The Sun.
London, England, 1859-11-08 00:00:00

AINSWORTH'S NEW BALLAD.

The Combat of the Thirty. By -W. Harrison
Ainsworth. Chapman and Hall.
Harrison Ainsworth's genius as a ballad•writei
Is well known to all the lovers of his romances
—romances fraught with a fascination akin to the
glamour of some old enchantment, before the magic
of which we have all in our time yielded a charmed
and spell-bound admiration, as the readers of " Rook-
wood," and " Crichton," and " Jack Sheppard" can
well testify. Scattered up and down those enthral-
ling pages are songs and ballads innumerable —some
of them with refrains as felicitous almost as those of
the prince of ballad-writers, refrains which
haunt the memory with a delightful persistency when
many mere important themes are long forgotten.
Who does not remember, for example,Dick Turpin's
praises of his "bonny Brick Bess," or that wonder-
ful compilation of slang, the glorious Romany Chant,
while the legendary verses of Rookwood greatly
enhanced the fascination of that tale of mystery and
doom. In the present instance, we have before us
the longest, and in somo respects the best, ballad
that has yet emanated from the pen of this delight-
ful ballad-writer. It is taken from a Breton lay of
the 14th century, of the discovery of which, and of
a new chapter by Froissart (also given in this
volume), we quote the following account from the
introduction :

"The authenticity of the Combat of the Thirty, beyond
doubt the most remarkable episode of the civil wars that
desolated Brittany during the fourteenth century, was long
disputed by both French and English historians, who
seemed to regard the engagement as apocryphal. Yet there
was no just reason for such doubts. The question, how-
ever, has been finally set at rest by the discovery of the
ancient and almost contemporary ballad, of which I have
attempted the following version; and by the recovery of a
missing chapter of Froissart, supplying details of the affair.
The manuscript of the old ballot was found in the Biblio-
theque du Roi, by MM. de Freminville and Penhouet, the
former of whom published an incorrect edition of it at Brest
in 1819. A second and beautifully-printed edition, which
left nothing to desire on the score of accuracy—the proofs
having been collated word for word with the original manu-
script by M. Meon—was brought out in 1827, by M. Crape-
let, under the auspices of the Comte de Corbiere, Minister
of the Interior. More recently, the zeal and antiquarian
learning of M. Pitre Chevalier, the author of ' Ancient and
Modern Brittany,' have been devoted to the illustration of
this curious historical poem, which be is willing to regard
as the testimony of an almost eye-witness of the conflict,
while he even ranks it above the newly-restored chapter of
Froissart, as more 'simple and characteristic, more com-
plete and impartial.' Indeed, with an enthusiasm excus-
able in a ' Breton de la Bretagne bretonnante,' he terms it
a ti esor sans prix.'
" The new chapter of Froissart, to which I shall now
advert, was discovered amongst the manuscript collections
of the Prince de Soubise, and was published, in 1824, by
the finder, M. Buchon, in his Ch7oniques nationales et
estrangeres. As this very interesting historical morceau
has not, that I am aware, been included in an English edi-
tion of the old chronicler, or ever been translated into our
language, I propose to give it entire."

In the enumeration of names, and particular de-
scription of details, the ballad is singularly exact
and felicitous. It opens thus :
" Seigneurs, knights, barons, bannerets, and bachelors, I
pray,
Bishops and abbots, holy clerks, heralds and minstrels gay,
Ye valiant men of all degrees, give ear unto my lay.
Attend, I say, and ye shall hear how Thirty Englishmen,
As lions brave, did battle give to Bretons three times ten.
And sith the story of this fight I shell toll faithfully,
A hundred years hereafter it shall remembered be,
And warriors hoar recount it then to children on the knee.
The place of combat is designated in most melo-
dious numbers :

