216 SKETCH OF THE STATE OF LITERATURE 
lumes; and, in that age, two or three prayer-books with a few trea- 
tises in theology, were regarded as a rare and valuable collection. 
However, by the twelfth century, several of the classical writings 
had found their way into the Northern regions. Bishop Absalom 
presented the school of Soroe with a copy of Justin’s history. Va- 
lerius Maximus had been studied by Saxo the grammarian. In 
Denmark, nevertheless, it was the same as in other European king- 
doms. Paper had not yet been invented: parchment was still 
scarce and expensive. Many of the monks experienced no scruples 
in erasing classic manuscripts, for the purpose of writing on them 
the monastic rituals. For this practise, these men have been often 
and severely censured ; but, while they are thus obstinately charged 
with vandalism, ought not this vice of misinstruction to be much 
extenuated, as an offspring of the age in which they lived, and of 
the kind of education they received? How could the treasures of 
Grecian antiquity, the elegancies of Roman literature, how could 
these be rightly appreciated by poor priests secluded in their con- 
ventual schools, where a barbarous latinity was the best wherewith 
they were familiar? How could devotees who cherished an austere 
faith, who deduced its origin from a manger, how could they enter- 
tain much respect for the fictions of paganism, for the renown of 
Athens and her eloquence ? What they themselves knew, that 
they cheerfully and assiduously communicated to the people ; and 
how, then, could they impart higher revelations? The vandalism 
with which there is a custom of reproaching them, it was no fault 
of theirs: not theirs it was, but a defect of the age when they lived. 
At the time when Christianity was introduced into the north, when 
the clergy had to contend with the brutal manners and the impetu- 
ous vindictive character of a nation of soldiers, then it was that a 
prayer-book would prove infinitely more conducive to the progress 
of civilization, than the epigrams of Martial, the metamorphoses of 
Ovid, or Cicero’s oratory. 
Among all the Danish libraries, that of Lund is the most ancient. 
Bernard the canon, whe died in A.D. mMcLxxvi, presented it with 
many valuable books:* the canon Amund bequeathed to it a missal, 
a capitulary and a psalter: but, as a munificent philobiblist, the 
archbishop Anders Sunesont surpassed all his predecessors, in be- 
* When recording this liberal donation of Bernard’s, the chronicler uses 
the words, “ multos bonos libros Ecclesize dedit.”-See Langebek’s Collection, 
Tom. 111, p. 452. 
+ This generous prelate was a useful contributor to the literature of his 
country : it owes to him the Leges Scanize Provinciales, ante cccc annos, la- 
