Note 495 — APPENDIX II. ON THE ANCIENT METRICAL ROMANCES, &c.

The romances on the subject of Perceval, San Graal, Lancelot du Lac, Tristan, &c., were among the first that appeared in the French language in prose, yet these were originally composed in metre: the editor has in his possession a very old French MS. in verse, containing L'ancien Roman de Perceval, and metrical copies of the others may be found in the libraries of the curious. See a note of Wanley's in Harl. Catalog. Num. 2252, p. 49, &c. Nicholson's Eng. Hist. Library, 3rd ed. p. 91, &c. See also a curious collection of old French romances, with Mr. Wanley's account of this sort of pieces, in Harl. MSS. Catal. 978, 106.