Gualteri Mapes. De nugis curialium distinctiones quinque

TREFACE.
we have interesting accounts of different sects of heretics which
had sprung up in the twelfth century, and the first Distinction
ends with the story of three remarkable hermits. The second
Distinction begins with tales relating to pious monks and hermits
and their supposed miracles, which are followed by some anec-
dotes of the manners of the Welsh, and subsequently by a curious
collection of fairy legends. The five chapters of the third Dis-
tinction consist of a series of stories of a very romantic nature.
The fourth Distinction opens with the Epistle of Valerius to
Rufinus, a well known treatise, which occurs frequently in manu-
scripts as an anonymous production, and which is followed by
another series of tales and legends, many of them of great interest
from their connection with popular manners or with historical
personages. The fifth Distinction contains a few historical tradi-
tions relating to earl Godwin and Cnut the Dane, followed by a
sketch of the history of the English court from the reign of Wil-
liam Rufus to that of Henry II., which occupies the larger portion
of this division of the work. This sketch of the Anglo-Norman
kings is invaluable.
The treatise De Nuyis Curialium has long been known to exist in
the unique manuscript of the Bodleian library, but it has been
made very little use of, and its importance as a historical docu-
ment has not been understood. It appears that it had attracted
the attention of the learned and deservedly celebrated Sir Roger
Twysden, who projected an edition of it at the close of his laborious
life. The Rev. Lambert B. Larking, of Ryarsh, Kent, who possesses
most of Sir Roger Twysden^s papers that are extant, has kindly com-
municated to me the following extracts on this subject from letters
written by him to his son, then resident in Oxford, which possess