243 Differtaiions w the Lives dnd Works the plunder committed by William, the Conqueror and his Nor- mans ; the indignation with which he defcribes the ravages un- feelingly committed by this monarch to enlarge his forefts, and the cruelty of his foreft laws ; the addrefs, with which he ilurs the virtue of the wife of the conqueror ; the diflembling character, and atrocious foul afcribed to the conqueror himfelf : all, in fhort, befpeaks the difcontented pen of an Anglo-Saxon. When the poet tell's us that he tranflated his work into French verfe, he is willing, no doubt, to make us believe that, in the com- pofition, he made ufe of Latin chronicles or hiftories, which were in exiftence in his time. I have not examined whether or not this author Is exact in his Anglo-Saxon hiftory. But this I can fay, that he is often otherwife in his Anglo-Norman hiftory. He confounds, for inftance, Matilda of Flanders, wife of William the Conqueror, with Matilda of Scotland, wife of Henry the Ift. He fays that the firft of thefe kings died at Caen, while it is a fact incontrovertible that he died at Rouen ; he aflures us that the fe- cond was buried at Caen, while it is certain that he was interred at Heading, &c. &c. Thefe errors prove that this poet, as far at leaft as relates to the Anglo-Normans, has fometimes trufted to his me- mory, which has not always been correct; or if he has really taken prior hiftorians for his guides, we muft allow that they were faulty and erroneous. However, in defpitc of thefe inaccuracies, I could wifh to difc over them, fmce this author produces fome facts not to be found in other hiftorians. Here then we may obferve that, ei- ther the fources whence he has collected thefe facts are loft; or that they came down to him by tradition ; or, in a word, that they fprung from his own Imagination. I fhall only cite one of thefe facts, to illuftrate my idea on this fubject. This poet and hiftorian ftates to us, that William the Conqueror, in the height of his glory, was not fo much at eafe, but that the 3 poflibility
