by Alaric, and Coustaatinople wa,s ycourged with warn, 

 firo and earthquakes. Some schools of learning were kept 

 up by bishops and abbots in the sixth century ; though the 

 next hundred years has been called the nadir of European 

 intelligence. Still, in the eighth century a new spirit 

 brooded over the stagnant waters, some of the Eomance 

 languages were taking divergent fixed foi-ms from Latin 

 speech, and the sons of St. Benedict were gettmg ready to 

 share some few treasures of the old learning they had con- 

 sein'ed at Mont-e Cassino. 



War, bigotry and the tooth of time have made full de- 

 cipherment of medieval life hopeless ; though modern re- 

 search teaches that it was not so dark as it formerly was 

 thought to be. Still it was a decadent period of history, 

 in v^'hich the great branches of learning languished. Even 

 the art of story-telling suffered with the rest; though that 

 minor exhibition of mental acti\'ity by no means fell into 

 desuetude. IMany a fossil lies hidden in the recks, and 

 many a legend was submerged in the debns of the middle 

 ages. Nevertheless the list left includes endlcvss collections 

 of stoiios, cyclic legends, fabliaux, romances and popular 

 tales. Among these is the collection often mentioned, if 

 little read, called The Gesta Bomanorum. 



The title is somewhat a misnomer, tor they arc Roman 

 deeds more in naanc than in reality, being snatches of 

 stories of all kmds, and from aJl countries. Some claim 

 them to be of English origin, from stories concerning the 

 bishopric of Ely; and because one of the stories gives Ger- 

 man names to some animals, they are claimed to be Ger- 

 man. But in truth they are from a thousand sources, and 

 grew^ up in many lands ; and both collector and home are 

 conjectural. 



Of the hundred and cighfy stories of the Gesta some 

 are pointless, dull and gross; though others are bright, 

 amnsing, and worthy of their world-wide fame. Each tale, 

 however rude, in allegorical fashion though sometimes 

 strained, is made to impress on the reader some religious 



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