INTRODUCTION

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INTRODUCTION
From wh~t then isthis eril? It is swely from tb2t th, •nd attains to immortality b)· the graee or Cod
{•6965-27 r•o). Surely, then, every m>n ought to desire to repent
of his sin and 10 tum 10 God, that so the world may be amend«!
and we may inherit eternal life. The nuthor confes.,.. himself to
be as great a sinner as any man; but hope is his shield by the aid
and merey or Jesus Christ, notwithstnnding WI he hns so idly
nncd his life and comes so bte to repcnt~n712t->7J6o).
But how can he escape from his sin21, how can he dl'ltC to pnay,
with whnt ean be come before his God 1 Only by the help of his
lAdy or l'ity, Mary, moid nnd mother, who will intercede for htm
if he can obtain her fa•·ow. Thertfore be desires, before finishing
his tAsk, LO tell Of her oonception ond btrtb, her life and her de>t.h
(l7J6• ~•748o~ Upon 11m follows tho tale or the Nativity of the
Virgin, as we find it (for Cl4 ~B~Ieinn Libr.) there is a part of o French poem • de
~lanmg~o nouem filiatum di3boti,' which begins,
'1.1 deablc:: ac vout m.arier,
M.au,·ebU priM • u aaoillcr:
De ~ce h: rujes ~rendra
£1 di\·crteiOc:at Jes lltal)'a,• '*'
And no doobt other pieees of • similnr kind txist.
The .. me is lnle os regards the other puts of the hook
... bas been already point«! out; the combination alone ;;
Ortgrnal.
'l"he ll)le is uniformly respectable, but as a rule ''try mon~
tonou.. Occnsionally the todium io relie•·od by a atory, but
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