Professor Marsh lectured in the Fogg Art Museum last evening, under the auspices of the Folk Lore Club, before a large audience. The subject of the lecture was "Beast Fables in the Middle Ages."

There are three important sources of the fables of the Middle Ages, said Professor Marsh; the fables of classic times; the mass of Northern or Germanic stories which came early in the 12th century into Europe; and the various additions which were made to the original tales in popular use. The mingling of these three caused many diversities, so that the limit of each source cannot be certainly determined.

The classic fables have come down from early times under the name of Esop's fables; but Esop, like Homer, is an unknown person. The first known collections of Greek fables was made about 300 B. C., by a certain Demetrius. Upon his version succeeding collections were made, with additions of tales from the East. From Greece the fables spread to Rome and thence over Europe, until in the Middle Ages several collections of tales were made in England and France, notably by Romulus Imperator and Marie de France.

Early in the 12th century the animals which before had not been named, were named and the elaborations of the stories into dramas was begun.