72 



little else than a list of these poems, and the names of some 

 Greek authors, who flourished in the decline of the Roman 

 Empire, amongst whom the most remarkable is Heliodorus, 

 Bishop of Trica, who was deprived of his bishopric, for be- 

 ing the author of Theagenes and Chariclea, which was then 

 supposed to have baneful effects upon the manners of youth, 

 though it is not at present considered as having such a ten- 

 dency. 



The earliest specimens we have of romance, as it existed 

 for a long period in Europe, are the histories of Arthur and 

 Charlemagne, compiled, as is supposed, from ancient legends, 

 by Geoffry of Monmouth, and Turpin, the monk, in the ele- 

 venth century, though some imagine them to be as old as 

 the eighth. The high veneration in which these histories 

 were held, and the enthusiasm which a bare recital of them 

 was calculated in particular circumstances to produce, is 

 demonstrated by a fact recorded in our own annals of the 

 Minstrel Taillifer, who, at the battle of Hastings, advanced 

 before William's army, singing the songs of Charlemagne and 

 Roland. 



These histories gave birth to innumerable others, but it 

 was chivalry, and the croisades, that afforded the most abun- 

 dant materials and encouragement to fictitious history. 



lately ; they seem to have commenced at a later period, and not until after the croisades 

 Jiad effected a^reat change in tl»e manners and ideas of the western world. 



Hist. English Poetry. 



