HISTORY. 123 



CHAP. VI. 



The HISTORY of the 

 MIDDLE AGE. 



I. A S we do not find, in the writers of univer- 

 J-\ fal hiftory, the limits of that period, which 

 is comprehended under the term of Middle 

 Age, either diftinftly or uniformly marked, we 

 may be allowed to fix its bounds here, by two 

 of the grandefl epoch-; in all hiftory, fuch as 

 ftrike the mind and make the ftrongeft impreffion 

 on the memory, and form at the fame time fo na- 

 tural adi\ifion in hiftory, that the chronological 

 order of facts becomes thereby more clearly and 

 eafily conceived. We include therefore, in the 

 middle age, thofe eight centuries which paffcd 

 between the birth of Chrift, and the re-eftablifh- 

 ment of the Weftern empire by Charlemagne ; 

 who was crowned emperor at Rome on Chrift- 

 mas day in the year 800, by pope Leo III. 



II. At the birth of our Saviour, Auguftus, the 

 firft emperor that was Acknowledged in that qua- 

 lity, and as fovereign, reigned ovrr the Roman 

 monarchy, the whole earth being under his do- 

 minion, except China and thofe countries that 

 were cither unknown, or too diftant to be inch 



or 



