of the other German people then spread over the French empire. This language is still spoken beyond the Rhine. From the vulgar Roman tongue the modern French is de- rived, mixed however with Celtic and Gothic words and idioms. Charlemagne entendait encore l’allemand; an expression used by some French writers, which, for its glaring absurdity, should not be passed over unnoticed. Since German was his vernacular tongue, and it con- tinued to be so of all the French nation, until the com- mencement of the fourteenth century, when in the reign of king Robert it ceased to be spoken at court. See Duclos Memoires sur l'origine et sur les revolutions de la langue Francaise in the Memoires Academ, des Inscrip- tion. Tom. xvii. CHARLEMAGNE, 109 their order who frequently left, or absented themselves from their dioceses beyond the expiration of three months, should lose their bishoprics. So rigorously did the emperor insist upon the execution of this law, that when he wished to keep any bishop near - his person longer than that period, for the sake of deliberating with him upon eccle- siastical affairs, it was his usual practice to solicit the permission of the pope for his stay, and also to demand the consent of the bishops upon the meeting of a diet or synod. How equally he directed his vigilance and circumspection to the inferior as well as the higher classes of the clergy, and considered in what manner their time and faculties might be most advantageously employed, is evident from this edict alone, namely, that if after the repeated admo- nitions of their bishop to improve the po- verty of their understandings by study, they should still shew no traces of amendment, their ignorance should not only be punished with the loss of their office, but of whatever § 10 THE REIGN of ecclesiastical preferment they held”. Lastly, to prevent his kingdom being disturbed by the jarring opinions of fanatics of any de- nomination, he reduced the different modes of worship in different churches into one unalterable rule, which was to be univer. sally adopted in his dominions. * These beneficial regulations took place in the year 818, though they were not pro- posed in the same council. According to another canon in the council of Tours, in which the last decree was established, none could be admitted into the order of priests until of the age of thirty. It will be re- membered that the divine founder of our religion did not enter upon his blessed of. fice till the above number of years had passed over his head. Charlemagne, there- fore, may be supposed to have regarded that circumstance, when he established the fore- going law: It was enacted about the same time that girls should not receive the veil • * Quicunque a suo Episcopo frequenter admonitus destia scientia ut discere curat facere neglexerit proculdubio et ab officio removeatur, et Ecclesiam quam tenet amittatº charlem Asst. 111 without some pressing circumstance, before their twenty-fifth year. - ca We must applaud the wisdom and hu. manity of the emperor which induced him to declare that marriages should not be con- tracted between persons of too unequal an age: it may be reasonably concluded that in making this law, he was actuated by a sincere wish of checking the progress of adultery. He strictly prohibited any one from becoming a monk without receiving his express permission, for the cloister-he found was beginning to be preferred to the camp. This prohibition, arbitrary as it appears at the first glance, may, however, be fully justified by the right which is in- herent to every sovereign of reserving a cer. tain portion of his subjects for the mainte- nance of order, and the security of liberty and property. In the following law, Charlemagne pro- fessed to consult more the spiritual than the temporal interests of his bishops. To era- dicate the passion of avarice that ruled over so many of them, and thus to bend #12 THE REIGN OF their thoughts to what had an immediate connection with the glory of God, he de- clared that upon the death of a bishop his relations should only succeed to the effects he possessed before his ordination, and that the wealth which he had amassed, and the purchases he had made after his ordina- tion, should belong to the church. This innovation in the judgment of some writers deserved the highest praise, but certainly by it the church was enriched at the ex- pence of those feelings of the heart which have always been considered equally just and amiable". In 803 the council of Aix-la-Chapelle established a regulation respecting the co- adjutors; who, from assisting in almost every matter that related to the administra- tion of the episcopal functions, and more often performing them, were not impro- perly though quaintly styled the eyes of * * It will be surely no exaggeration of the injustice of this law, to say, that it deprived the bishops of the means of rewarding those relatives, whose indigence and affec- tion had the strongest claims upon their humanity. CHARLEMAGNE. 113 the bishops. To them was given the power of appointing readers, exorcists, and even sub-deacons. Charlemagne wisely judging that they only contributed to encourage the indolence of the bishops, and to create in them an indifference towards their duties, boldly revived the severe discipline of the council of Ancyra and Neocaesarea held in 314, which had reduced the coadjutors to the rank of simple priests; but the bishops generally found some specious pretence to elude the law which could not not but be odious to the ignorant and supine of their order. When we review the scope and tendency of the greater part of the preceding re- gulations, it must be obvious to all how deeply interested the emperor was in im- proving the minds of his bishops, in re- straining and punishing vice, and enforcing among them, with effect, a conduct and sentiments worthy of the name of teachers of the christian religion. For the further advancement of this truly pious and en- I { i 14 "THE REIGN OF lightened design, this bishop of bishops, as he is styled by a monk of St. Gall, occa- ... Sionally proposed to the bishops, questions upon several important points of doctrine and discipline, which if vaguely or unsa- tisfactorily answered, were sure to expose them to the most serious reprehension. The following question seems far more suitable to the character of one of the first reformers, than to the mouth of a prince, who gloried in his attachment to the successors of St. Peter. - “ It is our command that you explain to us without any disguise or reserve, what is to be understood from the import of that phrase among you, to renounce the busi- ness and pleasures of the world, and to devote your lives to God. By what means are we to distinguish those who abjure so- ciety, from those who mix in it? are we. to rank those only in the list of monks, who embrace a life of celibacy, and appear with- out arms ? Must we consider that person as exclusively aspiring to the virtues of the (HARLEsi Agrº, ił3 monastic profession, who laboursuhgeasingly by every artifice in his power to augment his possessions; or must we view him in that light, who by menacing one while the pu- taishments of hell, another time by pro- mising the blessings of Paradise, endeavours to entice people, both rich or poor, without learning or judgment, to strip themselves and their legitimate heirs of the goods which belonged to them? Is he to be con- sidered as resigning himself to a life of pe- nance and solitude, who lusts for the pro- Pºrty of another; and in order to procure it, brings false witnesses in support of claims before a judge, devoid alike of faith and discernment What opinion must be en- tertained of those, who, under a specious pretext of a love for God, his saints, and martyrs, transport from one spot to ano- ther the bones and reliques of the saints, in order to erect new churches, and to en- gage people by every art of seduction and flattery to reduce themselves for their use to a state of beggary in their life-time, or § 2 116 THE REIGN of else to bequeath their inheritance to them upon their death?” The reader who looks into the monk of St. Gall's treatise on the ecclesiastical go- vernment of Charlemagne, will certainly discover that wealth was no object of con- tempt or aversion in the eyes of several bishops of that time. The following anec- dote recorded by this writer is worthy of notice, as it serves to shew the profuse lux- ury of some of them, the necessary conse- quence of riches, and the singular method which Charlemagne adopted for its restraint and suppression. A bishop known to the emperor as the most prone among his order to purchase whatever he deemed rare at * In the following story told of Charlemagne, we per- ceive his just sense of merit, and invariable disposition to reward it. Having received intelligence of the death of a bishop, he enquired how much of his property he had bequeathed to the poor; the answer was, two pounds of silver; upon which, a young clerk exclaimed, “ that is but a very small provision for so great a voyage.” Char- lemagne pleased with the observation, instantly said to him, “Be thou his successor; but never forget that expression.” * * CHARLEMAGNE, 117 an exorbitant price, was waited upon by a Jewish merchant, who told him. that:be. had brought from Palestine an extraordinary: animal, for which he demanded a very large: sum. The bishop made several offers which, he so artfully refused, that at last irritated by repeated refusals, he consented to pay the immense sum required. The animal was a perfumed rat, and the odour,he persuaded the bishop, arose from a very peculiar property of the animal. A connoisseur of the eighth century could be easily entangled in the net of imposition: the merchant carried the money to Charlemagne, who a few days after this transaction, took the oppor- tunity of saying in a large assembly of his bishops, “Behold the great sum which one among you has given to a poor merchant. for a rat; are you not greatly edified by this dispensation of the property of the poor?” A more ludicrous and effectual me- thod of exposition of folly, credulity, and extravagance, will rarely be met with in the page of authentic history, f I 3 Iibi THE REIGN. O.F. The questions Charlemagne prºposed to the counts and lay judges are equally, ghar racterized by good sense, piety, and jus- tice. “We demand the true reason why, by your respective vassals you are perpe- tually harrassing each other with hostilities, thus consulting your passions rather than justice. How is it also that you neglect to streeour each other against a foreign enemy, either in the army or upon the frontier * And wherefore are not all your swords ready to be drawn in defence of the state.” But neither policy, equality, or justice, can be recognized in this law, the decisive tendency of which was to subjugate the laity to the clergy, for it declared that. no. appeal should be allowed against the sen- tence of a bishop, even in a controversy where one of the parties had withheld his consent to its being brought before his tri- bunal. This act, however repugnant to every maxim of equity, and contradictory to the favorite sentiment of Charlemagne, CHARLEMAGNE. 119 that for all to be happy, all must be united; is yet strictly conformable to that line of pé. Hey pursued by him throughout his whole reigh ; namely, of exalting the bishop and depressing the nobles. He seems aſ . ways to have suspected the attachment and gratitude of the latter, and to have thought the former most capable of maintaining his absolute authority and good order, by em- ploying in his favor the thunder of the church, if ever the spirit of anarchy and revolt broke forth *. From that conside- ration he established eight bishoprics in the towns of Bremen, Vieden, Minden, Hab- berstadt, Hildesheim, Paderborn, Munster, and Osnabruck. The creation of these bishoprics in Germany form, under a doublé * This observation is confirmed by the following pas- sage of Gulielmus Malmesburienses. De Gesäs' Regum Anglorum. Lib. v. Carolus Magnus pro contundenda gentium, illarum ferocia, omnes pene terras ccclesiis con- tulerat consilio sissime perpendens nolle sacri ordinis ho- mines, tam facile quam Laici, fidelitatem Domini reji- cere praeterea si Laicos rebellarent illos posse excommuni- cationis auctoritate et potentia severitate compescere. I is (* 126 THE REIGN of aspect, one of the most important epochs in the history of that empire. . The bishops, from their primitive cha- racters of instructors of the people, have been enabled, in process of fime, and by a series of fortuitous and concurrent circum- stances, to assume the rank of princes, and to annex to that temporal dignity territories of considerable extent and opulence. Their Co-operators, known at first under the mo- dest name of chanter or scholaster, were now esteemed considerable personages, who, under the name of canons, have established a sort of parliament, sitting by the side of their prince, and have carried still further their pretensions, by arrogating a manorial and hereditary right upon the lands which they styled ecclesiastical. If we seek the causes which contributed to produce this great political change among the class of men of whom we are now speaking, they must be attributed perhaps, chiefly to that consequence which Charle- magne invariably attached to the office of A. CHARLEMACŞ. . 