THE : co PROGRESS of ROMANCE, THROUGH TIMES, COUNTRIES, ano MANNERS; with REMARKS QN THE COOD AND BAD EFFECTS OF IT, ON THEM RESPECTIVELY; IN 4 COURSE OF EVENING CONVERSATIONS. by CR, auTHOR oF Tar ENGLISH BARON, Jus -FWO MENTORS, &¢, IN TWO VOLUMES. vou L Ir hath bene through ail ages ever feene, ‘That with the praife of armes and chevalrie ‘The prize of heautie fill hath ioyned bene, And that for reafons {peciall privitee, For either doth on other much relie : For he me feemes moft fit the faire to ferve, ‘That can her beft defend from villenie, And the moft fit his fervice doth deferve, ‘That faireft is, and from her faith will never fwerve, Spensen’s Faery Queene, Book 4. Canto s, Stanza i, PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, BY W. KEYMER, COLCHESTER, AND SOLD BY HIM] SOLD ALSO BY G. G. J. AND J. ROBINSON, 4N PATER-NOSTER ROW, LONDON, MDCCLEXXY,PREFACE, R° MANCES may not improperly be called the polite literature of early ages, and they have been the favourite amufements of later times. In rude and barbarous ages, they refided in the breath of oral tradition, in civilized nations they were of courfe committed to writ- ing: and in ftill more polithed periods, © they have varied their forms, and have. appeared either in profe or verfe, ac- cording to the genius of the writers, of the tafte of the times. Aa Iniv PREFACE, In the following pages, I have en- deavoured to trace the progrefs of this fpecies of compofition, through all its fucceflive flages and variations, to point out its moft ftriking effeéts and influence upon the manners, and to affift according to my beft judgment, the reader’s choice, amid{t the almoft infinite variety it af- fords, in a feletion of fuch as are moft worthy of a place in the libraries of readers of every clafs, who feek either for information or entertainment. How far I have fucceeded in this at. tempt, muft now be left to the decifion of that tribunal which I have ever approached with the moft refpectful diffidence ; and whofe indulgence, I am perhaps in the prefent inftance concern- ed more than ever to implore. While many eminent writers have (if I may be permitted the allufion) fkim, med over the furface of this fubject, it feemed,