MARY, an Anglo-Norman Poefefs: 53

vcelke; in the fable of the eagle, the crow, and the tortoife ; wife- eocs, in that of the three wiflies ; grave, m that of the fiek lion; werbes and wibets, in that of the battle of the flies with other ani- mals; ivaffil, in that of the moufe and the frog, &c. But this Englifh collection of ^Efopian fables prefents difficulties infinitely more important and worthy of our attention than the conjectures of Monfieur le Grand. i. Was it a faithful tranflation from the Greek fabulift ? z. By whom was it made ? 3. Has Mary followed this verfion literally? I am aware that upon firft view thefe queftions may appear foreign to the object of this diiTertation ; but their difcuflion will prove that they are connected with the literary hiftory of the Normans and Anglo-Normans; that they relate to the private hiftory of Mary ; and that they are not, therefore, impertinent in an account of this author. I . As to whether the Englifh tranflation made ufe of by Mary was a literal verlion from the Greek fabulift ? I believe that the largeft collection of the works of ^Efbp is that which Novelet publilhed at Frankfort in 1610, and which was af- terwards reprinted in 1660. Both thefe editions contain 297 fa- bles. Now we have already feen that the completefl MS. of Mary's tranflation has but 104, out of which 31 only are ^Efop's. So that flie did not translate this poet entirely, becaufe the Eng- lifli verfion that file-had before her was not a true and complete tranflation of that fabulift, but a compilation from different au- thors, in which fome of his fables had been inferted. Neverthe- lefs Mary has intitled her work " Cy Commence It Efope ;" flie re- peats, alfo, that flie had turned this fabulift into Romance language. Mary, therefore, imagined that flie was really tranflating ^Efop; but her original had the fame title ; and I am the more convinced^ of this, becaufe, in the Royal MS. before cited, which contains a colle&ion