MARY, an Anglo-Norman Poetefs. 43

and the mad caprices of a parent. The fubjecT: of this romance ap- pears to have been taken from the ecclefiaftical hiftory of Nor- mandy : there is ftill remaining near Rouen the priory of the Two Lovers, which tradition reports to have been founded by the father on the very fame fpot where the lovers perimed, and over the tomb which contained them. This piece confifts of 2,^2, verfes. The feventh is the Lay of Y-uenec, a Bas-Breton Knight, the fbn of Muidumarec, lord of Carvent, and has 553 verfes. The eighth is that of Lauftic. This is likewife the romantic hif- tory of a Bas-Breton Knight, in which a nightingale forms a con- fiderable character. It contains 158 verfes, and has been tranf- lated into Englilh metre under the title of the Nythingale [/]. The ninth is the Lay of Milon, a Britiih Knight, in 536" verfes. The tenth is that of ChaitheL This is the ftory of a Lady of Nantes, beloved by four knights, three of whom are ilain in a tour- nament, and the fourth dangeroufly wounded. It is the latter who is called Chaitivel, or the Unhappy. It confifts of 534 verfes. The eleventh is the Lay of Chevrefeuille. It is an incident taken from the Amours of Triftan de Leonnois with the wife of king Marc his uncle, and contains 1 1 8 verfes. Laftly, the twelfth is the Lay of Bfidw, a Bas-Breton Knight, and is the longeft of all Mary's Lays, confuting of 1 184 verfes. It is to be regretted that the limits of this diflertation will not admit of my giving forrie of thefe poems entire. The fmaller ones are in general of much importance as to the knowledge of ancient chivalry. Their author has defcribed manners with a pencil at once faithful and pleafing; me arrefls the attention of her readers by the fubjecls of her ftories, by the intereft which me ikilfully blends in them, and by the fimple and natural language in which me relates them. In fpite of {/] Bibl. Cotton. Calig. A. II. G 2, her