lit & ele le volt baisier. mais vne
damoiselle li deffendi_

You will not fail to bear in mind that the history of Lancelot du Lac will
be also found in those of Tristan and Arthur. I shall now therefore
introduce you to a MS. or two relating to the former.

TRISTAN. No. 6957, 2 vols. _folio_. This is a very fine old MS. apparently
of the middle of the XIVth century. The writing and the embellishments
fairly justify this inference. The first volume contains three hundred and
fifty-one leaves. On the reverse of the last leaf but one, is the word
"_anne_" in large lower-case letters; but a ms. memorandum, in a later
hand, at the end, tells us that this copy was once the property of "_the
late Dame Agnes" &c_. The second volume is written in more of the secretary
gothic character--and is probably somewhat later than the first. It is
executed in double columns. The illuminations are little more than
outlines, prettily executed upon a white ground--or rather the vellum is
uncoloured. This volume seems to want a leaf at the commencement, and yet
it has a title at top, as if the text actually began there. The colophon is
thus:

_Explicit le Romat de. T. et de yseut
qui fut fait lan mille. iijc. iiijxx. et xix.
la veille de pasques grans._

TRISTAN, FILS DE MELIADUS. No. 6773. A folio of almost unparalleled breadth
of back;--measuring more than six inches and a quarter, without the
binding. A beautiful illumination once graced the first leaf, divided into
four compartments, which is now almost effaced. In the third compartment,
there are two men and two women playing at chess, in a vessel. What