44 Dffirtation on the Life and Writings of

her rapid and flowing ftyle, nothing is forgotten in her details, no- thing efcapes her in her defcriptions. With what grace has Ihe de- pi&ed the charming deliverer of the unhappy Lanval? Her beauty is equally impreffi ve, engaging, and fedu&ive ; an immenfe crowd follows but to admire her ; the white palfrey on which me rides feems proud of his fair burthen ; the greyhound which follows her, and the falcon that me carries, announce her nobility. How fplen- did and commanding her appearance, and with what accuracy is the coilume of the age ihe lived in obferved ? But Mary did not only poilefs a moft refined tafte, me had alfo to boaft of a mind of fenfibility. The Engliih mufe feems to have infpired her; all her fubje&s are fad and melancholy ; me appears to have defigned to melt the hearts of her readers, either by the unfortunate fituation of her hero, or by fome truly afflicting cataftrophe. Thus me al- ways fpeaks to the foul, calls forth all its feelings, and very fre- quently throws it into the utmoft conflernation. Fauchet was unacquainted with the lays of Mary, for he only mentions her fables [;]. La Croix du Maine and Du Verdier have done nothing more than cite this latter work []. But w T hat: is more aftonilhing, Monfieur le Grand, who publilhed many of her lays, has not afcribed them all to her. He had probably never met with a complete collection of them like that in the Britiih Mufeum, but only fome of thofe that had been feparately tran- fcribed ; and, in that cafe, he could not have feen the preface to them, in which Mary has named herfelf. The fecond work of our poetefs confifts of a collection of fables, generally called JEfopian, which fhe has translated into French verfe. In the prologue to this work fhe informs her readers that fhe [z] QEuvres ile Fauchet, p. 579. {] Bibl. Franc. &c. par Juvigny, Tom. II, p. 89. Tom. V. p. 23. would