by experience to be inapplicable to the
interpretation which the monks and ecclesiastics had generally given it,
produced a new energy in the human mind: and if at first, the wealth of
the churches were aggrandized by profuse largesses, we shall hereafter
see them struggling to preserve it. A disposition also to study was now
induced: and a certain Guido, a monk of Pomposa, being called to Rome as
a music-master, whilst very young, invented the scale or gamut of C
notes, which was then esteemed miraculous.[4] Happily for him the matter
took this turn; for otherwise he would have suffered death. The
religious superstition was so strong, that any unusual effects of human
nature were attributed to diabolical operations; and, in such instances,
the reputed authors were either beheaded or burnt. Such was the fate of
an unhappy wretch who had discovered the secret of making glass
malleable. This sublime genius made a goblet of this glass; and, being
conducted into the presence of Henry, in 1022, he threw it on the
ground, when, instead of breaking, it bent, and suddenly resumed its
original shape. The ignorant emperor, believing him to be possessed with
the devil, ordered him to be beheaded.--_Life of Gregory VII. By Sir
Roger Greisley, Bart._

[4] Erycius Puteanus (Vander Putten,) added the seventh note to
complete the octave, in the sixteenth century.

* * * * *

ODD DISPUTE.

During the coronation of Conrad II., Emperor of Germany, in 1204, a
dispute arose between a Roman and a German for a vile ox's hide. It
began with blows, proceeded with stones, and ended by an appeal to arms;
and, after a stout resistance on the part of the Roman people against
the German army, the former were obliged to fly, and were almost totally
massacred. The remainder, although humbled, and in a wretched condition,
were constrained the next day to pass barefooted before the
emperor,--the freemen with their swords unsheathed, the slaves with a
knot round their necks,--declaring themselves ready to obey him, and
asking pardon. What a beautiful contrast between the guardians and
defenders of the Roman people in their frocks and mitres, with these
brave men in their helmets and togas! Such was the triumph over a nation
overcome more by its prejudices than by force, and under such solemn
circumstances.

Ibid.

* * * * *

AN INDIAN TALE, AND OTHER POEMS.

This is