40 
was then the first person there, and the 
second when that great monarch was 
present. He presented the crown to 
him, and after a while was said to confer 
it. Having thus, disposed of the first of 
crowns, it was concluded that ail the 
others were equally at his command. 
_ Sovereign over an innumerable clergy, 
who were rich, active, and to be met 
with every hes. he reigned over all 
consciences by this means, and thus be- 
came the vicar of Jesus Christ upon 
earth; 
Ifany one withdrew from this authority, 
which emanated from Heaven, he was 
anathematised by the pontiff, and re- 
pulsed from the communion of the faith- 
ful, while his timid subjects withdrew 
from him, ,as if he had been affected 
- with the plague, . 
The author next proceeds to consider 
three points immediately connected with 
his subject; 
1, The political state of the European 
nations; their internal position ; their si- 
tuation in respect.to each othe as well 
as in regard to. the head of the empire ; 
‘and the church, during the sixteenth 
century. 
- Q. The religious state of these same 
nations, with their greater or less degree 
of submission to the head of the empire ; 
and that of the church, 
And, 8. The state of the: sciences 
and of Europe, during the same period. 
I. Political Situation. 
Cut of the wreck of the Roman em- 
pire inthe West, was formed a number 
of states, governed chiefly by those nor- 
thern leaders who had overturned the 
ancient establishments. By degrees fee- 
ble aud powerful, they’ changed their 
masters and their forms, according to 
the tide of events, rising, increasing, di- 
minishing, , and © becoming extinguished, 
without the remotest idea of an union 
among the feeble in opposition to, the 
strong; or, in other words, that grand 
idea by which a balance of power is esta- 
blished, Meanwhile, however, the 
feudal aristocracy began to lose its con- 
sistency; the crusades, and other wars, 
had impoverished the nobles; commerce 
and industry had enriched the commer- - 
cial class; while the knowledge difused 
among the latter, and which “awakened 
a sense of the prerogatives of man, and 
his natural rights, served to produce the 
establishment of a ‘civil existence” for 
the third estate,which gave it influence in 
_ every government, The burghers of 
Some cities which had declared them- 
Retrospect of French Literature—H istori. 
in short, the ruler over kings! \ 
selves free, even dared to assume tha 
sovereignty. 
Italy was at this period divided into a 
number of feeble states, some monar- 
chical, and others republican; and being 
distracted by jealousies or hatred on one 
side, and the broils of the barons and 
lords on the other, who affected inde- 
pendence, was still the unhappy theatre 
of the invasions of powerful neighbours, 
‘such as the French, Germans, and Spa- 
niards, all of Be aspired to form esta- 
blishments, some at Naples, and others’ 
at Milan, Mantua, &c.. This country, 
for a long period the richest in Europe, 
was now on the eve of beholding the 
source of its opulence exhausted, in con- 
sequence of the new discoveries in navi- 
gatioa by the Portuguese and Spaniards, | 
The. Turks had seized on the capital 
of the Eastern empire, and carried their 
victorious arms into the West. | Calabria 
~and Hungary. were invaded by them, 
and they had approached. the very gates 
of. Vienna. 
Poland, at this period, possessed but 
little influence, and although governed 
during the first half of the sixteenth cen- 
tury by Sigismund [. yet she carried 
within-her own bosom the principles of 
her own weakness. This was increased 
by the jealousy. subsisting between the 
Lithuanians and the Poles, both of whom 
acknowledged the same head, but ma- 
nifested:+ (particularly the former of 
these) an extreme repugnance to an 
union. This country was engaged in fre- 
quent wars with the Turks and Musco- 
vites, as well as with the Teutonic 
knights, who, under pretext of converting 
the infidels, gave birth to the kingdom of 
Prussia. 
Russia was then in a manner unknown 
to the West of Europe, where she has 
since acquired such a great ascendancy. 
The kings of Deninark had subjugated 
Sweden; but Gustavus Vasa, a hero, 
shook off the yoke, and became the le- 
gitimate king of the nation which he had 
delivered: both of these countries, how- 
ever, were almost in a state of nullity 
in respect to the southern States. 
Teanwhile the north of Germany, 
governed by the Saxon princes, was pars 
celled out into little territories, and this 
portion of the empire beheld a redoubt- 
able league of commercial cities united 
together by ties of common interest. 
The Hanse towns formed a league, in 
order-to oppose the pillage of these feudal 
robbers, who from their castles, or rather 
dens, infested all the roads in their vj- 
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