Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Linda Cantoni, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net [Transcriber's Notes: To improve readability, dashes between entries in the Table of Contents and in chapter subheadings have been converted to periods. The Anglo-Saxon yogh symbol is here represented by [y].] Periods of European Literature EDITED BY PROFESSOR SAINTSBURY II. THE TWELFTH AND THIRTEENTH CENTURIES PERIODS OF EUROPEAN LITERATURE. EDITED BY PROFESSOR SAINTSBURY. "_The criticism which alone can much help us for the future is a criticism which regards Europe as being, for intellectual and spiritual purposes, one great confederation, bound to a joint action and working to a common result._" --MATTHEW ARNOLD. In 12 Crown 8vo Volumes. Price 5s. net each. The DARK AGES Professor W.P. KER. The FLOURISHING OF ROMANCE AND THE RISE OF ALLEGORY THE EDITOR. The FOURTEENTH CENTURY F.J. SNELL. The TRANSITION PERIOD The EARLIER RENAISSANCE The LATER RENAISSANCE DAVID HANNAY. The FIRST HALF OF 17TH CENTURY The AUGUSTAN AGES OLIVER ELTON. The MID-EIGHTEENTH CENTURY The ROMANTIC REVOLT EDMUND GOSSE. The ROMANTIC TRIUMPH WALTER H. POLLOCK. The LATER NINETEENTH CENTURY THE EDITOR. WILLIAM BLACKWOOD & SONS, EDINBURGH AND LONDON. THE FLOURISHING OF ROMANCE AND THE RISE OF ALLEGORY BY GEORGE SAINTSBURY, M.A. PROFESSOR OF RHETORIC AND ENGLISH LITERATURE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS EDINBURGH AND LONDON MDCCCXCVII PREFACE.