The Portland daily press., 1877-03-17

,
afiame.
In the seventh century the age of the sacred
legends began, and at about the same time the
ionances OF the Teutonc race made their way
'h'o rance. In the eighth century Charlie
imagine came and picked up the sceptre which
nad dropped from the neryeless grasp of the
Caesars. In bis reign there was revival of
learning. He founded schools, epcouraped
scholars, ordered grammar of the national
tongue to be written, sowed the seed of the FAM
Gus University of Paris, gathered about him
men like Esinhard, Alcuin, and Paul the Iom-
bard.
AS early as the eighth century the Latin
spoken in France was very corrupt. The pro-
cess whereby it became French was slow and
Ill defined. In Charlemagne's time considera-
BILE advance was already made towards the
modern form of speech. From the first the
distinction between the French of the North
aud of the South seems to have existed. While
it is certain that the corrupted Latin of France
ran for long time side by side with the cor
rupted Latin of Italy and of Spain, it is equally
certain that the Hngua romano rustica was from
the beginning divided into dlalectc families.
The descent of the Norsemen upon the land
north of the Loire produced an immediate eff
fect In modifying the sp, ech of the conquered
country, and the difference between the langue
d OIL and the langue a. Oc was at once estab-
lished. The language of the South was spoken
generally up to tie close of tue thirteenth CEN
tury on the banks of the Eoro aud the Po, on
tine Mediterranean coast. aud in the districts
drained by the Loire and the Rhone One of
its variations, in use in Piedmont, developed
into the modern Italian; another, the Catalan,
tended toward the modern Spanish the third
became the tongue of the troubadours From
that has sprung almost every form Of lyrical
prnsody known to modern Europe. 1t fonr-
ished for two centuries and then the splendid
literature was compl etely crushed BY the terri
tle wars and suffarings of the country in the
fanatical crusade directed against it from the
North. The tdngue doc perished with the Abb
genses. The Romance poetry found precari-
ous refuge at the court of the Provencal Counts
until it was brought to an end by the death of
the last of the Berengers. Mr.. Van Laun gives
chapter to the canSons, Sercentes, aubades, ten
sons and other forms of the varied literature,
and then passes to the consideration of the
tdng'te dol, the parent of the French 1t does
not appear that the Provencals modified in any
appreciable degree the literature of the north of
France. The first poetry of the North was epic
rather than lyric; based as it was rather upou
the deeds of heroes than of lovers Naturally
enough the favorite hero was the great prince
who held domain between the Ebro and the
Oder; and very naturally at time when the
Saracens had begun to press heavily upon the
outposts of Christian Europe the campaigns,
historical or traditional, of Charlemagne and
his knights against the followers of the false
Mahound became the favorits subjects of song,
and obscured his other exploits. Thus ia the
ChanSon de Roland, the national epic of France
the French literature comes to birth Another
of the famous ChansonS de GeSte was the Ro-
man des Loherpins, (date twelfth century,, the
st Try of the jealousy of Lorrainer and Picard,
of German and Cet. Following these come
the Arthurian cycle Of poems, borrowed from
Britain, giving the adventures of the mythic
Son OF uther. Nor were the great heroisms
and eDthusiasms Of the ancient civilizations
overlooked by the trouveres. The tale of Troy
and other of the ancient themes were anew
fashioned into verse by the French singers
The French mind early found its proper
theme. Satire came to the front. Strangely
enough the clergy began it by saying arch
things of one another. The time came when
they had reason to vince at the pleasantries of
others; but they commenced by being merry
amongst themselves. A certain Deacon John
made Bishop of Orleans in the eleventh century
by favor of tie kings mistress, is the first who
appears in French literature as the butt of satir-
lists. Under the name of Flore la Courtisane,
surely not pretty name for a bishop, he be-
| came the subject of many a stinging rhyme.
Landri was famous satirical chdnson written
| by priest about priests. From its time on the
corruptions of the Church were never without q
satirist. Nor was it the Church alone that was
| stung. The national genius had found its most
efficient weapon, and the manners and times
we've unsparingly lashed. Thibaut, Count of
Champagne, first of the democratic aristocrats,
| could sing in 1923:
eau tons plein de. felonie,
D'envie ct de trrason,
| De tort, ct de mesprison,
| Sans bien ct sans cortoisie',
Presently the Roman de Renart, the Reinecke
der Fuchs of the Germans crossed the Rhine,
aud satire ecame an art The famous epic
| pour rire was added to from time to time until
at last it grew to gigantic story of fouI-and-
twenty thousand verses, and in it was concen-
trated the entire satircal faculy of more than a
century.
In the thirteenth century came the famous
Roman de la Rose, the joint work of Guillaume
| de Lorris and Jean de MeuDg, made familiar to
| Englishmen by Chaucer. A little later Rute-
beuf, prototype of all the French Bohemians,
| sang for his bread. As lats as that France had
L h,o, Al
we're and his uelle had fallen into almost as much
| disrepute as the wandering minstrel of our
streets to-day. That was the bad tune upon
which RutebeHf fell, and he starved for mis-
blunder He was the last of the trouveures,
though Eustache Deschamps in the fourteenth
century revived the old themes for day in
Uirelai and rondeau With Deschamps the
singers depart for time.
! Sstire soon found a vehicle more effective
even than verse, and here too it was upwit-
| tingy aided by the Church, which fatuously
fastened to maze another contribution to the
| downfall of her sway over the human mind.
The Church had adopted the drama as a hand
maid peculiarly fitted to do her worthy and
valuable service Early in her history she had
expanded the worship of God into spectacle,
/ Tue SdCIcu euluCt luLO " tuoalTe3 tu6 altdr INTO
a stage. But the mere performance of divine
worship pompous and gorgeous as it gradually
became, in time ceased to be the limit Of the
| spectacle presented to the congregation. The
miracle plays were introduced, in which the
| Deity was amongst the dramatis person0 and
heaven amongst the scenic effects, Very
| likely the Church was forced to the introduc-
| tion, for the hour came when the majority of
the congregation no longer understood the
language of prayer and hymn, and when the
heart must be reached if at all, directly through
the bodily senses; but the introduction was
none the less unfortunate because necessary.
So alluring an amusement could not be kept
within her control, and the mocking French
spirit eagerly seized SO admirable vehicle for
its expression. Strolling players took the
miracle plays and grated the life of the people
upon the lives of the saints. The priest was
still the hero of the drama, but be was priest
| who wandered ilto taverns, got besotted with