[Footnote 103: Dr. Theophilo Braga mentions another MS. of the whole Chronicle, in a single volume of 644 folios, as being in private hands. The name of the English (?) Chronicler is there spelt "Henrique Fauste".--_Amadis de Gaula_, p. 196 _n._ Porto, 1873.] From a cursory examination of the Chronicle under consideration, it would seem to be neither (1) a translation from the English, nor yet (2) by the hand of Azurara, as alleged, but an original composition by some anonymous writer. The value of the first statement may be estimated by remembering how Cervantes declared he had copied _D. Quixote_ from the Cide Hamete Benengeli; and, again, how João de Barros introduced his _Clarimundo_ as a version from the Hungarian; in any case, no such early English or Irish Chronicler as Frusto or Frost (?) can be shown to have existed. The Cycle of the Round Table, and other British Romances of Chivalry, which were known in Portugal early in the 14th century, became more popular after the marriage of D. João I with D. Philippa of Lancaster, and this accounts for the ascription to an English origin; while Azurara's knowledge of such books, as displayed in his various Chronicles, explains how this story of a mythical D. Duarte came to be fathered on him. The considerations that weigh most against Azurara's authorship of the MS. are those of date and style. It has been already proved that he died in or about the year 1473, so that, assuming the work to be his, it must have been written at least before that date, or even much earlier, say before 1454; since it cannot be presumed that he would have time for such an essay after his appointment as Chief Chronicler of Portugal and Royal Archivist. Perhaps he would have lacked the inclination as well, at least judging from the disdainful tone of his reference to the _Amadis de Gaula_ in the _Chronica de D. Pedro de Menezes_. Now, the first of the Palmerin series--to which our MS. certainly belongs--the _Palmerin de Oliva_, was only printed in 1511; and though both it and its sequel, _Primaleon_, may have existed in MS. in the 15th century, contemporary literature has no record of the fact as in the case of _Amadis_, and there is nothing to favour the supposition. But, apart from this, a perusal of the first few chapters of Part I of the present MS., and especially the opening lines of Chapter 1, will convince most readers, without further proof, that it is nothing else than a continuation of the _Palmeirim de Inglaterra_ of Francisco de Moraes,[104] for it not only takes up the story where Moraes had left off, but expressly refers to the _Palmeirim_ on more than one occasion.[105] Now, the book of Moraes was only written about the year 1543, so that, as far as the dates go, they are enough of themselves to decide the question of Azurara's authorship in the negative. To come to the question of style--that of the MS. has nothing to correspond with the rhetorical expressions and the quotations, and