Note
Part II of the Alphabetum Narrationum brings the text to an end, and leaves introduction, glossary, index and general clearing-up for Part III.
The name of Étienne de Besançon still stands on the title-page; this is the last time it may be associated with this collection of Tales. The association is of so long and respectable a standing that it is worthy of an easy dissolution, though Étienne himself might possibly have felt no regret to see it brought about, as it assuredly has been by Mr. J.A. Herbert's article in the Library for January, 1905. Mr. Herbert sums up the case as stated by Mons. Hauréau, and adds evidence of his own weighty enough to dispose finally of the claims made for Étienne's authorship by Leandro Alberti, Quétif and Échard, and later writers.
There is a case for Arnold of Liège, but the verdict is a little in suspense. A definite attribution of authorship must wait for Part III, though it may be said forthwith that any testing of evidence hitherto undertaken serves only to strengthen Arnold's claims. For the present, however, readers must look for these in the article quoted above.
M. M. BANKS.