ART. X.

The Reign of Charlemagne considered, chiefly with Re ference to Religion, Laws, Literature, and Manners. By Henry Card, A. M. of Pembroke College, Oxford. 8vo. 6s. Boards. Longman and Co.

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N our progress through general history, when we have passed the times of the Antonines and Trajans, the scene (with the exception of a few rare spots) becomes dark and dreary till we reach the epochs of Charlemagne and Alfred. The latter is perhaps the most remarkable and luminous, but attracts less notice because it was confined to a more limited space. Historians and compilers, when they arrive at the period of the revival of the new empire of the west, retard their march, depart from the high road, and make excursions into bye-paths; as it were to refresh themselves and to exhilirate their readers, after the toil of journeying along a track which presents to the eye nought but barren and desolate prospects. Hence it happens that we find little on record respecting Charlemagne, which is not to be found in some one of our meritorious compilers.

The author of the present volume is anxious to vindicate our countryman, the illustrious Alcuin, from the charge of being an enemy to pagan literature:

We cannot,' he tells us, readily consent to imitate the credu lity of some writers, who without the least examination have admitted the dislike of Alcuin to the ancient poets, as a point fully esta blished, and of undoubted certainty. It will assuredly not be disputed, that the high name which Alcuin had acquired among his cotemporaries for his learning and piety, and the invariable respect that Charlemagne testified for his talents and virtues, and likewise for the promotion and diffusion of his plans of improvement, must have peculiarly concurred to raise up against him enemies equally powerful by their rank, and revengeful from their ignorance. These circumstances alone would justify us in believing that any attempt to injure his literary reputation would be secretly encouraged by those to whom he had rendered himself obnoxious, by the fame of his own works, as well as by his munificent patronage of learning. Accordingly we find him sometimes reproached for his want of attachment to the Roman classics, with a greater degree of virulence than the subject could require or warrant. Of a turn of mind naturally serious and religious, it is easy to be imagined that in an advanced period of his age, all his studies were bent towards theology; but that he was a sincere and fervent admirer of that dignity, beauty, and elevation of sentiment, which is often to be found in profane authors, may be strikingly illustrated in this expression to Charlemagne ; Upon you it chiefly depends to convert Paris into a christian Athens.

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Throughout indeed the writings and letters of Alcuin, frequent quotations are scattered from the ancient poets, which indicate that he perused them with no less pleasure than attention. His young

friend Angilbert had received the appellation of Homer in that learn. ed circle which he was so instrumental in forming at the court of Charlemagne. Alcuin wrote to him at Rome to request that he would not fail to bring him some relics, and pleasantly added, "Si nihil attuleris, ibis, Homere, foras." Unquestionably therefore the man who in speaking upon a subject so grave and pious as the one above-mentioned, can cite a verse from Ovid's Art of Love, ought not to be represented as the implacable foe of the heathen poets.'

Mr. Card does not deem it beneath the dignity of history to record the time and the place of the first interview between Charlemagne and his preceptor; and accordingly he proceeds to state that

Charlemagne first met Alcuin at Pavia in 781, upon his return from Rome, and was so struck with the wisdom of his discourse, that he earnestly requested him to fix his residence at his court as soon as he had accomplished his mission, namely, that of receiving the pall for the archbishop of York, which had lately been conferred on bim by the pope. To an invitation so flattering Alcuin gave his consent,' provided that he obtained the permission of his king and archbishop, and that he might also be allowed to revisit his country.

Alcuin may, indeed, be justly regarded as a phenomenon for his age. If he had not sounded the depths, he had at least stepped into most paths of learning, and therefore was eminently qualified, from the versatility of his genius and the penetration of his judgment, to form and develope the taste of Charlemagne for the arts and sciences. In the study of logic, rhetoric, and astronomy, subjects that have such a peculiar tendency to sharpen, enlarge, and elevate the human capacity, Alcuin found a pupil whose high birth and almost invariable attention to the affairs of state, did not, however, prevent him from feeling and displaying an enthusiastic admiration of them. Had the preceptor been inflamed with ambition, from the great ascendancy that he had gained over Charlemage, he might safely have aspired to the rank of his minister. But far from employing his influence with him to promote his own interest and grandeur, it should be recorded, to the praise of this recluse student, that he solely used it in directing his attention towards objects of utility and benevolence.'

