1262-78. (1) Directorium Humanae Vitae, of John of Capua.  This was translated from the Hebrew, from the Arabic of the eighth century, from the Pehlevi of Persia of the sixth century, from the Panchatantra, from the Sanskrit original.  This is the same as the famous Persian version, The Book of Calila and Dimna , attributed to Bidpai, of India.  There was a late Persian version, in 1494, and one in Paris in 1644, which was the source of La Fontaine.

Thirteenth century. (2) The Story of the Seven Sages of Rome, or The Book of Sindibad.  This appeared in Europe as the Latin History of the Seven Sages of Rome, by Dame Jehans, a monk in the Abbey of Haute Selve.  There is a Hebrew, an Arabic, and a Persian version.  It is believed the Persian version came from Sanskrit but the Sanskrit original has not yet been found.

Tenth century. Reynard the Fox.  This was first found as a Latin product of the monks, in a cloister by the banks of the Mosel and Mass. Reynard the Fox shares with AEsop’s Fables the distinction of being folk-lore raised into literature.  It is a series of short stories of adventure forming a romance.  These versions are known:—­

          1180.  German-Reinhart, an epic of twelve
          adventures by Heinrich Glichesaere.

          1230.  French-Roman de Renard, with its
          twenty-seven branches.

          1250.  Flemish-Reinaert, part of which was
          composed by Willem, near Ghent.

          1148. Ysengrimus, a Latin poem written at Ghent.

          Thirteenth century. Of the Vox and of the Wolf,
          an English poem.

          Later date. Rainardo, Italian.

          Later date.  Greek mediaeval version.

Reynard the Fox[5] was first printed in England by Caxton in 1481, translated from a Dutch copy.  A copy of Caxton’s book is in the British Museum.  Caxton’s edition was adapted by “Felix Summerley”; and Felix Summerley’s edition, with slight changes, was used by Joseph Jacobs in his Cranford edition.

A Dutch prose romance, Historie von Reynaert de Vos was published in 1485.  A German copy, written in Lower Saxony was published in 1498.  A chap-book, somewhat condensed, but giving a very good account of the romance, was published in London in 1780, printed and sold in Aldermary Churchyard, Bow Lane.  This chap-book is very much finer in language than many of the others in Ashton’s collection.  Its structure is good, arranged in nine chapters.  It shows itself a real classic and would be read with pleasure to-day.  Goethe’s poem, Reineke Fuchs, was published in 1794.  This version was more refined than previous ones but it lost in simplicity.  Monographs have been