twenty-thirty, or at most fifty years, tomber reckoned backwards from the year 1052: in which year an edition of Amadis de Graecia is › men-i tioned by Du Fresnoy, What induced› Dr. Wo to place Amadis de Graecia at the head of his second race or class of romances, I cannot guess.} The fact is, that Amadis de Graecia is no more concerned in supporting the Byzantine empire, and recovering the holy sepulchre, than Amadis de Gaula in driving the Saracens out of France and Spain. And a still more pleasant circumstance is, that Amadis de Graecia, through more than nine tenths of his history, is himself. a declared Pagan.

And here. ends Dr. W.'s account of the old romances of chivalry, which he supposes to have had their ground-work in Turpin's history. Be fore he proceeds to the others, which had their ground-work in our Geoffry, he interproses a curious solution of a puzzling question concerns. ing the origin of lying in romances. Nor were the monstrous embellishments of enchant ments, etc. the invention of the romancers, but formed upon eastern tales, brought thence by travellers from their crusades and pilgrimages; which indeed have a cast peculiar to the wild imaginations of the eastern people. We have a proof of this in the Travels of Sir J. Maun devite." He then gives us a story of an enchanted dragon in the isle of Cos, from Sir J. Maundeville, who wrote his Travels in 1356; by way of proof, that the tales of enchantments, etc. which had been current here in romances of chivalry for above two hundred years before, i were brought by travellers from the East! The proof is certainly not conclusive. On the other

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hand, I believe it would be easy to show, that, at the time when romances of chivalry began, our Europe had a very sufficient stock of lies of her own growth, to furnish materials for every variety of monstrous embellishment. At most times, I conceive, and in most countries, imported lies are rather for luxury than necessity.

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Dr. W. comes now to that other ground-work of the old romances, our Geoffry of Monmouth. And him he dispatches very shortly, because, as has been observed before, it is impossible to find any thing in him to the purpose of crusades, or Saracens. Indeed, iu treating of Spanish romances, it must be quite unnecessary to say much of Geoffry, as, whatever they have of,,the British Arthur and his conjurer Merlin," is of so late a fabrik, that, in all probability, they took it from the more modern Italian romances, and not from Geoffry's own book. As to the doubt,,,Whether it was by blunder or design that they changed the Saxons to Saracens," I should wish to post pone the consideration of it, till we have some. Spanish romance before us, in which King Arthur is introduced carrying on a war against Saracens,

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And thus, I think, I have gone through the several facts and arguments, which Dr. W. has advanced in support of his third position. support of his two first positions, as I have ob served already, he has said nothing; and indeed nothing can be said. The remainder of his note contains another hypothesis concerning the strange jumble of nonsense and religion in the old romances, which I shall not examine, The reader, I presume, by this time is well aware, that Dr. W.'s information upon this subject is to be received with caution. I shall only take

out.

notice of one or two facts, with which he sets In these old romances there was much religious superstition mixed with their other extravagancies; as appears even from their very names and titles. The first romance of Launcelot of the Lake and King Arthur and his Knights, is called the History of Saint Graal. So another is called Kyrie eleison of Montauban. For in those days Deu teronomy and Paralipomenon were supposed to be the names of holy men. I believe no

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one, who has ever looked into the common romance of King Arthur, will be of opinion, that the part relating to the Saint Graal was the first romance of Lancelot of the Lake and King Arthur and his Knights. And as to the other supposed to be called Kyrie eleison of Montau ban, there is no reason to believe that any ro mance with that title ever existed. This is the mistake, which, as was hinted above, Dr. W. appears to have borrowed from Huet. The reader will judge. Huet is giving an account of the romances in Don Quixote's library, which the curate and barber saved from the flames. - „Ceux qu'ils jugent dignes d'etre gardez sont les quatre livres d'Amadis de Gaule, Palmerin d'Angle

terre, Don Belianis; le miroir de chevalerie; Tirante le Blanc, et Kyrie éleison de Montauban (car au bon vieux temps on croyoit que Kyrie éleison et Paralipomenon etoient les noms de quelques saints) où les subtilitez de la Demoiselle Plaisir-de-ma-vie, et les tromperies de la Veuve reposée, sont fort louées.“ It is plain, I think, that Dr. W. copied what he says of Kyrie eleison of Montauban, as well as the wit ticism in his last sentence; from this passage of

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Huet, though he has improved upon his original by introducing a saint Deuteronomy, upon what authority I know not. It is still more evident (from the passage of Cervantes, which is quoted below *) that Huet was mistaken in supposing Kyrie eleison de Montauban to be the name of a separate romance. He might as well have made La Damoiselle Plaisir-de ma-vie and La Veuve reposée the names of separate romances. All three are merely characters in the romance of Tirante le Blung. And so, much for Dr. W.'s account of the origin and nature of romances of chivalry. TIRWHITT. No future editor of Shakspeare will, J believe, readily consent to omit the dissertation here examined, though it certainly has no more relation to the play before us, than to any other of our

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*) Don Quix. lib. 1. c. 6. Valame Dios, dixo el Cura, dando una gran voz, que acqui, esté Tirante el Blanco! Dadmele acà, compadre, que hago cuenta que he hallado en el un tesoro de contento, y una mina de passatiemPos. Aqui est à Don Quirieleyson de Mon talvan, valeroso Cavallero, y su hermano Tomas de Montalvan, y el Cavallero Fonseca, con la batalla que el valiente Detriante (r. de Tirante] hizo con el alano, y las agudezas de la Donzella Plazer de mi vida, con los amores y embustes de la viuda Reposada, y la Senora Emperatriz, enamorado de Hippolito su escudero."

Aqui està Don Quirieleyson, etc. HERE, i. e. in the romance of Tirante el Blanco, is Don Quiricleyson, etc.

author's dramas. Mr. Tyrwhitt's judicions i observations upon it have given it a value which it certainly had not before; and, I think, I may venture to foretell, that Dr. Warburton's futile performance, like the pismire which Martial” tells us was accidentally incrusted with amber, will be ever preserved, for the sake of the admirable comment in which it is now enshrined.

quae fuerat vita contempta manente, Funeribus facta est nunc pretiosa suis.

MALONE,

NOTES TO THE

MERCHANT OF VENICE

** The reader will find a distinct epitome of the novels from which the story of this play is sup posed to be taken, at the conclusion of the notes. It hould showever be remembered, that if sour poet was at all indebted to the Italian-novelists, it must have been through the medium of some old translation, which has hitherto escaped the esearches of his most industrious editors.

It appears from a passage in Stephen Gosson's School of Abuse, etc. 1579, that a play, compre hending the distinct plots of Shakspeare's Merchant: of Venice, had been exhibited long before he commenced a writer, viz. «7, The Jew showu at the Bull, representing the greedinesse ́of worldly