books printed in England by Caxton was "The Subtyl Historyes and Fables of Esope," which was translated from a French version of Planudes.

In Germany the Reformers thought highly of the Fables, and used them vigorously against their opponents. Martin Luther even began a new translation of them, and is said to have valued them next to the Holy Scriptures.

Finally a very full text was obtained from many sources by the Swiss scholar, Novelet, in the year 1610. This has been the standard ever since; and so popular have it and its translations become that, during the three centuries which have elapsed, no book, except the Bible, has had a wider circulation than Æsop's Fables. They have been translated into every civilized tongue, and have been read, and will be read, for generations by Jew, Heathen, Mohammedan, Buddhist, and Christian. They are at the present time so thoroughly engrafted into our literature as to become a part of our daily speech.

And so we will continue to love our wise old Æsop, and give him full credit for all his Fables. It makes small difference with us, that scholars of to-day are searching through many musty books, and informing us that even if Æsop did tell these. stories, they are not his own, for they belong to the folk-lore of every country. Thousands of years ago, they say, the books of the Chinese con

tained similar tales; the bricks of Babylon are marked with them; papyrus scrolls of Egypt, written six hundred years before Esop was born, reveal his story of the "Lion and the Mouse; and the Hindu and Buddhistic literatures preserve other foibles and frolics of our animal friends. To all this we only reply that, while there may be such tales in other lands, they are not our Æsop. He it is who tells them as we want to hear them told — simply, directly, and sagely, with a charm and freshness that bring them down to us through the centuries, not growing musty with age, but constantly taking on the vigor of youth.

The present text has been based on the two standard English versions of Sir Roger L'Estrange (1694) and Dr. Samuel Croxall (1727), with reference to the French versified form of La Fontaine (1668), and several recent editors. La Fontaine takes many liberties with the stories and adds others of his own. L'Estrange is commendable for directness and terseness, but is unsuited to present-day reading, by his obsolete and impure expressions. The Croxall text is unequal in value, some of the Fables being bright and pointed, others being dull and tedious. Croxall and L'Estrange have, therefore, been followed where advisable; and considerable new material has been obtained from other credible sources.

Morals to all the Fables have been diligently

sought out; and we believe this to be the first full English version which gives a moral in every case. While many of these morals are perfectly obvious without their printed presence, the early idea of a Fable is a Story and a Lesson, given side by side so plainly that he who runs may read.

The constant effort in this text has been toward simplicity to replace long words by shorter ones, and to obtain an easy reading version which the children might understand and enjoy; for does not Æsop belong to them first- and afterwards to all whose hearts are young?

J. W. M.