The Sun.
London, England, 1854-01-27 00:00:00

Cochrane. 2 vols. Hurst and Blackett.

There is something refreshing in this work, after
the [ordinary range of romances. It is not from
any striking events or original characters, so much
as from its vivid descriptions and graceful style,
that it merits the attention and admiration of its
readers. The principal part of the story takes
place in Touraine, of which charming province we
meet with a most delightful picture in the first vo-
lume. The heroine is introduced to us, in a scene
worthy of her name, at sunset, kneeling by an
ancient cross) that had stood for ages the landmark
for many a weary pilgrim and the consolation of
many a distressed spirit. In a more advanced part
of the narrative, her mother, in referring to her
choice of her daughter's appellation,' remarks,
" She shall be called Florence, for I read that Flo-
rence, which sits by the bright Arno, is called the
Beautiful." Towards the conclusion, the stormy
scenes of the French Revolution are beginning to
be enacted, but they are more referred to than in-
troduced. We must except, however, the two
deaths of Florence's father and the Abbe, which
are fearful to dwell upon from their truthlike deli-
neation. Marie, the gentle and neglected cripple,
is a pleasing and natural character ; and Henri de
Soligny, the hero, is also admirably drawn. The
struggle between pride and love is ably shown
forth, and his conduct in the trying scenes of the
carnage at Blois elevates him to the ranks of a
" preux Chevalier." Yet, the prevailing impression
at the conclusion of the work will be that it owes
to its composition more than to its creations. The
beauty of the language, the eloquence of some
passages and the vivacity of others, the freshness
and glowing enthusiasm which pervade its pages,
all proclaim it to be no ordinary novel, and dis-
tinguish it as an exception to the romances of the
day. The Chapter on Roses is a very fanciful and
elegant digression, and the subject is appropriately
I introduced by its being presented as a study to the
lovely heroine as she is enjoying the summer's day
in the luxuriant beauty of that favoured spot before
alluded to. The following linos are the commence-
ment of the chapter : _ _

" Beautiful Provence, to thee we owe the lay of the
Troubadour, the wild tale of romance ; there by the
blue waters of the joyous Mediterranean the orange-
flower disputes with the pomegranate and myrtle
each spot of soil, and the blue tints of the sky and
the light outlines of the hills blend together ; while
on distant ridges the palm recals the glories of the
East, and the lofty pine standl forth on high as the
guardian of the forest—who that has ever dwelt
in
Provence, but must look back to that period of life
with fond regret ; for in such a climate even sensa-
tions of sorrow are subdued by the softness of the air.
C'est le lieu du monde ou on peut mieux se passer de
bonheur ;' but it is not for her minstrelsy, though lips
worthy of the theme have sung the loves of Provence ;
it is not for her wild tales of romance, though these
cling to every ruin like the ivy of centuries ; it is not
the orange-blossom, though at the name the fair bosom
gently heaves and the damask glows in the cheek. Not
so much for all these do we love fair Provence, as for
the rose which her soil gives birth to ; it is of La Pro-
vence, above all, that England is redolent' and her roses
are not the least of all the graces which England owes
to Franco."

There are some remarks made on" Great Cities,"
which are also deserving of mention. It is observed
that this is called the age of great cities, but the
author asserts that the epithet " vast " is the one
which should be applied to them :
" Commerce is the magician which in all times has,
with her magic wand, called great cities into existence ;
but commerce is in these days more selfish, more exclusive,
less generous than of old. She does not keep her state
in marble palaces ; and the great merchants are no
longer the merchant princes of the nation. Thebes
with her hundred gates, purple Tyre, imperial Carthage,
were the offspring of commerce. The tideless Adriatic
and the azure Mediterranean wafted commerce to the
stones of Venice and the marbles of Genoa ; then it was
that men possessed noble thoughts, and could greatly
realisethem. It was the proud boast of the great aesar
that he found Rome brick, and left it marble. We are
content to leave nothing but bricks to our descendants."

The Song of Boland. Translated by the Author of
" Emilia Wyndham." Hurst and Blackett.
A literary curiosity is here given to the public in
this " Song of Roland"—as chaunted before the
Battle of Hastings by the Minstrel Taillefer—lite-

rally in this version the translation of the transla-
tion of a translation. We will explain. The
author of " Emilia Wyndham" then, be it said,
translated this " Song of Roland" into English
froin the modern French of M. Vitet, who in
his turn had translated it from the obsolete
French of M. Genin, who again in his turn
had translated it from the original text, as
first printed in the edition of M. Michel, and as
first written (in the eleventh century) by the monk
Turoldus. The history of this celebrated " Song
of Roland" is sufficiently remarkable. It was
known to have been chaunted on the morning of
the Battle of Hastings, namely, on the 13th of Oc-
tober, 1066, by a Norman knight, who spurred his
horse in front of the battle array, before the fight
had commenced, and in a loud voice sang the
" Song of Roland" between both armies—this
knight being a follower of the Count de Mortain,
and his name Taillefer. The incident was known
to all students of history who were at all familiar
with our ancient Chronicles—it being formally
recorded in the pages of William of Malmesbury.
But, until very recently, the song itself was no-
where discoverable. It was stated by Tyrwhitt, in
a note to his edition of the " Canterbury Tales,"
that a manuscript of it was somewhere to be found
in a state of preservation. But the actual existence
of this MS. was first announced to the world of let-
ters by the learned Abbe de la Rue, in his Essai sur les
Trouveres Normands. It was first discovered by him
among the treasures of the Bodleian. Library at
Oxford. Whereupon M. Francesque Michel was at
once despatched to the university to take a fair
copy of the manuscript, being ordered so to do by
M. Guizot, the then Minister of Public Instruction.
From M. Michel's edition of the poem in the ori-
ginal antique language have come forth successively, i
as already intimated, the translation of t into the
French of the time of Amyot, by M. Genm, the
translation of that into modern French by M.
Vitet, and the translation from that again into
English by the author of " Emilia Wyndham."
Such briefly is the history of this curiously elabo-
rated edition of one of the most renowned of war-
songs—the death-chaunt of the Paladin of Charle-
magne—the lyrical commemoration of the bloody
and heroic fight at Roncesvalles.