bestiary

For the structure of this verse, see p. 327; the following is a restoration and scansion of the passages in the Bestiary.

The author of the Bestiary was acquainted with one or both of these.

The medival bestiary was a book which sought to enunciate religious instruction by an appeal to the curiosity of credulous people.

Another Bestiary, of slightly later date, illuminated in the same manner.

A Bestiary of the beginning of the thirteenth century, enriched with many very curious paintings upon a ground of brilliant gold.