entitles the work a lay, and professes that he had rather engage in it than relate fables, it may afford a conjecture that Mary has sufficiently developed herself in speaking of her labours of this kind. This, however, is merely a conjecture. It is not impossible that the MSS. which monsieur le Grand consulted contained mere particular details on this subject; but he is certainly mistaken in one respect, and that is, in supposing Mary to have been the original author of this piece, whilst all the Latin MSS. that exist attest that she could have been only the translator; and if the translation in the Harleian MS. actually be her performance, she there positively declares that she had been desired to translate the work from Latin into Romance.
This poem was at a very early period translated into English verse; it is to be found in the Cotton library, Calig. A. II. under the title of Owayne Miles, on account of Sir Owen being the hero of the piece, and the person whose descent into St. Patrick's Purgatory is related. Walter de Metz, author of the poem entitled Image du Monde, mentions also the wonders of St. Patrick's Purgatory, the various adventures of those who descended into it, and the condition of those who had the good fortune to return from it; but I am uncertain whether he speaks from the original Latin of the monk of Saltrey, or from Mary's French translation. In the latter case it should appear that Mary finished her translation before 1246, the year in which Walter says he composed his work[1].
Whether Mary was the author of any other pieces I have not been able to ascertain: her taste, and the extreme facility with which she wrote poetry of the lighter kind, induce a presump-
- ↑ See his Works amongst the Harleian MSS. No 4333.
