Romance
.A tale in prose or verse the incidents of which are hung upon what is marvellous and fictitious.
These tales were originally written in the Romance language (q.v.), and the expression, “In Romance we read,” came in time to refer to the tale, and not to the language in which it was told.
Romance of chivalry may be divided into three groups:—(1) that relating to Arthur and his Round Table; (2) that relating to Charlemagne and his paladins; (3) that relating to Amʹadis and Palʹmerin. In the first are but few fairies; in the second they are shown in all their glory; in the third (which belongs to Spanish literature) we have no fairies, but the enchantress Urganda la Desconeciʹda.
⁂ It is misleading to call such poetical tales as the Bride of Abydos, Lalla Rookh, and the Chansons of the Mouvères, etc., Romances.
