THE MIDDLE AGES — PROGRESS OF FREEDOM

From The History of England.

Those who cast their eye on the general revolutions of society, will find that, as almost all improvements of the human mind had reached nearly to their state of perfection about the age of Augustus, there was a sensible decline from that point or period ; and men thenceforth gradually relapsed into ignorance and barbarism. The unlimited extent of the Roman Empire, and the consequent despotism of its monarchs, extinguished all emulation, debased the generous spirits of men, and depressed the noble flame by which all the refined arts must be cherished and enlivened. The military government which soon succeeded, rendered even the lives and properties of men insecure and precarious ; and proved destructive to those vulgar and more necessary arts of agriculture, manufacture, and commerce ; and in the end, to the military art and genius itself, by which alone the immense fabric of the empire could be supported. The irruption of the barbarous nations which soon followed, overwhelmed all human knowledge, which was already far in its decline ; and men sunk every age deeper into ignorance, stupidity, and superstition; till the light of ancient science and history had very nearly suffered a total extinction in all the European nations. (david hume.)

(h) Comment Madame de Staël répond-elle à la question qu'elle se pose dans ce chapitre 1

(c) Madame de Staël dit en parlant de l'Angleterre : ' Faites de ce pays un camp, et bientôt après une cour, et vous verrez sa misère et son abaissement.' Développer ces paroles d'une façon générale.

Printed by T. and A. Constable, Printers to His M^esty

at the Edinburgh University Press