The other great influence which counteracted the feudal spirit from an earlier period, and mitigated its severities, was religion, or the Church. This was natural and inevitable; for the overwhelming influence of religion over the human mind in all ages and nations is the universal deduction of history. It appears to strike its root even the deeper, in proportion to the strength and ruggedness of the mind on which it operates, as plants are more luxuriant from the rankness of the soil where they grow. The fulminations of Sinai or the dulcet harps of Zion have seldom failed in moving the heart of man, and exciting its tenderest and best emotions. We find this verified even in the darkest times, and among the most ferocious nations. Clovis, Charlemange, and William of Normandy are magnificent illustrations. The first, from being one of the most ruthless and savage warriors and conquerors at the head of the Franks ever known in history, no sooner heard the preaching of the Gospel through the instrumentality of his wife Clotilda, than he immediately embraced its truths, and by the most abject humility and self-denying sacrifices for the remainder of his life endeavored to atone for his past cruelties. His great successor, Charlemange, less barbarous and with higher capabilities, at the head of his Germans vanquished continental Europe after innumerable and ferocious wars; yet succumbed his lofty spirit to the influence of Christianity, and prepared by his sword a way for its missionaries. We also find that William the Conqueror, by the deepest penitence and remorse, and by large munificence to the Church, sought to make recompense for the cruelties and excesses of his reign.