CRANE— MEDIEVAL SERMON-BOOKS AND STORIES. 381 



One of the most important, certainly the most useful, of the 

 works published in the field of mediaeval tales since 1883 is Mr. J. A. 

 Herbert's " Catalogue of Romances in the Department of Manu- 

 scripts in the British Museum," Vol. III., London, 1910, crown 8vo, 

 pp. xii, 720.^° How extensive the field is with which this volume 

 deals may be judged by the fact that it contains an analysis of one 

 hundred and nine manuscripts and refers to over eight thousand 

 stories, many of which are, of course, frequently repeated. Too 

 much praise cannot be given to the analyses in this and the preced- 

 ing volumes of the " Catalogue." " In general," as I have said in 

 my review of Mr. Herbert's work in Modern Philology, "the stories 

 are without literary form, often they seem mere memoranda for the 

 preacher to expand as he wishes. The scholar who is comparing 

 collections or tracing a particular exempliim wishes to know the sub- 

 stance of the story in a concise form, if possible, with references to 

 other manuscripts or printed works. The analyses by the late Mr. 

 Ward and Mr. Herbert are beyond all praise. Especially in the 

 volume before us Mr. Herbert has shown himself profoundly ac- 

 quainted with the vast and intricate subject of mediaeval tales. His 

 references are exact and copious and will save the student an 

 enormous amount of labor." A considerable number of the manu- 

 scripts described in this volume have already been printed, wholly 

 or in part (one of, the most important, to be mentioned presently, 

 since the "Catalogue" was issued), and are thus fairly well known 

 and accessible to students. A great number of collections, how- 

 ever, were quite unknown, and their contents are now for the first 

 time revealed to scholars, and have widely extended the already 



10 The first and second volumes, edited by the late H. L. D. Ward, were 

 published in 1883 and 1893, and deal, Vol. I., with Classical Romances (Cycle 

 of Troy, Cycle of Alexander, etc.) ; British and English Traditions (Cycle 

 of Arthur, etc.) ; French Traditions (Cycle of Charlemagne, etc.) ; Miscel- 

 laneous Romances, and Allegorical and Didactic Romances ; Vol. II., with 

 Northern Legends and Tales; Eastern Legends and Tales; ^^sopic Fables; 

 Reynard the Fox; Visions of Heaven and Hell; Les Trois Pelerinages; and 

 Miracles of the Virgin. The last division, filling pp. 586-691, is of particular 

 value for the study of exempla and is intimately associated with the subjects 

 treated by Mr. Herbert in Vol. III. The same may be said to a lesser degree 

 in regard to the class of Visions of Heaven and Hell, some of which, the 

 Theophilus legend, for instance, recur so constantly in collections of exempla. 



