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again extended to the Euphrates. At home they cultivated with fuccefs, learning, the arts, and fciences; and France, Germany, England, or even Italy itself, had nothing to bring into competition with the commoneft fpecimen of Grecian genius. Excellence could affume no form to prefent itself to the eye or the ear, the imagination or the judgment, in .which they did not poffefs an illuftrious fuperiority. This was molt ftriking in the literary department. Learning was not only the pleafing occupation of private leifure; hut the best recommendation to public notice, the furent paffport to honour. The family on the throne were not merely eminent patrons of learning, but might be numbered amongst its profeffors; and though the appearance of Anna Comnena at the bar of criticism may perhaps have foftened its verdict, pofterity has fympa thifed with the daughter and applaud. ed the hiftorian.

But to do the Crufaders juftice, they were by no means infenfible of the advantages thus offered. Conftantinople had fo many charms, and religion and juftice impofed fo few reftraints, that they determined on the opening of the fourth Crufade to take poffeffion of it themselves. They were more fuccessful againft their al lies than their enemies; the city was taken, and the Popes, equally able to follow or to guide events, were foon-difpofed to trace the hand of Heaven in this almoft miraculous change of government, and faw, with fecret pleasure, an obedient fon afcend the throne of an infidious friend or an implacable enemy.

It must be admitted, that fixty years poffeffion of this noble city was a period long enough for its conquerors to have made themfelves mafters, not only of its wealth and power, but in fome refpects of its learning and tafte. Improvement in fome fhape or other could not be avoided.

Benjamin of Tudella in Navarre, a Jew phyfician, and one of the first European travellers, who penetrated without a fword in his hand into the Eaft, vifited Conftantinople, about forty years before the fourth Crufade; and he tells us that it fwarmed with fhips from every country, and exhibited on every fide proofs of affluence and fplendour; at a period, we may add, when Paris and London were little better than ftraggling villages, where a modern farm-house would have formed a luxurious refidence.

I do not, however, infist that much literary improvement was derived from this intercourfe. The Franks then too much resembled the Arabians who conquered under Omar; and the libraries of Conftantinople might have fhared the fame fate as that of Alexandria, if the fame fummons had been given to devaftation. But intercourfe, and frequent intercourfe there muft have been between the rulers and the fubjects; of two languages, one must neceffarily have become more common; the manners, the tafte, and the knowledge of each must have been developed; and ge nuine merit wants nothing but time to fecure its afcendancy. It is this predominance which converts the Tartar into a Chinese, and which, if it did not make the Frank a Greek, communicated an impreffion of Greek fuperiority, and excited a wish of rifing above the mediocrity of their own pretentions.

In the polite arts the Greeks had been for fome time flationary, perhaps retrograde; but they poffelfed, and might have ufed, fome of the moft finished productions of antiqui ty. Thefe filent memorials, aided by the fplendour of their court and the luxury of their capital, kept attention awake, and prevented the ftagnation of genius. Of thefe models of elegance, and of their extenfive and exquifite manufactories, a

valuable

valuable catalogue was exhibited at this very period, and was converted by the barbarifm of the Franks into a lift of loffes. But enough was left to roufe emulation from its flumber, and the artist was presented on all fides with famples of elegance and incitements to excellence. The painter, the sculptor, the ftatuary, or such at least as had thofe difpofitions dormant in them, might find admirable copies, or tolerable masters. The rude architect of the Weft, whofe beft efforts had been confined to a maffy baronial cattle, could not view without admiration and improvement that variety of edifices, in which fplendour, elegance, and convenience, were united. And even the mecha. nical artist might learn in the commodioufnefs of oriental inventions how at once to fpare time and expence, and add to comfort. To their decided skill in the arts, a compliment and a tribute had been paid by the third Abdalrhaman, the most magnificent of the Spanish Ommiades, in drawing from this country thofe artists who were employed to embellifh his own. But it is unneceffary to infift on thefe points, fince no truth was ever felt more fenfibly by the fpectators; and the Latin hiftorians of the Crusade seem loft in

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Damafcus had been the feat of government of the Ommiades, and at the period of this invafion retained a real or a fancied pre-eminence. Of the Caliphs of Bagdad many were fcholars, and moft of them patrons. Not only their courts were crowded with learned men ; but every branch of their power, their governors and emirs, even the rivals of their arms, the very fubverters of their empire in Egypt, Africa, and Spain, collected men of genius under the standard of their patronage. The Turks themfelves, introduced into the Arabian armies, like the Goths and the Huns into thofe of Rome, more easily affumed the mould of the national character; and even that ruder tribe, whofe violence and exactions forced Europe into arms, foon infenfibly coalefced with the predominant temper of the country.

It was the fuc

ceffors of Zingis Khan who fwept away before them, like a tempeft, every memorial of learning and the arts.

STATEMENT OF THE GENERAL AND PARTICULAR ADVANTAGES OF THE CRUSADES TO CIVILIZATION AND LEARNING.