So great was the desire of this mighty potentate to promote Jearning, that he even made it the path to political elevation:

• Conspicuous examples of this (says Mr. Card) we meet with in the history of his reign. It will be sufficient to mention only the names of Eginhard and Amalarius, the former of whom filled for so many years the place of his secretary or chancellor, (for these titles were indiscriminately applied to him by the writers of the times,) and the latter was selected from a crowd of candidates as his ambassador to Michael, the emperor of the east. His passion for letters and encouragement of them were indeed so great and universally known, that two learned Scotchmen, in the certainty of obtaining his protection, cried out as he passed along the highway, Science to be sold. This singular conduct immediately arrested his attention; he ordered them

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to be presented to him, and having found that they really could perform what they had professed, afterwards promoted them to posts of trust and honor, suitable to their abilities.

There is not certainly a more striking feature in the character of Charlemagne than his uniform encouragement of men of genius, both in the church and state. Not content with bestowing upon Theodolphus the bishopric of Orleans, he gave him likewise the abbey of Fleury, and several other abbeys. Hilduin, one of the members of the academy, possessed at the same time those of St. Dennis, of St. Germain de Pres, of St. Medard de Soissons, the revenues of which were very considerable; while Alcuin received four abbeys, and various other preferments, which exposed him to the envy and hatred of his less favoured competitors.

From the numerous possessions and jurisdictions which Alcuin enjoyed, Elipand, a bishop of Spain, in a theological dispute with him, takes the opportunity to utter some severe reproaches upon his overgrown opulence; but authentic evidence is not wanting to rescue the memory of Alcuin from the charge of his mind being corrupted by prosperity. He frequently expressed an earnest wish to resign those gifts, which he had solely accepted upon the pressing solicitation of his sovereign, because the several duties annexed to them oc casioned too long an interruption to those literary pursuits which constituted the chief happiness of his life. But no solicitations on his part, however frequent and sincere, could induce Charlemagne to transfer even some of his abbeys to his disciples, and thus leave to him the means of freely prosecuting his favourite studies.'

Whether or not we may applaud the views, politically considered, which governed Charlemagne in the maxims illustrated in the subsequent anecdote, we must admit the humour and the effect of-the stratagem :

The following expedient, which he adopted to cure his nobles of their extravagance in dress. ought not to be passed over in silence, as it strikingly pourtrays the manners of the times The Emperor himself commonly wore the simplest attire, except upon occasions of great pomp and splendour. In his doublet of otter's skin, put over his woollen tunic, and his sash of a blue colour, he was scarcely to be distinguished from the meanest of his subjects. One morning, having perceived his courtiers decked out in their most costly habili ments, he proposed that they should immediately take the exercise of hunting His invitation, or rather command, admitted of no refusal, for small is the distinction between these words, when they fall from the lips of a monarch. He appeared in a cloak of sheep's skin, tied negligently across his shoulders, and which afforded him a good covering during a heavy fall of snow, that, most opportunely to his wishes, happened while they were attending him in this recication. But their silks were torn by the brambles and spoiled by the snow. When the chace was finished, benumbed with cold, and anxious to repair the damage done to their dresses, they begged leave to withdraw. The malicious monarch foresaw and prevented their intentions, by pressing them to follow his example, and dry their clothes

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before a great fire, which he had ready for that purpose. Although highly delighted with their embarrassment, he affected not to perceive the effects of the fire in drying their dresses, and shrivelling them into the most uncouth shapes. In dismissing them from his presence, he said, "To-morrow we will take our revenge, and in the same habits."

