Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 1.djvu/78

prior of the Benedictine convent of Saint Eloi, at Paris, in the year 1362. Mr. Douce, on the other hand, contends that he is a German, because "in the Moralization to chapter 144," [Tale lxiv. of the second volume of the translated Gesta,] "there is, in most of the early editions, a German proverb; and in chapter 142," [Tale lxii. Ibid.] "several German names of dogs." I apprehend, however, that these names may be found more analogous to the Saxon; and, at all events, Warton's idea of an interpolation, is far from improbable. Mr. Douce adds, that the earliest editions of the Gesta were printed in Germany; and certainly, they often bear the name of some place in this country. But in the first ages of the art of printing, such might be the case, without actually identifying the point where the impression was struck off. It is a fact, sufficiently well