New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-06-19
NEW PUBLICATIONS
poov m urDI EvAL SONGS.


scribner & Wexford. 1885. Svo PIP. 1873.
In this dainty volume, which comes from tne
press with a physiognomy suggestive Oh .ho
Middle Ages Mr.. Symonds gives MS specimens Oh ae-
lirhtful verse but still more delightful prose- Inc
ubiect-matter of the medieval study which ne
has made is clearly indicated in the title OF inc
book. Captivated by the songs of the wandering
Students. which have long been the delleht Oh
Latinists. and seeing in them the evidence
of an earlier revival of letters than tha'
usually spoken of as the "reminiscences
he subjects them to a critical study WIN
ingenious results, and that others may snare HIS
pleasure he gives considerable NUMBER Oh 'hc
soncs an English dress He is unquestionably
convinced that his little literary excursion INTO the
long ago will help to clear away some of the gloon
which enshrouds the early Middle Ages IN the
popular mind, and i'll order that the beams OF MS
renascent sun may seem the brighter he paints a
picture of the tunes in tints which are consider
ably more Doresque than the facts warrant. Ger
tanly only an uneDlightened mind couio
harbor such a doleful view or the
state of letters morals and life In Tue
r,mes of the Troubadours the Mlnnesinger ana
the authors or compiers of the great German eplcs
as he puts down as the popular benet To-Day. Du'
this il An old and familiar device of special plead
ers and one that is easily forgiven MIR. Syinohus
seems profoundly convinced OF the novel'y vi ms
discovery and with something like the surprise
of a child on finding the old world unchanged OF
feature on New-Years morn, he records his convic-
ton born of these songs that in the twelfth CEN
tury. whsnce they date, "the uneradicable appe-
tites and natural instincts of men and women were
no less rigorous in fact though less articulate and
self-assertIve, than they had been in the age OF
Greece and Rome, and than they afterwaro
disolayed themselves in what is KNOWN
as the Renaissance" The Middle Ages
are receiving justice but tardily. only
few weeks ago German author published DOCK
on the relation of public opinion to fasehood IN the
tenth. eleventh and twelfth centuries in which ne
demonstrated to his own satisfaction, by much IN
penous distortion of anecdotes that at the time Ill
question lie was not looked upon as dishonorapie
or as even at all times censurabe. In proving MS
theses the German author fairly revelled IN gen.
ordinations and wholesale deductions, and ignored
completely the fact that all the writings to which
he could go for bis proofs were the products OF a
single class of the population and class, more
over, neither able nor disposed to deal fairly with
the masses Mr. Symonds's wish to raise the popu-
lar belief respecting the happiness and culture
of the much-abused Middle Ages is much more COM
nendable than the German writer's purpose.
The list Of books on Goiardic literature which
the author appends to his little volume shows that
he ia not only alone in his capacity rs English
translator of the Latin Students songs preserved
in two MSS of the thirteenth century Ia codex
known in its printed form as Carmina Bardnd now
at Munich. and Harleian MS.). but that he is al
most alone in his capacity OF English critic of them
In this field Of inquiry the Germans have been busy
and few French scholars have done credisabls
work. Though the authorship of many of the songs
was once claimed for England, the English have
heretofore practically ignored all but the satires
which were well known at the time OF the English
Reformation. At that time The Vision OF Goias."
one of the most severe Of the satires frequently
translated into English Mr. Symonds pur-
sues his subject in the preliminary
essay with his aim clearly in view
and succeeds within marvellously brief
space in bringing before the reader the state If
Latin letters during the period from the decadence
of the Roman Empire to the preliminary renascence
of Paganism attempted in the twelfth century. He
discusses the introduction Of accentual rhythms
in popular poetry at time when qualitative
metres were vet the artificial modes employed by
cultivated writer's and credits Christianity with the
development marked by the introduction of rhymes.
In process of time the popular poetry being in fact
folk songs came to be known as moduh as distin-
guished from the limitations of Virgil and OVID
which obtained the of versus. In the Students
,ugated to. the influence of music. Accent has been
substituted for quantity and value has been
given TO purely melodlc cadences. " Now the odati-
lena rather than the metron rules the flow of verse;"
Had Mr. Symonds at this point taken glance at
the musical history of his period he would have
discovered that the emancipation which is so sig
nifcant, was brought about by the art which itself
had only recently been loosed from the old shackles
of syllable quantity 1t is the textbook view that
the VolksIied of Germany evolved from the
CIVILIZATIONS {" longus jubi,atiORis y, which
in the progress of time TO be permitted to the
people whose only participation IN the
church service was an occasional response
in the Kuie aad Saactus 1t is PROBABLY nearer the
truth that the "jubatisns which make the
" HalIelujah" long melodic phrase were them
selves an echo of the popular songs whose use in
church had been interdicied by Pope Ambrose.
The Ambrosau chant seems from the latest inves-
LEGATIONS, to have been based upon the classic
Quantities This view lifts into prominence the
form accomplished by Gregory the Great in the
establishment of the modes which bear his name,
and the sufferance of melodies whose flow not re-
strcted by the quantities of the verse; But this Is
O division of the subject upon which we must not
dwell.
The songs which Mr. Svmonds has analyzed,
praised and translated are the songs of
the vagrant students of the twelfth CELL
tury the Vagaaten as the Germans
call them. These, as is known, followed the custom
of their time and formed themselves into guild.
They were in the Church yet not of the Church. and
though they chastsed the follies and vices of the
clergy they looked down with contempt upon all
the laity except the pretty country wenches whom
they came in their wanderings from univer-
sity to university. To them they indited poetry
redocpf of the most I'm xuriant and unfettercd Pa
ganism. They sang Of wine like Anacreon, of love
like Ovid. and of the delights of vagaboDdsge like
no one save themselves. Mr.. Symonds goes to
the verge of license If he does strain it little
In reproducing several erotc lyrics which for bold
color and frank of confession will stand