despot, the shuddering devotee, the iron baron, the ready vassal, the courteous knight, the princely merchant, the fearless navigator, the patient scholar, the munificent patron, the bold reformer, the relentless bigot, the consuming martyr, the poet, the artist, and the philosopher, the legislator, the statesman, and the sage, all that were by their united virtues and labours to assist the progress of the human race, all that were at last to advance society to the state which, during the greater part of the last century, it so happily had reached, the state of balanced power, of diffused humanity and knowledge, of political dignity, of private and public happiness.

There are periods in the history of mankind, when wishes like these to look into futurity, strange and unmeaning as to colder minds they may at first sight appear, vain, as to minds the most ardent and enlightened we must confess them to be, are still natural and inevitable; and are felt, and deeply felt, by all intelligent men, to the very fatigue and sickening of curiosity. Such a period has been our own; it continued to be so for more than twenty years, from the breaking out of the French revolution in 1789. Such a period was found in the days of Columbus, and of Luther. Such, lastly, was the period which we are in this lecture more immediately considering, the period when the northern nations were everywhere prevailing; and the question was, what were to be the future fortunes of the world,—to what changes were to be exposed the knowledge and civilisation of the human race?

I must recommend it to you to take every opportunity to pause in this manner, and to indulge any effort of the imagination by which you can suppose yourselves for a time transported into distant ages, taking part with the actors in the scene, animated with their hopes, alarmed by their fears, oppressed by their anxieties, their apprehensions for the future, their regrets for the past. For it is only by this plastic power of the mind, and these voluntary delusions, that either the instruction or the entertainment of history

can be realised; that history can be thoroughly understood,

or properly enjoyed.

We return, then, to that memorable epoch in the history of Europe, to which I have endeavoured to direct your reflections.

The Barbarians have everywhere broken down the Roman empire, and have established their own; they have taken their different stations.

What then was the result? To what degree, on the one hand, was the independent ferocity of the Barbarians softened, by that Christianity and those laws which were at the time in the possession of the Romans; and to what degree, on the other, was the degeneracy of the Romans elevated? What purity did their controversial religion, what freedom did their courtly jurisprudence, derive from the bold and native virtues of the Barbarians?

In a word, what were the fortunes of the human race? What impression, what direction, did the happiness of mankind receive?

The answer to these questions is not at first as favourable as might be wished: it is for some time contained in the history of the Dark Ages. The dark ages were the more immediate result of this memorable crisis of the western world.

And it is thus that the dark ages are almost the first subject that is to be encountered by the student of modern history.

This is unfortunate-unfortunate more especially for the youthful student. Look at the writers that undertake the history of these times. They oppress you by their tediousness; they repel you by their very appearance, by the antiquarian nature of their researches, and the very size of their volumes. You recoil, and very naturally, from events and names, which you have never heard of before, which you do not expect to hear of again, and which, above all, it is impossible to remember.

Were you to fly to the general history of Voltaire, you

might be able to read indeed the page, from the occasional sprightliness of the remarks; but you would not be able to understand the events and characters, which you would there see pass before your eyes, in a succession far too shadowy and rapid; nor would you be able more than before to remember what you had read. The only benefit that you would appear to derive would be this, that you would think you had learnt from the perusal, that though you remembered nothing, there was nothing worth remembering; that savages, under whatever name, were only fitted to disgust you; and that you had better hasten to parts of history more authentic and more instructive.

The same conclusion you would see drawn by Lord Bolingbroke in his Letters on History.

Conclusions, however, like these are not the proper conclusions.

The history of the dark ages, for all philosophic purposes, is neither without its authenticity nor its value, and you must, in some way or other, acquire some knowledge of it; some knowledge of these barbarous times, and these our barbarous ancestors; because you must, by some means or other, see the manner in which the European character was formed; and from what elements the different governments of Europe have originally sprung.

The European character, you must be aware, is not the Asiatic character, nor the native American character, but one singularly composed, and one that has been able to subjugate every other in the world. Nor is the European form of government like the Asiatic, nor is that of England like that of France, nor either, like that of Germany; and it is these differences and their origin-these differences both in the personal character of the individual of Europe, and in the general character of the constitution under which he livesthat are the first objects which present themselves to your diligence; and to trace them out and to understand them, must constitute your entertainment and support your dili

gence, while you are labouring through the history of the dark ages.

I do not deny that the study of this particular part of modern history is difficult and tedious. In whatever way I can propose it to you, this must necessarily be the case. Those who seminds are of a philosophic cast may indeed undertake it with cheerfulness, and be left to pursue it with pleasure and success; but it is for me to endeavour to accommodate myself to minds of every description; and I shall therefore mention, in the first place, what I think may be attempted by any one who hears me, however indisposed to antiquarian research.

In the first place, then, there has been a book published by Mr. Butler, that on the present occasion I consider as invaluable-Butler on the German Constitution. Here will be found all the outlines of the subject.

Let the detail be studied, whenever it is thought necessary, in Gibbon.

Let Hénault's Abridgment, or Millot's Abridgment, or rather Elements, of the French History, be referred to.

These may be followed by Robertson's Introduction to his History of Charles V.

And in this manner the student will be conducted through a long and dreary tract (which, however, it is entirely necessary he should travel through) with the least possible expense, as I conceive, of his time and his patience.

In the lecture of to-morrow, I may allude to more books, and recommend more than I have yet done; but in the first place, I have thought it best to describe, in the manner you have heard, the least possible effort that can be required from any one that is placed within the reach of a regular education in an improved country, like this of England. No good can be purchased without some labour; and though the opening of modern history may be repulsive, the portions of it that follow, will be found sufficiently attractive.

You will now, therefore, understand what I wish you to

bear away as the sum and substance of the present lec

ture.

That it was a very remarkable crisis of the world, when the Romans and Barbarians were contending for the empire of it-that you must endeavour to comprehend from the writers I first mentioned, Cæsar, Tacitus, and Gibbon, what were the characters of the combatants-and then ask yourselves what was likely to be the result.

That the first and more immediate result was the dark ages.

That these are, therefore, immediately to be studied; not only as being the first result of such an extraordinary collision between the civilised and uncivilised portions of mankind at the time, but because in these dark ages are to be found the elements of the European character and governments, as they now exist.

Studied, however, though they must be, that studied they cannot be, without great toil and patience.

That to those who are ready to undergo such intellectual exertion, I shall address myself in subsequent lectures, but that in the mean time the readiest method I have to propose of acquiring proper information on this indispensable portion of modern history is, the study of Butler, Gibbon, Hénault, or Millot, and Robertson-his preface to the History of Charles V. and that this course of reading I think very practicable.

One word more, and I conclude.

You have just heard the books I refer to.

I have now to add, that I think there are certain subjects which may be selected from the immense general subject of the dark ages, and which may give you an idea of the whole in the shortest and best manner.

I hope, by mentioning them, to save you from being somewhat bewildered by the variety of topics and the multiplicity of researches in which you might be engaged, if you properly studied even such writers, and no more than such writers, as