he conviction of its moral excellence. But
the progress of still deeper impression seems to have moderated the
ardour of Mr. Digby's admiration for the historical character of
knighthood; he has discovered enough of human alloy to render
unqualified praise hardly fitting, in his judgment, for a Christian
writer; and in the Mores Catholici, the second work of this amiable and
gifted man, the colours in which chivalry appears are by no means so
brilliant [1848.]

[795] Four very recent publications (not to mention that of Buhle on
modern philosophy) enter much at large into the middle literature; those
of M. Ginguene and M. Sismondi, the history of England by Mr. Sharon
Turner, and the Literary History of the Middle Ages by Mr. Berington.
All of these contain more or less useful information and judicious
remarks; but that of Ginguene is among the most learned and important
works of this century. I have no hesitation to prefer it, as far as its
subjects extend, to Tiraboschi.

[A subsequent work of my own, Introduction to the History of Literature
in the 15th, 16th, and 17th Centuries, contains, in the first and second
chapters, some additional illustrations of the antecedent period, to
which the reader may be referred, as complementary to these pages.
1848.]

[796] Heineccius, Hist. Juris German. c. 1. p. 15.

[797] Giannone, 1. iv. c. 6. Selden, ad Fletam, p. 1071.

[798] Tiraboschi, t. iii. p. 359. Ginguene, Hist. Litt. de l'Italie, t.
i. p. 155.

[799] Irnerius is sometimes called Guarnerius, sometimes Warnerius: the
German W is changed into Gu by the Italians, and occasionally omitted,
especially in latinizing, for the sake of euphony or purity.

[800] Tiraboschi, t. iv. p. 38; t. v. p. 55.

[801] Tiraboschi, t. v. Vaissette, Hist. de Languedoc, t. ii. p. 517; t.
iii. p. 527; t. iv. p. 504.

[802] Duck, de Usu Juris Civilis, 1. ii. c. 6.

[803] Idem, 1. ii. 2.

[804] Duck, 1. ii. c. 5, s. 30, 31. Fleury, Hist. du Droit Francois, p.
74 (prefixed to Argou, Institutions au Droit Francois, edit. 1787), says
that it was a great question among lawyers, and still undecided (i.e. in
1674), whether the Roman law was the common law in the pays coutumiers,
as to those points wherein their local customs were silent. And, if I
understand Denisart, (Dictionnaire des Decisions, art. Droit-ecrit,) the
affirmative prevailed. It is plain at least by the Causes Celebres, that
appeal was continually made to the principles o