(1.)  LAYAMON's5ru(,or  Chronicleof  Britain,  oi
which  there  are  two  texts,  one  much  earlier  than
the  other. The  title  of  *'  the  English  Eunius,"  for-
merly applied  to  Robert  of  Gloucester,  may  now
fiiirly  be  ti*ansferred  to  Layamon. He  tells  ua  that
he  was  a  priest  of  Emley,  near  Redstone,  on  the
Severn  (probably  Lower  Arley),  and  that  he  com-
piled hia  work  partly  from  a  book  in  English  by
St. Bede,  which  can  only  mean  the  translation  of  the
HisioHa  Eccleeiastica  ascribed  to  Alfred,  partly
from  one  in  Latin  by  St  Albinand  Austin,  and
pai-tly  from  one  made  by  a  French  clerk,  named
Wace,  and  presented  to  Eleanor,  queen  of  Henry
II. He  aeema,  however,  to  have  followed  only  Bede
in  the  story  of  Pope  Gregoiy  and  the  EngUah  slaves
at  Rome;  his  second  authority  appears  to  be  but  a
confused  reference  to  the  Latin  text  of  the  Historia>
Ecclesiastica;  and  his  work  was  really  founded
upon  the  Brut  of  Wace,  already  noticed. This  he ,
amplified  from  15,300  lines  to  32,250,  partly  by  pai-o-
phrasing,  partly  by  inserting  speeches  and  other
compositions,  such  as  the  Dream  of  Arthur,  which"
show  much  imaginative  power,  and  partly  by  the'
addition  of  many  legends,  from  Welsh  and  othet-^
sources  not  used  by  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth. He
makes  several  allusions  to  works  in  English  which
are  now  loat. The  date  of  the  completion  of  thei'
work,  usually  assigned  to  the  latter  years  of  Heniy
n.,  should  probably  be  brought  below  A. D. 1200,
after  John's  accession. The  style  of  the  work  bean
witness  to  Norman  influence,  both  in  the  structure
of  the  verae  and  the  manner  of  the  narrative,  but
not  nearly  ao  much  aa  might  have  been  expected
from  the  translator  of  a  French  original. The
earlier  text  haa  not  fifty  words  of  French  origiU)
and  both  texts  only  aijbut  ninety. "We  And  pre-
served," says  Sir  F. Madden,  "  in  many  passages
of  Layamon's  poem  the  spirit  and  style  of  the  earlier
Anglo-Sa^xon  writers. 