378 



but into every comer of continental Europe ; * that gave letters to 

 ancient England ;-f- that sent forth the men who formed the mind 

 of Alfred J and instructed that of Charlemagne ; § that in Vir- 

 gilius produced the first asserter of the earth's true figure, 11 that 

 exhibited princes whose alliance was the ambition of the latter po- 

 tentate ; ^ that, in a word, during the ages when darkness brooded 

 over the rest of the world, was alone enlightened, alone the shrine of 

 that knowledge and faith, which, however migratory, providence has 

 decreed shall be immortal. And when it shall thus be shewn that 

 this beautiful island was once the land of genius and the mart of 

 literature, it will yet remain to identify the scenes where the illumi- 

 nating deeds of her history were enacted ; to marshal with fidelity the . 

 associations that give place its charm, to record the everlasting archi- 

 tecture of her round towers, her raths, and her mounts ; to illustrate 

 her caves, her cromlechs, her rocking-stones, her pillars, her casiols, 

 and her crosses ; to appreciate the language in which so much Celtic 

 literature is still secreted, in which such works of history and poetry 

 iare yet extant ; to trace the powerful musical pre-eminence tliat 

 guided the early taste of Wales,** Scotlandj^ff- and perhapsof Italy ^ij: 

 that wrung the praises §^ of Giraldus Cambrensis, Poly dore Virgil, 

 Paulus Jovius, Fordun, Clynn, Stanihurst, Fuller, Gallilei, Dante, 

 Bacoii, Handel, and Geminiani ! To explore the nature of that com- 

 merce, which may well be inferred from the earlier portion of this 

 Essay, and whose existence Tacitus expressly admits ; llll and lastly, to 



• Ante, pp. 214, &c. + y4«/e, p. 101. 



: Ante, pp. 283-4. § Ante, pp. 232, and 283. 



11 Ajite, p. 228. U Ante, pp. 254-5. 



** Ante, pp. 225, and 281. +t Ante, pp. 337-8. 



ft Ante, p. 339. \h Ante, pp. 337, et seq. 



!l!| Ante, pp, 158-9. 



