PROGRESS INTERRUPTED. 417 of taste and sensibility; never surely more so, than in the age of Raphael as well as Ariosto."* Literary societies for the promotion of learning were formed much later in Germany than in Italy and France. It was only in 1617, that the "Fruitful Society," the first that ever existed in Germany, was established at Weimar.† The example of Italy would have been in all probability much sooner followed, had not the Reformation engaged the public attention in other pursuits. The spirit of Reuchlin and of Erasmus had disappeared: their refined taste was superseded by that which Schlegel so happily designates the barbaro-polemic; and the result was the retarding of literary improvement in the deplorable manner which we have stated. From the dawn of the Reformation to the reign of Frederick the Great-a period of more than two hundred yearsGermany was behind the other principal countries of Europe in learning: it required full two hundred years for her to recover from the rude shock her literature had received from the hands of the reformers! In 1715, the great Leibnitz feelingly deplored this literary desolation of his country. He says in another place, that the relish for philosophical pursuits was so rare in Germany, "that he could not find any person in his country, who had a taste for philosophy and mathematics, and with whom he could converse."§ Even as late as 1808, Jacobi, another Protestant writer, draws a frightful picture of the moral and literary condition of the German Protestant universities during his time.|| Still, it is very common to find it boldly asserted from the pulpit and through the press, that the revival of letters in Europe was brought about by the Reformation! Nothing could be more unfounded in fact, and, indeed, more utterly * History of Literature, vol. i, p. 173, § 1. + Idem., vol. ii, p. 172. See his letter to M. Bignon, 22d June, 1715-Commercii Epist. Leib. Selecta Specimina.-Epist. xciv.-Apud Robelot. nitz. ¡ Letter to M. de Beauval-ibid. Ep. xxv. See his testimony in Robelot, p. 421, 422. absurd, than this assertion. To Italy, under the fostering protection of her Medici, her Gonzagas, her Estes, and, above all, of her Popes, and more especially of Nicholas V. and Leo X., do we in a great measure owe the revival of learning in Europe. All persons of any information admit this fact. Roscoe, an English Protestant, has written an extensive work to do honor to the pontificate of Leo X., which he proves to have been the golden age of learning.* Hallam also pays a splendid tribute to this second Augustan age of literature.† A light then shot up in Italy-in Rome its brightness was most dazzling-which illumined the whole world. Nor was this the first time that Rome had led the way in improvement and civilization. The literary impulse having been thus powerfully given, all Europe was rapidly advancing in learning. The progress was steady and healthy. On a sudden, the storm of the Reformation broke in upon the tranquillity of Europe, which was peacefully and calmly engaged in literary pursuits. The result was almost the same as that of violent and long-continued storm on a beautiful garden, fragrant with flowers and rich in fruits. The fruits of previous toil were rudely shaken down ere they had become mature; the flowers were blighted; and the garden was changed into a desert!-If literature was still preserved, it was in spite of the Reformation. The usual argument of those who maintain that the Reformation was the cause of the literary resurrection of Europe, is founded on a comparison of the condition of Europe before, with what it became, after the Reformation. Literature was in a more flourishing condition after than before the sixteenth century: therefore, the Reformation caused the change for the better. Never was there a more shallow sophism. It belongs to the category: post hoc, ergo propter hoc. To Roscoe-Life and Pontificate of Leo X., sup. cit. + History of Literature, vol. i, p. 148, seqq. See also Audin, Life of Luther, p. 124, seqq. "After this; therefore on account of this." INVENTIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS. 419 estimate aright the influence of the Reformation on learning, we should compare the literary state of Europe before it, with what it would have been afterwards, if the Reformation had not intervened: or, more properly, we should compare the progress which Europe really made after the Reformation, especially in Protestant countries, with what it would have made, but for the agitations caused by this revolution. Abiding by this fair test, we fearlessly assert, on the authority of the facts and evidence above adduced, that the literary influence of the Reformation was most disastrous.