Catalogue of Romances in the MSS. Department of the British
Museum. Vol. III. By J. A. Herbert, B.A. (British Museum. 25s.)—Vol. I. appeared in 1883, Vol. II. in 1893, both under the care of the late Mr. H. L. D. Ward. The present editor helped in the preparation of Vol. II., and he has himself been assisted by being able to use Mr. Ward's notes. Some hundred and twenty MSS., belonging to the Royal, Cotton, Harley, Arundel, and Egerton Collections, have been dealt with. The most important work among them is that which goes under the name of the "Gesta Romanorum." This occupies some ninety pages. The manuscripts are of four classes,—Anglo-Latin, Germano-Latin, English, and German, the first class being by far the most numerous. (It will be understood that most, if not all, have been printed at some time or other.) It would be difficult to find else- where such a collection of curiosities. Here is one :—" Princess of Apulia, on her way to marry the Emperor's son, is swallowed by a whale ; she lights a fire inside the monster, and wounds it mortally with her knife. The Emperor has three caskets prepared, of gold, silver, and lead, to test her judgment, and she wisely chooses the leaden one." The whale takes us back to Lucian's "Historia 'Vera." As for the "three caskets," there is a whole literature about them.
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