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286 THE DECLINE AND FALL degraded by the bishops, might accuse, in some measure, the imprudence of his father. His laws enforced the imposition of tithes, because the daemons had proclaimed in the air that the default of payment had been the cause of the last scarcity. ^'^"^ The literary merits of Charlemagne are attested by the founda- tion of schools, the introduction of arts, the works which were published in his name, and his familiar connexion with the subjects and strangers whom he invited to his court to educate both the prince and people. His own studies were tardy, labo- rious, and imperfect ; if he spoke Latin and understood Greek, he derived the rudiments of knowledge from conversation rather than from books ; and, in his mature age, the emperor strove to acquire the practice of writing, which every peasant now learns in his infancy.^*^" The grammar and logic, the music and as- tronomy, of the times were only cultivated as the handmaids of superstition ; but the curiosity of the human mind must ultimately tend to its improvement, and the encouragement of learning reflects the purest and most pleasing lustre on the character of Charlemagne. ^•^ The dignity of his person,^" the length of his reign, the prosperity of his arms, the vigour of his government, and the reverence of distant nations distinguish him from the royal crowd ; and Europe dates a new aera from his restoration of the Western empire. That empire was not unworthy of its title ; ^^^ and some of i'^" Omnis homo ex sua proprietate legitiniam decimam ad ecclesiam conferat. Experimento enim didicimus, in anno, quo ilia valida fames irrepsit, ebullire vacuas annonas a dsemonibus devoratas et voces exprobationis auditas. Such is the de- cree and assertion of the great Council of Frankfort (canon xxv. torn. ix. p. 105). Both Selden (Hist, of Tithes; Works, vol. iii. part ii. p. 1146) and Montesquieu (Esprit des Loix, 1. xxxi. c. 12) represent Charlemagne as the first legal author of tithes. Such obligations have country gentlemen to his memory ! 1"^ Eginhard (c. 25, p. 119) clearly affirms, tentabat et scribere . . . sed parum prospere successit labor praeposterus et sero inchoatus. The moderns have per- verted and corrected this obvious meaning, and the title of M. Gaillard's Disserta- tion (tom. iii. p. 247-260) betrays his partiality. i* See Gaillard, tom. iii. p. 138-176, and Schmidt, tom. ii. p. 121-129. i^ M. Gaillard (tom. iii. p. 372) fixes the time stature of Charlemagne (see a Dissertation of Marquard Freher ad calcem Eginhard. p. 220, &c. ) at five feet nine inches of French, about six feet one inch and a fourth English, measure. The romance writers have increased it to eight feet, and the giant was endowed with matchlesc strength and appetite : at a single stroke of his good sword Joyeuse he cut asunder an horseman and his horse ; at a single repast he devoured a goose, two fowls, a quarter of mutton, &c. '1 See the concise but correct and original work of d'Anville (Etats formes en Europe apres la Chute de I'Empire Romain en Occident, Paris, 1771, in 4to), whose map includes the empire of Charlemagne ; the different parts are illustrated by Valesius (Notitia Galliarum) for France, Beretti (Dissertatio Chorographica) for Italy, de Marca (Marca Hispanica) for Spain. For the middle geography of Ger- many, I confess myself poor and destitute.