when romantic fiction was at its height, otherwise the allegory would have been complete, of the dragons vomiting fire and voiding stench sulphureous." But this idea is altogether a false one: the more ancient romances were neither written with the purpose of conveying an allegorical meaning, nor was there any thought at that time of giving them such interpretation. They were readily received by the general belief in their literal signification; the power of enchantment was then fully credited, and if it is alleged that the authors of those works, who knew that they had spun them out of their own brain, must have been conscious that they were imposing a fiction on the world; I answer, that they believed, as firmly as their readers, that, at least, such events were possible; and in all probability adopted them from traditionary accounts, which they had done nothing more than arrange and embellish. It will be easily perceived that I speak here only of the more ancient of the old romances. The mode of instruction by allegory came afterwards to be much in use; and when those notions of the power of enchantment began with the wiser sort to lose somewhat of their credit, they still retained the power of strongly impressing the imagination, and captivating the general attention. They were now adopted by the poets as an allegorical vehicle for moral instruction: such at least is the apology by which some of the poets, both of Italy and of our own nation, seem very desirous of excusing themselves for retaining in their works the extravagant fictions of the Gothic ages, though these allegories lie often so deep, and are so little obvious to the reader, as almost always to require a key from the author himself: a circumstance which gives ground for a strong presumption that the purpose of moral instruction was but secondary to the indulgence of the authors' fancy, and the gratification of a taste prevalent in their time, and When which probably will.always retain a considerable influence. we read at this day the description of Tasso's enchanted forest, our imagination is involuntarily transported into the region of spirits: we see the demons in the fire-we hear the human groans from the oak, we perceive the blood dropping from its wounded branches-we feel for a time a portion of that horror which possessed the souls of Tancred and Alcastro.* We have no leisure, then, to think of the hidden allegory of that extraordinary fiction, nor to attend to that abstruse and refined moral which Tasso, with much pains, inculcates in his preface-the dangers with which the path of virtue is beset in this evil world, and the constant endeavors of the great enemy of the soul to withdraw the Christian from his duty. Entertainment was the object of those works of fancy, and they attained their aim. Instruction was pretended; but the friends of severe morality knew this to be only a pretence, * Tasso, Gerusalemme Liberata, canto 13. and would not admit the excuse. They censured the authors of those compositions with great asperity. Prynne's "Histriomastyx," written in the time of Charles I. of England, and Collier, in the reign of Charles II., were not more severe against the immorality of stage-plays than Ascham, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, against the evil tendency and pernicious consequences of those old romances, performances which he terms "Enchantments of Circe, brought out of Italy to marre men's manners in England." The taste for the tales of chivalry, and the old romance, seemed indeed to revive in the reign of Elizabeth. She inherited from her father, Henry VIII., a genius for knight-errantry, and was fond of those extraordinary fictions which became once more a prevailing passion. The Arcadia of Sir Philip Sidney and Spenser's Faery Queene, both composed in that reign, are among the last of the classical performances in the spirit of chivalry. That mode of writing, I suspect, is now for ever exploded. Those speciosa miracu'a would be no longer tolerable in a modern composition. Fancy is now constrained to ally herself with truth; and the generality even of the vulgar, whose passions are not easily affected unless through the medium either of realities or strong prejudices, would turn away from those compositions which, their ancestors read with eager delight, and trembled while they believed. We may congratulate ourselves, no doubt, in the main, upon the victory of reason and good sense over superstitious prejudices; but a good taste with a lively imagination, still charmed with the perusal of those remains of legendary lore, will not easily console itself for the dissolution of that ideal world, or venerate the more that increasing philosophic light for having dried up for ever the sources of romantic fiction. As Voltaire himself exclaims: "Oh happy times of old, when sure assent For labors to the careful housewife lent; Or those kind fays by good Titania sent To watch the just man's dream, and antedate "But these are heard no more. The airy reign CH X.] CONSTANTINOPLE. 173 Such are the natural feelings of one who, though a philosopher, was also a poet. It will however, require genius of a very remarkable order ever to revive among the polished nations of Europe a fervid taste for the romance of chivalry. CHAPTER XI. State of the EUROPEAN KINGDOMS towards the End of the Crusades, and in tne Age immediately following:-Constantinople recovered by the Greek Emperors-Sicilian Vespers-Crusade against the Albigenses-Rise of the House of Austria-Spirit of the Popedom-Persecution of the Knights TemplarsRise of the Helvetic Republics-Council of Constance. CONSTANTINOPLE, taken as we have seen by the crusaders, did not remain long in the hands of its Western conquerors. The popes, however, for a while flattered themselves with the disposal of both empires. Peter de Courtenay was crowned at Rome, emperor of Constantinople, and his successor, Baldwin II., acknowledged the pope's superiority, by coming to Rome to solicit the assistance of a crusade, both against the Greeks and against the Mahometans. He solicited to no purpose, and returned to Constantinople only to see it fall into the possession of its ancient masters, the Greek emperors. Michael Paleologus, tutor to the young emperor Lascaris, retook the city; Baldwin fled; and Paleologus imprisoned and put out the eyes of his pupil, and so secured to himself the possession of the empire. He took care, however, to screen himself from vengeance by courting the favor of the pope, and once more reunited the Greeks to the Latin church. Frederic