HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

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prising Germany, Hungary, and France, together with a considerable partof Spain, and of Italy, that maritime pursuits had no necessary share either inits defence, or its first creation. But the reign of Charles the Great may,without any forcible stretch of the fancy or imagination, be considered as thesera from whence sprung the root or parent of that enthusiastic spirit, whichsome centuries later burst forth like a torrent, and urged many of the most gal-lant, daring personages in the universe, professing one species of faith, toattempt its propagation, by displaying a conduct diametrically opposite to itsown tenets, a thirst of blood.

Europe, which at this time might be considered as a moiety of the universe,appeared to be peopled by three distinct and separate classes of beings, differingfrom each other as widely as creatures of the same species could do, in theirhabits, their passions, and their pursuits. The ancient spirit of the Romans,together with the unceasing thirst of military fame and glory, were, as justremarked, in some measure resuscitated under the auspices of the emperor, onwhom it became a natural and incumbent duty to foster those opinions fromwhich his own title must, as he well knew, naturally expect support. The Van-dals, the Huns, and the Goths, the grand oppressors and depredators of that ter-ritory of which he had erected himself into the sovereign, had, through a varietyof circumstances before explained, either totally ceased to exist as a public bodyand people, or had sunk into their original state of contemptible obscurity. Theirsuccessors possessed not, as yet, sufficient spirit and strength to render them-selves formidable, or even conspicuous; and the pursuits adopted by the thirddivision or class of mankind were, if not in embryo, at best but in a mere in-fantine state. Commerce, which appeared as the only cherisher and promoterof the science of navigation, or the art of constructing vessels, appeared, as itwere, monopolised by a people so insignificant, as not to excite the jealousy,or even attract the notice of their neighbours. The contracted limits of theirdomains were, for ages, an happy and sufficient reason why the infant state wasnot strangled in its very birth ; and the harmless avocations of the inhabitantscaused them to be regarded, by the imperial candidates for military fame,with an eye of philanthropy and admiration, instead of distrust. So widelydid the ambition of one party, and the humility of another, cause their tempersto diverge, that it appeared scarcely within the bounds of natural possibility forthem ever to clash, or even to come nearly in contact.with, each other. Tothis cause may principally be attributed the revival of maritime pursuits, the

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