Introduction--Decline of Literature in the latter Period of the Roman Empire--Its Causes--Corruption of the Latin Language--Means by which it was effected--Formation of new Languages--General Ignorance of the Dark Ages--Scarcity of Books--Causes that prevented the total Extinction of Learning--Prevalence of Superstition and Fanaticism--General Corruption of Religion--Monasteries--their Effects--Pilgrimages--Love of Field Sports--State of Agriculture--of Internal and Foreign Trade down to the end of the Eleventh Century--Improvement of Europe dated from that Age. 268 PART II. Progress of Commercial Improvement in Germany, Flanders, and England-- in the North of Europe--in the Countries upon the Mediterranean Sea-- Maritime Laws--Usury--Banking Companies--Progress of Refinement in Manners--Domestic Architecture--Ecclesiastical Architecture--State of Agriculture in England--Value of Money--Improvement of the Moral Character of Society--its Causes--Police--Changes in Religious Opinion --Various Sects--Chivalry--its Progress, Character, and Influence-- Causes of the Intellectual Improvement of European Society--1. The Study of Civil Law--2. Institution of Universities--their Celebrity-- Scholastic Philosophy--3. Cultivation of Modern Languages--Provençal Poets--Norman Poets--French Prose Writers--Italian--early Poets in that Language--Dante--Petrarch--English Language--its Progress--Chaucer--4. Revival of Classical Learning--Latin Writers of the Twelfth Century-- Literature of the Fourteenth Century--Greek Literature--its Restoration in Italy--Invention of Printing. 318 NOTES TO CHAPTER IX. 474 INDEX. 487 VIEW OF THE STATE OF EUROPE DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. CHAPTER VIII. PART III. THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION