Robert of Gloucester wrote in a language that was neither Saxon nor English, though compounded of a little of both[1]. But, inasmuch as this poet wrote to be understood, his language must have been that of the time in which he lived, and not being Saxon, but a confused medley of that ancient language, of Norman-French, and of the new English which was just then coming into existence, let it be considered whether Mary, who had to make herself mistress of the uncouth language of Robert of Gloucester, was capable of understanding that of king Alfred. For the above reasons I cannot but decide against this monarch; but mine is merely an individual opinion, and certainly liable to confutation. The MS. in the Royal library, 15 A. VII. which contains a translation into Latin prose of 56 Æsopian fables, purports that they were rendered into English by the orders of king Alfred[2]. Spelman informs us that he caused several learned men to instruct his people by means of songs and apologues in the vulgar tongue[3]; this might lead us to imagine that the above work was performed by one or more of those persons whom the king was fond of collecting about his throne; but Spelman has furnished no proof of this fact whatever, and therefore it must be entirely rejected. Besides, the objections we have already seen adduced against Alfred himself, militate, with equal force, against the learned men of his kingdom. The names of Seneschal, Justiciar, Viscount, Provost, Bailiff, Vassal, &c. which occur in these fables, both in the Latin text and French translation by Mary, ought naturally to have been found in the English version. Now these several terms were all, according to Madox, introduced by the Normans[4]; and the morals to these fables, which make
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