121 instructor. He invested the bishops with all authority over the teachers of their dis- tricts similar to that the counts possessed over the military, and the magistrate over the people. . . . . . . . . -r Thus by the measures of Charlemagne they were raised to the condition of princes of that empire, according to the sense which was then affixed to that word, prin- cipes. And from acting with vigor and unanimity in those periods, when the con- stitution of Germany reposed not upon positive laws, but upon vague and uncer- tain rules, it is easy to conceive how they became real princes of the empire, in the modern acceptation of that title. From the ara of the ſoundation of bishoprics in Ger- many we may likewise date the first dawn of letters among that nation, which has proceeded with such gradual and steady light, that it may fairly assert its claims against any European state, to having pro- duced the greatest number of literary works of every denomination. 122 THE REIGN OF Several writers, distinguished, alike for the accuracy of their histerical researches, have wrongly attributed the first legal esta- blishment of tythes to Charlemagne, and among them Montesquieu + and Gibbon + have fallen into this error. But Winifred, born in England in 670, and afterwards'sb well known under the name of Boniface, which he assumed, and the titles of arch- bishop of Mentz and the apostle of Ger- many, distinctly asserts tythes to have been paid in England in his time. He kºst his life in preaching the gospel to the Frisians, thirteen years before the birth of Charle- magne. In the famous council of Frank- fort, the gross superstition of the times re- cords as an indisputable fact, that in a year of famine the spikes of corn were not found to contain any grain, and that the voices of invisible daemons had proclaimed in the * Avant ce Prince, says Montesquieu, les dimespon- voient étre prechées, mais elle n'étoient point etablies. Es- prit des Loix. Lib. xxxi. cap. xii. + See Gibbons Roman Empire, Vol. ix. note 1042 p. 179, CHA Rºº. 123. air, they were devoured, tº punish, the people for neglecting the payment. of tythes. In consequence of which it was ordained that all who possessed lands should pay the tythes, and in order that no oppor- tunity raight be afforded to his great sub- jects to evade this regulation, he obliged his own demesnes to pay the tithes. The Missi Dominier, or royal envoys or inspectors, owed their establishment to Charlemagne, and if history had left us nd other memorial than this institutiºn ter." evince his affection for the public good, and his wisdom to attain it, we should deem it suffigient to place him in the eyes of pos- terity as worthy of swaying the destinies of a great empire. The beginning of his reign was disturbed, according to a former observation, by a croud of factious nobles, but by his valor and firminess, address in dividing, eloquence in reuniting, and art in penetrating all, he had succeeded in frustrating every attempt against his own person. Yet to protect the people at large iš THE REIGN OF from the oppression of these nobles, and their train of dependents, by the due ad- ninistration of justice, and to provide for its regular security, required views of poli- tical justice more liberal and enlightened, and efforts of resolution more systematic and steady than those which had guided the conduct of his predecessors. Before Char- lemagne came to the throne of France, numberless were the vexations inflicted by these potent chieftains and their satellites, over the middle and more indigent classes of the state; and some of the most turbu- lent and daring spirits among their order even carried their pretensions so far, as to usurp a great part of the royal revenues, and to exercise almost the whole judicial power. By tolerating these proceedings any longer, the monarch clearly foresaw that industry would be stifled, the cultivation of the lands neglected, and commerce, then in its infancy, ruined. To find, therefore, an immediate and permanent remedy for these evils, the Missi Dominici were cre- charterfasse. 125 \ ated; by whose means the administration of justice was ultimately brought into the hands of the sovereign. Appointed; by him, and attached by every motive of in- terest and gratitude to, his person, Charle- magne felt no apprehensions in delegating to them an authority almost regal, to ensure the reduction of the higher ranks of the community to some degree of dependence . and subordination. These confidential ser- vants of the crown were empowered to hold assemblies in the different provinces of the kingdom four times in the year; to which the bishops, abbots, counts, judges, and other chief magistrates, ecclesiastical and civil, were obliged to repair either in per- son or by deputy. In them the affairs of the province were discussed, wrongs re- dressed, grievances removed, and what- ever related to the public or private ser- vice, finally arranged and settled. Thus supported by the prince, and entirely at his his disposal, the Missi Dominici were ad- mirably formed to accomplish effectually, $26 Tüß füßIGN OF | his entire wishes. To prefit by the jean lousy of his rebellious lords, to divide them, by their mutual hatred to inspire them with a love of loyalty, to flatter their ambition by dignities, their vanity by praises; to re- strain some by fear, some by shame, and others by honour; in short to derive from each passion, each vice, and each virtue, some impression favourable to the national tranquillity and happiness. Independent of this institution making so great a figure in the reign of Charlemagne, from the sub- stantial benefits it imparted to the great mass of the people, it also possesses claims to our notice as serving in the judgment of of several historians and antiquaries, for the model of the subsequent parliaments of France. Although Charlemagne utterly failed in his wise and laudable attempts to abolish duels, yet by endeavouring to render them ignominious from the weapon” he ap- pointed to be used upon those goca- * He obliged the combatants to appear only cum scuto et fuste, Capet. Edit. Baluz. Vol. 1, p. 397, chaplºtAºE. 12? sions, he extinguished in a great measure the practice of private wars, which he de- clared was an invention of the devil, to disturb and annihilate the peace and happi- ness of mankind. The effects of this right, which individuals assumed of levying war against each other, for any great or trivial offence, must oftentimes have been fatally felt both by the old and the young, the rich and poor. The emperor therefore or- dained, that if any person had been guilty of a crime, or had committed an outrage, he should immediately submit to the pe- nance which the church prescribed, and offer to pay the fine which the law had settled. Should the offended person or his kindred be dissatisfied with that species of reparation, and dare to exact vengeance by force of arms, then their lands and proper- ties were to be confiscated; but we doubt if the humanity of Charlemagne would have been so prompt in endeavouring to suppress this mode of appeal to the deci- Sion of the Sword, if he had not discovered i2% THE REIGN OF its manifest tendency to weaken and cur- tail the power of the crown. Under the notion also of robberies as well as other vio- lent disorders arising chiefly from this system of private warfare, it was enacted that those persons who were found guilty of crimes of that description should atone for the first offence with the loss of an eye, for the second with the loss of the nose, but the third offence, if they still persisted in their vicious courses, was punished with death *. It is, however, worthy of observation, that the natural quickness and good sense of Charlemagne was sometimes enveloped in the thickest clouds of error and delusion, which led him to sanction laws that could have been prescribed only by the greatest imbecility and folly. The following trial deserves well to be recorded, as it was de- termined in the presence of the emperor. In 775 a dispute happened between the + De latronibus ita praecipimus observandum, ut pro prima culpa non moriantur; Sed oculum perdant; de secunda vero, culpa nasus ipsius latronis capulatur, de tertia vero, sí se non emendaverit, moriatur. CHARLEMAGNE. 129 bishop of Paris and the abbot of St. Deny's, respecting the property of a small abbey. Both parties brought forth their deeds and records, in order to substantiate their claims to it. Instead, however, of examining these deeds and records, the question was referred to the judicium crucis. Each of them produced a person who stood before the cross, with out-stretched arms, during the celebration of mass; and he who was employed to represent the abbot, gained the cause merely because his adversary first became fatigued and changed his position. It would be tedious also to recount the various forms of appealing to the justice of God, by fire and water, and other extravagant and preposterous experiments. The mind of Charlemagne was too much shackled by feudal prejudices to think of affording to that oppressed and numerous class of people called servi or slaves, the slightest relief in any of the various im- provements, which he had introduced into his system of jurisprudence and administra- K 130 THE REIGN OF tion of justice. It is not, perhaps, to be disputed, that he gave freedom to many captives taken in the Saxon wars; yet he suffered the bishops and abbots to exercise over their slaves a most tyrannical controul. We are informed that Alcuin the celebrated favourite of Charlemagne, possessed for his single use, twenty thousand slaves; nor does this number, great as it is, exceed the bounds of belief, when we recollect how many abbeys he received from the li- berality of his sovereign. These unhappy persons were obliged to go with their carts fifty miles or upwards, whenever their ab- bot commanded, nor were they permitted to marry or change their abode without first receiving his express consent. They were compelled to cultivate the land three days in the week, while their master solely enjoyed the fruits of their industry; and in several instances it will be found that the abbot usurped the jurisdiction of life and death over them. From a large crowd of local and tem- poral laws which were issued by Charle- eñAREEMAGNE. 13]. magne, we have exhibited to view only such as appear, from their character andge- nius, most-worthy of observation; and it may be fairly asserted, that many of them * maintain his reputation for wisdom, vi- gor, justice, and benevolence. His ex- cessive partiality to the clergy may be ac- counted for and almost excused by the per- suasion, and indeed by the proofs which in the course of his reign he experienced of the superior ardor of their reverence and attachment to his person, when compared with that of his nobles; and this conviction induced him to promulgate some edicts which militated greatly against his love of public and private justice : yet to have de- served the title of the father of his people, appears upon most occasions to be the first object of his government. It should be re- corded likewise to his praise, that to render justice to the meanest individual, he con- sidered the night no less proper than the day; for in those hours which were usually allotted by his subjects to sleep, he was often- times employed in hearing the appeals of .** K 2 * \ 132 THE REIGN OF both sexes, and making such answers to them as the nature of the circumstances, and his earnest desire to check every sort of vio- lence and iniquity, suggested; and even while he was dressing, we learn from the high au- thority of his secretary Eginhard, he ordered parties into his presence, and having heard and weighed the cause of their dispute, passed sentence upon it. He seems, indeed, ever to have considered that promptness constituted a most material feature in the administra- tion of impartial justice, and therefore no traces of impatience or fatigue appeared on his countenance, however unseasonable might be the time, in which the aggrieved implored his especial protection. CHARLEMAGNE. 