The tale of _King Florus_—the gem of the book—recalls the early part of Shakespeare’s _Cymbeline_ and the bet about a wife’s virtue, which forms the subject of many romances, not a few folk-tales, and at least one folk-song. _The Romance of the Violet_, by Gerbert de Montruil, _circa_ 1225, derives its name from the mother’s mark of the heroine, which causes her husband to lose his bet. This was probably the source of Boccaccio’s novel (ii. 9), from which Shakespeare’s more immediately grew. The Gaelic version of this incident, collected by Campbell (_The Chest_, No. ii.), is clearly not of folk origin, but derived directly or indirectly from Boccaccio, in whom alone the Chest is found. Yet it is curious that, practically, the same story as the _Romance of the Violet_ is found among folk-songs in modern Greece and in Modern Scotland. In Passow’s collection of Romaic Folk Songs there is one entitled _Maurianos and the King_, which is in substance our story; and it is probably the existence of this folk-song which causes M. Gaston Paris to place our tale among the romances derived from Byzantium. Yet Motherwell in his _Minstrelsy_ has a ballad entitled _Reedisdale and Wise William_, which has the bet as its motive. Here again, then, we have a connection between our romance and the story-store of European folk, and at the same time some slight link with Byzantium. V The tale of “Oversea” has immediate connection with the Crusades, since its heroine is represented to be no other than the great grandmother of Saladin. But her adventures resemble those of Boccaccio’s Princess of Babylon (ii. 7), who was herself taken from one of the Greek romances by Xenophon of Ephesus. Here again, then, we can trace back to Greek influence reaching Western Europe in the twelfth century through the medium of the Crusades. But the tale finds no echo among the folk, so far as I am aware, and is thus purely and simply a romance of adventure. This, however, is not the only story connected with the Crusades in which the Soudan loves a lady of the Franks. Saladin is credited by the chatty Chronicle of Rheims with having gained the love of Eleanor, wife of Louis VII., when they were in Palestine on the Second Crusade. As Saladin did not ascend the throne till twenty years later, chronology is enabled to clear his memory of this piece of scandal. But its existence chimes in with such relations between Moslem and Christian as is represented in our story, which were clearly not regarded at the time with any particular aversion by the folk; they agree with Cardinal Mazarin on this point. VI