That much land was waste and loosely occupied, we may infer from the fact, that many years afterwards, Charlemagne transplanted, at once, ten thousand Saxons, and fixed them in his own territories.

75. What may have been the original intention of these barbaric laws?

That they were designed to exhibit to contending individuals, what might be considered a reasonable means of terminating their quarrels; what the one ought to offer, the other to accept.

76. As kings gained authority, were they and their officers able to enforce their own regulations?

Efforts to do this, and the power of doing it, are apparent in the subsequent codes. But the disposition to revenge their own affronts and injuries, is so natural to men who comprehend every merit in the virtue of personal courage, that centuries elapsed, before our rude forefathers could be brought to accept any decision in their quarrels, but that of their swords.

77. Do these codes, and the account Tacitus gives of the Germans, mutually confirm and illustrate each other?

The description Tacitus furnishes of their assemblies, agrees with the preface of the Salique law, and the accounts of the other codes; and on the whole, the system of legislation among these northern nations must be considered as originally of a very popular

nature.

78. May a variety of conclusions be drawn from these laws, which relate to the manners and situation of the nation?

We may reason thus: he who stole a knife was to be fined fifteen solidi; but though he stole as much flax as

he could carry, he was only fined three; therefore iron was difficult to procure, or its manufacture not easy. The fertility of the land had done more for these Franks, than their own patience or ingenuity.

79. May we argue in a similar manner that the progress of agriculture and of society was very incomplete ?

A

In the petty felonies, we find mentioned that of "ploughing and sowing another man's land." strange offence, and the supposition is unfavourable; for the owner must either have been too negligent, at too great a distance, or too feeble to take care of his property. And there probably existed wandering savages or settlers, resembling the American "squatters" of the present day, a species of human locusts that take possession of a piece of land, without asking leave of any one, and remain there till they rove away in search of a better, or are driven off by the owner.

80. May the respective states of the barbarians and Romans be traced in these laws?

Yes, he who killed a Frank, was fined two hundred solidi; he who killed a Roman only one hundred. We may reasonably conclude that the Romans were in a state of depression, or that the value of their lives was estimated at a degraded rate by the Franks.

81. Are the other codes similar in their nature to the Salique?

Generally, but all indicate a more advanced state of society.

82. What reason may be assigned for this?

The Burgundians, the Lombards, and the Visigoths had been more connected with the Romans, and their laws are therefore favourably distinguished from the codes of the more simple and rude barbarians.

CAPITULARIES.

83. What were the Capitularies?

29

Compositions divided into chapters, and attached to the barbaric codes.

84. By whom were these promulgated?

By the subsequent monarchs, Childebert, Clothaire, Carlomagne, and Pepin, but above all by Charlemagne : succeeding princes added others.

85. What at this time was the state of the conquered nation of the Romans?

They seem to have been allowed to live under their own laws, if they did not prefer the laws of the barbarian state to which they belonged. Their situation seems to have been marked by depression, but not to the extent that might have been expected.

86. Who was Mahomet?

An individual who started up amidst the deserts of Arabia, and persuaded his countrymen that he was the prophet of God.

87. Were the ancestors of Mahomet illustrious?

His pure and genuine nobility is proved by his descent from the tribe of Koreish, and the family of Hashem, the most illustrious of the Arabs; the princes of Mecca -and the hereditary guardians of the Caaba, the temple of the East.

88. Who were his parents?

Abdallah, the son of Abdol Motalleb and grandson of Hashem, the most beautiful of the Arabian youth, and Amina, of the noble race of the Zahrites.

89. On whom did the care of Mahomet devolve in his childhood?

After the death of his father, mother, and grandfather, the inheritance of the orphan, still an infant, was reduced to five camels, and an Ethiopian man-servant. The most powerful of his uncles, Abu Taleb, became his guide and guardian at home and abroad-in peace and war, until his marriage with Cadijah, a rich and noble widow of Mecca, which alliance restored the son of Abdallah to the rank and influence of his ancestors.

90. When did Mahomet assume the title of prophet? In the fortieth year of his

age.

91. Was the Arabian prophet distinguished by the beauty of his person?

His commanding presence, majestic aspect, piercing eye, gracious smile, and flowing beard; his countenance that painted every sensation of the soul, and his gestures that enforced each expression of the tongue, bespoke the orator who engaged on his side the affections of a public or private audience.

92. What was his natural character?

His manners were marked by the grave, ceremonious politeness of his country; attention to the powerful, and condescension to the poor. His frankness and affability concealed the artifice of his views. His memory was capacious and retentive, his wit social, his imagination sublime, his judgment clear, rapid, and decisive. He possessed courage of thought and action; and though his designs gradually expanded with his success, the first idea he entertained of his Divine mission, bears the stamp of an original and superior genius.

93. Was Mahomet an enthusiast, or, an impostor? Both, the characters are never long separated: enthusiasm naturally overrates its end, overvalues its

authority, and considers all means sanctified that can accomplish its purposes. Imposture is only one amongst others; and as it is the propensity of enthusiasm at the same time to overlook the distinctions of reason and propriety, what is and what is not imposture, is not always discerned; nor would be long regarded if it were.

94. How was Mahomet educated?

By the nobles of the land, in the purest dialect of Arabia; and the fluency of his speech was corrected and enhanced by the practice of discreet and seasonable silence. With the powers of eloquence, Mahomet was an illiterate barbarian, ignorant of the arts of reading and writing; confined within a narrow circle of existence, yet the book of nature and of man was open to his view, and political and philosophical observations are ascribed to the prophet. From his earliest youth Mahomet was addicted to religious contemplation, and his designs are often supposed to have originated early in life in a long, comprehensive and profound meditation on the situation of his countrymen, and the nations of the East.

95. Is this probable?

No: the founders of dynasties, the authors of revolutions, and the conquerors of the world, are men whose characters are formed, not only by original temperament and genius, but by situation and by the occasion; their ideas open with their circumstances, their ambition expands with their fortunes; they are gifted with the prophetic eye, that can see the moment that is pregnant with the future; they are distinguishable by the faculty that discerns what is really impossible, from what only appears to be so; they can avail themselves of the powers and capacities of every thing around them: the time, the place, the circumstances, the society, the nation,