133 CHAP. IV. — LITERATURE. ' * —ºn ºn- THE history of letters, under Charle- magne, is necessarily connected with that of the church; as from the extreme igno- rance of the age, its literature, if the word may be so applied, was almost entirely confined to ecclesiastics. Theodolphus, bishop of Or- leans, and the famous Alcuin the disciple of the venerable Bede, were the chief as- sistants of the emperor in his promotion of learning; but his own example, and the unremitting assiduity with which he de- voted himself to the attainment of know- ledge, in the time that could be spared from the variety of his multiform and im- K 3 134 THE REIGN OF portant occupations, served to produce the most beneficial effects upon the minds of his subjects. To carry into execution the ju- dicious and extensive plans he had formed for the propagation of letters in his domi- nions, he invited to his court the most ce- lebrated scholars in Europe. Alcuin was an Anglo-Saxon by birth, and Theodol- phus a native of Lombardy; to them both he shewed himself a docile and attentive pupil. The former instructed him in rhetoric; and we are told that his pro- . gress in this art was wonderfully rapid ; but its true principles and ends, the reader of the present times will be in- clined to suspect that the master himself but imperfectly understood, if it be true, that Alcuin refused to admit within the walls of his library any of the treasures of profane history; and that his disciples were expressedly forbid to open a volume which contained the sense and beauty of a Roman classic. Urged also by the same deep- rooted antipathy to the writings of Pagans, CHARLEMAGNE. 135 it has been affirmed that the Anglo-Saxon reproached Ricobode archbishop of Treyes, for poring over the Æneid, instead of . fixing his thoughts entirely upon the four Evangelists. s We cannot, however, so readily consent to imitate the credulity of some writers, who without the least examination have admitted the dislike of Alcuin to the ancient poets, as a point fully established, and of undoubted certainty. It will assuredly not be disputed that the high name which Alcuin had ac- quired among his cotemporaries for his learn- ing and piety, and the invariable respect that Charlemagne testified for his talents and virtues, and likewise for the promo- tion and diffusion of his plans of improve- ment, must have peculiarly concurred to raise up against him enemies equally pow- erful by their rank, and revengeful from their ignorance. These circumstances alone would justify us in believing that any at- tempt to injure his literary reputation would be secretly encouraged by those to whom K 4. } 36 THE REIGN OF he had rendered himself obnoxious, both by the fame of his own works, as well as by his munificent patronage of learning. Accordingly we find him sometimes re- proached for his want of attachment to the Roman classics, with a greater degree of virulence than the subject could require or warrant. Of a turn of mind naturally se- rious and religious, it is easy to be ima- gined that in an advanced period of his age, all his studies were bent towards theo- logy; but that he was a sincere and fervent admirer of that dignity, beauty, and eleva- tion of sentiment, which is often to be found in profane authors, may be strikingly illustrated in this expression to Charlemagne; Upon you it chiefly depends to convert Paris into a christian Athens. Throughoutindeed the writings and letters of Alcuin, frequent quotations are scattered from the ancient poets, which indicate that he perused them with no less pleasure than attention. His young friend Angilbert had received the appellation of Homer in that CHARLEMAGNE. 137 learned circle which he was so instrumental in forming at the court of Charlemagne. Alcuin wrote to him at Rome to request that he would not fail to bring him some relics, and pleasantly added, “Sinihil at- tuleris, ibis, Homere, foras.” Unquestionably therefore the man who in speaking upon a subject so grave and pious as the one above- mentioned, can cite a verse from Ovid's Art of Love, ought not to be represented as the implacable foe of the heathen poets. It is not beneath the dignity of history to commemorate the time and place of the first interview between Charlemagne and his preceptor. Since truth permits, and justice requires us to say, that to it are owing in a great measure all the wise and vigorous efforts which the emperor after- wards made to dispel the thick clouds of bar- barism and ignorance which overspread his land. Charlemagne first met Alcuin at Pavia in 781, upon his return from Rome, and was so struck with the wisdom of his discourse, that he earnestly requested him to fix his residence at his court as soon as he E38 THE REIGN OF had accomplished his mission, namely, that of receiving the pall forthearchbishop of York. which had lately been conferred on him by the pope. To an invitation so flattering Al- cuin gave his consent, provided that he ob- tained the permission of his king and arch- bishop, and that he might also be allowed to revisit his country. * Alcuin may, indeed, be justly regarded as a phenomenon for his age. If he had not sounded the depths, he had least stepped into most paths of learning, and therefore was eminently qualified, from the versa- tility of his genius and the penetration of his judgment, to form and develope the taste of Charlemagne for the arts and sciences. In the study of logic, rhetoric, and astronomy, subjects that have such a peculiar tendency to sharpen, enlarge, and elevate the human capacity, Alcuin ſound a pupil whose high birth and almost invari- able attention to the affairs of state, did not, however, prevent him from feeling and displaying an enthusiastic admiration of CHART.E.M.A.G.Nº. 139. them: Had the preceptor been inflamed with ambition, from the great ascendancy that he had gained over Charlemagne, he might safely have aspired to the rank of his rainister But far from employing his in- fluence with him to promote his own inte- rest and grandeur, it should be recorded, to the praise of this recluse student *, that * He was often pressed by Charlemagne to accompany him in his frequent journeys to Italy, to quit the smoaky walls, of the abbey of St. Martin of Tours, for the golden palaces of the Romans, but these invitations were inva- riably declined with the freedom o an equal, while he replied, “these smoaky walls are the abode of peace, whereas those of magnificent Rome by its eternal discords Acerba fata, Romanos agunt Scelusque fraternae necis; Ut immerentis fluxit in terram Remi Sacer repotibus cruor.” It is rather singular that Alcuin, who felt and manifested such a repugnance to quitting his own habitation even for the society of his friend and benefactor, should have given himself no other panegyric in the epitaph which he has inscribed to his own memory, than the inapplicable one of a celebrated traveller Famosus in orbé viator, The remainder of it will not be praised for purity of style, elegance of versification, or novelty of sentiment ; 140 THE REIGN OF he solely used it in directing his attention towards objects of utility and benevolence. In order to excite among the higher classes of his subjects a favorable disposition. towards the study of letters, and thus to wean them from those pursuits and plea- sures which equally depraved their minds and weakened their bodies, Charlemagne lavished, with a most unsparing hand, ab- beys, bishoprics, and other ecclesiastical dignities, upon such as stood foremost in the rank of letters. He even made learn- ing the way to political distinctions. Con- spicuous examples of this we meet with in the history of his reign. It will be sufficient to mention only the names of Eginhard and Amalarius, the former of whom filled for so many years the place of his secretary or Quod nunc es fueram Et quod nunc ego sum, tuque futurus eris. Delicias mundi casso sectabar amore Nunc cini ei pulvis, vermibus atque cibus. He was interred in the church of St. Martin of Tours. The works of this highly eminent character, which were collected in 1777 by Frobenius of St. Emeran, swell to the size of four quarto vols. a proof, at least, that he pro- secutcd his researches with industry, if not with ability, CHARLEMAGNE. 141, chancellor, (for these titles were indiscri- minately applied to him by the writers of the times) and the latter was selected from a crowd of candidates as his ambassador to Michael, the emperor of the east. His pas- sion for letters and encouragement of them were indeed so great and universally known, that two learned Scotchmen, in the cer- tainty of obtaining his protection, cried out as he passed along the highway, Science to be sold. This singular conduct immediately arrested his attention; he ordered them to be presented to him, and having found that they really could perform what they had professed, afterwards promoted them to posts of trust and honor, suitable to their abilities. There is not certainly a more striking feature in the character of Charlemagne than his uniform encouragement of men of genius, both in the church and state. Not content with bestowing upon Theodolphus the bishopric of Orleans, he gave him like- wise the abbey of Fleury, and several * #42 THE REIGN of other abbeys. Hilduin, one)of the mem- bers of academy, possessed at the same time those of St. Dennis, of St. Germaia de Prés, of St. Medard de Soissons, the re- venues of which were very considerable; while Alcuin received four abbeys, and various other preferments, which exposed him to the envy and hatred of his less fa- . voured competitors. *g From the numerous possessions and ju- risdictions which Alcuin enjoyed, Elipand, a bishop of Spain, in a theological dis- pute with him, takes the opportunity to utter some severe reproaches upon his overgrown opulence; but authentic evi- dence is not wanting to rescue the me- mory of Alcuin from the charge of his mind being corrupted by prosperity. He frequently expressed an earnest wish to resign those gifts, which he had solely accepted upon the pressing solicitation of his sovereign, because the several duties annexed to them occasioned too long an interruption to those literary pursuits which constituted the chief happiness of his life. CHARLEMAGNE. 143 • But no solicitations on his part, however frequent and sincere, could induce Charle- magne to transfer even some of his abbeys to his disciples, and thus leave to him the means of freely prosecuting his favorite studies. ` *$. * * The disputes of men of letters, generally arising from trivial causes, in mostages have been carried to a pitch of rancour and licen— tiousness little conformable to their manner of life, and highly injurious to the cause of learning. The court of Charlemagne was by no means exempt from these literary factions, and as the observations of the heads of the different parties were not always founded on the strict principles of truth and justice, the interference of the monarch himself was often necessary to compose their differences. Theodolphus and Alcuin frequently disagreed with one another, and these two personages, who equally shared the affection and favor of Charlemagne, in one dispute so far out- stepped the bounds of decorum, that he 144 THE REIGN OF **- thought it prudent to interpose his sen- tence. As their dissensions throw a new light on the character of Charlemagne, I shall not consider it as extraneous to my subject, circumstantially to relate the origin of this above-mentioned quarrel, which was considered by him of sufficient impor- tance as not only to require his authority |but his arguments to render full justice to the injured party. An ecclesiastic of the diocese of Orleans, had been condemned to a prison by Theo- dolphus his bishop, for an offence, with the nature of which we are unacquainted. He had, however, contrived to escape, and obtain an asylum with the monks or Canons of Troyen. Theodolphus obtained an order from the emperor to seize his person, but the monks chose to resist it. Alcuin, their abbot, wrote upon this occa- sion to Wiso and Fridegiz, two of his oldest scholars, whose academic names were Candidus and Nathaniel, and whose talents. had removed them from the cloister to the COurt. CHARLEMAGNE. $45 After some compliments of introduction, and recalling to their memory his claims upon them as their ancient instructor, and describing to them the dangers to which they were exposed, now that they breathed the contagious air of a court, he proceeds to observe that Theodolphus had entered into a quarrel with the friars of St. Martin of Tours. A prisoner after having undergone several punishments, escaped from his con- finement, and sought refuge in the church of St. Martins. He confesses his fault, and appeals to the emperor, and craves permis- sion to be presented before his august per- Son. He was delivered into the hands of the bishop's domestics, who being ap- prehensive of some snare, fled and left him at the door of the church, upon which some fresh servants of the bishop's came, and took him from thence by force. They have violated the sanctity of the house of God, but they were driven from the altar whither their impiety penetrated, by the strenuous exertions of the friars. If they I, 146 THE REIGN OF attempt to deny this fact, they utter a falsehood. A report being spread through the city that some persons had come from Orleans to profane the bones of St. Martin, crowds of poor were soon assembled, in order to prevent any insult being offered to their protector. Our friars sheltered the servants of the bishop from the fury of the populace, and obliged them to quit the church. But I am aware this said bishop has formed a string of heavy accusations against our friars; that he exaggerates several things, and affirms that to be true which has never occurred. Let me beg of you, therefore, my dear sons, to cast yourselves at the feet of our Lord David, our august emperor, and if the bishop enters into a dispute with him, demand of the former whether it is lawful that they should come and take the accused person with violence out of the church, to make him undergo the punishment which he has escaped; and if it be right that he who repents of his ill conduct should be stripped to the sole CHARLEMAGNE: . 