THE PATH OF EVOLUTION 



need of cultivating their minds to shine in society, 

 for society they had none ; nor of living in splendor, 

 to impose only on their inferiors. Their pleasures 

 and their luxuries were arms and the chase. The 

 education of a gentleman consisted in being taught 

 how to manage a fiery steed ; to handle with skill a 

 heavy lance or shield, and to bear without fatigue the 

 weighty cuirasse ; but it did not require that he should 

 speak with elegance or write correctly. The vulgar 

 language had become something very different from 

 Latin ; yet the latter was the only language that 

 could be written. A vast number of contracts made 

 by gentlemen^ have been preserved, drawn up by the 

 scriveners in such barbarous Latin that it is almost 

 impossible to recognize it as such. The buyer, the 

 seller, the witnesses were generally all gentlemen, 

 but, not knowing how to write, made crosses for their 

 signatures, which were attested as such by the scrive- 

 ner. 



Haureau states : " In France the laity had at first 

 only a repugnance for study, but afterwards a con- 

 tempt for it. They were then led by their vanity to 

 refuse even to learn to read. To teach them the his- 

 tory of their religion it was necessary to cover the 

 walls of the churches with paintings. This became 

 their only literature." 



As the schools were opened, however, in many towns, 

 10 



