e," continued the merchants, "that we have looked
back upon the many pleasant hours we have spent in Italy, France, and
Swabia in the society of minstrels, and we are glad that you take so
lively an interest in our discourse about them. In travelling through
so many mountains, there is a double delight in conversation, and the
time passes pleasantly away. Perhaps you would be pleased to hear some
of the pretty tales concerning poets, that we have learned in our
travels. Of the poems themselves, which we have heard, we can say but
little, both because the pleasure and charm of the moment prevent the
memory from retaining much; and because our constant occupations in
business destroy many such recollections.

"In olden times, all nature must have been more animate and spiritual
than now. Operations, which now animals scarcely seem to notice, and
which men alone in reality feel and enjoy, then put animate bodies into
motion; and it was thus possible for men of art to perform wonders and
produce appearances, which now seem wholly incredible and fabulous.
Thus it is said that there were poets in very ancient times, in the
regions of the present Greek empire, (as travellers, who have
discovered these things by traditions among the common people there,
have informed us,) who by the wonderful music of their instruments
stirred up a secret life in the woods, those spirits hidden in their
trunks; who gave life to the dead seeds of plants in waste and desert
regions, and called blooming gardens into existence; who tamed savage
beasts, and accustomed wild men to order and civilization; who brought
forth the tender affections, and the arts of peace, changed raging
floods into mild waters, and even tore away the rocks in dancing
movements. They are said to have been at the same time soothsayers and
priests, legislators and physicians, whilst even the spirits above were
drawn down by their bewitching song, and revealed to them the mysteries
of futurity, the balance and natural arrangement of all things, the
inner virtues and healing powers of numbers, of plants, and of all
creatures. Then first appeared the varied melody, the peculiar harmony
and order, which breathe through all nature; while before all was in
confusion, wild and hostile. And here one thing is to be noticed; that
although these beautiful traces for the recollection of these men
remain, yet has their art, or their delicate sensibility to the
beauties of nature been los