en and estates. They believed wholly and simply in Christianity,
especially the miraculous part of it. To them (as to all whom it has
most profoundly influenced) it was not a philosophy, but a history of
marvellous events. When, by the operation of society, their dialect had
formed itself, a new literature, unlike anything that had flourished in
ancient Rome, grew up among them. This was Romance, the great literary
form of the Middle Ages. It was a sincere literature, expressive of
their pride in arms and their simple religious faith. The early songs
and ballads, chanted in the Romance speech, have all perished. From a
later time there have come down to us the _Chansons de Geste_, narrative
poems composed by the professional caste of poets to celebrate the deeds
and adventures of the knights who fought the battles of Charlemagne
against the Saracen invader.

The note of this Romance literature is that it was actual, modern,
realistic, at a time when classical literature had become a remote
convention of bookish culture. It was sung in the banqueting-hall, while
Latin poetry was read in the cells of monks. It flourished enormously,
and extended itself to all the matter of history and legend, to King
Arthur, Theseus, Alexander, ancient heroes and warriors who were brought
alive again in the likeness of knights and emperors. Its triumph was so
complete, that its decadence followed swiftly. Like the creatures that
live in the blood of man, literary forms and species commonly die of
their own excess. Romances were multiplied, and imitated; professional
poets, not content with marvels that had now become familiar, sought for
a new sensation in extravagant language and incident. The tales became
more and more sophisticated, elaborate, grotesque, and unreal, until, in
the fourteenth century, a stout townsman, who ticketed bales in a custom-
house, and was the best English poet of his time, found them ridiculous.
In _Sir Thopas_ Chaucer parodies the popular literature of his day. Sir
Thopas is a great reader of romances; he models himself on the heroes
whose deeds possess his imagination, and scours the English countryside,
seeking in vain for the fulfilment of his dreams of prowess.

So Romance declined; and by the end of the seventeenth century the
fashion is completely reversed; the pendulum has swung back; now it is
the literature inspired by the old classical models that is real, and
handles actual human inter