T

From the Same.

HESE advantages may be fhort ly and distinctly exhibited under an arranged view.

1. Commercial. With the exception of Italy, Europe was very ill informed of the true nature of commerce. Nations which poffeffed the most valuable staple materials haftened to difpofe of them to the best bidder, and contentedly bought them back, when manufactured, at the moft exorbitant rate. This implies

a fuperior knowledge in one of the parties; and when that knowledge happened to be equal, a hafty barter, on the principle of inftant relief, conftituted the practice of European trade. The moft inattentive obfervers must have remarked a material difference in the ideas and practice of the Orientals; they could not but bé ftruck with the eilablishment, the procefs, and the use of manufac tures. They muft have obferved the

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accumulated benefits of an extenfive navigation, and the affluence and luxury imparted by a fuccefsful commerce. Of what they faw fomething was out of their reach, but much was left to imitate and make their own, much to excite their hopes and ftimulate their diligence. The poffeffion and the ufe of the filk-worm and the fugar cane, thofe neceffaries in an age of luxury, might perhaps, in a defponding moment, be deemed hopeless and unattainable; but in the extenfion and divifion of their manufactures they would trace and acquire a thoufand ufeful novelties and important fecrets. The conItruction of the windmill was.a fcientific operation, its use was an obvious bleffing, its invention was an honour to the East, and its importer into Europe a benefactor to the fpecies. Were the advantages of the Crufades confined only to the points we have just enumerated, who will deny that fome reparation was already made for the lavish facrifice of property and life?

2. Geographical.-Without travelling and actual obfervation, the science of geography can make no advances, and of this advantage the crufaders had full enjoyment. The generality of Europe was totally and deplorably ignorant of the relative fituation of countries and towns beyond the parrow confines of their own perfonal furvey; and even those who led the forces of Chriftendom to the conqueft of Afia knew little of the great outlines of its extent, and ftill less of its divifion into principalities and ftates. When they fet their foot in Paleftine they expected to find every place mentioned in fcripture with the fame cafe as a modern city in the territory of their neighbours; and those who profeffed a greater accuracy trufted to traditional reports, or decided from the erroneous ftate ment of the ancient geographers. They had now opportunities of in

formation prefented to them which they dared not to neglect. Their immediate wants, their perfonal safety, the fecurity of their armies, these obliged them to explore the course of rivers, to trace the extent of mountains, to mark the boundaries and bearings of provinces. This ignorance had been in a variety of inftances fatal in the firit Crufade, when Babylon was fometimes fuppofed to be the Bagdad of one caliph, and fometimes the Grand Cairo of another; cities built ages after its deftruction. The knowledge thus dearly acquired, and deeply impreffed, was not merely of local and temporary use, but was treasured up for information and detail, enabled future obfervers to make a further progrefs, and laid the foundation of the revival of this fcience with those use. ful improvements it has fince received.

3. Military. The reader may perhaps fmile at the idea of military attainments having any connexion with the interefts of learning. But he will admit that an enlarged know. ledge of this art has a tendency to diminish the horrors of war; that engagements happen feldomer, and are more decifive; and that those cities now cheerfully fubmit to a pecuniary compofition which might formerly have shared the calamity of a general maffacre. Befides, tactics are the direct fruit of fcience; the beft mathematician must be the best engineer of the rudeft artillery, and probably the beft general. It is certain that the military student of the twelfth century could not find a better fchool than Palestine. In the phyfical quality of courage, both parties might probably be equal; but in order, arrangement, and difcipline, the Orientals then boasted and enjoy. ed a fuperiority, the confequence of their fuperior fcience, which time, from the fame cause, has at last tranf. ferred to the nations of the Welt.

That

enlarged the circle of their military knowledge, may be proved from their adoption of the feu gregois of the Greeks, fo terrifying in its forms and effects to many of the French cavaliers. Prejudice was no obstacle to their improvement, and they were glad to learn from their enemies the arts of deftruction. It is curious to observe a yet subfifting proof of the dread the rival combatants alternately excited. Those monstrous heads which frown upon us from our village fign-pofts, and terrify our children, are the traditional, but exaggerated tranfcripts of the crufaders feelings. On the other hand, the prowess of our Richard Cœur de Lioff has become proverbial in the Eaft; his name ftil filences the unruly child better than manual correction; and the rider of a starting horse alks the animal whether he fees Richard in a bush?

That the Saracens very diligently but faithful touchftone of the merits of the Afiatic and the English hero. Other virtues were exemplified in his perfon; and though moral perfection exifts only in a picture of the imagination, the life of Saladin exhibited a character which his rivals would have done well to imitate, and which would not have difgraced the afpirants after Chriftian excellence. The virtues and good qualities of a chief are not a proof, but they may be confidered as a prefumption, that his troops, in fome refpects, participate his merits; more particularly in fluctuating governments, where valour or policy confers the king's or the leader's title. In hereditary ftates a paffive fubmiffion to authorifed fucceffions is expected and enforced; and no judgment can be formed of the general character of the subjects. But where the people confer the diadem, they canvafs the merits, and decide the claims of the rival candidates, and, in a diftant degree, may be fuppofed to poffefs fome of the requifites and qualities they approve.

