Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 2.djvu/468

456 she said to him, 'Certainly, my master, I may not.' Wherefore the man was wroth with her, and slew her; by means whereof he lost his former profit, and afterwards waxed very sorrowful."—1658.

But these stories, with some of modern manufacture, have all, probably, originated from the apologue of Gabria or Babria, a Greek poet, who put the fables of Æsop into Iambic verse. The period in which he flourished is unknown.

"In the days of chivalry, a concert of a variety of instruments of music constantly made a part of the solemnity of a splendid feast. So in an unprinted metrical romance of Emare. MSS. Cott. Calig. A. 2. fol. 72. a.