succeeding age for books of chivalry and romance, every body is acquainted from the inimitable satire of Cervantes. And it may be here observed, that this author, who was a most judicious critic, has enumerated and admirably characterized all the best of the Spanish writers, whose works were known in his time, in that chapter where he describes the burning of Don Quixote's library, by the curate and the barber, who rescued from the flames only' such books, both poets and prose-writers, as were possessed of real merit. The books of romance and knight-errantry compose the greatest part of that collection. The epic poems which Cervantes enumerates, as the "Araucana" of Ercilla, the "Austriada" of Jurado, and the "Monserrato" of Christoval Virues, were not composed till the beginning of the sixteenth century, when, as we shall see in treating of the literature of that period, Ercilla, Garcilasso de la Vega, Lope de Vega, Mendoza, and Quevedo, carried the several departments of epic, lyric, cramatic, and satirical composition to a height superior to what they had attained at that time in most of the European kingdoms.

But to return to the age of Dante, of Petrarch, and of Chaucer; although poetry at this time seems to have attained a high degree of splendor, it cannot be said that genius greatly displayed itself in any of the other sciences. History had not attained in this, nor in the succeeding age, to much perfection in any of the European nations. The marvellous is predominant in all the historical compositions of these times; yet, there are a few historians who are worthy of particular mention:-Matthew of Westminster, who composed a very tolerable chronicle of events, from the beginning of the world to the fourteenth century; Walsingham, a monk of St. Alban's, who wrote a pretty good history of the reign of Henry VI. of England, and of the civil wars between the houses of York and Lancaster; Everard, the German, who composed the annals of the dukes of Austria; Peter Duysburg, a Teutonic knight, who has left a history of his order, abounding in curious matter, though communicated in a very barbarous style. Among the French, Froissart is a writer not only admirable for liveliness of style, but of considerable authority with respect to the events of the fourteenth century, especially in what regards France, England, the Netherlands, and Scotland; as is likewise Monstrelet, whose chronicle is remarkable for a bold and impartial mode of thinking, and a critical spirit superior to the age in which he lived. Philip de Commines, a worthy follower of Froissart, has happily painted the reigns of Louis XI. and of Charles VIII. Villani and Platina, among the Italians, are historians of very considerable merit; and even Greece, at this time, has furnished historians worthy of notice. Pachimer, John Cantacuzenos, and Chalcondilas, are each of them eminent in the several periods which they commemorate.

The Italians, in the fifteenth century, seem to have enjoyed a

high taste for classical learning. Poggio, the Florentine, the secretary of several of the popes, in his researches after the monuments of ancient erudition, discovered the works of Quinctilian, the history of Ammianus Marcellinus, and some of the compositions of Cicero. He wrote himself a history of Florence in the Latin tongue, remarkable_both for excellence of matter and eloquence of expression. Laurentius Valla, Philelphus, Marcillus Ficinus, Nicolaus Perotus, Picus Mirandola, Palmerinus, and Angelus Politianus, are all worthy of notice, as uniting justness of historical reflection to a classical style and purity of expression.

But the taste for classical learning was at this time far from being universally diffused. In this respect the English and the French were very far behind the Italians. A curious proof of the scarcity of books in England in the fifteenth century, and of the great impediments to study, is found in the statutes of New College at Oxford. It was ordered by one of those statutes, that no man should occupy a book in the library above one hour, or two at most, that others might not be hindered from the use of the same. The famous library, founded in Oxford by that great patron of literature, Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, contained only 600 volumes. About the commencement of the fourteenth century there were only four classics in the royal library at Paris. These were, a copy of some of the writings of Cicero, Ovid, Lucan, and Boëthius. The rest were chiefly books of devotion, many treatises of astrology and medicine, translated from the Arabic into Latin and French; pandects, chronicles, and romances. This library was principally collected by Charles V. of France. When the English became masters of Paris in 1425, the duke of Bedford sent this whole library, which consisted only of 850 volumes, into England, where part of it was probably the groundwork of duke Humphrey's library at Oxford. Even so late as the year 1471, when Louis XI. borrowed the works of the Arabian physician Rhasis, from the faculty of medicine at Paris, he not only deposited, by way of pledge, a great quantity of valuable plate, but was obliged to procure a nobleman to join with him as surety in a deed, by which he bound himself to return it under a considerable forfeiture.

Thus low was the general state of literature during the greater part of the fifteenth century. But a brighter period was now at land. The latter part of this century was the era of the entire dissolution of the bonds of barbarism. It was then that classical learning began to be universally diffused, and that a genuine taste was revived for polite literature, and for the productions of the fine The dispersion of the Greeks, upon the total fall of the Eastern empire, and the refuge and welcome, which many of the learned and ingenious of that country found among the Italians, effected very soon a surprising change upon the face of all Eu

arts.

rope.

The more pleasing philosophy of Plato began to supersede the scholastic subtleties of Aristotle, and the court of Rome became the seat of elegance and urbanity. Nicholas V., about the year 1440, established public rewards for compositions in the learned languages, appointed professors in the sciences, and employed intelligent persons to traverse all Europe, in search of the classic manuscripts buried in the monasteries. Of the succeeding age of Pope Julius II., and his successor Leo X., and of the splendor to which the fine arts then attained, I shall, in its proper place, take particular notice.

