MARY, an Anglo-Norman Poetejs. 41

It is certain, then, that Mary compofed for a king who underftood Englifh. 4. She tells us that me had declined tranflating Latin hiftories into Romance, becaufe, fo many others having been thus occupied, her name would have been confounded with the multi- tude, and her labours unattended with honour. Now this circum- ftance perfectly correfponds with the reign of Henry III. when fuch a number of Normans and Anglo-Normans had for more than halt a century translated from the Latin fo many Romances of chivalry, and efpecially thofe of the Round Table, which we owe to the kings of England. 5. Fauchet and Pafquin inform us that Mary lived about the middle of the I3th century, and this period exactly coincides with the reign of that prince [f. 6. Denis Pyramus, an Anglo-Norman poet, fpeaks of Mary as an author whofe perfon was as much be- loved as her writings, -and who, therefore, muft have lived in his own time. Now it is known that this poet wrote under Henry III. Kar mult 1'ayment, fi 1'unt mult cher Cunte, Barun, et Chevaler, Et fi en ayment mult I'efcrit, &c. [g] For thefe confolidated reafons I think that it was Henry III. to whom Mary dedicated her Lays. This opinion could only be com- bated by maintaining that it was rather a king of France of whom me fpeaks, which king muft have been Louis VIII. or St. Louis his fon. But this alternative will not bear the flighteft examina- tion ; for how indeed could it be necefTary to explain Welm and Armoric words to a French king in the Englifh language ? How could the writer permit herfelf to make ufe of Englim words in many parts of her work w r hich would moft probably be unintelligible to that prince, and moft certainly would be fo to the greateft part of hisfubjects ? It is true that me fometimes explains them in Ro- [f ] CEuvres de Fauchet, p. 579. Recherches de la France, 1. 8. c. r. [g] Pyramus loco citato. VOL.. XIII. G mance,