1793* strictures on manners. 203 



bout this period, " valued the most heinous crimes 

 as murder, mutilation, rape^, incest, and poison- 

 ing, at a fixed price. Whoever had four hundred 

 sous, 2. e. four hundred crowns, to give away, might 

 kill a billiop with impunity. It would cost two hun- 

 dred sous for the life of a priest, as many for a rape, 

 and as many for poisoning with herbs. A witch 

 that had eaten of human fieJJj I could e3cape for two 

 hundred sous : and this ihews that witches were not 

 only to be found among tlie dregs of the people, as 

 in these latter ages, but that those horrid extrava- 

 gancies were practised also by persons of for- 

 tune." 



So little communication was there between niegh- 

 bouring nations, that we find a merchant of Sens, 

 whose name was Samon, went to trade in Germany. 

 Thence he went as far Sc^avonia. The savages of 

 that country were so amazed to see a man th-it had 

 travelled so far to bring them things which they wan- 

 tod, tliat they made him their king. 



We are informed by Eginhardies, secretary to 

 Charlemagne, or Charles the Great of France, that 

 this conqueror did not know how to sign his name; 

 and yet by m^re strength, of genius he was con- 

 vinced of the utility of polite learning. He sent 

 to Rome and Scotland for teachers of grammar and 

 rhetoric. 



There were no clocks in the cities throughout 

 all Europe, nor were they introduced till towards 

 the thirteenth century. Thence conies the ancient 

 custom, which is still kept up in Germany, Flan-. 



