After urging various other circumstances, Dr. Jortin concludes his observations by asserting, that the learning which now exists is, if not solely, yet principally to be ascribed to Christianity; and that its Divine Author said most justly of himself, in this sense also, I am the light of the world'

'The Christian religion,' says Mr. Coxe, tended in Russia, as well as in most other countries in Europe, to preserve some small remains of literature in the schools and seminaries of the several monasteries.' Thus each of these mansions of superstition became an asylum for the preservation of knowlege". To the monks of Russia, and to those of the other countries of Europe, we are also almost exclusively indebted for our knowlege of the history of the middle ages.

Where, but in monasteries, says a female writer of splendid talents, could the precious remains of classical learning, and the divine monuments of ancient taste, have been safely lodged amidst the ravages of that age of ferocity and rapine, which succeeded the desolation of the Roman empire, except in sanctuaries like these, consecrated by the superstition of the times beyond their intrinsic merit? The frequency of wars, and the licentious cruelty with which they were conducted, left neither the hamlet of the peasant, nor the castle of the baron, free from depredation; but the church and monastery generally remained inviolate.-Some of the barbarous nations were converted before their conquests, and most of them soon after their settlement in the countries they over-ran. Those buildings, which their new faith taught them to venerate, afforded a shelter for those valuable manuscripts, which must otherwise have been destroyed in the common wreck. At the revival of learning they were produced from their dormitories.' It was in the monasteries that most of the classics were dis

70 See a Charge, delivered May 3, 1765, annexed to the end of vol. VII. of Jortin's Sermons, p. 353-377.

71 Travels into Poland, Russia, &c. 8vo. vol. III. p. 292.

covered; and to this it is owing, to the books and learning preserved in these repositories, that we were not obliged to begin anew, and trace every art by slow and uncertain steps from its first origin. Science, already full grown and vigorous, awaked as from a trance, shook her pinions, and soon soared to the heights of knowlege.'

The monks, besides being obliged by their rules to spend some stated hours every day in reading and study,' were almost the sole instructors of youth. Towards the end of the 10th century there were no schools in Europe but the monasteries, and those which belonged to episcopal residences; nor any masters but the Benedictines.' The frequent intercourse of the monks with Rome must have been peculiarly favorable to these Northern nations; as Italy for a long time led the way in every improvement of politeness or literature: and, if we imported their superstition, we likewise imported their manufactures, their knowlege, and their taste.'

'Forbidding the vulgar tongue in the offices of devotion, and in reading the scriptures, though undoubtedly a great corruption in the Christian church, was of infinite service to the interests of learning. When the ecclesiastics had locked up their religion in a foreign tongue, they would take care not to lose the key. This gave an importance to the learned languages; and every scholar could not only read, but wrote and disputed in Latin, which without such a motive would probably have been no more studied than the Chinese. And, at a time when the modern languages of Europe were yet unformed and barbarous, Latin was of great use as a kind of universal tongue, by which learned men might converse and correspond with each other.' In the present age, when learning is diffused through every rank, we can scarcely conceive, how totally all useful learning might have been lost amongst us, had it not been for an order of men, vested with peculiar privileges, and protected by even a superstitious degree of reverence". It

72 Scarcely any of the laity, it is to be recollected, knew how to write. • Materials for writing were also,' says Dr. Henry, very scarce and dear,

must have been of service also to the cause of liberty, to have a set of men, whose laws, privileges, and immunities the most daring kings were afraid to trample on; and this, before a more enlightened spirit of freedom had arisen, might have its effect in preventing the states of Christendom from falling into such entire slavery as the Asiatics.'

'Let it be considered too, that when the minds of men began to open, some of the most eminent reformers sprung from the bosom of the church, and even of the convent. It was not the laity who began to think. The ecclesiastics were the first to perceive the errors they had introduced. The church was reformed from within, not from without"."

The effects Christianity has produced in the different countries of Europe, in the diffusion of knowlege, may be illustrated by a recital of some of the beneficial alterations it created in our own island. They are taken from Dr. Henry, one of the most accurate and best informed of our British historians.

The conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity, in the course of the 7th century, contributed not a little to enlighten their minds, and promote the interest of learning.— Before that event, there was no such thing as learning, nor any means of obtaining it, in that part of Britain which they inhabited.' Their ancient religion 'had a tendency to inspire them with nothing but a brutal contempt of death,

which made few persons think of learning that art.' Accordingly 'great estates were often transferred from one owner to another by a mere verbal agreement, and the delivery of earth and stone, before witnesses, with. out any written deed. Parchment, in particular, on which all their books were written, was so difficult to be procured, that many of the MSS. of the middle ages, which are still preserved, appear to have been written on parchment from which some former writing had been erased.’ Hist. of Great Britain, vol. IV. p. 81. Montfaucon, indeed, affirms, that from the greater part of the manuscripts on parchment, which he had seen, some former treatise had been erased. See Jortin on Eccl. Hist. vol. IV. p. 250.

73 Miscellaneous Pieces, in Prose, by J. and A. L. Aikin, p. 91-118.

and a savage delight in war. As long, therefore, as they continued in the belief and practice of that wretched superstition, they seem to have been incapable either of science or civility; but, by their conversion to Christianity, they became accessable to both.' Besides, such of the first Anglo-Saxon converts as designed to embrace the clerical profession (of which there were many), were obliged to apply to some parts of learning, to qualify themselves for that office; and it became necessery to provide schools for their instruction. The truth of these observations is confirmed by many unquestionable facts, which prove that the English began to pay some attention to learning (which they had before neglected), as soon as they were converted to Christianity. The first Christian king in England was the first English legislator who committed his laws to writing. Sigbert, king of the East-Angles, immediately after his conversion, founded a famous school for the education of youth in his dominions, A. D. 630.-In a word, some of the English clergy, in the end of this and the next century, became famous for their learning, and were admired by all Europe as prodigies of erudition. So great and happy a change did the introduction of Christianity, though not in its purest form, produce in the mental improvements of our ancestors.'

To descend to particulars, it may be added, that Theodore, who was a native of Tarsus in Cilicia, being advanced to the archbishopric of Canterbury, A. D. 668, and being 'informed of the gross and general ignorance of the' English, resolved to promote the interest of useful learning amongst them, as the most effectual means of promoting

74 At a later period the conversion of the Normans produced similar effects. The reception of Christianity had,' says Mosheim, polished and civilised, in an extraordinary manner, the rugged minds of the valiant Normans; for those fierce warriors, who, under the darkness of paganism, had manifested the utmost aversion to all branches of knowlege and every kind of instruction, distinguished themselves, after their conversion, by their ardent application to the study of religion and the pursuit of learning. Eccl. Hist. vol. II. p. 249.

that of true religion. With this view he brought with him from Rome a valuable collection of books, and several professors of the sciences, particularly abbot Adrian, to assist him in the education of the English youth. This scheme, as we learn from Bede, was crowned with the greatest success. "These two great men (Theodore and Adrian), excelling in all parts of sacred and civil learning, collected a great multitude of scholars, whom they daily instructed in the sciences, reading lectures to them on poetry, astronomy, and arithmetic, as well as on divinity and the holy scriptures"." And Dr. Henry, speaking of a later period, says, 'there was a school more or less famous in almost every convent. We may form some idea of the number added to the schools of England by this means, if we consider, that there were no fewer than 557 religious houses of different kinds founded in it between the conquest and the death of king John. In the schools of all the larger monasteries, besides the necessary parts of learning, several other sciences were taught, as rhetoric, logic, theology, medicine, with the civil and canon law.' With respect to the period intervening between the year 1066 and 1216, the historian also says, ' though the circle of the sciences was enlarged, and learning was cultivated with greater assiduity in this than in the former period; yet this was chiefly, or rather almost only, by the clergy.'

The erection of so many monasteries in England, may be reckoned among the causes of the revival of learning, by increasing the number both of teachers and students, by multiplying the inducements to pursue, and the opportu nities to acquire, knowlege, but chiefly by making books much more common and attainable than they had been in any former period. The government of these religious houses was commonly bestowed on men of learning; and, being attended with considerable degrees of power and dignity, afforded strong incentives to study. A library was