12 Sketch oj the History of Literature in Enropd, [Aug. 1, 



fuperior to the reft ai-ofe, none of them 

 had force enough to elevate degraded 

 letters or t!ie deca^'ed arts. Conftanti- 

 nople was now the centre of thefe in their 

 fallen condition ; but tlie fcholaftic art, 

 with its controverlics, joined with reli- 

 gion which it corrupted, had acquired an 

 importance which difcouraged every other 

 fludy among the nations who had reared 

 their throne amidft the ruins of the Ro- 

 man empire. Theodoric, \\'ho accom- 

 pliihed more for letters than could h;ive 

 Lccn expected from a Gothic king, was 

 unable to reftore their i-igour. Charle- 

 magne, a conqueror and legillator, like 

 Theodoric, but infinitely greater, and un- 

 qucrtionably the greatelt man of that vail 

 interval, introduced the fciences and the 

 arts into the great plan of his govern- 

 ment, making them the grand baiis of a 

 po^^er, which, however, could not fur- 

 vive his departed genius. Charlemagne 

 retarded the progrefs of the French lan- 

 guage, in cultivating throughout his im- 

 nienfe dominions tlie language of the 

 Romans, which remained in France that 

 of the laws and public aCts till the reign 

 of Francis I. Spain, England, Italy, and 

 GeiTnany, were, during nearly fix hun- 

 dred years, fucceflively trodden under 

 foot by the Barbarians who difputed the 

 pofi'eflion of them ; and ^\hcn the na- 

 tions, fomicd of tlie mixture of the hum- 

 bled natives and foreign conquerors, had 

 acquired fome confiitcnre, the whole of 

 Europe, torn from its foundations by the 

 fiyy of the crufades, poured its popula- 

 tion on i\fia JMinor, Paleftine and Egypt, 

 and thefe long and violent convulfions re- 

 tarded the moment in v hich the people 

 of tlie North, who had divided the Weft- 

 ern Roman provinces into fo many king- 

 doms, could depofit the ruft of their ori- 

 gin, and difengage themfelves from that 

 groffhefs of mannei'S and language which 

 is incompatible with the culture of the 

 arts. The crufades, indeed, alliiled the 

 enfranchifement of the populace, and 

 developed ideas of commerce ; but in 

 agitating empires, as yet little ftable in 

 their conftitutions, they deprived govern- 

 ments, on whom all improvement de- 

 pends, of the leifure and means of de- 

 voting themfelves to the intete.ts of let- 

 ters. 



Ill the midft of this degrading fiate of 

 things, to «hom do we owe the obliga- 

 tion of prefer^•in2 at leaft the difperied 

 niar^rials wliich ferved in the refult to re- 

 conilrurt the edifice of human know- 

 le<]g<: ? Hiftory will ani'wer for us, it is 

 t(> the cleigy. They only had ftill fome 



tinfture of learning ; and hence it waj 

 that the name of clerk became fynoni- 

 mous with that of a fcholar, and was be- 

 ftovved even upon all thofe who could 

 read, that acquilition being futficiently 

 rare to be entitled to a privdeged name. 

 To the Itudies of the clergy we are in- 

 debted for having opened the way for the 

 reftoration of letters, by their having 

 treafin-ed up the manufcripts, the only 

 repolitories of learning before the difco- 

 very of printing. The greater part of 

 thcie were brought forth at \ arious times 

 from the dull of monaltic hbranes ; and it 

 was efpecially from the twelfth to the tlf- 

 teenth centuries, that copies of the works 

 of the ancients became lefs rare, and 

 commenced the revival of letters. For 

 a long time after the learned ufed only 

 the Latin language, no people being yet 

 fufficiently confident of the powers of 

 their own tongue to think it capable of 

 conveying works of genius. Poetry alone, 

 more enterprifmg, had hazarded in the 

 modern tongues fome rude elTorts, which 

 rclVmbled the lifping of children. Two 

 perfons, indeed, before the art of printing 

 was kno^vn, had the happy fortune to 

 profluce in their native idiom works 

 which tended to render their language 

 durable. Thefe were Dante and Pe- 

 trarch; and it was Italy that had the 

 glory of their birth ; which proves that 

 the Italian is that among the modern lan- 

 guages which was the carlieft in cultiva- 

 tion, and that Italy was the cotmtry in 

 Europe which in times of barbarifm ftill 

 preferved nuift of genius and a talie 

 for letters. Bocace accomplilhed that 

 for the Italian profe which Petrarch had 

 for its poetry. To the gi'aces of a natu- 

 ral recital Bocace added a furpriiing pu- 

 rity of diction, Avhich many years after 

 made him, it maybe faid, the cotempo- 

 rary of the moll eueemcd authors of Ita- 

 ly. And this is an advantage which the 

 beft writers of France and England, be- 

 fore their native languages were fixed, 

 have not enjoyed : while the excellence 

 of their genius has fnatched their works 

 from obli\ ion, it could not prefervc their 

 language from growing obfolete. 



The middle of the fifteenth century 

 was the memorable epoch of the inven- 

 tion of the art of printine, which, multi- 

 plyin,; with fuch altonilhing facility the 

 images of thought, has eftablillied from 

 one end of the earth to the other a con- 

 ftant and rapid intercourfe of reafon and 

 talents. It permits the man who thinks 

 to communicate in the fame moment 

 with all who read. 



In 



