Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1876-05-18
GRAND RAPIDS WIS, THURSDAY, MAY Is, 1876.

from all parts of Europe. The ancient
classics were studied, and metaphysics
became an absorbing theme. Not
withstanding these favorable signs,
Hallam, who is good authority on this
period. says: Before the twelfth cen
tury it was hard to find layman who
could read or write in France England
or Germany" He adds: 1.-The uni
versity, with their metaphysics deriv-
ed from Aristotle, the developement of
the modern languages, with their ma
tive poetry, are not what is meant by
the revival Of learning but the in
creased study of the Greek and Latin
languages.
When we consider there had been
no storing of wisdom in the new Ian
guages which had sprung up, no Light
kindled for hundreds oil years, we see
thai students with the longing for learn
ing and for the inspiration of great
minds, must 90 to the only storehouse
of wisdom the Greek and Latin lit
eratureS-
In the twelfth century appeared the
nance of the north of France, and the
verse Of the mime singers of Germany.
None of these possess any great liter
ary merit, but they indicate the revival
of literary tastes and are ''conspiclous
from the blackness which preceded
them"
1t is said the sweet provencal poetry
of the Troubadours did more than
charm by love strains that it fire.
quently satirized the absurdities and
denominations of the church, and mod
flied many abuses. The greatest value
of the "romances Of the north was
that they furnished the material for an
after-literature of greater merit. Ten
nyson in his ''Idyls of the king has
used the legends contained in the crude
romances Of that day.
The first great name that appeared
after this interval of darkness is Dante
"a name which ranks with Homer
and Shakespeare. He was a harbinger
of the morning, for the full day was
yet distant. 1t is very remarkable
that three Italian names rise up about
this time out Of the obscurity, so long
before the dawn Of letters in other
countries-Dante, Petrarch and Boo
cacio. 1t is true, which has been so
aptly said, that 'Italy sapplied the fire
from which other nations lighted their
torches" In England, Chaucer ap-
peared little after the Italian trio.
He had travelled and studied in Italy
He was personally acquainted with
Boccacio, and drew from his "Decam-
eron" the plan Of his celebrated Can
terbury Tales, and we must confess he
greatly improved upon his model,
These four names are especially as
sociated with the revival of letters and
learning in Europe. Petrarch is
scarcely more celebrated for his ezquis-
ite verse than for lis indefatigable
efforts to restore classic learning. In
his search through old monastries and
libraries for ancient manuscripts, and
in eciphering the almost worn-out and
wretchedly-copied parchments he found
a most enthusiastic assistant in Bocca-
clio. What the world owes to these
two it can scarcely estimate.
The ''revival Of letters and learn
ing" is usually placed at the COM
mencement of the fifteenth century.
About this time printing was invented.
Soon the Reformation burst upon the
world. The masses began to think aud
to assert themselves. Art blossomed
in Italy and scattered It's seed through
Europe. Poets, philosophers and his
torians began TO appear, and there were
every where symptoms of Intellectual
vitality and awakening genius. This
period of the revival of arts and let
ters has been beautifully termed "the
renaissance"
Since that era what light is in the
world, what facilities for progress, what
freedom of thought, what fires of ge-
MUS Since that era what a phalanx
of great names has appeared in the
world of letters
The brightness of this new era inten-
sites the blackness of that long night
when genius and reason slumbered, as
nd