147 of his foot of every thing that belongs to him, and if in this respect those words of St. James are remembered, “Mercy, re- joiceth against judgment.” If you represent, to the christian emperor, my master, all that is here urged in behalf of this offender, I am satisfied that nothing will turn him from the road of truth, or induce him to derogate from the decisions of the holy fathers. -*. To this remonstrance. Charlemagne him- self returned an answer, which though it cannot be cited as exhibiting a master-piece of logic, yet is conspicuous for its good sense, and well deserves to be transcribed, as affording us a most striking proof that he did not, in debates of this sort, as somc writers have unjustly accused him, regu- late his conduct by caprice or passion, but by the rules of moral and political justice. His reply was addressed to the congregation of St. Martin, and not to Alcuin, thereby avoiding to cast the least reflection on his * I, 2 148 THE REIGN OF name for having so warmly advocated their cause; a delicate compliment to the latter, which Alcuin must have felt in its full force, when he perceived the severity and dignity with which he arraigned their con- duct. The letter to which we are advert- ing, begins in the following manner: “The day before your letter was laid before me, I received one from Theodolphus, com- plaining of certain outrages committed to- wards his servants, or rather to the bishop himself; and likewise of the contempt and disobedience manifested to our orders on your parts, in not delivering up a certain ecclesiastic who had escaped from prison,. and concealed himself in the church of St. Martin, and whom you conceive, con- trary to our opinion, to have been guilty of no offence, which could justify his con- finement. “Upon perusingyour letter a second time, and comparing it with that of Theodolphus, , the style of it appears to us far more intem- perate than his. It seems likewise to have been written with more animosity; and CHARLEMAGNE. 149 not to have been sufficiently tempered with christian charity. We may consider, in- deed, it as an apology in behalf of the guilty, and an accusation against the bishop; since under ambiguous expressions, it seems to imply that the offender can and even has a right to form his complaint. It is ordain- ed, however, by laws human and divine, that no delinquent should dare to accuse another person; yet under the sanction of our name, you have shewn him your espe- cial protection; so that he who has been both accused and judged before the eyes of the people, is now enabled, under the pretext of appealing to the emperor, to ap- pear himself in the character of an accuser. You urge in extenuation of your unbecom- ing zeal the example of the apostle St. Paul, who, when accused by his nation before the prince of Judea, was sent by him to the emperor to receive his sentence; but this example is by no means applicable to the present circumstance; for the apostle Paul had only been accused by the Jews L 3 150 THE REIGN OF and not judged. He applied to the emi- peror, and therefore was permitted to stand before his judgment seat. This infamoč ecclesiastic, however, has not only been ac- cused, but his sentence has been awarded; he was put into prison and has escaped. He has violated the laws in returning to the church before his repentance was testified, and according to authentic testimonies he has not yet begun to reform his life and manners. From you we are told, that he appeals to the emperor, but never after the example of St. Paul, shall we admit him to our presence: for we ordain that you again deliver him into his custody, by whom he was sentenced to imprisonment, whe- ther his tale is or not agreeable to truth; since his judge was the proper person to have brought him before us ; and for our first mandate to be reversed for such a character, cannot be reconciled to any principles of decency or justice. “Our surprize isstill further excited in this affair by your presuming to fall into the thäßewagne, 151 spirit of opposing our orders áñd power; when, from the ancient observance and state of the laws, it is evident that the iii- junctions of kings carry the highest au- thority, and that none are allowed to con- temn their decisions. We cannot refrain, therefore, from expressing our astonish- ment, that you should have paid more at- tention to the importunities of a criminal, than to our orders. “But it is clear that among you peace has given way to a love for disturbance, ever since you espoused the cause of this man; for you yourselves, who form the Congre- gation of this convent, who style your- selves (and would to God it was truth) the servants of the Most High, cannot but be well aware how much your conduct has scandalized those, who have review.cd it it without interest, prejudice, or passion. For though you call yourselves monks and canons, yet few or none are your pretensions to those names. Unwilling, however, to desert or leave you without the hope of re- L 4 152 THE REIGN OF trieving your reputation, we appointed you a director and pattern for your conduct; one who for our sake has left his remote country, and whose exhortations and ex- emplary life we thought would have shewn you the best way to obtain the favor of heaven. But alas ! my expectations are dis- appointed, and the devil has gained you for his proselytes: he has sown divisions among you, and in a place the most im- proper, among the sages and doctors of the church; and they, whose office and years should have rendered them prompt to reprehend and chastise you for the dere- liction from the various duties incident to your station, have been impelled by the influence of your example to practise the sin of envy and anger. Yet, thank heaven, they have not given their aid and counte- nance to your guilty plots. Know, there- fore, ye who have despised our orders, whe- ther styled monks or canons, that we expect your acquiescence to our decisions, which will be announced to you by our commis- CHARLEMAGNE. 153 sary, and likewise learn, that though you should apologize for your résistance by let- ter, nevertheless you must come, and in person efface by a suitable atonement the offence which you have committed.” Al- though Alcuin failed to succeed in this af- fair from the firmness and sound policy of Charlemagne, yet, eager to promote the . real interest of his master, he shortly after gave him advice, which would have highly redounded both to his advantage and fame, had he turned an attentive ear to the argu- ments urged in a letter, which Alcuin ad- dressed to him upon the impolicy of sub- jecting to the payment of tythes the Saxons and Huns, who had then entered the pale of the catholic communion. This letter is long, and more remarkable for its simplicity, than floridness of language; but some passages of it well deserve to be extracted, as they give us the most favorable idea of the penetration and humanity of the writer, and likewise of his fervent and sin- cere desire to promote the welfare of the christian religion. 154 THE REIGN OF After having congratulated the monarch upon the success of his arms, he then pro- ceeds as follows: “But let thy wisdom and conscience dictate to thee the immediate necessity of procuring for these converted people preachers, whose exterior should announce purity of manners, an acquaint- ance with the doctrines of their belief, a reverence for the precepts of the gospel, and lastly, an unaffected desire to propose the lives of the holy apostles as the guides for their future conduct. Select men of that description to present milk to their au- ditors, or in other words to lead them to the paths of eternal happiness. After these considerations I would suggest to your love for the christian religion, to weigh well the expediency of imposing the yoke of tythes, upon people so little organized, so recently compelled to embrace the faith. Permit me also to ask, if you have reflected that the apostles, though instructed by God himself, and sent by Jesus Christ to preach the gos- pel, never exacted tythes, nor insisted upon CHARLEMAssº. 155 their payment.” But the massacre of the Saxons too fatally proves, that Charlemagne did not condescend to listen to this sage counsel; if he had, he would not only have escaped the mortification of beholding that outward conformity where the mind has no share in the acquiescence, and likewise the misery of having butchered so many Saxons. How deeply interested the emperor was in the intellectual improvement of the ri- sing generation, may be witnessed by his circular letter to the Metropolitans, and abbots upon the establishment of schools in their respective governments. We al- lude especially to that passage where he sets forth idleness in its strongest colours, and most pernicious effects, and points outtotherm the absolute necessity of making piety and learning the chief objects of their pursuits in this life, in order to render themselves and their office respectable in the eyes of the people. “That you may speak and write as well as you live, is a wish,” conti- nues he, “that I have very much at heart.” 156 THE REIGN OF fie watched over the progress of the young scholars in these institutions with a degree of attention not to be expected from the multiplicity of his public concerns, and he took great delight in examining with the masters their different compositions. Having discovered, upon some remarkable occasion, that the children of the poorer classes of the people, whom he had caused to be educated among those of the no- bles, left the latter far behind in their stu- dies, he highly applauded their proficiency; and swore that his favours should be exclu- sively bestowed on them. Then turning to their high-born fellow students, he ad- dressed them in words which evinced his fixed determination to stimulate and reward talents, even if they should be deduced from the lowest origin. “It is evident,” says he, “ that you rest your claims to promotion, solely upon the merits of your ancestors: Know, therefore, that they have received their recompence, and that the state re- nounces all obligations except to those cHARLEMAGNE. 