collection of Æsopian fables, there are but 56. According to the introduction, they had been originally translated into Latin prose, and then into English prose; and in this MS. as well as in Mary's, there are many fables and fabliaux ascribed to Æsop which never could have been composed by him.
Again, if we compare the fables which generally pass for Æsop's, with those written by Mary, we shall perceive that the translation of the latter could never have been regarded as a literal version of the former. She is a great deal more particular than Æsop; her moralizations are not the same. In a word, I think me comes nearer to Phædrus than to the Greek writer. To be convinced of this, let the subjects of the Roman fabulist and those of Mary be compared together, and it will be immediately perceived that the latter had always before her eyes the works of the former, and that she has even literally translated the fables she has imitated.
It will, no doubt, be answered that the works of Phædrus have only been known since the end of the 16th century. This I admit, but am not the less persuaded that Mary was better acquainted with Phædrus than with Æsop. It will, moreover, be contended that she has herself declared that the English version which served her as a model was a translation from the Greek. To this I reply, first, that Phædrus's fables may very properly be stiled Æsopian, as he has himself called them:
Æsopus auctor quam materiam reperit,
Hanc ego polivi versibus fenariis[1].
and secondly, that although Mary possessed the fire, the imagination, and the genius of a poet, me nevertheless had not the criticism or erudition of a man of letters. For example; she informs us, that before her fables were translated into English, they had al-
- ↑ Phædr. Prolog. Lib. I.
