“This last tale,” said Lathom, as soon as he had concluded his manuscripts, “comes not from the old Latin books, but from what is called the English Gesta.”
“An imitation of the original, I suppose,” said Thompson.
“So thought that antiquarian, Mr. Douce,” replied Lathom.
“Is it not natural, that a work so remarkable as this old Latin Gesta seems to have been, should have stimulated some person to compose a similar work for this country?” suggested Herbert.
“If the English version was not intended for the same work as the original, it is difficult to account for the striking identity between the stories in each of the Gesta; whilst the difference between the two works is in no respect greater than is consistent with that great latitude which the old transcribers and translators gave themselves.”
“It is, therefore, Lathom, in your opinion as much an original work as Donne’s Satires modernized by Pope, or Horace’s Art of Poetry translated by Roscommon,” said Thompson.
“Yes, or as Dr. Johnson’s version of the Tenth Satire of Juvenal.”
“We must be thinking of adjourning,” said Herbert, as the college clock began to strike eight.
“Or we may find ourselves inscribed among St. Peter’s madmen,” said Lathom.
“St. Peter’s madmen—who were they?” exclaimed Herbert and Thompson together.