When they appeared the following day in their torn and disfigured garments, they furnished a most ridiculous spectacle to the whole court. The Emperor, after having rallied them on their absurdity, at last exclaimed, "Fools that ye are, now perceive the difference betwixt your luxury and my simplicity! My dress covers and defends me, and when worn out is of no consequence; whilst your rich attires, liable to be spoiled by the least accident, almost amount, in value, to a large treasure."

The ingenious writer before us animadverts on the praise bestowed by Montesquieu on Charlemagne's economy: but, if the observations of the divine are plausible, and conformable to modern notions, those of the President à Mortier are founded on more just views of the times, and on a more just appreciation of effects and consequences. In estimating conduct, we must ever connect it with situation and circum

On the whole, however, we must allow that this performance shews its author to be a man of enlarged views and liberal sentiments. If we do not discover in it traces of deeper research than has already been frequently made, and if we do not meet with disclosures of matters that before had lain concealed, (which Mr. Card induces his readers to expect,) yet we are beholden to him for a fair, authentic, and well digested account of a highly interesting period.

ART. XI. An Account of the Empire of Marocco, and the District of Suse; compiled from Miscellaneous Observations made during a long Residence in and various Journies through these Countries. To which is added an accurate and interesting Account of Timbuctoo, the great Emporium of central Africa. By James Grey Jackson, Esq. Illustrated with 13 Engravings and Maps. 4to. Pp. 285. 21. 28. Boards. Nicol and Son. 18c9.

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R. Jackson informs us in his preface that the materials of his book were composed during a residence of sixteen. years in different parts of the Empire of Marocco, and were at first intended as memoranda for his own use only, but that he was induced by Lord Moira to give them to the public: to which measure he was also incited by reflecting on the very slender knowlege which we hitherto possess of the interior of Barbary; our descriptions of that country consisting generally of the narratives of journies to the Emperor's Court, under

taken

taken for a local and temporary object, and consequently unproductive of satisfactory information respecting the country at large. In order to cbtain a thorough acquaintance with the moral and political character of a nation so different from our own, a traveller must, as Mr. Jackson justly remarks, have long resided on the spot, have had access to the inhabitants in public as well as private life, and, above all, have acquired an accurate and practical intimacy with the Arabic language, the peculiarities of which are such as to lead the imperfect scholar into perpetual misapprehensions. Of authors previous to the present age, Mr. Jackson considers Leo Africanus to have given by far the best account of Marocco. In late years,

great attention has been bestowed on Africa, but the judgment exercised in the pursuit of discovery has not been equal to the .ardour of the intention. The progress of our enterprizing countryman, Parke, was much impeded by his imperfect knowlege of the temper and prejudices of the natives, as well as by his injudicious plan of travelling in an European dress; and Hornemann, although more prudent in the latter respect, was by no means accurate in his conceptions of the African cha

racter.

The volume before us consists of the following divisions: Chapter I. describes the geographical limits of the Empire of Marocco and its several provinces. II. Rivers. III. Climate and Face of the Country. IV. Soil and Culture. V. Zoology. VI. Minerals and Vegetables. VII. Population. VIII. National Manners. IX. Observations on the Mohammedan Religion. X. Language of Africa. XI. Commerce of Marocco and Suse. XII. Ship-wrecks and Treatment of Captives XIII. Traffic with the interior of Africa by the City of Timbuctoo. The book is concluded by an Appendix, containing an account of the species of plague which raged in the Empire of Marocco in 1799 and 1800.-In our observations, we shall pursue, as nearly as possible, the arrangement adopted by the author; classing our remarks, as well as our extracts, under the general heads to which they appear to us to belong.

Geographical Descriptions.-West Barbary, or the Empire of Marocco, extends southwards from Ceuta along the coast of the Atlantic to the 28th degree of N. lat., a length of more than six hundred English miles in a straight line. Its breadth is various, being from two to four hundred English miles, according to the particular quarter at which the computation may be made. In this definition of extent is included the province of Suse, which forms nominally the southern part of the Empire, but, from circumstances of local situation, is in a great measure independent of the Imperial Government. The Atlas Mountains