Page:Archaeologia Volume 13.djvu/70

50 all our ancient writers of romance, and more especially of those that relate to the Round Table, affirm their works to be translations from the Latin; but it is a great question amongst the learned whether these original Latin compositions ever existed; and as it has never yet been very profoundly agitated, this decision of Monsieur le Grand appears to be a little too assuming. It is, at the same time, the more hazardous, as there would be little difficulty in producing many of the originals which have been used by the ancient trouveurs, such as Geoffrey of Monmouth's Brute, the history of Charlemagne by the false Turpin, the siege of Troy by Dares, &c. But let us quit, as foreign to our subject, every discussion of this kind, and endeavour to prove that the fables of Mary were really translated from a collection that existed in her time in the English language, under the title of The Fables of Æsop.

I. In examining the manner in which Mary speaks of herself, we shall perceive that her name was not Marie de France, as Monsieur le Grand has stated, doubtless after la Croix du Maine and du Verdier, who followed Fauchet. She only says that her name is Mary, and that she is from France.

If we consider well the latter verse, there will be no difficulty in perceiving that Mary wrote in England. Indeed, it was formerly a very common thing for authors to say that they were of such a city, and even to assume the name of it. This we can easily conceive; or even that, when writing in Latin, they should state themselves either natives of England or of France. But when an Rh