New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1856-02-08

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and unlimited power, to remove all opposition sier
ifs in the state without assigning the smallest reason
! therefor! Wv
a TIafrd Lecture of Bishop spalding.
The third lecture Of Bishop spalding was delivered
last evening iii Odd Fellows Hall upon the subject
# literature, Arts and Inventions, as Elements Of
Modern 81 vilizations The rain, which commenced
falling Just after dark, kept many persons from at
tending but the audience appeared quite as large as
81 at his previous lectures. s3 - 81
4, @ The learned gentleman commenced by abiding to
4 his two previous Lectures in which he had stated that
had barbarsm triumphed, there would have been an
end Of all civilization all arts, all sciences and nven
lions It only necessary to glance at those coun-
tries under the rule of barbarsnl, Of senibarbar-
Il ISM, to become convinced Of this fact. 97a
That literature and the arts declined after the fall Of
the Roman empire in the West, could not be denied
That decline continued from the fifth to the tenth
century OF the Christian Erafor wars prevailed dur
ing great portion Of that period, and all laws were
dormant " ny was it that literature and the arts
/. were not altogether obterated? They would have
been but for one mighty barrier which arose between
harbarisn and civilization-the Church. When the
toeVastatng hordes swept over the countries Of Eli
rope with fire. sword and page, the Monastic Insti-
ue became the refuge Of these precious treasures Of
the human race The manuscripts containing the wis
dom Of the old sages and the records Of that cviiza
ton whose existence was threatened, were carefully
guarded by the monks, who regarded their personal
| safety as secondary consideration. f'l q
Still the decline of literature went on. The masses
lacked time OF inclination to follow it up and were
| harbarous or selnibarbarous. ~ IS ia zI58 a!z
Rome was the central point Of literature during the
dark ages It was from Italy that missionaries went
forth and planted the cross in the midst Of the barba
ro1s nations of Europe and it was the influence Of
the church that established Schools etc. The revival
OF letters began in the 18th century, and went on
without serious interruption until the 18th and, in
the time Of Leo <, literature became the order Of the
| day. Afterwards it hourished in the time of Louis
Ap and it must be noted that both these epOchs of
its prosperity were brought about under Catholic in
| fuence
What does literature owe to the dark ages 1t owes
everything. Had it not been for the labors of the
scholars of those times its existence would have been
obterated and those who in the present day sheer at
the fact that the monks of the middle ages monopo-
| lied the learning would be without the means and
/ the knowledge which enables them to do so. To the
scholars of the dark ages we owe the excellence of the
1 languages we now speak and write-the soft Italian,
the stately Spanish, the coquettsh French the earnest
4 German, and the English, flibustering from all
other languages The lecturer, while in Europe, had
often endeayored convince his fellow scholars that
our language might properly be ikened to a bee
among flowers, culling its sweets from each but he
/ had seldom succeeded in convincing a German a
Spanard, an italian Frenchman that we were not
| q parcel Of literary pirates. VI :'f u
1 Many t1iumpts iof science and art accomplished
during the period of the dark ages and since lost,
modern invention and discovery have failed to reach;
among them the secret of Illuminated manuscripts and
that ofpantng upon glass and staining it in the most
! exquisite manner. The compass was discovered
during that period, and it is fact worthy of remark
that the first two crusades proceeded by land and
the third by water; the compass had been discovered
in the Interim and the mariner was no longer afraid
to trust himself out Of sight Of land To the dark
ages also we owe the discovery of the art of printing
and the invention of gunpowder Gunpowder was
discovered, or invented by a monk of that period
although several learned persons have attributed it
to the Chinese 1t did appear that composition of
that character was known among them previous to
the discovery of gunpowder in Europe. It has been
the fashion among class of writer's, Voltaire taking
the lead to attribute everything Of this sort to either
the Chinese the Arabs, but if we are to judge Of
their past by their present condition we shall hardly
award them even the credit of the discovery of gun
i powder. .,e-.s..g,.., " -,,4,r5
The lecturer then proceeded with a humorous re-
capituaton of the perfection to which the Chinese
have brought sundry branches of arts and Sciences
not the least of which the trick of building and
managing junks and bunl-boats. The Monks of the
middle ages the orgnators of much that art and
science have improved for the benefit Of the genera
tons Of the present day The results of their skill in
agriculture and cultivation may be seen in many of
the fairest parts Of Europe They labored for the
glory of the Church of God and their zeal made them
superior to all obstacles. 4s 49, , .s.s-.l. :, -.
All the universities of Europe-those Of note
were founded in the dark ages. These universities
in their palmy days, counted their students-not as
we dol the present day by hundreds-but by thou
sands and tens of thousands. They (the students)
came from all parts Of Europe and the effect of their
coming and going, and the dissemination of the
| knowledge they acquired gave a mighty impulse to
the revival of letters and the arts The speaker then
proceeded to give his audience some rather interest
ing statistical information regarding many of the
principal institutions of learning in Europe, accom-
panied with appropriate remarks touching their or
ganization. ,s. zig @fJ5 Il 4J.- ~, ~ ut -ss
That period (the dark ages invented and carried
to perfection system of architecture which we feel
i and know cannot be equaed in the present day
The old Gothic churches of Europe surpass inagina-
ton in the grandeur Of their proportions complica-
ton of design and beauty of workmanship. The
lecturers description of the trumphs of architecture
in Rome, the Pantheon the Church of st. Peter etc.
was graphic and eloquent in the extreme He con-
Guided by remarkins that we should remember with
all honor and gratitude the great men of the dark
ages who had preserved to us the blessings of civlza
ton and literature and to whom we owe so much of
science, art and invention.
The Bishop announced that the subject of his next
lecture would be, Political Liberty-its Origin and
Development ' "
e TIE MAIs-For the information of the Post-O Office
Department we have to state that the Northern and
Eastern mails, due yesterday failed from beyond
Montgomery, Ala. No cause is assigned. There will
be due this morning the mails from the Atlantic cities
oF+ ba let, lt CT nd Thn lis