elsewhere pointed out. The similarity of another novel of Straparola (N. iv. F. 4) to the Merry Wives of Windsor, as well as the obligations of Moliere to the same source, has been noticed before. But even descending to our common nursery tales, we may occasionally meet with the same tales in much older authors than we are aware of. The first tale of the same novelist's eleventh night, is no other than the renowned Puss in Boots, which most readers will recollect having perused with infinite delight in their infancy; and surely it would be the height of ingratitude never to recal such tales to our memory. Nor is the literature both of the nursery and that which, till within a few years, formed the favourite amusement of the common people, by any means unworthy of notice. No class of literature can boast of being diffused among a larger body of readers, or throughout a greater part of the globe. It certainly is some object of curiosity to find the despised stories of Blue-beard, Redriding-hood, Cinderella, &c. equally prevalent in the nurseries of England, France, Germany, and Denmark. Even the songs of our earliest youth are equally popular; that of the Ladybird is as common among German nurses as it is in England. Again, on the stalls of the hawking booksellers of the former nation we meet at present with an assortment very similar to what are now considered rarities among English collectors, and which have been driven, by a degree of refinement which the antiquary will scarcely admit to be laudable, from the cottages of farmers and peasants. Fortunatus, the Four Sons of Aymon, Melusina, Octavianus, Sir Tristrem and the Seven Wise Masters, as well as the originally German Eulenspiegel and the Priest of Calenberg,* both once well known in English translations, are still in the hands of German peasants, and their popularity has been transmitted from father to son for many generations. The same works occur at the fairs in Denmark, where they are eagerly bought up and read; and these stories have been probably translated into more languages than most A fragment of the English translation of this very singular comic romance is in the library of Francis Douce, Esq. and probably is unique. of of the classical productions calculated for more refined palates. To return from this digression, the subject of which certainly merits more extensive research; the original of several popular ballads may also be traced in the Italian and other novelists; I will content myself with two instances. The Heir of Linne, printed by Bishop Percy, bears a strong resemblance to a novel in Cinthio's Heccatomithi, (Deca. IX. nov. 8) and the Cruel Black, in Evans's collection, is no other than a novel of Bandello (Part II. nov. 8 of the entire editions,) versified.* The obligations of the elder dramatists to these, and similar sources, have been pointed out in numerous instances by Langbaine, but his industry has not exhausted the study; nor are the more modern dramatists altogether unindebted to the Italians.+ I conclude this enumeration, which might have been easily extended to a far greater length, with observing that the History of Lord Mendozze is not, as your correspondent conjectures, a translation from the Spanish, but from a novel of Bandello, (Part III. nov. 44, probably through the medium of his French translator Belleforest) with which the story, as exhibited in the analysis, perfectly coincides.‡ Edinburgh, Aug. 26, 1812. H. W. In the projected reprint of the Palace of Pleasure a short reference to the originals of the stories could not but add considerable value to the work. I have no opportunity to refer to it, but have no doubt it might be done in most instances. Of those reprinted in the present publication one (vol. i. p. 261) is from Boccacio, another (p. 463) from the Heptameron of the Queen of Navarre (novel 65). The sources of the others are classical. To the stories resembling Walpole's Mysterious Mother, as enumerated in the Biog. Dram. and Censura Lit. vol. ix. may be added the 23d novel of Masuccio, and another of Bandello (Part II. nov. 35). The eighth novel of Parabosco is evidently the source of the principal incident in a modern English farce, I think the Village Lawyer. I take this opportunity to notice a mistake in the late edition of Beaumont and Fletcher. The original of the Triumph of Death, one of the Four Plays in One, is not the first novel of Pandello, but the 42d of the first part. The principal plot in the Little French Lawyer is found in the Diporti of Parabosco (nov. 2) as well as in Masuccio, as there pointed out. It was also translated by Painter for the Palace of Pleasure, (vol. 1, nov. xlv.) under the title of the Duchess of Savoy. J. H. The The Bannatyne Manuscript. During the fifteenth and the earlier part of the sixteenth century the Scottish poets certainly both in point of imagination, and what at first sight would seem singular, in harmony of versification, exceeded their Southern brethren. The works of Dumbar, who certainly stands at the head of the ancient poets of his country, possess a degree of polish which would be vainly searched for in the compositions of his contemporaries Skelton and Hawes; and the same parallel would hold good on a