157 who are capable of promoting her interests and honor by their abilities.” N - Charlemagne likewise established an aca- - demy in his own palace, from the Fan of which we are enabled to perceive how stre- nuously he exerted himself in the promo- tion of science, and how solicitous he was to evince himself the constant patron of learned men. Here the study of the Greek language was introduced, and rhetoric, poetry, history, antiquities, astronomy, and mathematics, likewise cultivated. It was reserved but for few, however, to make any great proficiency in these higher branches of learning; nor would it have been, perhaps, consistent with the policy and character of Charlemagne, had it been possible to render those intellectual pur- suits familiar to the bulk of his people, for among them every study, at his ex- press command *, pointed towards reli- * The emperor upon his return from Rome seems to have been more strongly impressed than before with a respect for the christian rehgion, at least for its external forms, and with a more earnest desire of diffusing its l. 38 THE REIGN OF f Z gion. Grammar was taught chiefly. with the view of comprehending better the holy scriptures, and of transcribing them with more correctness; sacred music was then alone studied and commended ; while skill in dialectical disputation reflected little or no lustre on its possessor, if not employed in refuting heretics. * *. In the academy just mentioned, the em- peror wished only to maintain the character of a simple member; he assisted at their meetings, and discharged with zeal and promptitude all the duties of an acade- mician. Each of the members in this distinguished society assumed a literary and academic name, expressive of his taste precepts and doctrines throughout his dominions. Du- ring his visit there, Adrian, who omitted no opportunity which might be deemed inviting, to strengthen his grow- ing attachment to the papal see, presented him with the collection of the ecclesiastical laws in the first ages. This precious gift was accompanied with a species of dedica- tion in forty-five Latin verses, which may be regarded as a curious monument of the bad taste then prevalent: it is an acrostic, of which the forty-five initial letters form the following words: 'Domino. Excell. Filio Carolo Magno Regi Hadrianus Papa. CHARLEMAGNI. 1.59 and studies. Angilbert, a young man of distinguished birth, styled himself Homer 5. he is said to have been eminently skilled in the composition of Greek verses, and his reverence for that prince of poets, to judge from some of his writings that are extant, was most fervent and sincere. His elo- quence, his services, and fidelity, had long fixed the attachment of Charlemagne, and his personal attractions had triumphed over the virtue of the princess Bertha, one of the daughters of the emperor. In all his journeys he accompanied him, and in his most grave and weighty affairs, Angilbert received the high honor of being both in- trusted and consulted by him. Charle- magne placed him among the ecclesiastics of his court, and likewise wished to have conferred upon him the rank and title of an archbishop, but he preferred the plea- sures of love to the honors of temporal and spiritual ambition; he espoused Bertha in 787, according to the assertions of his bio- grapher; but the famous Bolland, histri- | 160 TUIE REIGN OF ographer of the saints which adorn or dis- grace the Roman calendar, has heaped up a mighty pile of erudition, for the sole purpose of proving that Angilbert was never affianced in marriage to Bertha. Never- theless, by a contradiction equally strange, and highly insulting to the reputation of the lady, he admits her to all the privileges of a concubine, though not to those of a wife. But whatever was her condition, it has been acknowledged, both by friends and foes, that the fruit of her embraces with Angilbert was two sons, one of whom, Nithard, lived to compose a work entitled De Dissensionibus filiorum Ludo- vici Pij. Without assenting to that futile and per- nicious maxim, that the popular opinion must be true, the following passage of Eginhard will stagger those who are least inclined to stigmatize her with the epithet of Concubine. Speaking of his sovereign he observes, that he was so strongly attached to his sons and daughters, that he never could dispense with their society. As his * CHARLEMAGNE, 161 daughters were so beautiful, and as he loved them so passionately, it became, however, a matter of surprize that his consent should have been invariably re- fused to their marriages, whether solicited for either by Franks or strangers. He kept all of them near his person till the hour of his death, and declared that their company was even essential to his existence; in con- sequence of which, he that was so happy in every other respect, experienced many deep and mortifying afflictions; “nevertheless he conducted himself in such a manner,” concludes the tame historian, “as to appear not only ignorant, but even unconscious of these mortifications.” Riculphus, the archbishop of Mayence, was called Dametas, because his choice in the different departments of poetry, was exclusively directed to the eclogue; but from the specimens of that kind of compo- sition which he has left behind him, it may be safely pronounced that his muse was more propitious to his fortune than to his reputation. The name of Pindar was ap- M 162 THE REIGN OF * * plied to Theodolphus, as he had made a great proficiency in the Greek tongue, and held lyrical productions in the highest esti- mation. This bishop was frequently con- sulted by his sovereign upon civil as well as ecclesiastical affairs, and his thorough know- ledge of the state of France, and of the views of other monarchs was clearly proved by the wisdom of his counsels. He is often called the Italian Theodolphus, and M. Gaillard believes that he was born in Lom- bardy, but from his addressing the Visi- goths in one of his poems under the title of consanguineos meos, according to our opinion his birth should be fixed in Spain. Of his poetry it may be said without par- tiality, and without any exaggerated strain of praise, that it contained more beauties and less inaccuracies than are to be found among the performances of his contempo- raries. He is the author of an hymn, which, if we are not greatly mistaken, is still repeated in France at the pro- CHARLEMAGNE. 163 cession of Palm Sunday, with the follow- ing verse: . . . Gloria laus et honor tibi, sunt rex Christi, redemptor, ~ Cui puerile decus prompsit hosanna pium. The celebrated Eginhard, secretary or chancellor of Charlemagne, and superin- tendant of his buildings,” assumed as aca- demician the name of Kalliopius, in all probability from his having consecrated his time to the historic muse. Adalhardus, abbot of Corbie, and kinsman of the mo- narch, received the title of Augustin from his great admiration of the works of that father of the church ; and Charlemagne in consequence of his decisive predeliction for ecclesiastical writings, and likewise from being able to commit all the Psalms to me- mory, received the appropriate name of David from Alcuin, who may be justly styled the founder and president of his li- terary undertakings. Alcuin himself as- sumed the title of Horace, which may be adduced as another argument, if wanted, in * Praefectus à Cárolo exstruendis a dificiis, M 2 164 THE REIGN OF W. support. of our former assertions, that in- stead of his regarding the productions of profane writers with contempt and abhor- rence, he prized them at a very high rate. The other members received names equally apposite to the particular line of study in which they chiefly excelled, and had deem- ed most worthy their approbation. But the frequent wars in which Charle- magne was engaged, interrupted greatly the peaceful and enlightened avocations of this society; a circumstance which Alcuin complains of in a letter addressed to the archbishop of Mayence. “I alone re- 9) main,” says he, “at home; you Dametas, I suppose are now in Saxony, attending the king; Homer is in Italy, and the rest of our associates have taken their departure elsewhere; God grant that David may soon return to us, and all those who accompany this victorious prince.” Charlemagne seems not to have lost a moment in the prosecution of his studies. During his meals he listened to the holy CHARLEMAGNE, I65 scriptures, or some devotional book, which he never failed to have read to him; pro- bably the lives of those saints which he had ordered to be written in a small volume, and of which copies were dispersed throughout his dominions, for the improvement and edi- fication of his people. And a reader was constantly summoned to his frugal supper, for the express purpose of acquainting him with the history of his royal predecessors”, that he might know how to avoid their faults, and imitate their virtues. -º- Charlemagne had made some proficiency in classic literature. According to the tes- timony of Eginhard he was considered to understand well the Latin language, and to have added to his other attainments some knowledge of the Greek tongue; but it will require no elaborate investigation from the critic of the present day, to * Caenanti Lector recitans non defuit unquam— * 3. & & $ $ # * * * * C. §§ {& Res antiquorum gestas Regumque priorum, Ipse legi sibimet fecerat assidue. .* Annal. Poet. Saxon, Lib. v. M 3 #66 THE REIGN OF • detect and expose the solecisms, which appear in his Latin productions, not- withstanding he had received the in- structions of the famous Peter of Pisa. In his epistles they frequently met the eye *; and the same observation may be strictly applied to the greatest part of his diplomas. In his versification, however, the rigid judge must allow more correctness of style than in his prose. His claims, therefore, to the cha- racter of an author, however high they were estimated in a barbarous age, from the mo- ment the light of true science and genius revisited the world, have been justly con- signed to the shelf of oblivion. Without being capable of analysing the principles of composition and of expressing his own sentiments with grammatical propriety, * The following quotation from one of them will be quite sufficient to prove this assertion. He informs his wife Fastrade that he ordered public prayers to be made in the army for three successive days (Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday) “Litaniam fecimus,” says he, “id est nonis Septembris quod fuit lunis die incipientes, et Martis et Mercoris.” It is scarcely necessary, to observe, that the substantives and adjectives do not agree in gender, num- ber, or case. CHARLEMAGNE. 167 he ventured to publish a grammar for the Teutonic language; but from the want of those essential requisites, we may easily ap- preciate the merits of the whole perform- ance, He invented, however, German names for the several months, and even made some irregular attempts to incorpo- rate new words into the language of his nation. Astronomy was likewise studied by Char- lemagne with a passionate fondness. In / the annals of his reign, composed by Egin- hard, the reader will meet with some obser- vations which may be esteemed curious for that time, concerning eclipses, the conjunc- tion of stars, and the aurora borealis: He likewise professed an acquaintance with the celebrated work of Vitruvius, and seems to have acquired a knowledge of the art of sculpture as well as that of architecture. Ac- cording to the historians of that day, we are also to believe that the model of his famous, ) palace at Aix-la-Chapelle, was executed by \ his own hand. The science of medicine \ * M 4 iós THE REIGN OF then in so defective a state, Charlemagne sought to improve by every means in his power. In one of his capitulars he ex- pressedly recommended the study of the healing art, and resolved that it should form a part of education, in the hope of its being cultivated with more success. In addition to this wise and benevolent resolve, he erected an edifice consecrated to that science under the title of Hippocratica tecta. he court, however, was attended by the most skilful physicians of the time; but it is not unworthy of observation, that the emperor, in almost every illness he experi- enced, solely trusted his recovery to the hand of nature. His chief remedy was in the practice of a rigorous abstinence”, which as he never indulged in the excesses of eating or drinking, however he may have enjoyed the social pleasures of the table, usually produced, with the aid of a good constitution, the most salutary ef- fects. * See Mezeray Hist. de France. Tom. i. p. 204. eHARLEMAGNE. 2 369 > . * ** *. * * * *... +z * Sedº. * * * *. º, tº ºr * Jº A&.4 ...??? CHAP. V. * sº- **** -º- MANNERS. -man ºs- i 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 there- fore 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, with- out disordering the plan of our undertaking. 170 THE REIGN OF 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, an- nounced that their ancient enmity was for ever extinguished F. 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 com- putant. Wide Tacitus de moribus Germanorum. f Tollensque de manu sua de pallio suo filum, projecit in terram, et dixit, Ecce in testimonium perfectac remis- Sionis filum de pallio meo projicio in terram, ut cunctis pateat, quod pristina deinceps admulletur inimicitia. Vita St. Sturm. Recueil des Historiens de France. Tom, V. p. 429. cHARLEMAGNE. 