State. For him the coronation meant rather a legitimation of his authority than an increase of it. That this fervent and active genius was not free from personal ambition seems but natural: the very extent of his authority, and of his dominions,-which latter, when he was crowned Emperor of the West, included France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, and Northeastern Spain, -would serve to rouse the spirit of imperialism. Power and conquests such as he enjoyed could not fail to affect him, and would have completely intoxicated a man of weaker moral fibre.

Charlemagne's reign is conspicuous and remarkable for his own vigorous personal action. Though not a despot, his efforts lay in the direction of a strong central government, and his purposes were pursued with all the intensity of his indomitable, invincible energy and will. His rule over the already organized and centralized ecclesiastical body, and the memory of imperial prerogative formed the backbone of the power which his extraordinary genius wielded so effectively. However, the very power which he furthered as a civilizing agency, the sacerdotal authority,-and the discordance of the component parts of his empire, prevented a lasting success of his policy, for which, in fact, the people were not yet ripe. It was impossible to maintain the connection between the various nations with their differences of language and customs, scattered over an extensive and thinly-peopled territory. But the great results of his conception-the infusion of a Teutonic spirit into Roman forms-were not lost. Although after his death, when, as Bryce says, the "spell of the great mind was withdrawn," the "mass dissolved into that chaos out of which it had been formed," yet the influence exerted by this creative genius continued to act throughout the anarchical period that followed. It formed a foundation on which to build throughout many succeeding generations, and his reign may thus indeed be regarded as the beginning of a

new era.

Charlemagne was four times married. He disowned Himiltrud for Desiderata (770), and the latter for Hildegard (771). Queen Hildegard died April 30, 783, in her twenty-sixth year, and Charlemagne's mother soon after. Charlemagne

then married Fastrada, a daughter of Count Radolf. Her cold, selfish and cruel nature appears to have been the cause, in part, of two noteworthy conspiracies, the "Conspiracy of Thuringian Counts and Nobles" (786), and the Conspiracy of Pepin the Hunchback" (792), both directed against the King's life, and both discovered in time, so that those implicated met their punishment. Fastrada died in 794, whereupon Charlemagne chose for his partner an Allemanian lady, Liutgard, who died in 800. The ladies who followed this fourth queen of Charlemagne were united to him only by morganatic ties.

He lived to lose two of his sons, and was a hard worker till his death, which occurred January 28, 814. His son, Louis the Pious, left as sole heir to his father's dominions, had for some years previously been associated with his father, who had crowned him with his own hand. He was not the man, however, to stay the returning wave of barbarism that swept up violently, and yet could not totally destroy the results attained by Charlemagne.

Though so much of Charlemagne's reign was taken up with warfare, it is not as a conqueror for the mere glory of conquering that he is known to us. He was a wise and enlightened administrator; he proved his ability as a legislator by collecting and modifying the laws of the various Germanic nations; commerce and trade, and especially agriculture, were furthered by him; canals, bridges, and other public works were undertaken; libraries and schools were established, convents and monasteries were built. Himself a many-sided man intellectually, he encouraged learning in all forms, and noted scholars of all countries could depend on his protection and patronage; he rewarded merit irrespective of persons; and he sympathized with the clergy. Alcuin was especially active in the establishment of scholastic institutions for Charles, and cordial and confidential relations existed between the monarch and the noted savant.

The personality and character of Charlemagne were such as naturally gave rise to wonderful legends, and made credible any exploit attributed to him in the gorgeous mist of romance that spread about his name. By canonization as a saint, Pope

Paschal III. conferred upon him the highest glory that the church could offer. Of great strength and size, an unexcelled hunter and swimmer, a fierce warrior, and an able strategist, he was gentle to his friends and relatively kind to his subdued enemies. He was simple in dress and temperate, loved music and all the arts, and we are told also that he was eloquent. Humanity and religious faith were his most prominent characteristics. In the words of John Lord, "he was a type of chivalry, before chivalry arose." Naturally, in studying his character, we must to some extent adopt the point of view of the times in which he lived: to us at the present day many of his actions would seem barbarous, which hardly excited comment from his contemporaries. Ethical standards have shifted.

A Teuton with sympathy for his race, a Roman in culture, he was "claimed," says Sismondi, "by the Church as a saint, by the French as the greatest of their kings, by the Germans as their countryman, and by the Italians as their emperor." "The appellation of Great," says Gibbon, "has often been bestowed, and sometimes deserved; but Charlemagne is the only prince in whose favor the title has been indissolubly blended with the name."