comparison of several subsequent Scottish makaris with Heywood and other rhymers of the south. The school of Surrey and Wyat first began to balance the scale, but Scotland still continued to produce specimens which are fairly entitled to claim equality of praise with their compositions. On the whole, it will not appear an unjust decision to assert, that from the time of Chaucer to that of Spenser more real poetry was composed on the north than on the south side of the Tweed. The most valuable and extensive stock of the Scottish poetry of this period, which has reached our days, is' undoubtedly contained in the volume sometimes called the Hyndford MS. from John third earl of Hyndford, who presented it to the Advocate's Library, but more properly the Bannatyne MS. from George Bannatyne, a minor poet himself, who collected it according to his own assertion in 1568,* and who is certainly intitled to the praise of extraordinary diligence, as he copied about 750 large folio pages, written pretty closely, in the space of three months. Our curiosity to know something of so early an enthusiast for the poetry of his country can unfortunately not be gratified, as we are in possession of no facts respecting his quality and occupation whatever. Mr. Tytler in his Dissertation on Scottish Music, asserted that he was one of the canons of Elgin cathedral, but he undoubtedly confounded him with one Bellenden, who actually held that situation. The only thing we can collect from his introductory stanzas * Mr. Pinkerton seems to doubt the accuracy of this date on account of a poem of Wither which occurs in the MS. but that is inserted by a later hand on the title page of the third subdivision. is, that he undertook his compilation, which I suspect to have been intended for the press, at a very early period of his life. From the inscription" Jacobus Foulis, 1623," occurring in the MS. it is conjectured that it passed into the hands of Sir James Foulis of Collington, who married Janet Bannatyne, probably a daughter or niece of the compiler. From several inscriptions of a similar kind the MS. evidently continued in the family of Sir James till the year 1712, when it was presented by Sir William Foulis to Mr. William Carmichael, an advocate. Bannatyne seems to have been dissatisfied with the original commencement of his collection, for the first twenty-seven leaves are separately paged, and contain several long poems repeated in the subsequent completed part, with which this fragment appears to have no connection. On the fly-leaf preceding the whole work the following words are written in an old hand, differing from that of the compiler: "Heir begynnis ane ballat buik writtin in the yeir of God 1568." The fragment is followed by "The Song of the Redsqware," printed in the Evergreen and the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, and inserted at a much later period, as appears by the following note, "This poem is in the bandwriting of the honourable Mr. William Carmichaell, advocate.' On the first page of the second and complete collection occurs the following address from "The wryttar to the reidaris:"* "Ye reverend redaris thir workis revolving richt, My copies awld, mankit, and mutillait, Quhais trewth as standis, yet haif I sympill wicht Tryd furth: thair foir excuse sumpairt my micht. Now ye haif heir this ilk buik sa provy dit y, as I have discarded the y for the th, as well as the x for the % they both completely fail in expressing the letters intended by the original transcribers. 1. The first concernis Gods gloir and ouir saluatioun ; 3. Grund on gud counsale; the thrid, I will nocht hyd it, Reid as ye pleiss, I need no moir narratioun." On the next folio the following title occurs in a later hand, "Ane most Godlie, mirrie, and lustie Rapsodie made be sundrie learned Scots poets, and written be George Bannatyne in the tyme of his youth." The first division is concluded on fol. 43, by the following colophon and title: "Heir endis the first pairt of this buke contenand ballattis of theologie. Followis the secound pairt of this buk contenand verry singular ballatis full of wisdome and moralitie." These are concluded on fol. 97: "Heir endis the secound pairt of this buke. Heir begynnys the thrid pairt of this buik contenand balletis mirry, and vthir solatius consaittes as set furth be diuers ancient poyettis 1568." Fol. 211, "Heir endis the buik of mirry ballettis, set furth be diuers new and ancient poettis. Ieir followis ballattis of luve, devydit in four pairtis, the first ar songis of luve, the secound ar contemptis of luve and evill wemen, the thrid ar contempis of evill fals vicius men, and the fourt ar ballattis detesting of luve and lichery. The fourt pairt of this buke." Fol. 298, " Heir endis the ballattis of luve, remedy thairof, and contempt of luve. Heir followis the fyift pairt of this buik, contenyng the fabillis of Esop, with diverss vthir fabillis and poeticall workis maid and compylit by diuers lernit men. 1568." On the last folio, after a prayer of one stanza, occurs another address from "The wryttar to the redare:" "Heir endis this buik written in tyme of pest, Into the three last monethis of this yeir Ane thowsand is, fyve hundreth thre scoir awcht. Finis. The |