Dauphiné, the Lyonese, Franche-comté, Bresse, Bugey, and a part of
Savoy; the latter comprised the countries between Mount Jura and the
Pennine Alps, or the part of Switzerland between the Reus, the Valais,
and the rest of Savoy.

Such was the geographical state of Germany at the close of the
Carlovingian Dynasty.







I. 2.

_State of Literature in the time of Charlemagne_.


So far as Literature depends upon the favour of the monarch, no æra in
history promised more than the reign of Charlemagne. His education had
been neglected; but he had real taste for learning and the arts, was
sensible of their beneficial influence both upon the public and the
private welfare of a people; and possessed the amplest means of
encouraging and diffusing them; his wisdom would suggest to him the
properest means of doing it, and the energy of his mind would excite
him to constant exertions.

[Sidenote: I. 2. State of Literature in the time of Charlemagne.]