But in the midst of war our adventurers had an opportunity of learning fomething more valuable than military fkill. At the head of the Saracens, in the third Crufade, we find Saladin, before whose name and merits the pretenfions of Philip, and even the renown of Richard himfelf, fade away. He appears to have poffeffed fome literature, and more fcience, and in the progrefs of his conquests respected the arts. His virtues afforded a noble fubject of European imitation, whofe importation might have foftened the ferocious fpirit of the countries they had left behind them. Whilft he practifed towards himself the restraint and abftinence of an afcetic, towards others his indulgence and liberality were unbounded; and the far-famed Oriental virtue of generofity was even furpaffed in his example. His clemency was as confpicuous as Cæfar's, and is certainly much lefs fufpicious. Their conduct at the refpective fieges of Acres and Jerufalem is a fevere, Ed. Mag. May 1799.

4. Political.-It may feem odd to refer to the Eaft for political advantages, but facts will speak beft for themfelves.

I know that almost as far back as history extends, a defpotic tyranny difgraces the Oriental annals, and I am aware that when the Arabians adopted the philofophy and science of the Greeks, they could not grafp their generous love for freedom. At the time of the Crufades no improvement in the principle had taken place, but experience had confiderably mellowed the practice; the deformity of defpotism was veiled by an impofing appearance, and a ready execution of the will of government, and a well-regulated police were ftriking novelties for the European vifitant. If thefe did not go the length of recommending an arbitrary power, they would fhew the utility of ftrengthening the hands of the monarch, and strike at the Xx

root

root of those lawless ariftocracies which fpread confufion and terror over Europe. Philofophic minds might rife to the superior skill of deducing the poffible exiftence of a limited monarchy, in which the power of the fovereign fhould coalefce with the dignity of the noble and the freedom of the people; the most unphilofophic would be forced upon obfervations that paved the way for wholesome maxims and reasonable principles of government. Speculation might extend thefe probabilities further; but it is at leaft certain that the affize of Jerufalem, which, as a fyltem of government crowned the military toils of Godtrey of Bouillon, was established at the clote of the first Crusade, and was obviously superior, on the ground of wisdom and liberty, to any form of government then exifting in the Weft. It is likewife equally certain, that though no produce of Oriental wifdom, it was firft familiarifed to European eyes in the latitude of Paleftine. Whatever it was, and with whatever advantages attended, it owes its existence entirely to the Crusades.

To

Crufades, in a political view, have
never been difputed. They may be
traced in the difperfion of the over-
grown ariftocratical fortunes, and
the increase of the monarchical pre-
rogative. They appear in the def
truction of those ideas which con-
founded man with a beast of burden;
in the emancipation of predial flaves,
and the growing independence of the
feudatory tenants; in the enlarged
jurifdiction of cities and towns, and
the establishment of civil and political
rights by the folemnities of public
grants and recorded charters.
the Crufades it was owing that at
laft, through the perplexed and la
boured fyftem of feudal tyranny, the
rights of man appear, and from this
period the dawn of a rational and
dignified freedom. ftrikes upon the
hiftoric obferver. It is here he finds
fomething that may atone for the
mischief of this knight-errantry of
two centuries, fomething that calls
upon those who hold, that in every
age and country liberty has ever been
the beft ally of learning, to own,
with gratitude, the influence of the
Crufades on this honourable and im-

At home the good effects of the portant connexion.

ACCOUNT OF THE CARRON FOUNDERY *.

[From M. Saint Fond's Travels in England and Scotland:]

FROM Edinburgh to Carron are in company with Dr Swediaur, at fix

reckoned twenty-fix miles; but the road is excellent. Count Andreani, Thornton, and my felf, fet out

in the morning. We did not alight till we reached Linlithgow; where we took fome refreshment. We then proceeded

This foundery is fituate two miles north of Falkirk in Scotland, on the banks of the river Carron, three miles above its entry into the Frith of Forth. Above an hundred acres of land have been converted into refervoirs and pools, for water diverted from the river, by magnificent dams built about two miles above the works, which after turning eighteen large wheels for the feveral purposes of the manufacture, fall into a tide-navigation that conveys their caftings to the fea.

Thefe works are the greateft of the kind in Europe, and were established in 1760. At prefent, the buildings are of vaft extent: and the machinery, conftructed by Mr Smeaton, is the fift in Britain, both in elegance and correctnefs; there are 16c0 men employed, to whom is paid weekly above 650l. fterling; which has greatly enriched the adjoining country: 6500 tons of iron are fmelted annually from the mineral with pit-coal, and caft into cannon, cylinders, &c. In the founding of cannon, thefe works have lately arrived at fuch perfection, that they make above 5000

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