171 of their quickly obtaining some lucrative and honourable employment. Several capitularia of Charlemagneinform 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 assem- bled these troops in their respective can- tons; the manors, country towns, and vil- lages; furnished a number of soldiers pro- portionate 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 mi- litia 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 cam- paign. A review of the whole forces was appointed on the first of March or May, 172 THE REIGN OF 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 sum- mons, 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 be- longed to the military service, the place of rendezvous for the next year; this, in the phrase of the times, was called the convo- cation of the ban. The frontier was like- wise named, to which each division of the troops brought provision for three months, when they again assembled. This fron- tier, styled March in the language then used, was the Rhine, for those who, set- tled 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- CHARLEMAGNE. 173 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 pro- visions; and upon these carriages were placed all the necessary implements to form a camp, to build a fort, and to under- take a siege. Averse from slow and dila- tory movements, Charlemagne may be re- garded 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 depar- ture, 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 requi- sition 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 174 THE REIGN OF country he fixes upon for the theatre of his operations were wanting to Charlemagne, to supply the use of them he deemed it no way derogatory to his rank, or rather an essential part of his duty as a commander, to collect himself every verbal information respecting the country through which he intended to pass. The machines of war, employed by the Franks in sieges, were, for the most part, similar to those used by the Ro- mans; the balista, the tortoise, and the battering ram. Under the Merovingian kings, the great force of their armies con- sisted in the infantry, but Charlemagne as much depended upon his cavalry for vic- tory as upon the former. That his soldiers might be animated to fight his battles, more from a sentiment of honor than a principle of duty, he made a collection of military songs, which celebrated the warlike exploits of his predecessors; * and these they were accustomed gaily to sing, whilst advancing * Nec non quae veterum depronunt praelia Regum, Barbara mandavit carmina litterulis. t Annal. Poet, Saxon. CHARLEMAGNE. . 175 against the foe. At a very early age his subjects were called to take the field; and when hisson Louis had only accomplished the thirteenth year of hisage, he solemnly armed him in the castle of Rensbourg in the pre- sence of the first nobles of the land. Which act is, however, chiefly entitled to our no- tice, from its reflecting some light upon the origin of chivalry in France. As this chapter is solely devoted to the collection of those detached facts or events, which are remotely or immediately con- nected with the reign of Charlemagne, this is the most proper place to introduce a con- cise abridgment of a work published at Mu- nich in 1803, under the title of a very an- cient history of the birth and youth of that monarch. Its author, the baron de Aretin, professes to have found an old Ger- man manuscript, in the archives of the abbey de Wechent Stephan, near Fre- singen, which he conjectures to have been composed in the thirteenth cen- tury, and which several ancient, writers 176 THE REIGN OF have described as an historical monument highly meriting the notice of the curious. It is singular enough that Eginhard, the se- cretary and intimate friend of Charlemagne, should have been unable to transmit to us any particulars respecting his place of na- tivity, and the employment of his juvenile years. We are not, therefore, to be sur- prized at the fruitful imagination of ro- mance writers attempting to fill up the chasm of authentic evidence, which has been left by him and other contemporary writers. According to the above-mentioned ma- \nuscript, Pepin, after having been called by the public voice to the throne of France, decſared his intention to extirpate the pa- ganism of Germany; and for this express purpose fixed himself in the centre of that empire, in the castle of Wichent Stephen, where since has been founded a convent of Benedictines. Soon the king of a coun- try, to whom the manuscript gives the ap- pellation of Brittaia or Karling, offered him CHARIEMAGNE. 177 his daughter in marriage; but Pepin, be- fore he accepted his proposal, wished to have her portrait in exchange for his. He was enchanted with the representation of the young princess. His steward and chief favourite to whom he shewed this picture, expressed an earnest desire to see her, in order to satisfy his royal master respecting the resemblance of the original to the picture. Accordingly he re- paired to the court of king Koerling, where he was well received, and found the beauty of the princess corresponding to the por- trait. He likewise found that her features bore some similitude to those of his own daughter; and upon this circumstance conceived a project, the execution of which seemed to be easy from his situation at that time. Koerling having proposed that his daughter should be accompanied to the castle of Pepin by a splendid escort, the steward informed, him that his master had ordered a certain number of his followers N 178 THE REIGN OF to meet her half way on her journey, and that he wished she should then be deli- vered over to them. The king consented; and after having embraced her father, the princess set off with her attendants. On arriving at the appointed place of meeting, they took their leave; and instead of com- mitting their mistress to the care of Pepin's followers, they put her, unknowingly, into the hands of the agents of the steward. She was conducted by them into the most retired partofa forest, where they obliged her to strip off her garments, and assume those of her rival, and likewise to deliver up her nuptial ring, the present of her father. The steward on parting with his accomplices, had forced them to Swear they would cut the throat of the princess, and present him with her tongue, as a proof of hav- ing faithfully performed their commission. The villains dragged their captive into the heart of a forest, in order to dispatch her with the utmost secrecy; She conjured their permission to take with her a little dog, * { / CHARLEMAGNE. 179 and a box containing both gold and silk; after some hesitation, they yielded to her solicitations, and at last were so worked upon by her beauty, innocence, and tears, as to disregard the fatal orders which they had re- ceived, on the condition, however, of her taking a solemn oath never to betray them. Anxious to create no suspicion on the part of their employer, of having left the work uncomplete, they laid her garment before him pierced in several places, and sprinkled with the blood of the dog, whose tongue they had torn out. The steward was entirely deceived by these appearances, his daughter was presented to the king, and the marriage consummated. She bore Pepin two sons according to the manu- script, one of whom attained the papacy under the name of Leo. III. and after- wards crowned Charlemagne emperor of the west. But what in the mean time was the fate of the unfortunate princess? She wandered for some days, in the forest till she found N 2 18O THE REIGN OF an asylum in the house of a miller. In this situation, the gold and silk, the only things of which the agents of the steward had not despoiled her, furnished mate- rials for work, which her master sold to great advantage at Augsburg. Seven years of her life were passed in this manner, when a hunting match hav- ing brought Pepin into the neighbour- hood, it happened that he lost his way du- ring the night, and arrived after a series of adventures at the miller's house. His sole attendant was his physician, who, likewise, was skilled in astrology, and by that art, the manuscript informs us discovered that the legitimate spouse of Pepin was lodged in the miller's house. The intelligence was communicated to Pepin, who by professing himself the friend of the cre- dulous miller, and likewise assuring him that great destinies awaited one of his daughters (for the reader is to learn that he had two,) obtained his consent to pass the night with the object of his choice; but being very ſickle in his pleasures, CHARLEMAGNE. 181 he wished the other daughter to share that honor the next night; to this the miller likewise gave no denial. We will not abuse the patience of our readers by detailing the circumstances which enabled the physician to discover that Bertha, for so the princess was called, had not yet been introduced to Pepin. Suffice it to say, that by his contrivance she was at last brought before him, and having told her sad story with many blushes and lamentations, was ad- mitted to the embraces of the king, and the fruitofthem was the renowned Charlemagne. The reader will doubtless anticipate the sequel of this marvellous adventure; that in due time Bertha was restored to her legi- timate honors; the steward after confessing his guilt punished with death; and Char- lemagne acknowledged as successor to Pepin. The outlines of this tale, may possibly have been consistent with some known facts and circumstances; but though the writers of romance reflect sometimes no inconsiderable portion of light upon the N 3 182 THE REIGN OF manners, usages, and institutions of the times in which they are composed, yet it is the province of authentic history to be cautious in viewing those performances as useful re- cords, the characteristic features of which are an invariable propensity to exaggera- tion, and a fondness for the marvellous. The maintenance of public works, such ' as the bridges, causeways, and the boats used for crossing the rivers, was defrayed at the expence of the counts, who employed their agents, whom St. Gall styles vicars and officials. But when a new construction of any public work was necessary, neither duke, count, bishop, or abbot, was exempt from contributing his share to the expence, as they were destined for the public benefit. Charlemagne who always gave the most steady encouragement to improvements of every kind, strictly enjoined that the work- men should be well paid, well fed, and well clothed, and likewise that they should be amply supplied with the necessary materials for their different undertak- ings. These orders were faithfully exe- * CHARLEMAGNE. 183 cuted, when any works were carried on under his immediate inspection, or in the vicinity of his residence. But it is asserted by the monk of St. Gall, that in those works which, by the distance of his court from them, were committed to the superintend- ance of his officers, the labourers often- times complained, and not without cause, of the various extortions of their em- ployers. Commerce was as yet in its infancy du- ring the reign of Charlemagne; never- theless it appears by the chronicle of Ver- dun, and by the different diplomas of that prince, that the imposts then chiefly con- sisted in a multitude of customs both by land and by sea; for they paid a duty upon every kind of merchandize which then sub- sisted, and upon every article of necessity or luxury. The bad effects which these im- posts produced upon agriculture and com- merce are abundantly clear; and if the dif- ferent capitularia had left us in a state of uncertainty, whether the legislative power N 4 184 THE REIGN OF was lodged in the hands of Charlemagne, we should have conceived that the genius of the government of France had been purely of a despotic instead of a popular haturé. In the multiplicity of his public con-. cerns, the coining of money formed one of the principal objects of legislation to , Charlemagne. The most ancient ordi- nance respecting the coinage in France now extant, is that which was made by Pepin in 755 in a parliament held at Ver- neuil. He there enacts that no more than 22 silver pence should be coined from a pound weight, and that the director of the mint shall retain one of the 22 pieces, and restore the others to him who supplied the silver. The detained piece was allotted either to defray the expences, or to pay the king's duty on the different coins, known afterwards by the name of the right of the lord of the manor. This edict was evi- dently a reform, for it appears that Pepin added greatly to the weight of the silver CHARLEMAGNE. 