os si vis insurgere plene
Surge sub hac forma. Lauda, sed ridiculose.
Argue, sed lepide, &c.

(p. 21.)

[267]

Nox, fera nox, vere nox noxia, turbida, tristis,
Insidiosa, ferox, &c.

("De Bello Trojano," book vi. l. 760.)

[268] "Cum in hyemis intemperie post cenam noctu familia divitis ad
focum, ut potentibus moris est, recensendis antiquis gestis operam
daret...." "Gesta Romanorum," version compiled in England, ed. Hermann
Oesterley, Berlin, 1872, 8vo, chap. clv.

[269] Such is the conclusion come to by Oesterley. The original version,
according to him, was written in England; on the Continent, where it was
received with great favour, it underwent considerable alterations, and
many stories were added. The "Gesta" have been wrongly attributed to
Pierre Bercheur. Translations into English prose were made in the
fifteenth century: "The early English version of the Gesta Romanorum,"
ed. S. J. H. Herrtage, Early English Text Society, 1879, 8vo.

[270] Seven kilos, 200 gr. "Doctissimi viri fratris Johannis de Bromyard
... Summ[a] praedicantium," Nurenberg, 1485, fol. The subjects are
arranged in alphabetical order: Ebrietas, Luxuria, Maria, &c.

[271] Such is the case in several of the stories collected by Th.
Wright: "A Selection of Latin Stories from MSS, of the XIIIth and XIVth
Centuries, a contribution to the History of Fiction," London, Percy
Society, 1842, 8vo. In No. XXII., "De Muliere et Sortilega," the
incantations are in English verse; in No. XXXIV. occurs a praise of
England, "terra pacis et justitiae"; in No. XCVII. the hermit who got
drunk repents and says "anglice":

Whil that I was sobre sinne ne dede I nowht,
But in drunkeschipe I dede ye werste that mihten be thowte.

[272] That one in verse, with a mixture of English words. Ha! says the
peasant:

Ha thu mi swete bird, ego te comedam.

"Early Mysteries and other Latin poems of the XIIth and XIIIth
Centuries," ed. Th. Wright, London, 1838, 8vo, p. 97. _Cf._ G. Paris,
"Lai de l'Oiselet," Paris, 1884.

[273] These series of drawings in the margins are like tales without
words; several among the most celebrated of the fabliaux are thus
represented; among others: the Sacristan and the wife of the Knight; the
Hermit who got drunk; a story recalling the adventures of Lazarillo de
Tormes (unnoticed by the historians of Spanish fiction), &c. Some
drawings of this sort from MS. 10 E iv. in the British Museum are
reproduc