Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 1.djvu/68

xlii diffused over the northern regions a doubtful ray of science and superstition ."

The roving character of the monks, therefore, is another link of the chain by which I introduce oriental fiction into the West; and it is utterly impossible, (maturely weighing the habits and propensities of this class of people), that they should not have picked up and retained the floating traditions of the countries through which they passed. "Some of the early romances," says Mr. Walker, "as well as the legends of saints, were undoubtedly fabricated in the deep silence of the cloister. Both frequently sprung from the warmth of fancy, which religious seclusion is so well calculated to nourish; but the former were adorned with foreign embellishments." It is