of Eliduc and her reception of the new bride find a parallel in another of the lays, _Le Frêne_. The story is in both cases more human and less repugnant than the, in some respects, similar story of Griselda. Marie's _Ysopet_ is translated from an English original which she erroneously attributed to Alfred the Great, who had, she said, translated it from the Latin. The collection includes many fables that have come down from Phaedrus, some Oriental stories derived from Jewish sources, with many popular apologues that belong to the Renard cycle, and differ from those of older origin in that they are intended to amuse rather than to instruct. Marie describes the misery of the poor under the feudal régime, but she preaches resignation rather than revolt. The popularity of this collection is attested by the twenty-three MSS. of it that have been preserved. Another poem attributed to Marie de France is _L'Espurgatoire Seint Patriz_, a translation from the _Tractatus de purgatorio S. Patricii_ (c. 1185) of Henri de Salterey, which brings her activity down almost to the close of the century. See _Die Fabeln der Marie de France_ (1898), edited by Karl Warnke with the help of materials left by Eduard Mall; and _Die Lais der Marie de France_ (2nd ed., 1900), edited by Karl Warnke, with comparative notes by Reinhold Köhler; the two works being vols. vi. and iii. of the _Bibliotheca Normannica_ of Hermann Suchier; also an extremely interesting article by Joseph Bédier in the _Revue des deux mondes_ (Oct. 1891); another by Alice Kemp-Welch in the _Nineteenth Century_ (Dec. 1907). For an analysis of the _Lais_ see _Revue de philologie française_, viii. 161 seq.; Karl Warnke, _Die Quellen der Esope der Marie de France_ (1900). The _Lais_ were first published in 1819 by B. de Roquefort. _L'Espurgatoire Seint Patriz_ was edited by T. A. Jenkins (Philadelphia, 1894). Some of the _Lays_ were paraphrased by Arthur O'Shaughnessy in his _Lays of France_ (1872). FOOTNOTES: [1] Cotton MS. Domit. A xi. (British Museum), edited for the Rolls Series by Thomas Arnold in 1892. [2] Edited by R. Keyser and C. R. Unger as _Strengleikar eða Lioðabok_ (Christiania, 1850). [3] Chestre's _Sir Launfal_ was printed by J. Ritson in _Ancient English Metrical Romances_ (1802); and by L. Erling (Kempten, 1883). [4] The _soi-disant_ Breton folk-song "Ann Eostik" on the same subject translated by La Villemarque in his _Barzaz-Breiz_ (1840) is rejected by competent authorities. Similar stories in which the nightingale is slain by an angry husband occur in Renard _contrefait_ and in the _Gesta Romanorum_. [5] Cf. the _Oiseau bleu_ of Mme d'Aulnoy.