THfc DECLINE AND PALL
1 1*2
CHAP.LX VI.
Finalpeace ofthechurcb,A. d.1449.
of opposition was succeeded by the lassitude ofdespair: the council of Basil was silently dis-solved; and Felix, renouncing the tiara, againwithdrew to the devout or delicious hermitageof Ripaille . 8 A general peace was secured bymutual acts of oblivion and indemnity: all ideasof reformation subsided; the popes continued toexercise and abuse their ecclesiastical despo-tism ; nor has Rome been since disturbed by themischiefs of a contested election . 11
The jourilies of three emperors were unavail-ing for their temporal, or perhaps their spiritual,salvation; but they were productive of a benefi-cial consequence; the revival of the Greek learn-ing in Italy , from whence it was propagated tothe last nations of the west and north. In theirlowest servitude and depression, the subjects ofthe Byzantine throne were still possessed of agolden key that could unlock the treasures ofantiquity; of a musical and prolific language,that gives a soul to the objects of sense, and abody to the abstractions of philosophy. Since
8 Ripaille is situate near Tlionon in Savoy, on the southern side ofthe lake of Geneva. It is now a Carthusian abbey ; and Mr. Addison(Travels into Italy , vol. ii, p. 147-148 of Baskerville’s edition of hisworks) has celebrated the place and the founder. ./Eneas Sylvius, andthe fathers of Basil , applaud the austere life of the ducal hermit; butthe French and Italian proverbs most unluckily attest the popular opi-nion of his luxury.
k In this account of the councils of Basil , Ferrara, and Florence, Ihave consulted the original acts, which fill the seventeenth and eigh-teenth tomes of the edition of Venice, and are closed by the perspicu-ous, though partial history of Augustin Patricius, an Italian of thefifteenth centui y. They are digested and abridged by Dupin (Bibli-otheqtie Ecclos. tom. xii) and the continuator of Fltnry (tom. xxii);and the respect of the Gallican church for the adverse parties confine*their members to an awkward moderation.