Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1847-06-10

with the exception of some valuable letters, !
and a few historical tracts, have little inter-
est at the present day" at may be obser-
we'd that poetry in general was peculiarly the
literature of the schools and of the secular
clergy and much of that of the 18th and
18th centuries is distinguished by its hostil-
ity to monachism."
Lanfrauc had revived, or rather created
the study of the ancient classics in Nor
mandy, in whose schools it was afterwards
cultivated with great success. Some ofthe
most distinguished ornaments of those
schools were brought over to this island by
the Conqueror, and from that time the An
glo-Latin writer's took respectable position
in the literature Of Europe. This, howev-
err, was essentially owing to the importation
of learned men for during the first half of
the Anglo-Norman period, the distinguished
writer's in our island were, with very few ex-
ceptions, foreigners, who were brought over
by the Norman monarchs to be dignitaries OF
the English Church
"The Latin of the earlier writer's is char
acterized by considerable vigour of style,
arising from clearness and simplicity of die
ton, which subsequently gave way to an af-
fectation of florid ornament, which made
the style of the later writer's very confused.
and often uninteligible. We meet with
good Latin poetry throughout the 10Th CEN
fury the writings of Laurence of Durham,
Henry of Huntingdon, John of Salisbury,
John de Hautville, Nigellus Wirreker, Al
exander Neckam and others, contain passa-
ges of great beauty, and almost classic ele-
gance; whilst a new style of Latin versfi-
| -, .,h, ,h tha sc
the ancient metres, beginning with Hilari-
us, and brought to perfection in the satiri
cal poems attributed to Walter Mapes, pos
sesses certain energy and sprightiness
which are not without considerable attrac-
ton. This class ofpoetry became extreme
" popular, and continued to exist in its orig
inal vigour, long after the style of the most
serious Latin writer's became hopelessly de-
based. Indeed the period at which it APP
pears to have hourished most, is the middle
of the 18th century, under the troubled
reign of Henry iii, Very little Latin prose
that is tolerable, was written after the mid
die of the 18th century. Norman and Eng
fish had then, to a certain extent, driven the
Latin out of the field, or at least had thrown
it into the hands of a school of heavy theo-
logians. A new era of Anglo-Norm lit
erature opens with the reign of Richard |.
The lion-hearted king prded himself Oh his
poetic talents; and he was the patron of
iongleurs and trouveres, whose works, as far
as we are now acquainted with them, be-
came more numerous at this period. These
writer's we're not properly minstrels; they
did not recite their own works, but commit
tea them to writing, which is the cause of
their being preserved in early manuscripts.
They were monks; and some of them APP
pear to have embraced the monastic life af
ter having been professed poets, and to have
made atonement for the profane productions
of their earlier years, by dedicating their
talents to sacred subjects. "-Wrighfs BIZ
ogrnphia, Introduction, paSSim
Even so late as the early part of the 18th
century, an immense distance continued to
exist between the Normans and the English
people. A Poitevin who was prime minis
ter in the time of Henry liz, being asked
to observe the great charter and the laws OF
the land, answered. am no EngHShma,,
that ! should know these charters and these
laws" Robert Grosse-tete, bishop of Lin
coin, principal chaplain to the army of the
barons, then reckoned only two languages
in England, Latin for men Of, letters, and
French for the uneducated, in which Ian
guage he himself, in his old age, wrote pi-
Gus books for the use of the laity, making
those who spoke it, This neglect of the
mass of the people, of the villains in town
and country, pervades all the literature OF
the Anglo-Norman period. Concerning
them and their social condition, preachers
and poets seem to have been alike silent
The poets, even those of English birth, COM
posed all their verses in French, whenever
they wished to derive from them either pro-
fit or honour There was indeed class OF
ballad-makers and writer's of extravagant
romances, who employed either pure Saxon
which was now revived-or dialect mix
ed up of Saxon and French, which served
for the habitual communication between the
higher and lower classes. This was the or
igin of our present language, which arose
out of the necessities of society. In order
to be understood by the people, the Nor
mans SarOnized their speech as well as they
could and on the other hand, in order to
be understood by the upper classes, the peo-
pie Normdnized theirs. This intermediate
idiom first became current in the cities
Wnere the popuiation Oh tne TWO races Hdo
become more intermingled, and where the
inequality of conditions was less marked
than in the rural districts There it insen'
sibly took the place of the Anglo-Saxor
tongue, which was left TO the rudest and
poorest of the people, while the more cult
waited, and those who pretended to gentility
studied by refining and Gallicizng theil
speech, to initiate the mobiles, and draw near
er to them in the relations of society A
bout the middle of the 18th century, grea
many poetical and imaginative works ap
peared in this new language; sometimes
the two tongues out of which it grew were
used in every alternate couplet, or in ever,
second line. AT length, owing to the pow
erful social causes to which we have already
adverted, the French language was entirely
laid aside not only in the courts OF justice
but also in the high court of Parliament, al
well as by all the writers who addressed
themselves to the middle classes and tn,
town populations. We STILL indeed, retair
venerable relic of the old Norman, in tn,
customs, equally absurd and harmless, O
giving the royal assent in that language -
the formula is-Le Roy h Ueuh-ie Rol
s'ddpissrd-not even, we blieye, moderniz
inu the orthnoranhy