ferocity of the Danes were far more characteristic of their nation than either their learning or their arts for even those which are essential to life, are but indifferently cultivated by a people who neglect the more intellectual. Alike slothful and irritable in their dispositions, they could neither brook a continued industry, nor a confinement to one place; and in their ancient agriculture, they would cultivate different parts of the country, and then break up all, and make a new division of lands. But in general, they esteemed it effeminate to procure by their labour, that which they could achieve by their blood; and it was not until their conversion to Christianity, and the want of grain was felt in a land, where it constituted the principal part of their food and drink, that the evils of neglecting husbandry were perceived; but then the rich, the noble, and the free, were obliged personally to engage in its operations.

The other arts were also abandoned to the women who spun wool for their clothing, freed-men, the servile, and old men, who still preferred life to death. Their houses were erected near a spring, a wood, or an open field, and at a distance from any others; until towns were formed by building around a chieftain's castle, a temple, or a market. The best of their dwellings were only thick heavy pillars, united by boards, and covered with turf; though there sometimes existed a pride in having them of great extent, and adorned with lofty towers. A palace is recorded of 135 feet long; and the ceilings were frequently sculptured, with the memorable actions of the possessor or of his ancestors; for rude carving with the knife, seems to have been the principal and natural talent of the

Danes. They were not unskilled in numbers; and their maritime excursions gave them some knowledge of astronomy, in which they had names for the stars; as the Great Dog for the Greater Bear, Charles's Wain, for the Lesser one, and the Road of Winter for the Milky Way. Their year and calendar resembled those of the Saxons. Their Runic letters have been already referred to; and it seems not essential to notice any other features of the ancient Danes, because their general character may easily be gathered from the preceding particulars of the Britons and the Anglo-Saxons.

The Danish armour, was chiefly distinguished by a tunic with sleeves, a hood, and pantaloons covering the feet, all coated with steel lozenges; and a cone-shaped helmet. The Danish castles, consisted chiefly of round keeps, with low circular walls, standing on conical hills.

CHAPTER II.

LEARNING &C. FROM THE ARRIVAL OF THE NOR

MANS TO THE REFORMATION.

1. Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries.

It was not until the thirteenth century, that education and literature were established in Eng land, with any considerable degree of security or perfection. In the eleventh century, the schools of Oxford and Cambridge,―then called “Studia,' or Studies, for they were not styled Univesities, until the end of the following century-were successively burned and plundered by the Danes and Normans. The Domesday-book shows, that in 1086 there were only 243 inhabitants in Oxford, and in 1141 King Stephen reduced to ashes all which remained of the city; but in 1214 it had revived, so as to possess about 4000. Cambridge. was not less fortunate; but in the civil wars of John, it was exposed to, and suffered alike from the contending parties. There were, however, several other seminaries of learning in England, for almost every cathedral, convent and abbey, was a school; in which those who were to be monks were particularly instructed in the arts of writing and illuninating manuscripts; whilst in the larger eccle

siastical establishments were taught Rhetoric, Divinity, Physic, and the Civil and Canon Law. There were also academies instituted in the cities and great towns, as three "illustrious schools" at London, mentioned by Fitz-Stephen, and one at St Alban's, besides the Abbey. From these, and similar establishments, were supplied that famous body of ancient English historians, whose lives and labours, have been detailed in the Introduction to the former volume of this work; by which, also, much of the progress of the national literature has already been illustrated. The Latinity of the thirteenth century, may likewise be estimated by the notices of those writings; but it is probable, that literature had still to contend with the difficulty of procuring sufficient materials for writing. A kind of paper made from cotton, and thence called Charta Bombycina, had long been known; and about the commencement of the twelfth century, another sort began to be manufactured from linen rags; but in 1174, the value of books still continued so great, that Walter, Abbot of Westminster, gave to the monks of Dorchester for Bede's Homilies and St Austin's Psalter, twelve measures of barley, and a rich pall embroidered with a saintly history in silver. The University of Paris, appears to have been the favourite seminary of the Anglo-Normans, and it also seems to have been visited by the youth of all nations. Notwithstanding its follies and ill principles, it had some merit; and the authors of the twelfth century, call it "the City of Learning." The studies, however, were scarcely the most profitable; the principal being Aristotle's philosophy adapted to a system of Divinity. From this source emanated the

authors called schoolmen, whose commentaries on the Scripture were to display some abstract parts of it, which might give occasion to scholastic argument. Some of their questions were alike characterized by absurdity and blasphemy; and even the most harmless were such as-" Does the glorified body of Christ, whilst resident in Heaven, use a sitting or a standing posture ?"-" Is the body of Christ received at the sacrament dressed or undressed?"-" Were the clothes in which Christ appeared after his resurrection, real or imaginary?"-Such being too often the general education, it is scarcely surprising that even with so many opportunities of learning, the twelfth and thirteenth centuries were marked by decided ignorance and credulity, at least in the nobility who were devoted to war and manly sports; and in the servile who were doomed to increasing labour.

The despised and oppressed race of the Jews, had schools of their own in London, York, Lincoln, and several other cities where they were permitted to reside. Their most learned Rabbis officiated as teachers, and gave instruction in the Oriental languages, arithmetic and medicine; in which science they were particularly skilful, and were supposed considerably to excel the Christian physicians, being called in whenever any singular malady occurred. Their academies were characterized by an extraordinary liberality, though it possibly was forced, since they were open to all Christian children who could partake of their instruction.

There was but little alteration, in the language spoken in England, during the ninth and tenth cen