survives himself for the benefit of posterity. The union and
stability of his empire depended on the life of a single man: he
imitated the dangerous practice of dividing his kingdoms among
his sons; and after his numerous diets, the whole constitution
was left to fluctuate between the disorders of anarchy and
despotism. His esteem for the piety and knowledge of the clergy
tempted him to intrust that aspiring order with temporal dominion
and civil jurisdiction; and his son Lewis, when he was stripped
and degraded by the bishops, might accuse, in some measure, the
imprudence of his father. His laws enforced the imposition of
tithes, because the daemons had proclaimed in the air that the
default of payment had been the cause of the last scarcity. ^101
The literary merits of Charlemagne are attested by the foundation
of schools, the introduction of arts, the works which were
published in his name, and his familiar connection with the
subjects and strangers whom he invited to his court to educate
both the prince and people. His own studies were tardy,
laborious, and imperfect; if he spoke Latin, and understood
Greek, he derived the rudiments of knowledge from conversation,
rather than from books; and, in his mature age, the emperor
strove to acquire the practice of writing, which every peasant
now learns in his infancy. ^102 The grammar and logic, the music
and astronomy, of the times, were only cultivated as the
handmaids of superstition; but the curiosity of the human mind
must ultimately tend to its improvement, and the encouragement of
learning reflects the purest and most pleasing lustre on the
character of Charlemagne. ^103 The dignity of his person, ^104
the length of his reign, the prosperity of his arms, the vigor of
his government, and the reverence of distant nations, distinguish
him from the royal crowd; and Europe dates a new aera from his