Legends of Charlemagne : or, Romance of the middle ages

Front matter

-LEGENDSOFI CHARLEMAGNE

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Preface

Besides the education which schools and colleges impart, there is still another kind necessary to completeness. It is that which has for its object a knowledge of polite literature. In the intercourse of polished society a young person will more frequently need an acquaintance with the creations of fancy than with the discoveries of science or the speculations of philosophy.

In an age when intellectual darkness enveloped Western Europe, a constellation of brilliant writers arose in Italy. Of these, Pulci (born in 143 1), Boiardo (1434), and Ariosto (1474) took for their subjects the romantic fables which had for many ages been transmitted in the lays of bards and the legends of monkish chroniclers. These fables they arranged in order, adorned with the embellishments of fancy, amplified from their own invention, and stamped with immortality. It may safely be asserted that as long as civilization shall endure these productions will retain their place among the most cherished creations of human genius.

In two previous works, ^' The Age of Fable " and ^^ The Age of Chivalry," the author of this volume has endeavored to supply to the modern reader such knowledge of the fables of classical and mediaeval literature as is needed to render intelligible the allusions

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iv PREFACE.

which occur in reading and conversation. This volume is intended to carry out the same design. Like its predecessors, it aspires to a higher character than that of a work of mere amusement. It claims to be useful, in acquainting its readers with the subjects of the works of the great poets of Italy. Some knowledge of these is expected of every well-educated young person.

In reading these romances, we cannot fail to observe how the primitive inventions have been used, again and again, by successive generations of fabulists. The Siren of Ulysses is the prototype of the Siren of Orlando, and the character of Circe reappears in Alcina. The fountains of Love and Hatred may be traced to the story of Cupid and Psyche ; and similar effects produced by a magic draught appear in the tale of Tristram and Isoude, and, substituting a flower for the draught, in Shakespeare's ** Midsummer Night's Dream." There are many other instances of the same kind which the reader will recognize without our assistance.

The sources whence we derive these stories are, first, the Italian poets named above ; next, the ^* Romans de Chevalerie " of the Comte de Tressan ; lastly, certain German collections of popular tales. Some chapters have been borrowed from Leigh Hunt's Translations from the Italian Poets. It seemed unnecessary to do over again what he had already done so well ; yet, on the other hand, those stories could not be omitted from the series without leaving it incomplete.

Contents

Page

Introduction .... vii

The Peers, or Paladins i