ON THE 



ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FABLING IN IRELAND. 



BY JOSEPH COOPER WALKER, M.R.I. A. &c. Sec. 

 COMMUNICATED BY WILLIAM PKESTON, ESQ. M.K.I. A. &C. 



READ, JUNE 10", 1805. 



JL trace the origin of romantic fabling, in modern 

 Europe, would be a curious, and, perhaps, not a fruitless 

 enquiry. In proportion as the literaiy treasures of the 

 East shall be opened and displayed, the means of acquir- 

 ing information, on this interesting subject, will, probably, 

 be increased. It would seem, that the magicians, knights, 

 and damsels, with which Fairy-land is peopled, owed their 

 birth, to the warm fancy of the Oriental romance-writers. 

 Through what channels, the fictions of the East found 

 their way into Europe, may be conjectured, but cannot 

 be positively determined. To the time of the Crusades, 

 their introduction is generally referred. I think, however, 

 that the commercial intercoui'se, which formerly subsisted, 

 between the Levant, and some of the principal Italian 

 states, opened a channel, equally wide, and certainly more 

 secure. The tumultuous crowd, that rushed to the rescue 



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