The circumstance which, of all others, most conduced to the advancement and universal dissemination of learning at this period, was the admirable invention of the art of printing. Printing seems to have been invented about the year 1440, at Strasburg, by John Guttenburg, but considerably improved by John Faust and Peter Schaeffer. This noble invention was, at its first appearance, deemed so extraordinary, that the servants of John Faust, who came to Paris to sell some of his early publications, were accused of magic, and the parliament ordered all their books to be committed to the flames. It must be owned, however, to the honor of Louis XI., that he condemned this decision of the Parisian judges, and ordered the value of the books to be paid to their proprietors. What inestimable advantages has mankind derived from this glorious art! The scanty gleanings that at this day remain to us of the wisdom of the ancients, serve only to make us regret what we feel we have undoubtedly lost of their knowledge beyond the possibility of recovery. But the art of printing gives us security for the perpetuation of the progress of the sciences in all future ages, and for their extensive circulation; a perfect assurance, that amidst all the vicissitudes. in the fate of empires, no period of barbarism can ever arrive when any of the useful, or even of the polite arts, can again suffer a total extinction.

In this account of the revival of learning, and of its progress from its first appearance amid the darkness of the barbarous ages to the end of the fifteenth century, dramatic composition, which forms no inconsiderable part of polite literature, must not be forgotten.

The first dramatic representations known in Europe were devotional pieces, acted by the monks, in the churches of their convents, representative of the life and actions of our Savior and of his apostles. In England, these representations were termed mysteries, and sometimes miracles and moralities. They were brought into use about the twelfth century, and continued to be performed in England even to the sixteenth century. There is, in the reign of Henry VIII., a prohibition by the bishop of London, against the performance of any plays or interludes in churches or chapels. Perhaps, at this time, profane stories had

begun to take place of the sacred mysteries: it is certain, at least, that these sacred mysteries themselves often contained great absurdities and very gross indecency.*

Profane dramas succeeded the sacred mysteries: they seem to have been known in France at an earlier period than in England; for about the year 1300 we find frequent mention of farçeurs, jongleurs, and plaisantins, qui divertissaient les compagnies par Irur comédies: " and what made a very extraordinary mixture, these farçeurs very often joined sacred and profane history in the same representation. In one of these dramatic pieces which commemorates the scripture story of Balaam, six Jews and six Gentiles are introduced, conversing on the nativity of our Saviour; and among the latter is the poet Virgil, who speaks several monkish verses in rhyme.

Dramatic representation in Italy, appears to have been of the same nature, in these periods, with what we have seen it in France and in England. In Spain, where learning and good taste have not since made proportional advances with the rest of Europe, dramatic representation, till the age of Charles V., was confined entirely to such rude and farcical debasements of the scripture histories as we have already mentioned; and even at this day such absurd performances are not entirely disused. But the patronage of Cardinal Ximenes drew forth a few sparks of genius from the general obscurity; although it was not till the end of the sixteenth century that Lope de Vega and Calderon produced those regular compositions for the stage which have stood their ground to the present day, and are confessedly the masterpieces of dramatical composition among the Spaniards.

*In one of them, which is entitled a "Play of the Old and New Testament," Adam and Eve are introduced upon the stage naked, and conversing in very strange terms about their nakedness. Mr. Warton has given a curious account of this play in his History of English Poetry. In some of the first scenes of this play, God is represented creating the world: He breathes life into Adam, leads him into Paradise, and opens his side while sleeping. Adam and Eve appear naked in the garden, and not ashamed, and the Old Serpent enters lamenting his fall. He converses with Eve: she eats of the forbidden fruit: they are cursed by God: the Serpent exit hissing: they are driven from Paradise by the Cheru bim, with a flaming sword,-and Adam then appears digging the ground, and Eve spinning.

CHAPTER XVII.

View of the Progress of Commerce in Europe before the Portuguese
Discoveries.

THE last chapter shortly delineates the progress of literature in Europe, from the first dawning of knowledge, which we owed to the Arabians, to the end of the fifteenth century, when from the discovery of the art of printing, learning and the sciences underwent at once a most astonishing improvement. The useful arts kept pace with the sciences; and this period, at which we are now arrived, was, in particular, remarkable for the singular advancement of navigation by the Portuguese, and those discoveries which produced the greatest effects upon the commerce of all the European nations. Previous, however, to giving an account of these discoveries, it is necessary to take a connected view of the progress of commerce in Europe, and its state during several of the preceding ages down to this period of its vigorous advancement at the end of the fifteenth century.

Nothing can show in a stronger light the small knowledge which the ancients possessed of the habitable globe, and the very limited communication which subsisted between different regions, than the opinion which universally prevailed of the earth's being uninhabitable, both in the torrid and in the frigid zones. This belief was not confined to the vulgar and illiterate : even the most learned and best informed of the ancients, and that too, in a very enlightened age, had no better notions of the actual state of the habitable globe. Cicero, in his "Somnium Scipionis," introduces Africanus thus speaking to Scipio the younger" You see this earth encompassed or bound in by certain belts or girdles, of which the two which are most distant and opposite are frozen with perpetual cold. The middle one, and the largest of all, is burnt up with the sun's heat. Two only are habitable; the people in the southern one are antipodes to us and with them we have no communication." Not to mention the poets, as Virgil and Ovid, Pliny the naturalist and Strabo the geographer, have both delivered the same opinion. We may guess from this, how small a portion of the habitable globe was really known to the ancients. From Monsieur D'Anville's very accurate maps of ancient geography, we see that the limits of the whole surface of the earth supposed to be known to the ancients,