that the literature of the fifteenth century,
in nearly all the text-books that treat of the subject, has been most
unjustly underrated. The critics, nearly all with one accord, repeat
the remark that it is a "barren" period, with nothing admirable about
it, at any rate in England; that it shows us the works of Hoccleve
and Lydgate near the beginning, _The Flower and the Leaf_ near the
middle (about 1460), and the ballad of _The Nut-brown Maid_ at the
end of it, and nothing else that is remarkable. In other words, they
neglect its most important characteristic, that it was the chief
period of the lengthy popular romances and of the popular plays out of
which the great dramas of the succeeding century took their rise. To
which it deserves to be added that it contains many short poems of a
fugitive character, whilst a vast number of very popular ballads were
in constant vogue, sometimes handed down without much change by a
faithful tradition, but more frequently varied by the fancy of the
more competent among the numerous wandering minstrels. To omit from
the fifteenth century nearly all account of its romances and plays
and ballads is like omitting the part of Hamlet the Dane from
Shakespeare's greatest tragedy.

The passion for long romances or romantic poems had already arisen in
the fourteenth century, and, to some extent, in the thirteenth. Even
just before 1300, we meet with the lays of _Havelok_ and _Horn_. In
the fourteenth century, it is sufficient to mention the romances of
_Sir Guy of Warwick_ (the earlier version), _Sir Bevis of Hamtoun_,
and _Libeaus Desconus_, all mentioned by Chaucer; _Sir Launfal_,
_The Seven Sages_ (earlier version, as edited by Weber); _Lai le
Freine_, _Richard Coer de Lion_, _Amis and Amiloun_, _The King of
Tars_, _William of Palerne_, _Joseph of Arimathea_ (a fragment),
_Sir Gawain and the Grene Knight_, _Alisaunder of Macedoine_ and
_Alexander and Dindimus_ (two fragments of one very long poem),
_Sir Ferumbras_, and _Sir Isumbras_. The spirited romance generally
known as the alliterative _Morte Arthure_ must also belong here,
though the MS. itself is of later date.

The series was actively continued during the fifteenth century, when
we find, besides others, the romances of _Iwain and Gawain_, _Sir
Percival_, and _Sir Cleges_; _The Sowdon_ (Sultan) _of Babylon_;
_The Aunturs_ (Adventures) _of Arthur_, _Sir Amadas_, _The Avowing
of Arthur_, and _The Life of Ipomidoun_; _The Wars of