Comprarás paraiso, ganerás salvacion, Dó son muchos dineros, es mucha bendicion, Yo vi en corte de Roma, dó es la santidat, Fasie muchos Priores, Obispos, et Abades, A los probres desian, que non eran letrados. * IZARN, a dominican monk, sung the praises of the Inquisition in verse. The following lines contain the As you declare you won't believe, 'tis fit that you should burn, And as your fellows have been burnt, that you should blaze in turn; And as you've disobey'd the will of God and of St. Paul, Which ne'er was found within your heart, nor pass'd your teeth at all, The fire is lit, the pitch is hot, and ready is the stake, That thro' these tortures, for your sins, your passage you may take.+ Besides the political writings we have just enumerated, which were chiefly on the side of innovation and change, there were others, in most of the countries of Europe, which discanted on the necessity and advantages of cultivating a conservative spirit, and endeavoured to prove that the existing forms of civil polity were the best that could be devised. These * Sanchez's Collection of early Castilian Poems, tom. 4. p. 76. See also McCrie's Reformation in Spain, p. 58. + Sismondi. Hist: of the Lit: of the South, vol. 1, p. 227. writings may be divided into two kinds;-the one confined their range of inquiry to the ordinary illustrations of the abstract principles of natural and civil law. These assumed all forms; from the ponderous folio, to the student's manual for collegiate purposes. The other species of political literature were of a controversial cast, and were called into existence by the general desire of the civil and clerical authorities of the day, to repress the spirit of heresy and reformation, in whatever quarter they made their appearance. The great mass of these several productions is only now to be found in the cloisters of religious establishments, and in great libraries on the continent; chiefly in Spain, Italy, and France. The majority of them are still in the shape of manuscripts, or belong to that class of books committed to the press, soon after the art of printing was discovered, and are now considered merely objects of literary curiosity. All such productions had, however, but a slender hold, even in their own day, on the general mind of political communities; partly from their abstract and recondite nature, and partly from being opposed to all wholesome and rational changes in the civil gvoernment of states. These two causes drove them into holes and corners, never again to see the light of day, save through the instrumentality of some modern devotees to blackletter gems, or typrographical rarities. We have already mentioned that the sacred scriptures had been, within the period of history we are now treating of, rendered into the popular languages of the people of Europe.* The general result of this * Juan 1. of Aragon, in Spain, published an edict, in 1233, prohibiting the use of the Old and New Testaments in the vernacular tongue, and com was not discernable for some time after this period. Limited, however, as the influence of this great movement must have been at first, still it powerfully awakened the curiosity and sympathies of the people; more deeply, indeed, than any profane writings could do. The translation of the Bible gave a weighty impulse and increased activity to mind and political reflexion, and penetrated the inert masses of ignorance and prejudice throughout the whole of the European continent. The shock was felt in every direction, and reverbrated from one kingdom to another with the force and rapidity of lightning. The abuses of centuries were laid bare to the eye of the world, and corruption and misrule toppled from their base. A knowledge of the Sacred book gave rise to a new class of political writers,-set apart by common consent, to inculcate certain doctrines,-to form a school-to promulgate a creed,-directed to a definite object, that of emancipating and elevating mankind. These writers concentrated their powers, and daily acquired wisdom in their use and direction. They mapped out the nations, and laboured incessantly among them, in diffusing their political and lofty philosophy of public right and expediency. Their views became continually more definite, compact, arranged, and complete; and the multitude were every way led to bow to their injunctions, and to acknowledge the potency of their manding all, whether laity or clergy, to give up to the legal authorities whatever books they might have of this kind, that they might be publicly burnt. Alfonso X., of Castile, took, however. a different view of this matter. He caused the Bible to be translated into Castilian: and a copy of it, bearing the date of 1260, is still preserved in manuscript in the library of the Escurial. Other ancient versions of the sacred volume are to be found in the Catalonian, and Castilian dialects, in manuscript, in the public libraries of France and Spain. influence. Mankind saw for the first time in their chequered history, a steady current of progression, the prevalence of general principles of action, and distinctly recognised a superintending and Divine mind, which guided and regulated the whole. The general translation of the Bible proved a mighty engine in the hands of those who had never once directed their thoughts to political principles and measures. It had for ages been a sealed book; a thing seldom seen, and only spoken of in whispers and surmises. Now, however, its secret springs were touched, and its treasures revealed to all indiscriminately. It developed the political lessons of divine teachers. It gave a mind and heart to the body politic. It imparted a unity of sentiment and feeling, not only among masses of men, but to the individual members of the domestic hearth and the rustic cottage. Controversies and discussions arose. They rested upon great and interesting questions,-questions indissolubly enterwoven with the loftiest powers and aspirations of the human intellect. The sacred truths sharpened the minds of men, even for the ordinary duties and struggles of life-and imparted to them an everliving desire to aid in their propagation, illustration, and defence. Men saw their singular and admirable adaptation to all races, climes, communities, and conditions. The Bible proved great and potent in the wastes and wildernesses of the world, as well as in the palaces of kings and nobles, or in the study of the philosopher. It was this universal aptitude to the political wants of the world, that made it eagerly hailed as the sheet-anchor of all true patriots and reformers. CHAPTER XX. ON THE OLD CHRONICLES, AND STATISTICAL WRITERS, FROM THE CHRISTIAN ERA, TO THE YEAR 1400. THE class of works included in this chapter, is an important one to the general and literary student of politics; inasmuch as he can, by this means, test abstract and speculative principles by facts and circumstances, and point out the several epochs or stages in the entire history of political literature itself. The chronicles and compilations of individual facts, were for many centuries the only materials or store-houses for both historians and politicians; and it is only in comparatively modern times that the minds of men have been carried beyond them, and have attempted, upon purely speculative grounds, to develope those leading principles of civil polity, on which all communities of mankind rest. Mere abstract principles of government, yield however, of themselves but little knowledge of a practical or available kind, unless they be supported and illustrated by a fair proportion of facts; and these can only be obtained through the medium of such works as are here enumerated. It is not our intention, nor is it consistent with the plan of this work, to go into the general merits of these several treatises. We shall have done all cl |