the despotism of the sword, whilst her secular clergy acted, governed, and preserved external order. In this century St. Remus preached with a classic purity, and Avitus of Vienne, the Milton of the Church, sang of the creation and the fall in the thrilling accents of genius. In this period appeared Cesarius of Arles, Gregory of Tours, and Fortunatus of Poitiers, whose learning shed a light upon their age, and whose works marked the birth of a new literature purely ecclesiastical. The learning and sanctity of our own Church relieved the darkness of the seventh century. Columbanus awakened a new spirit in the French Church, he arrested the march of barbarism in southern Germany, and perpetuated the study of antiquity among his numerous disciples. The eighth century marked a new era in letters; Charlemagne and the Church vied with each other; Bede and Bennett adorned England; the Carlovingian schools were organized under the genius of Alcuin, and over the wide dominions of Charlemagne an impulse was given to learning which was felt for centuries. By her Popes, her councils, and her bishops, the Church ever laboured to diffuse knowledge amongst her people. With a willing obedience her monastic institutions responded to her call, and during the eleventh and twelfth centuries awakened a literary activity from the Tiber to the Atlantic. The wonders of the press were yet unknown, but the simple, learned, and laborious monk plied his daily task, and rivalled the press in the extent, variety, and beauty of his labours. These venerable institutions, so often the scorn of the ignorant, were rapidly multiplied over the whole continent of Europe; Clugny and Citeaux spring into life, and each becomes a school of knowledge, a centre of civilization, and a prolific nursery of saintly and learned men. Let the sceptic on this point read Mabillon's book on monastic studies, in reply to De Rancé, the venerable Abbot of La Trappe; let him examine the collection of manuscripts found in the eight hundred monasteries visited by Martini in his literary tours; let him look at the contents of the fourteen volumes folio, compiled by Martini and the illustrious band who accompanied him in his antiquarian researches through the monasteries of central Europe; let him glance at the Titan labours of Mabillon, Montfaucon, and the Benedictines of St. Maur; and then let him dilate on the stupidity and ignorance of the monks of the "dark ages". Thus, by the zeal of the Church, and her monks and her missioners, the Christian faith was again spread over Europe, Saxon England was reconquered to the Church, Clovis and his people entered her fold, Germany was won over to her empire, and the fierce children of the north everywhere bowed to her yoke. Their minds, filled with the dim shadows of their native traditions and the bloody deeds of their ancestors, became awakened to all the beauties of Christianity; they yielded to the softening influence of the more genial climate of their