The English historian, Hallam, says of Charlemagne : "He stands alone like a rock in the ocean, like a beacon on a waste. His sceptre was the bow of Ulysses, not to be bent by a weaker hand. In the dark ages of European history, his reign affords a solitary resting-place between two dark periods of turbulence and ignominy, deriving the advantage of contrast both from that of the preceding dynasty and of a posterity for whom he had founded an empire which they were unworthy and unequal to maintain." Upon the collapse of imperialism, feudalism formed the transition-stage to the constitutional government of to-day. The historical importance of the life-work of Charlemagne has been summarized by an American writer in the words: "He left a great legacy to civilization.”

THE BOY CHARLEMAGNE AND POPE STEPHEN.

The first public act of Charlemagne's life-a task which combined both dignity and beneficence-was to meet, as

deputy for his father, the suppliant chief of the Roman church, and to conduct him with honor to the monarch's presence. The event in which he thus took part, and which afterwards affected the current of his whole existence, originated in the unhappy state of Rome, and in the continual and increasing pressure of the Lombards upon that unstable republic which had arisen in Italy, after its separation from the Empire of the East. The second and third Gregory had in vain implored the personal succor of Charles Martel to defend the Roman territory from the hostile designs of their encroaching neighbours; and Zacharias, who had succeeded to the authority and difficulties of those two pontiffs, had equally petitioned Pepin for some more effectual aid than remonstrances addressed to the dull ear of ambition, and menaces which began to be despised.

Under Stephen, who followed Zacharias, and ascended the papal chair soon after the elevation of Pepin to the sovereign power, the danger of Rome became still more imminent; for Astolphus, the Lombard King, contemning alike the threats of an avenger who did not appear, and the exhortations of a priest who had no means of resistance, imposed an immense tribute on the citizens of Rome, and prepared to enforce the payment by arms. But by this time the Popes or bishops of Rome had established a stronger claim upon the rulers of France than that which they had formerly possessed. The instability of Pepin's title to the crown had made him eager to add a fictitious authority to the mutable right of popular election; and, having joined to the voice of the people the sanction of the Pope, he divided between two, a debt which might have been dangerous or burdensome while in the hands of one.

In the moment of immediate danger, when Rome was threatened by hostile armies, and her fields swept by invading barbarians, the prelate, with a worthy boldness, set out from the ancient queen of empires, as a suppliant, determined to apply, first for justice and immunity at the court of Astolphus, the King of the Lombards, and, in case of rejection, then for protection and vengeance, at the hands of the new monarch of the Francs.

Astolphus was deaf to all petitions, and despised all threats. Ravenna had fallen, and Rome he had determined to subdue. But the Pope pursued his way in haste; and, traversing the Alps, set his foot with joy on the territories of a friend and an ally. The French monarch was then returning from one of his victorious expeditions against the Saxons; and the messengers from Stephen met him on the banks of the Moselle.

The most common of all accusations against the human heart, and, I might add, against the human mind, is ingratitude. But in an uncivilized state of society, where rights are less protected, and mankind depend more on the voluntary reciprocation of individual benefits and assistance, than on fixed rules and a uniform government, the possession of such emotions as gratitude and generosity would seem to be more necessarily considered as a virtue, and the want of them more decidedly as a crime, than in periods or in countries where the exertions of each man are sufficient for his own support, and the law is competent to the protection of all.

Besides a feeling of obligation towards the Roman pontiffs, which the new sovereign did not hesitate a moment to acknowledge and obey, the call of the Pope was perfectly consonant to Pepin's views and disposition, as a man, a king, and a warrior. To welcome the Bishop of Rome, therefore, the monarch instantly dispatched his eldest son Charles, then scarcely twelve years of age, and every honor was paid to the head of the Catholic church that reverence or gratitude could inspire.

This is the first occasion on which we find Charlemagne mentioned in history; but the children of the Francs were trained in their very early years to robust and warlike exercises; and there is every reason to believe that great precocity, both of bodily and mental powers, fitted the prince for the office which was entrusted to him by his father.

From the distinction with which Pepin received the prelate, and from the bold and candid character of that monarch, little doubt can exist that he at once determined to protect the Roman state from the exacting monarch of the Lombards, by the effectual and conclusive interposition of arms. The King of the Francs, however, had still something to demand at the