ian, which she translated into French verse. In
the prologue she informs her readers that she would not have engaged in
it, but for the solicitation of a man who was "_the flower of chivalry
and courtesy_," and whom, at the conclusion of her work, she styles
_Earl William_.

Por amor le counte Guillaume,
Le plus vaillant de cest royaume,
Mentremis de cest livre faire,
Et de l'Anglois en Romans traire, &c.[13]

M. le Grand, in his preface to some of Mary's fables, which he has
published in French prose, informs us that this person was _Earl William
de Dampierre_. But William, Lord of Dampierre, in Champagne, had in
himself no right whatever to the title of Earl. During the 13th century,
this dignity was by no means assumed indiscriminately, and at pleasure,
by French gentlemen; it was generally borne by whoever was the owner of
a province, and sometimes of a great city, constituting an earldom: such
were the earldoms of Flanders, of Artois, of Anjou, of Paris, &c. It was
then, that these great vassals of the crown had a claim to the title of
earl, and accordingly assumed it.[14] Now, the territory of Dampierre
was not in this predicament during the 13th century; it was only a
simple lordship belonging to the lords of that name.[15]

Convinced, as I am, that Mary did not compose her fables in France, but
in England, it is rather in England that the Earl William, alluded to by
Mary, is to be sought for; and luckily, the encomium she has left upon
him is of such a nature, as to excite an opinion that he was William
Longsword, natural son of Henry II. and created Earl of Salisbury and
Romare by Richard Coeur de Lion. She calls him "_the flower of chivalry,
the most valiant man in the kingdom_," etc.; and these features
perfectly characterize William Longsword, so renowned for his
prowess.[16] The praise she bestows on him expresses, with great
fidelity, the sentiments that were entertained by his contemporaries;
and which were become so general, that for the purpose of making his
epitaph, it should seem that the simple eulogy of Mary would have
sufficed.

Flos comitum, Wilhelmus obit, stirps regia, longus
Ensis vaginam capit habere brevem.[17]

This earl died in 1226;[18] so that Mary must have written her fables
before that time. The brilliant reputation she had acquired by her lays,
had no doubt determined William to solicit a similar translation of
_Aesopian Fables_, which then existed in th