Excerpt from History of the World, Vol. 2 of 4: From the Earliest Times Until the Year 1831 There are many to whom this characterizing of the Middle Ages will appear incorrect or common-place. For the barbarism of the Middle Ages has been portrayed and lamented so long and frequently already, that the desire for novelty and the love of paradoxes will not fail to find here subjects or at least attraction for panegyric. There are two particular causes that operate in favoring at the present day, the rise and welcome reception of ideas concerning the Middle Ages, which are directly opposed to all the preceding. The spirit of poetry predominant in modern literature, which has produced a partial preference for the Middle Ages, as they are so rich in poetical views; and the dissatisfaction, which may be just, with the degeneracy and the misfortune of our own time. But it may perhaps contribute to the mediation between the panegyrists and the censurers of the Middle Ages, if the idea of the word barbarism is first clearly understood. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.