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Excerpt from The Collected Historical Works of Sir Francis Palgrave, K. H, Vol. 8 of 10: Truths and Fictions of the Middle Ages; I. The Merchant and the Friar; II. Three Generations of an Imaginary Norfolk Family <p>The first edition of Truths and Fictions of the Middle Ages: The Merchant and the Friar was published in 1837. In this narrative Sir Francis Palgrave gave a popular application to the fruits of his studies in legal and constitutional history. It is unnecessary to discuss the merits and defects of the method which he adopted; it is enough to say that, while, in the hands of a writer with a special genius for fiction, the historical setting of a tale is liable to distortion, the scholar, on the other hand, who embodies the results of research in narrative form seldom succeeds in making his story lively or interesting. Sir Francis had nothing of the creative power of the novelist; his merchant and friar, and the typical personages whom they encounter, are merely the mouthpieces of the informa tion and ideas which it was his object to convey. His story is a succession of scenes without plot or central interest; it is discursive and interrupted by digressions; its allusiveness may well prove a stumbling-block in the path of the reader for whose benefit it was designed. At the same time, it was written with an Obvious gusto and a vivacity of manner which distinguish it from the ordinary attempt to disguise the material of a historical manual under the cloak of fiction. Its author's phenomenal industry in the study and classification of the national archives stimulated his imagina tion, and the patient toil of which the great collection of Parlia mentary Writs is the most remarkable monument was encouraged by his sense of the human element underlying the superficial dry ness and formality of his records. If the thread which connects the scenes of his story is slight and perfunctory, there is abundance of life in the scenes themselves. His readers can share the