THE THREE MOST READ BOOKS. 209
A generation and the books it reads. Reynard the Fox, the Golden
Legend, and the Romance of the Rose. "Reynard the most profoundly
humorous book ever written." Powers of the author as observer. Besides
Gulliver's Travels, Don Quixote and Pilgrim's Progress. Its relations
to Uncle Remus and many other animal stories. The place of the Golden
Legend in literature. Longfellow's use of it. The Romance of the Rose
for three centuries the most read book in Europe. The answer to the
charge of dullness. The Rose as a commentary on the morning paper. The
abuse of wealth as the poet saw it in the Thirteenth Century. Praise
of "poverty light heart and gay."