the end, to the military art and genius itself, by which alone the immense fabric of the empire could be supported.

3. The irruption of the barbarous nations which soon followed, overwhelmed all human knowledge, which was already far in its decline; and men sank every age deeper into ignorance, stupidity, and superstition; till the light of ancient science and history had very nearly suffered a total extinction in all the European nations.

4. But there is one point of depression as well as of exaltation, from which human affairs naturally return in a contrary direction, and beyond which they seldom pass, either in their advancement or decline. The period in which the people

of Christendom2 were the lowest sunk in ignorance, and consequently in disorders of every kind, may justly be fixed at the eleventh century, about the age of William the Conqueror; and from that era the sun of science, beginning to reascend, threw out many gleams of light, which preceded the full morning when letters were revived in the fifteenth century.

5. The Danes and other northern people who had so long infested all the coasts, and even the inland parts of Europe, by their depredations, having now learned the arts of tillage and agriculture, found a certain subsistence at home, and were no longer tempted to desert their industry in order to seek a precarious livelihood by rapine and by the plunder of their neighbours.

6. The feudal governments, also, among the more southern nations, were reduced to a kind of system; and though that strange species of civil polity was ill-fitted to insure either liberty or tranquillity, it was preferable to the universal licence and disorder which had everywhere preceded it.

7. It may appear strange that the progress of the arts, which seems, among the Greeks and Romans, to have daily increased the number of slaves, should in later times have proved so general a source of liberty; but this difference in the events proceeded from a great difference in the circumstances which attended those institutions.

8. The ancient barons, obliged to maintain

themselves continually in a military posture, and little emulous of eloquence or splendour, employed not their villeins as domestic servants, much less as manufacturers; but composed their retinue of freemen, whose military spirit rendered the chieftain formidable to his neighbours, and who were ready to attend him in every warlike enterprise.

9. The villeins were entirely occupied in the cultivation of their master's land, and paid their rents either in corn and cattle, and other produce of the farm, or in servile offices, which they performed about the baron's family, and upon the farms he retained in his own possession.

10. In proportion as agriculture improved and money increased, it was found that these services, though extremely burdensome to the villein, were of little advantage to the master; and that the produce of a large estate could be much more conveniently disposed of by the peasants themselves, who raised it, than by the landlord or his bailiff, who were formerly accustomed to receive it.

11. A commutation was therefore made of rents for services, and of money-rents for those in kind; and as men, in a subsequent age, discovered that farms were better cultivated where the farmer enjoyed a security in his possession, the practice of granting leases to the peasant began to prevail, which entirely broke the bonds of servitude, already much relaxed from the former practices.

12. After this manner villenage went gradually into disuse throughout the more civilised parts of Europe; the interest of the master as well as that

of the slave concurred in this alteration. The latest laws which we find in England for enforcing or regulating this species of servitude, were enacted in the reign of Henry VII. And though the ancient statutes on this head remain unrepealed by parliament, it appears that, before the end of Elizabeth, the distinction of villein and freeman was totally though insensibly abolished, and that no person remained in the state to whom the former laws could be applied.

13. Thus personal freedom became almost general in Europe; an advantage which paved the way for the increase of political or civil liberty.

1. Augustus.-Usually called the First Emperor of Rome. In B.C. 27 he was formally constituted Emperor of Rome, and the old Republican government was abolished. Augustus died A.D. 14, after a brilliant and prosperous reign. During his reign, Jesus Christ was born at Bethlehem.

2. Christendom.-That is, all the countries professing Christianity at that time.

David Hume.

3. William the Conqueror. Duke of Normandy, invaded England won the battle of Hastings in 1066, and became king of England. He died 1087.

4. Feudal Governments. William the Conqueror strengthened the feudal system in the country. According to this system, land was held not by payment of rent, as now, but chiefly by military service.

5. Henry VII. reigned from 1485 to 1509. He was the first sovereign of the House of Tudor.

LESSON LXIII.

THE DECLINE OF THE WARLIKE SPIRIT IN MODERN TIMES.

1. One of the greatest evils of the world, which has brought suffering and sorrow to mankind, has been the practice of war. It is scarcely possible to describe the ruin and desolation which it leaves behind. The young, the powerful, the healthy, those who are the bread-winners, are cut down, widows and children are left to mourn the loss of

ence, as prefer-ence, independ-ence; ency, as ag-ency; ion, as divis-ion, act-ion.

ity, as advers-ity, rar-ity; ment, as command-ment, senti-ment.

mony, as testi-mony; sy, as controver-sy; tude, as forti-tude, magni-tude.

ty, as humili-ty, loyal-ty; ure, as pict-ure, post-ure.

IV. Denoting of or belonging to.

al, as leg-al, pertaining to law; an, as hum-an; ar, as ocul-ar (oculus, the eye).

ary, as liter-ary, solit-ary (solus, alone); ile, as puer-ile (puer, a boy), vir-ile (vir, a man).

ine, as bov-ine (bos, bov-is, an ox), leon-ine (leo, a lion); ory, as compuls-ory.

V. Denoting quality, as id, flu-id, liqu-id, sol-id.

VI. Denoting power, ability, or energy, as ive, act-ive, nat-ive. VII. Denoting capacity, as ble, cura-ble, can be cured; possi-ble, can be done.

VIII. Denoting to make, to cause, as ate, attached to a verb, as celebr-ate, cre-ate.

IX. Denoting full of, as ose, verb-ose (verbum, a word); ous, as copi-ous (copia, plenty).

X. Denoting increase, as escent, efferv-escent (ferveo, I boil). XI. Denoting smallness, as ule, animalc-ule, glob-ule (globus, a round body).

JOHN HEYWO

ting and Bookbinding Works, Lanchester.