The modern translations are literal, but a certain freedom has been used in reshaping sentences and in omitting conventional phrases when they proved too monotonous in their repetitions. Quite enough tags and awkward constructions have been preserved to illustrate fully the style of mediæval clerks.

Acknowledgment is made for help received from Gaston Paris's "La littérature française au moyen âge," and from W. H. Schofield's "English Literature from the Norman Conquest to Chaucer." Miss Marion E. Markley has contributed two translations from Old French, and has given many helpful suggestions regarding details.

M. H. S.

Wellesley, Massachusetts

CONTENTS

PAGE
INTRODUCTIONvii
PROEM
Of Man's Body[3]
Of Man's Soul[4]
DEBATE
The Amorous Contention of Phillis and Flora[7]
The Pleading of the Rose and of the Violet[24]
VISION
The Purgatory of Saint Patrick[33]
SAINTS' LIVES
The Life of Saint Brandon[53]
The Life of Saint Margaret[73]
PIOUS TALES
A Miracle of God's Body[81]
A Miracle of the Virgin[83]
The Translation of Saint Thomas of Canterbury[87]
ALLEGORY
An Extract from "The Castle of Love"[95]
BESTIARY
Lion, Eagle, Whale, Siren[101]
LAPIDARY
Diamond, Sapphire, Amethyst, Geratite, Chelidonius,Coral, Heliotrope, Pearl, Pantheros; Symbolism ofthe Carbuncle; Symbolism of the Twelve Stones[111]
HOMILY
Concerning Miracle Plays, Games, and Minstrelsy[119]
SATIRE
The Song of the University of Paris[125]
The Land of Cockaygne[128]
The Complaint of the Husbandman[131]
Sir Penny[134]
LAY
Sir Orfeo[141]
NOTES
Frontispiece[161]
Proem[161]
Debate[161]
Vision[163]
Saints' Lives[165]
Pious Tales[167]
Allegory[168]
Bestiary[169]
Lapidary[170]
Homily[172]
Satire[172]
Lay[174]