The same cannot be said of the Legend-writers; the account which the
authors of "The Literary History of France" give of them is very just.
"The ancient legends," they say, "were lost, in consequence either of
the plunder or the burning of the churches; it was considered necessary
to replace them, as it was thought impossible to honour the memory, or
to preserve the veneration of the saints, without some knowledge of
their lives. It is to be remarked, that the saints, whose memories were
thus sought to be honoured, had been long dead, or had lived in foreign
countries, so that little was known of them except by oral tradition.
From this it may be easily guessed, that those who employed themselves
upon the legends, were deprived of necessary information, and upon that
account could not produce exact and true histories. Thus, to the general
defects of the age in which they lived, they added uncertainty,
confusion, and some falsehood. Their pages abound with visions. In the
place of the simple and natural, they substituted the wonderful and
extraordinary.
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