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districts of Germany on the banks of the Rhine . Their name indicated tiieir enjoyment and love of freedom , which their ferocious valour enabled them to-maintain by enslaving their less warlike neighbours . The ^ motive for forming this league was probably , twofold : the necessity of emigration through the ihcrease of population , and a desire to possess themselves of the wealth * of the Gallic provinces . They accordingly burst upon the enervated outposts of the Roman empire in two torrents of invasion , known respectively as Salians and Ripuarians—the former , probably , being the dwellers on the Sal , or Xssel , and the latter on the Rhine . Their progress , however , was slow and gradual , and centuries elapsed before they had rendered themselves the undisputed masters of Gaul . Towards the close of the fourth , and the beginning of the fifth century , the Franks were engaged in an incessant struggle to drive back the fresh hordes of barbarians who followed in their track , impelled by necessity or excited to cupidity by their ¦ example . So little is known of the internal state of the Frankish league at this period that a name has been adopted to veil the obscurity . That nanie is Pharamond , regarded by tradition as the founder of the French monarchy , hut only recognised by history as the appellation of a family , of whom various members ruled over the different tribes by that time firmly established in Gaul . Of these chiefs the most distinguished was Clodion , the reputed father of Merovaeus , from whom— -if he ever existed—descended the long-haired kings of the first royal dynasty of France . At the end , however , of the fifth century light began to dawn upon the thick darkness , and the chaotic confusion to assume form and order . Clovis , ' the eldest son of the Chirreh , ' had espoused the cause of Catholicism , and , with the zeal of a ¦ convert and the charity of an orthodox believer , conquered the heathens and persecuted the heretics . His conversion -was effected b y a divine miracle , unless it be ascribed to his wife ' s influence and to worldly interest . Catholic writers agree in representing him as a patriot , a liero * and a faithful servant of the Deity , whose eternal laws of justice and mercy he continually violated . But , as Mr . Perry justly observes , If , in far happier ages than those of which we speak , the most polluted consciences have purchased consolation and even hope , by building churches , endowing monasteries , and paying reverential homage to the dispensers of God ' s mercy , can we wonder that the extraordinary services of a Clovis to Catholic Christianity should cover ev « n his foul sins as with a cloak of snow ? He had , indeed , without the . slightest provocation , deprived a noble and peaceable neighbour of his power and life . He had treacherously murdered his royal kindred , and deprived their children of their birthright . He had on all occasions shown himself the heartless ruffian , the greedy conqueror , the bloodthirsty tyrant ; but by his conversion he had led the way to the triumph of Catholicism ; " he had saved the Roman Church from the Scylla and Charybdis of heresy and Paganism , planted it on a rock in the very centre of Europe , and fixed its doctrines and traditions in the hearts of the conquerors of the West . Nor was Clovis the only monster panegyrised by the monkish chronicles as sapiens ^ , bonus , solus formosus , et rex . Clotaire was equally indebted to -Gregory of Tours for rescuing his name not only from oblivion , but from merited infamy and execration . The historian has related to us in full and precise terms the several enormities of which Clotaire was guilty ; how he slew with his own hand the children of his brother , in the presence of the weeping Clothildis , and under circumstances of peculiar atrocity ; how he forced the wives of murdered kings into a hateful alliance with himself ( he ' had at least seven wives , and several at the same time ) ; how he not only put his own son to a cruel death , but extended hia infernal malice to the latter ' s unoffending wife and children . And yet the learned , and , as we have reason to believe , exemplary bishop of the Christian Church , in the very same chapter in which he relates the dsatb of Chramnus , represents the monster aa having gained a victory by the special aid of God ! In the following chapter , he also relates to us the manner in which Clotaire made his psace with Heaven before hia death . In the 51 st year of his jeign , he sought the threshold of the blessed Martin of Tours , bringing with him many gifts . Having approached the sepulchre of a certain priest , he made a full confession ' of the acts of negligence of which he had , perhaps , been guilty , and prayed with many groans that the blessed confessor would procure him the mercy of the Lord , and by his