catalogue of such poems belongs to the history of our literature. The above concerns (a) National legends. We now glance at (b) Legends of the Church.

In the first place, many paraphrases were made of the Bible. The Old Testament was partly done into English verse. Thus, that Ms. which Franciscus Junius took to be the work of Beda's hero, Cædmon, but which is really a collection of poems by several authors and from different times, contains, among other poetical versions of the books of the Bible, a splendid paraphrase of Exodus. Later, there were other versions of Genesis and Exodus. There is also preserved the conclusion of a noble Anglo-Saxon epic poem, — Judith. Cynewulf turned for material to the numerous sacred legends: cf. his Elene, or the Finding of the Cross. Later poets treated the lives of the saints. Hovering between national and sacred legend are such cycles of poetry as that which treats the legend of the Holy Grail, e.g., the story of "Joseph of Arimathie." These all have a strongly marked moral purpose, something foreign to early epic. But in the way of pure narrative for the narrative's sake, nothing can be better than those of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales which treat sacred legend: e.g., the exquisite Prioresses Tale.

We have, further, international literature as source for poetry, ― Legends based on General History (c). Latin once made possible the ideal for which Goethe sighed, a world-literature. In the medieval Latin there was already collected a rude history of the world. In distorted shape, the heroes of old time passed through the Latin into the various literatures of Europe, which all began with and in the Latin itself. Each great hero

formed a centre for certain 'cycles' of stories and legends prominent were the Alexander Legends, the Æneas Legends;-later, the Legends of Charlemagne, < though these are more national. A branch of the Æneas or Troy legend was that of Troilus, which afterwards. busied the pens of Chaucer and Shakspere, and was immensely popular in the middle ages. A great aid to these legends was the mass of stories which had their origin in the East, — in India and elsewhere, and came in the wake of the returning crusades, gradually drifting into every literature in Europe. Such is the famous story of the three caskets, brought in with so much effect in The Merchant of Venice. [Cf. the story itself in the E. E. T. Soc.'s ed. of the Gesta Romanorum.] Stimulated by these stories, and fed by them in great measure, arose a vast array of Romances, all of a historical coloring. Their name is derived from the Romance or corrupted and popular Latin, in which many of these tales appeared. Romances were greatly beloved in the middle ages, and made an important part of the first books printed by Caxton, —“joyous and pleasant histories of chivalry." Finally, they were killed by their folly and extravagance. Cf. Chaucer's Tale of Sir Thopas; for the prose romances, Don Quixote was at once judge and executioner. - More serious work be seen in Chaucer's

may

not strictly romances Legende of Goode Women, and above all in the great Canterbury Tales. As writer of tales, as "narrative < poet," Chaucer is without a peer in English Literature. His reticence, in that garrulous age, is sublime. He omits trifling details, not caring "who bloweth in a trump or in a horn."— We must here note a strange use

of the word "tragedy." It meant for Chaucer's time the story of those who had fallen from high to low estate. It had nothing dramatic :

"Tregedis is to sayn a certeyn storie,
As olde bokes maken us memorie,
Of hem that stood in greet prosperité
And is y-fallen out of heigh degré

Into miserie and endith wrecchedly."

A "comedy" was a narrative that did not end tragically: cf. Dante's great work.

With far wider sweep of history, modern poets have greatly increased the variety of romances and legendary poems. Think of Evangeline or Hiawatha on one hand, and on the other, of the Norse legends or the classic stories of William Morris. No classic themes have ever been revived with such power as in Marlowe's (and Chapman's) Hero and Leander, and in Keat's Hyperion. The field is practically boundless. There is great license of treatment. The poet can adhere closely to his original, or he can invent and change at will. Such cases may be cited as the romances of Scott and Byron.

Under this head belong the Riming Chronicle and the Narrative Didactic poem. The first is a history in rime. In the Thirteenth Century Robert of Gloucester wrote such a chronicle of England; later (end of Fifteenth Century) we have Harding's Chronicle. As poetry they are of no value whatever. -The second class we may illustrate best by describing its best example. In 1559 appeared a book called "A Myrroure for Magistrates, wherein may be seen by example of other, with how

grevous plages vices are punished, and howe frayle, unstable worldly prosperitie is founde, even of those whom fortune seemeth most highly to favour. Felix quem faciunt aliena pericula cautum, Londini, &c." This work, begun by Sackville on the model of Boccaccio's De casibus virorum illustrium, resembles in plan the "Tregedis," described above, which make up the Monk's Tale in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, except that in the former the characters are all English.

(d) Lastly, we note the revival of the supernatural in modern tales. This sort assumes a belief on the part of its readers that the supernatural is possible. The greatest example is Coleridge's Christabel: cf. the same poet's Ancient Mariner, and Scott's less successful Lay of the Last Minstrel.

(2) ALLEGORY.

Here we still have narrative, but it is no longer based on history, on actual events. Invention begins Invention begins to play a leading part. A certain series of events is supposed to have taken place, and these events generally point out some moral, or else tell one story in terms of another. Allegory was the favorite form of the sacred Latin poetry of the early church. The last poets of profane Latin literature had a strong leaning toward allegory; and it was taken up with ardor by the Christians as particularly suited to their purposes. Prudentius (born in Saragossa, 348 A.D.) was the first Christian poet who regularly used pure allegory, and he employed it first in his Psychomachia, which is therefore impor tant as the herald of a long line of allegorical poems. Its example and its effect upon medieval literature can

hardly be overestimated. It belonged, says Ebert, to the "standard works," was recommended for study, and was copied by many of the church poets. This, as we must remember, is the first purely allegorical poem, but not the first use of allegory in poetry. The latter is a point of style. In profane poetry, allegory soon became very popular, notably among the French poets, whom Chaucer copied. It was used quite apart from any moral purposes, and is often the vehicle of pure amusement. Such in part is the Romaunt of the Rose,· though there are many satirical touches in it, a French poem of which we have a translation attributed to Chaucer. But we must regard first the

(a) Didactic Allegory.

The supreme allegory of the world is the Divina Commedia of Dante. It is at the same time a noble epic, of which, as has been said, Dante himself is the hero. Exactly what it is intended to teach is a question on which commentators still differ. In general, however, we may call it an allegory partly of political events, but chiefly of Dante's own life and religious belief. The poem is of the greatest importance aside from its splendid composition; it sums up the highest results of the middle ages and is filled with their loftiest and purest spirit. It is often imitated by Chaucer — as in his House of Fame. Further, the Scotch school of poets who followed Chaucer-Dunbar especially showed great fondness for this sort of allegory, as well as for Visions. Visions belong with allegory, and were beloved by the middle ages. Gregory the Great, St. Boniface (Winfried), and many other famous writers,