alone; and instead of forming a standard, by which general taste might be estimated, they were a glaring exception, which some might admire, but which more would condemn. The remark does not accurately apply to Italy.

"A further observation strikes me, which, I am surprised, did not sooner occur. One only of these illustrious scholars was a churchman; and this one was Petrarca. But he, though, in many respects, a man of singular piety, and enjoying ecclesiastical emoluments, did not bind himself to any duties of the ministry; and was ever at liberty in his choice of pursuits. Hence, I think, we may be allowed to conclude: that the general studies of ecclesiastics and of monks were, at this time, adverse to polite literature; that the men, of whom I am speaking, advanced to a certain degree of classical excellence, because, not tied by their profession, to those studies, they chose another path; and thus drew to themselves more admiration, while the rest of the laity, without taste for any intellectual pursuit, passed their time in the menial offices of life, in the sports of the field, in the delights of the table, or in the exercise of arms. But from these causes it also happened-as the studious members of society, ecclesiastics and friars were engaged in their peculiar pursuits, and the laity felt no interest in what they little understood that the gress towards classical improvement, must necessarily have been slow. We may, therefore, be rather surprised that so much was done," P. 453.

pro

If on this statement we may be allowed to make a comment, we should say, that not only the general studies of the ecclesiastics and of the monks were at this time adverse to polite literature, but also that they caused them to look on with coutempt, perhaps with fear, and to forbid at last the perusal of the classical productions of antiquity. To this prejudice, we will not call it by any harsher uanie, Europe owes the origin of many absurd customs, and literature of much foolish production. In the cast, Gregory Nazienzen imagined the mysteries or sacred tragedy to supersede what he called the wicked theatre of the Greeks, and these absurd representations; such was the taste of the age, toon spread over Europe, to disgrace equally the stage and the religion of France, England, Italy, and Spain; in which latter country they still continue in use to this day.

What afterwards follows on the literature of France might as well have been spared. The real age of France does not begin before Louis XIV. nor does the naiveté of Froissard, the only author of note during this age, deserves the trouble of reading eight pages, though they may have been embellished by the style of Mr. Berington. Returning to Italy our author very soon dispatches the history of the Councils of Constance, Basil,

and

and Florence, nor does he fail to give a full and interesting account of Nicolas V.

Indeed we cannot refrain from presenting to our readers that mas erly part of his work, in which Mr. Berington describes the advantage which the world in general, and literature in particular, derived from the pontificate of this most virtuous pope. But we lament that he has hardly touched upon two great benefits which this pontiff bestowed upon his successors, the Romans, the Italians, and the whole literary world, in laying the first foundation of the Vatican library, and in being the first cause of that classical compilation, so much known afterwards by the name of Corona, which contains all the classical productions of the ancients, translated into the Italian language.

"Should I ever possess riches,' Nicolas had often repeated when he was indigent, I would expend them in building, and in the purchase of books.' The wished-for time was come; and he was true to his word. Since the popes had returned from Avignon, some works had been undertaken for the reparation of the city, which the feuds of the schism interrupted; and, after the council of Constance, Martin generously resumed the labour, which Eugenius, at intervals, continued. With equal ardour, and with more abundant means, Nicolas now began to erect, to repair, and to beautify,

Restituit mores, mænia, templa, domos.

"No expense was spared in the purchase of books, and where originals could not be procured, copies were directed to be made. His transcribers were every-where employed; whilst men, versed in the language and literature of Greece, were invited to translate the most useful and classical works. Poggio undertook Diodorus Siculus; Lorenzo Valla Thucydides; and Filelfo, the poems of Homer. I have named three of the first scholars of the age; and their labours were munificently rewarded. Of some of these and of other works versions had already been made; but they were barbarous and unfaithful. Strabo, Polybius, and Xenophon, with other authors, were also taught to speak the language of Rome. I hardly need remark, that Nicolas was not unmindful of the fathers and ecclesiastical writers of the same country. These were translated, or former versions were improved.

"Is the reader, in the mean time, aware, that I am speaking of what was accomplished within the space of a few years; for the number eight measured the whole pontificate of Nicolas. And from the celebration of the jubilee, how short had been the period!

"It is acknowledged, that hitherto the Vatican, or pontifical library had been scantily furnished, when, by the means which I. have succinctly mentioned, Nicolas added to it five thousand volumes; and had his life been prolonged, he intended to have

continued

continued his collection for the general use of the Roman court. He was sedulously employed, and marking with satisfaction the progress of his labours, when the news, which astounded Europe, arrived, that the capital of the Grecian empire was in the hands of the Turks! The melancholy event is said to have preyed upon the gentle spirit of Nicolas, and helped to terminate his days in the spring of the year 1455.

"I should pity the man who has not contemplated with delight the varied proceedings of Nicolas; while-not to increase and strengthen his prerogative, not to enlarge his territory, not to enrich his dependents; but to provide the most efficacious means for the extirpation of ignorance-he expended those treasures, which a mistaken piety had accumulated round him; and which he well knew must cease to flow when the light, which he was eliciting, should have more fully diffused its rays." P. 474.

1

We most heartily wish that all the Roman pontiffs had resembled Nicolas V., and so much the more so because from: him we may also date the change in the Roman policy, which he also transmitted to his successors, in favour of letters.

