Excerpt from Launfal, an Ancient Metrical Romance
The only ancient copy of this excellent romance, known to be now extant, is contained in a manuscript of the Cotton-library, (Caligula A. II.) written, it would seem, in or about the reign of Henry VI. in which the translator is, by Tanner, who, most absurdly, styles him "unus regis Arthuri equitum rotund? tabul?," supposed to have lived. Two copies are preserved, in our own libraries, of the French original, by Marie de France, a Norman poetess of the thirteenth century; one in the Harleian MS. Num. 978, and the other in the Cotton, Vespasian B. XIV. The latter begins,
"Laventure de un lay;"
the former (being a collection of such pieces)
"Laventure dun autre lai."
The English poem, which, by the way, is much enlarged, containing a surplus of near three hundred lines, appears to have been printed under the name of "Sir Lambwell;" being licensed, in the register of the Stationers-Company, to John Kynge, in 1558, and expressly mentioned in Laneham"s "Letter, whearin part of the entertainment unto the queenz majesty at Killingworth castl, 1575, iz signified."
M. Le Grand has given the extract of a Lai de Gruelan, of which, he observes, the subject is precisely the same with that of Lanval; though the details are altogether different. See Fabliaux, ou contes, A, 92.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works. Это и многое другое вы найдете в книге Launfal, an Ancient Metrical Romance (Classic Reprint)