Crane.] 62 [March 16, 
erence. They are, of course, all outgrowths of the same spirit, but the 
works now under consideration, we think, owe more to the distinctively 
ecclesiastical collections than to the Gesta Romanorum. In 1860, Don 
-ascual de Gayangos edited for Rivadeneyra’s Biblioteca de Autores Hs- 
panoles, a volume (No, 51) of Hseritores en prosa anteriores al siglo XV, 
pp. 447-542 of which contain HI Libro de los Hnwemplos, an alpha- 
betical collection of three hundred and ninety-five stories. As the stories, 
however, begin with C (Confessio devota debet esse et lacrymosa) it is evi- 
dent that the first part of the collection is wanting. This loss was repaired by 
A. Morel-Fatio who discovered the missing stories, seventy-one in number, 
and published them in the Romania, vii, pp. 481 e¢ seg. The compiler was a 
certain Clemente Sanchez, Archdeacon of Valderos, in the diocese of Leon.* 
His chief sources are the Disciplina Clericalis, which he has incorpor- 
ated almost entire in his work, Vitae Patrum, Dialogues of St. Gregory, and 
Valerius Maximus. The four furnish nearly one quarter of the whole num- 
ber of stories. About twenty are taken from the Gesta Romanorum, or, at 
least, are found in that collection ; many others are taken from the Legenda 
Aurea, and medieval chroniclers, The number of stories referring to Greek 
and Roman history, or taken from classical sources is noteworthy. Hach 
story is preceded by a Latin title which is translated in a Spanish distich 
which follows, and generally rhymes. The second of the alphabetical 
collections in a modern tongue is in the dialect of Catalonia, and was 
made prior to the XV century, or in the early years of the same.t 
The first volume, all published at present, contains three hundred and 
seventy stories, ranging from A to K. The stories are preceded by a 
Catalan title (not alphabetical) which usually mentions the source, 
then follow short Latin titles arranged alphabetically. The principal 
sources are: Jacques de Vitry, Vitae Patrum, Caesar of Heisterbach, Heli- 
nand, Valerius Maximus, Petrus Alfonsi, Etienne de Bourbon, Legenda 
Aurea, St. Gregory and Petrus Damianus. These alone furnish two hundred 
and forty-five stories, and afford a very clear idea of the general character 
of this collection. 
We have thus traced rapidly this curious branch of our subject. Origin- 
ally merely an appendix to a collection of sermons, then forming an inde- 
pendent work by themselves, but still with the purpose of furnishing the 
preacher with entertaining matter for his homilies, these stories finally 
* See Romania, loc, cit., and Nie, Antonio, Bib. hisp. vetws, il, 208, 
+Recull de Hximplis e Miractes, Glestes e Faules e alires ligendes ordenades per 
A-B-O, tretes de un manuseriten pergami del segle XV, ara per primera volta 
estampades (no place or date, in fact, Barcelona, 1881, A, Verdaguer), 
{ Some extracts from a collection of edifying stories found in a Portuguese 
MS, of the XIV century have recently been published by J, Cornu in the Ro- 
mania, xi, pp. 881-390. The stories, twenty-four in number, are drawn from the 
Bible, St. Gregory, the Vitae Patrum, ete. No. 9 is the famous parable of the 
Friends in Need (Barlaam and Josaphat, cap, 13, see Glesta Rom. ed, Oesterley, 
cap. 238), The stories are not alphabetically arranged, and no hintis given of the 
extent of the original work. 
