"Well, of course, it all sounds very fanciful," he said.

"One must read him as one reads all those curious old mediaeval authors, who are full of pseudo-science and theories based on fables.
His great charm to me is his style, which is singularly rich and chaste.

But I've no doubt whatever, myself, that a great deal of this ancient lore, which we have been accustomed to regard as so much sciolism, not to say pure nonsense, had a germ of truth in it, and that truth I believe we are gradually beginning to re-discover.

You see, one mustn't always take the formulas employed by these old writers in their literal sense.

Many were purely symbolic, and concealed occult meanings.