II., surnamed Barbarossa, was at this time emperor of Cermany, and paid homage to the pope for the kingdom of Naples and Sicily, which was possessed by his son Conrad. Conrad, it is said, was poisoned by his unnatural brother, Manfred, who certainly seized on his kingdom, to the exclusion of his nephew, The the younger Conradin, whose right it was by inneritance. noly see was always jealous of the dominion of the German emperors in Italy. Pope Clement IV., who hated the family of Frederic, (the house of Swabia,) and at the same time was desirous of punishing the usurpation of Manfred, gave the investiture of the kingdom of Naples and Sicily to Charles of Anjou, brother of Lewis IX. of France, on condition of his pay.ng a large tribute, and renouncing his right after a limited period of time Charles accepted the condition, and gave battle to Manfred, who was killed in the engagement, and thus Charles became master of Naples and Sicily, while young Conradin, with the aid of his kinsman, the duke of Austria, prepared to vindicate his right to his father's kingdom. The pope armed in support of his vassal, Charles of Anjou. An engagement ensued, in which Conradin and the duke of Austria were totally defeated-they were taken prisoners and condemned as rebels against the supreme authority of the holy church; Charles ordered them to suffer death upon a scaffold. Thus this prince secured his claim to the kingdom of Naples and Sicily, by a deed which filled his new subjects with horror. They submitted, for awhile, with silent indignation to his tyrannical government. The Sicilians at length, to whom the authority of this usurper became every day more intolerable, formed a conspiracy to vindicate their liberty, which terminated in one of the most dreadful massacres ever known in history. In the year 1282, upon Easter Sunday, at the ringing of the bell for vespers, it was resolved to put to death every Frenchman through the whole island of Sicily, and the resolution was punctually executed. Even women and infants underwent the general fate, and such was the savage fury of the Sicilians, that the priests assisted in the murder of their brethren, and cut the throats even of their female penitents. Thus the blood of Conradin was amply revenged, and the cruelty of Charles of Anjou signally punished-but these sanguinary proceedings brought new misfortunes on the kingdom of Sicily. Peter, king of Arragon, who had married the daughter of Manfred, now stepped forth in support of the Sicilians, against Charles of Anjou, and claimed the crown himself in right of his wife. The Sicilians received him with open arms, and the consequence was a ruinous war of several years' duration, which involved this unhappy country in the greatest calamities. We have mentioned the crusade against the Albigenses, which happened about forty years before this period. It is proper to give a short account of this detestable persecution. The Albigenses were the inhabitants of the Pays de Vaud in Piedmont, and principally of the city of Alby. Some men among them had begun to reason about matters of religion; and in those times, when the abuses of the papal power were very glaring, it was not difficult to persuade the people to shake off a yoke which they found extremely burdensome. These people of Piedmont and Languedoc began to preach up the sacred scriptures as the only rule of conduct, and consequently the exclusion of all papal and ecclesiastical constitutions.* Innocent III. was the first who took measures to repress these dangerous heretics. He sent two *Many of the Albigenses inclined to the Manichean heresy.-See Mosheim part ii., ch. 5 Cistertian monks, with a commission to try them and excommunicate them, and required the assistance of the temporal lords of the country to deprive them of their estates, and to punish them with the utmost severity. This ecclesiastical commission was the first origin of the horrible tribunal of the Inquisition, which has since been the scourge of the Catholic countries, and particularly of Spain, Portugal, and Italy. Their court was established at Toulouse, which gave such offence and disquiet to the count of Toulouse, that it is said he caused the first inquisitor to be assassinated. The opposition which he showed to the holy see cost him extremely dear. Pope Innocent discharged his subjects from their allegiance, and at length forgave him only on the condition of his giving up several of his castles, and promising to form a crusade himself against his countrymen. The count was compelled to obey, and under the command of Simon de Montfort, this holy campaign was begun. The city of Beziers, which harbored a great number of the heretics, was taken by storm, and all the inhabitants put to the sword; Carcassonne submitted, and implored for mercy, but the inhabitants were all driven out naked, and their goods confiscated. Massacres and public executions followed without number. Those unfortunate wretches died martyrs to their religious opinions, and numbers of them joined in hymns of triumph while they were burning at the stake. The unhappy count, compelled to be a spectator, and even an assistant in those scenes of misery, found means at length to escape, and betook himself to his brother the king of Arragon, whom he persuaded to arm in the cause of humanity. But that prince, whose forces when mustered in the field, it is said, amounted to 100,000, was, according to the incredible narrations of historians, defeated by Simon de Montfort with 1800 men. Simon, this atrocious and bloody villain, was killed soon after by a stroke of a stone, and from that period the crusade, wanting a leader wicked enough to supply his place, began to decline. His son, young de Montfort, was unable to keep the dominions of Languedoc which the pope had settled on his father. nounced them to Lewis VIII. of France, whose death prevented his taking possession of them, and they were not annexed to the crown of France till the reign of Philip the Bold. The Inquisition, in the meantime, repressed all religious innovations, and the sect of the Albigenses, if it continued secretly to exist, created at least no more disturbance. The effects of this tribunal in quieting men's consciences were so apparent, that pope Innocent IV. established it over all Italy, except in the kingdom of Naples. He re The rise and elevation of the illustrious house of Austria was attended with some remarkable circumstances, which strongly mark the spirit of the times. The first prince of the house of Austria, who sat on the imperial throne, was Rodolph, count of |