intercession obliterate the memory of all that he had done irrationally . " It would be unreasonable , however , to expect from the laity a purity and . strictness of morality superior to that whicli prevailed among the clergy . When Agilbert , Bishop of Paris , and Probus , Bishop of Rheiuis , wished to persuade Duke Martin to repair to Ebroin ' s camp , they guaranteed his personal safety by a solemn oath sworn upon a receptacle supposed to contain sacred relics : — The bishops , however ,, to aave themselves from the guilt of perjury , hud taken care that the vessels , which were covered , should be left empty . Martin , whom they omitted to inform of this important fact , was satisfied with their oaths , and accompanied thoin to Ecri , where he and his followers were immediately assassinated , without , as was thought , any detriment to the faith of the , coveys . Again , Cautinus ,, Bishop of Tours , a . d . 553 , is described as being " excessively addicted to wine , and generally so drenched in liquor , that ho could scarcely be carried fw > m a banquet by four men . " His avarice led him to commit , acts of open violence , and he even punished a presbyter for refusing something which he had demanded b y causing him to be buried alive in the crypfc of his church . Badigesil , Bishop of Mansr a . » . 680 , w-as " a monster in human form , and had a wife oven worse than himself . " The Abbot Dagulfus , about the same period , frequently indulged in theft , homicide , and adultery , and was killed , while in a drunken fit , by a husband whom he had wronged . A priest of Mans went about with a woman of good family in male attire , but , being discovered by her rotations , was at length apprehended . Ilia paramour waa burned , and he himself put up for flale . "Bishop ^ E th erius , of Lisieux , redeemed him ( cast'if / at '/ cm verbid lonibui ) , bypaying , twenty gold pieces , pnd afterwards entrusted him with the instruction oltla © boys , of his diocese . " Eoniusj . in thoiyear 580 , fell down in a drunken fit when performing mass at the jftltar in Paris ; and " was generally ; so disgustingly ( da / or tnitcr ) drunk , that ho could not walk . " Tho Bishops Palladiua and Bortclmunnua having quarrelled at the table of King Guntram , acoueea each other of ' . ' adultery aad porjury , " at which , say * Gregory , " many laughed , but Borne who wore possessed of greater wisdom grlovoa . The deoda of Pappolus , Bishop of Xangros , were of such a character that the historian ihinfcs It better to pass over them without notlao . . . . Sagittarius and Solonius , Bishops of Gap and Embrun , la Dauphine " , lived in perpetual bloodshed and
lwsciviousness , and though twice deposed for their crimes , they were twice v «* — to their episcopal chairs , and King Guntram believed that his son ' s . T ?? a ga «* I consequence of his having put these wretches in prison Was &e So much for the virtues of the episcopacy i , i those-early ao-es of * i Christian Church , which are usually exalted to the heavens for tl cmplary piety and zeal . And if we turn from fierce warriors -in ? **" righteous prelates , we find no redeeming points in female character TT ?" experience of past ages is certainly not in favour , of investin «* ' - women ' a irresponsible power . Where they have not subjected themselves to Ih whims and caprices of unworthy favourites , they have almost inva £ W exhibited cruelty so remorseless , fraud so unscrupulous , and vindictiven so implacable , that one might almost imagine the fallen angels to have b of that sex . Not a few notable instances of the disastrous effects of the ^" undue influence may be found in the volume uucier notice . It was in C sequence of the suggestions of his queen Anialaberg , niece of Theod ° ^~ the Great , an 'inestimable treasure , ' that Ilernienfried , a king of Thurinn ? destroyed his two brothers . The celebrated Bruuhilda " became one of It leading spirits in an age of intrigue and blood , and is charged by her eneniie with havin g instigated so many murders as to have fulfilled the prophecv 6 £ Sibylla : ' Bruna shall come from - the parts of Spain , before whose face many nations shall perish . ' " Yet more terrible and relentless was Fredegunda , originally the mistress , and subsequently the wife of Chilperic Kinoof Soissons , whom she instigated to the murder of his first queen . Bv Fredegunda were hired the assassins who mortally wounded Si ^ ebert the . high-minded King of Austrasia . To her counsels was due the death of her stepson Merovseus , and to the same source of evil Las been ascribed the murder of her husband Chilperic . Another stepson , Clovis , and his unfortunate mother , perished through her vile suggestions ; and she even " endeavoured to kill her own daughter by forcing down the lid of an iron cheat upon her nock . " To say that she committed many other murders , which want of opportunity and power