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FOURTEENTH CENTURY.
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The monks who demoted their time to writing, were sometimes disting^uished by the name of iimiix, but their more usual denomination was that of ontiftiam. St. Isidore, of Seville, says, "the libiarii transcribed both old and new works, the antiqoarii only those that were ancient; from whence also they derived their name. Swift or short-hand writers obtained the iiame of taehy- tnphi ; and elegant writers that of calligraphi. It was the duty of the librarian, who was the pnecator of the monastery, to provide the writing monks with the books they were to copy, and whatever was necessary for their occupation ; they were also forbidden to write any thing with- oot his permission ; and in some of the great honses it was usual for the librarian to make some benefit, by letting others have copies made of the manuscripts in their custody. Besides being employed in the transcription of the scrip- tnies, and ecclesiastical works, and sometimes of the classics, the monks were the registrers of all
Eiblic events of the age, and succession of the ngs,and of the births of the royal family : and the constitutions of the clergy, in their national and provincial synods; and, after the conquest, even acts of parliament were sent to the abbeys to be recorded by them. Instances also appear, of the pope's sending orders for certain books to be maoe for him ; and the monks used to tran- icribe the bulls of privileges, in books of various nature; the affairs of Uieir monasteries they placed as marginal notes in the books df history. CaDigiaphT, or the art of beautiful writing, has been consiaeied as having arrived at its summit of excellence in the monasteries of Spain, though it was not confined in them, for in England, the Anglo-Saxon artists possessed eminent skill in the e^ecntion of their books, and the character they used had the honour of giving rise to the modern small beautiful Roman letter.
That the monks had not in high veneration the frafane authors, appears by the following facetious anecdote. To read the classics was con^dered a very idle recreation, and some held diem in great horror. To distinguish them from other books, they invented a disgraceful sign: when a monk asked for a pagan author, aner making the general sign they used in their ma- nnel and silent language, when they wanted a book, be added a particular one, which consisted in sciatcfaing under the ear, as a dog, which feels an itching, scratches himself in that place with his paw, because, said they, an unbeliever is eompared to a ^ ! In tnis manner they ex- gessed an itching for those dogt, Virgil and Horace. — CurioHties of Literature.
The ancient poets and orators were represented as seducers to the path of destruction. Virgil and Horace were the imps of hell, Ovid a leche- rons fiend, and Cicero a vain declaimer impiously elated with the talent of heathenish reasoning. Aristotle's logic alone was recommended because it was found capable of involving the simplest arguments and preplexing the plainest truths. A council of Carthagre would not allow that a bishop should read any heathen book. St.Augus-
tine begged pardon of God for having read the works of Virgil with delight in his graver years.
Let our views be what Uiey may of the geneial utility of monastic institutions, it is a well known fact, that when literature was neglected every where else, it found a refuge in the monasteries, where it was preserved amidst the ignorance and superstition, which so generally overspread the western world for many centuries. Monastic institutions are generally supposed to have been produced by the persecutions, and gloomy tem- per so natural to the natives of E^ypt, where they took their rise, or were held in the highest estimation. They imperceptibly made their way through the greatest part of Europe, and gained voluntary proselytes, where their prosress was not aided by the same causes. The violence and barbarity of manners, so common in the western parts of Europe, compelled many men to retire mto the monasteries as places of security, where th^ might exercise those forms of devotion which were looked upon as of equal value with the practice of the moral and social duties of life. In the general estimation the monastic life was reckoned to be the most perfect ; and the disor- ders of society gave some degree of authority to this opinion. Nor was the building of the monastenes totally useless with respect to the improvement of the lands. Erecting cells in the deserts, and collecting a number of followers by their admonitions, or admiration of the austerity of their lives, they afterwards built more spacious dwellings ; and having obtuned possession of the lands in their neighbourhood, by donations of the princes, or other benefactions, they improved them by their labour, and made them more salu- brious and profitable. On the first institution of religious houses in England and other countries, the monks were generally obliged to labour, and to take their turns in the cultivation of the lands which belonged to their monastery. Learning was then a very rare accomplishment ; and the interval of their devotions could not be more use- fully employed than in husbandry. In after-ages, when their acquisitions were sufficient to maintain them, they spent their revenues in decorating their bufloings, in acts of hospitality, and often in luxury. The leaminic: and knowledge of those times, as poor and trifling as they may appear, fell cliiefly to their share ; and to them we are indebted for transmitting and preserving many valuable writings of ancient authors, which no other order of men thought worthy of regard. Many instances of their industry and perseverance in transcribing the scriptures, and promulgating religious instruction, have been already recordra not only in this work, but in many others, the authors of which are otiierwise averse to the monastic institutions, to the monks, and their religious opinions.
One of the popular employments and enter- tainments of the ecclesiastics in the middle ages, and one of the modes adopted by them for the instruction of the<people, in the place of the bible, was writing and exhibiting religious dramas ; these being founded on scripture narratives, or
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