Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 1.djvu/471

Rh This must have been a work of immense labor; yet it is very useless.

"This story is in the of Vincent of Beauvais, who wrote about the year 1250."—.

"Is not the possession of one thing better than the expectation of two?"

The Latin text is, "Quotiens ita est quòd aliquid est æquale duobus ei qui est præsens; magis est adhærendum." Literally, "How often does it happen that one thing is valued as much as two by him who is present: [or, by him who has it in possession:] It is therefore to be adhered to the most." The sense answers to the English proverb, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."

"Allexius, or Alexis, was canonised. This story is taken from his legend. In the metrical "Lives of the Saints," this life is told in a sort of measure different from that of the rest, and not very