From thence sprang, in the sequel, that long disorder
at the commencement of the Middle Ages, during which everything was
isolated, fortuitous, and partial; hence also proceeded the absolute
separation between the nobles and the people, and those abuses of the
feudal system which only became portions of a system when long
possession had caused to be looked upon as a right, what at first was
only the produce of conquest and chance.

The clergy alone, to whom the conversion of the victors afforded the
means of acquiring a power so much the greater that its force and extent
could only be judged by the opinion it directed, maintained their
privileges, and secured their independence. The religion which the
Germans embraced became the only channel through which they derived new
ideas, the sole point of contact between them and the inhabitants of
their adopted country. The clergy, at first, thought only of their own
interest; in this mode of communication, all the immediate advantages of
the invasion of the barbarians were reaped by them for themselves. The
liberal and beneficent influences of Christianity expanded slowly; that
of religious animosity and theological dispute was the first to make
itself felt. It was only in the class occupied by those dissensions, and
excited by those rancorous feelings, that energetic men were yet to be
found in the Roman Empire; religious sentiments and duties had revived,
in hearts penetrated with their importance, a degree of zeal long
extinguished. St. Athanasius and St. Ambrose had alone resisted
Constantine and Theodosius; their successors were the sole opponents who
withstood the barbarians. This gave rise to the long empire of spiritual
power, sustained with devotion and perseverance, and so weakly or
fruitlessly assailed. We may say now, without fear, that the noblest
characters, the men most distinguished by their ability or courage,
throughout this period of misfortune and calamity, belonged to the
ecclesiastical order; and no other epoch of history supplies, in such a
remarkable manner, the confirmation of this truth, so honourable to
human nature, and perhaps the most instructive of all others,--that the
most exalted virtues still spring up and develope themselves in the
bosom of the most pernicious errors.

To these general features, intended to depict the ideas, manners, and
conditions of men during the Middle Ages, it would be easy to add
others, not less characteristic, and i