alone prevented her from doubling ; that she brought false accusations against all who displeased her ; that she ground the poor with intolerable taxes ; that she attempted the life of her benefactor Guntram , who foolishly and wickedly maintained her cause ¦ whe n she was most in need of his assistance—will scarcely add one shade to the blackness of the character we have attemjited to portray . But Mr . Perry has not restricted himself to picturing the vices and crimes that marked those truly dark ages . Incidentally we read of perjury , fraud , violence , murder , adultery , and religious imposture , but in the midst of that horrid Saturnalia of human passions our attention is drawn to the leaven that was working out a better state of society . As through a magnifying glass we watch the ¦ embryo ef the future Christian empire taking shape in the womb of time . We see how women and minors created temptation and opportunity for usurpation ; how the usurpers established their position by enlisting the support of the clergy , and how 'divine grace' through the medium of St . Peter ' s successor supplanted natural and hereditary right . We mark the gradual rise of the nobility and their assumption of peculiar privileges , and the first stand made by the crown and the people against the encroachments of this arrogant class . At one time we tremble for the Christianity of Europe , and dread lost the logic of the sword should raise the Crescent above the Cross ; but our fears are presently allayed by the consideration that the same argument may be wielded by the followers of Christ , and we applaud Augustine ' s conviction of the . necessity of persecution . " The Lord himself , " says that holy man , " first orders that men should be bidden to his supper , but afterwards compelled to come . " Finally , we rejoice with excusable pride that it should have been reserved for our own countryman , Winfried of Jvyrton—the Boniface of monkish literature—to regenerate the Church and save it from relapsing into Paganism ; and we forgive the feebleness of his doubts as to the propriety of indulging in horseflesh , in consideration of the courage he exhibited in dying the death of a martyr . Seriously , we commend Mr . Perry's excellent work to all students of the rise and progress of the political and social system of modern Luropo .
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A VISIT TO CHINA . A Residence among tho Chinese : Inland , on ( lie Coast , anil at Sea . Being ft Kinatn * of Scenes and Adventures during a Third Visit to China , from lboJ- to iw * . liy Robert Fortune . ;' Me Foutune is already known in connexion with China by the ™ f » ° ™ "J of two other works , Three Years' Wanderings and A Journrv to the J " «** ] tries . In the present voluino he takes us over a good deal ol new D ouuu . and acting , as he says , on the hint of certain roviuwow endeavour ;* o « , ivo complete * pictures ami fuller details on matters winch ho has lillIlult , f < - ° " parutively neglected -the character and manners of the Chinese , xio suit is a very agreeable and readable volu . no , full ol pictures , w » what thinly painted it is tvuo , but evidently taken from nature . Mr . lo w has not much technical skill , and his imnfi ination does not roteno iinp ^ sions forcibly ; but ho is careful , conscientious , and oiworvinff j m . m ever he does not diacusa political and diplomatic points-wl ) i tli J . oitl with a candour and aimplicity quitu engaging , but little » " ?" " ] ; not always worth listening to . Better and newer peeps into China u * . iw > been indulged with for many a day . . „ ,.,.,..: „ ,, ac-Wcnmst send our random to Mr . Fortune ' * P' ^ '"!' ' £ S counts of the earthquake and of the notorious products o lim ^ report of a sunken village-common enough in oriental con ° ? ;' grimagoto AyuU ' a Tomplo , tho descriptions of tea-ianne t u . uu with mtuuluriua und their ladies , tho akotches o doine-l ^ iu au , ^ timdo-inlbrnmtion , the adventures with robber * , anil tho romai iiiij ^ the Snowy Valley and its bounding wuterihllfl . 11 »« «"'» « ^ " "V oX 1 , e . is indicated by them nlliwione . Vo find , huwoyor . « o no po , «« mi ^ rieucos with the robola which have a peculiar mtuueBt at the pi . mont , « md to which we shall more particularly direct attention . 1853 , Mr . fortune say a : f tho oou ntry While tUoso « venta wore going forward tho robollioa In tho ntoi ^ mon&lii wae causing tho greatest oxeltomont , not only uinongiit tho nul ' ^ ' balo | ltf od to tl » reeideuta . The robola wore known oa tl ' w Kwautf-el nxon , a » u »< v «
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57 « THE LEA PER , r y . 377 . Bath , * .,
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Leader (1850-1860), June 13, 1857, page 570, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2197/page/18/
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