ope, from the twelfth century. One of
the oldest versions (twelfth century) was the work of an Anglo-Norman.
The most famous of the Lancelot poems is the "Conte de la Charrette," by
Chrestien de Troyes, written between 1164 and 1172 (G. Paris, "Romania,"
vol. xii. p. 463).

[193] "Omnis consuevit amans in coamantis aspectu pallescere," &c. Rules
supposed to have been discovered by a knight at the court of Arthur, and
transcribed in the "Flos Amoris," or "De Arte honeste amandi," of Andre
le Chapelain, thirteenth century; "Romania," vol. xii. p. 532.

[194] On these romances, see, in "Histoire Litteraire de la France,"
vol. xxx., a notice by Gaston Paris. On the MSS. of them preserved in
the British Museum, see Ward, "Catalogue of MS. Romances," 1883 (on
Merlin, pp. 278 ff.; on other prophecies, and especially those by Thomas
of Erceldoune, p. 328; these last have been edited by Alois Brandl,
"Thomas of Erceldoune," Berlin, 1880, 8vo, "Sammlung Englischer
Denkmaeler," and by the Early English Text Society, 1875).

[195] On legends of Hindu origin and for a long time wrongly attributed
to the Arabs, see Gaston Paris, "le Lai de l'Oiselet," Paris, 1884, 8vo.
See also the important work of M. Bedier, "les Fabliaux," Paris, 1893,
8vo, in which the evidence concerning the Eastern origin of tales is
carefully sifted and restricted within the narrowest limits: very few
come from the East, not the bulk of them, as was generally admitted.

[196] For Amis, very popular in England, see Koelbing, "Amis and
Amiloun," Heilbronn, 1884 (_cf._ below, p. 229), and "Nouvelles
francoises en prose du treizieme siecle," edited by Moland and
d'Hericault, Paris, 1856, 16mo; these "Nouvelles" include: "l'Empereur
Constant," "les Amities de Ami et Amile," "le roi Flore et la belle
Jehanne," "la Comtesse de Ponthieu," "Aucassin et Nicolette."--The
French text of "Floire et Blanceflor" is to be found in Edelstand du
Meril, "Poemes du treizieme siecle," Paris, 1856, 16mo.--For Marie de
France, see H. Suchier, "Die Lais der Marie de France," Halle,
Bibliotheca, Normannica, 1885, 8vo; her fables are in vol. ii. of
"Poesies de Marie de France," ed. Roquefort, Paris, 1819, 2 vols. 8vo.
See also Bedier's article in the _Revue des Deux Mondes_, Oct. 15, 1891,
also the chapter on Marie in Hervieux, "Fabulistes Latins," 1883-4, 2nd
part, chap. i.

[197] On this subject, see Gaston Paris's criticism of the "Origines de
la poesie lyrique en France" of Je