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LITERATURE
the holy scriptures." To Daniel, bwhop of Winchester, he addresses a request to send him the Book of the PropheU, " for," says he, " I can find no book like it in this country." In other letters also, he begs for books, especially those of Bede, whom he styles the Lamp of the Church.— J/Wner** Hitt. of the Church of Christ.
Boniface, in one of his epistles, observes, " that drunkenness was so common in his time, that even thebishops, instead of preventing, were themselves partakers in it: and not content with this, com- pelled others to drink from large cups till they also became inebriated."
Boniface gives this intimation in his epistle to the abb^ Eadburga: " I entreat you," says he, " to send me the Epistles of the Apostle of St. Peter, written in letters of gold, that by exhibit- ing them, in preaching, to the eyes of the carnal, I may procure the greater honour and reverence for the noly scriptures."
This expensive and magnificent mode of writing in gold, was appropriated chiefly to those copies designed for princes or nobles; hence Theonas admonishes Lucian, the grand chamberlain, not to permit copies to be written upon purple vellum, in gold or silver letters, unless especially required by the prince. It was also principally confined to the transcription of the sacred books, which were thus executed to induce the greater reverence for them. Princes sometimes caused their usual boohs of prayer to be written in this manner; such, for instance, is the beautiful one written in letters of gold, upon purple vellum, bound in ivory, studded with gems, preserved in the celebrated Colbertine library, formerly belonging to Charles the Bald. It was not only by the chrysographie mode of writing, that the ancient Ctiristians ornamented their manuscript copies of the scriptures, they also frequently embellished them, at an immense expense, with minatures and other paintings, collectively termed illuminations.
768. Ambrosius Autpert, a Benedictine monk, sent his Exposition of the Book of Revelation to Pope Stephen III., and begged that he would publish the work and make it known. On this occasion, he says expressly, that he is the first writer whoever requested such a favour; that liberty to write belongs to every one who does not wish to depart fiom the doctrine of the fathers of the church; and he hopes that this freedom will not be lessened on account of his voluntqry submission.
781. The Comnumdments, Apostles' Creed, and Lord^s Prater, translated into the Saxon language.
790. There is a curious charter of Charle- magne's, to the abbots and monks of Sithen, by which he grants them an unlimited right of hunt- ing, on condition that the skins of the deer they killed should be used in making them gloves and girdles, and covers for their books. In the middle ages books were usually bound by monks. There were also trading binders, called ligatores, and persons whose sole business it was to sell covers. Wliite sheep-skin, pasted on a wooden board, sometimes overlapping the leaves, and fastened
with a metal cross, was the common kind of binding. It was deemed the duty of the saciists, in particular, to bind and clasp the books.
791. Two Irishmen, going into France, were there admired for their incomparable learning, and gave birth to the two first universities in the world, namely, those of Paris, and Pavia.
794, June 29. The death of Offa, a powerful English king. He corresponded in flattering terms with Charlemagne, and fixed a seal to his charters.
The origin of the Sacred Comedy, may be traced to this century, when, it is known, that trade was principally carried on by means of fairs, which lasted several days. Charlemagne established many great marts of this sort in France, as did William I. and his Norman successors in England. The merchants who frequented these fairs, in numerous caravans or companies, em- ployed every art to draw the people together. They were, therefore, accompanied by jugglers, minstrels, and buffoons, who were no less inter- ested in giving their attendance, and exerting aU their skill on these occasions. As, at this time, but few large towns existed, no public spectacles or popular amusements were established; and as the sedentary pleasures of domestic life and pri- vate society were yet unknown, the fair time was the season for diversion. In proportion as these shows were attended and encouraged, they began to be set off with new decorations and improve- ments; and the arts of buffoonery being rendered still more attractive, by extending their circle of exhibition, acquired an importance in the eyes of the people. By degrees the clergy observing that the entertainments of dancing, music, and mimicry, exhibited at the protracted annual fairs made the people less religious by promoting idle- ness and a love of festivity, proscribed these sports and excommunicated the performers. But finding that [no regard was paid to their censures, they changed their plan, and determined to take these recreations into their own hands. They turned actors; and instead of profane mummeries pre- sented stories taken from legends or the bible. — The death of St. Catherine, acted by the monks of St. Dennis, rivalled the popularity of the pro- fessed players. Music was admitted into the churches, which served as theatres for the repre- sentation of these religious farces. The festivals among the French, called the Feast of Fools, — of the Ass, — and of Innocents, at length became greater favourites, and they certainly were more capricious and absurd, than the interludes of the buffoons at the&irs. — Warton's Hist, of Poetry.
Butler, in his Lives of the Saints, observes, uat in the beginning of the ninth century, no fewer tlian seven thousand students visited the schools of Armagh, in Ireland, while there were three more rival colleges in other cities, with manv private seminaries in the remoter provinces. And Camden conjectures, that the Anglo-Saxons borrowed their letters from the Irish, because they used the same, or nearly the same which the Irish at this day, still make use of, in writing their own language.
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