the termination of the third expedition, toward the close of the twelfth century, this kind of writing was at its height. Chivalry was then followed with a steady devotion, which I am inclined to think, soon afterwards abated; and was rather the undulation of the water, succeeding the tempest, than the tempest itself. The fourth and fifth crusade followed at the distance of about twenty years; but upwards of thirty elapsed before the sixth and last. The blood and coin that had been so uselessly lavished, might well conduce to satisfy the most enthusiastic crusader, and stem the torrent of popular superstition: while the surprizing frenzy that had so long desolated both hemispheres, from its very intensity, was calculated to subside, and introduce a juster mode of thinking, and more rational ideas. Time, which allays all other passions, could not but temper this; and the last of these frantic expeditions appears, to my imagination, the desperate effort of expiring fanaticismthe last violent struggle of religious persecution in the East. With the decline of chivalry, the fictions, which principally attained their celebrity during its zenith, (because they had become incorporated with it; though originally independent and extraneous,) would naturally cease to be regarded; and the extravagant conceptions which this institution cherished, would, when good sense resumed, or assumed her proper place, necessarily fall into decay. SECTION II. I now hasten to the GESTA ROMANORUM ; and purpose giving a brief outline of its his tory, with a notice of certain stories, which, without reference to their own individual merit, have been raised into higher importance by furnishing the groundwork of many popular dramas. I shall also take occasion to offer a few remarks upon the translation now before the public, elucidatory of certain points which seem to require explanation. The GESTA ROMANORUM was one of the most applauded compilations of the middle ages. The method of instructing by fables, is a practice of remote antiquity; and has always been attended with very considerable benefit. Its great popularity encouraged the monks to adopt this medium, not only for the sake of illustrating their discourses, but of making a more durable impression upon the minds of their illiterate auditors. An abstract argument, or logical deduction, (had they been capable of supplying it,) would operate but faintly upon intellects, rendered even more obtuse by the rude nature of their customary occupations; while, on the other hand, an apposite story, would arouse attention, and stimulate the blind and unenquiring devotion, which is so remarkably characteristic of the middle ages. The work under consideration is compiled from old Latin chronicles of Roman, or rather, as Mr. Warton and Mr. Douce think, of GERMAN invention. But this idea, with all submission, derives little corroborative evidence from fact. There is one story, and I believe, but one, which gives any countenance to it. That a few are extracted from German authors, (who may not, after all, be the inventors) is no more proof that the compiler was a German, than that, because some stories are found in the Roman annals, the whole book was the production of a Latin Oriental, legendary, and classical fables, heightened by circumstances of a strong romantic cast, form the basis of this singular composition. But the authorities cited for classical allusions are of the lower order. Valerius Maximus, Macrobius, Aulus Gellius, Pliny, Seneca, Boethius, and occasionally OVID, are introduced; but they do not always contain the relation which they are intended to substantiate; and it is invariably much disguised and altered. The oriental apologues are sometimes from the romance of "Baarlam and Josaphat," and in several instances from a Latin work entitled, "De Clericali Disciplina," attributed to Petrus Alphonsus, a converted Jew, godson to Alphonsus I. of Arragon, after whom he was named. There is an analysis of it by Mr. Douce inserted in Mr. Ellis's Specimens of Early English Romances. According to the former of |