In the next chapter we
shall notice the tendencies which were at work to replace this state of
society by a better. But to the Middle Ages will always be traced much
that is distinctive of English character, and in the history of fiction
we may fairly allow to the knights of romance the legendary charm and
fascination which hang about their bright helmets in the long vista of
departed years.
[Footnote 13: Hair.]
[Footnote 14: "Morte d'Arthur." Southey's reprint from Caxton's ed.,
1485, chaps. xix and xx. book 4.]
[Footnote 15: "Morte d'Arthur," book 10, chap. xxxix.]
[Footnote 16: Southey's "Morte d'Arthur," vol. 2, p. 11.]
[Footnote 17: "Morte d'Arthur," book 4, chap. ix.]
[Footnote 18: Hit, cut.]
[Footnote 19: Cut not steel.]
[Footnote 20: "Morte d'Arthur," book 6, ch. x.]
[Footnote 21: "Morte d'Arthur," book 8, ch. i.]
[Footnote 22: Thrice.]
[Footnote 23: Liest.]
[Footnote 24: "Morte d'Arthur," book 22, chap. ii.]
[Footnote 25: "Morte d'Arthur," book 22, chap. xiii.]
CHAPTER II.
CHAUCER. POPULAR TALES. MORE'S "UTOPIA."
In the history of English intellectual development between the vague
ignorance of the Middle Ages and the new growth of learning in the
sixteenth century, stands the great figure of Chaucer. The first
English writer possessing dramatic power, he is the first also to unite
with the art of story-telling, the delineation and study of human
character.
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