man translation of the Psalms, by Notker, a monk of the abbey of
St. Gall, shews that some attention was paid to the language of the
country. The Greek was cultivated; the writers of the times mention
several persons skilled in it. Notker, in a letter to one of his
correspondents, informs him, that "his Greek brothers salute him."

[Sidenote: II. 2. State of Literature during the Saxon Dynasty.]

Poetry was a favourite study: the celebrated _Gerbert_, afterwards Pope
Silvester II, and _Waldram_, bishop of Strasburgh, were the best poets
of their times. Hroswith,[004] a nun in the monastery of Gardersheim,
published comedies: "Many Catholics," she says, in her preface to them,
"are guilty of a fault, from which I myself am not altogether free;
they prefer profane works, on account of their style, to the holy
Scriptures. Others have the Scriptures always in their hands, and
despise profane authors; yet they often read Terence, and their
attention to the beauties of his style does not prevent the
objectionable passages in his writings from making an impression on
them."

To this age, the origin of Romances is usually assigned: but these
belong to the French; no specimen of them has been discovered in
Germany. Music was much cultivated. Hroswith introduced it into her
comedies.

It has been mentioned, that Sallust was read in the school at Paderborn.
It is supposed that Tacitus was known to Wittikind or Dittmar: both
relate visions, and several puerile circumstances; but they write with
precision, and shew, on many occasions, great good sense.

The same cannot be said of the Legend-writers; the account which the
authors of "The Literary History of France" give of them is very just.
"The ancient legends," they say, "were lost, in consequence either of
the plunder or the burning of the churches; it was considered necessary
to replace them, as it was thought impossible to honour the memory, or
to preserve the veneration of the saints, without some knowledge of
their lives. It is to be remarked, that the saints, whose memories were
thus sought to be honoured, had been long dead, or had lived in foreign
countries, so that little was known of them except by oral tradition.
From this it may be easily guessed, that those who employed themselves
upon the legends, were deprived of necessary information, and upon that
account could not produce exact and true histories. Thus, to the general
defects of the age in which they lived,