* We do not pretend to deny that Protestantism has produced many illustrious literary characters. Catholicism has produced at least as great men, and many more of them. Galileo and La Place may compare advantageously with Huygens and Newton: while Copernicus far outshines Tycho Brahe. The latter, though a Protestant, was encouraged chiefly by Catholic potentates of Germany. Among philosophers, if Bacon and Descartes were weighed in the balance, the latter would probably preponderate. It would lead us too far, to continue this comparison through all its details. But we may ask, whether the annals of Protestant literature can produce brighter names than Cardinal Ximenes, Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Herrera, and Calderon, in Spain; Bossuet, Fenelon, Racine, Moliere, and Legendre, in France; Raphael, Michael * These remarks are made in the hypothesis, that the fact is as stated by the admirers of the Reformation; namely, that the literary condition of Europe was really and immediately improved in those countries where it gained a foothold. We may well deny this fact, particularly in regard to Germany, with which our present business principally lies. Comparing the literary state of Germany during the fifty years preceding Luther's revolt, with what it became during the fifty years following, there is no doubt that there was a remarkable falling off, both in literary taste and in literary progress. Instead of advancing, Germany clearly receded in the literary race, not merely for a half, but for more than a whole century after the Reformation. The facts alleged above clearly prove this; else they have no meaning whatsoever. So that the theory which we are discussing is erroneous in point of fact, as well as of logic. Angelo, Vida, Tasso, Muratori, Tiraboschi, Boscovitch, and a countless host of others in Italy; Frederick von Schlegel, Möeller, Döllinger, and Görres in Germany; and Pope, Dryden, Lingard, and Moore in England and Ireland? These are but a few, selected almost at random, from the long list of Catholic literati. In regard to the older inventions which have proved of great and permanent utility to mankind, a far greater number was made by Catholics than by Protestants. The mariner's compass, gunpowder, the art of printing, clocks and watches, as well as steamboat navigation,* were all discovered or invented by Catholics. To them also belongs the glory of having discovered America, and of having first doubled the Cape of Good Hope and penetrated to the Indies. The microscope, the telescope, the thermometer, the barometer, were all invented by Catholics. The chief great discoveries in astronomy-that of Jupiter's satellites, of spots in the sun, and of most of the new planets or asteroids-were made by Catholics. Modern poetry was first cultivated successfully in Italy by Dante and Petrarch; and Blair himself admits, that in historical writing the Italians probably excel all other people. The paper on which we write, the general use of window glass and the art of staining it, the weaving of cloth, the art of enameling on ivory and metals, the discovery of stone coal, the sciences of galvanism and mineralogy; and many other inventions and improvements were first introduced by Catholics: most of them, too, in the "dark" ages. And it may be maintained on the faith of genuine history, that during the three hundred years preceding the Reformation, probably more great and important inventions were made, than during the three hundred centuries succeeding that revo *Blasco de Garay, a Spaniard, made the first successful experiment in steam navigation, in the harbor of Barcelona, in the year 1543. Eighty-five years later, Brancas followed up the discovery in Italy.-See "A Year in Spain," by an American Protestant, vol. i, p. 47, seq. Note.-Edit. New York, 1830. PROTESTANT TESTIMONY. 421 lution. Still we are to be told, that we owe all our literature and improvement to the Reformation! We may here also remark, that the two greatest epochs of modern literature-that of Leo X. and of Louis XIV.-both occurred in Catholic countries and under Catholic auspices. The age of Frederick the Great, in Germany, was nearly allied in character with that which immediately followed it under the influence of the infidels of France: while the literary glories of Queen Anne's reign in England, were equaled, if they were not surpassed, by those of the much earlier age of Ferdinand and Isabella, in Spain. It is a very common charge against the Catholic Church that she keeps her people in ignorance; and to prove this accusation, an appeal is made to the condition of Catholic countries, in which, it is said, the common people are not educated. Let us see what a living author, and an unexceptionable witness, because a Protestant and a Scotchman, says upon this very subject. He relates, too, what he himself saw and had full opportunities of examining. We allude to Laing, whose "Notes of a Traveler" are well known in the literary world. He writes: "In Catholic Germany, in France, and even in Italy, the education of the common people in reading, writing, arithmetic, music, manners, and morals, is at least as generally diffused and as faithfully promoted by the clerical body as in Scotland. It is by their own advance, and not by keeping back the advance of the people, that the popish priesthood of the present day seek to keep ahead of the intellectual progress of the community in Catholic lands and they might perhaps retort on our Presbyterian clergy, and ask if they too are in their countries at the head of the intellectual movement of the age? Education is in reality not only not repressed, but is encouraged by the Popish Church, and is a mighty instrument in its hands, and ably used. In every street in Rome, for instance, there are, at short distances, public primary schools for the education of the children of the lower and middle classes in the neighborhood. Rome, with a population of one hundred and fifty-eight thousand six hundred and seventyeight souls, has three hundred and seventy-two primary schools,* with * This number is perhaps somewhat below the mark. According to the |