The sun., 1881-01-23

and rcrudlato tho distinction. As regartIs INT.
fundamental Affirmation OF continuitv ana
identity. and tho large consequences tha, 1oy
from II. Mr. Santsbury accepts the authority M
NJ Littr6. and In general upholds the view of
tho romantcists ns against the more conserva.
1.-Two opinions Of the Academy Sometlmes hs
seems to understnte tho linguistic df1cuItins
encountered by tho students Of tho carlios,
French literary monuments. He says. for or.
ample that the Chanson dc Rolnnd-whlch IA
Mt least as old as the Norman conquest-can bo
read with no more difficulty than Chaucer hv
any ono who hns acquired n fair KNOWLEDGE NJ
modern French. We should certainly excent IA
this statement II we nre to understand by Il TIM,
student is expected to read both Chaucor ana
tho Chansons without tho help OF dictionn.
rios. II lexicons. however. may be used
tho labor would be nearly oaualized
because no general dictionary Of ths
English language affords much help N
a student OF Chaucer. whereas grent deal Of
light Is thrown on tho very earliest French DO.
ems by Littr6's vocabulary. Yet even his rrea,
work is 30 far from being an exhaustive lexl.
con OF the older language that N, Godeiroy has
undertaken n compilation specially devoted 10
tho more archaic forms. We venture to say
that II all expository apparatus were discarded
read page or Chaucer even in the unmodern.
lied, uname ended text. sooner than one French-
man could spell out az manv lines OF Roland"
We admit the interval OF Mt least three centuries
between tho poets. and we think 1t only fair To
postulate n corresponding strangeness OF struc-
turo and idom. No doubt the song OF Roland
whose vocabulary Is mainly drawn from the
Latin. Is easier to a modern Frenchman than
an Anglo-Saxon chronicle OF the eleventh cen.
tury to an Englishman OF to-day.
Mr.. Saintsbury is careful to disabuse the
readers mind OF tho impression that the early
epics. OF which Roland" is tho oldest and best
the Chansons de Gestes. or songs OF families. as
the term literally means-are mere rude stories
or legends. 1t Is natural enough that tho i'm.
preston should be current. seeing that every
French critic. for 200 years. from Malherbes to
La Harpe. II he mentioned Roland" at ALL
would speak OF 1t in the condescending tone
adopted by Dryden toward Chaucer's verse
whom he said. There is the rude sweetness
OF Scotch tune in It," In fact. the Chansons
do Gestcs are written In regular verse. nearly
as polished and careful as Frenchmen writo
now. There Is. to be sure. one curious thing
about them to wit. that tho older ones arc not
rhymed. but are written in what Is called asso-
nance. Such. we need not say was the common
practice OF Anglo-Saxon poets. and to this day
what passes for rhyme in Spanish verso is con.
tent with an identity OF vowel sounds. withou,
regard to tho arrangement OF consonants.
Even the modern French conception OF rhyme
is far less perfect than our own. since 1t toler.
ates an identity OF consonants in the initial az
woll as final letters OF rhymed syllables.
1t would seem that these primitive French
epics present an almost perfect analogy to those
Greek rhapsodios OF which the 1liad and
Odyssey are survvals. Not only was the sub.
ject similar. namely the martial prowess ofsome
famous warrior. but the audience contem plated
was the same. namely the descendants. kinfolk,
or partisans OF the hero chroncied. Moreover,
just as the Greek epics were not. in all likell.
hood. committed to writing until long after tho
date OF their composition. so the Chanson do
Geste was generally reclted by a class OF men
and women called jongleurs and jongleuresses,
who went about from house to house repeating
poetry. Those who wrote the poems were not
called jongleurs. but trouveurs." though
sometimes. trouveur would sing and recite
his own works. Mr.. Saintsbury seems disposed
to distinguish tho name trouveur, applied to
the authors OF the earliest epics. from the
"trouveres" Of q subsequent age Twelfth cen.
tury). who composed short songs and tales
Both words. OF course. as belonging to the
poets OF northern France. must always be dii-
ferentiated from "troubadour," which properly
denotes Provencal singer. Tho most striking
thing about the French trouverss Is their inex.
haustible invention; 1t Is literal truth that for
some centuries. almost every country in Europe
contsnted itself. in the way OF fictitious litera-
ture. with translations and adaptations from
the Fabliaux and romances produced In the
lands north OF the Loire.
In chapter on the thirtoenth century Mr..
Saintsbury points out that Adam do la Halle.
ts
ers, was a decidedly important hgrre in the
history OF French literature. as being appar-
emily the inventor Of comedy and operetta.
Mystery and miracle plays had been written
for some time. but 1t seems to have struck
Adam that there was no reason. in the nature Of
things. why the subjects and persons OF drama
should always be of religious character. Ho
accordingly wrote play in which he himself.
his father. and many other citizens OF Arras
his native town. are brought on the stage. he
also took the popular pastorelle OF Robin ct
Marion" and. by making tho various person
ages speak and sing. instead OF merely telling
their story himself, he transformed narrative
poem into an operetta. Nobody SO far as we
know. had done anything similar to either Of
these innovations in modern language before.
nor did any one do anything of the kind again
for many years. In this same chapter on tho
century there lie digression to Pro.
vencal literature. which. being buried In Ian.
guage at least as distinct from modern French
rs is Spanish or Italian. does not properly fall
within the purviow OF his work.
In chapter on the decline OF medieval liter.
ature. Mr.. Saintsbury considers the causes oil
tho relative dearth OF frst-rate literary work In
tho two centures between the reign of Philip
the Fair and of Francis l. Almost the only
names OF this period with which the ordinary
reader is familiar arc those OF Frossar,
Confines. Charles d'Orleans. Alain Charter and
Francois Nillon. Mr.. Saintsbury is not ut all
disposed to irOwn on tho recent attempts 10
eKalt the merits ofVilion for he can see thntths
strange poems called Testaments" IN which
the author bequeathed his experiences and
opinions. are studded with ballads and ron'
doaux full OF q sad and beautiful poetry. In
deed. the note OF regret expressed in tho bur-
len Of one OF Viilon's ballads-MaiS on s1HtS
neiges ddntdH?-h passed into tho stock oi
current idiom. Mr.. Santsbury would not re-
fer the literary decadence of the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries to political causes. such m
the decay OF feudalsm and tho English wars
Tho decline was inevitable. simply because
the old civilization had written itsei out