their fleets were very numerous, King Richard the First's fleet, when he went on his expedition to the Holy Land, consisted of thirteen ships of the largest kind, with three masts, and without oars, one hundred and fifty of the second rate large vessels with three masts fifty-three gallies, and a great number of tenders. The English ships, as well as sailors, were much admired by every nation in Europe, and at this time the commerce of England, was greatly enlarged. Language.-The Normans having obtained complete possession of England, soon attempted an alteration in language, the conquest could not be considered complete, unless the language of the conquerer, which was the French and Franco Gallic was introduced, and accordingly, all his acts, edicts, pleadings, diplomas, &c. were ordered by him to be written in that language. ex But his attempts were unsuccessful, and from this cause, the number of Normans who accompanied him were tremely small in comparison with the native English or Anglo Saxons, and, consequently, before they could effect any change in the English language, they forgot their own. This, however, did not prevent a great number of French words being introduced into the English language, and many English words becoming obsolete. Hence, the English which was afterwards spoken, and still continues to be spoken, is a mixture of the ancient Saxon and Norman French, together with such new and foreign words as commerce and learning have in the progress of time introduced. About the year 1160, in the reign of Henry the Second, near which time the language began to assume a form, in which the present English may be discovered; the Lord's Prayer was translated by Pope Adrian IV. as follows, and sent into England: Ure Fader in heaven rich, Evar in yearth beene it also, Amen. The following example of the early Norman Saxon, is a charter which was granted to the citizens of London, by William the First, viz. Williem, King, grets Williem Bisceop and Godfred Por terefan, and calle ya Burghwarn binnen London Frencisco, and Englise frendlice, and ic kiden coy, yeet ic wille yeet git fen ealra Jagay weord, ye get weeran on Eadwerds daege kings. And ic will yeet aelc child by his fader yrfnurne, aefter his faders daege. And ic nelle ge wolian, yeet aenig man coy aenie wrang beode: God coy heald." PROGRESS OF KNOWLEDGE. INTRODUCTORY SKETCH. 1216 to 1399. IT has been already seen in the last period, that the papal power and pretensions had arisen to an astonishing height, and that they had no where been greater or more successful than in England. It is astonishing, after such examples as Henry the Second and John, that the sovereigns not only of England but of Europe, did not come to a firm determination of abridging the vast power, and checking the extravagant claims of the Roman pontifs; but instead of this, they and their adherents still continued to exercise the greatest oppressions and extortions, and met with little opposition. One proof out of numbers, that might be offered, of the unbounded avarice of the court of Rome, is the methods adopted by them to raise sums of money in this country. Pope Alexander the Fourth issued an ordinance, in the beginning of this period, in which all the bishops, abbotts, and priors were ordererd to accept certain bills which were already drawn for large sums of money, and payable at a stated time.. It was in vain for those prelates to remonstrate or resist; the bills were presented, and they were compelled to pay them. This iniquitous transaction happened in the year 1255, in the reign of Henry the Third. The beginning of this period unfortunately was remarkable, for the infatuation which possessed the nation. It was con sidered an unpardonable crime for any of the laity to deviate from that passive submission to ecclesiastical authority, in which they had long been held; they were taught to pay implicit faith to the clergy, and were considered as indispensably bound to avoid all inquiry into the established doctrines. It might be thought wonderlul, that a nation possessed of principles and knowledge, should suffer their understandings to be thus enslaved; but this may in some degree be accounted for, if we consider that few laymen received any education, while learning was confined to clergymen, the former were not considered by their situation as adapted to letters and knowledge, and a strict conformity to what they were enjoined by their priests and pastors, was considered as their principal duty; some of the laity began, indeed, to emerge from their igno, rance and blind submission to ecclesiastical authority, but these were very few. In the depth of this gloom, two lights arose that pierced through the clouds of darkness that surrounded them. These were Grostest and Bacon, the one a bishop, the other a franciscan friar; the former had in this age of darkness discovered many of the defects in the ecclesiastical system, and had the courage to resist with invincible spirit, the insolent claims of the church of Rome. The latter was in every respect the luminary of his age. Yet his worth could not be comprehended by his cotemporaries. But though his writings were condemned to obscurity industriously decried, and long kept in concealment. Yet this could not prevent, the subjects on which his amazing abilities had been employed from being known, though the people were ignorant of his numerous performances. The persecution he underwent, had occasioned those admirers of his surprizing talents, to enquire why a man of such eminent virtue and piety, and to whom the world owed so many obligations, should have fallen under the severest displeasure of the church, and should have been so inhumanly treated by the heads of it, and caused them to suspect, that his persecution, had been caused by envy of his merit, and a dread that his magnanimity and courage, might prompt him to expose their ignorance, and impositions on the credulity of mankind. It was well known that he dared to lay his sentiments on the abuses of the church, even before the pontiff. His friendship and connection with the illustrious Grostest, was also well remembered, and made it probable that their sentiments, on the subject of ecclesiastical corruptions, were similar. The people, though they were unable to profit by his lessons, through the depression they were kept in by the clergy, still knew that he disapproved of many of their proceedings, and that that was one cause of his imprisonment, and his persecution made a silent but a lasting impression upon the people of England. Such were the sentiments of the greater part of the nation, at the death of Henry the third, at which period the powers of sound sense, seem to have made great advances among mankind. At the same time, though the state of knowledge was fluctuating and declined in some degree; yet, on the whole the circle of the sciences was enlarged, and some of them were considerably improved. It must not be forgotten that the absurdities, which went by the name of philosophy and had been so detrimental to true science, had lost much of their credit. Edward the First, the monarch who succeeded Henry, was peculiarly suited to the temper of his people, with regard to papal power; and he soon discovered the necessity of setting bounds to that power. As a general, he was one of the most illustrious of the English monarchs, and his courage he had sufficiently displayed in the crusade he headed to Palestine. But he was above all illustrious as a legislator, his statute of Mortmain, is enough to establish his character in this respect. So many excellent laws, here enacted in the course of his long reign, and the attention he paid to the welfare of his people, have procured him, deservedly, the name of the Justinian of England. The whole of his regulations; in short for the inK |