NIC 
and mifery. Tripoli was taken in 1289, and all the er 
e {word, or Snes into captivity. ole- 
rmed the a 
T 
a themfelves to the ifland of Ge ru 
the Holy Land irrecoverably loft, nothing bane left to the 
Chriftians of the Eaft but this ifland and the Leffler Armenia. 
Nicholas, to repair thefe loffes, endeavoured to fet on foot 
ufa were vain, and he felt fo 
of Paleftine, that it was 
thought greatly to oahu to haften his death, which 
took place in April, 1292, after he had ages little more 
than four years over the Roman chur He is highly 
cominended by contemporary writers for ‘his mee aes 
temper, and contempt of -all worldly grandeur. 
author of “ oo. on fome parts of ie ‘Scriptures, 
and of feveral ** Serm His * Conftitutio pro Bene- 
diciinis” was publithed at Paris in 1 519. e of his 
«¢ Letters” pa fea publifhed in the “ Annales? of 
din us. 
i diligence and fuccefs, and acquired the character 
of being one of the moft learned divines and able difputants 
of his time. Being introduced io the court of Eugenius I 
he recommended himfelf to the good opinion and efteem of 
that pontiff, who employed him in all the difputes between 
the itis and Greeks at the councils of Ferrara and Flo- 
rence. On thefe occafions he acquitted himfelf very ably 
as a {cholar, divine, and man of prudence, asd his merits 
were rewarded, in the ad 1445, by his promotion to the 
bifhopric of Bologna In- he was promoted to the 
aeeee after his elevation to the apal di di 
notice of the event to a | the Chriftian princes, acknow 
which he was rcady to retire, if fuch a teach was thought 
neceffary or expedient for the goo the church. It was 
during the pontificate of Nicholas ta the fixth jubilee was 
celeb: vated at Rome, and thoug e city was crowde 
quarrels were prev 
that an — happened a if ies him great concern. 
st vd one ing over the bridge of 
ligence of the 
Some hiftorians 
NIC 
pope, but Gibbon, ‘peaking on the fubjeét, fays, ** Some 
ft 
ates were too weak, an ers too remote: by fome the 
danger was confidered as ene, by others as inevitable : 
the weftern princes were involved in their endlefs and 
sea quarrels ; and the Roman pontiff was exa{perated 
yt ehood or obftinacy of the Greeks. Inftead of 
e LI wal eae in their favour the arms and treafures of Italy, 
Nicholas V. had foretold their approaching ruin, and his 
honour feemed engaged in the accomplifhment of his pro- 
Perhaps he was foftened 2 the laf aan 3 of 
their diftrefs, but his compaffion w 
sz 
tian princes ies were then at war with one another, and to 
unite them in one league Be the enemies of the Chriftian 
church. In his efforts he was completely unfuccefsful, and 
the difappointment 3 is faid to have haftened his death, which 
happened in 1455, after . ae Sra the eighth year of 
his pontificate. « The e of Nicholas V.,”? fays the 
antler juft quoted, «« a abt been ee to his merits. 
From a plebeian origin, he raifed himfelf by his virtue and 
te the character of the man prevailed over the in- 
tereft of the pope; and he fharpened thofe weapons which 
were foon pratt againift the Roman oe 
the friend of the moft eminent yc age: he 
became their patron; and fuc y of his 
manners, that the change was fears difcernible either to 
them or tohimfelf. If he preffed the acceptance of a liberal 
gift, it was not as the meaftre of de ert, but as the proof of 
benevolence: and when modeft merit declined his bounty, 
“accept it,’ he would fay, with a confcioufnefs of his own 
worth, * you will nct always have a Nicholas among you.”? 
The influence of the holy fee pervaded Chriftendom ; and 
he rai that influence in the fearch, not of benefices, but 
of From the ruins of the Byzantine libraries ; 
from ae darkeft monatteries of Germany and Britain, he 
colleGted the dufty manufcripts of the writers of antiquity ; 
and wherever the original could not be removed, a faithful 
copy was tranfcribed, and tranfmitted for ufe. The Va- 
tican, the old repofitory for bulls and legends, for fuper- 
{tition and forgery, was daily replenifhed with more pre 
cious furniture ; and fuch was the induftry of Nicholas, that 
Thia 
was born at 
He embraci 
years of a in ork, 
entitled « DireGtorium: Tra o a into A i 
parts, The fir part treats concerning pte of faith s 
the 
