the poem appears to have been written. His next work is entitled LE BESTIAIRE, dedicated to Adelaide de Louvain, who was married to Henry I. in 1121, so that the poem must have been written after that time. It is a treatise on beasts, birds, and precious stones, translated from a Latin essay called Bestiairius, a manuscript copy of which still remains in the library of Mr. Douce, F. A. S. Both these works are to be found in the British Museum. MSS. Cotton. Nero. A. v. With respect to the kind of poetry which Phillippe de Than has used, (says M. de la Rue) we believe it would be difficult to find any authors who have adopted it. His method does not consist in making one line rhyme with another, but one half with another half, as, "Al busuin est truved, l'ami é epruved, "Unches ne fud ami, qui al busuign failli," &c. But this mechanism of verse, which he borrowed from the Latin versifiers of his time, and in which he has had no imitators among the French poets, became very popular among the English. It is adopted in the old metrical tale of King Horn, and in many other works. Indeed, if we write the two hemistiches as separate verses, we obtain that form of verse of which Skelton was so fond, and which, from its frequent application to metrical romances, was usually called the minstrel-metre. SAMSON DE NANTEUIL translated the Proverbs of Solomon into French verse, at the instance of Adelaide de Condi, whom he calls his Lady. She was wife of Osbert de Condé, and proprietor of Horn-castle in Lincolnshire, which was forfeited to the crown in the last year of Stephen's reign. The composition of the poem was probably, by a few years, anterior to this event: it is written in eightsyllable verse, and is to be found in the British Museum, MSS. Harl. No. 4388. GEOFFROI GAIMAR is known by a metrical history of the Anglo-Saxon kings, continued to the reign of William Rufus. This however is, apparently, only part of a larger work, comprehending the whole history of Britain; since the author declares that he had begun his poem with the Argonautic expedition, and had amended and corrected the work of Geoffrey of Monmouth, by means of two MSS. which he cites. It appears from clear internal evidence, that this work must have been written as early as the year 1146. It is in verses of eight syllables, which possess uncommon facility and elegance. The only known copy is in the British Mus. Bibl. Reg. 13. A. xxi. in which it is placed as a continuation of Wace's Brut d'Angleterre. DAVID is mentioned by Gaimar as his contemporary, and as a trouveur of considerable eminence: but his works are now lost. The next poet in the order of time is the celebrated ROBERT WACE: he was a native of Jersey, born in the reign of Henry I. whom he professes to have seen. He commenced his studies at Caen, and returned thither after having completed his education in France. The order of time in which he composed his several works cannot be correctly ascertained, but it is probable that the Brut d'Angleterre, which he finished in the year 1155, is the earliest of those that have come down to us. It is a French metrical version of the History of Britain from the time of the imaginary Brutus to the reign of Cadwallader, A. D. 689, which Geoffrey of Monmouth had previously translated into Latin prose, from the British original imported from Bretagne by Walker, Archdeacon of Oxford. Layamon and Robert de Brunne, made use of Wace's work for their English poetical versions; and lastly, Rusticien de Pise translated it into French prose. There are several copies of the Brut still remaining; three in the British Museum, viz. Bib. Reg. 13. A. xxi. and MSS. Cott. Vitellius A. x. both of the 13th century; and MSS. Harl. No. 6508 of the 14th: a copy (likewise of the 14th century) in the library of Bennet College, Cambridge; and a superb folio, supposed to be coeval with Wace, in the Royal Library at Paris. Although a French quotation may have an aukward appearance in a treatise exclusively dedicated to English poetry, I shall venture to lay before my readers a specimen of Wace's Brut; partly for the purpose of interrupting the dry and uninteresting catalogue of names of which the present chapter is composed; and partly, because this piece of imaginary history having employed the pens of so many successive writers, it may be entertaining to compare their several styles in treating the same subject. The following extract is taken from Wace's description of the ceremonies and sports at King Arthur's coronation; and the corresponding passages from Layamon, Robert of Gloucester, and Geoffrey of Monmouth, will be given in the two next chapters. * Quand li service fut finé, 2 Et la reine ensement 3 prist. ■ Monastery. * MS. Harl. 6508. Mineure, smaller. At the same time. Jus mistrent les greignors ators, La reine à une autre ala Et les dames o sei mena. Quant li roi fut au deis assiz, Assiz sont les barons entor; 'Greater. They laid down their greater and heavier |