Page:Archaeologia Volume 13.djvu/83

Rh of the fabulists of the middle ages. From this collation it appears, I. That Mary translated from the English 104 fables into French verse, and that of this number there are 65, the subjects of which had already been treated of by Æsop, Phædrus, Romulus, and the anonymous author of the Fabulæ Antiquæ, published by Nilant.

2. That the English translation was not only compiled from these different authors, but from many other fabulists whose names are unknown to us, since out of the 104 fables of Mary there are 39 which are neither found in the before-mentioned authors, nor in other writers of a similar kind.

3. That the English version contained a more ample assemblage of fables than that of Mary, since out of the 56 in the Royal MS. 15 A. VII. which made a part of the former, we find 7 that she has not introduced into her French translation; and from this it appears that she made a selection of subjects that were pleasing to her, and rejected those she disliked; and that, therefore, her work is to be considered as nothing more than an extract from the English collection.

4. That this numerous collection was, in a great measure, the work of the Anglo-Normans, as we find it in their language during the 12th and 13th centuries. It existed, likewise, amongst them in Latin, and, what is very singular, England appears to have had fabulists during the ages of ignorance, whilst Athens and Rome possessed theirs only amidst the most refined periods of their literature.

Among the Harleian MSS. Nos 219 and 463, and among those of the Royal Society, No 292, contain very large collections of fables and devout stories written in Latin during the middle ages. The two first are anonymous, and the other is ascribed to Odo de Cirington. Of these pieces many are full of wit and pleasantry; but