Having made a few more remarks on the learning of Italy, Mr. Berington enquires after the cause which threatened to bring again false taste into fashion. This question is soon dismissed by the observation that the general ardour of the age was directed to the works of the ancients; and thus while the scholars of Italy neglected the study of their own language which was the cause of the decay of good taste, they also laid again the foundation for its revival.

We are not in the humour to quarrel with Mr. Berington on account of this statement; it is partly true, and it may pass; but we should be glad to know how he accounts for the origin, or rather revival of the concetti, which were so much in fashion in this age. Indeed we have no room left to discuss the subject, and we must refer our reader to Dr. Johnson's lives of Cowley and Donne.

After this enquiry Mr. Berington gives us a long account of the foundation of each, college in Oxford and Cambridge; 1 which however has already found a better place in the respective almanacks of these two Universities. Having now brought his reader to this point, our author observes that the success of literature could never have been permanent had the difficulties of multiplying books by transcription continued to oppose the same obstacles to intellectual improvement. This we very much doubt. The Greeks, the Romans, the Arabians, and indeed all the ancient world had no other means but transcription, to obtain information by books, and yet it has long been disputed whether the moderns have ever been able to arrive to the same

degree

degree of civilization and learning, notwithstanding the facility with which they can now obtain information. However we are willing to allow that "this consideration greatly enhances the value of that discovery which at this critical moment broke on Europe," and that is "the art of printing."

In the few remarks which follow under the title of Conclusion, Mr. Berington has endeavoured to justify the plan he has adopted, not without fears of his having failed in the attempt.

"In advancing through this long series of time, it would have been easy, as the documents lay before me, to have accumulated extracts, and thus to have formed a more ponderous volume: but should I by this means have conveyed more valuable information ? I omitted nothing, which I thought, that a reasonable curiosity, would wish to know. To compress, where matter is abundant, and yet still to leave the subject sufficiently full, and to be instructive, is the duty of a compiler, and one of the necessary arts of compilation. How far I have succeeded in this point, I must leave it to others to determine." P. 511.

"But much has doubtless escaped me. I was, however, not seldom apprehensive-my mind being full of the subject—that I might dwell on points which were more interesting to myself than to the reader. The prolixity of authors is generally ascribable to this cause. It is more advisable to say too little, than too much. Hence if we sometimes fail of gratifying curiosity, we may at least avoid the production of disgust." P. 512.

We do not wish to deal hard with Mr. Berington upon what he feels himself to be the case; and glad we are to find that, though late, he has now taken the opportunity of owning that the Crusades produced at least one benefit, and that was the progress of the science of geography. We have already expressed our sentiments on the subject, and hope in a future edition to see in the text, and in the body of the work the confession which now appears under such an objectionable shape.

The last two paragraphs deserve to be noticed.

"In Germany, another spirit brooded in the public mind, îndicating discontent, impatience of grievances, and an anxious, but undefined wish of change. Their complaints had often been heard ; but no redress had been obtained. With the rest of Europe they complained, that the power, exercised by the Roman bishops, was exorbitant and oppressive; that their legates and other agents were rapacious and arrogant; that the manners of the higher and lower clergy and of the monks were disorderly and dissolute; and they loudly demanded, as their fathers had done, a reformation of the church in its head and in its members. It would have been. well, had these complaints been patiently heard and wisely redressed. This unfortunately was not the case; and not many years

later,

later, that revolution followed, which, in the christian world, produced a series of events, which were to many the source of manifald evils, and to some of partial good. The cause of literature

was, eventually, benefited. But could it have been thus benefited by this alone? Or was the character of the northern nations really become so torpid, that nothing short of a general combustion blown up by the breath of a Saxon friar could have roused their

minds into action?

"I believe, that the effect might not have been so rapid: but when I look to the state of Italy, as it then was, and to the state of France, as it soon would be-I can say with confidence, that genuine literature and the polite arts must shortly have revisited all the European kingdoms, even though no such revolution, as has been called the Reformation, had intervened, to inflame and convulse the moral state of Christendom. In that case, it is pleasing to recollect that-without civil or religious strife, and without those seeds of animosity being engendered, which no time is likely to eradicate we should have seen abuses corrected; ignorance dispelled; rights maintained; learning restored; the arts keeping possession of our temples; and, in our own country, those noble edifices, the monuments of the generous piety of our ancestors, preserved from destruction, and made the asylums not of monkish dolence, but of studious ease, modest worth, and christian philosophy." P. 516.

We cannot say that this sentiment does any credit to the judg ment or the discernment of Mr. Berington. We can hardly think, though no such revolution, as has been called the REFORMATION, had intervened, that literature and polite arts must have revisited all the European kingdoms;" and we still farther doubt, whether they would have corrected the abuses arising from the exorbitant power of the Popes; and which, for the most part, even on the eve of that revolution, received the seal of a general council. At any rate, though we may lament the fate of our forefathers for the dreadful alternative in which they were placed, we find ourselves so comfortably situated with the present order of things arising from that revolution, that we are by no means inclined to grudge the hardships, which they were obliged to undergo. Indeed it is a melancholy thought, but at the same time a necessary one, that great reforms cannot happen without great struggles; and the cook who should weep over the chickeus that she should spoil by breaking the eggs, would never serve an omelette on her master's table.

Thus does Mr. Berington end the History of the Middle Ages, but not the volume. A full quarter is there left still, and taken up by two appendices; one on the literature of the Greeks, and the second on the learning of the Saracens. Our remarks on both will be but few.