Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 1.djvu/160

cxxxiv Much of the merit of these fables, consists in the curious and interesting light which they throw upon a period, necessarily involved in great obscurity. The fictions are strongly and vividly delineated; and the reader feels himself hurried back into the romantic scenes of chivalrous emprize; and busily mingling in the commotions of camp and court. The fantastic regulations of many of the tales, accord with historical notices of chivalry; in which the most ridiculous commands were imposed and executed. The sports of the field, united with the pursuit of wild adventure: love, and war, and devotion; absurd penances for unimaginable crimes, and carelessness for the commission of enormous ones, form no small part of the present compilation. Every natural phenomenon is a miracle; and construed as best may serve the interests, or accord with the prejudices of the party. The