1883,] 49 (Crane. 
the following persons were declared to be duly elected mem- 
bers of tha Society :— 
Prof. Angelo Heilprin, of Philadelphia. 
Mr. Ambrose H. Lehman, of Philadelphia. 
Mr. Dillwyn Parrish, of Philadelphia. 
’ 
Mr. Phillip C. Garrett, of Germantown, Philadelphia. 
Mr. Blisha Kent Kane, C. E., of Philadelphia, 
And the meeting was adjourned. 
Mediavat Sermon-Books and Stories. By Professor T. F. Grane, of Ithaca, 
New York. 
(Read before the American Philosophical Society, March 16, 1883.) 
It is the object of this article to direct attention to an important source 
of medimval history which has long remained neglected. We allude 
to the great collections of stories made chiefly for the use of preachers, 
which, besides giving a picture of the culture of the later middle ages, 
such as can nowhere else be found, throw a flood of light upon the diffusion 
of popular tales.* Before considering these specific works, we shall ex- 
amine briefly several other collections, also having a moral scope, but in- 
tended for the edification of: the general reader. From the present article 
are excluded the Western translations of Oriental story-books, even where 
they approach the specifically Christian collections as closely as does the 
Disciplina Olericatis of Petrus Alfonsi.} 
Until the beginning of the twelfth century, the literature of the class to 
which the adjective entertaining may be applied, was almost exclusively 
Christian andlegendary. There still survived, it is true, historical and myth- 
Ological reminiscences of the classical period, but these secular elements 
* Thomas Wright, Latin Stories (Perey Society, Vol. viii), pp. vii-viil, first, to 
our knowledge, called attention to this subject. See also K. Goedeke, Hvery 
Man, Homulus und Hekastus, Hanover, 1864, p. viii; and Orient und Occident, 
Hine Vierteljahrsschrist, herausgegeben von T. Benfey, i, p. 5381 (Asinus vulgi). 
t The literature of the subject will be mentioned passim, but a few recent 
works of general interest may be noticed now, and hereafter they will be cited 
by the authors’ names alone. A. Lecoy de la Marche, La Ohaire francaise du 
moyen dge, spécialement au treizieme siecle, Vapres les manuserits contemporains, 
Owvrage couronné par v Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres. Paris, 1868 ; 
L. Bourgain, La Ohaire frangaise au XLIe sidcle, W@aprds les manuscrits, Paris, 
1879; R. Cruel, Geschichte der deutschen Predigt im Mittelalter, Detmold, 1879, 
A good survey of the French field will be found in ©. Aubertin, Histoire dela 
Langue et dela Littérature Jrangaise au moyen dge, Paris, 1876-1878, Vol. ti, pp. 
296-386, and a review of Lecoy de la Marche’s work may be found in the Revue 
des deux Mondes, 15. Aug., 1869, Les Sermons du Moyen Age, by Aubry-Vitet, 
PROO. AMER. PHILOS. SOC. XxI. 114. G4. PRINTED MAy 9, 1883. 
