Anselm, born in Piedmont in 1034, Prior of Bec in Normandy, and, at the time of his death, Archbishop of Canterbury, was the true metaphysician of this epoch. He was called the second Saint Augustine, and his writings achieved a remarkable progress. To him is accredited the argument, which draws from the idea alone of an absolute maximum of greatness, of beauty, and of goodness, the demonstration of the existence of its object, which can be only God. This was doubtless inspired by the genius of Christian idealism, and was so effectively elaborated by Saint Anselm that it is supposed to have extended its influence even down to Leibnitz and Descartes. Another beautiful classic spirit, who struggled and triumphed in the midst of mediæval gloom was Abelard. Born near Nantes, in 1079, and having acquired all the strength that could be furnished by provincial knowledge, he went to Paris, where from a pupil he soon became a rival of the most renowned masters, and thenceforth for a long time in dialectics ruled supreme. He attracted such multitudes of scholars from all parts of Europe, that, as himself said, the hotels were neither sufficient to contain them, nor the ground to nourish them. He moved the church and the state, eclipsed Roscellinus and Champeaux, having Arnold of Brescia among his friendly disciples, and a powerful adversary in the great Bernard. We are told that this "Bossuet of the twelfth century" was handsome, was a poet, and musician. He wrote songs which amused the refined, gave lectures which absorbed the profound, and both as canon and professor, was regarded with the most absolute devotion by that noble creature, Heloise, who loved like Theresa the saint. As a hero who was active to reform abuses and wise to enlighten barbarism, the chief of an advancing school, and the martyr of exalted opinions, Abelard was indeed an extraordinary personage.