The Flourishing of Romance and the Rise of Allegory: (Periods of European Literature, vol. II)

entries in the Table of Contents and in chapter subheadings have been converted to periods. This e-book contains some Anglo-Saxon characters and phrases in ancient Greek, which may not display properly in all browsers, depending on the user's available fonts. For short phrases, hover the mouse over the phrase (which may display as boxes or question marks) to see a pop-up transliteration. For longer passages, a transliteration is provided below the passage. Periods of European Literature EDITED BY PROFESSOR SAINTSBURY II. THE TWELFTH AND THIRTEENTH CENTURIES Contents PERIODS OF EUROPEAN LITERATURE. Edited by Professor SAINTSBURY . " The criticism which alone can much help us for the future is a criticism which regards Europe as being, for intellectual and spiritual purposes, one great confederation, bound to a joint action and working to a common result. " — Matthew Arnold . In 12 Crown 8vo Volumes. Price 5s. net each. The DARK AGES Professor W.P. Ker . The FLOURISHING OF ROMANCE AND THE RISE OF ALLEGORY The Editor . The FOURTEENTH CENTURY F.J. Snell . The TRANSITION PERIOD The EARLIER RENAISSANCE The LATER RENAISSANCE David Hannay . The FIRST HALF of 17 th CENTURY The AUGUSTAN AGES Oliver Elton . The MID-EIGHTEENTH CENTURY The ROMANTIC REVOLT Edmund Gosse . The ROMANTIC TRIUMPH Walter H. Pollock . The LATER NINETEENTH CENTURY The Editor . WILLIAM BLACKWOOD & SONS, Edinburgh and London . THE FLOURISHING OF ROMANCE AND THE RISE OF ALLEGORY BY GEORGE SAINTSBURY, M.A. PROFESSOR OF RHETORIC AND ENGLISH LITERATURE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS EDINBURGH AND LONDON MDCCCXCVII PREFACE. As this volume, although not the first in chronological order, is likely to be the first to appear in the Series of which it forms part, and of which the author has the honour to be editor, it may be well to say a few words here as to the scheme of this Series generally. When that scheme was first sketched, it was necessarily objected that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to obtain contributors who could boast intimate and equal knowledge of all the branches of European literature at any given time. To meet this by a simple denial was, of course, not to be thought of. Even universal linguists, though not unknown, are not very common; and universal linguists have not usually been good critics of any, much less of all, literature. But it…