"Now would ye know the spot whereon this famous fight
befel,
Midway it lies 'twixt Jossclin and the Castle of Ploermel.
A solitary tree doth grow on the far-stretching plain,
Known as the Mid-Way Oak—long may that mark remain I
As specimens of the spirit and vigour of the narra-
tive, let us take the following incident:—
"Fierce does the conflict rage, loud do the blows resound;
Baron de Bosdegas, senseless, is on the ground.
And brave De Pestivien, who all-disabled lies,
On Beaumanoir for aid hus dolorously cries :
Help me, good Baron, help me straight! if I be captive
ta' en
By these infuriate Englishmen, thou'lt see me ne'er
Then Beaumanoir he sware by Christ, who on the tree was

tied,
Ere that should be, full many a shield and hawberk should

bo tried !
Hereon he flung his spear aside, and on his good sword

drew ;
And all who came within its range ho quickly overthrew.
And by his deeds the Englishmen were in no wise dismayed;
And lion hearts, on either side, the combatants displayed.
Wearied, at length, with such great toil, they:on a truce

agreed,
And for a while repose they took, whereof all stood in need.
With good wine of Anjou full soon their thirst they did

allay,
And, thus refreshed, the deadly strife they recommenced

straightway.
Or better still :

"N.-)w pious Beaumanoir that day had fasted rigorously,
T was Mid-Lent vigil, and such fasts he kept religiously—
And being faint and sore athirst, for water he did cry.
Hearing the cry, Geoffroy Du Bois in accents stern did say,
Drink thy own blood, Do Beaumanoir, thy thirst 'twill
. .

quench straightway.'
Roused by those words of rough rebuke, and full of wrath
and pain.
The Baron good, forgot his thirst, and joined the fray again.
These quotations will be enough to excite the curi-
osity of the ballad-lover, who, if we mistake not,
will peruse the account of the Combat of the Thirty
with no little interest and admiration. It winds
up, after the olden fashion, with the following
beautiful prophecy of its after fame :
" Oft shall they of this famous fight, in after times, hear

tell,
For all its matchless feats of arms remembered are right

well.
Pictured they are in castle-hall on gorgeous tapestry,
And sung in ditties of our old Armoric chivalry.
Full many a squire and hardy knight shall the stirring tale

elate,
Full many a dame of beauty bright shall it serve to recreate.
And all shall glow as when they read of Guilaume

D' Aquitaine,
Of Arthur and of Oliver, Roland and Charlemagne.

Three hundred years hereafter—nay, a thousand!—they

shall hear
Of this Combat of the Thirty, which, I ween, was without
peer."

As " without peer," too, in its way, is Harrison
Ainsworth's noble version of this heart-stirring
celebration of it !

ROYAL ENGLISH OPERA.

Last evening Verdi's " Il—Trovatore" was produced at
the above theatre for the first time this season, and with the
following cast :—Leonora, Madlle. Parepa ; Azucena, Miss
Pilling; Count Luna, Mr. Stantley ; and Manrico, Mr.
Henry Haigh. Madlle. Parepa, as most of our musical
readers williloubtless remember, made her debut before the
London public some few years back a'. the Royal Italian
Opera as Elvira in " I Puritani." Her success was une-
quivocal, but the ernbarras de riellesse with respect to singers
which then oppressed Mr. Gye precluded the possibility of
his making much use of the fair debutante's great talent, or
profiting by the highly favourable impression she had made.
Madlle. Parepa is an immense acquisition to the English ope-
ratic stage. She has a rich and beautiful soprano voice, equal-
ly good in quality from C below the line to E flat in alt.
The opera was received with great applause, and encores
'yere awarded to the renderings of "The Tempest of the
Heart," (" Il Balen"), by Mr. Santley ; " Breeze of the
Night" (" D'Amor sull' al rosee"), by Madlle. Parepa;
" Ah yes, thou'rt mine" (" Ah si, ben mio), by Mr. Haigh ;
and the famous miserere scene. The band and chorus,
under the able direction of Mr. Alfred Mellon, were all that
could be wished.