HISTORY OF BOTANY. 
281 
la this dark period botany shared the fate of the other scien- 
ces. The monks, strangers to the first elements of literature, 
and yet passing for the lights of their age, spoke in a barbarous 
language of the plants of Theophrastus and Pliny, commented 
upon writings they were incapable of comprehending, and min- 
glod with their errors respecting facts, the most shameful su- 
perstitions. 
LECTURE XL1V. 
History of Botany , from the eighth century to the discovery »J 
America. 
The state of science was thus gloomy in the empire of the 
West, when Charlemagne, a monarch endowed with a genius 
for learning and civilization, in a barbarous age, vainly endea- 
voured to relight the torch of human knowledge. 
'file renown of Charlemagne extended to Asia ; he entered 
into a correspondence with the famous Caliph of the Saracens, 
Haroun Alraschid, a man who greatly contributed towards pol- 
ishing and enlightening the Arabians, and who preferred the 
friendship of the king of France to that of all the princes of 
Europe ; for none like Charlemagne possessed a desire for intel- 
lectual greatness. 
After the death of Charlemagne, which took place in the 
year 81-1, Europe became involved in still greater mental dark- 
ness than before. 
On the separation of the Roman Empire into the Eastern 
and Western Empires, and the latter, weakened by luxury and 
effeminacy, had fallen an easy prey into the hands of barbari- 
ans, the Empire of the east, though feeble, yet preserved the 
precious deposits of ancient literature ; but the greater part of 
the learned, ' occupied with the subtleties of scholastic theology, 
made no effort to enlarge the boundaries of natural science. 
Religious intolerance drove from the empire many enlightened 
men, who banished by the emperor Theodosius, carried among 
the Arabs the taste for Greek and Latin literature, and founded 
schools upon the shores of the Euphrates, where they taught 
rhetoric, languages and medicine. 
The Arabs, fond of mysteries, and led by their genius and ar- 
dent imaginations, to the cultivation of poetry and works of 
Botany shared the fate of other sciences. 
Charlemagne — Separation of the Roman Empire : its effects upon litera- 
ture — the Arabs. 
24 * 
