T

HIS Romance is undoubtedly of French origin,

and the British Museum has a fine MS. of it

(10 E. IV. Royal). The earliest known printed copy is one by Jac. Maillet, Lyons, 1489, and it was a favourite both with the early French and Italian presses. There was a fragment of four leaves only of this Romance found in the binding of an oak-covered book in the library

of the Duke of Devonshire at Bolton Abbey, which was printed by Wynkyn de Worde, and is, probably, as old as that by Maillet. I take my copy from one of two books printed by Copland.

Pepin le Bref reigned over France, and his fair and virtuous sister, Bellisant, was given in marriage to Alexander, Emperor of Greece, and went to her home at Constantinople. For some little time all went well, until the High Priest, who also seems to have been Comptroller of the imperial household, became enamoured of her; but his advances being indignantly repulsed by the lady, he traduced her to the emperor, who, believing him, would fain have put her to death, but eventually commuted her punishment to banishment, and bade her go to her brother Pepin, accompanied only by her page Blandiman whom she had brought with her from France. As usual with heroines of Romance, after a little lamentation she accepted the inevitable, and set forth on her journey.

But the wicked High Priest still longed to get her in his power, and, arming himself, went in pursuit of the exiles. Great was the fight between him and the doughty squire, and there is no knowing how it would have ended, if a merchant had not appeared on the scene, who, moved by the fair dame's tears and entreaties, championed her cause and made the High Priest retrace his steps.

After a halt of a few days to cure Blandiman's wounds,

they came to a forest in Orleans, where Queen Bellisant, being taken in childbirth, sent her faithful squire for female assistance; but during his absence she gave birth to two sons, and then "a fresh misery worse than all the rest that she had endured hapned unto this lady; for as she

lay upon the earth under ye tree, and her two infants by her, suddenly came to her a huge beare, most horrible to behold, and tooke up one of the infants in her mouth, and with great pace hasted into ye thickest of ye forest. This strange and unlookt for accident frighted the distressed lady to the soule, that she cried out most lamentably,

getting up upon her hands and feet to hasten after the aforesaid beare, which was quickly got out of her sight. But, alas! it little avayled her to make any further pursute, for she never came unto the sight of the child, till by miracle it was at length disclosed." Still, hoping against hope, she feebly crawled after the bear, until exhausted nature gave way, and she lay fainting on the ground.

Now it so happened that King Pepin was, that day, in the same forest, and, as good luck would have it, he espied the child, and taking it up, bade an attendant to bear the foundling to Orleans; which was duly done, a nurse was provided, and the boy was baptized by the name of Valentine.

Meanwhile Blandiman returned with the assistance he had been to seek, but found no Bellisant; in her stead, however, was her brother Pepin, to whom the faithful squire related the story of his mistress's wrongs: but he seems to have omitted to mention her confinement, nor did Pepin tell him of the child he had found-so that when Bellisant was eventually found by Blandiman, she only knew that she had lost both her children.

The Romance leaves all in this state, and tells of the child carried off by the bear. "The Beare (as you heard before) that had carryed away one of the Children, all this while had offered it no violence, but bare it unto her Cave, which was darke and obscure. In this cave the old Beare had foure young ones, amongst whom shee layd the Childe

to be devoured; but marke the chance, and you shall finde it at laste miraculous, for all this while the young Beares did it no harme, but with their rough pawes stroaked it softly. The old Beare perceiving they did not devoure it, shewed a bearish kind of favour toward it, insomuch that she kept it, and gave it sucke among her yong ones the space of one whole yeare. The Child, by reason of the

nutriment it received from the Beare, became rough all over like a beast, and, as he grew in strength, began to range up and downe in the woods, and when he met with other beasts would smite them, and gat such mastery over them, that they began to shun the place wherein he came, he was so extreame fierce amongst them and in this beast