tivity and his intellectual life, as a legislator and as a friend to
the human mind. The same man will be recognized in every case; he will
grow in greatness, without changing, as he appears under his various
aspects.

There are often joined together, under the title of _Capitularies_
(_capitula_--small chapters, articles) a mass of acts, very different in
point of dates and objects, which are attributed indiscriminately to
Charlemagne. This is a mistake. The Capitularies are the laws or
legislative measures of the Frankish kings, Merovingian as well as
Carlovingian. Those of the Merovingians are few in number, and of slight
importance, and among those of the Carlovingians, which amount to 152,
65 only are due to Charlemagne. When an attempt is made to classify
these last according to their object, it is impossible not to be struck
with their incoherent variety; and several of them are such as we should
nowadays be surprised to meet with in a code or in a special law. Among
Charlemagne's 65 Capitularies, which contain I,151 articles, may be
counted 87 of moral, 293 of political, 130 of penal, no of civil, 85 of
religious, 305 of canonical, 73 of domestic, and 12 of incidental
legislation. And it must not be supposed that all these articles are
really acts of legislation, laws properly so called; we find among them
the texts of ancient national laws revised and promulgated afresh;
extracts from and additions to these same ancient laws, Salic, Lombard,
and Bavarian; extracts from acts of councils; instructions given by
Charlemagne to his envoys in the provinces; questions that he proposed
to put to the bishops or counts when they came to the national assembly;
answers given by Charlemagne to questions addressed to him by the
bishops, counts, or commissioners (missi dominici); judgments, decrees,
royal pardons, and simple notes that Charlemagne seems to have had
written down for himself alone, to remind him of what he proposed to do;
in a word, nearly all the various acts which could possibly have to be
framed by an earnest, far-sighted, and active government. Often, indeed,
these Capitularies have no imperative or prohibitive character; they are
simple counsels, purely moral precepts. We read therein, for example:

"Covetousness doth consist in desiring that which others possess, and in
giving away naught of that which oneself possesseth; according to the
apostle, it is the root of all evil."

And,

"Hospitality must