246 Differ tafhn on the Lives and Works prifon. That the fecond would be king, but a wicked king, and that he would be killed. That the third, on the contrary, would be a noble prince, that would reign in glory, and die in peace. I muft repeat that I cannot fay with certainty, whether this hif- tory is derived merely from the imagination of the poet, or whe- ther he has followed fome other hiftorian. In the firft cafe we muft allow him a happy invention ; in the fecond w r e muft fay that the original has not reached us ; at leaft I know not of any hiftorian, who has handed down thefe details to us, and I leave to the critics to determine, which of the two opinions is moft founded in reafon. However, after having obferved that this hiftorical anecdote con- fids of two hundred and fixty-eight verfes, I am bound to fay that it is found in detached parts in Bibl. Cotton. Cleopatra, A. XII. I know not, therefore, whether it has not from the firft been fepa- rately worked up as a fable, which might have been afterwards in- ferted as an authenticated facl in this hiftory, by the poet ; or, if it has not been truly any part of this hiftory, by the copier of the ma- nufeript of the Cottonian Library. ROBERT GROSSE-TETE, 31SHOP OF LINCOLN. Robert GrofTe-Tete, bimop of Lincoln, was one of the moft learned prelates of the thirteenth century. But as we confider him only as a poet, we refer to the Englim biographers for information, as to his numerous works in theology, and the different parts of li- terature and fcience. We have from this author a poem of more than one thoufand feven hundred verfes upon the Sin of the Firft Man, and his Restoration. Lcland and bilhop Tanner call this work Le