185 penny, and that there existed before his reign more than 22 in the pound. The continual wars, and the long and frequent excursions from his capital which Charle- magne took in consequence of them, were, extremely favourable to the abuses in the weight and title of the current coins. In 794, he, therefore, made a regulation at Frankfort to re-establish them in their an- cient intrinsic value; but finding all his vi- gilance inadequate to stop the numerous disorders occasioned by the false coiners, he was at last obliged to declare by the capitu- laries in 805 and 808, that no more money should be coined but in the palace of the emperor, and upon these pieces were in- scribed Palatina Moneta. Alarmed and enraged (as we have before observed) at the hostile appearance of the Danes and Normans in the Mediterranean sea, Charlemagne had recourse to the wisest expedients to check their predatory incursions. All the mouths of the great rivers throughout his cxtensive empire were 186 THE REIGN OF guarded, all the coasts defended either by fleets or forts, and the principal arsenal of his navy was established at Boulogne, the Gessoriacum of the ancients, from whence the necessary ammunitions were distributed, and sent for the supply of the upper part of the country into the German sea, and for the Tower into the channel and Atlantic ocean. Charlemagne had rebuilt there an ancient Pharos erected by Caligula, when he had proceeded to that place in the hope of conquering * Britain; but the classical reader will recollect that he soon resigned * This town will be rendered as memorable in the page of modern as in that of ancient history. But with- out the most distant idea of drawing any parallel be- tween the military exploits of the Roman and French em- peror, for that could not be done with more propriety than to compare the sound of a whisper to that of thun- der, yet we cannot forbear observing that it would have been as well for the great Napoleon's peace of mind, and cer- tainly for his future fame, had he amused himself with the employment of Caligula during his residence at Bou- logne, instead of vainly imagining to overcome a mighty nation with a fleet, whose destruction is certain and ine- vitable, if it should ever dare to quit its harbour, and the protecting line of batteries. CHARLEMAGNE. 187 / the hope and wish of establishing his au- thority, and contented himself with the more suitable employment of gathering cockles * on the sea shore, considering the exhibition of them to his servile senate as a proof quite sufficient of having suc- ceeded in the object of his expedition. This light house, which thus marked the entrance of the ships at Sea, is still called Tour de Ordre, which word, according to the probable conjectures of some writers, is a corruption of Turris Ardens. The admirals who commanded these stationary fleets were styled comites ad custodiendan oram maritimam deputati, as we learn from one of the capitularia. The almost perpetual warfare carried on by Charlemagne, suggested to him an idea which, if executed, would have immor- talized his reign, and might have been * Postremo quasi perpetraturus bellum, directa acie in litore oceani, ac ballistis machinisque dispositis: ne- mine, quaro aut opinante quidnam caepturus esset, re. pente ut conchas legerent, galeasque et sinus replerent, imperavit. Spolia Oceani vocans, Capitolio Palatioque debita. Suetonius, Lib. iv. p. 482. \ 188 THE REIGN OF said almost to have changed the face of the whole globe. It was his project to have formed a communication between the German ocean and the black Sea, by the Rhine and Danube, in joining these two rivers by some intermediate ones. He at- tempted likewise to have made a canal of communication between the Moselle and the Saone. The junction of the Rhine and Danube was undertaken only for the service of the Pannonian war. This canal, which would have extended no more than two leagues, was, however, abandoned, in consequence of continual rains and other obstacles which then appeared invin- cible. Some vestiges of it still remain near the village of Graben, in Suabia, which derives its name from the German word graben, signifying a moat. By an ordinance in 789, at Aix-la-Cha- pelle, the uniformity of weights and mea- sures was established through all the cities and monasteries; the price of corn was also taxed, and the emperor erected maga- CHARLEMAGNE. 189 zines for the supply of his people. This act, however contrary to the ideas of mo- dern times respecting the freedom of com- merce, was followed by another, which atones in some degree for the injustice and severity of the former, namely, that of having the corn distributed to the poor at half the fixed price. He likewise pro- hibited an advanced sum being put upon victuals during the times of scarcity, and the price not only of them but of cloths was constantly taxed. Although Charlemagne was in some de- gree master of the seas, and had extended his dominions by a long and rapid career of con- quest, yet as the state of society among the Franks was in no respect then highly civilized, the advances made by commerce were con- sequently but slow and gradual. The au- thentic documents which still exist, shew us, indeed, that even in the eyes of the emperor, commerce did not appear an object worthy of his most attentive con- cern, as he suffered it to be carried on 190 TIHE REIGN OF almost wholly by foreigners. Spain sup- plied the Franks with horses and mules; Friesland with cloaks of various colours, waistcoats, and great coats lined with skins of martins, otters, and cats; England with corn, iron, pewter, lead, leather, and dogs for hunting; the East and Africa with herbs, wines, gauze, glass, and paper of Egypt, which was solely used in France till the eleventh century; and likewise with oil of olive, a liquor so scarce at that time, that a council held at Aix-la-Chapelle allowed the Monks the use of hogs- lard. Charlemagne was the first monarch of France who introduced sumptuary laws; of their unsuitableness to a great monarchy, which ought to encourage luxury that trade may prosper, and thus impart sustenance to the more indigent and middling classes of society, we shall not stop to enquire. The following expedient, which he adopt- ed to cure his nobles of their extrava- gance in dress, ought not, however, to CHARLEMAGNE. 191 be passed over in silence, as it strikingly pourtrays the manners of the times. The emperor himself commonly wore the sim- plest attire, except upon occasions of great pomp and splendor *. In his doublet of otters skin, put over his woollen tunic, and his sash of a blue colour, he was scarcely to be distinguished from the meanest of his subjects. One morning, having per- ceived his courtiers decked out in their most costly,habiliments, he proposed that they should immediately take the exercise of hunting. His invitation, or rather com- mand, admitted of no refusal, for small is the distinction between these words, when they fall from the lips of a mo- narch. He appeared in a cloak of sheep's skin, tied negligently across his shoulders, and which afforded him a good covering during a heavy fall of snow, that, most * See a description of his ordinary dress in Mezeray, Histoire de France, Tom. i. p. 204. The picture drawn of Charlemagne by this historian is upon the whole lively and interesting, though somewhat too highly coloured. 192 THE REIGN OF opportunely to his wishes, happened while they were attending him in this recreation. But their silks were torn by the brambles and spoiled by the snow. When the chace was finished, benumbed with cold, and anxious to repair the damage done to their dresses, they begged leave to with- draw. The malfcious monarch foresaw and prevented their intentions, by pressing them to follow his example, and dry their clothes before a great fire, which he had ready for that purpose. Although highly delighted with their embarrassment, he affected not to perceive the effects of the fire in drying their dresses, and shrivel- ling them into the most uncouth shapes. In dismissing them from his presence, he said, “To-morrow we will take our re- venge, and in the same habits.” When they appeared the following day in their torn and disfigured garments, they furnished a most ridiculous spectacle to the whole court. The emperor, after having ral- CHARLEMAGNE. 193 lied them on their absurdity, at last exclaim- ed, “Fools that ye are, now perceive the difference betwixt your luxury and my sim- plicity My dress covers and defends me, and when worn out is of no consequence; whilst your rich attires, liable to be spoiled by the least accident, almost amount, in value, to a large treasure *.” The frugality of Charlemagne's table, corresponded with the plainness of his ap- parel. Although surrounded always by a numerous family, he rarely allowed moré } } } : } f } ! than four dishes, (besides roast meat, which chiefly consisted of venison) to be placed on the table. A multitude of dishes, how- ever, crowded his table on festival days; upon those occasions, there were five suc- cessive tables spread for the accommoda- tion of the emperor and his great officers. The princes and dukes served the em- * O stolidissimi mortalium ! quod pellicium modo pre- tiosius et utilius est, istud ne meum, uno solido, com- paratum, an illa vestra, non solum libiis, sed multis coempta talentis. Monach. St. Gal. R; O 194 THIE REIGN OF \| *f ',f peror, and according to the proud distinc- tion of rank observed in that age, the counts waited upon the dukes, and were in like manner attended upon by the in- ferior officers. Charlemagne frequently received and accepted invitations to dinner from his ministers and favourites; and when he laid aside the dignity of his rank, it was his pride and wish to be distinguished for the liberality and courtesy of his manners. The following nobles were the chief minis- ters of the palace, and likewise presided over the general administration of affairs. The grand almoner, the chancellor; and after these two principal officers of the church and state, followed in due subor- dination, the grand chamberlain, the count of the palace, the seneschal, the cupbearer, the constable, and the grand falconer. The strict economy of Charlemagne has been loudly extolled by Montesquieu, as the pure source from which he derived all his riches; but willing as I am to pay a due respect to the opinion of so illustrious CHARLEMAGNE. 195 a name, yet it must assuredly be thought that this frugality sometimes partook too much of the avarice of a trader. For in a kingdom so abundantly supplied as his was with all the necessaries, and most of the luxuries of life, it will be difficult to per- ceive the oeconomical virtue of those edicts, or the encouragement they gave to industry, that could requirean account of the hornsand skins of the goats, direct his fish to be sold, order his larger villas or farms to maintain one hundred hens and thirty geese, the smaller ones fifty hens and twelve geese, and even appoint his eggs and superfluous garden stuff to be carried to market and sold upon his sole account. But the edict in which the emperor expressly prohibits the vagrant tribe of beggars”, and imposes upon each city the obligation of nourishing their poor, accompanied likewise with a par- ticular injunction to afford no relief to those who refuse to work, may be panegyrized * Mendici per regionem vagari non permittantur. Suos quaeque civitas pauperes alito, illisque, nisi manibus operentur, ne quicquam dato. O 2 196 THE REIGN OF for its obvious tendency to rouze all classes of society to the most active exertions of industry; and if it had been strictly enforced by his successors, might have occasioned in the course of time a considerable change of the most beneficial nature in the life and manners of the lowest order of their subjects. Of all the manly exercises in which Charlemagne delighted, that of hunting appears to have been the amusement to which he was most addicted; and, to transcribe the partial remark of Eginhard, the Franks were more renowned than any other nation for their skill and boldness in the chace”. One day the emperor in- vited the Persian ambassadors to a great hunting match of buffaloes in the Black Forest; but no sooner had they surprized these animals in their retreat, than the am- bassadors took flight, completely terrified at the furious resistance which they displayed. Charlemagne, however, accustomed to the mode of encountering them, boldly advanc- * Quod illigentilium erat, quia vix ulla in terris Natio invenitur, quae in hac arte Francis possit aequari. * CHARLEMAGNE, . 1.97% ed against the fiercest of the whole herd, in: order to cut off its head at one stroke. The buffalo provoked to redoubled fury by the: wound Charlemagne had given him, rushed. head-long to rip up with his horns the belly of the horse. The empéror had not time to. avoid the butt, without having his boot torn and his leg slightly grazed. The animal then made a desperate spring upon his royal antagonist, and in all probability would have terminated his life, had not one of the hunters at that critical moment let fly. a dart, which laid the beast dead on the spot. Charlemagne apparently overlooked his deliverer, while his courtiers were pressing around him, and intreating him to have his boot taken off, and his leg dressed. “No, no,” replied he, “I wish to appear in this state before the queen Hermengrade,” al- luding to the wife of his son Louis. Ac- cordingly he shewed himself to her in that condition; and then asked, “What do you think I owe to him who has rescued me from this great danger ?” holding up at O 3 198 THE REIGN OF these words, the head and great-horns of the buffalo. With streaming eyes, and ter- rified countenance, she exclaimed “What do we not all owe him 1" “Enough,” said the emperor, “demand of me the par- don of Isambard, for he is my deliverer.” Historians have not informed us of the na- ture of the offence committed by this per- son towards the queen; but it was of that magnitude as to deprive him of his lands, which were immediately restored to him by the gratitude of Charlemagne, and others annexed to them of considerable value. In some old chronicle which alludes to this story, we find the remark, that if the famous sword of Charlemagne's, called Joyeuse, had happened to have been girt by his side upon that occasion, the wound of the buffalo must have been alike both certain and mortal. To this celebrated, weapon, the romance writers of the time ascribe the most extraor- dinary feats of skill and valor; such as for instance, cutting asunder at one stroke a horseman and his horse, and other exploits of CHARLEMAGNE, 199 equal credibility. Conformably to these” wonders, and to the ideas of queen Thales- tris,* or to those of all barbarians, that a man of diminutive figure is incapable of performing great achievements, the stature of Charlemagne has been also increased by those fablers to the height of a giantt. The learned count de Caylust regards indeed the reign of Charlemagne as the source of all the romances of chivalry and of chivalry itself; and according to hisjudg- ment, the memorable tale of king Arthur, and of his knights of the round table, is no more than a faithful copy of Charlemagne and his twelve peers. But, however, this last * Interrito vultu Regem Thalestris intuebatur, habitum ejus haud quaquam rerum famae parem oculis perlustrans. Quippé oninibus barbaris in corporum majestate vene- ratio est; magnorumque operum non alios capaces putant, quam quos eximiä specie donaxe natura dignata est.— Quintus Curtius. + See a dissertation of Marquard Freher de Statura Ca- roli Magni Imperatoris, which he settles at five feet nine inches of French, about six feet one inch and a fourth English measure. * t See Histoire de l'Academie des Inscriptions, et de Belles Lettres, Tom. xxiii. p. 236, &c. &c. O 4 200. THE REIGN OF ‘assertion may be contradicted by the plain and decisive text of our English chronicles; it is indisputable, that the romance of Char- lemagne and his twelve peers,” a work of * Respecting the origin of this word, peers, pares, it is well known to have marked in its most simple and ori- ginal signification, those who were equal to each other. But in the time of Charlemagne it was used to denote people of the same rank and occupation. Thus bishops, abbots, monks, soldiers, styled each other their equal, and they received that appellation from the people. There is an edict of that prince which says, that if a vassal or be- neficed man should refuse to accompany his equal against the common foe, he should lose his fief or benefice. Qui- cunque ex his qui Beneficium Principis habent, parem suum contra hostes communes in exercitu pergentem, dimiserit, et cum eo ire vel stare noluitº honorem suum et Beneficium perdat. It is the opinion of M. l'Abbe de Mably in his observations sur l’Histoire de France, Tom. i. p. 103, and of several other writers, that we can trace back the custom of granting beneficia for life to the reign of Charles Martel, since originally these beneficia or grants of land, were bestowed only during the pleasure of the sovereign; Montesquieu regards them as fiefs, which according to the feudal policy, laid him, to whom they were granted, under an obligation of personal mili- tary service. Charlemagne, however, made several regu- lations to prevent the fiefs from being degraded in favour of allodial estates; but the advantages of turning an al- C#ARLEMAGNE. 20I- the eleventh century, but ascribed to arch- bishop Turpin, a contemporary of that mo- narch, supplied the materials for those ce- lebrated poems, the Morgante, the Orlando Inamorato, and the Orlando Furioso. The origin, however, of that species of writing called romance, which captivates almost every imagination by the liveliness and va- riety of its pictures, may fairly assert its pretensions to high and general antiquity; for it may be traced to the remote history of almost every nation upon the face of the globe. This invention is first attributed to the oriental nations, but whether it should be peculiarly ascribed to the Egyptians, Arabians, Persians, or Syrians, is irrela- vent to our purposes to discuss. Suffice it then to say, that the Romantz language de- rived its name from the similitude it bore lodium into a fief, or a dependant tenure into an here- ditary property, were too many and great for them to be easily dropt or renounced. This change was made in the following manner; the owner of the land gave it to the king, who restored it to the donor by way of usufruct or benefice, and then the latter appointed his heirs to the king. See Esprit des Loix. Liv. xxxi, chap. viii. 263 THE REIGN OF to the speech of the ancient Romans; and even to the tenth century, the French lan- guage continued to be called romance. Fable is so blended, indeed, with truth in the reign of Charlemagne, that some writers have even gone so far as to assert it forms an essential part of the history of that monarch. Without subscribing, however, entirely to this opinion, it may be safely maintained that to know him thoroughly, and to per- ceive distinctly how far his personal glory and prowess eclipsed every other sovereign of those times, the pages of the romances should be consulted on the principle of their containing some useful and authentic outlines of his history. Several examples from it might be intro- duced here, if the plan of our work per- mitted, which would teach us to believe that these historians of romance, in record- ing the military fame and personal courage of Charlemagne, objects so well fitted for their admiration, did sometimes step into the track of truth, and describe real life CHARLEMAGNE. 203, . and events. Prodigious boldness and in- comparable activity, may be regarded, in- | deed, as hereditary features in the character; of the emperor. The following anecdote related of his father, will strikingly attest this observation. To excel in those martial exercises which added strength totbe body and agility to the limbs, formed the chief or rather sole object of education among the nobles in the court of Pepin surnamed the Short; and as their king towered above his subjects in daring courage and corporeal strength, so he never lost his ascendancy over their minds and conduct. The com- bats of wild beasts furnished to the nation the most amusing of spectacles, and it would be wrong to deny their congeniality to the manners of the times. In one of those bloody exhibitions, a lion and a wild bull were matched against each other. The former, however, of these furious animals soon beginning to manifest a decided supe- riority, Pepin cried out to his courtiers, “We must separate these combatants.” 204 THE REIGN OF Such a speech they conceived was only ut- tered in a spirit of pleasantry; but to their great astonishment, no sooner had he made it than he fearlessly run into the Arena to execute this intention. Not one, how- ever, of his nobles could summon up suffi- cient intrepidity of mind to follow him; yet wonderful to relate, this valiant prince con- trived to dispatch the lion, and to cut off the head of the bull, without receiving the most trifling hurt. The victory atchieved, he turned around to the courtiers, who were almost motionless from fear, and exclaimed with a consciousness of having displayed a dexterity and valor equal to his strength; “David was small, but he struck to the ground the haughty giant who dared to despise him.” * Yet, although such were the rude sports and manners of the Franks both in the time of Pepin and his son, and such their con- tempt of learning, arts, and sciences, we find they took some delight in actors, stage buf- foons and jugglers. So prevailing was the cHARfestagne. 205 taste for these wretched and imperfect exhi- bitions among the bishops, abbots, and ab- besses, that Charlemagne, at length, found it necessary to issue an edict at Aix-la-Cha- pelle in the year 789, which expressly for: bid them to admit players (histriones) into their presence. .x. A His penal laws must not be overlooked, as they serve to mark his own detestation oil a vice, which then might be called nail tional. “No man addicted to º says the fifteenth capitular in the year 802 can appear before a tribunal, as a party, or a witness” Nor must we forget to no- tice as equally expressive of good sense and humanity, a capitular, the professed ten- dency of which was to prove,' that God might be invoked in more languages than three (the popular sentiment); and that in proportion to the justness of the prayer, relief might be reasonably expected. S. In delineating the merits and character of Charlemagne, and appreciating his claims to the admiration of posterity, \ 206 THE REIGN OF Gibbon has observed that in his institu- tions,” “ he could seldom discover the ge- neral views and immortal spirit of a legis- lator who survives himself for the benefit of posterity*.” But this opinion, however pe- remptorily delivered, cannot to us be easily justified: for the impartial reader will, per- haps, be inclined to think, that in the pre- ceding chapters several laws have been enu- merated, of which he was the avowed au- thor, that breathe all the liberality, genius, judgment, and moderation of the real philo- sopher, legislator, and patriot, and thus dis- tinctly manifest him the scourge of injustice and oppression. Voltaire is likewise more disposed to touch upon the defects of his un- derstanding and of his heart, than to dwell upon those measures in which he confessedly stood forward as the promoter and guardian of the highest and lowest interests of the nation. He has transmitted his name to future ages chiefly in the odious character of an usurper and tyrant. The injustice of * The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. IX. p. 178. CHARLEMAGNE. 20ſ Charlemagne towards his nephews cannot certainly be denied without betraying a striking disregard for historical truth; and it must be obvious to the plainest under- standing, that the blood of so many thou- sand Saxons, shed as much from motives of fanaticism, as of policy, casts upon his glory a cloud, which the eye of humanity ,' will always perceive. But assuredly it will be no deviation from the spirit of this candid and dispas- sionate view of his reign, to assert that with the above exceptions, this extraordi- nary man directed his attention to every thing which discovered a tendency to ac- celerate the progress of real comfort, know- ledge, and happiness, and where he failed in attaining those great ends (for doubtless it cannot be denied that he sometimes did), it is more to be attributed to the folly, igno- rance, and sluggishness of his people, than to the want of wisdom in his plans, or strenuousness in adhering to them. Such, indeed, appears to have been the comprehension of his mind, and the ver- -A’ 208 . ' THE REIGN OF satility of his talents, and such the splen- did epoch that his name will ever form in the history of France, that in the following panegyric of him by Theodol- phus, I can espy no traces of that fervent and inconsiderate gratitude, which too often debases its object by lavishing upon it those exaggerated encomiums, which can nei- ther be sanctioned by the voice of truth, reason, or probability. “This great prince unremittingly endeavoured to lead the bishops to the knowledge of the scriptural writings, the clergy to the observation of discipline, the monks to regularity, the no- bles to proper examples and Sage counsels; the judges to the administration of justice, the superiors to proper distinctions of right and wrong, the inferiors to obedience, and all to virtue, peace, and concord.” FINIS. } --- *...*. * & *...: * & sº *. } § .' *: g?' S.R ...” ; 3. a-'t Tºttº, º, : i. º: º ~, º: 3. 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